Chapter 4

"Understood! I'll show you an example!"

At my declaration, the murmuring crowd fell silent.

"An example... Miss!?"

The head chef hurriedly tried to stop me as I started rummaging through the kitchen. However, I held him back and checked the ingredients.

"Good. I was worried it might be like a meat cult, but we have everything we need."

Sure enough, as a wealthy marquis family, they had a good selection. I immediately laid out the ingredients.

One turnip. One-quarter of an onion. Ten grams of butter. One hundred milliliters of water. One hundred milliliters of milk. Salt and pepper. I also needed a few other things, but I would get to those later.

This was enough for two servings.

"Alright!"

Looking at the laid-out ingredients, I rolled up my sleeves with determination.

I washed the turnip in water, patted it dry, placed it on the cutting board, and picked up a knife.

"Oh, Miss, that's dangerous! If you get hurt...!"

The head chef desperately tried to stop me from holding the knife. I guess it was scary for him to see me, who had never even known the word 'cooking' before, now holding a knife. He was probably also worried that if I got hurt, it would be his responsibility.

However, I was no longer the same person. After all, I had the memories of my previous life.

"Just watch."

I smiled at the head chef.

Then I aimed the knife at the turnip.

In my previous life, I used to cook, but in this life, I hadn't cooked at all, so there was a gap. I needed to be careful and not get too overconfident. If something happened and the head chef got blamed, it wouldn't be fair.

I first cut the leaves off the turnip. It felt good to handle a knife again after so long.

I peeled the turnip thickly and sliced it thinly. The sound of the knife on the cutting board was oddly reassuring.

I transferred the sliced turnip to another plate and prepared the onion.

I peeled the onion quickly, placed it on the cutting board, and sliced it thinly, just like the turnip.

I put butter in a pot, sautéed the onion, and then added the turnip once the onion was cooked.

I sautéed them thoroughly to bring out their flavor and sweetness.

As I sautéed, the turnip gradually turned translucent. It was time to move on to the next step.

"Hey, do you have any bouillon?"

"Oh, yes! We always keep it on hand to make soup whenever needed!"

I was relieved to hear the head chef's words. In modern Japan, we had convenient powdered bouillon, but I didn't think they had the technology to make it here.

Without it, the only way to flavor the soup would be to extract the broth from vegetables, which would take a lot of time.

I was prepared to boil vegetables to make the broth, so I was very relieved to find that they had bouillon.

I asked the head chef where the bouillon was, took about 100 milliliters, and added it to the pot with the sautéed onion and turnip to simmer.

While it was simmering, I blanched the turnip leaves in boiling water with salt for about 30 seconds, then transferred them to cold water, squeezed out the excess water, and cut them into 1 cm pieces.

Once that was done, I checked the simmering turnip. When it was soft, I mashed it with a wooden spoon.

After mashing the turnip, I added the milk, heated it on low, and then added the turnip leaves to simmer together.

Finally, I seasoned it with salt and pepper—

"Done! Fiona's special turnip soup!"

I was a bit moved looking at the finished turnip soup.

I did a pretty good job without a blender or food processor, didn't I?

Thank you, wooden spoon.

I silently thanked the wooden spoon and looked at the finished soup.

The freshly made turnip soup, steaming hot, had a gentle white color from the turnip and milk, with the green of the turnip leaves as an accent.

I took a spoon and scooped up some of the soup. It had a creamy texture, different from regular soup.

I put the spoonful of soup in my mouth.

"Mm!"

This is...!

"Delicious!"

The turnip soup, mashed to a consistency similar to porridge, conveyed the natural sweetness of the turnip through my tongue. It had a light, soft flavor, making it easy for me to eat, even though I was feeling weak. Unlike meat, it was gentle on my stomach, and the warm soup warmed me from the inside.

After one bite, I felt hungry and quickly finished the bowl.

I exhaled and put down the spoon.

"Is that enough...?"

The head chef asked me hesitantly, seeing my satisfaction. Indeed, I had only made soup and hadn't added many ingredients.

But for me, this was enough.

"I've been sleeping for three days. I can't suddenly eat a lot."

Starting with soup was just right.

Partly because I had been bedridden, but also because I had a weak constitution and a sensitive stomach.

This menu was something I could eat even with a weak stomach.

"Also, turnips are rich in the digestive enzyme amylase, which helps prevent and improve indigestion and heartburn, making them perfect for someone with a weak stomach. The turnip leaves are also nutritious, containing beta-carotene, vitamin C, iron, calcium, and dietary fiber. The allicin in onions has the effect of thinning the blood, reducing swelling, and boosting immunity. Milk protects the stomach lining, making it recommended for people with weak stomachs. Of course, it also contains a balanced amount of the three major nutrients—"

I rattled off the knowledge I had learned when I was a health enthusiast, and the head chef's eyebrows drooped.

"Huh... beta-carotene? I don't understand... Are ingredients really that different...?"

The head chef was confused by my explanation.

"Eh... You don't know? Vitamins and minerals...?"

"Well... I've never heard of them. What about you, everyone else?"

The head chef asked the other cooks, but they all shook their heads.

That's when I finally realized.

Of course! The medical technology and general knowledge here are different from Japan!

If knowledge about nutrition isn't common, terms like beta-carotene and the three major nutrients wouldn't make sense.

But how could I explain it so they would understand?

Hmm...

I thought and thought, then simplified it.

"It's gentle on the stomach!"

Thank you for reading!

If you like it, I would be very happy if you could give it a ★★★★★ rating or add it to your bookmarks!

For this menu, if you have a blender, you can adjust the texture to your liking for an easy and delicious meal!

(Convenient kitchen tools in the modern world!)