Mister Ajikko 39

Mister Ajikko Volume 5 Chapter 4 Extra-large Kakiage

Page 064

Mum: Thank you for your patronage---! / Hello, Welcome---!!
Mum: Thank you for coming---!!

Mum: Welcome!!

Mum: Oh!
Mum: You're Koutarou-kun, aren't you?!

Mum: Youichi! It's your cousin, Koutarou-kun!

Youichi: Hey, long time no see.
Youichi: It's been one year, hasn't it?!

Koutarou: Ahh...
Koutarou: You're still as energetic as ever, You-chan.

Koutarou: Actually, Auntie...
Koutarou: I came here to discuss something.


Page 065

Koutarou: Well, I was working at the tempura restaurant Tensei*...
Koutarou: until I got fired yesterday.
T/N Note: Restaurant name literally means "Heaven Star".

Mum: Ehh?!
Youichi: How did that happen so suddenly?!

Mum: It's been half a year since you came to Tokyo...
Mum: in order to learn the family business of tempura, and you've been working very hard, haven't you?

Mum: What...
Mum: sort of failure did you commit?

Koutarou: Well, calling it a failure is an exaggeration.
Koutarou: It truly was very trivial!

Customer: Uwa! Hot hot hot!
Restaurant Owner: How dare you do that to a customer!

Restaurant Owner: You're fired!
Restaurant Owner: Don't let me see you here again!

Mum: Wow...


Page 066

Mum: I heared that Tensei is a well-known restaurant...
Mum: And that the owner is very strict.

Youichi: But that was too much!
Youichi: That old man is really heartless if he fired a person for making a single blunder!

Koutarou: Well, he is who he is.
Koutarou: I've already been here for six months...

Koutarou: for me to learn my craft, but...
KOutarou: All I've done is cleaning. He never allowed me into the kitchen.

Youichi: What the hell!
Youichi: There's no worth to working in a place like that!
Mum: ...Youichi!

Koutarou: I don't want to go back home with things as they are.
Koutarou: What do you think I should do?

Mum: I understand. Why don't we go back to the restaurant...
Mum: and see whether we can work something out?

Koutarou: You didn't have to come, you know.
Youichi: 'Course I do!
Youichi: I have some words for that heartless Gramps!

Signboard: Tensei


Page 067

Tensei Owner: Not in a million years!
Tensei Owner: I will not allow a second blunder like that to happen in my restaurant!

Tensei Owner: Go on home!
Tensei Owner: If you stay here, it'll bring bad luck to my restaurant!

Youichi: Why you...

Mum: Tensei-san*, haven't you gone a bit too far?
Mum: It's normal for a beginner to make one or two mistakes...
T/N Note: It's common in Japan to call someone by their establishment's name if you don't know their name.

Tensei Owner: Hooo...
Tensei Owner: Normal, you say, lady?

Tensei Owner: This restaurant is well-known all over the country and the best tempura restaurant.
Tensei Owner: The difference between your restaurant and mine can't even be compared!

Tensei Owner: In this restaurant, we do things my way!
Tensei Owner: I don't have to listen to the preaching of an owner of a simple eatery!


Page 068

Youichi: You think you're the best, old man?!
Youichi: There's no difference between my eatery and your tempura restaurant!

Tensei Owner: Cheh...
Tensei Owner: This is why I'm tired of low-class people.

Tensei Owner: Is that right? My restaurant is frequented by politicians, professors and famous idols.
Tensei Owner: Your restaurant only serves to the layman. Our levels are different.

Youichi: What's with your talk about "difference" and "level"?!
Youichi: There's good food and there's bad food! Likewise, there's good restaurants and bad ones!

Tensei Owner: Hoo...
Tensei Owner: Are you saying you can make tempura that's more delicious than mine?

Youichi: I can make it any time!
Youichi: You wanna have a match?!

Koutarou: Youichi, your mouth is getting the better of you again...
Mum: Apologize, Youichi! Now!
(Tiny bubble) Youichi: No.

