Solo [The Tidepool Bar]Of Life and Blades V

[Moritz Craven]

45 Winter 521

Working at the Tidepool, Moritz felt that his repertoire of cooking was slowly expanding. And while he still had many things to learn, he was ever so slowly expanding and growing more comfortable with what he was doing. More so he felt he was finally ready to try a few things on his own, at least with some advice from Stu.

And so today he was going to try his hand at making a dish that would be served to customers. Admittedly it was a recipe Stu had given him... And he would be watching the entire time... And would check the food to make sure it was good enough before any went to a customer... But still, an entire dish start to finish was still something.

Patting him on the shoulder Stu smiled at Moritz, nodding his head. "Alright Moritz, you have the directions. The ingredients. You have seen me make it. Now you try. Fish stew, a simple enough dish. I've made the bread already, and the sides, you will just make the main dish. I trust you! And don't forget if you need help just ask."

With a nod Moritz nodded, heading over to a work table and grabbing what he would need. A cutting board. A bowl. A knife. Water. A bucket for blood and innards and things. Some rags. And then he ran through the process in his mind, remembering the prior attempts he had made in part of this process... And remembered to grab a second cutting board to use for the non fish items in the dish.

Grabbing up a fish from a small pile that had come in earlier today Moritz eyed it, before holding it up by the tail. Then using the back of the knife he began descaling it, rubbing it down harshly from tail to head and flaking the scales off. This took several chimes, but soon enough he was done and the fish was descaled, coming off in chunks and individual pieces and finally all coming off. With that he put some water into the bowl and rinsed off the fish, dunking and cleaning it as he did in between most steps of the process.

With that done Moritz dumped out the dirty water, took up the fish and knife, and prepared to gut the fish. Inserting the blade near the tail he found the right point, and then slid it in. Sliding it across then he opened a cut across its guts, sliding from tail to head until their was an incision across the entire bottom. With that he set the knife aside and began pulling material out, a handful at a time, while standing over the gore bucket he would dump said innards into.

This took a bit longer than expected, with a surprising amount of insides on the fish. Finally though he was done, and nothing more came out. With that he pulled again and removed the gills, taking them out in a few final chunks. And then, more water.

Grabbing up a container of clean water Moritz poured the water inside the fish, rinsing it out and pouring the bloody mix out into the gore bucket. He did this again creating less red water, and again over and over until the water ran clean.

With that Moritz sighed and cleaned up, washing and cleaning his hands before continuing to the next stage of his work.

WC: 571

[Moritz Craven]

Done with a good bit of the work, Moritz continued onward. With the insides out and the scales off next was the fins of the fish. Moritz cut these off one at a time on the board for fish, working at the point where the fin met the fishes main body. These were quick enough, but then he had to remove the head. Inserting the blade near the gills he cut a notch as he had seen Stu due before, first on one side, then on the other, and then with a final cut removed the entire head with one clean slice.

With that all done he rinsed and cleaned the fish again, before putting it back on the board and preparing to work the fillets. But before that he recalled something else Stu had told him, to check the skin. On some fish the skin could be left on, and worked well to assist the flavor... But on others it was dangerous or tough to eat and so should be removed. Gently stroking his fingers across the skin Moritz felt the descaled flesh of the fishes outer body, but did not notice anything dangerous.

Moving again a bit harder he felt across the fish, but its skin felt soft enough to the touch that it did not seem to be an issue, and so he believed it could be left on. Taking up the knife he then began his work again, slicing an incision neatly down the backbone of the fish, laying the bone open to the air for him to see. If possible it was best to avoid cutting through that, and so knowing where it was let him cut around it.

Moving the blade around again he moved to make a small incision, before then sliding the blade across from tail to head area, or where the head would have been. As last time he tried to slice the fillets off cleanly, and if nothing else felt he did a better job than the time prior. His first fillet only ended up in two pieces, and after feeling through the pieces and removing any bones he set the cut pieces on a clean board. He then continued this again, moving down a bit and making an incision, and then in one stroke cutting off the fillet of good edible fish meat. This one went a bit neater, and he almost got it all off in one piece. Then it was simple to feel with his fingers on the cuts for any bones, removing them, and setting aside this fillet with the other.

He kept at this working his way around the fish, one side then the other, until as much of the usable fish was cut off and sitting in long de-boned length of fillet.

Tossing aside he remainder of the fish carcass for Stu to look over in case he wanted anything or saw something Moritz missed the Kelvic turned to preparing the fillets. Since he was making stew small bite sized chunks would make sense, and so those fillets would need to be sliced up well into small pieces to be added to the pot.

WC: 530

[Moritz Craven]

Having cut the fish down to just the meat fillets, he began on the next step. Slice up the meat further into chunks. Holding the fillet flat Moritz started by sliding his knife along and cutting the fillet in half. Then making repeated chopping motions along the edge of his hand against the blade he chopped the fish meat up along the length. Moving slowly from one side of the fish cut to the other he kept this up till he had cut the entire thing, leaving the meat in a bunch of nice little pieces roughly square shaped. Then he repeated the process with the other fillets, slicing it in half and then dicing it into smaller bits through the entire thing.

By the end he had a fair sized pile of fish meat cut into small bits. Getting a pot of clean water Moritz set it atop a flame to boil, and worked on some other items while he waited for it to get to the proper temperature. Stu came in a few times to check his work in between making drinks, but otherwise did not do anything but observe.

