Morcster Chef B3 - Chapter 16-18 (Patreon)

Malissa nodded, staring up into the darkening sky. “I think I could see myself doing this full time. I wonder what it would be like to work in a full restaurant rather than a cart. One with a bunch of fancy recipes rather than just a single simple one.”

“Maybe we’ll have a chance to find out some day,” Arek said.

Belmont and Ming wandered over, flopping down beside them. The two both looked exhausted.

“How’d you like that?” Ming asked with a smug grin. “I did my job, right?”

“That’s one way to put it,” Arek said with a wry grin.

“You can’t expect them to know without saying more, Ming,” Belmont said, shaking his head. “You just acted normal. Nobody that knows you at all would suspect anything.”

Ming harrumphed and crossed her arms.

“Suspect what?” Malissa asked.

“When I went to find Ming, she was trying to convince people to eat food at our cart,” Belmont said. “Nobody was really listening. They were all busy or already standing in a different line. So she had the idea to cause a giant scene and run over here to drag people’s attention over.”

Arek’s eyebrows rose. “That’s… devious.”

“I am very smart. Tell me I’m smart.”

“What are you, five?” Belmont asked, flicking her in the shoulder. “But it was a clever plan. Well done.”

Ming beamed at them. “And it worked!”

“That it did,” Arek said, shaking his head in awe. “Well done, Ming. It certainly worked very well. I was worried about getting enough customers to sell what we’d bought, and now we need to make sure we don’t accidentally get too popular and run of out food.”

“What are you going to make tomorrow?” Ming asked eagerly. “More shrimp?”

“I think it might be fun to swing by the market and see what they have,” Arek said, rubbing his chin. “Maybe something will inspire me and Malissa.”

“Sure. What’s for dinner, then?”

“We ate less than an hour ago,” Malissa said.

“And?”

“Nobody else can eat as much as you,” Belmont grumbled. “Buy something at the tavern if you really want to. I don’t think Arek and Malissa are going to be making anything else today.”

“Damn right,” Malissa said, hiding a yawn. “I need to sleep before I collapse. That was exhausting.”

The Happy Sunflowers slowly all rose to their feet and, with a final check over their cart to make sure everything was put away, headed over to a nearby tavern to stay the night.

Arek awoke early the next morning, refreshed and excited. He slipped out of the bed – which was a fair bit too small for him – and headed into the hall, where all of the others were already waiting for him.

“Seriously?” Arek said, shaking his head with a grin. “You beat me to getting up again? Did you even sleep?”

“Ming woke us up,” Malissa said, glaring at the mage. “She was too excited for breakfast.”

“It’s basically still dinner at this point,” Belmont said, yawning. “Whatever. We’re going to the market, right?”

“Yeah,” Arek said. “Ming, you want to lead us? I’d love to see what other kind of fresh meat they’ve got.”

Ming gave him a thumbs up and skipped down the stairs. The rest of the Happy Sunflowers followed after her with considerably less energy. There was a difference between being awake and being Ming awake, after all.

The sun had still yet to rise in the sky when they got out of the tavern, and the city was still cloaked in shadows. Faint traces of the blue early morning light were starting to peek out over the buildings, but it was still hours from sunrise.

Ming led the group through the city and toward the docks. Most of the city was still asleep, and almost nobody else was on the roads with them. As they grew closer to the ocean, the temperature dropped slightly.

Unlike the rest of the city, the docks were in full motion. Sailors stood on ship decks, shouting out to each other and carrying crates down. Several large tents had been raised at the far end, and dozens of people milled about under them, selling and buying wares.

“That’s where I got the shrimp,” Ming said, pointing at the tents.

“Fantastic,” Arek said, setting off toward them. He got no shortage of suspicious glances from the vendors as he approached, and a few people pulled their wares closer to themselves.

Arek ignored them and approached a large vendor that had a huge bed of ice on his table. The ice was covered with all sorts of fish varieties.

“No eating,” the vendor said, talking slowly and studying Arek warily.

“What else are fish good for?” Arek asked with an amused grin.

The vendor’s eyes widened. “My apologies. I didn’t expect an orc to speak common.”

“Most don’t, but I haven’t been getting that reaction as much as I used to,” Arek replied. “I suppose I got used to people ignoring it.”

