K-Chicken: Crispy Outside, Moist and Tender Inside, Juicy with Every Bite. The Holy Trinity.
K-Chicken: Crispy Outside, Moist and Tender Inside, Juicy with Every Bite. The Holy Trinity.
"Can I eat it right away? How do I eat it?"
Andrea stared at the freshly made, piping hot chicken and asked.
"You can pick it up with your hands or use a fork. For the fried variety, you can dip it in salt or sauce, depending on your preference."
"Ah-ha."
After hearing Lucas's explanation, she studied the chicken for a moment.
The golden Coco fry, wafting white steam, gave off the savory aroma of fried batter mingled with the clean scent of Coco meat.
Smells good.
Still, a small part of her felt let down.
She had eaten Lucas's cooking many times already.
Breakfast and lunch, every day, she ate with him. Her palate had been impeccably conditioned by his food.
Bibimbap or Jeyuk Bokkeum for breakfast, Dubu Kimchi with Donkatsu, and occasionally in the evenings, Coco gizzard stir-fry or charcoal-grilled Pog or beef cuts.
Every single time she'd eaten his cooking over the months, Andrea had ascended to a new dimension of flavor.
She had always liked that human cooking was so much more diverse than elven fare, but tasting Lucas's dishes made her feel, deep in her bones, that he was on an entirely different plane.
Maybe that was why.
Now, if there was no rice on the table, she felt its absence. If there were no red-seasoned side dishes, she felt the lack.
Same with the kimchi.
The guests were split on it, of course, but she loved it.
It had gone beyond conditioning. It was more like a full-on remodel.
She was no longer fixated on just eating meat.
She'd learned that the perfect harmony of vegetables and meat, depending on the preparation, produced an even more extraordinary taste.
That was the reason.
The chicken on the table felt slightly lacking.
Even though the savory aroma enveloping her nose had already tantalized her senses.
There's no rice. No kimchi.
Her ears drooped low.
Truthfully, she'd been expecting something like the Coco-doritang she'd eaten at the chicken farm.
A bubbling stew where vegetables simmered deep into the broth, drawing out a profound richness, and within it all the Coco meat held court like a proud protagonist.
That kind of dish. Scooping up a ladleful of the thick broth, pouring it over a mound of white rice, then loading a spoonful of the broth-soaked rice into her mouth until her cheeks were full.
Chewing it slowly and swallowing—a dish where you didn't even have to eat the chicken meat to feel its deep, savory flavor. That was what she wanted.
Considering she was eating for free, she knew it might sound demanding. But she'd already tasted Coco-doritang. Compared to that, this menu fell a touch short of her expectations.
This is just Coco fry.
The Empire had plenty of Coco-based fried dishes.
She didn't even need to go all the way to Lilyan. Just visiting the nearby small town of Rupel Town, she'd find plenty of Coco fried dishes.
Coco fry was an incredibly common meal.
Coco sandwiches, cutlets using Coco breast, Coco fry skewers, and so on.
Has the boss run out of recipes already?
Or was this a dish born from an ambition to conquer even other chefs' recipes now?
Well, it'll definitely be delicious.
Swallowing her disappointment, she reached for the chicken still billowing steam.
"Thank you for the food!"
She picked up a breast piece from the fried chicken first.
Holding the hot fry on her plate, she fumbled for a moment, not sure what to do with her grease-slicked fingers.
"Ah, hot!"
"If it's too hot, you can use a fork."
Watching her, Lucas took a Coco drumstick for himself.
"No, it's just right, see?"
She pinched the fried chicken with her fingers and tore into it.
Crissshh!
The crunchy batter split apart as the breast meat pulled cleanly along the grain.
The white flesh tore with the grain, steam rising in soft puffs.
"Smells amazing."
She saw it.
A faint orange layer at the boundary between Lucas's chicken batter and the meat.
The color's unusual.
Having torn off a piece of the boneless breast, she popped it straight into her mouth.
Crissssh!
The rustling crackle of the batter echoed inside her mouth.
"Hmm?"
It was a ridiculous level of crispness.
Crispness that vibrated through her teeth, followed immediately by the sensation of moist, tender flesh.
The mild flavor of the meat and the nutty, savory batter spread across her palate.
The juices that burst out the moment she bit down, along with the oil from the batter, spread smoothly across her mouth.
