Chapter 100 - Chapter 100: Mirror Recipe (2)

“… Mirror?”

Chloe mumbled in a confused voice. It was understandable. What they got was a mirror. Joseph smiled and said, “Yes, it’s a mirror. Look into it. What do you see?”

“Me.”

“That’s the theme of this mission. You. You can do a signature dish of yours or make a dish that defines your life. You can also make your favorite dish or what you’re the most confident in, but you must make it so that we’ll be touched when we taste it.”

“That’s a sensitive theme.”

“In life, things are always more vague than direct. The same goes for cooking. We’ll give you 20 minutes to come up with a recipe and 30 minutes to cook. You may begin.”

In response to Joseph’s explanation, Chloe stared into the mirror. She hadn’t even put on a cream that day. What was she supposed to cook…? Maybe she got too used to cooking what they told her to cook. This felt all too unfamiliar.

While Chloe wondered what to make, Cho Min Joon was faced with a conflict. The only time when he made something of his nature was the Korean meal he made for the vegetarian mission. A part of why he made that was because he wanted to express his roots as a Korean, but he was also stimulated by Chloe. Chloe’s 6-point potato soup. He thought that was weird, but everyone else enjoyed that dish.

That was when he realized he didn’t have to be so hung up about points. A homemade meal could taste just as good, but the result was not so good. The judges liked it, but they said it wasn’t appropriate for the mission.

‘Is it different now?’

But his head told him now. If it didn’t work then, it wouldn’t work now. Of course, he could make it so that his Korean dish scores higher, but at that point, the dish would no longer be homemade and be too fancy.

Cho Min Joon got rid of his temptations and thought of a recipe. He didn’t even consider any that had low scores. His life depended on this mission. He couldn’t show off a bad dish. Warmth and comfort. Those things didn’t get acknowledged in this competition. This wasn’t a Grand House Wife, but Grand Chef, so he had to make a dish that would sell.

‘But what dish describes me? Korean? Italian?’

Cho Min Joon was unable to answer his own question. He had eaten Korean food the most in his life, but when it came to cooking, he made more Western dishes such as Italian. After that was Japanese. He actually never really cooked Korean food. It was usually as simple as bulgogi, spicy pork, or marinated fish. When it came to actual Korean food, it was too much work for a single man to cook.

“Did you decide?”

“Not yet.”

In response to Chloe’s question, Cho Min Joon shrugged. He noticed Anderson and Kaya looking over from the side. Seeing them looking over with frowns strangely comforted him.

‘Which dish did they like the most?’

There were only 4 dishes that he had made that scored 8 points. Spicy stir-fried chicken, pork ribs, risotto, and curd and jelly. They were all different. They all had different nationalities. The spicy stir-fried chicken and pork ribs were Korean and Japanese while Risotto was more Italian and the curd was European, but it was also foolish to try to make a decision based on those four dishes.

“My favorite dish, what I’m the most confident in…”

Cho Min Joon mumbled to himself. There wasn’t a dish that he loved the most in the world. If he had to choose, he probably would have picked the 10-point calf cheek at Rose Island, but it wasn’t because he liked calf cheek. That dish was just perfection.

‘If I opened a restaurant, what restaurant would I open?’

He had asked this question to the other three before. At that time, he said he wanted to open a fancy restaurant, but that was a very vague answer. He couldn’t start a fancy restaurant without dishes with identity.

When it came to identity, Cho Min Joon was a variety. He had made all sorts of different dishes for way too long, but when it came to a dish that he would be the best at making… He had to consider all the ingredient combinations separately. After all, he couldn’t show off his full potential in establishing a balance with the score system alone.

‘… Fruits. A dish with fruit sauce.’

He suddenly thought of something, and he was obsessed. What he was the most fascinated by with Western dishes was the way they added a fruit sauce or puree with a main, and his most favorite sauce besides pesto was fruit. In Korea, they often used pear, but it was never the main ingredient. A sauce that brought the fruit back to life was a new experience.

But he didn’t know what to make as a main, but he decided on duck. Duck seemed easy, but it was difficult to make it delicious. If cooked for a little too long, it became too chewy, and it often smelled gross, but if he was a real chef, he could do it.

As soon as he made his decision, he began to think quickly. He thought of different fruit sauces and compared different cooking methods, which led him to a conclusion.

