“Think about it. Let’s say these people’s recipes are served at Irregular Lab. Do you think they are losing money because of that?”
“What do you think?’ “No, they’re not losing money at all. If their recipes are popular at Irregular Lab, their reputation will go up, and if they are not, they can blame it for the limits of Irregular Lab. In other words, they have nothing to lose in this deal. Regardless of the success of their recipes or not, they will receive benefits because they will enjoy a wide publicity of their recipes anyway.”
“You mean they are using us as a means of publicity?”
“They are not using us, of course. It’s their proposal. In other words, it’s something like this, ‘We know you need good recipes, so let us give them to you. It’s up to you whether you want to use them or not, but you are not going to lose money because of our recipes.’ That’s how I feel about them.”
“So what are you going to do?”
Since Min-joon linked the recipes to business, Kaya had no idea how to judge their proposal.
But he didn’t give her a reckless reply. He patted her shoulder and calmed her down.
“Don’t worry. We don’t have to make a conclusion right now. All we have to care about right now is that not only amateurs but also professional chefs are very interested in our program.”
This was clearly a development that even Min-joon didn’t expect. But at the same time, it was also a very good one. He could review all the recipes submitted by famous chefs. Even if he could not use them for the menu of Irregular Lab, they would be helpful enough for Min-joon and Kaya to improve their cooking skills further
Of course, if more professional chefs participated in Min-joon and Kaya’s program, there would be less room for the activities of amateurs, but it was something they would have to think about later. Min-joon thought quietly about it. This was his and Kaya’s league where the outside chefs submitted their recipes and asked for their review and request for the use of their recipes if they were accepted.
And Kaya became the owner of this league, along with Min-joon. Even though Kaya was the owner of Irregular Lab, Min-joon also had a stake in it. More precisely, the owners of Irregular Lab were Min-joon and Kaya because what they asked for was not the evaluation by Choters, not Irregular Lab.
Min-joon thought for a moment.
“Bravo!”
No matter which way he looked at it, this was destined to be a big hit.
Until the grand chef finals came, Min-joon and Kaya concentrated on reviewing the recipes submitted by them while delaying the opening of their new restaurant. It didn’t take as long as I thought because Min-joon and Kaya were quite adept at filtering out mediocre recipes. Helped by the system, Min-joon was unusually quick in weeding out the unqualified recipes.
Of course, it didn’t mean that those recipes not selected were not helpful to Min-joon and Kaya. Sometimes even the recipes that were only cooking point 3 made them inspired enough to ask, ‘Wow, how did they think of a combination like this?’
It was great fun to review such recipes. More often the case, the owners of such recipes had little experience in cooking. That was why their imagination was more resourceful than that of professional chefs.
As an example, think of bananas and cheese. Would ordinary people really think of mixing them together? However, bananas and cheese were not as ill-assorted as they thought. Of course, in general, they thought of the mix of the two as a nice match in making desserts such as cheesecake, but in any case, it was certainly possible to find a recipe that mixed the two.
Min-joon needed to think out of the box for the mix of banana and cheese. Even when he saw a ridiculous recipe like that, he did his best to somehow find a clue to improve his cooking skills further. The more he tried, the more he instinctively realized that he could not win this battle unless he was smart.
At that moment, he really envied Michael’s smartness. With hindsight, he found it a little odd to tell Michael that he was researching science, not cooking. As someone who was always pursuing sensuous cuisine, he found himself envying Michael who was examining and analyzing cooking like science.
At this point, however, Min-joon was 100 percent sure that he was right. The deeper he thought, the closer he got to what he wanted, the more clearly he could realize what kind of sense he should have, and how he could make up for it when he was lacking in something.
As a matter of fact, he felt like he was going to blow his brain out. He thought he knew everything about cooking, but in fact, he felt like he had only a superficial knowledge of the cooking components. What was the point of knowing about the Maillard reaction when he couldn’t even read every single detail of how that reaction seeps through the flesh of the meat?
Suddenly, Min-joon had no choice but to realize how great Kaya’s talent was. She naturally read through her senses what ordinary people could achieve after decades of agonizing and research. For example, when a runner was meticulously trained to get the perfect running posture, Kaya just left it to her instinct to get it.
‘Maybe Kaya has already mastered the know-how of sensuous cuisine .’
Of course, he was not sure if she had the same cooking level 9 as him. However, if she did, she might have achieved it only after she fully understood not only sensuous cuisine but also cooking.
‘Can she get cooking level 9 if she masters kitchen leadership?’
When he thought about it, he felt tense suddenly. He came to cooking level 8, but he didn’t want to lag behind her when it came to cooking level 9.
Once they reached cooking level 9, it would take Min-joon and Kaya a very long time to reach level 10. It might take them even several decades because there was such a difference between cooking level 9 and level 10. It was like the matter of whether a human being could be perfect or not. To an ordinary person, a difference of 2% might not seem like a big deal, but Rachel had to wander all her life because she could not make up for that 2%.
In any case, Min-joon wanted to reach cooking level 9 a little earlier. If he reached cooking level 9 later than he expected, he might have to live for the rest of his life with the feeling that he was lagging behind Kaya even when he reached perfect cooking level 10. Of course, the same was true for Kaya. At least she would not have the ability to visually check their cooking level like him.
He hoped that every time he looked at Kaya’s face, he could not feel a sense of inferiority. Of course, if he was truly confident, he would not have to feel such a sense of inferiority even when he lagged behind her, but unfortunately, he was not that strong.
He was weak. However, weak people like him have their own way of fighting. For that reason, in a situation where he had to review more than a thousand recipes, all he could do was to review them meticulously. When he examined them, there were not many mediocre recipes. Even if they were not up to the standard, their originality was fresh in most cases.
He remembered each of the recipes thoroughly. He was confident in memorizing something for a long time. What he had to do now was to find the answers to the questions he had about the recipes one by one.
“You know that you are not spending time with me these days as much as you used to, right?”
Come to think of it, she had a reason to complain about Min-joon.
They were on a plane. He looked at the recipes he printed out then looked at her.
She turned her eyes at him with a dissatisfied expression then said, “It’s fine for you to focus on cooking, but can’t you lead a more normal life? We’re a soon-to-be-married couple. As you know, our wedding is around the corner.”
“Got it. Do you have anything you want to say?”
“Well, shall we talk about the Grand Chef?”
“Why do you want to talk about it even here? We’re going to be with them soon when we arrive.”
“Well, I need some time to sort out my thinking.”
Min-joon wondered if he really had to organize his thoughts, but she sighed, looking at him.
“I’m a bit uneasy.”
“You are a judge. Why are you worried?”
“Well, I’m afraid that I won’t be able to judge them properly. I’m also a human being. When I see Gwen and Peter, I feel like cheering for one of them. So I’m a little worried that I might be a bit biased because even if I’m not conscious of it, I’m surely going to be conscious of it before I know it.”
“You might be biased in your subconscious, but your taste sensations won’t,” he said with a mischievous smile. He was serious. The more he spent with her, the more clearly he felt the value of her taste sensations.
