God of Cooking – Chapter 187: The Return of the Legend (2)

“Haha…… that is quite the confidence . ”

Even Matthew, who had many years of experience, could not help but be nervous for a second at that response . It was not just him . Some of the chefs and audience members were laughing while others were in awe . Matthew asked the question they all wanted to ask .

“I am curious about the source of that confidence . Is it the Rose Island’s name?”
“Is there a tree with only one strand of root anywhere in the world? The source of confidence is the same . Furthermore, the name of Rose Island … gives us more of a sense of duty rather than  confidence . ”
“Then . ”

Chloe suddenly interjected . She asked with a beautiful smile .

“What is the thickest root for Minjoon?”
“For me……”

Jo Minjun stopped speaking for a moment . His eyes didn’t know where to go and looked up into the sky . The contemplation did not take very long .

“I would have to say, my teammates . ”
“You do know that is a very typical answer right?”
“It has to be a typical answer . Universal things like this tend not to be wrong . ”
“Your old-fashioned personality is still the same . ”

Jo Minjun quietly responded with a smile at Chloe’s response . The Q&A portion continued on to the other teams . The funny thing was that there were more teams that talked about Rose Island than those who did not . One of the most memorable ones was what Glouto’s demi chef team leader had to say .
“Our head chef-nims gave us one special order . ”
“What special order?”
“We don’t care if you don’t win . Just make sure you don’t lose to a child like Anderson . ”

Anderson grabbed his forehead like he had a headache after hearing that . He looked around at the audience with a resentful gaze . It was not hard to locate where Amelia and Fabio were sitting since they were putting their fingers in their mouths and whistling their approval . Janet started to speak as if she was making fun of him .

“You have really good parents, don’t you?”
“……Don’t rub it in . It’s annoying . ”

The rest of the teams pretty much said the same thing . The desire to surpass the legend of Rose Island . There were even quite a lot of people growling and saying they will take Jo Minjun’s confidence down a notch . However, Jo Minjun was not nervous .

‘……Firstly, there is no one with a cooking level of 9 . ’

It was pretty obvious if he thought about it . A cooking level of 9 was not something that was so easy to find . However, there were quite a few people with level 8 . It almost filled all ten of his fingers . Lee Tae Hoon, the Korean man who greeted Jo Minjun earlier, was one of those people .

Of course, there was no team as strong as Rose Island when looking at the team’s averages core . They had two level 8 and two level 7 . He was not worried . However, he still had to focus . Letting your guard down always causes unexpected results . Jo Minjun looked toward the other three members and started to speak .

“There is no reason for us to lose . Rachel teacher’s recipe is perfect, and we have practiced enough . What we need to look for is not just a victory …… but to let them know that Rose Island is back for good . We need to show them the most overwhelming presence possible . Even if we have to draw out our souls, we need to be the best version of us that we have ever been . ”
“……You seem really confident . ”
“I told you already . I trust you . ”

Jo Minjun answered in a ‘is there even a reason to ask’ type of expression . Janet felt a part of her heart started to quiver while looking at Jo Minjun respond like that . Trust . It was a word that was missing from her mind for many years . She had never expected anyone to accept her as a teammate like this .

Jo Minjun did not care that Janet was a female chef . But it was not just Jo Minjun . Anderson and Javier as well did not try to discriminate against her because she was a woman . They did not try to help her because of it either . They just treated her as just another chef .

‘……I need to show it to them as well . ’

She needed to show that she was a strong chef just like they trusted her to be .

€

“The judging will be done by 11 epicureans . We cannot reveal the names of the judges until the dishes are completed . Please make a dish that can win over any judge, no matter who it is!”
“You have exactly 30 minutes to cook . Is there anybody who is not finished setting up yet?”

There was no response . Chloe nodded her head and shouted out loud . Her heart was beating fast . Although the location was different, she was able to say the things the judges used to say to her when she was competing on Grand Chef .

“Start cooking!”

The moment Chloe shouted out loud with an excited expression, the chef brigades all started to move .

The team with the unique countertop was probably Rose Island . They had many different machines for molecular gastronomy .

The appetizer Janet was making a jelly solidified with gelatin after liquefying a salad . After that, she will sprinkle sugar over it and caramelize it, giving the jelly a crunchy feel like it was a thin candy .

Anderson’s dish did not use any molecular gastronomy techniques . He was personally making a shrimp ball and carrot gnocchi dough and cooking it, before putting a shrimp bisque made of shrimp shells on the dish like a sauce and finishing it off with a pea garnish .

In Javier’s case, it was a mix of traditional cooking and molecular gastronomy . Javier put the charcoal they brought to roast an eel and will end up putting boiled lentils on a dish with the eel on top of it . He will then have to jellify a soy sauce to put on top of that and finish it off with a foam **** cream . It was a reinvented version of a Japanese eel roast .

As for Jo Minjun……

‘I never expected a day like this when I would be holding a syringe at a cooking competition . ’

His dish was a variation of the jelly spaghetti he made before at the tasting . Rachel’s recipe was simple . Boil water and agar together and add white chocolate and coconut liqueur before letting it simmer down slightly . Then do the same thing he did before to make the jelly spaghetti: put the liquid in the syringe to push into a tube and let it cool in ice water .

