[Poll] Could you cook to save your life?

Discussion in 'General Chat' started by lychee, Nov 14, 2019.

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How confident are you that you could cook a restaurant-quality meal in this setting?

  1. 1000% - My cooking is BETTER than restaurant quality! In fact I am a MASTER CHEF!

    6 vote(s)
    5.7%
  2. 200% - I'm confident my cooking would be better than restaurant quality

    3 vote(s)
    2.8%
  3. 100% - I think my cooking would be restaurant quality

    6 vote(s)
    5.7%
  4. 90% - I think my cooking would be nearly restaurant quality

    6 vote(s)
    5.7%
  5. 75% - I think my cooking would be better than the average Earth family's meal

    10 vote(s)
    9.4%
  6. 50% - I think my cooking would be about as good as an average Earth family's meal

    29 vote(s)
    27.4%
  7. 25% - I think my cooking would be worse than an average Earth family's meal

    14 vote(s)
    13.2%
  8. 10% - My cooking would be pretty bad but I can cook

    15 vote(s)
    14.2%
  9. 5% - I can cook... instant ramen? But I'd be screwed here.

    9 vote(s)
    8.5%
  10. 1% - I can cook microwavable meals? But I'd be screwed here.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  11. 0% - I can't cook to save my life

    3 vote(s)
    2.8%
  12. I'm unsure

    1 vote(s)
    0.9%
  13. I do not wish to answer

    2 vote(s)
    1.9%
  14. I would try to fight the monster or run away

    2 vote(s)
    1.9%
  1. tsundere_taichou

    tsundere_taichou [Cute Demon Sect]

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    question: why would the animals still have blood,did someone just stab em and throw em in the pantry?
    nothing processed means no wine either?
    no oil of any kind?

    for the first meal i could probably manage by grilling some chicken but im fucked unless im able to trade some wine because that shit is hard to make right and thats even if you have the yeast for it (which you wont) if oils are available its way, way easier tho
     
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  2. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    Pretty much. Everything in the pantry is “fresh” and the preservation field keeps it that way.

    No wine or oil.

    ———

    I also thought a little bit more about how the pantry supply chain works.

    First of all, the restaurant has a door price. Monsters have to pay the door price to get into the restaurant to begin with (and that money goes to your landlord). The purpose of this is to protect you from other poor starving homeless monsters who would otherwise want to eat you in this unfriendly climate.

    Pantry contents magically come from your “supplier”. A week after starting this scenario, your “supplier” will come meet you and explain that the pantry contents aren’t free — and will hand you a price sheet — you can order whatever you want (provided you can pay for it) — and you can also instruct the “supplier” to look for an ingredient that isn’t already in the pantry, but they aren’t human (they’re a monster) so they wouldn’t know the fine details of what’s a wagyu cow versus a regular cow unless you’re able to describe how they look different. However, you should assume that anything that grows naturally on Earth probably grows somewhere in this world too — so it should be attainable if you want something obscure like a particular variant of radish.

    You can charge your customers additional coin for each dish — according to your own judgement. However, the customers will decide for themselves if the price is fair and they could get upset at you if they think you’re ripping them off.

    Your landlord also comes every month to demand rent payments from you.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2019
  3. Drakaos

    Drakaos Member (Patriarch?) of the Anti-Qidian Sect

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    My cooking abilities are quite poor. So hopefully some cyanide laced potatoes can kill a monster.
     
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  4. ludagad

    ludagad Addicted to escapist novels

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    Are you French by any chance? :blobrofl:
     
  5. arashi-chan12

    arashi-chan12 Well-Known Member

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    1. What would you try making for the Monster?

    I haven't read the other comments yet so idk what smart nuffians would do... There is the option of trying to serve something poisonous to potentially save myself, but that could just piss it off and get me in worse trouble.

    I think the easiest course would be some sort of soup and bread, because the water and starch would be pretty filling. Then again idk how to make bread so I'm still screwed lmao

    Or steak and potatoes, that should work and it's not too hard either.

    2. Can you cook? Are you good at cooking? What is the best thing you can cook?

    I am a decent-average cook, I guess. I can't make anything from scratch though, so yeah I think most people would be screwed in this situation.

    By now food is pretty much all the same to me so I wouldn't say I have a best dish. There are some I make more often than others because they're easy, like chicken soup, curry (with store bought roux ofc), spring rolls etc.

    3. Could you run a restaurant if it came down to it? In this isekai world, would you continue operating the restaurant or would you try to do something else with your life?