The vendor pursed his lips. “We’re at sea most of the time, so we don’t get as used to the folk that wander through towns as adventurers or the people that stay here full time. If you come around enough times, I’m sure you’ll be fine. What can I help you with?”

“I’m looking for some fish,” Arek replied. “Surprise.”

“I might have gathered,” the merchant said, his lips twitching in a grin. “What kind of fish?”

“I’ll admit that I really don’t know a lot about fish,” Arek said. “We’ve started up a small food wagon in the center square, and we want some ingredients to keep our offerings fresh every day. I know the basics of working with fish, but I wouldn’t know which one would be best.”

“That obviously depends on what you’re using them for,” the vendor replied. “What dish are you thinking to make?”

“Hmm. Malissa, do we have anything left from our ingredients? If we’ve got something left over that’s still workable, we should try to use it.”

“Butter and lemons,” Malissa replied. “We got a lot of those. A fair amount of spices and the like as well, but we probably aren’t going to finish any of that up too soon.”

Arek nodded thoughtfully. “Then, perhaps something pretty simple for the fish? I’d like to pan fry it with a lemon butter sauce. It wouldn’t be all that different in preparation from the shrimp yesterday, but at least we’ll have a theme.”

“Then you’ll probably be wanting a white fish,” the merchant said, indicating several large specimens on the side of his ice bed. “They’re the best for pan frying, in my opinion. Nice and flaky, so they come apart as soon as you touch them with a fork. They also have a mild flavor themselves, so they take in the essence of whatever you cook them in and just really magnify it.”

Arek’s eyebrows rose. “You really like white fish. Are you also a chef?”

“I dabble, I suppose. I love fish. It’s why I’m a fisherman. But I’m nothing compared to a lot of the chefs hanging around in the city. Some of them are really just on another level.”

“Well, we’ll do our best to do your fish proud,” Arek said with a chuckle. “Let’s get some of the white fish. Is there a particular one you recommend?”

“Can’t go wrong with a good halibut,” the man replied. “If you’re taking my recommendation, that’s what I’d suggest. Do you know how to prepare the fish so it can be cooked?”

“You mean seasoning?” Arek asked.

“No. Descaling and removing the bones.”

Arek blinked. He looked down at the fish again, registering for the first time that they weren’t just slabs of meat to begin working with. “Ah, no. I’ve only ever worked with pre-prepared fish, now that I think about it. I was just going to pull the scales off.”

“Oh no, we can’t have that,” the merchant said. He glanced up at the slowly brightening sky. “You’ll be cooking shortly, right?”

Arek nodded.

“Then I’ll show you how to properly descale a fish now. It’ll still be fresh when you start working with it, so the meat won’t be wasted. How many do you want? It’s half a silver for a fish.”

Malissa stepped forward and cleared her throat. “I’ll take over here, Arek.”

She and the merchant launched into a heated bartering session while the others watched on in awe.

“I would have given up if he let me taste the fish,” Ming whispered reverently. “Malissa is so good!”

“To be fair, I think anyone would be good compared to you when bribes are in the picture,” Belmont grumbled. “But she’s certainly quite impressive.”

A few minutes later, Malissa had secured enough fish to last through the day. Both she and the merchant looked pretty pleased with the price they’d settled on, which was more than enough for Arek. He wasn’t particularly concerned with profits anyway – as long as they were making enough to keep the group happy and avoid running out of coin, he was satisfied.

The merchant took out a long, thin knife. It was straight up until the tip, which curved up slightly. He took one of the fishes that Malissa had bought and pressed the blade to it, removing the scales in smooth, confident strokes and pausing between each one so that they could watch what he did.

“What about the head?” Malissa asked.

“You plan to use it to? Some chefs do.”

“I think we’ll pass on that,” Malissa said, shuddering. “I don’t want to eat eyeballs right now.”

Arek frowned. “They do look kind of tasty.”

“Nobody will buy that.”

“Fine, fine,” Arek said with a grin. “No heads for now. Another time.”

The merchant nodded, chopping it off. He went through the fish, removing the rest of the scales and then cutting the flesh away from its skeleton in a single, smooth stroke. He flipped it over, then did the same to the other side.

“And that’s all.” The merchant ran a thumb across the flesh, then nodded and gave them a grin. “Just got to make sure none of the bones accidentally got left behind. That would be bad. But making a fillet is quite simple. Did you catch everything?”

“I think so,” Arek said. “Do we have to use a knife similar to the one you have? It looks incredibly maneuverable compared to my cleaver.”