The savory and the rich, oily notes mingled in a subtle, curious blend.
Crunch-crunch.
Chew-chew.
Chewing the chicken, she marveled at the perfect seasoning, even though she had dipped it in nothing at all.
And then, just as she chewed and swallowed the whole mouthful—
"Oh?"
A gentle, spicy kick tapped the roof of her mouth and tongue, greeting her a beat late.
"Spicy. Boss, this chicken's spicy."
"How is it? Not too spicy?"
"Good. It's really good!"
How to describe it?
She took another bite of chicken to chase that flavor again.
Crissssh!
"Mmmnn."
Unlike other Coco fry, the crunchy batter was neither too thick nor overly greasy.
The Coco meat, seasoned all the way to the core, released its uniquely clean, mild flavor with every chew.
But given it was oil-fried meat, it still had the potential to turn heavy. And that spicy burst at the end? It neutralized that heaviness and served as a fresh, new jolt of stimulation.
"Delicious. It's really delicious!"
She beamed, lips glistening from the oil, and shouted it out.
"Don't just eat the fried stuff. Try the seasoned chicken, too."
"This one?"
"Yeah. I bet it's even better than the fried."
Finished speaking, Lucas took hold of the drumstick in his fist and ripped into it.
Andrea watched him quietly.
Something about the motion felt... wildly primal.
To feel a primal edge from simply tearing into a drumstick.
Maybe she was just eating the chicken too enthusiastically herself.
"I'll give it a try."
This time, she used her fork to spear a piece of boneless seasoned chicken.
A thigh piece, this time.
Compared to the breast, it was relatively fattier—a cut she didn't normally prefer.
Weren't people across the Empire who preferred thighs over breasts actually in the minority, anyway?
The chicken, glistening with a glossy red seasoning, had still retained its crispness.
What would this one taste like?
The disappointment she'd felt before eating the fried chicken had long since vanished.
Andrea had already realized it wasn't about what menu item it was.
If Lancelot had eaten this fried chicken—
-In the end, the essence of the sword is neither which school of swordsmanship you learn, nor which famed blade you hold. It manifests depending on who wields it.
That was the kind of epiphany that would have launched a grand speech starting with that line.
But Andrea was no knight, and she had no interest in such speeches.
"Thank you for the food."
Crissssh!
It was definitely less crunchy than the fried chicken, but the stimulating, sweet sauce drenching her lips and tongue nearly made Andrea lose her mind.
Ah, delicious.
No flowery words needed.
It was delicious.
Simply delicious.
The slight heaviness she'd noticed in the fried chicken was absent from the seasoned one.
Because the sweet yet spicy sauce delivered a flavor so intense from the very first bite, it masked that heaviness entirely.
Forgetting the sauce smeared on her lips, Andrea put the rest of the seasoned chicken speared on her fork into her mouth.
It didn't matter that thigh meat wasn't her preference.
If anything, she was even more curious now.
What would the boneless breast taste like?
After the punch of bold flavor, her mouth felt a little coated.
Andrea's eyes landed on the pickled radish, called 'chicken mu.'
She knew the taste of that radish well: tart, crisp, and refreshingly cool.
On pure instinct, she speared a piece of the pickled radish with her fork.
"Yum."
She bit down on the cube of radish in her mouth.
The radish, which had been soaking in its sour, tangy brine, burst open, washing away the lingering film in her mouth.
"Hooohhh."
Andrea gave a small shiver.
So good.
So Coco fry can be this delicious.
It was definitely a cooking technique closer to the Empire's style than the other dishes she'd eaten here.
Yet Lucas's cooking still possessed its own distinct singularity.
It made the eater marvel.
"Boss..."
Andrea, having finished the seasoned chicken, looked at Lucas.
"It's delicious. This chicken..."
It was the moment Andrea's palate—already remodeled by Lucas's kimchi and various hansik dishes—was being newly conditioned all over again.
"Eat lots."
"Yes. I'll eat a lot. I'll eat until my stomach's completely full."
"...Do that."
Boss, my stomach is toooo fullll.
***
No beer's the real shame here.
Crissssh!
That moment when you bite into hot chicken and chase it with a cold beer or cola bursting with carbonation—the way it prickles the inside of your mouth, that flavor is a delicacy all its own.