‘8 points.’

If Chloe happened to do her best and get a 9, he would lose, but he had no choice. That just meant he wasn’t as good as Chloe. He didn’t expect to make something worth 9 points. He had to solely focus on making his dish.

“You may begin.”

Allan spoke in a calm voice, and Chloe and Cho Min Joon headed to the pantry. As he got some basil, orange, orange marmalade, duck breast, corn, chicken breast, and paprika, Chloe asked, “Are you confident?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll just have to try my best.”

“… Yeah. Good luck.”

The conversation made them uncomfortable. Cho Min Joon hurried back to his cooking station and heated up his pan. He had to boil oranges, orange marmalade, and chicken broth at the exact proportions.

Some could think this was way too simple to be an 8-point dish. The ingredients were too simple, but Cho Min Joon realized something recently. That even while using the same ingredients, the proportion made a huge difference in flavor. Just a teaspoon was capable of ruining an entire dish. When Cho Min Joon made a dish worth 8 points, he paid attention to all the details. He had to pay attention to reach the result.

Cho Min Joon carefully stirred the sauce. When the sauce seemed to be too watery, he added a bit of corn powder. The corn would make it more savory while also making the sauce a little thicker.

Cho Min Joon kept the sauce hot as he cooked the duck with some paprika. The sauce from the paprika along with the duck’s oil started to boil, and the skin began to turn yellow. He didn’t add another oil because that would just cover up the orange scent.

He closed his mouth and flared his nostrils. His eyes twinkled while his eyes focused on the sound of the oil crackling. Cho Min Joon flipped the duck breast. The perfect amount of oil sparkled on top of the well-seared skin.

He put the breast on a plate. He drew an ‘S’ with the orange sauce and sprinkled some paprika around the breast, making for a successful result, but…

“Oh…”

Cho Min Joon groaned.

[Grilled duck breast with orange sauce and paprika]

Freshness: 89%

Origin: (Too many ingredients for an accurate calculation.)

Quality: High

Cooking Score: 7/10

He knew not everything could go his way, but seeing the result made his heart sink. What was the problem? Did he boil the sauce for too long? Or was he not skilled with grilling duck? He didn’t know. If he knew, he wouldn’t have made the mistake in the first place.

There was only 30 seconds remaining, but he couldn’t do anything. He heard a disgusting voice in his heart. It was so despicable that he couldn’t believe it.

‘If Chloe messed up, too…’

He wanted to throw up. He always talked about the virtue of being a chef. He always called her a friend that he cared for, but that was all he could think. ‘If I’m not good enough, I should go home. I don’t want to survive if it’s not fair.’

But as soon as he looked over at Chloe’s plate, he couldn’t help but feel relieved. She also had a 7. Pepper glass noodles. He could understand it without even looking at the system window. After all, it was a very homey pepper glass noodles. Compared to what they sold at Chinese restaurants, it used fewer ingredients, and the sauce wasn’t that special either. It was average. That was all the pepper glass noodles had to offer. It wasn’t a 7 because it was lacking but because it wasn’t special.

‘… But why? Why did Chloe pick that dish?’

He wanted to ask, but he couldn’t. The judges were calling them over. They placed their dishes on the table and Sergei spoke first,

“Neither look that fancy.”

“Whether it looks fancy or not doesn’t determine if it tastes good or bad.”

“But appearance does sway how a person feels before eating. No matter how good it is, if it looks like shit, it won’t taste good. I’m not saying it looks like shit, but still…”

“Let’s try it first.”

The judges began tasting. The first one they tried was Cho Min Joon’s because the pepper glass noodles could overshadow his dish.

The sweetness of oranges and the savoriness of the corn that lingered underneath, and in between was duck breast that tasted good but that was it. Rachel spoke without hesitation, “The sauce is decent, but the duck could be better. It seems like you tried to put on as much oil as possible, but traditional duck breast isn’t this oily. It is less dry though. You did a good job making the peel crispy… But the oil from the peel doesn’t make up for the rest of the meat.”

“I agree, but most average people would say this is good, but it’s lacking when a food critic tastes it. Min Joon, have you made duck breast before?”

“… I thought I’ve made it many times before, but if I think about it now, it’s not my most familiar ingredient.”

