Taste of Magic: Ambassador's Voice

"We have our four contestants, so here are the rules. I believe they are rather simple." Auden announced to the crowd gathered around the market plaza. "You have to make a baked dish and present it to me within an hour and thirty minutes."

"Hour and thirty minutes? But that's hardly enough time to make anything," Felipe, the bakery owner, complained.

"But it's part of the challenge. I wouldn't want to give away these fine ingredients without you putting any effort into it," Auden winked, and Melina was sure that she saw some women swooning in the crowd.

Is this man really so attractive? Alistair seems far more handsome in my opinion. Wait, what am I thinking? Focus. I'm not here to compare the attractiveness of men.

"Easy! A true cook would have no trouble cooking under a time restraint," said Curt, the street stall owner. Melina wasn't surprised that he wasn't bothered by the time limit. After all, if you couldn't make food quickly at a food stall, then you'd lose customers.

"We'll see about that." Felipe glared. Meanwhile, Melina and Roxie stood to the side—clearly, the two men did not think of them as real competition.

"A bit of competitive spirit never hurt anyone, right folks?" Auden addressed the crowd who applauded in response, enjoying the show. "However, dear contestants, time limit is not your only restriction. You will also be restricted with the ingredients you can use. Each of you will have access to flour, sugar, eggs, butter, yeast, milk, and two mystery ingredients."

"Mystery ingredients?" A wave of murmurs passed through the crowd.

"That's right. Now if each of our contestants would choose their workstation, please."

Felipe and Curt hurried ahead, both glaring at each other as they went up to the first worktable. It seemed like a fight would break out, but then the street vendor snorted and went to a different station, on the other side. Ultimately, the two were as far from each other as possible.

"Go ahead and choose first," Melina offered to Roxie, who was shaking like a leaf.

"O-oh! T-Thank you," the girl stammered out and chose the second workstation, next to Felipe. That left Melina with the third workstation in between Roxie and Curt.

"Wonderful. Now if you check the shelf inside, you'll find your mystery ingredients. Let's do one by one reveal, shall we?" Auden said, and Felipe reached down, retrieving a wooden box. He opened it and his lips curled upwards.

"Lemon and honey," he announced, showing the audience a jar of beautifully golden honey and perfectly ripe lemons.

"Classic combination. I wonder what you'll make from them. Miss Roxie, would you show us your ingredients?"

The girl fumbled a bit as she lifted the box and then reached inside. Large yellow apples were inside along with a pack of unshelled walnuts.

"Apples and walnuts—familiar flavors for the people of Pertia. Now, Miss Melina, if you would," Auden prompted.

Melina reached down and took her box. Removing the lid, she peered inside and saw all the staple ingredients as well as a few more unusual ones.

"It's pears and ginger," she showed the mystery ingredients to the crowd.

Interesting how they give us one fruit and then a rare ingredient to go along with it.

"Something a bit more exotic. Now Mister Curt, if you'd show us the last set of mystery ingredients."

"Bananas and molasses," the street vendor smiled widely as he showed his ingredients. These were by far the rarest and hardest to acquire, and Melina saw Felipe gritting his teeth. No doubt the chef had wanted to work with the rarer ingredients himself.

But what am I supposed to do with pears and ginger? What could I even make to impress the judges enough to win? If I had done this a month later, then Master Gilbert surely would have taught me many of his recipes and I could make something worthy of showing. But I only really know how to make bread.

"Now, dear contestants, the time right now is 2:26. Once the clock hits 2:30 you'll begin cooking and once the market clock rings 4:00, then your time will be up. The dishes have to be served by then and anything not on the plate will not count. Is that clear?"

All the contestants nodded.

"Wonderful! You have a bit of time to think about what to make so use this opportunity. Taste testing will be done by me as well as a few people I'll select from the audience while you'll be busy cooking. Be sure to make enough for at least four people," Auden explained. Melina was only half listening to him.

What do I make? Any sort of bread would take too long since it would need time to proof. Half an hour would be an absolute minimum if I make the bread small enough. But who'd be impressed by plain bread? It'd have to be something more.

Melina looked at the pears and ginger root sitting on her workbench. She had to incorporate them somehow. But how? How to use them in some sort of a pastry?

