Soon, the Soldier Frog legs were processed into uniform pieces of meat, each retaining intact muscle fibers without any damage.
Zephyr placed the meat pieces into a basin, added cooking wine, salt, and ginger slices, and began to marinate them.
"The marinating time is about fifteen minutes."
He looked at Chloe and said, "This can remove the fishy smell and also leave a base flavor in the meat. You can use the same method when cooking other meats."
"Mm." Chloe nodded.
During the process of marinating the ingredients, Syr returned to the kitchen with the purchased seasonings.
"I bought them."
"Sorry for the trouble, Syr-san."
Zephyr took the ingredients and began preparing the side dishes.
After cutting the dried chilies into sections, he soaked and washed them in warm water. He cut the scallions, ginger, and garlic to set aside, and also cut the onion and green peppers to the appropriate size.
Then, he lit the stove, set up the wok, poured in an appropriate amount of oil, and once the oil temperature rose, he put the marinated frog leg meat in.
Sizzle...
The moment the meat touched the hot oil, it made a crisp sound.
Zephyr held the spatula and stir-fried quickly, ensuring each piece of meat was heated evenly, its surface gradually solidifying and taking on a faint golden-yellow hue.
He removed the seared meat pieces, leaving a little base oil in the wok, and then began the next step of the cooking process.
After adding the spices one by one, the red chilies tumbled in the oil, gradually releasing a spicy fragrance, mixing with the other spices, and filling the air with an appetizing scent.
Soon, the dish was complete.
Bright red sauce coated the meat, with dried chilies, peppercorns, and scallion sections garnished throughout. The green of the side dishes dotted throughout, making the whole dish look extremely appetizing.
Zephyr was quite satisfied with his quality control. After a simple taste test, he found that it was much better than the simplified version from the Dungeon.
He looked over with a smile and beckoned, "Do you want to try some?"
"Yay! This time, Anya must go first."
Full of anticipation, Anya volunteered and leaned in. She picked up a piece of meat and popped it straight into her mouth.
The tender, springy texture instantly took over her taste buds. After cooking, the meat was firm but not dry. Immediately after, the impact of the spicy seasoning hit. The heat of the dried chili peppers burst onto her tongue. The perfectly balanced seasoning made it impossible for her to stop.
The natural flavor of the Soldier Frog meat was fully brought out, blending with the spicy flavor to form an extremely intense sensory impact.
Even though she was panting from the heat until her scalp tingled and her cheeks were visibly turning red, Anya's hands showed no signs of stopping.
Instead, she ate faster and faster, stuffing piece after piece of meat into her mouth, completely disregarding her image.
"Mmm... So spicy, nya." Anya mumbled, already showing possessiveness over the food. "You guys don't eat it, just leave it all to Anya, nya."
"?"
"Anya, you can't hog the food." Chloe raised an eyebrow.
She had witnessed the entire cooking process earlier. Just from the presentation and the aroma, she knew without even tasting it that this was an excellent dish.
Following that, the other girls present picked up their forks to try it.
After tasting it, Syr's eyes were filled with surprise and she voiced her curiosity, "It's delicious, it's just that the meat in this dish has a very strange texture."
It's not like ordinary poultry meat at all. The meat is firm and you can feel the resilience of the fibers while chewing, but it slowly breaks apart as you chew, releasing a flavor similar to game birds.
Syr looked at Zephyr, her eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Zephyr-san, could you tell me what kind of meat this actually is?"
"Yeah."
With things having reached this point, Zephyr didn't intend to hide it. After all, if he wanted to become a food supplier in the future, even if he couldn't share some trade secrets, he still needed to build trust with them.
He deliberated for a moment, then asked with a smile, "If I said this thing is actually the meat of some kind of giant frog, would you believe me?"
"?"
The chattering atmosphere instantly fell into a strange, deathly silence.
Giant frog?
Frog!
Anya was the first to cast her gaze toward the unprocessed leg meat on the table. No matter what, she couldn't associate it with that creature.
In the past, she had seen gray, warty frogs at night. Could that thing really be cooked into a dish?
Moreover, did Orario really have frogs whose legs could rival the size of an adult cow's leg?
All the girls in the kitchen who had tasted the dish looked at each other, but in the end, many words were stuck in their throats, unable to be spoken.
Finally, Syr, knowing that Zephyr wasn't lying, asked out of curiosity, "So, this giant frog ingredient... It wouldn't happen to be from the Dungeon, would it? At the very least, in all my years in Orario, I've never seen a giant frog species appear, let alone tasted it."
"Mm."
Zephyr had no intention of denying it. He could only say that Syr, who seemed very gentle, was clearly much sharper when it came to her sense of smell.
But just as Loki said, even if this talent he possessed were exposed, he had his Familia to back him up, not to mention his rate of improvement was plain to see.
However, while answering, he didn't forget to add, "I've tried it beforehand. This thing isn't poisonous. Even if you eat a lot, it's fine."
"?"
Upon hearing Zephyr's admission, Chloe's expression became very ugly.
So, all those special ingredients he talked about were all from the Dungeon?
As a former assassin, she had gone to the Dungeon plenty of times. If she remembered correctly, in the upper and middle floors, she couldn't think of any monster that could be associated with a Giant Frog.
However, thinking that Zephyr had no reason to lie to her, she twitched her lips, her expression strange. "Then why didn't you say so beforehand?"
Syr smiled brightly, helping to explain, "If Zephyr-san had said so beforehand, would we have really been able to accept this dish?"
"..."
Chloe couldn't refute Syr's words at all. If Zephyr hadn't tasted it himself and wanted to use the people in the restaurant to test the dish, then that behavior would have been very excessive. But the other party had already confirmed the taste of the dish and only then thought to bring the raw materials over to share.
Who could criticize such good intentions?
But monster meat cannot be eaten, this is common knowledge known to all Adventurers, including ordinary people. Yet he still turned Dungeon monsters into food. Most importantly, it tasted very good.
Once she fully learned the truth, her feelings were extremely complicated. To put it simply, she found it somewhat unacceptable.
What she had just eaten was actually a monster?!
Chloe recalled the sensation from just moments ago: the deliciousness of the meat, the precision of the seasoning, the skillful cooking technique—all the details were impeccable.
Leaving aside the raw ingredients, this dish could absolutely become a signature dish of the restaurant.
But the problem was—this was monster meat!
However, when she looked at Zephyr again, her eyes only held amazement. He could even make monster meat taste this good.
If he replaced those ingredients with normal ones, she couldn't even imagine how delicious it would be.
"I have to admit, even when you cook those Dungeon creatures, it tastes better than the food in the restaurant. Maybe this is the difference in talent?"
Gourmet Creature ≠ Dungeon monster
Zephyr actually wanted to explain but this was impossible to bring up. Revealing too many details would easily expose his identity.
Just as he wanted to express his apologies, the corner of his eye drifted to the front: Anya, hunched over the table, sneaking bites, her mouth covered in grease.
Seemingly noticing the gazes of others, she gave a thumbs up.
"Um... Anya is a cat, so I can accept eating frogs, meow. If you guys can't accept it, just leave it all to me, nya."
Even after learning the truth, Syr had no hard feelings. Instead, she recalled the special title Zephyr had received at the Denatus a few days ago: Gourmet Hunter.
Was the true meaning of Zephyr's alias that he was constantly pursuing gourmet food within the Dungeon?