Adrian could not confirm her cooking skills in the way she was cooking now. Just like he did with Min-joon and Kaya, he could evaluate her sauce only after tasting it first. But he could evaluate Anderson’s cooking skills easily because roasting the scallops seemed to be easy, but it was quite difficult to even keep them from sticking to the pan.
When Anderson turned the scallops over, all of them naturally nodded before they knew it. Even just looking at it, they felt how good it would taste. The scallops seared pretty yellow. When they imagined the moment of chewing that savory scallop, they already began to feel an irresistible appetite.
Brandon asked Adrian, “If you had been in his place, you would have burnt two scallops, right?”
“What the hell are you talking about? I can tell you with confidence that I haven’t burnt any scallops on the pan for a long time!”
“Well, if you look at him searing the scallops on the pan, don’t you feel your searing is almost close to burning?”
“Man, you are so mean!”
“I’m not mean. I’m only telling you the truth.”
Adrian couldn’t answer anything because he was right. While watching Anderson roasting the scallops on the pan, he felt what had been searing until now could hardly be called searing.
“Our main restaurant is so wonderful as to have such great demi chefs…”
At this point, Adrian stopped thinking they were the same demi chefs as them. It meant that just because they had the same title ‘demi chef,’ they had the same cooking level. Just as amateur and professional players were different, demi chefs were different according to their cooking level.
In the case of Janet and Havier, Adrian could show the difference in their cooking skills clearly.
It was pretty impressive that Havier followed every instruction she gave him, but that was all.
The Chloe and Anderson pair decided on the recipe and started cooking faster, but it was the Havier and Janet pair who finished the dish first. That was understandable, given the dish they made. What they made was moules marinieres. They put shallots, white wine, and parsley on the pan to fry them. They then add mussels to cook for a minute and took out the mussels again and add fresh cream to the ingredients. Finally, they seasoned them with sauce. In terms of cooking time, it was reasonable to make it ten minutes.
But the two didn’t stop there. Janet couldn’t finish there. She wanted to show them her cooking skills a little more. And now she wanted to cook beef bourguignon.
She put onions, carrots, flour, red wine, and various herbs first then boiled them. She then cut the softest tenderloin of the beef into small pieces, roast it, and put it in the boiling sauce.
And after a reasonable amount of time, she filtered the sauce through a sieve several times to harden it like gelatin. She then took out only the ingredients of the beef bourguignon and plated it. Finally, she cut the chilled jelly and placed it on top.
In fact, what she made now was a dish with the most modern flair among all the dishes that other pairs made until now.
Feeling immensely proud, Janet turned to Havier and said, “Thank you, Havier, for a nice cooperation!”
“You’re welcome,” he replied, smiling feebly.
He didn’t intend to stand out. However, he didn’t want to end without drawing their attention. What he wanted to show them was that he was a good chef and that he was obviously making progress.
“Certainly, the demi-chefs at our main restaurant are highly competent, given the history of Rose Island. I think I should recognize that.”
“Thank you.”
Min-joon scratched his head as if he was embarrassed, for he was one of the demi chefs Brandon just mentioned.
As if he didn’t like Min-joon’s expressions, Brandon added mischievously, “Of course, they are not better, compared with the demi chefs during my days.”
“It’s a pity that I could not see you working as a demi chef at Rose Island when you were there.”
Min-joon replied in a relaxed manner.
Kaya, who was next to him, said, grumbling, “He must have been slapped down a lot. I hear those guys who were slapped down a lot tend to be foul-mouthed men.”
Brandon’s ears wiggled at that instantly. Her voice was clearly audible, but he didn’t respond at all, which meant she hit the nail on the head. At that moment, Chloe and Anderson, and Janet and Havier put their dishes on the table.
‘I don’t want to be discouraged…’
Talis clenched her fists. She was already shocked to see Min-joon and Kaya cooking. But she wanted to think they were an exception. Min-joon was a chef who developed a superb dessert like Cho Reggiano, while Kaya was the winner of the Grand Chef Season 3 where lots of competent chefs took part in.
If other demi chefs from the main restaurant were as competent as the two, she could not even make any excuses for her childish reactions to their visit here. A little later, she felt like jelly so much that she could not even control her expressions.
“Hey guys, who the hell are you?”
In fact, it was Talis who asked Adrian to pretend he was an elite chef. She also asked him to stay alert as long as they were here. When she witnessed their cooking level, however, she could not find any fault with them. Their dishes were literally perfect. Janet’s beef bourguignon with broth jelly and moules mariniere, and Chloe and Anderson’s St-Jacques a l’orange with a Chinese taste.
