088: Making Sweets

Agepan (fried bread) is a fried sweet bread that was served in school lunches for years. There are other types of fried bread, so I will remind that this is agepan occasionally. Recipe

Al asks for roll dough in this translation, but the original was koppe-pan. I just recently made a roll recipe that was close to the koppe-pan recipe, so I went with a phrase that didn’t need more explanation.

“What are laughing about Bartolo?” Al

“No, I just had a feeling the kid would be coming in soon.” Bartolo

I entered the kitchen to fulfill the promise I had made in the royal capital to Elna where I would make new sweets with the magic stove. It seems like Bartolo is enjoying a bit of schadenfreude as he pokes my cheeks. Should I bite his finger?

“So, you’ll be making new sweets now? What are you planning to make? Are you a professional patisserie now?” Bartolo said while tapping the magic stove.

“No, I’m not at that level.” Al

“You say that, but you’ve come up with new sweets already. You always seem to find some new dish that I’ve never heard of as well? I have some talent at making sweets I know, but I don’t have the talent at thinking up new ones. I’ll just focus on improving your ideas, kid. I’ll ask Elna to grade the new sweets.” Bartolo

This guy! Pretending like he lets me make sweets! What’s more, he says he’ll leave it to Elna to judge the sweets! He’ll definitely grab a sample or two. I’m sorry you have to make cookies all day and every day.

“Bartolo has been making new jams by boiling fruits and sugar, also making a lot of pretty cookies these days. Recently you’ve been tweaking various recipes and changing the sweetness. Elna seems very happy with the results it seems, I believe?” Al

We’ll just smile at each other, we are sharing the same labor. I want to make the things I want, when I want them. This time I was forced to produce new sweets, I can’t refuse. Both of us are smiling, but we aren’t smiling on the inside.

Aren’t you the cook here? I think

Isn’t the kid the one who makes sweets? Bartolo thinks

We then sighed after our standoff. I guess I should try some fried foods since we have the magic stove now, I should think of fried foods that aren’t sweets if I’m going to setup things for frying.

“Hmm, how about some simple sweets.” Al

“Huh?” Bartolo

“Let’s go with fried bread” Al

“Fried bread?” Bartolo

Fried bread was something I used to eat when I was a kid. Even though I wasn’t a fan of normal bread, fried bread was good.

“Fry bread dough in oil, then sprinkle with sugar.” Al

“Ah, deep frying… is that it?” Bartolo asks while he has an expression of ‘What’s the next step?’.

“It’ll be fine, it’s easy to make and tasty.” Al

It’s tasty and the calories are high. It was introduced after the war to be an easy way to make sure children were eating enough calories.

“And… they’re fattening” Al

Since Elna says she’ll never get fat no matter how much or what she eats, she’ll probably be fine. The maids might find a different result if they snack too much. It’ll serve as a warning about overeating sweets. Then Bartolo can reduce the amount of sweets he has to make.

“I see, I see where you’re going, kid” Bartolo

Bartolo understands where I’m going, so he smiles. It’s like he’s a beast who found a prey animal.

“That’s a scary face” Al

“Hehehe, kid” Bartolo

We laugh with different smiles than before. We’re laughing, but in a mischievous way.

“Also, if we’re going to setup to fry things, I’d like to make some things that aren’t sweets.” Al

“Oh! I’ll look forward to them!” Bartolo

Bartolo gets excited when he hears I’ll make some new dishes that aren’t sweets. He’s a chef who craves variety.

Today’s sweets will be fried bread (amepan) and sata andagi. They’re similar, but we’ll change them up with different toppings.

There are other things like pancakes or crepes I could make, but I want to make things that will show off the magic stove. I’ll keep some things hidden for now. Mina has been asking me what an unknown sweet is supposed to be, I shouldn’t have given her slippers that included unknown sweet types.

Bartolo can make a normal lunch, then we can make a dinner that includes tempura. Today, let’s focus on the fried foods. If I had soy sauce, I’d make a tempura rice bowl. I should start investigating soy sauce in earnest.

I haven’t met Triela lately, I wonder how he is doing? I hope he has procured more rice, as I’d like to buy more since the rest of the family is eating it too.

“We’ve got leftover bread from breakfast, is that usable?” Bartolo says as he offers a basket of bread.

“Thanks, but we can’t use it. There’s something I’m thinking of that could use it, but fried bread needs to be fried from dough.” Al

“What kind of dough do you need?” Bartolo

“I need some roll dough” Al

“Oh, I see. So I’ll make the dough and lunch?” Bartolo

I nod and Bartolo starts putting flour into a bowl to make bread dough. I turn to the magic stove and flick the switch. The magic stove sucks up some magic energy and out pops a flame. I had tested it when we purchased it in the royal capital, so it didn’t surprise me. It looks like a gas stove, but it’s easier and safer.

Previously, we would need to light firewood and let the oven heat up, but now it’s much easier. It’s quicker and there’s less work to do. It’s convenient since it controls the temperature too, it’s easy to make fried food. It’s probably safer than a gas stove since you don’t have to worry about gas leaks.

