The team decided to stay another day when they saw how easy it was to gather cores in such a situation, and they happily attracted more monsters and killed them while waiting for breakfast.
He told them to take their time because he was experimenting a bit with one of the ingredients he recently found, and hadn’t quite had the time to completely explore yet.
Finn decided to make noodles today.
He was particularly excited. This was the first time he had been eating a ’wheat’ product since coming to this place, after all!
As mentioned, the bindergrain was a two-in-one crop that could be used as rice and as wheat. It took him a bit of experimentation with the help of the goblins, but fortunately, the guests were busy with monsters to notice that breakfast was taking a while.
If he wanted to make rice, he’d use the whole grain. He’d harvest the plant while it was golden and dry, and then dehusk the outer layer (with his pestle).
He would then rinse and soak it, and then cook it like normal rice (though the perfect moisture, heat, and duration were up for experimentation).
After a few trial and errors, he managed to create the initial product. It was chewy, nutty, and a bit sticky. If he were to give a parallel to earth, it would be like a mix of brown rice, barley, and millet.
For the noodles, the process was a bit more troublesome. He first had to dehusk and clean the plant, and then he’d have to roast it slightly to get a deeper flavor. He then had to sift through something fine to make the flour.
For this, Tumble made a sift made of fine wood. On earth, this was either fine cloth or reed, but they didn’t have that here anymore. Obviously, the end product wasn’t as smooth as he wanted, but it’d do.
He also took note to experiment more later on how to improve the taste of either application. For example, should he roast it first, or should he add other ingredients to improve things like elasticity.
He kneaded it for 15 minutes to make it smooth, firm, and springy. That said, since it was a set and had the same ingredients, he would make noodles and dumplings.
With the goblins’ help, he made quite a lot of flour. The broth base was brightsweet pear juice, which gave natural sweetness and brightness. Then he had the stonebulb stock, which was earthy and had a garlicky undertone. He added veilroot flakes to slightly thicken and add an umami taste.
After adding spices according to taste, he finally completed the dish!
[Sunrise Nettle-Noodle Bowl (C)]
[Information: Warm breakfast noodles with bindergrain noodles, thornroot, basilume, and brightsweet pear broth. Adds energy and brightness to one’s day. Increases Stamina and HP recovery by 25% and adds 10% increase in agility and dexterity for 30 minutes]
[First C-Class Essence Food, Created!]
[Bonus! Received Permanent +3 Dexterity]
Finn blinked. His first C-class essence food!
And the effects were insane ! Also, yay, bonus! He already felt faster.
"Breakfast is ready? I felt the warmth calling to me!"
"Ah, yes, let me plate it first," he said, quite excited to get more opinions. "You guys can wash your hands and sit down."
As they settled down, Finn added thornroot slices, basilume leaves, and surgefern bits as toppings. He gave them a bowl each and three pieces of dumplings.
They all squirmed at the warmth and aroma it emitted. They used spoons and forks for now.
He placed cutlery in front of them, including chopsticks. The chopsticks were something he got Tumble to make, as it wasn’t already included in the kitchen.
Before they ate, he showed them how to use it too, including how to eat the dish. While noodles could be eaten with a spoon and fork, chopsticks (when learned) gave finer control over the noodles and the toppings.
The guests followed after him, though they were admittedly a bit befuddled.
At first, it looked and felt strange. What were those odd, long things swimming in the soup? It was completely unfamiliar to them.
Using their spoons, they took a sip of the soup first. There was a sweet and salty depth to the soup. It was delicious, filling, and warm.
Then they took a few more spoons and scooped a few more things into the soup. First, it was the more familiar thornroot slices, though it had the basilume leaves and other toppings. They ate it, and it was delicious, fitting well with the broth.
They were friendly to the flavor now and looked at the alien ingredient. They saw Finn eat it with two sticks, and it looked like he was enjoying it. They watched his actions.
Then they ate something called the dumpling, which was, according to Finn, just a different version of bread with meat. He asked them to dip it a bit in his liquid sauce.
For now, they used the fork, taking a piece and then dipping it all-so-lightly into the sauce.
As the things entered their mouths, their eyes widened a bit. The skin was soft and slightly chewy, giving way to the burst of meaty juices inside.
Similarly, Finn moaned as he ate another dumpling, dipping it in his premade sauce. It was not as awesome as soy sauce, but it would do. It was made of the purplestep salt, boiled down brightsweet pear juice, and then infused with various herbs to add some peppery taste.
However, since he had rice now, he would probably be able to derive another type of sauce from it.
Anyway, the others were busy enjoying the new taste, and they reckoned it was finally time to try the oddest ingredient yet—the so-called noodles. Finn said that the skin around the dumpling used similar ingredients to the noodles, and that gave them an idea of what to expect.
Because they had heightened reflexes and control over their bodies, they got the hang of using chopsticks relatively quickly.
Soon, they ate the long thing, and they were surprised.
"This is so new... I’ve never had texture and sensation like this before..."
It was slightly nutty and chewy. It was soft and springy, adding a delightful texture inside their mouths. It also absorbed much of the previous flavor, as if balancing it by adding weight and texture.
It seemed like the longer they stayed here, the more they discovered. And it was fascinating.