#646 You are Sha-ke

To think we’d be able to catch a salmon...

Might as well be grateful for this catch and transform its meat into our flesh and blood.

We won’t be able to bring home any more fish, so we’ll take this big salmon as our only and greatest catch.

“Welcome back... Oh, wow! You caught a big fish!” greets Platy, who trembles at the sight of the massive salmon. “Isn’t that a sah-ke?! I’m impressed you caught a powerful fish monster!”

“Huh? This is also a monster?”

In this world, most of the fish I’ve caught are monsters.

This salmon isn’t exactly the same as the salmon in my world; it’s a fish monster that resembles a salmon in shape and form!

But based on past experience, fish monsters similar to those in my world have identical tastes and characteristics, so cooking methods are also similar.

Now, let’s challenge ourselves to create a delicious salmon dish with this catch!

Ah, that’s right, I forgot to mention something important.

“Junior caught it! Isn’t it amazing? Our two-year-old must be a genius for catching this fish!!!”

“What? You let Junior go fishing?”

As soon as she heard that, Praty’s expression changed rapidly...

“How could you make him do such a thing?! Junior is still too young to go fishing! Too youngggggg!!!”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Platy?!”

I guess I shouldn’t have brought Junior with me because it was too dangerous for him...?

Still, getting scolded like this with such a threatening attitude is unexpected!

“Junior is too young to get married! Let him stay as my beloved child for a little longer!”

“What do you mean?”

Oh, I see!

To begin with, I caught Platy with my rod while I was out sea fishing! 

“No! Fishing isn’t like some online dating app for land-dwellers and mermaids!”

You don’t even normally catch a wife while fishing!

So don’t worry, Junior won’t go fishing to try to catch a wife!

“I’ll kill anyone who tries to woo my Junior!” 

“You’re starting to look like Mahi, Platy!”

Is this the constant spark that fuels the war between brides and mothers-in-law that men fear?

Well, we can leave any potential future wars to the wiser me in the future...

For now, let’s focus on turning this sah-ke into a delicious dish with all our might!

“Huh? Sake?”

For some reason, Bacchus showed up.

A being who loves alcohol so much, he was called the god of alcohol.

“Did someone say sake? Where is it?” he says, frantically looking left and right.

“No, I said sah-ke.”

“That’s what I said. Sake.”

...

There’s a misunderstanding here.

“Not that sake. It’s sah-ke, a fish. We weren’t talking about the alcoholic beverage. Non-alcoholic only. Okay?”

“Kotsuzake?! Is that a type of sake where you put grilled fish bone into the alcohol and make a soup out of it?!”

Who came up with that crazy way of drinking anyway?!

Damn, now I feel like having a drink!

“Like I said! Sah-ke is a fish, not alcohol!! S, a, h, k, e, sah-ke!!!”

“Sake?”

No!!!

* * *

Thanks to Bacchus, we lagged a bit behind...

But let’s get back to business and cook this salmon!

First, let’s open up the belly... 

And there it is, ikura, or salmon roeeeee...!

“Ahhh, it looks so delicious...!” 

The fish eggs look so appetizing...!

I could make some sushi rolls or salmon roe rice bowl, but I really want to eat it fresh out of the belly...

However, the most important thing when eating raw fish is to be cautious of parasites. 

Even with freshly caught salmon, boiling it in water at 70 degrees Celsius is crucial to kill any danger that’s hard to see with the naked eye.

After that, it’s completely safe to eat. Now, let’s scoop some of the salmon roe with a spoon and take a bite!

“Kaaa! Googoo gaagaa!!!”

It’s so good that my vocabulary’s been reduced to Ikura-chan’s!

Ahh, fish eggs taste so good!

I wonder why there are so many delicious things in the world?!

“Daddy, googoo gagaaa.”

Junior ate so much salmon roe that his vocabulary also turned into Ikura-chan’s!

“Sorry, Junior. You’re right; you should be the first to taste the fish you caught. Here, say aah...”

“Aaah...”

I feed Junior a spoonful of salmon roe and...

“So good! (Tennen-tenen!)”

...

I had this vague worry about whether it was okay for a kid to develop a taste for delicious food at such a young age.

Anyway, for now, we enjoyed the salmon roe, and it was time to savor the meat in earnest.

Salmon is a staple on the dinner table. Even kids love it.

Since we caught a whole fish, let’s not be stingy and cut out big chunks to grill them in style. 

Thick-cut salt-grilled salmon!

And of course, what I made was for Junior to eat! 

After all, it was he who caught it!

This salmon also wished to be eaten by Junior when it got caught on the hook, so Junior needs to be aware of what they are eating and fulfill the responsibility of consuming something that took a life.

...Even though he’s only two years old, my son cuts and shreds the salmon with chopsticks like a natural.

“...I want wice.”

“Of course!”

How can I forget? Salt-grilled salmon goes well with white rice! 

Sorry about that, Junior!

Salmon is delicious when grilled normally, but its taste and cooking methods aren’t limited to that!

It’s also good when grilled Kyoto-style or with mirin. 

But personally, there’s an even more fantastic way to cook salmon...!

Grilled salmon belly!

The best part of salmon is the belly, with all that juicy fat. Grilling it up and savoring that fatty, delicious flavor is the way to go, babyyyyyyyy!

Fat!

Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat!

Salmon!

Fat, fat, fat!

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!!!

“Dad, calm downnn.”

“Yessir...”

I went bananas in front of my son.

The fat content was enough to shatter my sanity.

I bet no other fish releases this much fat like salmon. Probably.

Just the thought of grilled salmon belly is enough to make me happy...!

But, the versatility of salmon is that even after all this cooking, you still haven’t got everything out of it.

It still has one more trick up its sleeve.

The ultimate technique of cooked salmon, and that is...

Drumroll, please...

Foil-roasted salmon!

You wrap the salmon in aluminum foil with butter, green onions, and various mushrooms and roast it!

The heat transmitted through the aluminum foil steams the salmon, and the melted butter, mushrooms, and onion flavors soak into the meat. 

The unique flavor of this grilling technique is like no other!

The juice left in the foil with the salmon fat and melted butter mixed together is also delicious when poured over rice with green onions and enoki mushrooms!

“I’ll freeze the rest of the salmon for later... As for this part, we’ll foil-roast ittttttt!”

Or so I thought, but...

“I don’t have aluminum fooooooooooooooooooooil!!!”

I’ve been living on this farm for quite a while now, but I still couldn’t produce some things, including aluminum foil! 

I mean, I’ve never even seen aluminum before!

“How can I foil-roast without aluminum foooooooooooooooil?!”

It’s called foil for a reason!

What should I do?!

Even if I start making aluminum foil from scratch, where can I get the raw material?!

Should I use mana metal as a substitute?!

Maybe I could try shaving it with a holy sword until it becomes paper-thin? 

That sounds like it would be too much work and take too long!

“I want to eat foil-roasted dish so baaaad! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

“Dad, it’s okay,” Junior comforts me as I break down in tears.

---------

ikura-chan is a character from the manga sazae-san. he's 1 and babbles a lot iirc

tennen tenen is the same sfx from this jp commercial. it was used in chapter 360 too

lastly, salmon in Japanese can be サーモン (saamon) or 鮭 (can be read as sa-ke or sha-ke).