Wait… It's so obvious. There's no need to reinvent the wheel when the answers I seek are so simple. You don't make a better healing potion by using fancier equipment.

"Alright, contestants. The time has come. I hope you have come up with something good because your time begins… NOW!" Auden announced, and the crowd cheered and hollered in excitement.

Melina did not hesitate, grabbing a large bowl that was tucked inside her worktable and the bottle of milk. It said one liter on the bottle, so she measured half of it in the bowl and then carefully took it towards the oven, placing it by the opening.

"Oh, it appears Miss Melina already has a clear idea of what she'll make, warming the milk using the oven. Sound strategy. Curt is also getting to work, while Felipe and Roxie still are looking through their ingredients," Auden commented, probably to ensure that people further back would also know what was going on.

It was certainly odd, cooking while everyone was watching, but it wasn't a unique experience for Melina. As an [Archmage] she would sometimes have to host potion-making classes at Alemahria's Magic Academy. She didn't exactly like being at the center of attention like this, but it would not slow her down.

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Little Roxie on the other hand looked completely paralyzed, unable to do anything but gawk at the ingredients in front of her. Melina felt sorry for the child—she had mustered up the bravery to come on stage, but the attention of so many people proved too much for her.

"Don't worry about them," Melina said, putting her hand on Roxie's shoulder. She flinched and looked up at Melina like a startled, little sparrow. "Just imagine that it's a bunch of potatoes looking at you and it won't be scary anymore."

"Potatoes?" Roxie asked, her little shoulders relaxing.

"Yeah. It doesn't matter what they are doing right now. What matters is what you are making," Melina said pointing towards the ingredients in front of her. Roxie took a look at them, then looked at the audience and nodded.

"I-I think I'm fine now. Thank you," the girl bowed her head towards Melina. She still appeared tense, but at least now Roxie looked like she could do something. Melina went back to the oven and retrieved the bowl with milk. It was slightly warm, but not hot—just how she needed it.

She added four teaspoons of dry yeast and stirred it, watching it dissolve. Once that was done, she took the other large bowl and poured one and a half packs of flour, half a glass of sugar, and a pinch of salt into it. Afterward, she melted a small stick of butter as well as six large eggs.

The last step was mixing all the ingredients together, watching them slowly form a familiar texture of the bread dough.

Have I made too much? I did reduce the proportions, but I guess this is still a lot, especially since the buns I intend to make are rather small. Oh well, better to have a bit more than not enough.

I'd love to use right now, but there are just too many people around. I can't risk it. I'll do my best without it.

Melina dusted the work surface with a bit of flour and transferred her dough to it. Quickly she fell into the rhythm of kneading dough, the motion having become both familiar and therapeutic. She did not notice the world around her, nor did she hear Auden's enthusiastic commentary. For five minutes it was just her and the dough.

Ideally, I'd like to knead it for longer, but every minute is precious. I'll leave it to rest to proof for as long as possible and in the meanwhile deal with the pears and ginger.

She transferred the large dough ball back to the bowl and covered it with a towel. Next, Melina turned her attention to the pears, grabbing a peeler and peeling them, then cleaning out the cores and cutting them up into small cubes.

She made a quick work of the pears, as well as the ginger which she minced as finely as possible. She threw those, along with a generous quantity of sugar in a saucepan and heated it over the stove that stood next to the oven.

Luckily, the other contestants were busy at their own workstations and Melina didn't have to worry about sharing the space. Part of her wondered what they were making, but her eyes did not dare to wander away from the saucepan.

I've never actually made jam before, so I hope I'm doing this right.

She looked into the pan and saw how the juices from the pears and sugar were melting together, creating a thick consistency. It smelled wonderful, the sweetness of the pears mixing with the pleasant spiciness of ginger. Melina took a teaspoon and tasted it—it was just as delicious as it smelled.

She continued cooking the jam on low heat for a while longer until it reached a nice thick consistency.

"Dear contestants, we are halfway through your time. 45 minutes left," Auden announced. Melina took the saucepan and transferred the jam to another bowl, to let it cool. Her dough had risen nicely in the meanwhile, but it clearly needed more time.