“Great, the first should be ready soon.” Al

“Absolutely” Bartolo

Bartolo isn’t watching me as he’s making the dough, but his voice suggests he’s in a good mood. Bartolo was the first to benefit from the magic stove since he’s the chef. Half my happiness is my desire to make more recipes, while half my happiness is from reducing Bartolo’s tasks.

I can’t make fried bread until Bartolo is done with the dough, so I’ll make something else to kill some time. I’ll make twice-baked bread with the extra bread from breakfast. I cut the bread to the right size, then wait for the oil to get to temperature. Then put the bread pieces into the oil. I let them cook while poking them with chopsticks, they crackle as they cook. The oil soaks into the bread pieces and they turn to a orange color and harden up. When the bread turns golden brown, I move them onto a plate lined with a thin cloth to absorb the oil.

The bread pieces are now stick shaped with the smell of freshly baked bread. If you bit it, a crisp sound would come out.

“Bartolo, I’m grabbing some sugar” Al

When I let Bartolo know, I got back a basic ‘yah’ response, so I grabbed a jar of sugar. It’s important to sprinkle a liberal amount of sugar before the twice-baked bread cools off. I’ll be doing the same thing for the fried bread when I make it.

I remove the upper cloth and sprinkle the sugar over the twice-baked bread. The bread pieces turn white like they’ve been snowed on. I sprinkle sugar while rotating the pieces with chopsticks, and we’re done.

I grabbed a piece of bread and put it in my mouth. A crisp is heard and it breaks in my mouth cleanly. The sweetness of sugar and the bread is amazing. This texture is so more-ish. I eat the first piece like a squirrel, and before I realized it, I was on my second.

They’re nicely stick shaped, but that makes them so easy to eat. I wonder if I could store a nice cup of them for later? I should look to find a good time to store a bunch with Spatial magic.

“Hey, sounds like that’s a good sweet. Let me get a sample too” Bartolo

Bartolo grabbed one of the sticks from behind me and puts it in his mouth.

“Oh, I like this kind of basic sweetness, my grandma would sometimes make something similar.” Bartolo

Bartolo squints at the bread, maybe he’s thinking about his hometown. In my previous life, my grandfather was in charge of cooking. Grandma had no talent at cooking. That would be a terrible gene to pass on to grandchildren, isn’t that more of a curse?

When I was thinking, I noticed a bowl in the kitchen. When I looked, the dough was sitting in the bowl in a ball shape. Sounds like the primary rise, it’ll be another forty or fifty minutes for it to rise. This will need a second rise, so it’ll be a bit longer after it is punched down.

Now that I think about it, Bartolo gets up and makes sure we have fresh baked bread for breakfast, that’s amazing. Well, sometimes we get rice instead… Wait, is that why the rice is disappearing?

With five family members eating the amount I had planned to eat alone, it will soon be gone! Eleanora will wolf it down with meat, that’s dangerous. Bartolo, please give me back my amazement.

Bartolo is eating the twice-baked bread while I stared at him. He’s not eating like a squirrel, but a child eating sugar cane.

“I like this one, it’s good. Is this enough to satisfy Elna?” Bartolo

“But this isn’t something that requires the magic stove” Al

“Ah, right. Anyway, you’ll want to find something that really needs this boy to convince her that it was worth it.” Bartolo

Bartolo hits the stove as he talks about it, he seems to have formed a bond with it.

“So, anything else I need to know? Weren’t you planning on making things other than sweets?” Bartolo

“That’s right, I’ll need ingredients for tempura. We’ve got onions, carrots, and other vegetables, right?” Al

“Oh, we’ve got vegetables for days, but few mushrooms at the moment.” Bartolo

“Hmm, let’s ask Silvio to grab some.” Al

Silvio has a talent for finding wild plants and mushrooms. I bet he’s reading a book or studying today as usual. I haven’t seen him venturing outside since I’ve been back from the royal capital trip.

“Don’t hesitate to utilize your big brother, it’s a habit your sister often forgets about.” Bartolo

“It’s natural, I’m a younger brother.” Al

“Are you a good brother?” Bartolo

So, Silvio is a kind person, he wouldn’t refuse the request of his cute little brother. Not that I can order him or Eleanora to do anything. The day I tell Eleanora ‘You’re free, so go pick some edible wild plants’ is the day I’ll get what’s coming to me.

Eleanora has the personality of a cat, I wonder if I can leverage that? It’s unknown if she’ll follow along even if I lay bait down.

“Do we have any jumbo shrimp?” Al

“No, you can’t buy that around here.” Bartolo says as he shrugs.

Ah, that’s so sad. There’s no sea near the village, so it can’t be helped. Rarely, Triela will bring some, but he isn’t here at the moment. It’s a shame that tempura involves shrimp.

“Would river shrimp work? I can get some medium river shrimp that’s from a clean area.” Bartolo

You can find river shrimp around the village in the river. Unfortunately, they’re not big enough to make tempura.

“I’d prefer the biggest size of shrimp, but I could make it with river shrimp. They’re pretty good.” Al

I also like the fried shrimp that you can eat in one bite. I could Transfer to the royal capital to get some, but if I pulled it out, I’d get asked where it came from. Yeah, that would be bad.

Should I get some for me to eat alone in the future?

Translation

Good Job!

Do Better!

Chapter

Love It!

What?

FFS!

Really?