    No. If I had no other choice I'd continue operating the restaurant. It's in a wasteland with nothing else so my hands are kinda tied... Can't I just make focus on the inn business and just include a continental breakfast? At least until I have the money to hire a real chef.

    4. Suppose a week later, a debt collector comes knocking at your door and they want you to pay rent. You find out that this restaurant is still under mortgage, and the rent payment alone takes up the majority of your income (almost no pocket money left). Would you keep running the restaurant even if it doesn't seem like you're making money?

    Considering I would lose my shelter, food resource and my only method of livelihood if I didn't, I'd have to stick to it for a while... But yeah, would definitely be looking at other career paths.

    5. How would you try to improve your tavern/inn operations?

    Find someone who actually wants to run a restaurant, co-own the place?

    Put more focus on the inn side til I learn how to cook/process stuff myself.

    Get really good beds, make sure everything is clean and secure. If I can't be known for good food then I'll have to be known for good service.

    Maybe buffet style will be easier than made to order... Or hey, I can do a Korean BBQ style place and have the monsters cook their own food. That way I can't be blamed if they under/overcook their meat lol
     
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  6. Astaroth

    Astaroth empty

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    Haha, nope. Scandinavian, but more butter = better taste is a universal truth... Same goes with cream btw, though of course there's still a limit if I'm not being hyperbolic.
    What about the price of the food they actually want to eat then?

    Also, is it just this first one who wants to simply be pleased and the other monsters want specific things to eat, or do they all just want "something good" so you'd have to figure out what to make on your own in all cases?

    Or are you supposed to be making some kind of menu?...


    Is the price of the ingredients just going to be assumed to local storebought prices (or I guess whatever prices one are familiar with)?

    Still, without knowing what the income would be (i.e. how much each dish would/could reasonably sell for) this scenario is kind of pointless imo.
     
  7. Innieminnie

    Innieminnie Secret Parrot, Hidden Dodo

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    ....This is definetly a pickle I have found myself in. If only my mom's (a chef) talents had rubbed off on me! The only thing I cook are healthy things only I eat..

    1. What would you try making for the Monster?
    Cookies for daaaays. That's the only recipe I can remember off the top of my head. Soup and salad too...perhaps I can start with salad as an entry and move on with soup etc or something... It's gonna have to be a vegetarian meal as well. Maybe I could do chicken! Boil it in water and de-feather it, then chop off a breast and cook it lol. I could also do bread...well flat bread since I'd have to go without yeast. I'd try it. I could do breakfast pretty easy- scrambled eggs, hashbrowns- french toast, pancakes, waffles- flatbread tortillas? I could do potato chips too...mashed potatoes, pretty much every kind of potato I can do. I can also boil/steam vegetables and cook quinoa!
    Maybe I won't be so dead after all!

    2. Can you cook? Are you good at cooking? What is the best thing you can cook?
    I can cook yes, I cook a lot of my stuff homemade like above but, I usually don't have to since my grandma cooks for everyone xD and most of my stuff everyone turns their nose up at lol. Cookies are my best since everyone else eats them too.
    3. Could you run a restaurant if it came down to it? In this isekai world, would you continue operating the restaurant or would you try to do something else with your life?
    I mean...probably? It Definetly won't be professionally run though. Yes I would continue operating the restraurant, if I become the owner magically anyway and no one tries to stop me. I actually enjoy cooking, but I can't experiment that often because my family gets angry haha. They don't like it when I waste ingredients, which is how I got used to eating my own failed creations. I would still try to explore the outside world though!


    4. Suppose a week later, a debt collector comes knocking at your door and they want you to pay rent. You find out that this restaurant is still under mortgage, and the rent payment alone takes up the majority of your income (almost no pocket money left). Would you keep running the restaurant even if it doesn't seem like you're making money?
    Heck yeah, infinite cooking supplies and infinite time to experiment!


    5. How would you try to improve your tavern/inn operations?
    Of course.
     
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  8. Suijin

    Suijin Blood God [Medic]

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    i'm pretty confident in my cooking. even chinese people can't resist my style of cooking western food.
    even my mom surrenders when it comes to cooking!
     
  9. Astaroth

    Astaroth empty

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    Do you mean roux (as in melting butter, adding flour, whisking, then adding liquids (milk/cream/water), like with white (bechamel sauce)/brown sauces or do you mean soup stock/bullion/etc.? Cause no offense I don't see why anyone would buy readymade roux, stock on the other hand takes hours and hours of boiling so while it's not really difficult it's a huge pain...

