Mister Ajikko 35

Mister Ajikko

Chapter 35 A Warm Bento


Page 176

Dad's Acquaintance: Pan frying a tonkatsu!
Dad's Acquaintance: Using a small amount of oil to make such a crisp coating, the aroma is mouth-watering!
Dad's Acquaintance: Using this method... / the tonkatsu won't be soaking the rest of the bento in its oil and the taste of the other side dishes won't

change!

Dad's Acquaintance: This is perfect for a Maku no Uchi bento!

Dad's Acquaintance: But...
Dad's Acquaintance: why is it delicious without any sauce?


Page 177

Dad's Acquaintance: Delicious!
Dad's Acquaintance: It's really good!

Dad's Acquaintance: Without any sauce, the tonkatsu tastes so good!
Dad's Acquaintance: How did you do it?!

Youichi: Hehe...

Youichi: The secret is this eggwash!
Youichi: The taste comes from what's in this eggwash!

Mum: From the eggwash?

Mum: Th...
Mum: This is...!

Mum: There's something in this eggwash!
Mum: Various wonderful flavors has been added!


Page 178

Not Translated


Page 179

Youichi: Hehe...
Youichi: Do you get it now?

Youichi: The foundation for tonkatsu starts with plain flour...

Youichi: Then dip it in a beaten egg...

Youichi: Then coat the meat in panko!

Youichi: The added flavors is due to the eggwash!
Youichi: This eggwash has been prepared beforehand by adding in stock!

Youichi: This stock used various ingredients to make...
Youichi: The stock is packed with so much flavor that even if you don't add sauce to the tonkatsu, the tonkatsu will still taste delicious!

Dad's Acquaintance: I see!
Dad's Acquaintance: Amazing!

Mum: So, now we don't need to make a sauce at all.
Mum: Customers will just enjoy a crispy tonkatsu when they open the bento!

Youichi: That's the plan!!


Page 180

Youichi: With this, the ultimate tonkatsu is completed! / It definitely won't lose to Oikawa's tonkatsu!

Youichi: Next challenge is the second main dish...
Youichi: how to cook the salmon!

Mum: Oikawa's salmon...
Mum: was really good and it had tare sauce poured over it, right?

Mum: Inside the tare sauce, there was soy sauce and ginger...
Mum: It was sweet but there was also a bit of heat, it was extremely delicious!

Youichi: No wonder they had such confidence...
Youichi: Even the customers were raving about it...


Page 181

Bento Competitor: Our teriyaki was delicious, you said?
Bento Competitor: That much is obvious, Sir!

Bento Competitor: Our tare sauce uses a secret recipe, no way I can reveal it to you.
Bento Competitor: But just using the tare sauce won't give the teriyaki the flavor our store is known for, you know!

Bento Competitor: The salmon fillet that's covered in the tare sauce is grilled over and over!
Bento Competitor: The flavor of the tare sauce seeps into the salmon fillet. Because of this, the flavor won't escape into the other side dishes or the

rice.

Bento Competitor: There's no way that Kikuchi-Ya's salted salmon could ever compare to ours!


Page 182

Dad's Acquaintance: In that case, let's take away our store's salted salmon...
Dad's Acquaintance: and replace it with salmon teriyaki!

Youichi: But we can't make a tare sauce that quickly.
Youichi: Such an amazing tare sauce can't be made so easily, you know.

Youichi: Furthermore, before even considering that we're using the same ingredient, which is salmon...
Youichi: imitating another chef's methods isn't a good thing!

Youichi: To make a better sauce that the secret tare sauce...
Youichi: However, the taste has to fit all the other dishes in the bento as well!

Youichi: A method to cook the salmon...


Page 183

Youichi: Salting, grilling...
Youichi: Frying...
Youichi: Meunière style...

Mum: Well, there is one way...
Mum: what about foil roasting?

Youichi: Foil roasting...

Youichi: That's it! Using the foil roasting method, we can make a delicious sauce and other things too!
Youichi: The most important advantage of using the foil is that because the salmon is wrapped in foil, the rice and other side dishes won't be affected by

the sauce!

Youichi: Okay! we'll be competing with Oikawa's salmon using...
Youichi: our foil roasted salmon!

Youichi: Let's start with our strategy!
Youichi: Mister, please prepare the foil! Mum, please boil some water for the stock!


Page 184

Dad's Acquaintance: Woah!


Page 185

Dad's Acquaintance: There's a lot of onions packed under the salmon!

Dad's Acquaintance: Also, this aroma...
Dad's Acquaintance: THis is an aroma to melt a person's heart!

Dad's Acquaintance: Hmm?!

Dad's Acquaintance: This is...

Dad's Acquaintance: Shiitake mushrooms...
Dad's Acquaintance: and Shimeji mushrooms too!

Dad's Acquaintance: I see! So, this aroma...
Dad's Acquaintance: came from these two types of mushrooms!

SFX: chew chew

Dad's Acquaintance: Yum...
Dad's Acquaintance: Amazing!

Dad's Acquaintance: Such a smooth and tender mouthfeel...
Dad's Acquaintance: the piping hot salmon just melts in my mouth!


Page 185

Dad's Acquaintance: And, this soup!
Dad's Acquaintance: It's packed with flavor from all the ingredients and is well-balanced!

Dad's Acquaintance: The sweetness of onions, the savoriness of shiitake and shimeji mushrooms and the saltiness of butter...
Dad's Acquaintance: The combination of all these flavors into one is simply astounding.

Dad's Acquaintance: ...Outstanding!
Dad's Acquaintance: You're a genius, Youichi-kun!

