Chapter 22: Ryo, Minato, and Grasscocco Cooking

Minato stood with her arms crossed before the Grasscocco laid out in the kitchen.

It tasted good, and it was huge.

It was an ingredient truly worth cooking.

And there was Ryo as the taste tester.

His reactions were honest.

And it was obvious that when it came to chicken dishes, he became extremely vocal.

Thinking of a dish that would make him groan in delight.

For a cook, there was nothing more exciting.

“For starters—”

This kitchen studio was a place built around the concept of “actually cooking while filming,” with a home-style cooking setup.

Most household cooking equipment was available, and if brought in, even professional-grade tools could be used.

In fact, some of the knives and frying pans were Minato’s own.

While the studio provided standard tools, custom-made equipment was simply more comfortable to use.

‘If the skin is delicious… then it has to be that!’

Cooking a Grasscocco was unexpected, but from the moment Ryo and the others said they wanted to meet here, Minato had planned to treat them to something.

Because of that, the mixed beef-and-pork ground meat she had brought might come in handy.

While running through several recipes in her head, Minato began peeling the skin from the cut Grasscocco meat.

It was a large bird to begin with, so peeling some off would not make it disappear, and even the skin alone could be used for various dishes.

“Alright. First dish!”

“Yes!”

The moment the plate was placed on the table, Ryo let out a happy cheer.

He looked as expressionless as ever at first glance, yet the corners of his eyes and mouth were clearly relaxed.

“Chicken skin chips. I just sprinkled a little rock salt on them, so if it’s not enough, season them yourselves.”

That alone should be enough, she added, and Minato moved on to the next dish.

“Let’s eat.”

Without even seeing Minato off as she returned to the kitchen, Ryo reached for the chicken skin chips.

The skins were fried to a crisp golden crunch, still tinged with green, making them look almost like matcha-flavored snacks.

But he already knew this was simply the color of the meat.

“Oh.”

A sound of admiration escaped Ryo’s mouth as he bit into the hot chicken skin.

They were crunchy, of course, but every crackle and crumble released a flood of umami.

The flavor alone was satisfying, and the rock salt added just the right amount of saltiness.

Seeing Ryo like that, Kaori and Shiranagi had no reason to hesitate.

They brought the chicken skin chips to their mouths, their expressions softening.

As they crunched through the chicken skin chips, Minato brought out the next dish.

“Next up. Chicken skin gyoza, coming right up!”

As the name suggested, these were gyoza wrapped in chicken skin instead of dumpling wrappers.

“And since I couldn’t make many, one whole wing gyoza just for Ryo-chan, and cut portions for me, Shiranagi-san, and Kaori-kun.”

There were also wing gyoza, with filling stuffed inside chicken wings.

Both dishes were placed on the table, steaming hot.

“Ooooooh!”

With his excitement skyrocketing, Ryo popped a clearly hot chicken skin gyoza into his mouth.

“Hah-hah-hot—!”

When the grilled skin tore with a snap, minced meat filling peeked out from inside.

The umami of the skin combined with the juicy filling made from ground meat was irresistible.

“Minato, did you put ground chicken into the filling?”

“I didn’t, but… it’s amazing, right?”

“Yeah! This is amazing! Even the juices coming out of the filling taste like chicken, and they overpower the ground meat flavor!”

It had to be the fat from the chicken skin.

As it melted inward during cooking, the skin’s fat must have seeped into the filling.

That preserved the juiciness of the meat while boosting the flavor and sending the umami soaring.

While Ryo and Minato talked, Kaori and Shiranagi also took bites of the chicken skin gyoza.

“This makes me want white rice.”

“Um… alcohol is a no-go today, right…?”

“We’re using the car to drive everyone to the station afterward.”

Minato replied with a wry smile to Shiranagi’s sorrowful words.

“That’s true…

But not being able to drink with this flavor… that’s torture…”

Ignoring Shiranagi performing the advanced feat of slumping in despair while eating happily, Ryo reached for the wing gyoza.

“Mmm!”

Ryo let out a delighted sound as he bit into it.

Compared to the skin gyoza, the skin version had better fat absorption, but with wing gyoza, you bit into both the skin and the meat.

That created a different harmony between the chicken flavor and the meat filling.

“This is completely chicken-forward… the beef and pork in the filling are just supporting actors…”

In other words, the filling had practically become just a sauce.

Because Grasscocco wings had such a powerful flavor, the beef, pork, and aromatics existed only to support it.

“But this is a flavor you can’t get from just grilling wings—this only works because other meats are involved!

And yet, it’s undeniably the ultimate chicken flavor…!”

As Ryo’s face began to glow, Minato pumped her fist without hesitation.

At this point, she no longer found his glowing face strange, treating it as a culinary evaluation metric.

Seeing that, Kaori and Shiranagi could not stay indifferent.

“Wow… this is incredible.”

“It’s a shame you can only make two per bird because of the cut.”

Both seemed pleased, and Minato smiled brightly.

