After finish takes a bath, I wear casual clothes and return to the castle kitchen once again. This is my last preparation before dinner started. The sun already starts to sink in the western horizon, it signs the day will dusk soon, that means I only have one or two hours left before dinner started.I greet Mrs. Martina as usual before I enter the kitchen
"Mrs. Martina, how"s the preparation going? Is there any problem with the ingredients?"
"All ingredients had been prepared, young master Henry. Ah, should we prepare the same drinks as we served during the lunch?"
Oh right, I only give her the menu and not mention the drinks.
"Yes, please make the same arrangement as at lunch before. Also, make the new cookie that still baked in the oven as the dessert later"
"Considered done, young master"
"Thank you, Mrs. Martina"
First thing I do after I arrived in the kitchen is checking the meringue in the oven. The most problem I found with the current kitchen in this world is hard to keep a stable fire temperature in this kind of world without electricity. I can set baking time in oven or microwave on the modern time when making cookies or bread, but it"s not a thing I can do here. Constant checking the dough in the oven is necessary to ensure the food is not getting burnt or undercooked is necessary here. And when I check the meringue, it"s almost done in couple minutes later.
When the meringue finished baking, I can"t wait patiently to try the taste of meringue that I just made. I must blow it several times to cooling it down before taking a bite. The moment this chip of meringue enter my mouth, I can feel the crunchiness, sweetness and soft sensation from every crump of meringue that melted inside my mouth. It"s a perfect meringue! Deserved to presented as tonight"s dinner dessert.
I give my order to the cooks that looking at me tasting the meringue with wondering looks on their eyes. Maybe they also want to know what these new cookies taste alike.
"Great! It"s taste good! Make it more for tonight dinner, a lot of them and keep the rest in an airtight container for snacks, you can take one for your dessert tonight too"
"Yesss!! We do it right away young master!"
I also check the preparation for the other menu for tonight"s dinner. The rice already washed and ready to boil too. The birds nest also already soaked in clear water, ready to process into the soup. The curry ingredients are also being prepared with dough to make the tortilla base. I wonder if we run out of rice, can we still serve curry for our meal again or not. Wait, in India, curry eats with bread and there are some bread to eat with curry if I"m not mistaken.
Well, I remember curry can be served with Naan bread, Chapati, Dosa, Paratha, Papadum, and Roti bread. It"s all bread but made from different ingredients, like wheat, and rice flour, but to make those bread, obviously, I will need b.u.t.ter to start with. b.u.t.ter can be made using raw milk but I should have the proper equipment to make that b.u.t.ter without modern appliances like mixer and refrigerator. I should prioritize this b.u.t.ter making as the next ingredients that should make beside soy sauce. Maybe some cooking utensils like spuit for dough bag beside the small knife to carve the fruit maybe or also the thing that used to batter eggs or stir the milk to make b.u.t.ter later, something with that spiral things maybe? I should make the drawing first and later when I have a chance to visit blacksmith in town, I"ll order those things there.
While checking the preparation, I also watching how the cooks from Lumon town doing. I hope they can adapt to our work environment and make some use for tomorrow banquet. Right now, four of them is preparing ingredients like cutting vegetables, sliced meat, and other basic preparation. I walk to the bread section where the only female cook from Lumon town working. The girl, Sarah, seems to prepare the dough for making the meringue. Her hands are busy stirring the white of eggs while adding some sugar at a certain time interval.
"Is this too hard for you to make this cookie, Miss Sarah?"
"No! Although I"m a woman, I can do this. Don"t underestimate my strength in cooking, please"
Huh? I ask her because I see she look troubled when stirring the dough and why she looks irritating with my question?
"Ah, sorry…I"m not underestimating you…but you see, the speed on your stirring is not stable. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. You need to stir in stable speed until all the sugar dissolved perfectly and the dough becomes stiff"
"Yes, thank you for the pointer, young master"
After giving some advice to Sarah, I leave the kitchen to pick some fruit and vegetables to carve from the storage room. There"s still time to make some, and I want to make it again for Earl Stamfort and his family.
Mr. Coles, the leader of the cooks from Lumon town, is approaching Sarah after I left the kitchen and speak to her with low tones.
"Miss Sarah, what kind of tone is that? Are you trying to challenge young master Henry here? Can"t you see that he able to make something new just with white of eggs and sugar only?"
"Hmph! Like I care, I have my own mission, don"t you dare to intervene, Mr. Coles!"
"Fine…fine…but if anything happens to you, don"t drag us with you, alright?"
"Okay, now can you just leave? I need to concentrate on making this dough"
Their conversation is interrupted by a cook that called Mr. Coles and asked for his help
"Hey, Coles! Help me with this mashed potato for croquette, will ya?"
"Aye aye…I"m coming"
Mr. Coles leaves Sarah to help that cook whilst Sarah continues her work. I come again later to the kitchen with fruits and vegetables on my hands, then sit on my corner and start working on carving the fruits and vegetables for the dinner tonight until dinner time almost arrived and return to my room to change proper clothes for dinner with guests from Stamfort castle.