Chapter 402 - New in Various Ways (3)

“This is much better than I thought…”

Kaya murmured with her eyes closed slightly as if she was truly touched by the dish.

Min-joon nodded without saying anything. The cooking score was 8 points, the same as he expected. However, its taste was quite good compared to the typical 8-point dishes.

Of course, he admitted that this snail dish was not as good as the foie gras and scallops that they made in this competition so far, but it was still excellent, considering that they cooked Escargot for the first time.

Min-joon and Kaya originally intended to bring out the strange taste of Escargot when it blended with the black tea sauce, but the Escargot they cooked did not have the kind of subtle and exotic taste they thought of initially. It was an unexpected turn, but it was a good try anyway. The taste of black tea, which was fresher than expected, removed the Escargot’s odor and brought out only its delicious taste.

“I wasn’t going to highlight the taste of the Escargot, but I’ve brought out its taste incredibly clear.”

“It’s the opposite of what we have intended, but the result is good anyway.”

Kaya shrugged with a smile. She thought it was good enough for them to survive this quarterfinal. And those who knew even a little about the pair unwittingly groaned after watching the pair showing confidence in their snail meatballs, for their cooking level was higher than most chefs in this contest.

“Man, it looks like the pair seem to be very satisfied with their dish.”

One of the judges, Asher, muttered in a trembling voice. The other judges began to carefully examine Min-joon and Kaya’s expressions. Checking their confidence on their faces, they shook their heads as if they could not believe it.

“Really? Have they figured out the taste of snails during such a short time and come up with a recipe that matches with that perfectly?”

“Well, they can make the sauce because it’s separate from the snails, but it would have never been easy for them to find and match the snails with that sauce.”

“I think that’s why they must have decided to make snail meatballs. The important thing is whether or not you can properly feel the taste of snails in the meatball. It’s just meaningless to say it’s delicious or not. Bringing out the taste of snails properly is the core of their mission.”

They nodded at Bastien’s explanation, but at the same time, they got curious. They were convinced that Min-joon and Kaya’s snail dish would taste delicious, although they knew that unless they tried it themselves, they would not be able to check its taste accurately, but they didn’t know why they tended to trust the pair so much.

Given that these judges, notorious for being strict in their judgment, trusted the pair, it was safe to say that the spectators watching the pair would blindly trust them because the pair had a strong charisma that would draw their attention immediately.

Right now, the judges could not afford to idle away their time, chatting about the Min-joon and Kaya pair. The moment the pair finished plating, the remaining time was now less than one minute. Shortly afterward, Norris stood up and stepped forward to the chefs.

“Please stop cooking, everyone. Time is up. Oh, since you were all done, I didn’t have to tell you this.”

None of the teams were in a hurry to wrap up their cooking now. It was not surprising that it didn’t take so long for the Min-joon and Kaya pair to cook the snails. Besides, the pair even sampled the cooked snails before getting down to making the dish in earnest.

‘Well, this contest is going to be talked about a lot because of the pair.’

Probably, the Min-joon and Kaya pair was the first in the history of this contest who tasted a sample food to grasp the ingredients before starting to cook.

Norris opened her mouth after clearing his throat.

“The two pairs with the lowest grades in this competition today had better look forward to the next opportunity. We have no doubt that each dish you have made today reflects your life and effort as a chef. Even if you don’t get good results, I hope you won’t be discouraged.”

Then, Sophia announced, “Now, we’ll start evaluating your dish. Dobby and Eva, please bring us your dish.”

The Dobby pair pulled the dolly with their dish proudly and stood before the judges.

Their dish kept the spirit of classic French cuisine. But that was why it didn’t look fresh.

Bastien asked, “Dobby, could you explain your dish?”

“Before I explain, I’ll ask you a question. How does this escargot dish look in your eyes now?”

“Honestly, it doesn’t look attractive. It just looks like a very typical escargot. The green sauce looks like a diluted basil pesto, and you put the foam on top, but I can’t guess what it is.”

“Well, it looks like you tried to make a difference in the dish by putting foam on it.”

After hearing their critical remarks, Dobby nodded then said with a smile, “That’s exactly what we have aimed for. You might think it looks too familiar to you, but you might be surprised to find it tastes completely different from what you used to know. I would like to explain more after you try it first.”

When he said that, Norris was about to raise a fork to taste it when his eyes unwittingly met Min-joon’s. Min-joon was intensely looking at Dobby’s dish with a really curious expression as if he was analyzing how this plain-looking escargot could taste differently from the typical one.

However, a little later, Norris found himself looking down at the dish just like Min-joon. Not only Norris but also other judges looked at the dish curiously.

Norris soon opened his mouth with admiration.

“I thought you made the sauce with basil or herbs, but you didn’t. Oh, you used Chartreuse for this!”

