Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Royal Home Cooking

I didn't expect even authentic French haute cuisine saying royal meal.

From the start there was a reason nobles directly employed French chefs even if just copying recipes would do.

French haute cuisine, in the current era an area ordinary people's hobby level absolutely couldn't challenge.

Multi-step processes, fire control relying only on sense without timers. No thermometer either so matching time and temperature had to rely solely on the chef's experience and sense, would royalty be possible?

Not for nothing even court chefs were chased out together with royalty during the Revolution.

To French commoners noble cooking was just another world food, no sense of identity at all.

If home cooking the princess makes at hobby level, as expected roast beef degree? The taste well court chefs would have informed real know-how accumulated over a hundred years.

So I was fully excited thinking of reverse engineering that with my tongue and using...

But what Princess Victoria placed in front of me wasn't British cooking.

"Huh? This, isn't it German cooking? Seems like sauerkraut?"

"As expected you recognize. In London it would be hard to find restaurants doing German cooking. So we discussed and decided to prepare differently. British cooking would be boring, right?"

A bit flustered. German cooking not French, not British?

Sauerkraut.

Sniff sniff, one can know just by smelling. Quite long aged smell.

This was German cabbage pickle famous even in modern times. German traditional food of salting cabbage and fermenting with lactic acid!

Once I considered this as a substitute for kimchi, but immediately gave up. Because fermenting only with lactic acid too tasteless. Compared to kimchi sour and pungent, musty smell, not sweet and no umami either.

This is entirely because of the difference in fermentation method.

Kimchi all various seasonings like chili powder, garlic, ginger, salted shrimp, anchovy fish sauce have antibacterial action, suppressing the growth of spoilage bacteria and complexly fermenting with abundant microorganisms and even bringing deep umami with seafood.

But sauerkraut ferments with only one salt so only lactic acid bacteria work hard and sour taste is extremely strong.

And kimchi slowly ages with low temperature fermentation below 5 degrees and crispy texture is maintained long, sauerkraut is room temperature fermentation around 20 degrees so the more one cooks the texture continues to soften!

So even Germans can't eat this raw like kimchi, usually cooking with thinly sliced onion, bacon and eating was general.

"Our family's secret dish of boiling together sauerkraut and bacon, and peanut butter obtained in Britain! Peanut butter matches sauerkraut very well."

"Right! Living in London such things are good. One can quickly learn trends at social parties! Next when returning to Hesse I'm thinking of definitely introducing this combination!"

Certainly a good choice. Peanut butter can definitely supplement the savory taste and salty taste sauerkraut lacks.

But when returning to Germany one absolutely can't obtain peanut butter? Not even exporting yet?

"So we're gathering one by one carefully! Already filled one trunk full with peanut butter boxes!"

Is that okay?! Although peanut butter has good preservation, we also haven't accurately tested the expiration date...?

Anyway, Colonel Ludwig is Hesse Grand Duchy origin, and Princess Victoria also would have stayed long in Germany thanks to her mother marrying to Hesse, so even if enjoying German cooking in Britain it wasn't a surprising matter.

Then the next dish that comes out one could roughly guess.

The characteristic of German home cooking is full of salty, greasy, sour foods! That was all because of the weather.

Cool and rare sunlight weather, and colder and more humid winter than Britain.

Even if cold if humid vegetables or meat aren't preserved but rather easily spoil. So preserved foods like sauerkraut salt pickling developed, and to overcome cold waves high calorie foods were essential.

Naturally high fat foods like sausage, fried foods had no choice but to decorate the table.

Reset the greasy taste with beer. And again force fried foods.

German style cooking, abandoning taste and solely obsessing over efficiency.

Just looking at such points it wasn't hard to predict.

"Shall I match the next dish for fun? A dish made with potatoes, right?"

"Oh my! By any chance did you peek into the kitchen? Or did my husband already give a hint?!"

"Neither. Is potato dish correct? Then Kartoffelklöße? Or Kartoffelpuffer?"

"How did you know?! I prepared both! Sir Durand, please wait a moment! I'll bring right away!"

Really matched? I only knew two among German potato dishes so just picked?!

Of course there was a hint. Greasy gravy sauce and greasy cream smell vibrating up to here one couldn't not know.

Representative German dishes dipping such sauce were German potato dumplings Kartoffelklöße or potato pancakes Kartoffelpuffer.

Gravy sauce is a kind of brown sauce, a thick sauce made using meat juice and flour, butter originally like other French mother sauces would take quite time to make, but thanks to the industrial revolution it was commercialized long ago.

Sold at general stores. Just putting solid cube form in water and boiling completes.

Kartoffelklöße was a dish of mashing boiled potatoes and putting flour, egg etc. and shaping round and boiling, characterized by chewy texture like rice cake.

Kartoffelpuffer was made by pan-frying dough made with the same ingredients like potato pancakes, honestly speaking almost 90% the same taste as Korea's potato pancakes!

Both foods like German beer snacks! Honestly Koreans also ate potato pancakes as makgeolli snacks! Such a feeling!

"Come, freshly baked warm Kartoffelklöße and Kartoffelpuffer! I honestly don't know how happy I was that Sir Durand recognized this at once!"

"Overpraise. Just luck was good picking."

"Wait a moment, I have to give beer to Sir Durand too! Sir Durand, is lager okay? Our house enjoys pilsner!"

"Lager?! Good! If lager anytime welcome!"

"Fortunate. The dish coming out soon matches pilsner very well so you can look forward."

