The Lord of the Rings: Lords of Middle-earth.

Chapter 445 Tofu Nao

"Alas..." Roland couldn't help but feel saddened by the sight of the crowd eating with such poor manners. Looking at their pitiful food, it was all fried, pan-fried, roasted, or boiled. Roland wasn't surprised by this, after all, J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings, was from England, and England's cuisine was a force to be reckoned with in the world of culinary disasters. So it was no wonder that Middle-earth had such a barren culinary technology tree.

Roland felt a headache coming on when he thought of the famous national dish of E country in his previous life: fried fish, French fries, and fried fish with French fries. Although the Central Plains was not quite as outrageous, it was not much different. As someone who came from a great food-loving empire with 5000 years of food culture, Roland naturally felt that his stomach was being wronged.

"Crunch, crunch!" A series of crisp sounds rang out, and Roland frowned in displeasure. His thoughts were interrupted by the noise, and Roland looked up to see his "flying lizard" engrossed in eating a plate of fried soybeans on the table. Roland casually picked up a few, opened his palm, and examined them carefully, discovering that they were the soybeans commonly grown by ordinary people.

Roland's thoughts began to drift away. He remembered that this was one of the few supplementary foods and snacks available to the people of the Kingdom of Lagrang. In this era of scarcity and poverty, a plate of boiled beans in salt water was a rare treat for neighbors to enjoy during their evening chats.

"Maybe we can start with beans..." Roland propped his chin up, after all, making bean products isn't that difficult, and grinding soybeans for soy milk is readily available.

……

“Your Highness…” Nyx looked at Roland, who was carrying a sack of soybeans into the castle kitchen, with some concern, and couldn’t help but reach out and tug at him.

"Your Highness..." The cooks and kitchen staff looked at Roland with some fear, and each of them carefully bowed to Roland.

"Okay, two people, soak these soybeans for me!" Roland placed the bag on the ground.

The cooks and cooks who were "feeding the livestock" exchanged glances and breathed a sigh of relief. As long as His Highness wasn't here to reprimand them, that was good. After all, the innovative foods they had provided to the castle had kept the kitchens busy for a long time, and the kitchens in the entire lord's castle had actually become places to feed the servants...

"Your Highness, how long will this soak?" an older cook asked cautiously.

"At least 12 hours, and don't you dare try to be innovative again! Anyone who ruins my stuff will be hung around their neck and swung on a swing on the city wall!" Roland said menacingly.

Everyone quickly shrank back, lowering their heads in fear. Roland felt relieved to see his servants scurrying around like quails; at least he no longer had to worry about his tofu project being ruined by the masters of culinary disaster.

With Roland's presence as a deterrent, at least no one dared to risk offending him by using their necks as a swing, so everyone quickly soaked the soybeans in water.

……

"What are you doing?" Nyx asked, somewhat puzzled, as Roland returned to his room, taking his hand in hers.

"Of course I'll try to cook something delicious for you!" Roland felt a surge of comfort as he listened to Nyx's soft, sweet voice, which gently seeped into his heart like a babbling brook.

“…” Nyx’s expression changed. She stared at Roland’s eyes in shock, trying to see something in them, but the fear and panic in her eyes could not be concealed.

"Don't worry, I won't do anything reckless!" Roland patted the girl's head to comfort her. It seemed that the kingdom's terrible cuisine had caused the little girl quite a psychological shock and harm.

Roland could only describe the food in Middle-earth as indescribable. Even the most discerning halflings couldn't escape the realm of frying, stewing, and roasting. The Regent of Gondor could only enjoy ordinary food, perhaps more expensive, but the taste was as bland and uninspired as the rest of the food.

"You'll know when you try it!" Roland kept everyone in suspense.

……

The next day, Roland arrived at the kitchen on time. The entire kitchen fell silent, everyone bowing their heads respectfully as they awaited Roland's arrival. "Is the millstone ready?" Roland suddenly asked.

"Ready, ready!" The head chef approached with a fawning smile.

"Grind all those beans into soy milk!" Roland commanded.

"It's just like you grinding rice into rice paste!" Roland said, looking at the chefs who were hesitant to move.

Half a day later, the kitchen finally sent a cook to report to Roland that the soybean milk was ready.

"Let's go!" Roland became interested and strode towards the kitchen. Nyx, who had been snuggling in Roland's arms, stomped her foot angrily and jogged after Roland.

……

"Hmm! Well done!" As soon as Roland entered the kitchen, he smelled the natural aroma of soybeans, and there was a whole vat of milky white soy milk with a yellowish tinge.

"Your Highness, should we serve this to everyone?" The cooks looked at Roland, wondering what use soybeans could be when ground into a paste.

"Get a burlap sack and filter the soybean pulp. Call me when it's done! And don't throw away the filtered soybean pulp!" Roland instructed. Soybean pulp can't be in tofu; it will affect the texture.

Upon hearing this, the cooks quickly found clean linen cloths and brought out an empty earthenware jar, using wooden ladles to scoop out the soy milk and filter it.

After a tedious wait of over an hour, Roland finally finished filtering. He then directed them to boil the soy milk, filter it again, and then came the crucial moment. Luckily, he had obtained a batch of gypsum from the system check-in. The gypsum, which he had previously thought was useless, now had a purpose. Roland didn't have lactone and didn't know how to make brine, so all he had left was gypsum…

This was also Roland's first time doing the tofu-making process. After setting the tofu and instructing the servants to keep it warm, all Roland could do was wait, since it was her first time and she didn't know if she would succeed.

About twenty minutes later, Roland was pleasantly surprised to find that the soy milk had solidified! In other words, Roland had successfully made the precursor to tofu—tofu pudding!

This was outrageous! The alluring aroma of tofu pudding intoxicated Roland, while the others watched their king revel in the strange smell and couldn't help but twitch at the corners of their eyes. However, they wisely kept quiet and lowered their heads even further.

"Hmph~ Hmph~" Roland hummed a little tune, taking out the three-no products the system had given him—soy sauce, vinegar, and the like—from his system space. Then, Roland grabbed a few cloves of garlic from the kitchen and tossed them to the head chef to be minced, while he excitedly started making tofu pudding.

"Mmm! Delicious! This is the taste!" As a native of the ancient capital, authentic tofu pudding is the most beloved breakfast for the people of the ancient capital! Being able to taste the flavor of home in this place almost brought tears to Roland's eyes.

"Ugh..." Nyx watched as Roland stuffed large mouthfuls of what looked like brain tissue into his mouth, along with the bright red chili oil... Nyx almost vomited.

"Have a taste!" Roland smiled and scooped out a spoonful, bringing it closer to Nyx.

In Nyx's eyes, Roland was approaching him with ill intent, like a villain trying to poison him. Nyx felt every pore on his body resist Roland.

(End of this chapter)