Cooking with Wild Game: Volume 15

This Yun Sudra girl had visited the Fa house plenty of times for cooking lessons. But we hadn't had much in the way of one-on-one interaction, so the only strong impression I really had came from her unique hair color.

"U-Um, my name is Yun Sudra. I don't know if I'll be all that much help, but I look forward to working together," she stated, her face beet red as she gave a deep bow. She was obviously quite nervous, but still, she seemed to be a healthy, energetic young girl.

"I'm Asuta of the Fa clan, and I look forward to working with you too. Err...will you be able to start working right away tomorrow?"

"Ah, if that's what you need from her, then by all means. You can pay her based on how well she gets the work done," the girl's clan head offered.

"But from what I recall, the Sudra only have five women, right? Is it really okay for me to be taking two of them away?"

"Don't worry, us men will take care of whatever we need to. We've gained enough strength through the power of delicious cooking to handle that much," the middle-aged man declared resolutely, though his face still looked a bit sullen. "And if this girl isn't handling things properly, then please speak up about it. We would want to replace her with someone else while Li can still move about freely."

"I-I'll definitely be a big help! I swear, I won't bring shame to the Sudra name!" Yun Sudra declared, shooting me an enthusiastic look.

It was quite a contrast compared to the calm and composed Li Sudra, but I was definitely glad to see her so fired up.

"I don't believe she should fall that far short of Li in regards to manning the stove. If you don't mind, could you bring Yun along with you today so she can see you work?"

"Got it. I just have to get her back before sunset, right? Is that okay with you, Yun Sudra?"

"Of course! I'm grateful for the opportunity!" Yun Sudra replied as she once again bowed deeply, then she hopped on into the wagon as if to escape my gaze.

"Okay, I'll take good care of her. By the way, umm... I've been meaning to ask for a while now, but there's something I've never quite happened to pick up..."

"Yes? What is it?"

"The truth is, I've actually never heard your name, clan head of the Sudra..."

At that, the Sudra clan head's eyes opened wide. And then, his face wrinkled up even further as he grinned.

"Oh, I've never told you my name before?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I see. Well, it's not like you need to know someone's name to form a bond with them or anything, I suppose. Now that you mention it, I don't believe I've ever heard the Fou or Ran clan heads' names either," he replied, scratching his head. "Still, it's a strange feeling to be introducing myself after all this time... My name is Raielfam Sudra."

"Huh? Sorry, could you say that again?"

"Raielfam Sudra. It's a real old-fashioned name, isn't it?"

"I-Is it? At any rate, I've never heard such a long name here at the forest's edge before."

"Supposedly such names weren't all that rare back in my grandfather's day. They say we people of the forest's edge have mixed blood from the east, so maybe that tradition came from there."

It was true that the members of the Silver Vase like Shumiral and Radajid had complex family names I had difficulty memorizing.

"I don't remember too clearly, but I believe it means something like 'fangs of the fierce apes.' Supposedly our ancestors hunted creatures called black apes back in the forest to the south, so I believe my name contains the wish that I would grow to be a strong hunter. That's why I take this name given to me by my grandfather as a point of pride."

"Right. It's a wonderful name. From now on, that's how I'll refer to you, Raielfam Sudra."

"Very well. I hope to continue fostering a strong bond with your Fa clan from here on out, Asuta."

At that, Raielfam Sudra's already wrinkled face grew even more wrinkly as he broke out in a smile.

4

When we arrived at the Fa house, Toor Deen swiftly departed back for her clan, stating, "I stayed late yesterday, so I have to hurry back today."

That just left me, Lem Dom, and Yun Sudra.

Though I wasn't all that familiar with Yun Sudra, we were at least technically acquainted. And so, I figured it was at least better than being left alone with Lem Dom, who felt oddly overpowering even before that warning from Yamiru Lea not to let my guard down. I went ahead and started preparing dinner.

