• Graded • First Lessons Revisited

[Kirei Qe'Azour]

-


25th Vhalar, 710


Kirei was exhausted. All she wanted to do was curl up and sleep for a week. Even so, when one of the Avriel "masters" barked a harsh command, she flinched and looked around to see who the command was for. Thanks to her lesson in Dehasin the trial before, she had recognized a couple of words of the command. She could also guess at a couple of others, and the tone conveyed a sense of angry demand that required urgency. But it was mostly the actions of the others around her that told her what she needed to be doing. All of the slaves were silently gathering up the dishes from their evening meal, so Kirei quickly followed suit.

As she stood in line to hand her dishes over to the slaves who would have to clean them, she felt numb with exhaustion. That didn't stop her from feeling a sort of detached sympathy for the people who had to wash the dishes. Her own experience with the scalding hot water they had to use was still fresh in her mind from the morning meal.

As Kirei passed by one of the winged demons who were hovering over the line of slaves, she felt a rough hand grip her shoulder with punishing force. With no more warning than that, she was yanked out of the line. The slave behind her was so startled by her sudden movement, that he was hard pressed not to stumble and drop his dishes. Kirei held her breath until he recovered, knowing that had he dropped his dishes he would have been punished harshly; she didn't want to be the cause of pain for others. Her attention was quickly drawn back to the winged demon when his grip on her shoulder tightened, and he shook her roughly.

He started barking orders at her in an angry tone. Kirei flinched, and fought rising panic. She had no idea what the winged demon was saying. His rapid words ensured that she couldn't focus on any of them long enough to see if they were ones that she recognized. The only way she even knew that he was giving her an order was through his tone. All she could do was stand rigidly, frozen in silent fear of the punishment that the winged demon was going to give her. She had no hope whatsoever that he would take into consideration the simple fact that she couldn't obey an order she couldn't understand. He sounded far too angry for that.

Help arrived in the form of the girl she had met the trial before; a girl who had already helped her a few times, once at considerable risk to herself. Despite not even knowing the other slave's name, Kirei found herself tentatively counting the girl among the very few people she trusted enough to be thought of as friends.

"Our worthy master is telling you that you are to report to the kitchen for another lesson now." the girl translated softly.

Kirei didn't know if she wanted to sigh with relief, or panic. On the one hand, she wasn't about to be punished for her "refusal" to obey because she didn't understand the winged demon's words any more. But on the other hand...the very thought of another lesson now made her want to cry. As tired as she was, actually learning anything would be nearly impossible. And it had been made painfully clear during her morning lesson that failure to learn would not only bring harsh punishment down on her, but the rest of the slaves would suffer as well. Kirei did neither. Instead, she simply nodded to show that she understood.

"This unworthy one will be attending the lesson as well."

Well, at least I know that I will understand the lesson, then. She will translate it for me. Kirei thought with relief.

Kirei handed her dishes to one of the slaves still in the line, then followed the girl into the kitchen.

[Kirei Qe'Azour]

-

"You worthless creatures seemed to understand what I tried to teach you earlier this trial, so I am taking the risk that you may be able to learn how to cook properly. If I find that I am wasting my time, you will all regret it."

Kirei shuddered. The winged demon clearly meant what he was saying, and she vowed to herself that she would learn what he wanted to teach them no matter how exhausted she was. The lesson started with a test to see how much they remembered of their morning lesson. Each slave was questioned on the material, and each passed the test. Although the "master" showed no signs of approval, he didn't punish them, and the lesson began in earnest.

"A lot of things go into knowing how to cook. You have to know about the ingredients you are using; both how to prepare them, and how to determine if they are of good quality. You already know the three methods of cooking, but you need to know what the different types of cooking are, and which method they fall into. You need to learn what the different tools used in cooking are, as well as how to use, and maintain them. You must also learn how to tell when the food you are cooking is properly cooked so that you don't serve your future masters food that is either half raw, or burnt to a crisp. And if you want the food you make to please your masters, you must also learn about seasonings, sauces, and what foods compliment each other. That is only the beginning of what you must learn. This lesson will be about one of the types of cooking; frying to be precise."

Kirei listened intently; both to the winged demon's words so that she would learn to recognize them, and to the translation the other slave was giving her so that she would know what was being said. It was hard to divide her attention so she could pay attention to both. But the fear of punishment was a strong motivator, and she was determined to succeed.