Dad's Acquaintance: With this, customers won't only get to enjoy salmon, but shimeji and shiitake as well.
Dad's Acquaintance: So many flavors packed into 1 bento is all what Maku no Uchi bento are all about!

Dad's Acquaintance: The flavor of the soup is the best!
Dad's Acquaintance: Furthermore, the foil prevents the soup from spilling out!

Dad's Acquaintance: ...Ingenious!
Dad's Acquaintance: There's no way we can lose to Oikawa now!

Youichi: Okay, we're making progress!
Youichi: Let's bring back all the customers that Oikawa took!

Dad's Acquaintance: Ehh...!!


Page 186

Dad's Acquaintance: What's happening!
Dad's Acquaintance: You-kun, look!

Youichi: Ehh?!

Youichi: !

Youichi: Because the foil is cooling down...
Youichi: the oil in butter is starting to solidify!


Page 187

Mum: It's not good...
Mum: The flavors are all messed up!

Dad's Acquaintance: Foil roasting is only good when it's hot.
Dad's Acquaintance: When it cools down, it won't taste good anymore.

Youichi: The fact that the foil prevents the soup from spilling out makes it perfect for bento!
Youichi: But, when it cools, it becomes unappetizing. For a bento, that's a definite no-no!

Dad's Acquaintance: If the foil roasting method's no good, we don't have any other choice.
Dad's Acquaintance: Let's go back to pickled salmon!

Youichi: No!

Youichi: The flavor of pickled salmon is too intense.
Youichi: That's why customers chose Oikawa!

Dad's Acquaintance: What about frying?

Youichi: The tonkatsu is fried as well.
Youichi: The bento will become boring if we use two fried dishes.

Mum: We're between a rock and a hard place.
Mum: Is there anything we can do, Youichi?


Page 188

Youichi: Only when it's hot...
Youichi: We have to find a way to keep the foil roast hot!

Youichi: Hypothetically speaking, just before you sell a bento to a customer...
Youichi: is it possible to heat up the bento?

Dad's Acquaintance: That would be difficult to do!
Dad's Acquaintance: If we were to attempt this, then we have another problem.

Dad's Acquaintance: Even if we heat up the bento before selling them to customers...
Dad's Acquaintance: those customers may not even eat the bento straightaway. Those bento will cool down anyways.

Youichi: So, a bento that heats up when and where we want it...
Mum: That kind of thing is definitely impossible.

Youichi: But...
Youichi: the best way to cook salmon is by foil roasting! That's definitely the best way!

Youichi: Even if it's impossible, we have to try!
Youichi: We have to figure out how to make a bento that heats up whenever and wherever we want!



Page 189

Signboard: Subara Hot/Cold Research Institute
Heat Insulation Refrigeration General Usage

Youichi: It's really impossible, huh...

Deliveryman: One-use bento container that can reheat itself?
Deliveryman: Are you joking? Something like that would cost a ridiculous amount of money!

Deliveryman: Bento containers are all one-use and are thrown away afterwards.
Deliveryman: If a bento store used that, it would go bankrupt!

Signboard: Prefectural Mi-Ne Technical High School

Instructor: I'm sorry, but all the students have left.
Instructor: and no matter how much you persist, it can't...

Youichi: But the owner of Kikuchi-Ya also can't think of a way.
Instructor: Well, okay, I'll help you out a bit.


Page 190

Instructor: ...As I thought, it's no good.
Instructor: It really is impossible.

Youichi: Oh no...

Youichi: Please, Miss, try one more time...just one more...
Youichi: This is the only place left I can turn to!

Instructor: It's still not working!
Instructor: All of them are failures!

Instructor: A cheap, yet lightwieght, reheatable container...
Instructor: Is such a thing even possible...

Instructor: ...Wait, hold on!
Instructor: There may be a way!


Page 191

Youichi: Mister! I found it!
Youichi: A revolutionary inventon that can reheat a foil roast whenever you want!

Dad's Acquaintance: Ehh!! Really?!
Dad's Acquaintance: WHat is it?

Youichi: Hehe....
Youichi: Take a look!

Dad's Acquaintance: A two-layered bento container?!
Dad's Acquaintance: What in the world could be inside?!

Youichi: Leave that for later!
Youichi: First, take a look at this!


Page 192

Youichi: From this bento at room temperature...
Youichi: In just two minutes, it'll produce steam!

Dad's Acquaintance: Ehh?!

Dad's Acquaintance: What's going on?!
Mum: It really happened! Steam is really coming out!


Page 193

Dad's Acquaintance: I...I can't believe it!

Mum: The bento at room temperature is really...
Mum: it looks like a bento that was just prepared!

Dad's Acquaintance: What did you...
Dad's Acquaintance: what kind of magic did you use, Youichi-kun?!


Page 194

Youichi: Well, I'll explain it later!
Youichi: Mister, first you have to try the foil roast that's been reheated!

Dad's Acquaintance: O...Okay!

Dad's Acquaintance: De...
Dad's Acquaintance: Delicious!!


Page 195

Dad's Acquaintance: The salmon is piping hot...
Dad's Acquaintance: The flesh is tender and the soup is excellent!

Dad's Acquaintance: Hot soup really is the best!
Dad's Acquaintance: But now, we can sell bento with cool soup!

Dad's Acquaintance: However!
Dad's Acquaintance: How did the bento become hot with just one poke of the skewer?!

Youichi: Hehe!

Dad's Acquaintance: The secret must be in the two-layered container!
Dad's Acquaintance: What in the world could be inside the bottom layer?!


Volume 4 End