The Cooking Princess - Chapter 41

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Princess Who Cooks

 

Episode 41

 

And from that very day, whenever Chloe cooked, the head chef began lurking nearby, secretly watching Chloe’s cooking process.

 

Even Emily, who was merely an attendant, found the head chef’s gaze burdensome and asked directly.

 

“Do you have some business with the Duchess, Head Chef?”

 

The head chef pondered for a moment, then said this.

 

“Well, I certainly do have business!”

 

As he spoke while patting his chest, he seemed like someone who had much to say to Chloe, so Emily quietly withdrew.

 

Immediately, the head chef snorted and said to Chloe.

 

“Simply leaving plants outside isn’t enough to dry them without mold! You need to dry them once at high temperature to prevent mold from growing.”

 

Saying this, the head chef took some of the peppers Chloe had left outside to dry and put them in the oven.

 

“Seeing how rich the flavor is of these red things you’re drying, you’re probably planning to grind them after drying and use them elsewhere, right?”

 

In that case, removing moisture first was key, the head chef said as he lightly dried the peppers in the oven.

 

“After this, if you dry them outside, it’ll be perfect. Initially, you must thoroughly remove moisture to reduce the chance of mold growing.”

 

At the head chef’s serious words, Chloe blinked and thought.

 

‘Since there’s no food dehydrator, I just dried them the old-fashioned way. Briefly drying them in the oven like the head chef did would be good too.’

 

Mold basically grows because moisture remains inside, so as the head chef said, if she first dried them slightly in the oven to remove only the peppers’ moisture, she could reduce mold growth.

 

‘Since this is a place that eats a lot of bread, there are tips using ovens too.’

 

Seeing that he knew the trick of ‘drying’ things, Chloe guessed the head chef must know some dried foods and exclaimed in admiration.

 

“Wow!”

 

“If you dry this elsewhere for a few more days now, mold won’t grow inside.”

 

Chloe’s eyes sparkled brightly after receiving the head chef’s life tip.

 

The head chef, Russo, who had no idea what Chloe was thinking, shed tears of blood inwardly.

 

‘I shouldn’t interfere carelessly, but I couldn’t stand this!’

 

He didn’t know what those red things were, but they were plants brought by the heir of a ducal family, so they couldn’t be trivial.

 

Russo couldn’t stand watching such plants carelessly spread outside and consumed by mold.

 

So he dared to object to the young lady’s words.

 

It was meddling with the head chef’s soul put into it.

 

‘To act so presumptuously toward the young lady, I’ll probably be fired!’

 

It was when he was closing his eyes tightly in despair.

 

“Thank you so much, Russo!”

 

He slowly opened his tightly closed eyes.

 

Contrary to Russo’s worries, the young lady didn’t seem displeased at all.

 

“As expected, you’re amazing. Befitting our family’s head chef, you know so much.”

 

There wasn’t a trace of displeasure on Chloe’s face about being corrected by a subordinate.

 

She smiled brightly with a clear face and added this.

 

“Our family’s head chef is Russo after all.”

 

Since there was no malice whatsoever in Chloe’s clear green eyes, head chef Russo scratched the back of his neck somewhat sheepishly and answered.

 

“Yes. That’s right.”

 

“I’m ultimately just a beginner with decent instincts and good luck, so it would be really great if Russo could help with the technical aspects.”

 

Ah…

 

Even though she was the heir of a ducal family, she listened so earnestly to the words of a lowly commoner.

 

The head chef was amazed by Chloe’s character.

 

In contrast, how insignificant was Russo’s heart that had envied her brilliant talent!

 

“*Sob*, Young lady! You truly have amazing character!”

 

Only Chloe was flustered by head chef Russo’s sudden praise.

 

Emily very naturally shrugged her shoulders and answered the head chef’s admiration on her behalf.

 

“You’ve only now realized the young lady’s greatness.”

 

Even after that, maid Emily and head chef Russo said various things, but Chloe’s interest was only one thing.

 

“Russo, then what other dried foods are there? Tell me!”

