"This dish will be ready very soon," Hayoon said with a smile.
She poured the sauce over the shredded bird meat, added chopped greens as garnish, and mixed everything thoroughly, creating a vibrant cold shredded meat dish filled with rich aroma and color.
Immediately afterward, she skillfully heated oil in another pot and tossed in Spelon Berry to release its fragrance.
The people of the Voz-Karr Tribe all crowded around and asked excitedly.
"Are you going to stir-fry the mixed bird meat?"
"With so many seasonings added, it must taste amazing!"
"You cut so many tomatoes. Are you going to cook them together too?"
Hayoon shook her head. "These are two different dishes."
She deliberately picked out the riper tomatoes, peeled them, diced them, and poured them into the pot.
She repeatedly pressed and stir-fried them until they released their juices, then added half a pot of the hot water they had boiled earlier.
After the red soup simmered for several minutes, she seasoned it with salt before adding the fish slices into the pot.
Bubble bubble.
The tender fish slices quickly curled slightly in the soup.
The fish meat bounced gently in the broth, looking incredibly smooth and tender even before tasting it.
The sliced fish cooked very quickly.
Everyone felt like in the blink of an eye, Hayoon had already picked up some beast hide to wrap around the sides of the pot so it could be carried away.
"It is done already?" Chorong asked with widened eyes.
"Yep."
Before Hayoon could move, Minho had already stepped forward like before and steadily carried the pot aside for her.
Ahri bent closer.
The sweet and sour fragrance unique to tomatoes made her swallow repeatedly.
Staring at the reddish soup, the snow-white fish slices, and the rising steam, she asked curiously, "Why does this tomato soup feel a little thick? It is different from the soups we usually make."
Hayoon explained, "The fish slices were coated with starch earlier. This is called thickening the soup."
"I see..." Ahri's face was practically filled with hunger.
After working hard for most of the day, everyone else's stomachs were growling too.
Hayoon clapped her hands and called out, "The stewed meat and steamed kudzu root are done too, right?"
The sub-werebeast responsible for those dishes replied, "They are ready!"
"Then wait a moment. I will use the remaining fish heads and bones to make another soup. Bring the eating utensils and we can start eating soon!"
Cheers immediately erupted around her.
Before long, everyone sat around several pots directly on the ground.
Hayoon noticed that everyone's first bite either went toward the cold shredded meat salad or the sour tomato fish soup.
She also picked up a slice of fish.
Even as she moved it toward her mouth, the fish slice still bounced enticingly between her chopsticks.
She placed it into her mouth and focused carefully on the taste.
The sweet-and-sour tomato broth was seasoned with only a little Spelon Berry powder and salt, which did not overpower the flavor.
Instead, it made the soup rich, fresh, and extremely appetizing.
The fish slices were cooked perfectly.
Tender and silky, they broke apart gently in the mouth with just a light press of the tongue, sliding smoothly down the throat like going down a slide.
The sweet and sour flavor, combined with the fragrance of scallions, completely removed the already faint fishy smell of the Long-Eyed Fish.
After being sliced thinly, even the fish bones became tiny and barely needed to be picked out.
After working all day, taking a bite of such delicious sweet-and-sour fish made Hayoon narrow her eyes in pure happiness.
Afterward, she tasted the cold shredded meat dish as well.
The bird meat they hunted today was equally excellent, tender and juicy instead of dry or tough.
In the warm weather, the cooled bird meat paired with the sweet, sour, salty, and numbing flavors perfectly.
One bite was enough to drive away the summer heat and make a person feel as if they were floating lightly through the clouds.
Still, Hayoon felt the flavor profile was slightly simple.
If only there were soy sauce and chili peppers, adding a few spoonfuls would make it even better.
Once they returned, she absolutely had to ask Immo to take her searching for beans.
She scooped some tomato soup into a bowl, blew on it gently, and took a sip.
Only then did she realize everyone had been strangely silent.
She looked up.
Then burst out laughing.
Every single person had their head lowered, eating furiously.
Whether it was the stewed meat or roasted meat, nobody cared about those anymore.
Everyone was focused entirely on the shredded meat and fish slices, grabbing food nonstop with their chopsticks.
In just that short moment, half of both dishes had already disappeared!
Hayoon immediately panicked when she saw that.
She had only managed to take one bite of each!
Forget drinking soup.
She quickly picked up her chopsticks and stuffed shredded meat into her mouth.
Before she even swallowed, she picked up three more slices of fish and dropped them into her bowl.
At the same time, another pair of chopsticks reached in from the side and added two more fish slices into her bowl.
Hayoon turned her head and saw that it was Minho.
A faint smile shimmered within his deep, narrow eyes.
She smiled back and did not stand on ceremony with him, quickly finishing all the fish in her bowl.
Only after the shredded meat and fish slices were nearly gone did everyone finally seem to recover their ability to speak.
"Um... can someone lend me a spoon? I want some soup too," one sub-werebeast said while holding her bowl, her pretty face flushed red.
Hayoon handed over her spoon. "Use this. I only used it to scoop soup. I did not put it in my mouth."
"Thank you!" The sub-werebeast quickly took it and hurried to scoop herself a bowl.
Everyone here had large appetites, so the bowls they fired were also huge.