“Ah, this is a fillet knife,” the merchant said. “It’s very useful for this purpose. You could probably get away without using one, but it certainly makes things easier.”

“Do you have one for sale?” Malissa asked.

“Eh, I’ve got an old one. I wasn’t planning on selling it, but you seem like decent enough folk and it’s still perfectly functional, I just got a new knife. I’ll sell it to you for a silver?”

“Works for us,” Arek said, handing the man a coin before Malissa could try to bargain it down. At this point, he just wanted to get to cooking. The merchant grinned and handed him the blade.

“I’ll have to swing by and check out what you’ve made at the cart a little later in the day,” the merchant said. “I hope your sales go well!”

“You too,” Malissa said. Arek waved farewell as the Happy Sunflowers made their way back over to the cart.

“Don’t we need other ingredients?” Ming asked, eyeing a sweets store that had yet to open its doors for the day.

“We’ve got enough,” Arek replied. “We’ll be going really simple today. I haven’t worked with fish like this before, so the less work we give ourselves, the better it is. This will just be fish with lemon butter and spices. Simple, but hopefully good.”

“Everything you make is good,” Ming said. “I like food.”

“We know,” everyone else chorused.

“That does make your praise considerably cheaper,” Belmont pointed out. “I’ve seen you eat dirt and enjoy it.”

“It was good dirt. Flavored well.”

“I refuse to continue this conversation.”

“Probably a good idea.” Arek laughed. A thought struck him and he paused. “Actually, I’ll meet the three of you at the wagon shortly. I’m going to try to find somewhere that sells water barrels so I can fill my garden’s supply up. I’ll get one of those little convenient bags Malissa had if I can find one.”

“Sounds good,” Malissa said. “We’ve probably got a fair bit of time before we can start cooking. Shopping went a lot faster than I thought it would.”

Arek broke away and set off, hunting for any stores that had opened early. He wandered through the streets for nearly half an hour, checking storefronts and wagons. There were a fair number of them getting ready for the day, and even a few that were already open, but it took the orc nearly an hour to find a place that was selling enough water for his purposes.

Unfortunately, they only had water barrels and no magical items, but he was fine with that. The sale went quickly when they realized he was trying to buy the barrel rather than steal it, and Arek returned to the wagon with his garden resupplied and a grin on his face.

“Looks like you got what you were looking for, huh?” Malissa guessed.

“It was harder than I thought it would be,” Arek admitted. “But yes, I did. Lots of places were closed, and the merchant I ended up buying the water from nearly attacked me. I think the chef hat gave him pause, though.”

“Is that why you always wear it?” Belmont asked, cocking his head to the side. “To show people you’re more than just an orc?”

“I am just an orc,” Arek replied. “But the hat does give them pause, yes. Things that look completely bizarre usually catch attention enough to delay most people’s reactions. Honestly, the cities we’ve been in recently have been quite good. I’m much more used to getting chased away or warned off. That was before I joined you all, though.”

“Perhaps it was because you were often at cities without as many adventurers?” Belmont wondered. “Either that or you found a bunch of assholes.”

“If I recall correctly, you were one of the people that didn’t want to meet him because he was an orc,” Malissa pointed out.

“I was mistaken,” Belmont said. “And perhaps a little too paranoid. Arek was one of the greatest things to ever happen to our party.”

They all stared at him in shock.

“What?”

“You just admitted you were paranoid,” Ming said. “The first steps to recovery are acceptance.”

“Oh, get off it,” Belmont said, rolling his eyes. Malissa laughed and Arek joined in.

“Thank you, Belmont,” Arek said once he’d stopped. “And likewise, meeting you all was one of the best things that happened to me.”

Faint golden light poked into the square as the sun peeked above the rooftops, sending glimmering rays in to illuminate the city. The Happy Sunflowers glanced at each other, then all nodded as one.

“It’s time,” Malissa said.

“Ming and I will go make sure we keep a steady flow of customers coming,” Belmont said. “I’ve got some ideas myself this time.”

He and Ming darted off, a spring in their steps.

“We should get to it as well,” Arek said. “It won’t be long now, and I feel like cutting the fish might take some time since we only have one knife.”

“I can do it,” Malissa offered. “When it comes to cutting things with thin knives, I think I might actually have more experience than you do.”

