28th of Searing, 2022
Take a moment to place down a bag of various leafy greens, root vegetables, chunks of wrapped meat, a live crayfish & different jars of undisclosed liquids & powders. Jared took a moment to examine what available tools he could use and what possible foods he could create with his own experience with cooking.
It wasn’t uncommon for Jared to be the one to cook meals when resting when various friends & people he associated with in his line of work of stealing would flock to his hideout to snag a meal. Of course, the thief didn’t know why they would come to his doorstep every night, expecting a meal, but the company wasn’t bad, and they always brought something edible to work with at least.
Jared takes a moment to pick up a knife, tilting it slowly from side to side, trying to determine if it is suitably for usage in his cooking.
“Slightly dull, but nothing but a quick touch-up can fix.”
Jared couldn’t help but smile as he reached for his back, lacing his fingers over the flap of leather satchel before pulling it back, rummaging through his wares before pulling out a weather-beaten yet smooth, hazy smoke block of quartz.
Placing the block on the countertop before giving a quick splash of water, Jared takes a moment to position the edge of the knife’s blade to the stone at a specific angle before he starts his stroking movements. The sounds of steel scraping onto the smooth surface of quartz was not the most enticing of sounds as the quality is more akin to a longsword gliding onto a steel cuirass.
Still, creating a new edge wouldn’t be long, as it only took a couple of strokes in an up & down motion to create a burr before repeating the step on the other side of the knife.
After several repeating strokes of the blade & he gently glided his finger across the blade's hilt to the edge, checking to see if any leftover bent pieces of metal could hinder his cooking. This new sharp-edged blade is more suitable for fine cutting.
“Much better now! Let's get started on the bread now.”
Jared happily mutters as he reaches out for the bag of various foodstuffs he had acquired from the marketplace. Jared quickly grabbed a small sack of wheat, oats and flour rye. He took a moment to tap his foot on the ground, letting it thud for a time. The relaxed thief was flipping through his memories about what meals would be nice to serve to someone who has saved him from a long time of recovery.
After much deliberation, Jared had ideas about what meals he could conjure up. The concept of the meal that he would make for Alistair; What he considered a simple meal might be an understatement.
Jared was planning to make a crayfish-based bisque with some maslin bread & freshly churned butter that he acquired from the local dairymaid as a starter. As for the main, The thief was thinking about converting some potatoes into gnocchi covered in a creamy mushroom white sauce with various herbs and a simple Panzanella as a side dish.
That being said, all of this would probably take him about 2 to 3 hours to prepare since most of the time was spent waiting for the bread to ferment & proof, making the stock for the bisque & sauce for the gnocchi, and hand-crafting the gnocchi from mashed potatoes.
Sprinkling a light layer of flour on the kitchen countertop, Jared starts to hum & smile creeps up on his scarred lips as he slowly loses himself in his craft. Then, he carefully weighed out the amount of flour & water with a bit of bread he acquired from one of the local bakeries.
The process of making Maslin Bread was simple enough. First, mixing in about ⅔ of wholegrain & the remaining flour of dark rye, the petty thief took a moment to set the yeast culture on one side of the bread. Next, a small amount of salt on the other side as his memory recalls that the bread culture often dies within minutes of direct contact. Lastly, adding a small amount of butter as a personal touch would make the bread's interior softer after baking.
Once all the dry ingredients have been placed. The amber-eyed thief takes a moment to add some water and begins to knees the dough, stretching the sticky mass with the palm of his hands before rolling it back into a ball. Rotate it clockwise at 45 degrees before repeating the process until the dough has enough structure and allow it to rest over the next hour or two.
While the bread was resting and allowed to ferment in the warm climates of the Northern Marches, Jared wasted no time preparing the remaining dishes he was practising.
Preparing the crayfish soup stock was simple enough, in his opinion that is. First, filling a cooking vessel with water and a small amount of salt allowed it to reach a roiling boil. Next, Jared took a moment to deshell the crayfish, preparing the various vegetables such as rolling cut the carrots, thinly slicing the celery to the large cubes of fennel & onion bulbs, separating the meat for the end product while keeping the shells for the creation of stock & butter.
It was essential when making food to move efficiently, as Jared learnt the hard way of eating many of his burnt and bland food. Cooking was one of few things he enjoyed, but he finds it a bit embarrassing nonetheless.
They return to the task once the salt water reaches a boil. The charcoal-haired thief quickly crushed the Crayfish shell before adding most of the shell pieces into the boiling water, keeping an eye on it for notable changes in the colour (mainly when the dull-grey changes to a bright sunset orange).
In the meantime, he quickly washed his hands. Then, the amber-eyed rogue turns his attention to making his Gnocchi, bringing a pot of salty water to boil. Next, the apprentice chef takes a moment to wash his potatoes before dropping them into the cooking pot as his attention is brought back to his crayfish stock which presents itself with slightly cloudy brown fluid. Finally, the prepared vegetables were added and allowed to cook for a short time to infuse the various flavours and nutrients into the broth.
Focusing his attention back on his potatoes. Jared took a moment to pull the potatoes out of the boiling water with a wooden spatula. Then, he briefly pressed it to see if it was tender enough before they could be made into his potato dumplings, and once it was confirmed, the thief allowed his boiled potatoes to rest as it was too hot to handle for the time being.
Returning to his seafood broth, the young Alistian male takes a bottle of white vermouth & bay leaves from his grocery bags. He adds a small amount to the broth before moving the vessel off to the side of the flame so that it can simmer over a long period and allow the vegetables & herbs to infuse its flavours. On occasion, taking a few sips and adjust the stock’s flavour with salt, pepper & additional herbs.
At this point, Jared turned his attention to his cooked potatoes, which had finally cooled down to a manageable temperature. The black-hair rogue quickly removes the potato skin before grating the cooked potatoes down into light, fluffy bits.
From there, Jared quickly grabs an egg before separating the yolk & whisk it lightly before adding it to the potato bits and kneading it into a smooth dough before rolling the dough out into a thin strip, which he would cut small dumplings with each piece being rolling on the back of a fork to create little grooves for the gnocchi to catch the sauce. All that was left to do was boil the gnocchi in salty water, which was ready to be paired with his crayfish bisque.
It wouldn’t be too long now for his dinner to be ready. After some time, Jared kept himself occupied by finishing the maslin bread via baking, filtering the crayfish stock with a muslin cloth, and making up the Panzanella salad with some stale but toasted maslin bread from a few days ago, sliced tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers with a splash of olive oil, vinegar & cracks of peppers.
After all the hard work, It was time to assemble the crayfish bisque. Decanting the crayfish stock into a wooden bowl, the young chef added a few pieces of cooked crayfish & drizzled a small amount of cream before finally garnishing the dish with some garlic chives.
To say it was a simple meal is an understatement as Jared finished making up his practice dinner for Alistair, whom he owed a hand-made meal.
“Hopefully, this is enough to pay off that favour…, or I should continue practising until I get things rights.”
Jared sighs for a moment before taking his seat at the dinner table, peacefully enjoying his dinner and pondering if it is enough to meet the handsome Grisic man’s expectations; the thought of Alistair briefly makes his stomach churn as if it were full of butterflies. An odd emotion that the thief couldn't help but feel in the moment.
Lost in his little world of thoughts, the apprentice cook merely paused halfway through his dinner, wondering if he could make a slight change in the world. Nothing major but enough that at least the few people he would meet in his life would notice and maybe find out his purpose in life.
