Culinary Crucible - Leona Making Panna Cotta (Part One)
Ghost Chef
Today you'll be making panna cotta, a dessert made by thickening cream with gelatin. Now, desserts require more precision than most other dishes. If your cooking temperature's too high or you mess up the measurements or mixing order, you might ruin the whole thing. So pay attention.
Hold on. I'd feel just terrible wasting more of your valuable time by making you explain the whole thing. You must be incredibly busy, so how about I save you the hassle and work directly from the recipe instead?
Ghost Chef
Usually we don't give that out so early... But since you're offering, you can have a copy of it. Thank you for being so considerate!
Epel's less likely to screw anything up since he's got experience. Besides, it doesn't say I have to get the ingredients myself.
Ghost Chef
You just love exploiting loopholes, don't you... Leona, this is YOUR assignment, which means YOU have to do it. I've had plenty of kids who slacked off, but I've never had someone try to force another student to do everything for them!
Oh yeah? In that case I'll set it aside so you can use it for some other dish.
Ghost Chef
You just want to save yourself the trouble of having to fish it out of the pot later. I'm onto you now. Cut the heat just before the milk reaches a boil. Watch closely so you can time it right.
I've never felt the itch to cook for myself. And considering that lack of culinary skill hasn't bitten me in the tail so far, I'm pretty sure I'm fine without it.
Ghost Chef
Hmm... You're the exact type that the headmage is worried about.
Oh, you mean all that talk about a "healthy and independent life"? It's none of his business, if you ask me. Different people are cut out for different things. It's best to give jobs to people who want them, or who are already good at them. If everyone was an incredible cook, wouldn't you chefs be out of a job? That'd be terrible.
Ghost Chef
Uh-huh, sure. Regardless, I expect you to make every effort to complete this assignment. For that matter—
Wait, what? If you drown it in a sauce, you won't even be able to taste the panna cotta. All the recipe says is to decorate it with fruit. I'm just gonna go with toppings that highlight the panna cotta's natural flavor. No sauce.
Ghost Chef
Mmhm, interesting choice... Wait, no! I was about to nod along without thinking! You can't just cut out steps!
Where's the panna cotta I ordered? It's takin' forever. How long does it take to make one basic dessert? I know this ain't the Mostro Lounge, but still.
Huh? The bottom's all sorts of funky looking... Oh well, whatevs. Down the hatch. Huh? What in the world? This texture royally sucks. That's hilarious. I knew somethin' was up the moment I stuck my spoon in for a bite.
With all that stuff about power level and the exact number of seconds, I was worried this'd be a pain and a half... ...but there's an auto button right here. So that means it'll automatically work out the proper heat and time, right? ...There, that'll do.
Sea Lion, do you actually not know how to use a microwave?! Auto's for when you wanna warm somethin' up. You can't use it when you're tryin' to melt gelatin just right. What a way to screw up! Now THAT'S funny!
You sound like Ruggie. "Even kids can use these nowadays," he says. "This is common knowledge," he says... I have chefs serve me warm meals every day, at home and here at school. That's the life I've lived. Is it that hard to imagine someone who's never had occasion to use a microwave?
Ahaha, no point gettin' defensive. If you can't do somethin', just admit it.
Ghost Chef
To be fair, Leona performed well otherwise and demonstrated quick learning. With this experience under his belt, I'm sure he'll figure out proper microwave operation in no time. Right, Leona?
You know what? You're exactly right, Chef. I wouldn't want to squander this chance. I'd like to spend the rest of the class focusing on learning how to use the microwave.
