Chapter 82 - Chapter 82: Unfamiliar (3)

Allan shook his head. That was one of the ingredients that Allan was against using for the mission. To be more exact, he disapproved of it. It had to do with the show’s image as well, but he didn’t want to eat it either. After all, he was a man before he was a chef. There were so many delicious foods in the world, so he didn’t want to put that in his mouth.

But Martin didn’t care. As soon as he heard of cow penis, he wanted to use it for the show right away. He thought it was an ingredient that could revive the mission. Allan agreed with that. But…

‘I’ll have to eat that.’

Just the thought of it made him sad. He had eaten cow penis before, but he never wanted to try it again. Could Kaya possibly cook it in a way that would change his mind?

Allan stopped thinking and looked at Allan’s cooking station. He was making batter out of potato, flour, egg, and salt. Allan was in awe of the snake-like batter. It looked like that of an experienced gnocchi chef. It was soft like pudding on the outside but elastic enough to stretch out. The batter was perfect in terms of basics.

‘He’s definitely growing.’

He couldn’t say it was remarkable growth, but Cho Min Joon was getting better one step at a time. Cho Min Joon wasn’t able to make this kind of batter before. Perhaps, he was influenced by the chefs around him. Compared to before, he really had the basics down pat.

Allan looked at Emily with confidence. Emily looked back with a confused face. Allan spoke in a softer voice than usual, “The batter looks good. I look forward to the gnocchi.”

“Thank you.”

He didn’t mind such a short answer since he was proceeding ahead at a consistent pace. Allan smirked and headed to another cooking station. Emily whispered in his hear before following Allan.

“I look forward to it even more than Allan. Good luck.”

Once the judges left, Cho Min Joon sighed inside his head. Every time they came near, he felt distracted. But he had to overcome it. After all, he was never going to have the luxury of only focusing on food inside the kitchen. Perfect chefs were able to cook while dealing with customers, orders, complaints and much more, but not many had strong mindsets that could endure all of that.

Cho Min Joon finished his batter. After stretching it out like a snake, he just had to slice it up into pieces. With the remainder, he had to cook it slightly in the water, put it in a container with cheese cream sauce, put mozzarella cheese on top, and then put it in the oven.

After putting the batter In the fridge, he checked the cheese cream sauce to find that the gorgonzola cheese was melted. Cho Min Joon put it into a container that would go into the oven. He only had 25 minutes left. He had no time to waste. He matured the batter further before he could put it in the oven for 17 minutes, so he wasn’t in a rush either.

When he looked around, he saw that Kaya was already boiling her stew. Chloe was boiling down her shark fin in soy sauce, and Anderson was making a puree after frying his sea anemone. As for Ivanna, she put garlic, onions, pepper, and mushrooms inside the tripe. She roasted it in the oven and then made blueberry puree as a sauce.

Joanne was planning to grill her steak and add balsamic dressing, and Sasha was at her wit’s end even after putting her octopus in the oven, and Hugo was cooking his meat in a sauce.

‘… Everyone was grilling.’

If a person didn’t know how to cook something, grilling was the safest way to go, and if that person put a sauce or a vegetable puree with it, the result usually wasn’t half bad, but of course, one never knew what kind of score he or she would get.

Time passed. After taking out the batter from the fridge, he immediately put it in the boiling water. He normally would have cooked it for 3 to 5 minutes, but since he was going to put it in the oven, that wasn’t necessary.

From this point forward, each minute was important. After putting the gnocchi inside the container with the cheese cream sauce and after putting mozzarella cheese on top, he put it into the preheated oven.

All he had to do after that was wait. Cho Min Joon looked at his watch. He felt like every 5 minutes passed slower and slower, and once 17 minute passed, Cho Min Joon took out his dish. He then flashed a smile. Most experienced chefs would only be able to see that the mozzarella cheese was nice and yellow and nothing else, but Cho Min Joon was different.