The chocolate spaghetti made that way was white in color that it made it look like a regular spaghetti noodle . On top of that will be a carbonated strawberry sauce with strawberry pieces to represent the tomato sauce, and the couple raisins on top will represent the meatballs .

‘Fake spaghetti . ’

At first glance, it looks like a spaghetti, however, the taste is completely different . Dishes like this were called fake dishes .
It was a type of cooking that even epicureans were always excited to try .

Jo Minjun first prepped the strawberries . There were two methods to carbonate fruit . You could either use a siphon or ISI foam machine to add the carbonation, or you could put the fruit on top of dry ice . Jo Minjun chose the latter method .

The strawberry for the sauce and the strawberry for the decor were cut into different sizes . After putting all of those strawberries on top of the dry ice, he needed to quickly prepare the filling for the chocolate spaghetti .

The audience was mainly focusing on Rose Island . It was not just because of the Rose Island’s name . There were some teams that were also doing molecular gastronomy, but no teams that were focusing on molecular gastronomy like Rose Island . For a restaurant like Rose Island that represented the glory of the past to be doing modern cooking like this was interesting .

“Little Anderson’s dough making has improved quite a bit . ”
“Of course, he needs to do that much . Did you forget whose son he is?”

Amelia and Fabio were not even looking at Glouto’s demi chefs and were just focused on Rose Island . To be specific, they were only focused on Anderson, but they ended up looking at the others every so often in the process .

The one to get their gaze the most after Anderson was Jo Minjun . It was because his cooking was the most unique, as well as the fact that there was a lot for him to do . Not only did Jo Minjun have to cook his dish, he had to check the status of the other team members as well . Fabio started to speak as if he was jealous .

“Minjun really has strong kitchen commanding skills . Maybe it is because he has a great palette . He’s able to figure out the issue after tasting things just once . ”
“Our Anderson needs to become like that too . ”
“He just hasn’t had the opportunity yet . If he gets the opportunity, he will do well . ”
“But Minjun will still be better . ”
A husky voice suddenly interjected from the side . Amelia and Fabio started to frown as they looked to the side before becoming confused . It was a woman with long, black, curly hair . She also had sunglasses and a mask over her mouth . There was no way to figure out who she was .

The woman lightly lowered her sunglasses . However, Amelia and Fabio still could not tell who they were . In the end, she needed to lift her mask as well before they finally realized who it was and let out a gasp .

“Kaya . It was you . ”
“It’s been a while . We’ve seen all of your endeavors with joy until now . ”
“Endeavors? I really haven’t done much . ”
“Well . You know . Is the mask you’re wearing the one you wore that time?”

Kaya started to blush as she finally understood what they were talking about . As Amelia started to laugh, Fabio subtly elbowed Amelia’s side . Fabio started to smile as he looked at Kaya .

“So who are you here to cheer on today? Grand Chef restaurant? Or Rose Island?”
“Both . ”
“Ay, you can’t answer like that . There should be someone you are pushing for more than the other . ”
“……I guess Grand Chef restaurant?”

It was a surprising answer . Amelia asked with a confused expression .

“This is surprising . You are not taking Minjun’s side . ”
“I don’t know . ”

Kaya shrugged her shoulders . Honestly speaking, the reason she wanted Grand Chef to win was because of Jo Minjun as well . She wanted to see Jo Minjun with a disappointed expression . She wanted to be able to console him and hug him tightly . She also wanted that sense of we beat you and wanted to remain the main character that he once said he admired as a chef .

“What about the two of you . Do you want Glouto to win? Or do you want Rose Island to win with Anderson as the star?”
“Of course Glouto . You enjoy a child’s growth only until they get to about your chest . Once they start getting taller than you, then they start to become a bit disgusting . ”
“……I’m taller than my mom too . ”
“Too bad . You ended up a disgusting daughter . ”
“It’s okay . Minjun tells me I’m pretty . ”

Amelia looked at Fabio as Kaya said that . Fabio just looked at her wondering why she was looking at him . Amelia let out a sigh .

“Fine . I lose there . ”
“Just when did the two of you start competing?”
“……Honey . Can you do me a favor and just shut up?”

Fabio closed his mouth and pretended to close a zipper over it . Amelia looked at Kaya and responded with a challenging tone .

“Just wait . My son will crush your boyfriend . ”
“Hmph . Minjun is not that weak . ”
“For not being weak, I think my son beating him in the recent Epicurean show . ”

She was talking about the competition they had on Hunger Trip . Kaya could not respond to that and just twisted her lips behind the mask . She then started to mumble in an angry voice .

“Just wait . Today, Minjun will definitely beat Anderson . ”
“You sure? I think we’ll need to wait about 10 years for that to happen . ”

Fabio started to mumble in disbelief .

“Umm…they are on the same team…”

 

Translator : Miraclerifle
Proofreader : Dragneel, Illidanstormrage