Tensei Owner: Interesting! Well then. the dish we'll both make is Ten-don*!
Tensei Owner: If you beat me, Koutarou can return! But if not, he'll be banished forever from this restaurant!
T/N Note: Ten-don, also called tempura don, is dish consisting of a bowl filled with rice and topped with dishes cooked with tempura.


Page 069

Signboard: Hinode Eatery

Koutarou: Haa...
Mum: Haaaaa...

Youichi: What's up with you two?!
Youichi: It'll be fine! I'll whip up a ten-don that'll blow that restaurant out of the water!

Koutarou: You're taking thit too lightly!
Koutarou: Tensei's ten-don is nearly impossible to imitate!

Koutarou: Have you ever eaten Tensei's ten-don before?
Youichi: Nope.

Koutarou: It is... / exquisite!
Koutarou: Indescribably delicious!


Page 70

Koutarou: Its ingredients are extra-large Japanese tiger prawns...

Koutarou: the freshest high-quality whiting...

Koutarou: while the vegetables consist of shiitake and...
Koutarou: perilla leaves!

Koutarou: Furthermore, the cooking techniques are breath-taking!

Koutarou: In order to entrap the tastiness of the prawn flesh, the coating is made thick.
Koutarou: The stick-fry technique!

Koutarou: The whiting's oiliness is suppressed and the freshness of the fish is emphasized.
Koutarou: The thin-coat fry technique!

Koutarou: The vegetables are fried to become crunchy and look fluffy.
Koutarou: The flower-fry technique!


Page 71

Koutarou: No matter which ingredent it is, all of them are fried to perfection to bring out the best possible taste!
Koutarou: Moreover, the stick fry, thin-coat fry and the flower-fry techniques can't be taught overnight.

Koutarou: To learn just one of those techniques...
Koutarou: within one or two years is definitely impossible!

Youichi: So, to learn all three techniques would need at least nine years...
Youichi: Hmm...

Koutarou: The oil for frying is a secret of Tensei for a long time now.
Koutarou: Only the best sesame seeds from all over the country are chosen to make the oil.

Koutarou: Even the tare sauce is made using a perfect combination of dashi stock, mirin, sugar and soy sauce.
Koutarou: The flavor is subtle, neither too sweet nor too spicy.

Koutarou: Anyways, my words cannot express how delicious the dish is.
Koutarou: What kind of ten-don will you make to compete?!

Youichi: Ehh....
Youichi: Ahaha...


Page 72

Youichi: Nothing's gonna happen if we just think!
Youichi: First off, I'll just use the same ingredients and technique, and even use the same oil to recreate the dish!

Youichi: There, the trial dish is done!
Youichi: Try it out!

Koutarou: Hmm...


Page 73

Youichi: How is it?

Koutarou: Hmm...

Koutarou: It's horrible!

Koutarou: There's nothing to say about the inherent flavor of the prawn. THe sweetness and freshness is totally absent.
Koutarou: The frying technique is totally different from Tensei's!

Koutarou: Next is the whiting.

Koutarou: ..This is also no good!
Koutarou: It may look like Tensei's fried whiting, but it doesn't have the melt-in-your-mouth flavor at all.

Koutarou: Now for the shiitake and perilla leaves...

Koutarou: What's up with these...
Koutarou: As I thought, the frying technique is super important. The water content has to be just right to make it crispy!

Koutarou: The vegetables at Tensei are...
Koutarou: really crunchy and they have a fluffy mouthfeel, as well as a sweetness that melts in your mouth!


Page 74

Koutarou: Furthermore, the prawn and whiting are too small and their freshness aren't as good...
Koutarou: Unless the vegetables are cooked with the flower frying technique, the freshness won't be evident.

Youichi: ...But, that's impossible.
Youichi: I can't use the flower frying technique like Tensei does for its fried vegetables.

Youichi: I don't have prawns or whiting that are any better than this.
Youichi: And even if I tried to get them, I'll only be able to get them from Tensei's supplier, which would costs three times more, wouldn't it?

Koutarou: But then, You-chan...
Koutarou: you won't be able to win like this, you know.

Youichi: Yea...

Youichi: I'm no match in frying techniques or in ingredients.
Youichi: There's nothing I can do about those things!