    I haven't really made curry, so I'm not sure if you actually meant roux, but making a roux is pretty simple actually. You just have to make sure to be constantly whisking (and scraping the bottom of the pan/pot) to make sure that the flour doesn't get burnt.

    Also if you're adding cream or milk then lowering the temperature and/or taking the pan of the stove first is recommended or it can get burnt pretty easily.
     
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  10. rhianirory

    rhianirory Well-Known Member

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    my cooking abilities are limited but my survival cooking is pretty decent. I can clean a fish, stick it on a stick and cook it over a fire and then make smores for dessert. everything is better with smores.
    I could also run a restaurant because running one and being the resident cook/chef are usually 2 very separate jobs but no way in hell could I do both. they are two different skill sets.
     
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  11. Innieminnie

    Innieminnie Secret Parrot, Hidden Dodo

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    I have always wanted to learn hownto do things from the ground up! And the ingredients are unlimited and free, so we can mess up as many times as it takes to get it right. Just...that first monster might have to have a vegetarian meal..xD
     
  12. MoJo

    MoJo Well-Known Member

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    I voted that my cooking is restaurant quality, after all I’m a professional chef with 9 years experience and 2 years of classical French schooling plus a internship over a full season in Italy. I’m no Michelin star chef, the two highest options are simply too arrogant for any one not a world class chef. People’s should not underestimate restaurant quality food. It’s a cut throat industry with most restaurants not surviving their first year. So by survival of the fittest the standards are maintained.

    Edit: to answer the questions, yes I could run a restaurant, since it’s only me running the place I’d have a small set menu. As in a three courses appetizer, soup or salad, main and optional dessert.Bake my own breads and have a large pot of soup of the day, salad that changes daily, a different dessert daily. It’s fall so a butternut soup with romaine apple and cube squash salad, garnished both with toasted squash seeds. Make a simple yogurt in the time oven thingy and then mix cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger to make a simple dressing for the salad. Bread would be sour dough because you can make it with wild yeast caught from a simple flour and water mixture. Main have to be chicken or fish (I have experience butchering a full cow hind quarters and making things like sausages and smoking bacon, so I could do a whole cow or pig but it would take me a lot of time) I would stay with the restaurant because as long as I am breaking even or a little better I have a roof over my head and the mortgage will slowly be paid off. Also I am paying nothing in supplying produce which is an enormous expense saved, as well as food for me too.
    Secondly edit: read that I have to pay for the supplies I use, but if I am still breaking even I would stay with the restaurant. Also a bit of a amateur wine maker, my Grandpa grew currants and made liquor for the family when I was young, so I know the basics. I could experiment with making various wines and liquors, truthfully most restaurants make their profit on booze. And since I am only paying for the raw materials the upcharge for the finished product is pure profits.
    Third Edit: I just realized that chocolate would count as processed foods, so that kills making homemade brownies by melting chocolate on the double boiler. I’ve made whole wheat flour in a blender from wheat berries before but have no idea how to make chocolate from scratch. I guess I could make apple crisp or pie or cannolis or cake or creme brûlée, but the lack of chocolate is killing me.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2019
  13. Innieminnie

    Innieminnie Secret Parrot, Hidden Dodo

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    You're so smart, I wish I had thought of that! :blobpats: However, maybe others also have such enchantments...and they only come because they want someone else to prepare their food :blobxd: but maybe this is your golden finger
     
  14. Innieminnie

    Innieminnie Secret Parrot, Hidden Dodo

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    :blobsob:
     
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  15. Innieminnie

    Innieminnie Secret Parrot, Hidden Dodo

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    Are you trying to kill us?! First the food isn't actually free, and then we are outleveled and only normal...and can lose everything if we walk too far! This one is too cruel!
     
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  16. 6adik

    6adik Active Member

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    i can cook. i think my cooking skills are okay to make a stomach happy. as long as i have the ingredients and you have the patience to wait.
     