“That shows on this plate. It tastes as though you followed a famous chef’s recipe but didn’t quite get it right.”

In other words, they were saying the idea was good but that the execution was poor. Cho Min Joon kept his mouth shut and squeezed his eyes shut as well. Joseph saw this as he asked, “We gave you a mirror as the theme. We wanted you to display yourselves. Why did you make this dish?”

“Because it’s the most fun dish to make.”

“In what way?”

“Making sauce with fruit and grilling it on a fry pan. These are things that I attempted when I first started cooking, and I found it the most fascinating and enjoyable. Maybe it’s because of good memories… But I thought that if I had to display myself, it was best to display my first intention. That’s what this is.”

“That’s good, but you should have gotten rid of the rookie aspect of your first intention…”

Joseph sighed. As soon as he finished, the judges were tasting Chloe’s pepper glass noodles. It was delicious, and the Chinese flower bun was warm and soft, and the oil of the meat and the savory flavor of it all was delicious. But… something was lacking.

The judges looked troubled, and Cho Min Joon understood their thoughts. There was no flaw in the dish. The recipe stuck to the basics, but it was too simple. Chinese dishes were all about using the knife and not much else, but when it came to pepper glass noodles, she just had to slice the ingredients and throw them into a pan with a sauce.

“Why did you pick pepper glass noodles? I clearly told you that you have to make something that’ll touch us. To be honest, anyone can make pepper glass noodles. We’re all familiar with it. Did you think you could touch us with this?”

Chloe hesitated for a moment. She looked in the eyes of all the judges and carefully opened her mouth.

“To be honest, I’m tired.”

“… Are you talking about the competition?”

“Uh… sort of, but not really. We always have to make something new. Something unique, something fancy. I like to cook, but I like to cook the same old things. I like the feeling of getting better the more I make the same dish. I enjoy making easy things like egg rolls. Homecooked meals? I’m not so sure if that should be in a separate category. I also don’t know if you have to use big plates and put a small amount of plate on it to look like a classy dish.”

Chloe vented everything without pausing as if she had been holding it in for a long time. She bit down on her lip while looking miserable.

“Of course, I like this, too. I learned new things, and it’s not bad to challenge myself to be more creative, but the theme was a mirror, so this is the kind of person I am. Rather than something fancy, I prefer more average and simple things. That’s what that dish represents.”

Cho Min Joon listened carefully. He remembered the potato soup Chloe made before, as well as the other dishes she made. Chloe continued. She sounded like she was about to cry, but her face looked confident.

“I’m not ashamed of that dish. I don’t’ think it’s pathetic either because there’s no need.”

“But that’s not the case with customers.”

Allan answered with a calm voice. He understood how Chloe felt, but the reality was different from ideals.

“If you open an average restaurant, that’s fine. But chefs are always greedy to use good ingredients and create the perfect dish. There will be a day when you have that greed as well, and when that happens, you won’t be satisfied with that dish anymore. Don’t deny it. Countless chefs that I’ve watched over were like that. At first, they focused on making average dishes at a cheaper price. They said there was value in making food for average people who just wanted to be full.”

Allan paused for a moment. He took a breath and continued with a heavy voice,

“Yes, there’s value in that, but it’s treated differently. The treatment of your dishes as well as you as people. Go to a nice restaurant. The dish is never left with any food remaining, but in normal restaurants, that’s not the case because it’s a cheap meal, so they don’t feel wasteful for leaving some food, but that also means they have less respect for who made it. If you can keep your belief even in that setting… Then that’s not bad, but not many people will think of you as the very best. Fancy restaurants are fancy for a reason, and Grand Chef is a place where we pick the very best. We’re here to create a chef that everyone will look up to.”

Chloe couldn’t answer him. She just looked at her own pepper glass noodles with a tired look in her eyes. Rachel spoke in a calm voice, “Your heart is warm and friendly, but your dish didn’t have any ambition while Min Joon’s did. Chloe, Allan isn’t saying your dish is worthless. He’s just saying it’s a lonely and difficult path.”

“… I understand.”

“This dish isn’t lacking in any way. It’s delicious, and it was cleverly made, but it didn’t suit the theme of this competition, that’s all.”

Chloe closed her mouth. The judges discussed amongst themselves and nodded. Emily opened her mouth.

“We’ve decided.”