[Potato gnocchi gratin]

Freshness: 93%

Origin: (Too many ingredients for an accurate calculation)

Quality: High

Cooking Score: 7/10

It was already 7 points without a truffle added, but he tried not to get his hopes up. This was already his expected score. Truffle wasn’t going to increase it to 8 points. It was a simple recipe not needing particular technique, and unless the truffle created a sensational combination with the potato gnocchi gratin, which it wasn’t going to, the score wasn’t going to change.

Nothing would change when the white truffle was placed on top, but that was okay. As long as the cooking score didn’t go down, that was all that mattered.

He couldn’t taste the dish himself. Cho Min Joon sniffed it. The smell of the truffle and cheese… was unique, but it wasn’t all that charming.

‘Why do people like this?’

He thought the same way when he tried the Fois Gras that the judges left. He thought that it would taste as good as its high cost… because it was expensive, but Fois Gras was nothing but fatty liver. It had depth, but it was so deep that it made people feel burdened.

‘I guess you can’t enjoy all foods even if your gourmet tasting level is 8.’

But the fact that he couldn’t enjoy the flavors wasn’t Cho Min Joon’s palate’s fault, but the fact that the ingredient was unfamiliar. Not many people could enjoy a food that they had never tried before. Even for Pyeongyang cold noodles, one had to taste it several times before they appreciated it.

He had a sensitive palate compared to average. He tasted food better than most, but he didn’t stand a chance against Kaya.

“Take your hands off!”

Joseph shouted in a firm voice, but Chloe looked surprised. She mustn’t have looked at the time because she still hadn’t taken out her shark fin from the pot. Chloe looked at the judges in sadness but they shook their heads.

“Chloe. Please bring your dish as is. Rules are rules.”

“… Yes, Sir.”

The judges looked at Chloe in sympathy. Emily spoke in a calm voice, “That was a hard mission. I’m not a chef myself, but I’m sure you all did your best. Good work. Let’s begin the evaluations. Kaya, please come on up.”

Allan was the type to eat the worst foods first. He looked at Kaya’s stew with a sad look on his face. He could see half of the meat floating in a soup with vegetables. It looked good at first… But he sighed. Kaya spoke with a provocative face, “It’s Penis Stew.”

“… I know the name. No need to repeat it.”

Allan grumbled in a grumpy voice and hesitated in front of the dish. Emily ended up tasting the stew first. She nodded.

“The broth tastes good. I can’t taste any fishiness. Did you add cilantro?”

“Yes. I added lots of cilantro and garlic. Lime juice, too.”

“Hm… It tastes more like a South-east Asian stew than a Western one, and the meat…”

Emily chewed on the meat along with some vegetables. Allan and Joseph stared at her in disgust, but she didn’t mind them. She smiled calmly.

“The texture is great… And it goes great with the vegetables. I want to ask Min Joon for the score…”

Emily glanced at Cho Min Joon. He avoided her gaze. He didn’t want to taste that just to help out the judges. Emily smacked her lips in disappointment.

“It doesn’t look like he wants to eat it.”

“That’s not good. Chefs shouldn’t be picky.”

Kaya spoke in a cold voice. Cho Min Joon felt mad for a second, but he didn’t refute. He knew he would have to eat it as soon as he did, and his senses were right. Allan said,

“Kaya is right. Min Joon, come here.”

“… Sorry? Why?”

“Like she said, chefs shouldn’t be picky, and with a picky palate like yours, you need to get used to unique ingredients. You can probably make flavors come alive while others can’t. This is an opportunity for you.”

He talked for a long time. He made it sound like it was for his good, but his eyes said, ‘Let’s die together.’ Cho Min Joon fumbled with his collar. Joseph laughed and added, “Allan is right. With a palate like yours, you need to grab on to this opportunity. Try it, Min Joon. You mustn’t avoid food ingredients.”

“… What about the other contestants?”

As soon as Cho Min Joon glanced at the other 6 contestants, they glared back. Joseph smiled and shook his head.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have enough for that. I doubt the other contestants are sad that you’ll be representing them…”

“Min Joon has the best palate out of us all. He should be our representative.”

Anderson spoke in a calm voice. He then glanced at Cho Min Joon with a grin.

‘… I’ve been screwed over.’

He had no other choice. He hoped Martin would stop them, but he was smiling and welcoming the situation.

