Chapter 23: Let’s cook lobster

We made a fire on the beach. There is plenty of driftwood lying around, so I don’t have to worry about fuel.

I ignited the pile of firewood with a fireball.

“So Cedie can use attack magic huh. That’s amazing!”

Lulu admires and compliments me.

To be able to use magic, unless you’re a genius, special training is required. I’ve been training in magic with a tutor since I was little, so I’m able to control small fireballs at will.

I couldn’t match Lulu and Char in free diving, but I still managed to live up to my reputation with this life magic.

When my body warmed up from the coldness of the sea, I immediately started cooking.

First, we cracked the shell of the sea urchins with a long knife.

“Be careful not to get pricked by the thorns….”

“Leave it to Char!”

Char used her dragon claws to crack the shells of sea urchins one after another. She doesn’t seem to mind the thorns at all.

“Thank you, Char. It was a great help.”

“Ehehe, Father praised me again~”

I smiled at her cuteness.

“Next, we are going to take out this orange part and wash it well with water.”

We used seawater to wash them thoroughly and then we took out the edible part.

I’m going to make a sauce today, so we don’t have to be too careful. It will just break apart in the pot anyway.

“Now let’s have a taste…… Un, it’s delicious!”

“Char want to eat too!”

“Okay, okay. Here you go.”

“Ahh~”

When I brought the spoon with the sea urchin on it closer to her mouth, she opened her mouth wide like a baby bird.

“Mmm~…… it’s delicious!”

“Right?”

“It’s rich, creamy, and it melts in the mouth! Char likes sea urchin!”

I’m happy to be able to share this feeling with her.

But to be honest, I’d like to have it with freshly cooked rice and soy sauce.

Wait……

Rice aside, I think there is a way to get soy sauce inside Island Maker.

Well, to be precise, it’s not a real soy sauce. It is a so-called substitute, known as seasoning fruit. There must have been different types of seasonings, such as soy sauce fruits, curry fruits, sauce fruits and so on. If you dry the soy sauce fruit, grind it into a powder and add water in it, you will have a taste that is close to soy sauce.

However, this is just a memory from within the game, so I’m not sure about the taste.

But I think it’s worth a try.

If I dig into a star-shaped depression, I should be able to find a seasoning fruit. Now that I’ve bought a shovel, I’ll try to dig into depressions more vigorously from now on.

“Father, I want to eat more sea urchins.”

“Eh~, I’m going to make a sauce out of them today, so just one more bite, okay?”

Lulu frowned when she saw us eating sea urchins. It seems that she doesn’t like eating it raw after all. But I’d like Lulu to know it’s delicious.

Maybe she’ll eat it if I cook it?

When it comes to cooking, I’ve never really learned how to cook. I only vaguely remember the cooking videos I saw in my previous life. In the video, there was a lobster with sea urchin sauce.

I’m going to try to imitate that today.

Lobster claws are so strong that it can easily cut off your fingers. Being careful not to get pinched by the lobster, I tossed it into the pot of boiling water.

“Char will help you too!”

“Be careful. It’ll be awful if you get pinched!”

“Hn?”

“Eh?”

By the time I paid attention, it was too late. The lobster is firmly holding Char’s hand.

—But it was the lobster’s claws that shattered instead.

I boiled the lobster for about 15 minutes and then I removed it from the pot. The blackish shell has turned bright red. It’s that color you see in restaurants.

“Re~d Lobster~♪”

Memories of my previous life suddenly come back to me. While humming a commercial song, I took out the meat of a cooked lobster. The firm meat already looks delicious at this point.

“Father~, just one bite….…”

“Not yet. Wait until the food is properly cooked.”

I put a frying pan on the fire and put plenty of butter and garlic in it.

Soon the butter begins to melt and sizzle.

“Now I’m going to put the roe that we set aside when I took out the lobster meat.”

The roe of most crustaceans are usually delicious. I’m sure the lobster’s roe would be delicious too.

Butter, garlic and lobster roe, I think this alone is a great taste, but I added more sea urchin.

The rich aroma of the special sauce began to waft on the shore.

“Hawaaa!”

Char seems to be unable to stay or stand still, and she is flailing her small limbs. Lulu, who was reluctant to eat sea urchins, also looked into the frying pan impatiently.

I stirred it with a wooden spatula to finish the sauce.

“Father, I can’t wait anymore..…”

It’s not just Char.

Even Lulu swallowed her saliva at the scent of the sauce.

“To finish it off, let’s add the lobster meat to the butter-sautéed sauce and it’s done.”

The dish was completed with parsley that grew on the island for color.

“What do you think?”

“Hurry up, Father!”

“I don’t think I could eat sea urchins. But this one looks so delicious, and it smells so good.”

With a wooden spoon we had brought from Lulu’s house, we put a lobster with plenty of sauce in our mouths.

The elasticity of the lobster chases the umami of the sea urchin that spreads immediately. The rich flavor that spread in the mouth was overwhelming.

“It’s so delicious! Father, this is the best thing you have ever made for me.”

“It’s the first time I’ve ever eaten sea urchin, I had no idea it was this delicious. I feel like I’ve missed out a lot by living to this day without knowing about this.”

I am happy when people said my food was delicious.

I think this will work well as our menu three days later.

“If you like it so much, why don’t I add it to the meal menu?”

“That would be great.”

“Char want to eat it again!”

We caught eighteen lobsters, so I gave two of them to Nowald-sensei. We’ll sell the abalone and the rest of the lobsters at the grocery store in town tomorrow.

Until then, I decided to put it in a net and submerge it in the sea.

“Their claws won’t cut the net, right?”

“If you do it this way, it will be fine.”

Lulu had metal shackles attached to the lobster claws.

If I sold these, will I be able to save money again?

My money to buy chickens and goats is almost ready.

However, I also have to buy pasta and cream….

It was like taking three steps forward and two steps back, but my heart was full.

This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.

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