 

At those words, head chef Russo’s face instantly darkened.

 

“I do know how to dry… beef.”

 

‘If you dry beef, isn’t that jerky?’

 

Chloe couldn’t understand at all why his face darkened when mentioning jerky, so she asked the head chef for now.

 

“You dry cattle? How? Do you have dried ones? Show me! I’m curious.”

 

However, she couldn’t make a fuss, so she calmly received and tried the dried beef the head chef gave her.

 

‘It really is jerky! Unlike 21st century ones, it has a bit of a strong gamey smell, probably because it was dried using classical methods.’

 

This would be very delicious if the gamey smell was just removed a bit.

 

Thinking that they had jerky but had only been serving such tasteless things to the table until now made Chloe feel a stiff neck, but she endured and listened to the head chef’s words.

 

“When commoners need to keep something edible for a long time, they usually dry and store it. So I experimented several times with expensive, valuable meat too. Originally, it was developed as military food made for long-term preservation for emergency use.”

 

Russo seemed to have become an expert at ‘drying’ things through that process.

 

Chloe was only interested in delicious things and was clueless about military elements, so she asked innocently.

 

“Ah, so your jerky is being supplied to the military?”

 

“It was scrapped because the mages’ experimental results showed it consumes a lot of the body’s water to digest.”

 

In that case, Russo must have been sad that the jerky he worked so hard to make became a burden.

 

Realizing this fact, Chloe stood on tiptoes with a serious face, firmly grasped both of Russo’s shoulders, and said this.

 

“Then I’ll leave dried foods to you from now on, Russo.”

 

“Pardon? But,”

 

“I told you, didn’t I? That I’m simply good at tricks. If you make dried foods and fermented foods well, I’ll delegate that entire area to you!”

 

At those words, Russo’s eyes began to sparkle too.

 

He was undoubtedly someone who loved dried and fermented foods rather than general cooking.

 

“Really, truly?”

 

“Yes! I was planning to gradually teach my cooking and techniques to other cooks besides Russo too. In the midst of that, I’m really happy that Russo, the head chef, is good at things I can’t do.”

 

After saying that, Chloe shrugged her shoulders as if proud of herself and added this.

 

“Since I, as a duchess, can’t keep cooking everything individually.”

 

At those words, the head chef cheered enthusiastically.

 

“You’ve been thinking about this all along! Oh!”

 

Just as Chloe was about to continue boasting while shrugging her shoulders, an unwelcome guest interrupted.

 

“Duchess, it seems the cooking is taking longer than expected, so I stopped by the kitchen to check.”

 

And Pierre looked at the moved head chef with a question mark.

 

“Is there anything I can help with, Duchess!”

 

The head chef, not noticing Pierre’s gaze looking at him like a pitiful victim, only sent moved looks toward Chloe.

 

“Right. Ugh, I almost ran late! Thanks for letting me know, Pierre.”

 

Chloe immediately cracked eggs and began kneading and mixing those eggs into flour.

 

“Young lady, this is…?”

 

“Yeah. This time it’s not preserved food, I’m trying to make something with noodles.”

 

Chloe vigorously kneaded the dough until it was perfectly mixed, then said this.

 

“Now I just need to let this age for about an hour.”

 

After aging it like that, the young lady looked momentarily surprised.

 

“Ah. I didn’t think about how to make the noodle strands.”

 

Chloe had a subtly scatterbrained side that she herself wasn’t aware of, and that side was being displayed now.

 

‘When I served Shuel before, I just cut it appropriately, so I’ll do the same this time.’

 

Chloe rolled the dough thin, then cut it evenly into long noodle shapes.

 

The head chef, who had been watching that scene with eagle eyes from the side, followed suit, and the maid ended up following along too.

 

“Doing it all together saves time and is really great.”

 

Chloe said this with a deeply moved face, and after confirming the noodles were properly made, she immediately chopped up plenty of garlic, a precious spice.

 

‘Since I’ve secured chickens, there are plenty of eggs too, so there’s no reason not to make pasta!’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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