Min-joon turned to Justin and said, “You don’t have to do it this time. We just want to do it among ourselves. If I assigned you to do this, you might think I don’t know how to tell private from public matters. And I need to do something like this to brush up on what I had learned a long time ago. So, don’t worry.”
“I still feel uncomfortable…”
Justin made an embarrassed expression, Min-joon had no intention of having him trim the fish on his behalf. He even wondered why he would have to assign such an interesting job to Justin.
Whenever he scratched the fish with a scaler, he felt it good to peel off the scales carefully.
He felt a subtle tension on his wrist when he did it, which was also fun. Some might say that this was manual labor, but it was like playing, not labor, if one did it with joy.
‘Well, they say if my hobby becomes my job, I’ll have no fun.’
Min-joon had never agreed with that until now. He found cooking so fun, and he was so happy when he was cooking, so much so that given the choice between Kaya and cooking, he found it difficult which one to choose. In other words, cooking was everything to him.
After peeling off the primary scales with a scaler and using the blade to peel off the remaining scales again, he had to remove the gills and tails to drain the blood. Watching him slitting the stomach and taking out the innards with a smile, Maya felt a bit weird about him.
“How come he likes peeling off the fish? When I was a trainee, I cut thousands of fish open, but I have never liked trimming fish.”
“Leave him alone. Chef Min-joon’s positive energy is unlimited when it comes to cooking.”
“Do we need to imitate him in order to grow like Chef Min-joon?”
“Well, if you look at other demi chefs, you don’t have to necessarily follow the way he cooks.”
“Other demi chefs had a long training time, but Chef Min-joon came up to this position in a relatively short time. Isn’t he the youngest, compared with other demi chefs?”
“Oh really? Is he the youngest?”
“Last time he said he was in his early 20s, so I think he is the youngest guy here.”
Maya shrugged as if she was not sure. But Justin didn’t even look at them and muttered,
“By the way, the way he is using the knife is so terrific. I just wonder if he is so good at cutting at that age.”
Justin admired Min-joon’s way of cutting from the bottom of his heart. His cutting was perfect when he adjusted the angle of the blade to cut the gills of the bream without any hesitation. Maya said, nodding her head, “Honestly, I’m also curious about it sometimes. As I understand, you have to go through the trainee time to improve your cutting skills fast. But Chef Min-joon has come straight to be a demi-chef. Can you do that when you practice cutting only at home?”
“Why are you so serious about it? I think it’s his talent.”
“No, it’s not.” Somebody cut in in a grumpy voice.
To their surprise, it was Raphael who responded to Antonio’s sullen voice.
Looking at the startled cooks, Raphael slowly opened his mouth.
“There is a limit to improving your cutting skills with talent alone. You can feel it only after you get cut. And you should cut hundreds or thousands of fish if you want to cut the fish skillfully like Min-joon.”
“But Chef Min-joon has not had any experience working in a restaurant before, right? Even if he makes his own food for a year at home, he can do it only in a few weeks at the restaurant. How come he can catch up with us?”
“Who knows? He must have practiced cutting rubber clay. There are many other ways he can try.”
The cooks visualized in their minds Min-joon’s overcoming the cooking environment terrible enough to practice cutting with rubber clay. The moment they were about to express compassion for his hard times, he stopped moving his hands. Next to him were large slices of sea bream for steak.
“It looks like the steak tastes delicious no matter who grills it.”
Janet took the trimmed sea bream stake and put some flour on its skin. She didn’t need to grill the bream slices right now. She needed to make the ingredients to add to them.
Min-joon went and took out the Persian cucumber pickled in lemon vinegar. While placing some edible flowers there, Janet applied the emulsion made with curry and goat cheese to the plate.
Now, all he had to do was put the red sea bream with its skin roasted crispy at low temperature.
Just by smelling it, Maya’s mouth was already watering. She said in an excited voice, enjoying the savory smell of the fish, “I guess that gourmet guy must be really alert.”
<hr />
Contrary to Maya’s expectations, the gourmet blogger Jasper seemed quite relaxed when he arrived at Rose Island. He was even complacent, expecting to test Rachel as well as her demi chefs’ dishes for comparative evaluation.
Touching his fat chin, he said, grinning at Rachel.
“Now that the unrivaled Chef Rachel accepts my challenge, I take it as an honor.”
“Well, it’s true that I have invited you here, but I’m very uncomfortable about your expression ‘challenge.’ Seriously.”
