GOD OF COOKING – CHAPTER 27: GETTING HELP IN THE FACE OF GETTING DISQUALIFIED (2)

 

7 points . That was the best Jo Minjoon could get right now . He wouldn’t know if he was cooking together with Kaya but first, he had to share what he had in mind . Jo Minjoon said while looking at her .

“Let’s slice it roundly and thickly like a tenderloin and roast it . The method is using arroser while pouring cooking oil . There’s no need to put in olive oil . Because there’s abundant oil in the foie gras . ”

Jo Minjoon quickly said all of that . Kaya nodded with her mind going blank and nodded . And then she asked .

“What about the sauce?”

Jo Minjoon slowly ordered things in his mind . The most basic virtue foie gras sauce needed to have was complementing it’s flavor full of fat . And to complement that, it was necessary to be both sweet and sour at the same time .

Jo Minjoon opened his mouth .

“I’m going to make white grape sauce . I’m going to boil down the grape in vermouth, and I’m also going to put a bit of demi-glace sauce… . And from this point there are two choices . Is it going to be better to make the demi-glace ourselves?”

It was a sensitive part . The demi-glace sauce was a sauce to be boiled down when put brown sauce and meat gravy . It could take 30 minutes to make it, but like all dishes that contained gravy, the more you boiled it, the deeper became the flavor . Basically, good quality demi-glace sauces in top restaurants took up to 2 hours, so it was unquestionable that time was essential and important .

Were you going to make a handmade demi-glace sauce in 1 hour, no, 50 minutes, or use a commercial sauce? That was the problem that presented in front of them . Because they couldn’t know if the handmade sauce was going to be better than the commercial one .

Kaya bit her lips as if she was submerged in her thoughts . However, Jo Minjoon could vaguely know what she was going to reply .
“Let’s make it . ”

A smile could be seen in Jo Minjoon’s face . Right . This is what it means to be a chef . To make every little thing they could with their own hands . To want their hands to be a condiment of the food was what meant to be a chef .

“You can slowly handle the foie gras . I just saw that it had melted quite a bit . First, let’s melt it in the fridge . Because we won’t have to even touch it until we have made the sauce and about to do the plating . ”
“Okay . I understand . What about the garnish? What about slicing the remaining white grapes and putting it on top?”
“Good for me . ”

As he held a conversation with her, Jo Minjoon felt that it was rather miraculous that he was talking with her . Meeting someone famous from the TV would be like that, but they were similar at the time to cook . Even if it was a famous chef with reputation, while their skills and understanding towards cooking improved, there would be more differences than things in common with other chefs .

However Jo Minjoon and Kaya weren’t like that . Of course, they had just started the path to being a chef, but their styles were similar . Suddenly, Jo Minjoon thought of a thing . What if I start to work in the same kitchen as her… . ?

‘Now’s not the time to be thinking these things . ’

Sloppy delusions were sufficient even after the mission ended . Jo Minjoon opened his mouth .

“If they say that tagging is difficult, then it should . Who will start? The second person is going to be in charge to make the foie gras . Not even making it, but also the plating . The changes are in intervals of 5 minutes, and there are only 60 minutes . ”

To roast the foie gras and put it in a plate was better if it was done the latest they could . Because there was a need to squash the white grape that was going to be put in the demi-glace sauce the longest time possible . Kaya opened her mouth . She seemed like she wanted to take responsibility .

“I will do it . Wrapping up . Because in the end, it’s my problem . ”
“… . . Foie gras, you said you have never made it . Are you going to be okay?”
“You are the same . So I have to challenge myself . And this is something I have to do . As I said before, it’s my problem . It’s my mistake and my mission . ”
“No . It’s a team mission . ”

Jo Minjoon replied with a determined voice . Kaya looked at him a little surprised . He seemed like a teacher that was scolding his student, and actually, Jo Minjoon was thinking just like that . He wished that Kaya could understand the reason she entered the disqualifying candidates . He wanted to show her what was the meaning of team missions, and how to work in such circumstances .

Actually, Chloe should have been in his place . She could calm Kaya’s heart with just her soft and gentle smile . And she could even tell her the meaning of what a team was without even telling her directly . However, Jo Minjoon knew well that he couldn’t be like her .

What he could do instead of Chloe’s warmth was waking her up with words . And fortunately, it seemed like Kaya had understood what he had wanted to tell her . Kaya hesitated a little and in the end, nodded .

