GOD OF COOKING – CHAPTER 29: GETTING HELP IN THE FACE OF GETTING DISQUALIFIED (4)

 

[White grape puré]
Freshness: 84%
Origins: (Too many ingredients to show)
Quality: Medium (Average ingredients)
Cooking score: 7/10

It wasn’t bad . Taking into account that it was made by Jo Minjoon, it was a really good score . But for Kaya to have helped him on this dish, it was an ordinary score . But the dish wasn’t completed yet . Because the foie gras wasn’t cooked .

Jo Minjoon tasted the puré . The sweet and sour flavors unique of the white grape stimulated his tongue . And what was felt at the end was the flavor of the demi-glace sauce . It wasn’t too excessive and you didn’t get sick of it .

Jo Minjoon turned to look at Kaya .

“Shall we place the puré in the plate first?”
“Yes . That would be good . ”

Jo Minjoon picked a rectangular plate . Then he poured the puré in a round shape . He didn’t forget what Alan had told him . That he was neglecting plating . So he wanted to show that .

Jo Minjoon dropped three drops of puré in a zigzag shape . Then he pushed the puré to the empty spaces of the dish with the  bottom part of the spoon . At first glance, it looked like three lines were drawn . The top and bottom lines drawn to the right, and the middle line drawn to the left .

He thought that it would be quite good if he placed the three pieces of foie gras for the judges . Jo Minjoon looked back again at Kaya . Kaya’s eyes were more serious than ever . It was at that time when Jo Minjoon was opening his mouth .

“Kaya… . . ”
“Time is over! This is the last shift! Quickly finish your dishes!”

Even before Jo Minjoon could say something, the buzzer, together with Alan’s voice sounded . Kaya stood in front of the countertop with a frozen expression . And then, took the foie gras .

Foie gras, at first glance, looked like chicken breast that was boiled down in beer . The yellowy brown exterior wasn’t as smooth as she had thought .

Kaya touched the exterior of the foie gras slightly . It was soft . And when she sliced it, that sensation didn’t change . The foie gras, which interior was well thawed, sliced as well as pudding .

Kaya started to slice the foie gras . It had the shape of a narrow and thick columns . She placed it in the hot pan .

Foie gras was a dish which you had to accumulate fat in the goose’s liver . Also it released abundant oil and the amount it released was enough to fill the pan .

When one side of it got seared enough, Kaya flipped the foie gras . Then tilted the pan . The foie gras started to tilt to one side, and the oil started to gather in one place . Then, Kaya used that oil to pour it on the foie gras . It was the arroser method Jo Minjoon had used previously .

The sight of the oil sizzling and boiling was really pleasing to see . The thick aroma that could be felt wasn’t nowhere near what they remembered . The aroma was so strong that you could mistake the meat for spices . Jo Minjoon tried to connect the aroma he had never experienced before with something in his mind . But he couldn’t do so . It was at the point that there was almost nothing that could be compared to .

She placed the seared foie gras on top of the white grape puré . And on top of that was placed the thinly sliced white grapes as decoration . And at that moment, an uncontainable smile could be seen from Jo Minjoon’s mouth .

[Foie gras steak with white grape puré]
Freshness: 82%
Origins: (Too many ingredients to show)
Quality: Middle (Average ingredients)
Cooking score: 8/10

8 points . The dish that was half made by him got an 8 . It meant that it could be presented in a Michelin restaurant immediately . Jo Minjoon looked at Kaya . Looking at that joyful expression, Kaya couldn’t help but frown .

“What? Why that expression?”
“The food, I think it’s made well . ”
“What are you? A food beethoven? To know without eating it?”

Kaya grumbled like that, but her expression wasn’t bad . She too probably knew . That the dish was a success . How would she be called a chef if she didn’t know how well her dish was cooked?

The last buzzer rang . And Joseph opened his mouth .

“Time is over . Everybody, put your hands off the countertop . ”

It was a quiet voice, but that weight was heavy . Jo Minjoon slightly glanced at his surroundings . They had mostly finished their dishes . Except for one team . That team’s foie gras was fried, but the problem wasn’t that it was seared, it was burnt . It was as if they didn’t have hope in their dishes, but their expressions were dark . What were they going to do about it? If they made a 3 points dish . Even if it was an amateur competition, it was something that shouldn’t even be presented in a dish .

The rest were all 5 points, excluding Anderson’s . Jo Minjoon thought that Anderson’s team’s dish was going to be an 8, but unexpectedly it was only 7 points .

‘They also made foie gras steak . ’

But thinking about it strategically, you could only cook it as steak . Because paté or mousse couldn’t bring the true flavor of foie gras . You wouldn’t know if it was a mission where you only had to give it flavor, but it wasn’t good to do so in a foie gras themed mission .

Actually, there were 3 teams out of 5 that had chosen to make it like steak . Of course, excluding Anderson’s and Kaya’s team, the other one ended up burning the steak .