"Err, I wasn't planning on making anything too complicated today, but up in the northern settlement you're still making the same meals as before, right, Lem Dom?"

"Yes. There are plenty of folks who at least want to learn how to bake poitan as soon as possible," Lem Dom replied, crossing her arms under her prominent chest as she stared down at me with a cynical look. "Even so, just learning bloodletting from the Rutim men has made for quite a change in terms of dinner. You brought that technique to the forest's edge too, didn't you?"

"I did. But it's nothing special, and I would say that everyone does it in town."

Lem Dom's eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Asuta, how old are you?"

"Huh? I'm seventeen."

"I see. That means you're two years older than me, so could you please stop sounding so formal when talking to me?"

I had figured she might be younger, but she was only fifteen? It was a bit of a shock, hearing she was the same age as Ludo Ruu and Morun Rutim.

"Err, so how old are you, Yun Sudra?"

"A-Ah, I'm also fifteen!"

I looked back and forth between the pair in utter disbelief. Yun Sudra couldn't have been more than 160 centimeters tall at the most and had an adorable girlish appearance, while Lem Dom looked to be around 180 centimeters and was burlier than I was. The pair was just so dissimilar that they felt like different species entirely.

"I suppose you're right, I shouldn't be treating you differently in that case. So one more time, nice to meet you, Lem Dom."

"Yes, I feel the same."

Even now that everyone but Yun Sudra was gone, Lem Dom still had the same arrogant aura lingering about her.

It wasn't like I thought she was a bad person or anything, but it was my first time meeting a woman of the forest's edge like her besides Yamiru Lea, which put me on edge. Still, it wasn't as if I had any choice but to ignore that and keep on working.

"Well then, let's get to work on dinner. First up is preparing the soup dish."

The first step there was removing the astringent taste of the nanaar. Since the spinach-like vegetable had a strong bitter taste and squeaky texture when eaten raw, it needed that sort of extra effort. Still, it wasn't all that major of a task. It just involved boiling it a bit in water with salt, then chilling it in cold water. Next I chopped up that blanched nanaar with aria, nenon, and chatchi, which I slowly boiled along with giba thigh meat in a somewhat low amount of water.

"If you boil giba meat over a low flame for a longer period of time, the meat gets softer and more flavor seeps into the broth. And the cloudy stuff that comes out of the meat and vegetables can end up as an off-flavor, which is why we remove it in advance."

Since Lem Dom was still just a beginner, I was trying to give detailed explanations as I worked. And though she must have already understood this much, Yun Sudra was passionately nodding along as I worked.

"Now we maintain a low flame while making sure it doesn't go out, and meanwhile we'll bake the poitan on the neighboring stove. In the Sudra clan, do you mix in gigo with the poitan?"

"W-We don't! The clan head's decision on the matter was that we didn't need such expensive vegetables!"

"I see. It's true that the price of gigo is no joke if you're using it every day... Lately here at the Fa house, we've been mixing in fuwano rather than gigo."

"Fuwano? You mean that flour that's like poitan after you boil it and dry it out?"

"Yeah. By mixing it into poitan, it changes the texture, so I've been trying out all sorts of stuff. And it would definitely be cheaper than gigo."

I was secretly thinking I could make something pretty interesting by combining the chewiness of poitan with the springy texture of fuwano. But that was something I was still experimenting with, so for today I just baked them up flat like usual.

"Now it's finally time for the meat dish. This one uses aria, nenon, pula, and giba chest meat."

The dish in question was made with tarapa-flavored sweet and sour sauce.

After thoroughly sauteeing the meat and vegetables, I finished things off by pouring a sweet and sour sauce over it, made using mamaria vinegar, sugar, tau oil, tarapa, and aria, with added chatchi starch to thicken it up. There was still plenty of time left till sunset, so I went ahead and cooked up enough for a sample and held it out for the two chefs-in-training.

"What do you think? I kept down the sourness, so it shouldn't be so...