Since Chloe was smiling too, he had no one to turn to. Cho Min Joon walked as if he was walking to his death. He glared at Allan. His eyes were so fierce that he didn’t look like himself.

“Why haven’t you tried it yet?”

“… I was just about to. Here.”

Allan handed Cho Min Joon a spoon. Cho Min Joon accepted it. He hesitated and then put a piece of the meat in his mouth with the vegetables. He didn’t move his jaws at first, but when the judges stared, he proceeded to chew. He wasn’t going to just swallow it since Kaya cooked it herself. Considering the care she put it into it, he couldn’t let it go to waste.

‘… This is so bad.’

Like Emily said, the meat was chewy, but that made him feel insulted. The flavor of the cow didn’t taste all that good. The sauce saved it. If it was cooked with just salt, he wouldn’t have been able to handle it. Fois Gras was hard to eat for a different reason. He felt like every time he took a bite, he heard a cow moo.

When Cho Min Joon ate it, Allan and Joseph couldn’t just idle by any longer. They put the stew in their mouths as well. They were hesitant before they ate, but they were pros once it entered their mouths. Allan spoke in a calm voice, “You cooked the penis before you added the sauce.”

“Yes.”

“It wouldn’t be this savory if you hadn’t. It would have tasted very smelly. How did you know how to do this? You’ve never made this before.”

“I’ve made tripe a few times. I already knew that the flavor of tripe depends on when the meat was cooked, and I knew that penis was an intestine as well.”

Kaya looked confident as if it was no big deal. She was simply smiling on the outside, but Cho Min Joon could read her. They spent a lot of time together, so it was easy to know what she was thinking.

Joseph looked at Cho Min Joon.

“How many points?”

“… 7 points.”

The judges were now also interested in Cho Min Joon’s scores. Emily nodded.

“Hm, that’s what I figured. That’s impressive, Kaya. You got 7 points on your Penis Stew.”

The evaluation ended with Kaya’s smile, but that didn’t mean Cho Min Joon could return.

“Since you’re here already, let’s try yours this time. Bring it out.”

In response, Cho Min Joon brought over his gnocchi gratin. Emily opened her mouth as soon as she tasted it.

“How many points do you think this is?”

Cho Min Joon almost answered when Emily smiled.

“You haven’t tasted it yet, have you? Try it. You should know how your own dish turned out.”

He knew even without tasting it, but he couldn’t say that. Cho Min Joon tasted his own potato gnocchi gratin. The flavor of the white truffle and mushroom spread inside his mouth, and the white truffle didn’t disappear. No matter how much he chewed on the gnocchi and cheese, the flavor remained, but it wasn’t a bad combination. The white truffle kept the dish from being too greasy from the cheese. Cho Min Joon nodded.

“It’s good.”

“… It’s strange hearing you say it.”

“I can’t lie. It’s 7 points. Good enough to say it’s delicious.”

“Great. I must admit, this dish was good enough for your bluff. Min Joon, you’ve passed.”

In response to Allan, Cho Min Joon clenched his fist. He had completed countless missions already, but he still felt relieved when he passed another.

“Chloe, it’s your turn. Please come up!”

Chloe came up with her pot with a nervous face. Joseph stared at her pot and then said, “… Food that hasn’t been plated can’t be served. You know this calls for a deduction, right?”

“Yes, I do…”

“Okay. I hope your shark fin is good enough to make up for it.”

In response, Chloe simply fumbled with her hands. The burn from that morning still throbbed, and being nervous made it even more painful. Allan glanced at her hands before putting the shark fin in his mouth. He chewed it a few times and then swallowed. He didn’t say anything before turning around. Chloe continued to touch her hands. Joseph and Emily were the same. They didn’t say anything as if they were working together…

Chloe looked behind her. The contestants were shooting their eyes of encouragement. Chloe’s eyes met Cho Min Joon’s. At that moment, Cho Min Joon’s eyes turned soft. This made her feel calm. Chloe’s heart pounded.

‘Okay, Chloe. You came this far. Hang in there. You did a good job. Also…’

She couldn’t finish her thoughts.

It was time for her evaluation.