SWNOVELXO Chapter 116.2
Leftover Fat For Perfect Egg Fried Rice
With a carefree smile, Yuuri stirs onions and carrots with a wooden spatula. To prevent them from burning, he keeps the heat between low and medium. Once the onions become translucent and the carrots are slightly softened, he adds the beaten eggs and rice that’s been fully mixed in. Since there’s moisture, it might crackle as it reacts with the oil, but he doesn’t mind and adds everything quickly. If he hesitated, the ingredients already in the pan would cook too much.
Using the wooden spatula, he mixes the onions and carrots that were in the pan first with the rice. He keeps the heat at medium. While carefully making sure the ingredients and rice are evenly mixed, he continues to cook everything thoroughly. Occasionally, he shakes the pan to flip the contents.
Once the ingredients and rice are properly mixed, he turns up the heat just a little. Not to high heat, though. If it gets too hot, it becomes hard to mix everything with the wooden spatula because it gets too hot. It’s not about following the basics of cooking; Yuuri was working in a way that was easiest for him. He didn’t want to burn himself.
As he stirs with the wooden spatula, the rice begins to separate, having been cooked thoroughly. Since each grain of rice is coated with the egg mixture, when it cooks, the egg solidifies and causes the rice to separate. A fluffy egg fried rice is delicious.
“Alright, it’s done! Let’s taste it.”
“Woo!”
He scoops the contents of the pan onto a small plate and picks up a spoon. The freshly made, steaming egg fried rice absorbed the bacon fat from the meat, emitting a very appetizing smell. The savory aroma of good meat fat was strong.
First, he takes a bite. The taste of the salt, pepper, and dried herbs from the egg mixture spreads in his mouth. However, within that, the rich flavor of the meat is tightly concentrated. The onions and carrots weren’t seasoned, but since they absorbed the flavor from the bacon fat used to cook the meat last night, they pair perfectly with the sweetness of the vegetables, creating a very deep flavor.
What’s more, even though there’s no meat, the flavor of the meat is infused in it. Some small chunks of egg are perfectly absorbing that flavor. The moment Yuuri and Yakk eat the egg chunks, their faces show surprise. The flavor of the meat was there more than expected. All they could say was, “Delicious.”
“Yakk, do you want bacon?”
“…I might not need it.”
“Told you so?”
“Why!? Why does it taste so much like meat even though there’s no meat in it!?”
“That’s the greatness of good meat and its delicious fat!”
Yuuri flashes a big thumbs-up and a bright smile at Yakk, who is screaming in shock. Yakk doesn’t understand, but Yuuri gets it. Back when he lived at home, after eating some very expensive meat that was a gift, he thought it would be a waste to throw away the leftover fat. So, he made stir-fried bean sprouts with it. The simple stir-fry made with just salt and pepper ended up being incredibly delicious. Yuuri remembers that.
That’s why, this time, he thought of using the bacon fat from the meat to make fried rice. He was sure it would soak into the rice and turn out very tasty. …Yuuri had always been great at coming up with ideas like this to use leftovers. It was probably just like something his grandmother would have done. Even though he loved cooking, it wasn’t the usual way a 17-year-old high school boy would think. But he didn’t care at all.
The important thing was that it tasted good. As long as it tasted good. If it turned out delicious, there was no need to worry about the method or the ingredients. Yuuri wasn’t a professional chef, and the dishes he made weren’t gourmet. He was simply cooking home meals that he wanted to enjoy, so the details didn’t matter.
“Alright, I’ll serve it up. Yakk, go call Jake. …If he’s collapsed, have Rooks carry him here.”
“Got it! Rooks, let’s go!”
“Kyu!”
Rooks, who doesn’t enter the kitchen while they cook, had been quietly cleaning the dining room floor until now. Afterward, the leftover rice from Yuuri and the others would become Rooks’s lunch. Rooks, being omnivorous, would eat just about anything. Whether it’s raw vegetables or even raw garbage, he doesn’t care. However, he’s happiest when he gets food that Yuuri makes. Whether it’s because he knows it tastes good or just because he likes Yuuri, it’s hard to say.
A simple lunch of vegetable salad, soup, and egg fried rice was brought to the dining table by Yuuri. For the drink, he made herb water. Today, he thought a refreshing drink would allow everyone to taste the food better than a stronger-tasting drink. Yuuri was curious to see how Jake, who wasn’t too fond of meat, would react to the egg fried rice, which contained no meat but concentrated the meat’s flavor.
…As predicted by Yuuri’s earlier comment, Jake, apparently having collapsed from a combination of lack of sleep and heat, was carried into the dining room by Rooks. Once again, the hopeless adult showed his true colors.