“Okay . I will remember . ”
“Good . ”

Jo Minjoon smiled and looked at the clock . Because he was thinking of the concept of the menu, 13 minutes have already passed from the 20 given minutes . 7 minutes . It was too short of a time for them to do something . Awkwardness flowed from both of them . The one who opened her mouth first was Kaya . She questioned him with things she had wanted to ask for some time .

“Why are you treating me well?”
“I don’t think I am, though . ”
“No, why . You do . That time with the catfish mission, when you asked me to trade our dishes, and also that time when you said that I was going to win in the interview . Right . It couldn’t be said that you did treat me well . But I’m sure that you are favorable towards me . Why? Maybe… . ”

Kaya glanced slightly at the camera . She held the mic that was attached to her clothes with her left hand, and with her right hand, grabbed Jo Minjoon’s mic . Jo Minjoon was perplexed, so he couldn’t say anything in that instant . Kaya opened her mouth . It was a rather serious voice .

“Do you like me?”

The reason he couldn’t reply instantly wasn’t because she had hit the bullseye . It was because he had never thought that he would get that question from Kaya herself . He had also denied it like that in the interview . Jo Minjoon replied with a frozen face .

“Not at all . ”
“Hmm… . . Really?”

Kaya’s eyes became sharper . She looked at him for a while and then, talked while smiling .

“Then keep not liking me . ”
“I know you are going to look at me funny when I ask this question . But why can’t I?”
“Because I’m like a **** girl . You don’t understand the meaning for a white person to grow in a poor house .  And there’s nothing you would gain if you did know the meaning . ”
“… . . I’m sorry, but I already like you . ”

At his words, Kaya frowned . Jo Minjoon felt like he had landed a blow, so he continued speaking while smiling .

“Not as a girl, but as a chef . ”
“But why? Was there something special that I have showed you?”
“You showed me your potential . And also your talent . I was envious . And I also wanted to catch up to you as much as I was envious . It’s like that . When you are watching TV and start to cheer for a participant . It could be that I’m cheering for you as a viewer of Grand Chef . ”
“…… . But you are not part of the audience, but a participant . ”

At Kaya’s words, Jo Minjoo shrugged his shoulders .

“Won’t Messi cheer for Ronaldo at times?”

Kaya didn’t reply . She was looking at Jo Minjoon while shaking . She could really not understand this man called Jo Minjoon . Why could that be? Why was this man more confident and believed in her more than she did in herself?

She couldn’t know . It was only because Jo Minjoon already knew the future where Kaya became the winner . And Kaya’s imagination wasn’t as big as to imagine something that was improbable . Jo Minjoon opened his mouth .

“Why don’t you let go of your hand? The camera is still recording . Do you want to be edited again?”

Jo Minjoon let out a sigh and pointed towards the cameraman . The cameraman was all smiles for a while as if he had captured a good scene . Kaya opened the hand that was holding Jo Minjoon’s mic . Then she held up her arms as if she was doing a surrendering gesture .

“I’m sorry, but I thought that it shouldn’t have been recorded . ”
“That’s right… . . ”

Jo Minjoon looked at the cameraman . And then frowned . There was a microphone clearly attached in the camera . Jo Minjoon asked him .

“Can this thing record?”

The cameraman, instead of replying, put a smile . Jo Minjoon mumbled as if it was a pain in the **** . “We are ruined . ” Kaya was looking at the cameraman rigidly . It seemed that she thought that if she blocked the participants mic, they would be able to be free from being broadcasted . Kaya asked Jo Minjoon .

“……It is going to be broadcasted, right?”
“If it doesn’t, then the PD would be an incapable person . ”

And Martin wasn’t an incapable man however you looked at him . Kaya said with an annoyed face .

“I’m already telling you, but this… . . ”
“The time has ended for you to think of your menus! Now, the participants should bring the ingredients . ”
“They say so . I’ll be going . ”

Jo Minjoon left Kaya back and moved his feet . She seemed like she was about to say something, but he didn’t mind . Whatever it was, only he was going to get more complicated . It was good to not be thinking about anything while cooking . Jo Minjoon mumbled by himself .

‘It seems like she still hasn’t understood what being a team means . ’

< Getting help in the face of getting disqualified (2) > End

Translator’s note: Regular chapter! Thanks for reading and for your support!

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Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Maled