Page 75

Youichi: ...If I don't use complicated frying techniques, there is one other way.

Youichi: If high-quality ingredients are difficult to obtain...
Youichi: then we'll just use other ingredients to bring about a variety of flavors!

Youichi: Alright---!!
Youichi: I've decided!


Page 76

Mum: Wow, it's huge!
Koutarou: I've never seen such an extra-large tempura don!

Koutarou: It's so large that even the tempura is hanging over the edge of the bowl.
Koutarou: This is...

Koutarou: ...Kakiage*!
Koutarou: So many different ingredients are used to completely change the dish!
T/N Note: Kakiage is a mixture of vegetable strips (carrots, turnips, etc) dipped in tempura batter and fried.

Youichi: That's right! Kakiage don!
Youichi: SInce I can't compete in technique or in ingredients, this is the only way I can compete in the match!

Youichi: I just need only one way to fry kakiage!
Youichi: If each ingredient is small, then there will be a lot of variety, which will lead to an amazing ten-don!

Youichi: Best of all is this large volume!
Youichi: It is the kakiage don's number one appeal!

Koutarou: I see!


Page 77

Koutarou: It's really delicious!
Koutarou: The flavors from the different ingredients are combined into one and it simply melts in my mouth!

Koutarou: I think you'll really stand a chance with this!
Koutarou: It really can!

Koutarou: cough
Koutarou: cough cough

Mum: Kou-chan!
Youichi: What's wrong?!

Koutarou: I'm not sure how...
Koutarou: But the insides are only half-cooked!

Youichi: Half-cooked?!


Page 78

Youichi: So that's what happened!
Youichi: The kakiage is so big that the heat from the fire can't get all the way to the insides!

Mum: Half-cooked? Then, increasing the frying time should...
Koutarou: That won't work.

Koutarou: A longer frying time would only leave the dish soaked with oil.
Koutarou: Nobody would eat something that stinks of oil!

Mum: I see...

Mum: !

Mum: Then fry it twice, like tonkatsu!
Mum: First, fry it using a strong flame to make the outside crispy, then fry it again with a weaker flame to let the insides cook!

Youichi: The coating for tonkatsu and tempura are different.
Youichi: Kakiage would still be soaked with oil.

Mum: You're right...
Mum: Then we can't use kakiage...


Page 79

Youichi: Dammit... / I had finally found a way to compete using extra-large kakiage!

Youichi: Is there no way to get the insides to cook as well?!

TV: According to a magazine, if you look at a rhinoceros' bottom...
TV: You'll be able to see the talent in its heart.*
TN Note: It's a bad attempt at a joke. The TV program is called Shōten. Read it up on Wikipedia!

TV: That's not funny at all!
TV: Take away all his zabuton*!
TN Note: Zabuton is a Japanese cushion for sitting.

Youichi: A way to cook the insides...


Page 80

Koutarou: I'm sorry, You-chan.
Youichi: You're struggling so hard for my sake.

Youichi: Don't worry about it.
Youichi: I always get fired up when it comes to things like this...

Comedian: Right now, it's Kuwa-san who's leading with nine layers of zabuton!
Comedian: Just one more until he wins the top prize! Good luck!

Handwritten text - TV chatter

Youichi: Zabuton...?
Youichi: Layers of zabuton...?

Youichi: ...That's it!!
Youichi: Zabuton! The hint is zabuton!


Page 81

Koutarou: What in the world are you doing, You-chan?!
Koutarou: A kakiage that thin won't have enough volume! It definitely won't win the match!

Youichi: Ehehe---

Youichi: This is the first layer of the zabuton!
Youichi: I'll be making layer after layer of it!

Koutarou: Layer of zabuton?!


Page 82

Youichi: Once the first later of zabuton is cooked, I'll add the second layer right on top of the first!
Youichi: With this, the kakiage will be layered like zabuton, and one by one, will be fried to completion!

Koutarou: Layering kakiage like zabuton...
Koutarou: That's amazing! Ingenious!

Mum: But will it really turn out delicious?!
Mum: Will the heat really reach the insides of the kakiage?!