During the last tea party, a terrace seat facing the garden was prepared, but this time, Jill decided to host a luncheon indoors. A single table was set up in the dining room, and Jill came to greet Roland and the others. Today, Jill was unusually dressed in a pure white outfit, fitting for a chef.
“Oh, hello everyone. Sorry for calling you all here out of the blue. This is just to show my gratitude for everything, so it’s not a special celebration or anything. Please relax and enjoy yourselves without feeling too formal.”
Despite saying this, Jill waved lightly as she approached.
Her attitude was no different from usual.
The Roland family, who had expected some grand greeting, seemed a bit off balance, but they were relieved in turn. They were so focused on calming Chelsea’s anxiety that they hadn’t noticed everyone was unconsciously tense.
“Oh, but I do have one small request, or rather, something I’d like to ask…”
Jill averted her eyes, fidgeting.
“What is it? Don’t hesitate, just say it,” Roland said.
“I learned how to cook from my uncle, but it wasn’t to become a professional chef—it was more like an extension of my hobby. So, if there’s any slip-ups, I’d appreciate your understanding.”
“Hey, Jill, you shouldn’t say that before we’ve even eaten,” Tina chimed in.
“But Tina, you’re quite strict with your evaluations…” Jill muttered.
Everyone except Tina burst out laughing at that.
“N-No, I’m not…”
Tina looked puzzled as she responded, but everyone around the table had pained expressions.
“No, you are.”
“You really are.”
“Sometimes you hit the nail on the head so well, it’s almost shocking… But that’s what makes it so reliable,” Mars, Chelsea, and Roland murmured thoughtfully.
They had all experienced Tina’s sharp and harsh evaluations.
“What! Come on, you guys!”
While Tina puffed her cheeks in anger, Jill smiled and began her preparations.
The first course was the appetizer.
◆
Jill had agonized over what to serve for this luncheon, but her direction was soon clear.
One goal was to express her gratitude to Roland as a representative of those who cared for Conrad.
She decided to recreate as many of Conrad’s dishes as she could remember.
To show, through her own interpretation, Conrad’s philosophy of food and cooking, which he had cherished.
That was what Jill wanted to convey.
“For the appetizer, we have pumpkin soup. For drinks, a pre-meal cocktail, and for Mars and Tina, let’s go with juice.”
“This is… not quite Shelland cuisine, huh? More of a potage, I guess,” Roland remarked.
Jill nodded in response.
“I’m not sure how to categorize it either. You could say it’s a mix of Shelland cuisine and my uncle’s style, but I also feel like this kind of dish might already exist in the categories my uncle passed down.”
In the Shelland region, it’s traditional to eat pumpkin soup.
It’s made by cutting the pumpkin and onions into chunks and preparing it on the sweeter side, with various ingredients thrown in at random, making it somewhat like a stew. It’s also one of Maureen’s specialty dishes. Each household has its own way of preparing the soup—whether they mash the pumpkin for a smooth broth, leave it chunky, or use it with the skin still on. Incidentally, criticizing someone else’s method could lead to a fistfight.
The soup Jill served today was a smooth potage. She had mashed the pumpkin, strained it carefully, and added fresh cream. This was something Conrad had taught her, and if traced back to its origin, it was a technique from French cuisine. Over time, it had developed into a standard technique known not only by Jill but also by chefs throughout the town.
At the same time, this soup contained various ingredients. Broccoli and mushrooms, cut into uniform sizes, along with other vegetables readily available in Shelland, were mixed in. The thick soup clung to the ingredients, enhancing their flavors.
In other words, Jill’s aim with this appetizer was to combine the soup passed down in Shelland with the French cuisine taught by Conrad.
“If I had to say, it feels like a dish that falls somewhere between home cooking and restaurant cuisine.”
“The soup is delicious. It’s so smooth… I think you’re really skilled at making purées and appareil, Jill. You might even be among the top five in Shelland—maybe even the best… But I think Dad is better when it comes to choosing and handling ingredients.”
“Hey, Tina.”
“Oh, s-sorry.”
Purée is made by crushing vegetables or fruits and straining them to make a smooth liquid, which is the main ingredient of this soup. Appareil, on the other hand, refers to a mixture of ingredients such as eggs, milk, and flour. Tina remembered the custard base of the pudding she had eaten before, which is also an appareil.
“N-no, it’s fine. I’d rather you enjoy it without holding back, including comments like that.”
Though she said that, Jill felt a little overwhelmed by the serious look on Tina’s face as she ate.
◆
Incidentally, it wasn’t just recipes and cooking techniques that Conrad had introduced to this town.
He had also spread the concept of course meals.
Conrad mainly drew inspiration from Italian cuisine. One reason for this was that it was difficult for small restaurants to serve as many dishes as French cuisine typically required, and also because Conrad had a personal preference for Italian dishes.
In an Italian course, the meal begins with an appetizer called “antipasto” and a pre-meal drink.
What followed next was a dish from the genre Conrad was most skilled at.
“The next course is a pasta dish. Please enjoy it while it’s hot.”
“Pépé… It’s cacio e pepe, isn’t it?”
There are two types of “pépé” in this town.
One is the favorite dish of Garda: peperoncino.
The other is the cacio e pepe that Jill served today.