A bit of a shame.
It could've recreated that feeling from my college days, when classes were over and my friends and I would hit a bar near campus.
That feeling where just ordering a chicken and a beer was enough to hold all the happiness in the world.
It was a shame, but seeing Andrea's reaction, the menu seemed to be a hit.
"Not bad."
"Boss, it's really delicious. I want to eat it twice—no, three more times."
"Try it with beer later. It'll blow your mind."
"If the Boss recommends it, I'll trust you and eat it no matter what."
Dipping a piece of fried chicken in sauce for one bite, then a piece of pickled radish the next, Andrea spoke through tears of emotion.
But this Coco meat.
The texture's softer than other Coco meat.
I'd noticed it ever since I made the Coco-doritang last time.
The flavor was different from ordinary Coco meat.
The flesh was slightly more tender, and the juices that burst out with every chew had a far richer, more savory depth.
The quality's way better than the Coco we used to order at the Knight Order.
How are they being raised?
Are they being fed mana stones or something?
No way. If they were, they wouldn't be sold at this price.
I'd have to ask about it sometime.
I picked up a Coco wing.
I bit through half the wing and deftly picked out the bone.
Crack-crack! Crack-crack!
I crunched through the cartilage clinging to the wing bone, savoring its unique texture.
Chewing this cartilage is a delicacy in itself.
Chicken officially passes as a dinner menu item.
I could cut it into smaller pieces and fry it as dakgangjeong, too.
The only disappointing part was that the accompaniment was soju, not beer.
Unlike the city, there wasn't a single brewery near this Britten territory that could produce the fizzy, carbonated beer I missed.
Thinking those regretful thoughts, I grabbed a Coco rib piece.
Chewing through the inconvenient cut of meat that was all cartilage and skin, I recalled the sentiment Jojo once muttered when he withdrew without occupying the central plains.
This stuff is good. Why wouldn't you eat something this delicious...?
Because he was full.
That's it. He was just full.
If it were me, I'd have finished it all.
Still musing over that thought, I speared a piece of boneless seasoned chicken with my fork this time and took a bite.
A spicy, sweet, savory, and juicy flavor.
The seasoning had penetrated all the way into the meat's interior, pleasantly tickling my tongue.
Should I try making oven-roasted chicken later?
Making the batter even thinner and then brushing on a soy sauce glaze mixed with honey would be nice.
Imagining new recipes, I grabbed another piece of the fried variety.
"It's delicious! Boss, it's really delicious!"
Andrea, her lips gleaming from the oil, cried out with shining eyes.
"I bet this would be insane with rice!"
Somehow, a bowl of warm white rice had materialized in front of her, though I had no idea when she'd gotten it.
She was doing chi-bap? Here?
"Hey, you..."
"Boss, trust me. There's a one hundred percent chance it's delicious!"
"That's not what I...."
If you eat it with rice like that, you're really gonna pack on the pounds.
I couldn't shake the feeling I'd led her down a forbidden path.
I'd have to make her exercise as much as she ate.
***
"Uuuuugh... I'm low on blood..."
Bldi the vampire, having hunted a wild animal, wiped the blood from her lips and muttered to herself.
"It- it doesn't taste right. It doesn't taste anything like those Cocos' blood at aaaaall!"
Clutching her starved stomach, she bit her lip.
Now, there was no way back to that chicken farm, even if she wanted to go.
Before she knew it, knights had been stationed there, and a priest dispatched from who-knew-where had cast holy magic around the farm's perimeter.
The incantations were ones she could dispel if she wished, but she couldn't bring herself to do it.
Humans... scary. Don't want to meet them.
Her fear of humans, her rock-bottom social skills—they made it impossible for her to act at all.
If it weren't for those humans...
She'd still be secretly drinking those delicious Cocos' blood.
Why did I have to go and learn that taste...?
She recalled the flavor of drinking the Cocos' blood.
That stinging, spicy sensation she felt in her mouth every time she drank.
That spicy kick, the first of its kind in what had always been just sweet blood, was a new world of stimulation for her.
Enough that it kept popping into her head even now.
Want to eat it. Want to eat it. Want to eat it.
But humans were terrifying.
Leaving the wild stag that had crumbled to dust behind her, she lowered her eyes, veiled by her bangs, and sank deep into thought.
What to do?