Making Test Crepes

When the carriage arrived at the estate, Roger's and Lucien's attendants were waiting.

"Welcome home, Leon-sama."

"Roger, I'm back. The carriage is full of things we bought, so could you have everything brought into the kitchen? I was told I could use the kitchen whenever I wanted to test the crepes, so I think it should be fine, but could you confirm that too?"

"Understood. Then, Leon-sama, you should change first."

The clothes I'm wearing are nice, so it'd be a problem if they got dirty.

"That's true. I'll go to my room for a moment."

"Understood."

"Leon, I'm looking forward to the crepes."

"Yes. I'll make something delicious."

The hard part starts now. I have to do my best!

I went back to my room, changed into simple clothes, and went to the kitchen. Many cooks were busily preparing dinner. Apparently, I was free to use about a third of the kitchen.

I was very grateful, but the cooks' looks were rather stern, and I felt uncomfortable. Well, the kitchen was an important place for cooks, so I could understand why they wouldn't be happy about an amateur coming in.

Nasser-san was being far too lenient. Please forgive me—I promise I'll make something delicious.

"Um... You're Leon-sama, aren't you?"

"Huh? Y-yes! I'm Leon, but...?"

Three cooks suddenly came over and spoke to me. I hadn't even done anything yet, so what was going on?

"We've been instructed to help you, Leon-sama, so please tell us what you need."

"Huh? Is that all right?"

"Yes. That's what we were told."

"I see. Then, I appreciate your help."

They seemed to think it was a bother and weren't very motivated, but they looked willing to work, so it should be fine. Having extra hands was helpful.

"Then, could two of you draw water and wash the cooking utensils? I'd like the other person to assist me."

"Understood."

First, I'll try making the crepe wrappers. Once that's done, I'll make the mayonnaise. After that, there won't be anything difficult left. All I have to do is cut the cabbage and grill the pork.

All right! I had them wash a bowl and ladle first, then began making the batter.

"Today, I'll be testing a dish called crepes. First, put flour, eggs, sugar, and water in a bowl and mix them together."

When I said this, the cook helping me immediately brought over the ingredients. That was incredibly helpful.

How much should I use...? I'll try using about the same amount as for pancakes, or perhaps a little more water.

I mixed the sugar into the flour, then added the eggs and mixed them in, and finally added water, adjusting the amount as I went.

Hmm, this should probably be enough. I'll try cooking it for now. I set the griddle in place and heated it, then used a ladle to pour the batter onto it. I spread the batter out with the bottom of the ladle, drawing a circle.

After waiting a little while, the batter began to set, so I flipped it with a spatula and placed the cooked wrapper on the cutting board.

Oh! It's a little thick, but it's cooked!

The only thing left was the taste. I took a bite to try it. Hmm... It's pretty good. Not bad at all. By Japanese standards, it wasn't anything amazing, but it tasted like an ordinary crepe from a crepe shop.

The wrappers should be fine like this for now.

"Excuse me, could you use the remaining batter to make as many wrappers as possible, just as I did earlier?"

"Understood. However, since it's my first time, I might make some mistakes..."

"That's fine. If that happens, could you make another batch of batter? I'd appreciate it if you could make about thirty wrappers."

"Understood."

In the meantime, I'll make the mayonnaise. Could the two who were washing the cooking utensils help me? It looked like they'd just finished.

"I'd like to make a condiment. Could you help me?"

"A condiment...? Understood."

All right, mayonnaise was made by mixing an egg, salt, oil, and vinegar, right? I wasn't sure about the amounts, though.

"For now... put one egg in a bowl, add a little salt, some vinegar, and some oil, and mix it thoroughly. Please use a little more vinegar and oil than salt."

"Understood."

The cook mixed it very vigorously, but it didn't turn into mayonnaise. Why not...?

Maybe one of the ingredients was different? I was sure these three were all I needed, but perhaps the proportions were wrong?

Hmm... Come to think of it, when making sweets, people sometimes use only the egg white. Maybe mayonnaise was the same?

"Is this all right?"

"Hmm, this failed. Transfer it to a plate and let's try again. This time, use only the egg white."

"Only the egg white...? Understood."

The cook mixed it vigorously again, but it still didn't turn into mayonnaise.

Why?! It feels like we've gotten even farther from mayonnaise than before.

Then maybe I was supposed to use only the egg yolk?

"Excuse me, could you try it again using only the egg yolk?"

"...Understood."

I'm sorry for making you do so much...!! I could mix it myself, but that would be quite difficult for a child, and people would definitely find it strange if I used Body Enhancement...

After the cook mixed it for a while, it began to look more like the mayonnaise I knew. Using only the egg yolk was the right answer!

But something was still different... Hmm, maybe there wasn't enough oil? Mayonnaise contains quite a lot of oil. I once spread mayonnaise on toast and baked it, and a lot of oil came out.