"Frying is is the cooking of food in fat. Although liquid oil is used, frying is considered to be one of the dry cooking methods. This is because water is not used in the cooking process. In ideal circumstances the cooking oil will not be absorbed by the food, which means that no moisture will be added by cooking. There are four different ways to fry food. Deep frying, or immersion frying uses the most oil, followed by pan frying, stir-frying, and sautéing, which uses the least amount of oil."

Kirei repeated the different methods in her head several times as she tried to memorize them. The winged demon spoke to them as if they were all hopelessly stupid, and it was hard not to feel insulted by his words. But even so, by speaking so simply, he did them all a favor. Kirei didn't know about the rest of the slaves in the "class," but she didn't know the first thing about cooking aside from what she had been taught earlier in the trial. Living on the streets most of the time had taught her many things, but how to cook certainly wasn't one of them. But the winged demon's lessons were given in a manner that suggested the class knew nothing. They explained things in a way that actually made sense to Kirei. This allowed her to focus on what was being taught, and fighting her exhaustion so she could focus rather than having to ask the girl who was translating for her what all the different terms meant.

"Deep frying involves fully immersing food in hot oil. The oil must cover at least half of the food that is being cooked. This is an extremely fast cooking method. Cooking with hot oil is dangerous, and the more oil used, the greater the danger involved. So this method of frying requires more care than the others since the most oil is used in it. But it is always important to be careful when using any amount of oil. Failure to do so can result in severe burns that will make you even more useless than you already are. Or worse, you might cause a fire that will damage your master's property, and put them at risk."

Kirei couldn't help but think that the threat of severe burns was worse than the threat of damage to her master's property. But she carefully kept those thoughts contained as she continued to pay attention to the lesson.

"Pan frying is just what the name suggests; frying food in a pan. The amount of oil used varies greatly. Foods that already contain fat or oil might not need any to be added when frying them. Their own natural fats and oils are enough. For foods that don't, the oil can't cover more than half of the food. In most cases less oil is used, covering no more than a third of the food being cooked. Another thing to note is that when using the pan frying method, the food that is being cooked isn't stirred as frequently as it is in other methods. Once or twice is usually enough."

As the girl continued to translate for her, Kiri couldn't help but notice that there seemed to be some overlap in the different cooking methods. Pan frying could involve enough oil to cover half of the food in some cases, but in deep frying, that was the least amount of oil that could be used. When did pan frying become deep frying? Where was the limit drawn? Could the speed of cooking, and the frequency with which the food was stirred really be enough to differentiate one method from the other? Or was there something that she was missing? Kirei didn't know, and it wasn't as if she could ask any questions to clarify the matter. Unasked for questions would only bring punishment. So she reluctantly set her train of thoughts aside and began paying attention to the lecture once more.

"Stir-frying food involves frying it in a special slope sided pan called a wok. The food is cooked quickly over very high heat, and must be stirred constantly while it is being cooked. An open flame heat source is best when using a wok."

The winged demon didn't tell them how much oil was used directly, but Kirei knew that less would be used in stri-frying something than when pan frying, or deep frying it. From that, she could make a rough guess at how much oil would be needed.

I wonder...could it be a bunch of little things...subtle differences that vary from one cooking method to another? The speed of cooking, the frequency with which the food was stirred, the amount of oil used, the temperature used to cook it, even the pan it was cooked in? Maybe it wasn't any one big difference, but a bunch of little ones combined that meant the difference from one way of cooking, and another. she mused.

"Sautéing is when food is cooked in a shallow pan, using a small quantity of fat, or oil. When sautéing, the food should be turned frequently, but not constantly as is required in stir-frying. This method also takes less time and uses less oil than pan frying."

Kirei really wished that she could take notes on what she was learning. More and more, it seemed as though she was right about small, subtle differences being what differentiated one method from another. Small details that she would clearly be expected to keep straight if she wanted to avoid punishment when they finally got around to making the slaves practice what they had learned.

[Kirei Qe'Azour]

-

The winged demon continued to lecture his "class." Kirei listened to him carefully, searching for words that she recognized. At the same time, she paid even closer attention to the translation her friend of sorts was giving her. In that translation, the girl was taking the extra time to teach her the various cooking terms that the winged demon used. It was one more thing that Kirei needed to try and focus on, but she was grateful all the same. This was the second cooking lesson she had been given so far. If these lessons were going to continue, Kirei was going to need to learn the Dehasin words for these cooking terms quickly.

