Ch 74 -- Lean Steak
When we got back to the Adventurers Guild I went straight to find Johan-ojisan. The Guild Master was out having discussions with Count Langridge about the Mithril Lizard subjugation and its consequences so he wasn't in his office, however the Guild Master had told us we could deal directly with Johan-ojisan who of course knew all about the Bloody Horn Bull herd subjugation request.
"Excuse me." I caught Johan-ojisan's attention.
"Oh, it's you guys. The Guild Master told me what's going on. You were subjugating the Bloody Horn Bulls today?" When I nodded, he gestured for us to follow him. "Let's go to the warehouse."
"The herd was kinda big..." After warning him I started pulling Bloody Horn Bulls out of my Item Box.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven .......... 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30....
"Hold on," Johan-ojisan abruptly stopped me. "Tell me, are there a lot more?"
"Yes, I still have quite a few more. There were 58 Bloody Horn Bulls in all."
"58 Bloody Horn Bulls? That's a big herd, they're usually around 40 individuals, you know..." Johan-ojisan mused. Huh? Is that so? I thought that it was quite a lot but I didn't think it might be an unusually large herd. "Well, if it's you guys it's not that surprising." Johan-ojisan added with a laugh. Is he insinuating we're at fault somehow for bringing in too many monsters? Well, it's Fer who did the subjugation, not me. Blame him...
"Disassembling 58 monsters is gonna be a big job you see." He shook his head.
I'm sorry, really. "I'll wholesale half of the meat to the Guild. Thank you for working so hard on this for us."
"That's okay, the Guild Master told me that you guys are my top priority."
Oh, yes, I think I should keep a skin as well. "Would you please give us a Bloody Horn Bull skin?" I asked.
"Okay," said John-ojisan, squinting appraisingly at the mountain of Bloody Horn Bull monsters before him. "You're wholesaling half the herd to us, you want to keep the meat of the other half and you're wanting a single skin too. Is that about right?"
"Yes, that's it." I agreed.
"That's still gonna be a bunch of work for me. Can you come back tomorrow? I'll have the meat and that skin ready for you then."
"I understand, I'll come back tomorrow." As I said that, I headed for the warehouse door but Fer who had been lying down and not taking part in the discussion lifted his head and said "Hold on".
"What's up, Fer?" I asked.
"Where's the meat for tonight?" Fer said.
"Because there are a lot of monsters for Johan-san here to deal with, it won't be ready until tomorrow." I explained.
"Huh, that means we can't eat any Bloody Horn Bull meat today?" Fer grumbled. We've got plenty of other kinds of meat in my Item Box but Fer wants to eat Bloody Horn Bull right away. What a surprise.
I turned back to Johan-ojisan. "I'm sorry, can I get the meat from one of the Bloody Horn Bulls straight away?" I pointed at Fer.
"Haha, not a problem, sonny." Johan-ojisan quickly disassembled one of the monsters with his practised skill.
"What about this Bloody Horn Bull's skin? Wanna take it with you?" he offered. That sounded like a good idea so we collected the skin and meat from the Bloody Horn Bull and left the Adventurers Guild.
* * * * *
When we returned to the inn, it was clear that Fer and Sui were hungry and I was starting to feel hungry myself. I could guess what Fer was going to say so I pre-empted him.
"You want to eat Bloody Horn Bull meat, right Fer?"
"Well..." Fer answered, not hiding the lustful look in his eyes. Okay then, steak it is. It had been a while since we had beef after all. Bloody Horn Bull is a beautiful red meat that looks delicious. So how do you like your steak cooked? This is how I do it.
Oil the frying pan and get it really hot. It's important to get the temperature high. I think that steak is tastiest when cooked medium rare personally so that's how I do it. Shake salt and pepper onto the meat just before frying it. The meat juices will escape if you don't add the salt and pepper before cooking it.
First fry one side for about a minute on a high heat then turn the heat down slightly and give it another minute or so. After that flip the steak and repeat for the other side. While it's still hot wrap it in aluminum foil for about five minutes to let it cook all the way through from the residual heat.
The hot scorch on both sides coupled with with baking it in the foil produces a delicious smell and the meat becomes soft and tender. That's my favourite way of cooking thick red meat steaks.
"It's ready.... First up is just salt and pepper." As soon as his steak hit the dish Fer began to devour it.
"Umuu-. It's delicious. "
"Yeah, this meat is tasty, is not it?" Sui said that she liked it too.
Hey, that makes three of us. Every time I bit into my steak, the juices oozed out and the taste of red meat spread throughout my mouth. I have to say this is delicious. It makes me want to chew each bite slowly and thoroughly to extract the most from the juicy meat. Beef is truly appetising.
Next, I coated the steak with soy sauce and cooked it similarly. Salt and pepper alone on a steak is delicious, but for Japanese people it has to be soy sauce. That turned out really delicious too.
"Seconds!" the gluttons chorused, unsurprisingly. It seems the steak was a hit.
I cooked more delicious steak. This time I used the Net Super's steak sauce that Fer loves. That day we ate Bloody Horn Bull steaks to our heart's content.
"Fuu-, that meat was very delicious. Sui's tummy is full-"
"I'm satisfied too, but this confirms something for me. I'm not going to eat raw meat again while you're around. Your cooking is delicious after all. "
"Sui loves Aruji's cooking too-"
I appreciate the compliments, but it's thanks to Fer and Sui that I can remain safe in this world. I will make delicious food for them to eat as much as possible.