"Could you add a little more oil? Please add it gradually."

Hmm. It looked more like mayonnaise now, but it still wasn't quite right.

I decided to taste it.

...Huh? But this is a raw egg, isn't it...? Is it safe to eat? What if it caused food poisoning?

Once I thought about that, I suddenly became afraid to eat it. Besides, if I served it to Richard-sama and the others and they got food poisoning, that would be terrible. Maybe I could use magic to check it somehow?

Hmm, perhaps I could find out by channeling mana with a healing affinity through it, like Heal.

While I had one of the cooks work on another task and look away for a moment, I channeled healing-affinity mana through the mayonnaise. I imagined detecting anything harmful to people.

...Ugh, there's something nasty in it. This absolutely can't be eaten!

Good thing I noticed... Now I just had to figure out how to remove it. Maybe I could sterilize it with magic the same way I use Heal?

I tried using magic with that in mind. Everything harmful had disappeared. Oh! Amazing! Magic really is incredible.

But this means I'd have to be there every time... We can't use mayonnaise at the food stall. What should I do?

Come to think of it, Richard-sama had said before that he could provide magic stones and magic iron for my personal use. In that case, I could ask Richard-sama for some, make a magic tool for sterilization, and give it to Ronnie.

We could keep it at Ronnie's house and sterilize the eggs themselves. It would be dangerous to carry it all the way to the food stall, after all.

In that case, I had to make sure I could sterilize the eggs while they were still whole. I ran healing-attributed mana through an egg and sterilized it.

It works. Perfect.

Phew... For now, that solves one problem. Thank goodness.

Now, all that remained was to perfect the mayonnaise! I took a tiny bit with my finger and licked it. Hmm, it was tasty, but it wasn't even close to the mayonnaise from Japan.

What could be wrong? Was it the order in which I mixed the ingredients?

After trying various mixing orders and proportions, I finally managed to make fairly delicious mayonnaise.

It seemed best to start by mixing the egg yolk, salt, and vinegar, then gradually add the oil while mixing. The vinegar in this world had a somewhat unusual flavor, but it might taste better if I used more vinegar.

That said, I had no idea how much vinegar Japanese mayonnaise contained, so this might still be too little.

"It's finished!"

"It's finished? Is it tasty?"

"Yes. Would you like to try it? I think you'll get a better idea of the taste if you put it on vegetables rather than eating it plain."

I cut up some of the cabbage we'd bought, put mayonnaise on it, and handed it to the cooks.

"Here you go."

The cooks cautiously put the mayonnaise-covered cabbage into their mouths. Since they had made it themselves, perhaps they knew that nothing strange had been added.

"Whoa! This is delicious!"

"It's true! What is this?!"

"I never knew plain cabbage could taste this good!"

The cooks excitedly told me how delicious it was. Their faces were lit up with huge smiles.

I'm glad they liked it...

"I'm glad you like it!"

"Yes! This is a wonderful invention!"

"I'm glad. Then could you help me with the rest?"

"Understood!"

I'm glad they seemed to have become much more motivated.

"There's only a little left, so please keep helping me. Are the wrappers finished?"

"Yes. They're all done."

"Then, please grill the pork with salt. You two, slice the cabbage thinly."

"Yes!"

All right... I'll make the honey-butter crepes while they're doing that.

First, I took a moderate amount of butter and spread it over a wrapper. Hmm, it was still warm, so the butter melted, but it took some time. At the stall, it might be better to warm the wrapper on the griddle while spreading the butter.

Then I drizzled honey over the melted butter, folded the wrapper in half, rolled it up, and it was done!

This had to be delicious. The sweet and buttery aromas were absolutely wonderful.

I made them one after another and placed them on plates. However, in the process, I suddenly realized something. In Japan, crepes were wrapped in paper when sold, but what should I do in this world?

At soup stalls, people ate the food there and the plates were collected afterward. Hmm, but that would make washing all the plates rather troublesome... Bread stalls sold bread as-is, so maybe it would be fine to do the same with crepes.

The wrappers were a little thicker, and I didn't think there would be any problem selling them as they were. I'd sell them that way for now and think about it if any problems arose.

All right, this is the fifteenth one, so the honey-butter crepes are finished. Now for the pork ones. How about calling them Pork Salad Crepes?

Let's make those next. First, I spread mayonnaise over it, piled cabbage on top, and placed the pork over that. Then I folded it, rolled it up, and it was finished.

For the sake of appearance, I should think about where to place the pork. I'll put some where it can be seen near the top, and add a little more toward the bottom... This should do it!

"It's finished! Could you serve one to each person at dinner?"

"Understood. Leave the cleanup to us. It's almost time for dinner."

"Thank you. Could you gather all the utensils we used today in one place? I'll move them somewhere else later. Please use any food that won't keep in the kitchen."

I said that and hurried out of the kitchen. I had to change quickly and get to the dining room!