Kays Translations

Chapter 68: Let’s Think Up a New Bread – 5: Melt-in-Your-Mouth Exquisite Curry Slowly Simmered with Residual Heat

And so, everyone unanimously agreed that curry bread was perfect as their new product!

…Well, it was decided, but we hit a bit of a problem.

That problem, as expected, all comes down to the cost of the ingredients and the time and effort required.

Martha brought the spices used in this curry bread. When I asked her, she told me that she mainly used cumin, turmeric, coriander, and red pepper.

Apparently, that’s also the order in terms of difficulty to acquire and price—from least to most expensive.

Also, these spices are essentially medicinal herbs or things with health benefits.

“It’s kind of funny that the things I bought for Luna are coming in handy like this,”

 Martha said with a laugh.

“The curry bread was delicious!”

Luna smiled too—a smile that clearly said she really enjoyed it. The wrinkles at the corners of Martha’s eyes deepened gently.

You can tell she’s always gone to great lengths to protect Luna in her own way.

I wonder if anyone’s more thrilled than Martha to see Luna’s once slender arms and legs gradually becoming plump and healthy.

“The curry bread really was delicious,”

Jude-san, who still looks like he could eat a little more, smiles and says as he looks at Luna. 

Ah, I guess he’s the most excited. No, wait, does the order really matter? I’m happy about it too!

For now, the biggest issue is cumin. It’s the only one that’s a bit expensive. The others are relatively cheap and easy to get, so we can just buy them at the market. But cumin—apparently, they had to buy it from the Alchemy Guild.

Wait, the Alchemy Guild sells cumin?

Apparently, cumin is the key to that distinctive aroma—it’s an essential spice.

I have to do something. If it’s something to do with plants, I’m sure I can do something about it.

The other problem is the time and effort required. When you factor in the time and ingredient cost, deep-fried curry bread is a bit much. We’ll have to go with baked curry bread. On top of that, the challenge is how to deal with the time and effort required to prepare the filling.

Here’s the thing. To save time, you’d really need to finely chop everything.

And chopping things finely is such a pain! Honestly, it’s one of the things I dislike most. It really takes time.

Ann said she’s good at it, but that probably depends on how much we need to do.

Should I bring out the whirring food processor thing? But that’s annoying to clean, and I’m actually afraid to wash them because the blades are so sharp.

But if you chop the vegetables into large pieces, they will need to be cooked for a long time.

Curry actually tastes best when simmered slowly anyway.

It always tastes better on the second day.

But I’ve always loved second-day curry, I love it, it’s delicious, but whenever I eat it, it messes with my stomach…

That’s what I thought.

In the past, I used to leave curry out overnight at room temperature.

But now that I’ve learned better, I let it cool a little and then store it in the refrigerator. And guess what? No more stomachaches!

There’s a bacteria with a name like ‘Wish’ or something…

Turns out that stuff really does affect you.

Bacteria are scary, but the flavor of well-simmered curry is unbeatable. I love it.

If only we could use that kind of curry as a filling.

　

Just as I was thinking that—

“Couldn’t we use that stone oven over there?”

Martha suggested.

Hmm?

When I asked, she explained that before anyone could bake bread like they can today at home, there used to be big public bakeries. And people in the neighborhood would use the residual heat from those ovens to slow-cook their meals.

Apparently, some small villages still do this: Families bring pots with ingredients to the bakery, and after the fire is put out, the pots are placed in the oven to slow-simmer overnight. The pot, which has been simmering slowly in the residual heat, is then picked up about half a day later.

“Grandma often brought some too all the time. The pot-au-feu was amazing… And the herb-rubbed roast meat… so good…”

Grandpa Jill said, nostalgically.

What a delicious-sounding custom!

“Yeah, the stone oven stays hot even overnight,”

Larry and Ann chimed in.

“We roast sweet potatoes in there all the time.”

So what does that mean?

“If we prep a pot the night before, the ingredients could be slowly cooked and ready by morning, right? Everything would be soft, so we could easily mash and adjust the texture,”

Martha said, smiling brightly.

She’ll think up some recipes.

Martha-san was just too dependable.

If we can just throw in the measured ingredients and place it in the oven, we can cut down labor to a minimum.

Also, Ann, you mentioned something like roasting sweet potatoes- That sounds amazing, but if I brought some sweet potatoes, would you roast them for me?

“Of course! Bring whatever you like, anytime,” they said.

Now I definitely want to try this oven-simmering method.

And that’s how the first new bread development study group came to an end.

It was a very fruitful meeting.

A few days later, the spice procurement issue was surprisingly solved quite easily.

“Cumin? I’ve got some,”

said Kaen-san, casually offering me some seeds.

I mean, cumin is cumin seed, so the seeds themselves are a spice.

She could even provide a decent amount. Maybe because I brought her a sample of the prototype curry bread when I came to talk. She joked that I could pay her in curry bread.…she’s Joking, right?

And now, thanks to Martha’s slowly simmered in stone oven residual-heat special, the recipe has evolved even further—it’s unbelievably good.

I asked Kaen and she said that cumin can be grown in my field. Perfect, let’s grow it. I can probably grow other things too. Yeah.

Just in case, I also went to the Alchemy Guild to check the price, and the smiling vice-guild leader, Hakase-san, said,

“How much do you need? I can get it ready right away.”

The other day, when he put an urgent request for it, I gave him a small amount of the mugwort-like plant, and now I feel like he’s completely locked on to me…Well, I mean, he said they were really in a bind. I’m sure it was delivered by Kaen-san, not me, but Hakase-san thanked me as if he was absolutely sure it was from me.　

Of course, I replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about,”

but…

He’s been acting weird around me ever since.

　

“I was just looking, really…”

I mumbled as I fled the building. Hakase-san is kinda scary…

After a while, the new curry bread was released and became a massive hit.

And apparently, you even have to line up to get one now.

Their other breads are selling like hotcakes too—Larry and Ann are super busy now.

Even the sweet bean bread and bread made with dry yeast dough is selling well, though it’s a bit overshadowed by the curry bread.

I think it would be cute to call the sweet bean bread “Anpan” after the shop’s poster girl, Ann-san, but for some reason she rejected it. Too embarrassing, she said. So it’s just “Sweet Bean Bread” for now.

Because it’s so popular, Grandpa Jill said:

“If you come late, there’s not even any baked bread left!”

But apparently, Ann always sets aside some bread for him anyway.

“Takes the fun out of choosing!”

he grumbles, but…He’s probably one of those “same thing as usual” people anyway.

By the way, when I gave the kids some of the curry bread to eat:

“It’s spicy…”

Kirara only nibbled on the plain outer crust. Seems she’s even more sensitive to spice than Luna.

But she liked the sweet bean bread.

“I want it spicier!!”

said Mimi, gobbling down her own portion and Kirara’s leftovers.

Looks like she really loved the curry.

Maybe I’ll ask Martha-san to come up with a recipe that I can easily make—, one where I can adjust the spiciness.

Now that I have permission to use the residual-heat stone oven, there are so many things I can try. I’m so excited.

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