As the Avriel "master" brought his lesson to a close, he mentioned that while fried foods were very popular because they tasted so good, they were not as healthy as other foods were. Kirei made a mental not of that. She wondered why the winged demon would start with teaching them about frying food if fried foods were bad for them, but she realized that he hadn't said that fried foods were bad for people. Just that they weren't as healthy as other types. It also seemed likely that he was teaching them about fried foods because they were what he liked to eat.

When the quiz part of the lesson began, Kirei shoved all other thoughts to the back of her mind. She absolutely had to get any question asked of her right. Failure was not an option; not in this. Anyone who failed to answer their questions correctly would bring severe punishment down on themselves, and that was bad enough. But with the knowledge that the entire class would suffer punishment if any of the slaves got a question wrong had Kirei utterly determined that she would not be the one to bring such a fate down on them. No one was going to be hurt because of her.

With that thought in mind, Kirei ran through everything she had learned repeatedly in her mind. Over and over, she listed the different types of frying as she tried to memorize them. Likewise, she went over the definitions of each, and what aspects made each type different from the others. She was so focused on what she was doing that Kirei didn't even notice that it was her turn until the girl nudged her gently.

Kirei jumped, and looked up at the winged demon. He scowled at her, having noticed her lapse in attention, but rather than lash out at her immediately, he asked the what the differences between pan frying, and stir frying were. Kirei answered slowly, choosing her words with care. It wasn't easy because she had to first answer the question in her head so she could mentally run through the Dehasin words that she knew to find the ones that she needed. The winged demon looked impatient, but her answer was correct, so he didn't punish her. Instead, he moved on, questioning the other slaves in turn. One of them, a boy who looked lik e he was around her age, got his question wrong. In doing so, he earned himself a beating severe enough to render him unconscious, and the "master" informed them all in icy tones that none of them would eat for the next three trials because of his failure.

None of the other slaves reacted to this news, so Kirei didn't either, taking her cue from them. Finally, the lesson was over, and the winged demon dismissed them. Kirei quickly made her way to her sleeping area, and gave in to her exhaustion. Within trills, she was fast asleep.

[Kali'rial]

Kirei

Overview

What a creative way to have a cooking lesson! I loved the way you laid out the cooking knowledge in this, and the terrifying lesson within a lesson at the end (don’t get things wrong!) Good read!

Points

XP: 10/10 (Not for magic)

Fame/Loot/Injuries/Overstepping

Moderate to severe bruising on her right shoulder that will take five trials to heal.

Knowledge

Skill Knowledge:
Cooking: Technique; Frying is is the cooking of food in fat. Despite using liquid oil, frying is considered to be a dry cooking method because water is not used in the cooking process - ideally the cooking oil will not be absorbed by the food, so no moisture will be added by cooking. The methods of frying in order of how much oil is used are deep frying, or immersion frying, which uses the most oil, pan frying, stir-frying, and sautéing, which used the least amount of oil.
Cooking: Deep frying involves fully immersing food in hot oil. It is an extremely fast cooking method.
Cooking: Pan frying involves frying food in a pan. When pan frying, the amount of oil in the frying pan can range from absolutely no oil (especially when the foods to be fried contain fat or oil), to as much as covering the bottom 1/3, up to 1/2 in oil. One might distinguish pan frying from sautéing, stir frying, and deep frying in that, in pan frying, the food is not necessarily intended to be frequently stirred around, or turned repeated, but, rather, turned only once or twice during cooking.
Cooking: Stir-frying involves frying food in a special slope-sided pan called a wok quickly over very high heat, while stirring it constantly. An open flame heat source works best when using a wok.
Cooking: Sautéing is cooking food in a shallow pan, with a small quantity of fat, or oil. While being cooked, the food should be turned frequently but not constantly as is required in stir-frying. This method also takes less time and uses less oil than pan frying.
Linguistics: puzzling out the meaning of words through context

Non Skill Knowledge
Dehasin: cooking terms
Kirei: doesn't want others to be hurt because of her
Slaves: unasked for questions only bring trouble
Safety: Cooking with hot cooking oil is dangerous, and one should be very careful in order to avoid fires and/or severe burns.
Health: Fried foods are not as healthy for you as other foods are.

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