Chapter 404 - How to Hold the S

It was a quiet but boring evening. It rained in Los Angeles after a long time, and lots of people were busy walking without umbrellas on the streets. At Rose Island’s main restaurant now on top of a tall building downtown, Maya put her face on the glass window and looked outside. Standing where she was, she got quite used to looking down at downtown Los Angeles, but on a rainy day like this, what she saw was rather unfamiliar to her.

“It’s pretty, today’s scenery.”

“Don’t go out alone because it’s pretty. Recently, I heard a body was found in a trash can in a park.”

“Hey, why are you responding like that?” Maya asked, glancing at Garrick with a resentful expression. He shrugged, smiling mischievously. He enjoyed making fun of her.

“I’m bored. I really have nothing to do these days.”

Rose Island’s kitchen with no customers or demi chefs. So, Maya and other cooks’ lives were simple these days. They came to work early in the morning, cleaned up the restaurant that wasn’t particularly dirty, took out kitchen utensils, and devised new recipes while mastering the recipes Rachel gave them.

The first day or two for them wasn’t bad. They even wished they could continue to carry on their current daily lives because they could freely devote themselves to cooking in a new environment without the demi chefs’ interference. But it didn’t take long for them to change their mind. They quickly forgot their passion for cooking.

“When the demi-chefs were with us here, they sometimes scolded us, and sometimes taught us. They were so nice.”

“Don’t you remember you complained because they were nagging you so much?”

“I didn’t hate them. You never know how friendly Chef Min-joon is,” Maya said proudly. But Antonio, who looked at Maya with a bitter expression, immediately sighed and muttered, “I hope they can come soon anyway.”

“Well, hoping they can come quickly means you want them to drop as soon as possible, right?”

“Nope, I don’t want them to fail in the contest.”

“Hey, what are you talking about? What you said is contradictory!”

Maya chuckled as if she was confused at his remarks, but that was what the cooks here were thinking about. At that moment, Garrick mentioned something sensitive, “Who do you think will be eliminated from the contest first?”

“Hey, rule out my chef!”

Somebody shouted confidently at that moment. It was Maya who said so as if she took it for granted. When other cooks looked at her with a displeased glance, she asked sarcastically, “Why are you looking at me like that? You already know that Chef Min-joon has little chance of being eliminated from the finals, right? Of course, if he is doing something weird because of his weird personality, that’s a different story. If he just does his best, I think he can win the contest without any difficulty.”

Honestly, it was difficult for them to refute her. Apart from what each of them thought about it, it was obvious that Min-joon made the most achievements, compared to other demi-chefs. He had the most recipes cleared by Rachel, and at the same time, he developed Cho Reggiano, the all-time best dessert. Besides, these cooks who always tasted his dishes right next to him knew better than most people that Min-joon had a unique trait that other demi-chefs did not have. But it was unfair for them to take this as it was.

Garrick said as if muttering to himself, “But you never know what will happen to Chef Kaya.”

“Are you serious? You have seen them cooking together several times, right?”

“Yeah, I know, but…”

When she asked, he had nothing more to say. He admitted that Kaya and Min-joon were the best of the pairs he had ever seen. Now, they began to gossip about other pairs from Rose Island. Fred and Garrick were cooks for Havier and Janet, respectively, while Antonio was a cook for Anderson. It was Fred who opened his mouth first.

“Chef Havier may not draw their attention, but I know how hard he has been working. And he really makes somebody cooking with him comfortable and relaxed. I don’t think he will fail easily there.”

“Chef Janet is also great. I know she has a hot temper, but she is really good at cooking. I really can’t imagine her being eliminated first among our Rose Island teams.”

“It’s the same with Chef Anderson. Honestly, when it comes to making lots of effort and cooking well, every demi chef from Rose Island is the best. Especially, Chef Anderson received a gift education when he was young. He memorized one more spice name when others were reading Shakespeare. In fact, Chef Anderson is as well versed in cooking knowledge as those chefs in their 40s.”

There was a strange atmosphere among them. Even if they exchanged opinions on that matter, they could not even guess who was going to be eliminated first. At that moment, Rachel and Raphael moved toward them. With a cheerful smile, Maya waved at Rachel.

“Chef Rachel Can I ask you something for a moment”

“What’s going on here?”

“Well, we’re arguing over who’s going to be eliminated first.”

“You’re doing something useless.”

“Well, talking about something useless is really fun, isn’t it?”

Rachel made a stern expression at that then burst into laughter.

In fact, what Maya said was right.

Maya said, “Chef Rachel, who do you think will be eliminated first?”

“Well, I don’t know that either, but when any of them fail, I think I know why.”

“Really? Why?” Maya made a puzzled expression. Garrick and Fred looked at each other for a moment.

