Chapter 156. I Thought You Might Need Some Help (3)
Marianne, Gabriel, and Bernard had all been expecting something, to some degree.
Brigitte's hands, weaving three dishes to completion simultaneously, had been beautiful enough for that.
"How is it possible for it to taste like this…."
"It was definitely frozen, wasn't it?"
But none of them had imagined it would be like this. It was shocking.
And understandably so — there is a saying that for seafood dishes such as these, seven-tenths is the ingredient and three-tenths is the skill. The quality of the raw material has that much of an impact.
And yet Brigitte had shattered that common wisdom. She had produced dishes even more magnificent than The Golden Mermaid's.
"You're surprised, aren't you. Honestly, it surprises me every time as well."
Jurgen agreed with the reactions of the three, and spoke.
Even looking at it again, it never ceased to amaze him — how a genius like Brigitte could have appeared in this culinary wasteland of a city.
"I would imagine Lady Blanchard is now convinced."
Jurgen cut straight to the point.
"How about we replace this evening's menu with these dishes?"
"But… if we deviate from the menu we announced in advance, the guests might…."
"With flavours of this calibre, there will be no complaints."
Jurgen cut her off mid-sentence.
"At the very least, we can avoid the catastrophe of different dishes going out to every table, can't we?"
Jurgen had no particular intent to attack, but the point struck home — Marianne flushed and bit her lip, at a loss for words.
"…Understood."
Strictly speaking, Brigitte's dishes just now were difficult to call Fine Dining fare.
There was no tightly calculated layering of flavours. Rather than a feast of flavour that deepened the more one savoured it, this was closer to an instinctive, immediate deliciousness. Strictly put — it was simply 'a very well-made dish.'
There was no helping that, given it had been improvised on the spot with B-grade ingredients, without any preparation whatsoever.
But what mattered was that it was 'delicious.' And in fact, this might suit the palates of Nortaris nobles rather better.
"Chef Gabriel, what are your thoughts?"
"……."
Meanwhile, Gabriel — having tasted Brigitte's dishes — was in a state of profound shock.
Until now, he had held a certain confidence in himself when it came to cooking.
After the culinary craze swept through the capital. He had studied the recipe books of the Bellua Republic as well, and on the strength of the skills he had built up, had earned himself a modest reputation.
Though it was faltering now, in the days when The Golden Mermaid had spared no expense on fine ingredients, it had even been called the pinnacle of Northern gastronomy. He had taken pride in that.
But today's dishes from Brigitte were… how to put it… on an entirely different level. A level of mastery that made one think involuntarily, 'could a person even reach this by effort alone?'
Dark envy and jealousy welled up toward that small girl. At the same time, a pure longing — the longing of a cook — burned within him:
'I want to make food like that.'
Gabriel pressed his lips together firmly.
"Miss Brigitte, would you be willing to give me the opportunity to learn from you?"
"Of course!"
A request that had come after considerable agonising — and an acceptance delivered in under a second.
"Well then, the first thing will be to put together a course! Could you help me check the quantities of the remaining ingredients?"
"Of course."
"And I'll need your guidance too, Teacher! Please give me your wisdom and encouragement!"
"Naturally, I'll help."
A short while later — the boxes of ingredients laid out across the kitchen. What they contained was, to put it plainly, a random assortment.
Uneven quantities and inconsistent quality. Taking all of it into account and devising a single cohesive course capable of satisfying that evening's guests on the spot — it was a fiendishly difficult task.
"Hmm… King Crab, frozen, roughly twenty… Sea Bass in the fresh, only ten… Good heavens! Why is there so much Caviar? Prawns — at least there are plenty of Prawns!"
"The Oysters are at least quite fresh."
The ingredient situation at The Golden Mermaid was already dire. If they had tried to receive guests in this state as-is… that might well have been The Golden Mermaid's final day.
Marianne let out a sigh.
"Is it really possible to make something out of all this?"
"Of course!"
A situation with seemingly no answer. Jurgen and Brigitte put their heads together to sketch out the course.
"I think it would be nice to open by awakening the appetite with the scent of the sea."
What Brigitte selected was the Sea Bass. The ingredient that had been in the best condition, comparatively.
"The Sea Bass is incredibly fresh, so. Let's slice it thin and serve it cold! Seasoning kept to a minimum."
"Just a moment. Surely you don't mean to serve it raw?"
"What? Yes, that's right! Raw fish is so delicious! It might also be nice to briefly cure it in Kelp."
Marianne had been aghast, but found herself stepping back at the tone of Brigitte's voice — so utterly certain.
"Next, we ought to have one warm dish as well. Hmm… there's a good amount of Abalone, fortunately."
"The Abalone Liver Risotto from just now would do nicely."
"The Risotto will take a fair amount of hands-on work — will that be all right?"
"I'll lend a hand."
The two of them improvising a menu without pause.
"With King Crab, the sweetness is a little lacking… should we go with a soup instead?"
"Rather than that, how about stuffing it into a pasta?"
"I don't think that's quite right! After the Risotto, we need something with real impact — a proper punch — and just filling pasta won't be enough!"
"Then what about making a Bisque sauce with the Prawns?"
And so, in the kitchen of The Golden Mermaid where only despair had lingered — preparations began for the emergency banquet, with the Y&P loan and The Golden Mermaid's resurgence both riding on it.
***
That evening. The doors of The Golden Mermaid opened once more.
"Well, the food is good at any rate."
"We've invested in it after all — surely they'll put out something decent."