If I make the buns small enough, then 20 minutes should be enough to cook them. I'll leave 5 minutes for plating and I'll probably need some 10 minutes to make the dough into the right shape, so that means I can let it proof for 10 more minutes.

Curious and left with nothing to do, Melina decided to take a glance at what her competitors were doing.

"I'm done!" Curt suddenly announced, earning surprised gasps from the audience. In front of him stood… What was it exactly? Melina couldn't quite tell. It looked like doughy balls with some molasses on it.

"Are you sure? There's still plenty of time. Perhaps, you can come up with something to enhance the dish with," Auden prompted.

"No, I am confident in this," Curt pushed the plate of dough forward, accentuating his point.

"Well, if you are sure, then we might as well try it while it's still warm," the man said and motioned a few people standing behind him to follow. There was a little boy, an older man, and a middle-aged lady among them. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"These are banana fritters with molasses sauce. Ideally, I would have liked to deep fry them, but they taste nice baked as well. Enjoy!" Curt said as each of them took a fork and stabbed into one of the doughy balls.

There was an audible crunch as they bit into them. The little boy seemed quite pleased with the treat, digging into it with gusto. Meanwhile, the lady and the old man didn't appear as enthusiastic. Auden retained his pleasantly professional expression, not giving away his thoughts.

"Why don't you tell us what you think?" Auden asked the judges.

"It's very sweet and yummy. I like it!" the boy exclaimed.

"It's a bit too sweet for my tastes, but overall not bad," the lady said.

"It's too hard to eat. The breading around the bananas keeps getting stuck in my teeth," the old man complained.

"Thank you for your thoughts. I believe the flavor of this dish is pleasant, perhaps a bit too sweet for those who do not have a sweet tooth. The molasses sauce is a nice accompaniment to the fritters, but unfortunately, the presentation itself is lacking. It is not a very appetizing dish to look at. It is also quite simple in its execution—one has to agree it doesn't take much to fry a banana in some breading," Auden said. Curt, however, didn't seem put off by his judgment, still looking as proud as a peacock.

Auden turned back to the audience. "The bar has been set, people—let's see if the other contestants can match it."

"No way," Curt muttered confidently.

"Banana fritters—how primitive. But what would one expect from somebody who sells food on the street," Felipe snorted derisively, his arms crossed over his chest. His workstation was cleared out aside from four plates. It appeared that whatever he made was currently cooking in the oven.

"Oh, I do wish to see what you could make that's so great," Curt narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I'll show you. In fact…" Felipe looked at his silver wristwatch, not shy about flaunting his wealth. "I believe it is ready."

He grabbed oven mitts and then hurried over to retrieve his dish. Melina along with the rest of the audience curiously looked at what he would present. Before long he brought four perfect-looking souffles to the workstation.

"My, oh my, Felipe sure is trying to impress with his high-difficulty dish. For those of you not familiar with souffles, they are a highly technical dish. One wrong move and you'll get nothing more than curdled soup," Auden explained and invited the three guest judges to join him.

"Please enjoy!" Felipe said confidently. The judges each reached out towards the dessert, but then the risen dome of the delicate souffle began to deflate. "No, no, no!"

"My, oh, my. It appears you might have taken the souffle out just a little bit too soon," Auden commented, and Curt let out a satisfied snort.

"So much for beating me. It appears I'll be taking those rare ingredients after all," the street vendor taunted, and Felipe glared at him.

"There, there. While it is not perfect, I believe this souffle is still worth tasting," Auden said, taking a bite. The three judges did the same, not appearing bothered by the deflated dessert.

"It's a bit sour and a bit sweet and it feels like it melts in my mouth. I like it," the little boy announced.

"It's a shame that it deflated because the lemony flavor is just wonderful." The lady was eagerly eating the dessert.

"I can't taste much. I suppose it's alright." The old man shrugged.

"While this souffle unfortunately deflated which detracts from its attractiveness, the flavors are there as the citrusy taste of lemon does wonders together with the sweetness of honey," Auden said.

"Thank you," Felipe inclined his head politely, however, it was obvious that he was frustrated with the outcome.

Okay, this is as much time as I can let the dough sit. Time to make those rolls!