Whatever he thought at the moment, Min-joon was almost done cooking. He put a little chili chicken broth on the steamed dumplings once again, then put it on the side of the grilled scallops.
“Done!”
[Grilled scallop and shrimp dumplings wrapped in dumpling skin with soy sauce chili coleslaw]
Freshness: 94%
Country of origin: (There are several ingredients, so it is hidden)
Quality: High
Cooking score: 9/10
Cooking score was 9 points. If Chinese chefs saw him, who had no experience in cooking Chinese food, making the Chinese dish so easily with this great score, what would they think of him? Would they say that they couldn’t believe it? Or Would they say he did it by sheer luck? Or would they think he could do it, given his skills?
In the past, he would have felt it was impossible to make a Chinese dish like this. But come to think of it now, he felt like it was not that difficult to cook Chinese food. He felt all the dishes around the world were connected to each other. In fact, even if the recipe was different, the basic cooking rule, such as how much the ingredients should be boiled or how thick the ingredient should be cut to bring out the best taste, was not changed.
“Can I try a little bit of that?”
Downey asked with an excited expression. It wasn’t just Downey. The other chefs in the back were holding forks, too, which made Min-joon feel pressured enough to step back for a moment.
“Yeah, you can eat everything left in the pot as much as you want. On a first-come, first-served basis.”
At that moment, they scrambled to eat first, making a big noise in the kitchen. Leaving them behind, Min-joon headed to June’s office. With the phone on her ear as if she was talking to somebody, she smiled at him and put her finger over her lips.
“Yes. Okay. Then let’s go ahead with that. Of course. Don’t worry. It’s not adventure or gambling, it’s just play. Thank you. See you next time.”
She hung up the phone and glanced at him and the plate.
“I don’t think you brought it for my meal, right?”
“This is a new recipe.”
She smiled at his words silently. Given that he came up with a new recipe hurriedly like this as soon as he came back, did it mean that he was stimulated a lot after visiting lots of Rose Island branches?
‘Obviously, Chef Rachel must have favored him so much…’
She thought Min-joon was so moved by the head chefs’ dishes even when they were not well prepared for his evaluation visit. What if he was served the best dishes they made with the once-in-a-life opportunity to be Rachel’s successor in mind? How much would he different before and after he tried their best dishes?
At this point, she felt like she was blessed to have been born earlier than him, for she would find him a much tougher competitor than Dave, who was even a tough rival for her.
Min-joon put the plate down on her table.
She said, holding a fork, “I told you already if you’re ready, I could turn your dish into something like your second Cho Reggiano. I wonder if you’re ready with this dish.”
“Well, the fact that I have brought you this dish means that I was that much happy when I cooked it. So, I think people who enjoy it will be as happy as I’m.”
“I like your confidence.”
Then she didn’t smile because it’s time to test and enjoy his dish, not chat with him. She raised the fork. Then she penetrated the hard shell of the dumpling skin noodles wrapped around the scallop with the four sharp blades of the fork.
The moment she put it in her mouth, even the sound of her chewing was beautiful. It wasn’t the sound of the scallop’s hard shell being crashed. She lifted the corner of her mouth unwittingly, seeing the part of the hard shell crumbling when she pierced it, as if the crust of some crispy bread crumbled.
This was a dish that stimulated human instincts. Even this chewing sound was so attractive from the beginning. Because of this crispy taste, this dish would make most of the people whet their appetite with their mouth watering, just like she did now.
She put the fork in her mouth. The scallop was crispy like a fried side dish when she chewed it, but it was soft like noodles while she was chewing it. It was when her tongue touched the flesh of the scallop that she was really thrilled because the way he cooked it was so attractive and beautiful.
She could hardly express how to describe her taste when she tried it with coleslaw. Obviously, he didn’t make this dish through a complicated process, but the sauce that permeated the scallop itself and the refreshing and spicy taste of the coleslaw was exquisitely connected, whetting her appetite so much.
“I now know why you visited Daisy’s restaurant in China,” she muttered quietly.
This was something she could not feel in his dish until now. It was rather ambiguous to describe it as a Chinese taste. It was true that this dish had a lot of Chinese taste, but it didn’t mean that he wasn’t good at making Chinese dishes until now.
What had changed? What did he get? Was it the variety of Chinese cuisine? Before she even pondered over that question deeply, she lifted the fork again. Normally, she would have pretended to try any dish with a swagger as a veteran chef, but she was just one of the ordinary people when it came to the taste of food. So, she wanted to enjoy it as much as possible because as a chef, she might have a stronger appetite than ordinary people. Since she invested so much in cooking, she knew the fun of the taste better than anyone else.
She picked the dumplings this time, which were stuffed with shrimp and vegetables.
Min-joon opened his mouth.
“I steamed the dumplings after aging them properly in chili chicken stock. And after steaming, I poured some broth again. If you eat it while feeling the taste of the broth and shrimp, you will feel more fun out of it.”
“You said you added the taste of the chicken broth to the shrimps?”
Of course, there were no ingredients that didn’t match each other. Especially, chicken broth blended well with any ingredients because of its unique, light, and clean taste. However, did he use chicken broth just because it was okay? Was he naive enough to do so?
With some concern and expectations, she bit the dumplings. At that moment, she almost groaned at the incredible taste she had never felt before.
Its taste was something she didn’t expect at all from his dish. The moment she bit the dumpling skin, she could feel the rich juice of the shrimp that moistened her mouth, and at the same time, the taste of the chicken broth gently stimulated her nose and mouth like a scent. It was as if she was eating wasabi.
Normally, he brought out a calm and elegant taste of his dish, but this one was rough and barbaric. That was why her eyes sparkled more than ever, and more thoughts came to her mind than usual.
The way she enjoyed her meal had nothing to do with enjoying it like a gourmet. As a chef, as a businesswoman, and as an ordinary guest, she felt and looked at any dish by examining it from all aspects. And now she could feel it. In fact, this dish itself wasn’t great enough to say it was out of this world. However, this was definitely a tremendous dish for him. Although it might not change the cuisine world, it could change him in the future.
“Gosh, I’m going to kick Daisy’s ass. I told her it’s okay for her to tempt him, but just moderately.”
Maybe Daisy really wanted to tempt him seriously. When June felt Daisy’s influence on his dish, she was happy, but at the same time, she felt a bit annoyed. She looked at him at that moment. He was actually watching her closely in great satisfaction as if he was very proud of his dish.
“I now understand why Chef Rachel was trying to send you out to check and evaluate the dishes of all the branch head chefs. How could she keep having you beside her when you came up with this kind of great dish after you checked out other chefs’ dishes?”
If he had not been so talented in cooking, Rachel might have tried to continue to have him beside her, for if he could learn by himself more quickly than someone else’s coaching, she would not have to send him out to work for other chefs.
However, he was so good at grasping other people’s dishes perfectly. So much so that people around him called it “weird.” June could not be sure whether it was simply a matter of his taste. In fact, he himself could not figure it out. Sometimes he owed it to the system, but he grasped even something that was beyond the power of the system.
