Rice for Enoch's Second Expeditionary Unit

Chapter 04: Dried wild boar and pork

Together with Urgas, we headed to the market to buy something.
I was actually nervous because it was my first time in the market in the royal capital.
There were many pickpockets, so I heard, that's the reason why I put a string attached to my purse and clutched it in front of my chest.

"Doctor Squirrelly, it's fine. No one will pickpocket a knight."

"Mmmm, I don't know"

People who steal from others are in a cornered state of mind and you never know what they'll do.
You can never be too careful.
　
Besides, the content of my purse is the result of my effort saving up for so many years, I earned it by using my neighbors' borrowed books instead of buying.
What I'm trying to say is... There's money on it! To let it go for a moment, it's dangerous.

About a thirty-minute walk from the knights dormitories, we arrived at the market district in the royal capital.
The goods are displayed on platforms under tents.
The sight of the shops lined up in many rows was a sight to behold.

"It's amazing..."

"It's so crowded during the festival that you can't move."

"Hi~!"

It's going to be a lot of work since they're going to be patrolling here and there, guarding this and that building.

"Oh, we'll be short of personnel during the festival, so we, the expeditionary unit, will be sent to work on this too."

"Oh, no..."

I'm going to be squeezed into a meatball!
 

While we were talking about such things, we entered into the market's corridors.
 

First, there seemed to be shops for everything.

The shop here is full of ceramic cups with pictures of plants and animals, and they are very cute.
 

Come to think of it, I haven't a cup, so I decided I wanted one.
 

... I'm on duty right now, so in my day off... I will buy one.

The next shop is a shop with a beautiful array of pens.
 

I can't tell you how beautiful those pens are with the floral patterns carved into them!　
 

I want one, too! There were a lot of inks other than black, and I was curious to see what color can be obtained if mixing them.

The next street has a florist's stall.
 

The flowers that often grow wild in the Forest of the Elves are sold at a high price, and I thought - I can do business here!! -

Next door was a bakery.
 

The fragrant smell of butter was unbearable.
 

The display of piles of different kind of candies was a sight to behold.
 

They also had sweet breads with chocolate and custard cream.
 

I never tasted such bread, so I'm very curious about it, but I'm at work now, so I'll have to wait until next time...

"Oh, I'll buy some bread for our preserved food."

So, the bread wasn't homemade, as expected... They bought it, sliced it thin and dried it.
 

And when did they decide that as long as there was no mold growing on it, it was safe to eat?
 

I had to do something about the idea - As long as it says "dried" is "preserved food"??!

"Doctor Squirrelly, do you have any recommendations on which bread choose for preserving?"
 

"Maybe, but no, it's not here."

Regular bread can be kept for about two weeks at most.
But the bread I know will be fine for about three months.

In my village, there's a season when it snows heavily every day, and when that happens, the temperature in the oven doesn't rise properly and the bread cannot be baked properly.
So there are days when we bake a month's worth of bread in preparation for the start of the heavy snowfalls, using a special natural yeast and when it's ready, we bake it.
It's a traditional natural yeast.

"Special natural yeast?"

"Yes."

Most breads that can be stored for a long period of time are sour, but our village's special bread has a fluffy melt-in-the-mouth texture.
Not too sour and it was so good that I looked forward to the day when I would eat that bread while watching the snow fall outside.

"Oh, I see."

"Yes. In my village, when a girl turns fifteen, she goes to the outskirt of the forest to make natural yeast."

Remembering these times... When I went to prepare yeast thinking - For the time it's ready to use, I'll be already married.
But my natural yeast was ready to use for the time when I became an abandoned bride.
It's so sad.

Fortunately, I couldn't leave my three-year-old natural yeast in the ground! So I brought it here, after all, I can make bread wherever I want.

"So you can leave the bread to me."

"I appreciate that. I try to avoid sour bread as much as possible, but..."
"Ok, don't worry..."

I'll never forget the hardness of that bread and its unique sourness.

... It was just because of the sourness of the yeast, right? No, no, no, Don't think over that, be happy! It didn't destroy my stomach after all.

"Speaking of which, is going out to make natural yeast something you can't make in your village, why do you have to go outside?"
 