While the water heated up Moritz turned to some vegetables and fruit, first of which was some pineapple that Stu said would work well against the more mellow fish flavor. Using the clean cutting board not used for fish he got another knife from the clean ones and began his work on breaking it down. To start with he cut the top off and flipped it over, working the fruit from the newly made flat surface. Then he cut off the bottom to make the other side flat. With that he cut the pineapple in half, and then half again to leave him with four quarter slices with the rind. With that done it was simple enough to work the knife along the edge, and cut out the innards while leaving the rind off the bits he cut. He kept at this through each quarter and made a small pile of the edible bits while tossing the other parts into the refuse to be gotten rid of or used in other ways than for people to eat.

By then he heard Stu yelling something, and saw that he needed some help and so he ran up front to check. A few patrons were there but mainly just wanted a drink, and so he just needed Moritz to fetch some containers of fruit juice used for cocktails and the like. Moritz nodded and quickly fetched those one by one and topped off Stu's ingredients for making drinks before returning to the back.

By the time he arrived his water had begun to boil, and so he tried to lessen the heat to keep it at only a slow boil while tossing in his fish meat. Along with that he tossed in the pineapple bits he had cut to let it start to slowly seep into the stew.

By then Stu had come back again and was nodding, eying the pot. "Just remember, meat is soft if cooked for awhile. Especially fish. So it'll probably break apart into even smaller pieces over time. So just bear that in mind."

Moritz nodded and wiped some sweat from his brow, moving over to the next item of the ingredients.

WC: 557

[Moritz Craven]

Continuing his work, Moritz intermittently checked on his stew while also preparing and adding ingredients to the mix. For now he was working on some pepper to give it some more bite, and going through ingredients one by one as Stu had instructed him beforehand. Being careful of his eyes Moritz carefully cut into the pepper, removing the stem and pulling aside the other bits. With that he then cut it in half and pulled out the seeds before using the knife to dice up the rest. Using the good parts he pushed these aside while separating out the seeds and things in another pile for waste. Then he got another pepper and repeated this process, de-stemming, slicing in half, pulling out the seeds, and then slicing up the rest. He worked his way through several in a row before separating them out. Then he finally tossed the entire mass of refuse at once, and pushed in the good parts into the pots.

Also to oppose that he had some coconut milk which he slowly poured into the stew while mixing once the peppers when in. Moritz vaguely understood some milder things would counter spicier ones to avoid one being too overpowering, but the entire concept was still a bit confusing to him. More so he just ended up following directions without completely understanding why or what exactly was supposed to result.

At that point Stu swung by again noticed Mortiz stew, taking a sniff. "Don't forget the seasoning Moritz. Salt, pepper, things, try those out,."

With a nod Moritz grabbed the salt and pepper, adding a pinch of each and mixing it in well. He tried to sniff at the stew afterwards, but could not sense what Stu was. Stu however nodded before waking off. "Good for now, but best to check and try a taste for the mix later."

By that point a few more people had come into the bar, and needed some drinks at their tables. Grabbing a tray Moritz headed to the bar where Stu was working and loaded up, before balancing it and heading over to the table holding it with one hand. He kept the other hand just below it, in case it tipped one way or the other, but tried to work on the balance with just one hand to carry it properly. With a smile, in truth at his success at balancing things rather than at the guests, he set the tray on the edge of the table, slowly unloading the drinks one by one. After confirming the customers did not need anything else Moritz darted back with his empty tray, putting it aside before returning to his stew.

Sniffing at the air he did notice a bit of a change in scent, but was still not sure what exactly he was smelling. Perhaps a sign he was getting closer? Only time, and Stu commenting on his work, would tell.

Taking a short break Moritz watched his slowly boiling stew, letting his arms rest among a lull in work.

WC: 508

[Moritz Craven]

After a break, Moritz got up and examined his stew, smelling at the air. After mixing it some more Moritz took a fresh spoon and took a taste of the broth the soup was made of... He hesitated for a moment before it reached his mouth, but in the end he took it. He tried to avoid eating animal products, but he supposed if he was going to expand as a cook he would need to try it on occasion. Or else how would he knew when it was done or good?

Moving it about a bit and tasting Moritz did feel it was missing... Something... Though what he was not sure. A bit of bite, but not int he sense of spiciness. That was what the peppers were for... While he was considering this Stu came back by and checked his stew, taking a clean spoon as well and sipping a bit before setting aside the utensil with the dirty ones. "Hmmm... Almost... But missing... Try some tomato, that might give it the right mix. I think you might be done after that."

With a shrug Moritz got back to work as Stu returned to making drinks, taking out some tomato. He tried to recall when he had first cut some up, and remembered it was shortly after he started there when he was helping prep some salsa.

After today's work he felt he had fish preparing down, having repeated the steps over and over until they were basically embedded in his mind. As for some of the other items, he had made most of them before just not in the same dish. The stew, a single complete but simple dish of many items cooked in water was a good starting point, but also easy to vary. If one thing was taken out and replaced, balanced, perhaps with something else added in as well, it would still serve.

He quickly got to work hacking up the tomato, focusing more on how cleanly his knife cut that the method as his hands remembered the actions he had repeated so many times before. Half them, half again, the rind and seeds and stem all in their own way.... Until it was done.

Once he had prepped a few tomato this way he added them to the pot and let it stew for awhile longer with some more mixing. It was a few chimes after this that Stu came by again and checked his work, giving a satisfied nod. "Good enough for a first try. And I can tell the fish is cooked through. Give it another half bell to cook, and then serve me the first bowl. If that's good, you can start serving it to the customers."

Moritz could not help it, a smile came to his face, a sense of satisfaction washing over him as it seemed he had achieved his goal. Or at least he would in a half bell when his cooking was done and Stu approved it. But still, even then he felt the impending success and knew it was but the first step. One dish he had learned among many.

WC: 525