Garrick asked, “If Chef Havier and Chef Janet fail, what do you think is the reason?”

“To tell you about the reason…”

Rachel paused for a moment, watching them quietly, then said in a small voice.

“They are too timid.”

***

At the venue of the Paris International Cooking Contest.

‘Please…’

Havier clenched his fist firmly. None of the competitions he had taken part in until now had made him more tense and nervous than this one because he racked his brain to come up with this recipe. Of course, it didn’t mean he was confident in persuading the judges to like his dish.

‘I hope our adventurous dish can impress the judges.’

He looked at the dish that he and Janet made. The dish was simple. It was a potato gnocchi made with Gruyere cheese. It was made by adding a sauce of kale, avocado, spinach, and white wine on top of escargot baked with butter, and then sprinkling tuna eggs separately.

In fact, the recipe itself was not extraordinary enough to call it adventurous. But there was only one reason the pair wanted to describe it as adventurous. Namely, because of gnocchi.

In fact, the pair was not in charge of pasta at Rose Island, so they didn’t have many opportunities to make raw pasta like gnocchi. Nevertheless, the reason they chose gnocchi this time was because this recipe was the most promising of all the recipes they thought of.

“Well, gnocchi is really a dish that varies in taste, depending on who makes it. Are you confident?”

“Yes, we’re confident.”

Even before Havier replied, Janet replied with a confident voice. Her confident answer was rather embarrassing to Havier, so he glanced at Janet for a moment. When he stole a glance, her eyes were calm and relaxed as always. He thought she was cool, but at the same time, he was a bit worried.

‘I wonder how they can feel it…’

Of course, the pair tasted it, and it was delicious. But it was always difficult for a chef to check his own dish perfectly, except for such an exceptional chef like Min-joon or Kaya. There was a reason for a chef to ask another to check his or her own dish.

Now, one of the judges said, “In some ways, the concept of this escargot dish resembles that of Min-joon and Kaya. I hope this gnocchi does not dull the taste of the escargot but enhances it.”

“I’m definitely positive it will,” Janet responded in a firm voice.

She really believed it should enhance the taste. This was a contest where she should not lose to anybody. She didn’t want to go back to Los Angeles miserable as the first of the Rose Island teams who failed in the quarterfinals. She couldn’t suffer that humiliation because of her pride.

In fact, she found the current situation very strange. She thought she could beat any chef in competition in cooking, and she really wanted to beat those who tried to look down on women chefs just because they were women. She thought she could even after she got here. But she never expected that she met so many competitors here who were as competent as her in this contest.

But Janet did not regret her choice to join Rose Island. She thought if she lacked some skills, she could make up for them. Actually, she had been living on that principle. And now she wanted to confirm her real abilities in this contest.

The judges started tasting the dish. Watching them chewing gnocchi and escargot in their mouths, Janet slowly checked their expressions. But she couldn’t read anything from their blank expressions. She tried to look calm, but she crouched toes.

At last, Norris said, “How many gnocchi have you made until now?”

“I made it whenever I had a chance. Sometimes when I wanted to eat it, I cooked it myself.”

“That means you had no experience with making it at a restaurant for months or years, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, cooking is always honest. It shows how the chef made it or how much effort the chef put into it to develop such skills. Of course, you two are chefs with good basic skills. And the recipe was also great. The escargots were roasted properly, and the balance of the sauce and its combination with gnocchi was good. But the gnocchi itself didn’t taste good enough. I would say it was just a plain delicious dish.”

She wanted to argue that a plain dish was good, but she could not. She bit her lips.

Watching her nervous, Norris said, “This recipe itself must be adventurous for you, right?”

“Maybe so.”

“But I don’t think it’s an adventure that you have made boldly.”

When he said that, she looked at him, rather puzzled. She understood he evaluated the dish. However, she could not understand that he could evaluate their feelings like courage reflected in this dish. In fact, Janet and Havier had to ponder over the recipe for a long time and overcome fear before finally deciding on gnocchi.

But Norris said firmly, “Maybe you two might think this showed your courage because it was never easy to choose a dish that you have not yet mastered how to cook well. That’s not courage. You were nervous because you didn’t choose a recipe that you were not confident about. In other words, you had no confidence. When you don’t have confidence, can you pluck up courage? Does it make any sense?”

“That’s because…”

Janet tried to refute him, but she bit her lips and remained silent. She had nothing to say because Norris was right.

Norris opened his mouth.

“I hope you can cook what you believe in because if the chef can’t trust himself, no customers can trust such a chef.”

Janet’s scales tilted. She tried to be bold, but she got timid because she wasn’t confident, and after all, her courage turned into her escape, and her pride fell, along with her hope in this contest.