“Can’t argue with that,” Arek said with a chuckle. He handed her the thin knife and she took out one of the fish, removing the head and following the merchant’s instructions to descale it.

While she prepared the fish, Arek took one of his large bowls from its spot on a shelf. He grabbed a lemon and carefully shaved its skin off with his cleaver before finely mincing it into a zest. Once it was little more than fine powder, Arek scraped it into his bowl. He squeezed the rest of the lemon into the bowl and set his wok over the flame, tossing a chunk of butter into it.

Arek sprinkled some salt into the bowl and, once the butter had melted, tossed that in as well. He mixed everything up, then quickly tasted it with the back of a spoon. The orc added a little salt, then set it aside.

He grabbed some garlic, finely mincing it before mixing it together with salt, paprika, pepper, and some red pepper flakes.

“Done,” Malissa said, handing Arek two fillets.

“We dry them a little first,” Arek said, waving a claw over the fish. Faint yellow magic glowed as the moisture left the outside of the fish. He didn’t leave it completely dry, but took enough of the liquid away so that it would brown in the pan.

He dipped the meal into the spice mixture, then added oil to his wok and set it over the heat. Once the oil was hot, Arek carefully laid the coated fillets onto the metal. As it cooked, Arek drizzled a little bit of the sauce over the top. He flipped the fish once it had turned opaque, revealing a perfectly crusted, brown underbelly.

“That looks really good,” Malissa said, eyeing the fish. “Why don’t you use all the sauce now?”

“We’d lose a lot of the flavor,” Arek replied. “This sauce doesn’t need to be cooked, and the fish isn’t going to absorb much more than what I’ve already put onto it. Serving it fresh will let it keep a lot more of the taste.”

Malissa nodded her understanding while she took the basil Arek had set out earlier, cutting it up absentmindedly.

Arek removed the fish from the heat a few moments later, laying the two down in their own bowls. He drizzled a little of the sauce over the top and Malissa topped it with a sprinkle of basil.

The two of them looked down upon their dishes.

“Seems solid,” Malissa said. “Nice and simple, just like last time.”

“Can’t go wrong with simple. Usually.”

Arek slid one of the bowls over to Malissa before picking the fish up between two of his claws. After glancing around to make sure not too many people were watching, Arek leaned his head back and dropped the entire fish into his mouth.

It wasn’t an explosion of flavor – it was subtle. Like a river washing through his mouth, the soft, flaky fish melted almost instantly. The spiced crust gave just enough texture and flavor to mesh perfectly with the slightly tart but rich sauce. However, it was slightly more firm and dry than he would have liked.

Arek wouldn’t go nearly as far as to say that it was the best fish dish he’d ever had, but since he almost never ate fish, he was pretty satisfied with it. If he reduced the cook time slightly, he was pretty sure it would have been even better. A more expensive cut of fish might have added more flavor to the meal, but it was more than good enough for his purposes.

“I think we might have overcooked it a tad,” Malissa said, taking a much more reasonably sized bite of her own meal. “I’ve had fish before in a fancy restaurant, and it was a little softer and flakier than this.”

“I agree,” Arek said. “I was going by color, but I think I waited a tad too long. Or the wok was too hot. Either way, I think a few seconds less on each side would make this perfect.”

He started preparing the cart for the next batch of food. Malissa took another fish and started to cut it up. While they worked, the sun continued its trek in the sky and the courtyard started to grow more populated.

This time, it took almost no time at all for a few people to meander over to Arek and Malissa. Arek’s memory wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty sure he saw several repeat customers from the previous day. There was some disappointment when people realized that the meal had been changed, but it was quickly dismissed once the two of them started serving the food.

Arek and Malissa only accelerated as they worked, occasionally swapping roles so that Malissa could get experience in all parts of the kitchen. The day wound on, their crowd steadily growing to match and even exceed some of the other carts.

Ming and Belmont swung by for lunch on two separate occasions, snagging bowls for themselves and disappearing back into the crowd. Whatever marketing they were doing was clearly working, so neither Arek nor Malissa were about to complain. On their second visit, the two brought a resupply of all the ingredients the cart was using – and just in time. They had been about to run out.

The day passed quickly, and by the end of it, they were well and truly out of everything. Arek and Malissa exchanged satisfied grins as they sold their last portion and slumped against the cart, spent. Adventuring was one thing, but cooking for the entire day was a completely different beast.