What impressed her the most was St-Jacques a l’orange that Chloe and Anderson made. They didn’t modify its original recipe a lot, but it tasted so different from the one she used to enjoy that she wondered how it was possible to bring out such taste with the addition of only coriander and star anise.
Brandon was watching Talis admiring their cooking and dishes deeply. It was because he knew that he didn’t respond at all when his demi staff showed a knee jerk reaction to their counterparts from the Rose Island main restaurant.
‘Perhaps…’
Brandon was lost in thought for a moment.
It was not uncommon for demi-chefs to attend the Paris International Culinary Competition. There were some chefs who didn’t participate because they thought it was bothersome to go there in person or because they felt it would not promote their honor to attend it.
However, it was extremely rare for the demi chefs to win the contest in its long history. What if these demi chefs, and those from America at that, win the contest?
‘I guess if they win, it will turn the French gourmets upside down.’
Of course, he didn’t expect that much. It was true that these demi-chefs, including Min-joon, were as almost competent as the head chefs or sous chefs of any decent restaurants, but it didn’t mean that they could necessarily beat all other superb chefs.
‘French chefs are not as easy to beat as you think.’
It took nearly a decade for him to establish himself and gain recognition here, despite the fact that he was the head chef of the Paris branch of Rose Island. Maybe it was more difficult for him because he worked under the sign Rose Island because it was an American cuisine symbol. At least in the cooking world, the French chefs who were more conceited than anybody else didn’t like an American chef like Brandon to establish himself in the French cuisine world.
As time went on, they began to recognize Brandon, but that didn’t mean that their harsh attitude toward those non-French chefs softened. Sooner or later these demi chefs from America would be faced with the same “wall” that Brandon had faced.
Of course, it would not be easy for them even without the wall. France was France, after all.
As the modernization of food intensified these days, some gourmets criticized Brandon for the lack of modern sensibility in his dishes because of his obsession with authentic French food.
In other words, they could not find fault with his French dishes except for that one thing.
But Brandon didn’t even agree with their criticism. Actually, he was quite dissatisfied with the gastronomic circles these days who made the case for modernization as if they took it for granted. He believed that cooking could be artistic, but cooking shouldn’t be art because the basics of cooking were its taste, not the subject of philosophical or aesthetic thinking.
“You guys will soon find it out,” Brandon said in a low voice.
Kaya and Min-joon looked at him as if they could not understand what he was talking about.
Brandon continued, “You’ll find that what you think of as common sense is not true here. You’ll have to find out whether what you think is correct is really so. You can reject it out of hand, but if you can, it is not that bad for you to change your thinking.”
“Change our thinking?”
“You might have to. Either you change or you will be pushed out. Anyway, that’s what I…”
Brandon stuttered while trying to say something more. He thought they could impress the French gourmets without changing their thinking.
‘No, they won’t. I couldn’t do it, either.’
It was also not impossible if they could bring out the taste that would captivate everyone without compromising their thinking. But it was impossible to satisfy everyone’s taste. People like or dislike even a single ingredient, so if they make a dish with the unique characteristics of any one country, how could everyone like it?
Given that there were those who hated even MSG, which was created to satisfy everyone’s taste in the world, it would be ridiculously difficult to develop a dish that everybody around the world could enjoy.
“Come to think of it, I hear that June has put you on her blacklist.”
“It looks like all the rumors about me have already spread.”
“Well, I wouldn’t call it rumors. When I heard about you at first, I already knew June would be gnashing her teeth because of you. I can easily notice it when she is doing something wicked.”
Min-joon nodded at his response before he knew it. Actually, she was so outspoken that he wondered if she was really cunning and sly. Of course, she didn’t fully reveal what was on her mind, but he was shocked to find out she was so blatantly wary of him.
“In that sense, I have to let you know that there is one more that can make you tense.”
“What is that?”
“Be careful about her. She is coming here for the competition, too.”
“You mean Chef June is participating in the contest?”
“No, her sous chef.”
Brandon replied briefly. When Min-joon looked at him with a perplexed expression, Brandon opened his mouth again as if he was reluctant to say more.
“That guy is really competent. He cooks really well. So, there are some rumors that he might be the first head chef as a man who was not Rachel’s student.”
“What’s his name?”
“Let me see… Oh, that guy.”