This dish uses only noodles, pepper, Pecorino cheese, and the salted water used to boil the pasta.
Sometimes butter is added, and sometimes other ingredients are included, but as long as these four core ingredients are present, it qualifies as cacio e pepe. Even more than peperoncino, it’s a pasta that demands the highest quality ingredients.
“…Yeah, this is delicious. You can really savor the taste of the pasta. The texture is firm and has a good bite,” Roland said, satisfied.
What Jill had focused on the most with this pasta dish was the noodles themselves.
She had started preparing the dough several days earlier, kneading flour and making fresh pasta.
“Hehe, thank you.”
“Mars, Tina, make sure to savor this. This is the pasta of Conrad—the Culinary Evangelist.”
“Culinary Evangelist? He had a title like that?”
“No, I made it up.”
The characteristic of fresh pasta is that it allows you to enjoy chewy, firm noodles.
Unlike dried pasta, it contains eggs, so it doesn’t keep for long, but even if you overcook it slightly, it doesn’t lose its texture. The way the dough is cut is also up to the chef’s discretion. For this dish, Jill cut the pasta into fettuccine—flat noodles—and further stretched them by hand to make them slightly crinkly.
To highlight the natural flavor of the pasta, the seasoning consisted only of cheese, pepper, and salt. This simple yet foundational pasta was something Conrad excelled at.
“I-I see. Since I learned pasta-making from my uncle, I felt I had to serve this… I’m glad you liked it.”
“You can be more confident, Jill.”
“But I didn’t learn it as a professional chef. It’s more like I learned it because it was fun.”
“That’s just like him.”
“I don’t really know how my uncle lived in this town. He didn’t talk much about his time here…”
“He was pretty much the same as now. Chatting while we ate, like this. Most chefs are rough around the edges, but he… He was light-hearted and approachable. In that way, you remind me of him, Jill.”
Everyone’s gaze shifted to Jill with a look of understanding.
Jill also gave off a sense of lightness.
Not in a shallow way, though.
It wasn’t exactly noisy, but there was a brightness that didn’t take things too seriously.
“Huh, I’m not sure I really get it, though?”
“Ah, Conrad used to deny it like that, too.”
Roland chuckled softly.
At that moment, Chelsea clapped her hands together.
“I remember now! This person begged over and over to be taken on as a disciple just to learn how to season and cook. They’d rush around town every day doing good deeds to help people in need just to get an invitation. Those were really fun times.”
“Hey, Chelsea, don’t bring that up.”
“At first, Lord Conrad also said, ‘I don’t take disciples!’ but after a while, he gave in. Though he didn’t take him on as a proper disciple, he’d say things like, ‘Alright, here’s a three-choice quiz! Guess this secret ingredient!’ or give him mysterious homework… It felt less like being in a restaurant and more like a student-teacher relationship. Roland even gave him that nickname, ‘The Evangelist,’ all on his own… He really was such a troublesome student.”
Jill and the others listened with interest to Roland and Chelsea’s stories of the past.
For a moment, Jill thought she caught a glimpse of a younger Conrad. Although she had never seen him happily working in the kitchen, wielding a pan, and chatting cheerfully with the customers, the vivid image appeared so clearly in her mind.
Jill had always wanted to hear these kinds of stories. But now that she was finally hearing them, they came with far more impact than she had imagined.
The feel of Conrad’s hand as he patted her head.
The smell of tomatoes, garlic, and olive oil when he stood in the kitchen.
The warmth of the stove’s fire.
The deliciousness of the food he made.
Memories flooded over Jill like dominoes falling one after another.
Ah, I’m going to cry like this.
Just as Jill thought that—
“Ugh… uuuuh…!”
“H-Hey, Chelsea…”
Chelsea was the one who burst into tears first.
She cried so much that even a handkerchief couldn’t stop the endless flow of tears.
“I-I only recently found out that man was Lord Conrad, and that he died in the war… and then I found out that you’re Lady Jill…! I was so shocked… You must have gone through such a painful time, and I just didn’t know what to say…!”
Roland tried to console her, but Chelsea’s heartfelt words made him fall silent, listening carefully.
“It’s like a dream to be here again… I even got proposed to here, and he gave us his blessing…!”
“Wait, that happened!?”
Jill and the children were all surprised.
It seemed this was the first they had heard of it.
“Yeah, it did. Though it’s not like I was trying to keep it a secret.”
Roland muttered quietly, a bit embarrassed.
Jill, now more curious than tearful, listened to the unexpected story with interest.
“And what about the wedding?”
“Well, he did refuse, saying, ‘This isn’t a church,’ but he taught me all sorts of dessert and cake recipes. He even quietly showed up at the ceremony.”
“The Lord Conrad who blessed us is dead now, and Lady Jill was driven out of the castle… It must be so hard for you, and yet you’ve been so strong…!”
“W-whoa!?”
Suddenly overcome with emotion, Chelsea threw her arms around Jill.
“It must’ve been so painful… But we’re on your side, so you can tell us anything…!”
“Chelsea…”
Jill held back from saying, “You’re hurting me a little,” and endured it.
Before long, everyone around was tearing up.
Knowing there were people who would cry for her late uncle filled Jill with indescribable joy.