As expected German family!

Obtaining lager in London wasn't an easy matter. Mostly what sold was only ale.

But German noble origin, if upper class family one could obtain and drink anything I thought.

Did they smuggle through embassy route? Anyway.

Even just the dishes set up to here were worthy of being called a feast by current era standards.

Then what comes out next, as expected the main dish, right.

Pilsner is bitter and light and refreshing beer. Germans mainly ate this beer accompanying greasy foods.

What dish matches pilsner best? German style pork knuckle haxe or greasy handmade sausage?

This time neither.

The main dish that came out last, was schnitzel quite familiar even to me.

Schnitzel. German style meat fry. Easily cutlet.

Both Austria and Germany call this meat fry schnitzel, the difference was the ingredient. Austrian style schnitzel is veal, German style schnitzel pork was the main ingredient.

Exactly speaking since used pork one should call schweineschnitzel, but whether bothersome just omitting all and calling schnitzel was general.

Ah, this was a story heard while selling Chicken and Chips to a German origin immigrant.

Anyway schnitzel poured with cream sauce with button mushrooms.

This was exactly the main dish that came out last.

Cabbage salt pickle and potato rice cake and potato pancake and pork cutlet and lager beer as accompaniment?

Isn't this just similar Korean food?!

"Good. Banquet preparations are completed. Then shall I introduce all our family. Alice, bring the younger siblings!"

No words so even presence was none.

Felt before too, Princess Alice seemed a quite introverted personality.

Until now what she did was only carrying dishes together with her mother.

The people who spoke to me were only Colonel Ludwig and Princess Victoria.

Is this really called to make as dance partner?! Don't these people also know nothing? Can I say?!

Princess Alice soon brought two younger siblings from the 2nd floor.

"This side is the second daughter Louise, and this side is the eldest son George. There's also the second son Louis but born last year so still too young the nanny is taking care and avoiding contact with outsiders as much as possible so please understand."

"Ah, did you have a son last year? Congratulations!"

"Thank you."

Is there something not to understand? To prevent infectious diseases or illnesses, usually infants avoid contact with outsiders until one or two years old was customary.

Since royal family even until three years old possible.

The younger siblings Alice brought seemed quite age difference from her.

Because of height, Alice at a glance looked about 18 years old, the two younger siblings at most elementary school level.

Both continued not approaching me and hesitated.

"Louise! George! It's the famous Sir Jean-Paul Durand! You have to greet!"

"Ah, hello! I'm Louise!"

"G-George..."

"Oh dear, somehow both are very shy..."

"It's okay. First meeting today so possible. Hello? Shall I give candy? Chocolate?"

I put my hand deep in the pocket, and pulled out a handful of small candies taken out from the point shop.

This has no label and wrapping paper is paper with no printing so no worry of being caught and often used like this.

"Kya! It's candy! Chocolate too! Thank you, handsome oppa!"

"T-thank you! H-handsome hyung!"

What?!

"These guys! What habit of speech is that to the guest! Sir Durand, sorry. Quickly start the meal!"

"Haha..."

Such embarrassing praise was long so ears almost slightly reddened.

Anyway, including Princess Alice five family members and me. A simple German home cooking dinner was about to start in a noisy atmosphere.

Except only one problem.

"Ugh, tasteless..."

"Hmm. This schnitzel, the frying went wrong."

"A-ah?! Clearly when test eating earlier it was okay...!"

Other things were all good.

The sauerkraut I worried about, whether thanks to peanut butter was edible.

Potato rice cake and potato pancake I also often ate thanks to immigrants so familiar taste.

The problem was schnitzel.

Princess Victoria's main dish failed.

###

"Sorry! I'll make again, again!"

"Wait a moment! I'll help!"

I chased the back of Princess Victoria who ran out with a fully distorted expression.

I who ate the tasteless home cooking at Grandmother Nightingale's house without particular expression.

And in the world there was no more terrible monster dish than Joe's grandmother's haggis.

My mother's home meal I ate and lived before succeeding was also tasteless British cooking the same.

I was a British real man who ate all jellied eel, faggot, sardine pie.

This level just close eyes and eat.

But to royal people, especially those like the Ludwig family who occasionally taste even French haute cuisine this would have been just a failed dish.

Since putting out a failure to the guest pride would have been greatly hurt.

Looking at the eyes it seemed she often cooked usually, why put out such a mess schnitzel?

Somehow the answer seemed to be in the kitchen so I couldn't not follow and see.

"S-Sir Durand?!"

"It's okay. I'm also a cooking expert, right? Not that the princess can't cook, somewhere there was a problem. I'll cleanly find the cause."

"T-thank you!!"

While speaking I looked around the kitchen.

A wide and neat kitchen compared to the house size.

Whether because of German personality, very efficiently arranged too. Even the finishing was neatly done.

The problems of schnitzel weren't one or two.

Sauce, strange taste and concentration wrong. Excessively thin.

Meat, certainly undercooked and taste bland. But looking at the outside one couldn't notice. The batter looked normal. But was schnitzel's batter originally this thin?

And I, opened one German cooking book guessed she would have referred to while making this schnitzel. Fortunately English translation.

And confirmed the problem.

Measurement error.

If translating German style cup measurement method as is what to do?!

No way the two use the same cup size, right? Germany is grams and Britain is ounces?

Princess Victoria cooked with wrong measurement formula and recipe.

And that was entirely because this cooking book was wrong.

Shouldn't one find the translator and sue?!