“Wow, I’m just amazed by your sharp sense of taste! That’s right.”

Dobby nodded, admiring Norris’s feedback. Chartreuse was a liquor made with brandy and herbs. Its characteristic and bitter taste completely made the taste of escargot rich. Onions the size of the escargot also enhanced its taste more because of the mix of the sweetness and light taste of onions with the escargot.

“I can barely feel any sweetness or salty taste here, but I still think it’s delicious. It’s an amazing dish. It has the most perfect balance and taste that Chef Dobby has ever shown in this contest. I’ve never thought I could get a glimpse into your veteran cooking skills like this.”

The judges admired the dish and Dobby’s skills one by one. Min-joon looked at them calmly as if it’s natural. Norris gave him 10, the perfect score.

“That score shows he has not done his best until the quarterfinals…” Min-joon thought to himself.

In fact, it seemed funny for Min-joon to have a sense of competition with Dobby. Min-joon was more than ten years younger than Dobby, to say the least. Besides, it was natural that Min-joon was not as good as him in terms of cooking skills. But he was confident that he could be as competent as Dobby by the time he reached Dobby’s age. It was this kind of confidence that made him think of Dobby as his rival in this contest.

All the participants in the quarterfinals were stunned at Dobby’s cooking score, which was far higher than they expected. In fact, it was a subject of their intense interest on how high of a score the Dobby pair would get from the other judges.

“Therefore, Chef Dobby’s average score is 9.5.”

“That’s crazy!” Anderson said as if he could not believe it.

It was the second time that the Dobby pair got 9.5 points after the Min-joon pair in this contest.

Min-joon knew well that Dobby wasn’t an ordinary chef, but he never expected Dobby would stand out so quickly like this. All the other participants could not help but be stunned at Dobby’s surprise comeback as the frontrunner. They thought that their strongest rival from Rose Island was Min-joon and Kaya, but they now realized they were wrong.

It was the Han pair that was up for the judges’ evaluation after the Dobby pair.

At that moment, Min-joon groaned after checking their cooking score on the system, which was only 7. But it wasn’t the cooking score that mattered now.

“We made pesto with black tea and added it to the escargot. We focused on the beauty of this dish, so you can enjoy it with just one bite. The moment you put this spoon in your mouth, the delicate taste of this escargot and the taste of black tea pesto will stimulate your appetite very much.”

The Han chefs were using black tea as an ingredient for the escargot just like Min-joon. That meant the judges inevitably compared their dish with that of the Min-joon pair.

‘I wonder if their dish can taste better than mine…’

Their cooking score was 7 points, lower than the Min-joon pair’s. But it didn’t matter if their score was higher because Min-joon believed in his own dish. The escargot meatballs he and Kaya made had an aggressive and classy taste that could not be compared with any other 8-point dishes.

After taking a deep breath, Min-joon quietly watched the judges taking a bite of the Han pair’s dish. But a little later, the judges let out a sigh and said, “It was nice you used black tea, but it is too sour. So, it doesn’t match with the gentle taste of black tea well.”

“Oh, really?”

“You seem to have tried something new here, but unfortunately, you haven’t found the treasure. I’ll give you 6 points.”

This was an unexpected score. Min-joon stared at them blankly. He initially thought their dish would still taste good despite a cooking score of 7, but it was obvious that making it delicious alone didn’t satisfy the judges.

Come to think of it, it was natural they got such a low mark, given that some of the best chefs were now competing in the quarterfinals, so the judges set the bar high.

‘Man, I feel suddenly nervous.’

After confirming that the Han pair who used the same black tea got such bad outcomes, Min-joon was a bit worried that the judges would give his snail dish a harsh review.

Ironically, it was Kaya and Min-joon who greeted the judges who just finished reviewing the Han pair’s dish. He really didn’t expect the judges who were disappointed with the escargot cuisine seasoned with black tea would evaluate his dish with the same black tea this time.

Min-joon clenched his fist behind his back.

Norris opened his mouth.

“When I saw you before, you guys were making black tea sauce, right?”

“Right. I cooked by putting lemon zest and sugar in the black tea.”

“You didn’t cook escargot raw, but steamed it once, then made it a meatball. I’m afraid you might have removed the unique taste of the escargot because you have cooked it in a meatball. Hope my worries are groundless.”

“Yeah, that’s a groundless concern. The snail meatballs here have brought out the aroma of the escargot better than any similar dishes.”

When he said that, the judges looked at the pair’s snail meatballs again. In fact, meatball was actually one of the dishes that depended largely on the chef’s ability because it easily crumbled or it smelled fishy or foul unless treated perfectly.

“Got it. Let me try it then.”

The judges put their forks on the snail meatballs. This was a dish that the pair made after sampling it first, the first in the history of this contest. They doubted whether the dish could taste good at all, but at the same time, they were full of expectations for it.