"Yes, you'll see... The village's natural yeast needs the intestinal matter from the newborn calves after they drink their colostrum. We don't have livestock, so we have to go out to get it."

"... What??! The intestinal material of ---. You can make natural yeast out of that stuff?"

"Yes. The bread results delicious, heals water retention, is antiseptic and has anti-bacterial properties."

Livestock farmers are willing to provide the intestinal material of the calves in exchange for nuts and mushrooms from the forest.
However, the yeast is very difficult to manage, and it is not uncommon to find that it has gone bad.
That's the reason why our village developed a method, digging a hole in the ground to store it carefully.

Fortunately, there is a large underground storage room in the cafeteria, and I was allowed to keep it there.
It's something that you've to watch over every day, at first, I was worried that it wouldn't be in good state after I went to the expedition and left it alone for two days, but it still seems in good state.

The secret to the plump, soft, long-lasting bread lies in the symbiosis between yeast and the lactic acid bacteria.

It is also good for your health, as it helps regulate your intestines and boosts your immune system.

However, the dough is softer and more difficult to handle than regular bread.
Even some women in the village were reluctant to make it because they say it's too hard to handle.

I'm not that bad at it, so if I can use it to bake bread once a month, there's no problem.

"Then I'll look forward to it."

"Yeah, you can count on it."

We passed trying to not look at the next sweet-smelling pastry shop, because it makes us want to eat those sweets right away... and so, we saw a lot of shops that sell products that can be useful to us: fruit and vegetables, bottled and dry goods.

At the end of the food shops district there is a butcher shop.

All sorts of meats were hanging in front of the shop, and it was a sight to behold.

"Oh, Doctor Squirrelly, they have a special discount on this meat!"

The butcher recommended the fatty part of a triangle steak.

"Mr. Urgas, please wait a minute. When you want to make dried meat, it's necessary to shave off all the fat, so make sure it's as lean a part as possible. And I've heard that dried triangle steak is indeed delicious, but it's not for amateurs. Besides, if you remove the fat, there is only a small amount to eat."

In the village, they used to make it with mountain deer meat.
The most delicious and best meat for drying is wild boar and pork. We didn't raise livestock, so it was a high quality product.

"Oh, a lump of wild boar and pork. Let's have this one."

Wild boar and pork in the market is less than half the price of what the traders who come to the village used to ask for it.
Now I know that it was a rip-off!! No, I will not allow it any more I've to--.

I decided to forget my anger for now and buy as much meat as my budget allows.
We had been buying beef but pork was surprisingly cheap.

In the same shop they sell salt and pepper for seasoning, we bought that and some sugar and spices, and two bottles of wine.

After paying our purchases, we went back to the huts.

But, I still have to do the minimal preparations for them to not rot until tomorrow.

We started cooking in the kitchenette of the building of the 2nd Expeditionary Unit.
The assistant is Mr. Urgas today.
He washes his hands clean, puts a net over his hair, and wear an apron before starting to work.

"First, the surface of the meat, I will prick it with a fork."

Use a fork to poke holes in the meat to spread the salt and other ingredients throughout the meat surface.
He sprinkles salt, powdered spices and dried spices on it, later rubs it thoroughly.

The meat is then placed in a clean leather bag and stored in a chest filled with ice for about seven days.
During this time, the meat is turned over and the juices that it spill are wiped off.

"It takes quite a long time, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, it'll take some time doing."

Seven days for salting, half a day to remove the salt, a day to dry the pieces, and then a few hours in smoke, and we're done.

"... It will be awhile before it's finished."

"I see."

He wrote down how to make it in his notebook. Mr. Urgas is a studious young man after all.

"What else can be done to obtain preserved food?"

"... Well, I wouldn't say they're preserves, but cakes with dried fruit can last for a month or two, and they get better as the days go by."

In addition, if you dry the mushrooms, they can be stored for a long time and can be used to make a good soup.

"... I also want to eat a good meal during the expeditions!"

Mr. Urgas says, as if talking about a dream, to which, I immediately agree.

It was a painful experience the food in the previous expedition, and I wanted to do something for things to change so everybody could enjoy a good and complete meal next time.

Notes: 

Triangle steak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-tip

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