  17. 6adik

    6adik Active Member

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    you're not alone my friend
     
  18. lychee

    lychee [- slightly morbid fruit -] ❀[ 恋爱? ]❀

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    So here's a rough timeline for events:

    Day 1:
    • Wake up, find yourself in this setting
    • Get coerced to cook something or die
    • Discover magical kitchen and extremely well-stocked pantry

    Days 2-6:
    • More monsters come; more cooking to do!
    • Some monsters ask you how much their meal costs -- and they pay you coins -- get introduced to money
    • The world outside of the restaurant is dangerous. Homeless/starving monsters on the street want to eat you. The restaurant is the safest place around. Power imbalance is ridiculous -- you're the flimsiest thing around and almost everything is stronger than you.
    • There is a nearby underground monster city in the wasteland
    • Experiment with cooking and kitchen.
    • You're collecting money and it's super easy! Yay!
    Day 7:
    • You meet the "supplier"
    • The supplier explains the pantry isn't actually infinite, and they're the one who's putting the raw ingredients there
    • The supplier says you need to buy ingredients at wholesale price (gives you a price list)
    • The supplier says you can request for additional materials that aren't in pantry provided you give them time to search for it
    Day 8-13:
    • You realize that you need to price your menu
    • You receive some pushback from customers about dishes that are too expensive. Those won't be feasible menu items.
    • You think a little bit more carefully about not recklessly wasting stuff you take from the pantry
    Day 14:
    • You meet the "landlord"
    • The landlord is a mean person. They literally kick down your door and explain that they built the restaurant.
    • They explain the rules/history behind the magic restaurant -- including the fact that it summons humans -- and that if you die (or are killed) for whatever reason, a new human will be summoned to take your place. They also explain you cannot leave >1 km away from the restaurant, or else you will lose your status as the "owner" of the restaurant.
    • Then they demand you to pay a large sum of your coins every month. This takes away most of your disposable income, which is extremely sad and frustrating -- and they do this under threat of violence.
    Days 15+:
    • Re-think your life?
    • How can you turn a profit? Or should you give up on the restaurant?
    • Can you make monster friends?
    • Open book from here!
    You determine the price, from trial-and-error.

    You should get a sense of how much pocket money your customers have relatively quickly, and you'll have to come up with a menu that strikes their range.

    Every customer is different. Some of them may want certain things.

    The monsters also talk to each other. If you're good at a particular thing, the word will spread.

    Monsters also have their own socioeconomic statuses. If you make really good food, wealthier monsters will come, and they will be willing to spend more.

    Yes, you manage your finances.

    Yes, the fictional world has its own prices. Your "supplier" is your primary dealer, and you receive wholesale prices. Every week you get an updated "price list" and you can request however many of what you need -- and it gets magically sent to your pantry. Some weeks something may have a sale or whatever.

    Your "supplier" has been working with your restaurant (and your "landlord") for a long time, so the relationship is pretty good.

    You could also trying going to the local market, but (1) it's not safe outside, (2) the prices are roughly comparable to what you get from the supplier, and (3) your supplier has a larger selection of exotic foods.

    You can roughly benchmark the price of ingredients based on the costs of groceries in your local Earth city.

    You can roughly benchmark how much people are willing to pay for foods based on the population of your local Earth city.

    :blobowoevil_horns::blobowoevil_horns::blobowoevil_horns: I'm often quite mean.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2019
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  19. Lazriser

    Lazriser Well-Known Member

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    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Pyoo

    Pyoo ☀ Summer Melody ☀

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    1. What would you try making for the Monster?
    Steak (or japaenes hamburg steak without the sauce)
    I would cry (from the laborous hard work) while cutting the cow tho
    Wait actually
    Lobster or salmon or both
    Flavours will be pepper n lemon n stuff
    And salad with olive oil?
    Wait does oil exist?? If not im pretty screwed
    2. Can you cook? Are you good at cooking? What is the best thing you can cook?
    Can, not good
    Reheating frozen curry :blobjoy:
    Oh i can make pretty good steak, but i need the herbs to come in a bottle
    3. Could you run a restaurant if it came down to it? In this isekai world, would you continue operating the restaurant or would you try to do something else with your life?
    I might since its convenient
    I dont have enough skills to defend myself in the wild
    4. Suppose a week later, a debt collector comes knocking at your door and they want you to pay rent. You find out that this restaurant is still under mortgage, and the rent payment alone takes up the majority of your income (almost no pocket money left). Would you keep running the restaurant even if it doesn't seem like you're making money?
    No. Im gonna die by the debt collectors hands
    Well if im well fed well slept and other stuff i might be okay with it
    Theres nothing to use the pocket money on
    And i might be able to barter my (unlimited) food for items from my guests
    5. How would you try to improve your tavern/inn operations?
    Mostly through experimenting cooking :blobsalt:
     
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