ITK C416: Tonkotsu Supremacy

“I want a new power.”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”

I was perplexed by Veil’s request.

Veil is a dragon, the strongest race.
I might say that, with the exception of her brother, Alexander, she’s the strongest of them all.

Why would she seek more power now despite this fact?

“How ambitious can you get, seriously?”

Can’t you direct that toward working on the farm instead?

“My dragon pride is at stake. I won’t allow myself to be defeated again by a human female!”

Hm?
A human female?

“Who are you talking about?”
“The one who’s always with that winged girl!”

Oh, you mean Letasreit.
Winged girl… Horkosfon is an angel with wings on her back, so it makes perfect sense (at least for Veil) to refer to her that way.

“But aren’t you stronger than Letasreit by a loooong shot?”

That is, until her recent crazy power-ups.
Still, it’s not enough to threaten a dragon’s position, is it?

“What do you mean? I’ve already lost to her twice.”
“What? When did that happen?!”
“Any more humiliation than this is unforgivable for a dragon! I’ll win this time! And for that, I need more power!” she says forcefully. “I need a new flour dish!”

…
Ah.
So, that’s what she means.

“You mean the cookoffs?”

They did do that at the farm expo and at Orkubo’s Castle during the winter. Letasreit made bean dishes. Veil made bread and wheat noodle dishes.

The food was the star attraction of both events, and they competed for the top spot.
Sadly, Veil lost in both of them.

“It’s unfair! They can throw in all kinds of things just because they’re cooking with beans! I can’t even tell the difference between weak and strong flour!”

Still, you can produce an extravagant repertoire of bread, udon, pasta, and other dishes, can’t you?
I don’t think you’re facing any particular handicap.

“But I need more variety in my repertoire! So, give me a new power, Master!”

I finally get it now.
Her ‘new power’ means making a new flour dish that can compete with Letasreit and Horkosfon.

I think I’ve said this before, Veil…
But when did you become such a gluten freak?

“Oh, all right. Let’s see if we can find some inspiration from udon toppings or pasta cuisine.”
“That lacks flair! More! I want something new, something more fundamental!”

What an indulgent dragon you are…

A wheat dish that is fundamentally different from bread, udon, or pasta, huh…

“By the way, cake and any other pastry is out of the question.”

Most cakes, tarts, and other confectionery items contain wheat. At the time of the expo, however, the idea to sell sweets was rejected.

There are too many differences between staple foods like breads, noodles, and confectioneries, and it’s difficult to keep track of them.
Also, I’ve known for some time that people of this world find our food addictive.

It’s not that we put anything suspicious in it, though.

We didn’t know what would happen if we served something as naturally addictive as sweets, so we marked it off the list.

And if Veil was allowed to serve pastry, that would also allow Letasreit to serve shiruko or sweet bean jelly.
If that happens, it will be like Japanese vs. Western sweets, completely changing the situation.

“In other words, the new menu should also be a staple food.”

But aren’t we running out of staple wheat menus by now?

There’s bread, udon, and pasta.
Is there anything else?
…Oh.

“Wanna make ramen?”
“A good idea right off the bat!”

Veil’s eyes light up.

Ramen is all about the noodles. Noodles are an excellent material that satisfies the requirements of both wheat and staple food.

Everyone goes to a ramen restaurant, eats only ramen, and leaves.
It’s a unique and challenging dish to make, which is why it hasn’t been available to date.

Ramen.

Let’s make it in response to Veil’s order!

---

And so…

“Noodles, ready!”

We’ve made noodles multiple times in the past, so I omitted that part.
The only difference is the addition of lye water. I have seen this in some Chinese cooking manga before.
I had a hard time figuring out how to make it, but I eventually pulled through.

“Hey! This is just normal pasta!” disappointedly says Veil. “I thought we were going to make a new dish, Master! I had faith in you! Have you finally run out of brain juice?!”
“The verbosity of your cursing is intense given the chance, yeesh.”

But here’s where ramen is different from the rest.
Ramen is not only about the noodles—it’s also about the broth!

“That’s why we’re going to make the broth now.”
“Oh!”

When it comes to ramen broth, there are four main types: miso, soy sauce, salt, tonkotsu…

“We’re making tonkotsu broth.”
“Uh, didn’t you pause for a while after tonkotsu?”
“You think there are other broths than tonkotsu?”
“I don’t really know, but I feel like you made an irrational argument just now!”

Haha, no way.
You’re just imagining things.

Anyway, we’re making that tonkotsu broth.
With cup noodles, you just open the sachet, pour in the powder and hot water, and voila; it’s ready in three minutes. Making that powder from scratch is a different story altogether, though.

After all, you’d need pork belly and the bones.
In this world, we’re using wild boar monster bones as a substitute.

Fortunately, our farm has an abundant supply of square boar meat.
The leftover bones are usually crushed and used as fertilizer, but I was able to procure them easily nonetheless.

“You just boil these bones.”
“And for how long?”
“…Till dusk?”
“Till dusk?!”

We just had breakfast, you see.

“That long?! Isn’t that kind of cost-ineffective? You mean we’re going to prepare it before lunch if we want to have it for dinner?!”
“Are you willing to spare no effort just to beat Letasreit?”
“Urk… I can’t back down after you pull that card on me!”

Thus, we decided to try our hand at making otherworldly tonkotsu broth.

“But aren’t we just boiling the bones? What’s with all the vegetables and soy sauce?”
“It’s to adjust the taste. Pork bones alone would taste bland, and there’s no telling how much potential the boar bones have.”

Let it simmer, and add ingredients accordingly later to thicken the flavor.
Like so, our little experiment continued…

---

Until it took us well into the night, well beyond our original estimate.

“Gahh! What is this smell? It stinks!!!”

Platy complained as soon as she entered the kitchen!

“I knew you were cooking something again, but what is this foul smell?! It has spread all over the house!”
“That’s fine. If you can smell it from afar, that’s proof that the tonkotsu is good.”
“I don’t care! Look at how Junior’s face turned sour from it!”

I’m sorry, my son.
You’re too young for tonkotsu at the moment.
But Daddy will work hard to develop this so you can have some too when your time comes!

“…Master, isn’t this good enough already?” asks Veil as she sips the broth from a little plate.

I guess it is.

Now, we combine the noodles and broth in a bowl and…!

“Order up! Otherworldly tonkotsu ramen!”

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