For the hearty fare menu, Veronica decided to split things into two main categories. The first would be dishes with meat while the second would be dishes without meat. While Seraphina had been right about her not falling prey to stereotypes, especially when she wasn't originally from this world, that didn't mean everyone would eat meat. Even in the modern world there were vegetarians and vegans as well as cultures that simply had vegetarian dishes for other reasons. As such, it only made sense to include dishes without any meat in them on her menu.
For 15 DP she planned to sell both puffball and boar burgers. The puffballs would be thick sliced pieces of mushrooms coated in cheese and served on a hamburger-style bun with tomato and watercress. Meanwhile, the boar burgers would be a mixture of ground boar meat, eggs, breadcrumbs, and seasonings that would be seared on both sides before served on a hamburger bun with the same accompaniments as the puffball burgers. While she could, technically, offer a side with the sandwiches, she decided to skip it since it would only add unnecessary work.
She also planned to include chicken-fried mushrooms with gravy for 20 DP per serving. The dish would involve breading and frying chicken of the woods mushrooms before smothering it in a mushroom gravy made using vegetable bouillon. It wouldn't exactly be a vegetarian dish if she used boar bouillon after all. The meat alternative was more expensive at 30 DP, but would also be a proper meal. Boar tonkatsu served on a bed of rice with thinly sliced napa cabbage, a fried egg, and a flavorful sauce drizzled over top of it all. Normal tonkatsu was just a breaded and fried pork cutlet, so boar really wasn't a bad replacement for it.
As for the last four dishes, Veronica had decided to go with some pasta options. 15 DP for some cacio e pepe, 20 DP for boar alfredo, and 30 DP for either mozzarella parm pasta or spaghetti and meatballs. Whereas chicken parmesan involves breaded and fried chicken, the mozzarella parm was made with thick sliced mozzarella. It was perfect for making a more balanced, filling meal while still offering an option without meat. Her menu wasn't really meant to be based on any one culture in this world or hers, but rather was meant to offer a good variety of comfort foods she thought the locals might enjoy based on the tributes she had received.
Of course, simply knowing what she wanted to have on the menu wasn't enough, she also had to complete the necessary research and stock the ingredients needed to prepare the recipes. Veronica was a bit worried about how much work it would be to prepare everything on the menu with just her and, potentially, Eldrin, but there were really only so many shortcuts she could take. She'd have to make up for the rest by doing plenty of prep work with the time she'd save with the fact that she no longer required sleep.
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a large jar of panko breadcrumbs using the [Items] pine bark bread and large jar?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 30 DP to research a large jar of sliced puffball mushrooms using the [Items] puffball mushrooms and large jar?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research a large jar of thick-sliced mozzarella cheese using the [Base Resources] cheese and large jar?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research a large jar of sliced cheddar cheese using the [Base Resources] cheese and large jar?
Yes
No
The main difference between panko breadcrumbs and other types of breadcrumbs is that it is airier, uses special crustless bread, and is fried to make it crispy and crunchy. So, the system could easily use any type of bread to make the final result without it mattering too much. As for the cheese, the dungeon had a peculiar way of categorizing it where all cheese was just labeled a generic 'cheese'. While she likely could have researched all the cheese she needed regardless since she had all the milk products she could need, it was still a bit funny to see anytime she needed to research something with cheese.
Would you like to spend 100 DP to research a large jar of ground boar using the [Base Resources] boar and large jar?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 100 DP to research a large jar of boar chops using the [Base Resources] boar and large jar?
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Yes
No
While [Critters] were never unlocked when she got animal-based tributes, the dungeon still categorized it as a rather expensive [Base Resource] to use in research. Still, it wasn't like she could complain too much since a single 50 MP jar of ground boar could easily make several boar burgers, which still meant she could make a decent amount of profit. Nothing was really 1:1 when she could earn mana as easy as breathing, but dungeon points took way more work and luck to earn. She would even earn 12 MP per day even if adventurers didn't show up to the dungeon at all, after all, but she literally could not earn even a single dungeon point without receiving tributes. So, the prices on her menu didn't have to really be logic-based as much as they needed to be just low enough for adventurers to find it fair and high enough to make the labor she put in to cook the dishes worth the effort. The rest of the costs involved were, pretty much, a moot point.
Would you like to spend 30 DP to research a box of hamburger buns using the [Base Resources] cardboard, milk, water, wild yeast, sugar, egg, flour, salt, and butter?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a box of linguine noodles using the [Base Resources] cardboard, flour, salt, sunflower oil, and eggs?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a box of spaghetti noodles using the [Base Resources] cardboard, flour, salt, sunflower oil, and eggs?
Yes
No
The hamburger buns didn't have sesame seeds like the ones from her world because she didn't have them among her [Base Resources]. As for the pasta, most were made from the same dough and simply were cut to different thicknesses or into different shapes. It really wasn't that complicated unless you wanted to add veggies or squid ink into the dough.
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a crate of tomatoes using the [Items] wooden crate and tomatoes?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a crate of napa cabbage using the [Items] wooden crate and napa cabbage?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 60 DP to research a carton of eggs using the [Base Resources] cardboard and eggs?
Yes
No
She didn't have chicken eggs unlocked as a separate [Item], but Veronica could easily hypothesize that the eggs were about 2 MP each with the rest of the cost coming from the cardboard carton itself. The final results, honestly, looked a lot like the modern day equivalent, but with far less ink on the carton since it wasn't necessary to have all the branding.
Would you like to spend 30 DP to research a jar of marinara sauce using the [Base Resources] glass jar, tomatoes, onion, garlic, sunflower oil, and salt?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a bottle of ketchup using the [Base Resources] glass jar, tomatoes, vinegar, honey, garlic, onion, and salt?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 40 DP to research a bottle of soy sauce using the [Base Resources] glass jar, soybeans, wheat, water, and salt?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 70 DP to research a bottle of oyster sauce using the [Base Resources] glass jar, water, sugar, salt, oysters, soy sauce, and cornstarch?
Yes
No
Would you like to spend 70 DP to research a bottle of Worcestershire sauce using the [Base Resources] glass jar, water, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, garlic, onion, cinnamon, salt, black pepper, and anchovies?
Yes
No
The sauces were really the most complicated part to make yet they were all needed just to be able to make the tonkatsu sauce. A bit of ketchup, soy sauce, Worcestershire, and sugar and you'd have a delicious, perfectly balanced sauce! It was really needed for the oily, breaded tonkatsu and making it with something as gamey as boar just made it that much more necessary. Still, Veronica was quite happy with the results of her work and was even happier to see she still had an entire 15,700 dungeon points leftover.