Life is tough, so Honglong resorts to performing?

Chapter 57 Food
"Chef, could you explain to me what the lamb is like today?"

Meeting the other person's ardent admiring gaze, Loren, though unsure of what he was so excited about, still felt happy nonetheless.

A somewhat inexplicable admirer.

Loren thought to himself.

As a true dragon, his dragon heritage made him aware that there were many other races that had developed dragon worship in the past for various inexplicable reasons.

Otherwise, during the Federation era, there wouldn't have been so many guys scrambling to join the dragon race.

In the end, they drained all the dragon clan's subsidies.

All of this is merely a powerful and beautiful byproduct of their dragon race, and all he needs to do is adapt.

Get used to this dazzling light, get used to the feeling of being admired by others.

As for the reason for the other party's respect?
It doesn't matter, just like the sun shines on everything.

As a true dragon, he naturally only needs to give a certain response to those who admire him.

In response to Loren's question, chef Giovanni's smile widened.

Look, this is what a true friend is!
Faced with the chef's hard work, they not only cleaned up the food but also inquired about the preparation method, affirming the chef's labor and ingenuity!
To have a lifelong gourmet is to have no regrets!

So he began to explain to Loren.

"Come with me, I'll show you something good."

With a smile, he led Loren toward the kitchen.

As they walked, he explained things to Loren.

"These goats were donated by a breeding farm and were raised in captivity, so the gamey smell is unavoidable."

"However, in the current urban environment, the only people who can afford to eat free-range sheep are probably the noble lords of the upper city and those halflings who will do anything for food."

"Halflings? They are indeed a fascinating race."

Loren found it somewhat amusing; these greedy little guys were a regular feature in comedy news columns.

Halflings are a minority. Families in the central and lower city areas cooperate and help each other, just to dry some cured meats or hide some free-range cattle, sheep, chickens and ducks.

The city brought some inconvenience to their nomadic lifestyle, but it did not affect these guys' terrible insistence on cooking ingredients.

"After soaking and icing the mutton, I chose this, a special cooking instrument from the ancient giants."

Giovanni pointed to the black, round stone cauldron in front of him and introduced it with great enthusiasm.

The stone cauldron was made of carefully polished black basalt, smooth and rounded, with four low legs, thick and solid. It was half-buried in a fire pit, with charcoal ash underneath.

The lid of the stone cauldron was made from a single piece of granite, and a pulley system held it in place so that Giovanni could use it as a human.

Clearly, the lid was added later.

As for the original pot lid, it was probably used as a shield when playing Clash of Clans.

That's what they giants are like.

Loren thought this to himself and continued to observe.

The exposed outer wall of the stone cauldron appears to be painted with hunting scenes in the style of giants, but it has lost its former luster after being smoked and burned.

Yes, just like the civilization of giants.

For dragons, what could be more delightful than a giant's joke?

How did this thing end up in your hands?

Loren asked with some doubt, "The giants can't be so poor that they have to sell cooking utensils like pots, can they? They're not doing so well."

Even worse than me!
The little red dragon became increasingly happy.

"Oh, they found their old tribe using the latest bloodline testing method and moved to Cloud City."

"That is the giant city founded by the cloud giants."

Giovanni explained that Loren's smile faded a bit when he heard that the other party had been promoted.

How could this be?

"In short, this stone cauldron has fallen into my hands, and I will use it to cook delicious food for you."

As Giovanni spoke, he reached over and turned the pulley system to remove the pot lid.

Seeing this, Loren reached out to help. It was just a pot lid, but turning it for so long was too much trouble.

As the granite pot lid was removed, the aroma of food began to waft out. The stone pot is an excellent cooking tool, especially for handling meat.

Aside from being slow, this ancient cooking tool is almost without flaws.

Its extremely high specific heat capacity gives it excellent thermal stability and uniform heating, preventing localized overheating and scorching.

Moreover, according to some food trivia I read in my previous life, when a stone is heated, it releases a unique far-infrared ray that heats the food from the inside out.

This allows it to perfectly lock in the internal juices while forming the Maillard reaction, preventing the meat from becoming too dry and tough.

Giovanni took a long spoon, scooped out the spices from the pot, and confidently introduced them to Loren.
“I did some research and know that you Honglong prefer your food to be a little charred, but as a chef, while meeting the needs of my customers, I am also pursuing the improvement of my own skills.”

"Give it a try. I prepared all the ingredients last night and cooked it for several hours this morning. Let's see if it suits your taste."

Giovanni's voice was filled with anticipation and nervousness. As a professional chef, he was certain that the cooking of this lamb had reached the pinnacle of his skills and the quality of the ingredients.

However, whether this suits Red Dragon's taste is still unknown.

Loren took the spoon Giovanni handed him, picked up a small piece of mutton with skin from the pot, gently scooped it up, brought it to his mouth, and took a small bite.

"Click."

The surface of the sheepskin is a crispy outer shell, beneath which lies a tough, gelatinous subcutaneous layer. The fat has turned into abundant juice, making it rich but not greasy, and with a fragrant aroma.

The strong gamey smell that should be present in farmed goats has almost disappeared, and the juicy meat is only located beneath the layer of fat.

Even from Red Dragon's palate, this is a near-perfect answer.

If there's anything to complain about, it's that the quality of the mutton doesn't quite match his cooking. Perhaps he should go to the halflings and buy two good free-range sheep.

Loren's eyes widened in surprise, his golden red dragon pupils appearing. If this were before the Federation was established, he would already be thinking about how to tie this cook up and take him to the dragon's lair.

That's fantastic!

Loren half-transformed into dragon form, reaching out to embrace the pot. As a little red dragon who cared about his image, he decided to wait until he returned to the Heart of Lava before engaging in this act of licking the pot.

"You are one of the strongest human chefs I have ever seen."

Loren, holding the still-warm stone cauldron, praised Giovanni, and this praise from a close friend clearly benefited Giovanni greatly.

After all, this was praise from a superior race, the red dragon. With its discerning eye and extensive experience with food, it must have seen many chefs before it could utter such words of praise.

As for whether the red dragon might have barely eaten a proper meal and has to survive by gnawing on stones and magic crystals...

Such an absurd idea would never even cross his mind.

　I'm getting hungry from writing, I'm going to grab a late-night snack and then come back to continue.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)