Work Text:
Erick yawned. The large dragon was coming home again from yet another day of work from the Agency. Suffice to say he was tired. And hungry.
Mostly hungry.
After such a tiring day, Erick felt like was owed some comfort food—a delicious, succulent streak. With some rice for some carbs. Oh, and some delicious gravy to tie it all together!
"Well," Erick thought to himself, smiling, "it's not going to cook itself!"
With a skip in his step, he made his way to the kitchen. After thoroughly washing his hands, he grabbed his pots and pans and washed them as well.
"The rice would probably take the longest," Erick mused.
He decided he'd cook two cups of rice. So, with a dash of salt and a sprig of thyme, he put two cups of water up to boil at medium-high heat. At the same time—in a slightly larger pot—he put a stick of butter to melt and simmer at medium-low heat. Then he walked over to his pantry and grabbed his rice container. After measuring a cup into a bowl (and putting the container back) Erick ran the rice underneath the tap, dragging his clawed fingers through the grains. He drained the starchy water into a larger bowl so he could throw it all onto his plants and then prepared to rinse his rice two more times.
When he was done washing his rice, Erick checked on his pots. The water wasn't quite boiling and the butter wasn't quite melted—at least not yet.
"Hmmm," Erick hummed to himself with a flick of his tail. "Maybe I should add some veggies to the rice for some extra nutrition…"
The dragon took another bowl out of his cupboard and placed it on his counter. Then, humming to himself, he took a bag of frozen vegetables out of his freezer.
"'Gumbo Medley'..."Erick flipped the bag over and over, reading the labels and text. "Looks like I can just let this steam with the rice."
Erick sliced the bag open with one of his claws and poured the frozen cuts of okra, corn, celery, onion, and bell pepper into his bowl and gave them a quick rinse.
He then checked his pots again. The water was almost boiling and the butter was almost melted. He could work with this. Erick got his container of flour out of his pantry and measured out a few tablespoons before tossing it in. He then stirred the butter and flour together for a bit, watching it bubble and thicken. While cooking his roux, he listened carefully for the water.
Erick sniffed his pot. "Maybe I should've used ghee. It would've added a nice nuttiness…"
"Too late now," he chuckled to himself as he went and fetched his rice and vegetables. He poured his rice into the pot, scraping the bowl for every grain, and gave it a stir. Then, he carefully sprinkled the vegetables over the rice since he didn’t want to have them pile on top. He lowered the heat of the burner and covered the pot with a towel before putting the lid back on.
Now it was time to focus on the gravy. Erick stirred his roux up for a few more minutes until he was satisfied with the color and thickness.
"A cup and a half should be enough!" Erick smiled to himself as he measured out the water to put into the pot. Stirring gently, Erick slowly poured the water into the pot, allowing the roux to incorporate with the new liquid.
With the water ready, it was time for Erick to season the broth. From his cupboard, he retrieved and added into the pot a cube of chicken bouillon, a dash of the British fish sauce (Worcestershire sauce), a dash of miso, a light sprinkle of cocoa powder, and a pinch of salt. He stirred the water with the added seasonings and then covered the pot, lowering the heat of the burner.
With both pots simmering, it was time for Erick to prepare the “meat” of his dish—the meat.
Firstly, he took out his cast iron and put it on one of the free burners on his stove, setting it to the max setting. Then, he took some water from his tap and sprinkled it into the pan.
Then, Erick opened his fridge and took out a a package of steak and then placed it on his counter. He then got his container of flour out of his pantry and his salt shaker out of his cupboard. He took a metal bowl out and put it in the sink, filling it with cold water. Finally, he took his bottle of vinegar out and add a splash of it to the water.
Erick opened his flour and put a tablespoon of it on his counter. He then opened his salt and added half a teaspoon of it to the flour. He mixed the two together and then removed the steak from its package. He took the mixture and rubbed it on all sides of the meat. Then, he dunked the steak into the water and rinsed the flour off. He then put some paper towels on the counter and then the steak on top of them. He took more towels and patted the meat dry on all sides, and then placed it on to the dry part of his counter. He washed his hands thoroughly afterwards.
Then, he took out his shaker of “Extra Spicy Mega Chili Red Tiger Creole Seasoning” and shook some onto the meat, rubbing the seasoning it with his free hand. He flipped the steak and did the same on the other side. Then, he checked on his cast iron; the water wasn’t yet burned off, but that gave him enough time for some final preparations.
After washing his hands again, Erick got out his bottle of olive oil and set it on his counter. He peeked at his gravy and gave it a stir, noting that it wasn’t quite thick yet. He waited another minute or two until his pan was dry and then he put in a dash of olive oil into it. He waited for it to heat up before picking his steak back up. Gently, he placed the the hanging edge of it into the side of the pan that was closest to him. Then, slowly, he laid it down and let the edge he was holding on to drop onto the other side of the pan.
Now, he just had to wait.
First, he had to wash his hands again after handling the raw meat. Erick moved over to his sink and squirted soap into his palm and opened the tap. He caught some water in his other palm and then rubbed both hands together, allowing the soap to lather. He rubbed the soap into his palms, on the backs of his hands, in between his fingers, on his wrists, and even on his forearms. Then, rubbing the soap off, he slowly passed his hands under the water to rinse them off. When that was done, he took his towel to dry them off.
That process took about two minutes, so he had one more to go before he had to flip the steak (he wanted it rare).
Erick spent the next minute looking for a spatula in his drawers. When he found it, he got a fork from his other drawer to flip the steak. He slid the spatula under the steak and pressed the flat side of the fork on the top of the meat. He lifted the steak off the pan and titlted his spatula. Using the fork to hold it in place, the dragon flipped the steak on it's other side and removed the utensils from the vicinity. Just three more minutes and Erick can feast.
Three minutes he had to spend wisely.
Erick opened the pot to his gravy and gave it a stir—it was just about done enough for Erick to turn off the heat under it and let it finish cooking that way. Figuring his rice was about done as well, he turned the heat off on that pot too.
With about one minute left, Erick fished a tray out of his cupboard and placed it on his counter. He took a plate out and placed it on his tray alongside a knife and fork. Then, he turned off the heat under his steak and removed the pan from the burner.
Erick first opened his rice and gave the fluffy grains and cooked vegetables a mix; then he took some out and placed it onto his plate. Then, using his spatula, he removed his steak from the pan and placed it on top of his rice. Finally, he took out a ladle and scooped out some of his gravy and poured it on top of everything.
He took his tray to the table and finally sat down for his meal. Erick dug in to his gravy, steak, and rice, and it tasted amazing.