Having said that, she glanced at the guy next to Jasper. As if he was videotaping something with a smartphone in hand, he was directing the camera lens toward them.
Jasper burst into laughter and said, “Hahaha, this guy is my assistant. I think it would be good to videotape this event because today is a historical day for all of us.”
“If that’s what you want, I think it would be nice to take off that smartphone.”
“Pardon?” Jasper looked at her with a puzzled expression.
Rachel turned her head instead of answering. Jasper, who followed her gaze, was startled to see two cameramen standing with huge cameras, which were usually used only in a broadcasting station.
He said, clearing his throat as if he was embarrassed, “Hahaha. It’s amazing. It’s like the cameras used at a broadcasting station.”
Despite his efforts to hide his embarrassment, everybody in the room could feel his voice had weakened a lot.
“Yes, you’re right. They are used by a broadcasting station.”
“Really?” Jasper replied, very perplexed.
Rachel opened her mouth in a casual voice. “Well, as it turned out, they are here to film two of my students today. I hear they want to hear some episodes about the Top 10 of the Grand Chef’s latest season. When I told them I had an appointment with you today, they came running here to shoot the scene. They thought it was a good episode scene.”
“I see.” Jasper was very proud of himself for responding without hesitating at that moment.
In fact, he made all kinds of efforts to appear on a TV show but failed. But it was so easy for someone like Rachel to bring them here for their TV show.
Rachel didn’t even give Jasper any chance to hesitate. She wasn’t rude, but at the same time, she showed kindness but not more than necessary because he was not here as a customer.
“Follow me. I’ll escort you to your seat.”
“You don’t have customers now? It’s lunchtime.”
He asked as if to challenge her, but she was not swayed at all.
“We’re not open for lunch. Our chefs have to take a break. As the head chef here, I’m sorry for them because I sometimes have to assign them to something they don’t have to.”
Needless to say, this was the situation she was referring to, something that her chefs should not have to be on standby like this. Rather embarrassed, with his face blushing, Jasper tried to refute her in vain. He might be good at posting stories on the gourmet blog, but he was not so good at talking to people.
“Jasper, can I keep filming?”
“Shut up. Turn off the smartphone and stay put.”
Jasper hurriedly responded to his assistant’s asking as if he was ashamed then took a seat.
He spread a napkin on his lap elegantly.
He opened his mouth, pretending to be calm, “So, you said that I’m going to taste three courses today, right?”
“That’s right. Have a taste of each dish and guess who made it. I’m really curious if you can find the difference. Luckily, someone like you has shown up here who could directly review it, so I’m just grateful to you,” said Rachel, chuckling cheerfully.
Why did her laugh look innocent but cruel like that of a bad boy?
Jasper cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Well, aside from the fact that I can tell the difference, I feel a bit uncomfortable if the recipe isn’t the chef’s original…”
“Here you are!”
Someone shouted then two plates were placed on his table. On one plate was thinly sliced soft tofu floating on the broth, on top of which was a pink sashimi and osetra caviar, and a slice of cilantro as well as suji on it. And on the other plate were a lot of meatballs with fine cuts and round jelly sauce on top of a large clamshell.
Jasper was lost in thought for a moment, watching the two plates.
‘There seems to be no such thing as molecular cooking technique on the plate with sashimi. If so, is it Rachel Chef’s recipe? How much would she know at her age? Yeah, I think this must be Chef Rachel’s dish and that jelly sauce must have been made by the demi chefs. I’m positive.’
Thinking like that, he put sashimi in his mouth. He was absolutely sure this must be Chef Rachel’s dish. How could a chef in his 20s make a dish with such subtle delicacy?
Jasper said confidently, smiling broadly, “This is Chef Rachel’s dish!”
“Why do you think so? Any basis for your judgment?”
“I’m not trying to degrade your demi chefs, but I think it’s too delicious for a demi chef to make. But I can feel the chef’s seasoned experience in the dish. It’s a taste full of freshness even without relying on molecular cuisine. Only a cook giant like Chef Rachel can make this kind of dish.”
Rachel’s expression hardened at that moment. Checking her expression, he became more and more convinced.
Then he added in excitement, “That’s why I argued that all menus at Rose Island should go through Chef Rachel’s review. Of course, demi-chefs can also make delicious dishes. But they can’t imitate her masterful cooking like this. Do you now understand why I have bothered to play this villain role?”
“I don’t know.”
“Hahaha. I think we seem to be on the same page now, right?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rachel said, “You know why?”
Pointing at the plate he ate, she quipped, “Because I didn’t make that.”
