Shark Soup [Cooking]

Shark Soup

  Draharu finished up her drink while Dhao was already licking his glass shiny clean. Looks like the lizard-like Puller hadn’t had a treat like that for a long while as he closed his eyes for a moment to sigh out of happiness, a dreamy smile lingering on his lips.

“Yes, this was excellent. Now I’m too excited to see what else you got me.”

   Dhao placed the glass on the small stone table and brought forth the scroll case, opening it again to shake out the next piece of paper in it. He rolled the case under the table and tried to smooth out the curly paper, which allowed Draharu to see a yellowed sheet of paper with an illustration drawn right in the middle of it. This time Dhao didn’t need a long while to decipher the writings as the illustration made it really clear what it was.

“Shark Soup? And here I just was thinking what the heck am I supposed to do with the dried shark bits my previous merchant gifted me. I am definitely making this right away.”

   Draharu simply observed the excited Puller. She quite didn’t understand emotions as she had extremely hard time feeling something herself, but considering how excellent memory she had and how she always analyzed everything she saw or learned, Dharau started to understand some fundamental concepts of feelings. She adjusted her position so she could have a clearer view to Dhao’s kitchen with him in it, already fussing around to gather various bowls, knives, jars and cans with various stuff in them and finally, brought the aforementioned shark jerky out of one distant cabinet.

   While Draharu closely watched and analyzed everything Dhao did, the green lad himself was preparing to boil the broth. This was probably the most important and trickiest part of the cooking as broth was something that determined the majority of the soup’s quality and taste. Since today he felt impatient, he had to cheat a bit by using his magic to prepare the broth a lot faster, as good broth took about a whole day to simmer before it acquired its properties. He swiftly cleaned and chopped up a nice onion, gently frying it in a pinch of fat before adding some garlic. His cave was immediately filled with the pleasant scent, which no doubt made both of their mouths water. He then chopped up some other ingredients, gently heated them in the bottom of the large pot before adding hot water and leaving them be for a little while. He then looked thoughtfully at the shark ingredients before he turned around and semi-shouted towards Draharu.

“Do you have any experience with preparing a shark?”

   Draharu decided to stand up and head over to him so she could see the condition of the meat. When she saw it still having skin on, she took a closer sniff before huffing through her nostrils.

“You need to soak it in milk for a good while first, then it’s usable for the soup.”

“Milk? Milk, milk…”

   Dhao hummed to himself as he squeezed past the red giant towards a tunnel, which led deeper down underground. Draharu waited patiently, listening to various items rattle and Dhao’s distant footsteps before the chef re-emerged, carrying a small basket with a bottle of milk in it. He looked at Draharu with raised brows as if asking whether this amount was enough, to which she nodded briefly. He then went back to the counter to pour the white liquid in a bowl, where he added the shark bits to soak for a while. His attention then shifted back to his guest.

“I don’t mean to be rude or inconsiderate, but may I ask how’s your magic wielding?”

“Satisfactory.”

   In a way, Dhao knew by now how wonderful conversation companion Draharu was but he still wasn’t fully used to such concrete and short answers.

“In that case, can you speed up the shark’s soaking process while I speed up the broth, please?”

   Without an answer, Draharu stepped to the counter, sat down and placed her forepaws around the bowl, activating her magic to manipulate the milk and the meat. Seeing how she had it under control, Dhao turned his focus on the simmering broth, closing his eyes and channeling his magic inside the pot to make the contents ready faster. Both of them focused in silence for about an hour, and when Dhao sensed the broth being ready, he disconnected his magic from it and when turning around nearly yelped as Draharu was sitting in the middle of the kitchen, her yellow eyes locked on Dhao once again as she awaited for him to finish.

“Ahem… all done?”

   Getting a casual dipping of head in response, Dhao went to check on the meat. It smelled so much better now and he managed to peel off the top layer of the skin with ease, as he didn’t want to risk using the whole thing for the soup just yet. He then proceeded to chop up the meat in manageable bits and added them to the broth, after which he consulted the recipe to see how much longer it needed to boil. As he did that, he also noticed how one ingredient had slipped his attention, so he pointed at a shelf behind Draharu.

“Please pass me that green cardboard box.”

   She immediately did so, handing it to Dhao and watching him open it, taking a good amount of whatever dried herbs were in there to grind it between his paw pads above the soup, after which he put the lid on it and turned to look at Draharu with a gentle smile.

“Good, it’ll be ready soon enough.”