“Next up, this is—something special I made on a whim!”

One small chicken skin gyoza was placed in front of each of them.

“Because of ingredients and effort, that’s all I could make. Sorry.”

Minato apologized, but Ryo shook his head.

“I’m grateful you made something like this at all.”

Then Ryo brought the special one-bite chicken skin gyoza to his mouth.

“…Whoa, this is incredible in a different way!!”

With every bite, the Grasscocco umami rampaged violently.

Though it was a chicken skin gyoza, it was nothing but an explosion of Grasscocco flavor.

“You made minced Grasscocco meat and used it as the filling, right?”

“Correct!”

“…But that alone doesn’t explain this intensity… ah! You fried it in the chicken oil from making the skin chips, didn’t you?”

“That’s correct too!”

In other words, it was chicken skin wrapping Grasscocco mince, fried in Grasscocco chicken oil.

“On top of that, I mixed finely chopped salted chicken skin chips into the filling, so even the seasoning is Grasscocco.”

“I see…!”

It was undeniably delicious.

However—

“But wasn’t using Grasscocco even for the seasoning a bit too much?”

“You think so too, Ryo-chan?”

“It’s tasty, and the way the umami runs wild isn’t bad, but mixing in crushed skin chips might have been a bit heavy…”

“I see… is that why your face isn’t glowing?”

“Probably.”

To be honest, Ryo himself did not fully understand his glowing face either.

“I agree with Ryo… it’s good, but the Grasscocco flavor is too intense.”

“Personally, I love this unapologetic richness.

Washing it down with ice-cold beer would feel amazing… it’d be the perfect snack…!”

It seemed that whether one could drink alcohol affected their impressions.

Listening to everyone, Minato checked the clock while thinking about the next dish.

“Well, we couldn’t use all of the Grasscocco, but time-wise, the next one will be the last.”

After saying that, Minato looked unsure about what to do with the leftovers.

Noticing this, Ryo spoke up.

“Oh. You can have the remaining Grasscocco.”

“Eh? Really?”

“Yeah. Will it fit in your SAI, Minato?”

“It will, it will! Mine’s pretty large by chance, and it even has a time-delay effect!”

Answering happily, Minato got to work on the final dish.

“Last dish, the one you’ve been waiting for, Ryo-chan!”

“It’s here!!”

The long-awaited dish was enough to make him stand up with a clatter.

“Grasscocco karaage!

Since the meat is a bit firm, I made the pieces smaller.”

Seeing the small mountain of it, Ryo’s eyes sparkled like a child’s.

For someone usually hard to read, it was a rare, obvious expression.

“It makes me happy when you’re excited even before eating.”

Seeing that, all the careful preparation was worth it.

While making the chicken skin chips, Minato had cut the meat into small pieces and put them into a bag with a soy-sauce-based marinade, grated ginger, and grated onion.

She kneaded it well and let it rest in the fridge.

After about forty minutes of cooking and eating chips and gyoza, she took it out.

“It might be a bit short, but I poked holes in the meat with skewers, so the flavor should have soaked in well.”

Invited to eat, Ryo reached for the karaage like a dog released from a stay command.

He popped it into his mouth.

“…!!”

The next moment, Ryo’s face shone brilliantly.

“I might like this more than cockatrice!”

It had firmness—no, elasticity.

Like the steak, it had substance, yet compared to the steak, it felt far more tender.

That was likely due to how easily it bit through.

It resisted with a strong springiness, yet tore apart cleanly, releasing an enormous amount of juice.

The volume of marinade-flavored juice was almost overwhelming.

Naturally, it was hot.

It was freshly fried karaage.

But that heat was good.

The heat, the chicken’s umami, and the marinade’s flavor.

Combined with the crispy coating, every bite delivered it all.

The pieces were smaller than average karaage.

Yet the satisfaction of one piece was like stuffing an entire large karaage into your mouth.

“Cockatrice had a solid chicken flavor with something extra.

That extra flavor multiplied its taste several times over.

If I had to guess… that was probably snake.

But Grasscocco doesn’t have that.

It matches cockatrice purely with chicken flavor alone!

And the strong elasticity paired with that clean bite is perfect!!”

It was probably thanks to the grated onion in the marinade.

She had also pierced the meat with skewers.

The marinade soaked in, and the onion’s tenderizing effect likely created this texture.

“Bringing the Grasscocco was the right call…”

With his face glowing, Ryo wore an expression of bliss.

Seeing that filled Minato with overwhelming happiness.

The ingredient mattered, but more than anything, seeing someone enjoy her cooking this much made her incredibly happy.

“I get what Ryo’s saying.

If it were just steak, cockatrice might win, but for karaage, Grasscocco is better.”

“…You two are amazing… to me, they’re both just incredibly delicious…”

Minato laughed at Shiranagi, who looked almost apologetic.

“Then that’s perfect, Shiranagi-san.

If it’s delicious, that’s all that matters!”

And after everyone enjoyed the karaage, they carefully cleaned up and left the studio together.