Some guests had not cancelled their reservations, scandal notwithstanding.
"Come now, surely it can't be that bad."
"Quite right — it's not as though rumours in the social circles are ever once or twice."
Or there were those who, while they might have been deterred by the rumours, still had the lingering memory of
'but it was good'
that kept them coming back.
"Thank you for coming. Due to a matter with our ingredients today, there will be some changes to the menu — we do ask for your understanding. Yes? Yes, yes. I assure you it will be delicious."
Marianne was forcing the smile of a Host and moving between the tables, soliciting understanding one by one.
Inwardly, her stomach was in knots. She had seen how Jurgen and Brigitte had put the course together with such ease.
But from the midpoint, with the opening preparations underway, she had not been able to taste-test things properly.
'Will it be all right?
Please let it be all right.'
"I say, why the sudden menu change…."
"I suppose the rumours about the ingredient supply being disrupted were true."
With both host and guests on edge — the first dish was served.
"Oh?"
The Count who had visited again that evening — the one who had been critical on a prior occasion, lamenting that the lobster had been disappointing — was here again tonight. But when what arrived was raw fish rather than Blue Lobster, his expression was undisguised disappointment.
"So that's why all that business about the menu changing."
What with the unpleasant rumours swirling around The Golden Mermaid —
"If you're going to pull stunts like this, no wonder the rumours are what they are."
The Count grumbled to his companions and put a slice of Sea Bass in his mouth.
At that moment.
"……!"
His eyes went wide.
'What is this?
This is not the savory taste you would expect from a simple white fish.'
And this citrus-like fragrance…
"Is that citrus fruit? Ho… this is rather good, actually. Quite good."
"How curious — it looks like raw fish, and yet no matter how you chew it, there's this wonderful springiness…."
Marianne, watching the Count's reaction from a distance, clenched her fist. If that fastidious man was satisfied, the other guests would broadly be satisfied as well.
The second course arrived.
A dish already proven in the tasting. Abalone Liver Risotto.
"This looks rather… uninspiring in appearance."
"Kills the appetite just looking at it."
"Is this not a Risotto? I understand it is quite a celebrated dish in the Bellua Republic."
Guests who had been about to feel let down by the appearance — neither particularly glamorous nor appetising — the moment the spoon touched their lips, the hall fell into silence.
"This… this depth of flavour?"
"Extraordinary! What on earth is this savory taste?"
"My goodness! It melts on the tongue so softly!"
Third course. Fourth course.
With each successive dish, praise and admiration rang out. Marianne had, somewhere along the way, lost all trace of anxiety as she looked out at the faces of her guests.
"To think this was possible…."
The dishes Jurgen and Brigitte had prepared over the course of the morning. Receiving greater acclaim than the course Marianne had gone to great lengths and expense to arrange.
In truth, this had been her belief until now.
That Y&P Trading Company's approach was too slow, and a method behind the times.
That if one could lure people in using food as bait — if one could extract greater profit from that — then the care and devotion poured into the cooking itself was of no particular consequence.
But now, watching the rapture of the guests, she thought she understood.
Even if The Golden Mermaid's hall had not been this grand, even if this place had been a ramshackle hut — they would have come back.
Y&P Trading Company had sold the food. Marianne had not.
The banquet came to an end.
After seeing off the last guest, the hall fell quiet. Jurgen and Brigitte, along with Gabriel — drenched in sweat — emerged from the kitchen.
"You worked splendidly today. Chef."
Jurgen clapped Gabriel on the shoulder. And indeed, Gabriel had given his all in supporting them.
His passion, visible even from beside him, had blazed bright enough to mark him unmistakably as a kindred spirit of the Culinary Revolution.
"Not at all."
Gabriel, having set his pride entirely aside, looked at Brigitte with eyes full of reverence.
"It was truly a precious time for me. I had been labouring under the arrogant delusion that my cooking had nowhere left to go. Thank you sincerely. Miss Brigitte."
"Oh, come now. Hehe. You picked things up so remarkably quickly, though!"
Gabriel bowed his head to Brigitte with great solemnity.
The warm atmosphere the two cooks were creating.
Yet Marianne could not readily step into that space. Strictly speaking, her contribution to tonight's banquet had been nothing.
She had done no more than lay her fork on the table Y&P had set.
Just then, Jurgen approached Marianne.
"Lady Blanchard, how was tonight's banquet?"
After a long moment's deliberation, Marianne smiled — with a trace of bitterness.
"I understand clearly now why I could never beat Y&P Trading Company. I lost completely."
Jurgen shook his head.
"Brigitte's cooking was magnificent. Mine as well. But it was precisely because Lady Blanchard had prepared this magnificent stage that it could shine all the more."
Not entirely empty flattery. The human senses interact with one another in surprisingly close ways.
It is not for nothing that Michelin three-star restaurants pour vast sums into their interiors and tableware.
"If Lady Blanchard is willing… how would it be to work with Y&P to build something better than what you have now?"
A proposal she had not anticipated. Jurgen's offer did not stop there.
"I will lend you Chef Brigitte. I myself will also lend my strength. As for the immediate fire… I will arrange the funds."
Marianne blinked. She could not for the life of her understand why he was making such a generous proposal.
"Why would you go this far…."
If anything, Y&P Trading Company could simply acquire The Golden Mermaid once it came up for auction.
'Could it be he wants to marry me?'
Marianne thought.
"But of course. Are you not a kindred spirit of the Culinary Revolution?"
"……."
'It must be because he wants to marry me.'
Marianne thought.