The judges walked towards the team that burnt the foie gras . They were just looking at the dish, and left the countertop without any word . At that cold sight, Jo Minjoon couldn’t help but get chills down his spine .

The next table the judges went to was Anderson’s . It was foie gras steak accompanied with balsamic reduction that was sweet and sour at the same time . The expressions of the judges were quite good . Alan opened his mouth first .

“It’s fine . ”
“It’s qualitative and clean . ”
“Anderson . With this dish we could confirm that you are a person who has been taught properly how to cook . ”
“Carlos, it’s good that you adjusted yourself with Anderson’s recipe and cooking methods . But I wonder if your individual work wasn’t shown properly . Even so, this dish was delicious . I’ll believe in your consideration . Go to the 2nd floor!”

Going to the 2nd floor meant that you have passed . The evaluation ended like that with Carlos’s cheer and Anderson’s smile .

However, the only time the judges expressions was bright was only in front of Anderson’s dish . For the next two tables, the judges only spat malicious words at them .

“What did you cook?”
“I tried to make foie gras paté accompanied with a baguette . ”
“Paté? This is paté? Damn, Louis . Just say that this is mousse . Then I would be less angry . Look at this texture . The feeling the paté gives must be thicker than a creamy feeling and at the same time, feeling of a sausage . But what is this? It’s a flavor which I would rather like to eat mustard . ”
“… . . I’m sorry . ”
“Sorry? Don’t be sorry to me . Be sorry for the dish . Oh **** . This goose would have never imagined that the purpose it has lived for was to become this poor soil cream . ”

At Alan’s words, the participants couldn’t say a word . The same was the same for the next table . Emily who tried a bite of the foie gras with canape, just sighed . Then asked .

“This, did you make paté?”

At that moment, the participants couldn’t reply and hesitated . It seemed that they had remembered the earlier words of Alan . That they had rather replied that it was mousse . Even for them, it looked really greasy and oily . Emily looked at them sharply and said .

“It seems that you can’t even say the name of your dish . It looks like you aren’t even worthy to be evaluated . Do you agree?”

The participants still didn’t reply . Leaving behind those participants, the judges approached Kaya and Jo Minjoon . Jo Minjoon gulped . He already knew that it was well made, but looking at the words thrown at the other participants, he couldn’t help but get nervous . And it was the same for Kaya . Her hands were slightly shaking . Joseph opened his mouth .

“What did you make?”
“It’s foie gras steak . We accompanied it with white grape puré, as for the garnish, we placed white grape slices . ”

At Jo Minjoon’s reply, the judges slowly sliced the foie gras . When they ate a bite, they couldn’t think about hiding their amazements and let out admiration sounds .

It was really professional and harmonious flavor . It was so well roasted that you wouldn’t believe that it was frozen foie gras . It’s insides and the outside was filled with a soft fat flavor . But the white grape puré was catching that flavor .

If you said that it was white grape puré, then it was basically a sweet and neat flavor . It was easy to think that it wouldn’t suit a heavy steak like foie gras, but the demi-glace sauce prevented that . The role of the demi-glace sauce was to be a bridge . A bridge located between the puré and the foie gras . The aroma of the puré was preventing the foie gras aroma and the flavor of the puré to play separately .

It was a rather calculated flavor . It was almost unbelievable that it was the first time for Jo Minjoon and Kaya to cook foie gras . Alan opened his mouth unconsciously .

“This… . . Incredible . ”
“It’s really delicious . Personally, I think that this is the best dish I have eaten in this program . The flavor of the puré, and the flavor of the foie gras are all perfect . And they don’t even play separately . You have shown a dish that can’t get better than this . Thank you . ”

Following Alan, Emily said while laughing . Even if she was containing it, it was a smile that couldn’t help but show . The cameraman recorded while smiling, looking at Kaya and Jo Minjoon forcing themselves to be calm . They were a pair that were good to see .

Joseph said with a soft smile .

“Kaya, we didn’t eat your dish in the previous mission . It was even a good dish, if you didn’t take into account that it was a course cooking . Now do you know that reason?”
“……Will there be anyone who says that they don’t in this kind of situation?”

Kaya replied sharply . That she knew the reason . She couldn’t say that she was reflecting on it . But that attitude wasn’t any different than saying that she knew the reason . Joseph smiled brightly and said .

“Kaya . You are a really talented chef . But no chef can cook alone . Trust in your teammate like now, and have a supporting heart . Then, your cooking will shine even more brightly . ”

Kaya seemed ashamed as to reply something, so she only hit the floor with her heel . Joseph said while looking at Jo Minjoon .

“I heard that you, Minjoon, were the one to think of the sauce, am I right?”
“Yes, you are . ”
“You said that you have never eaten foie gras, so how could you think of a recipe that suited foie gras?”

It was a really sharp question . But it seemed that Jo Minjoon had already prepared to get out of that hole .

“I have seen it in an image . Foie gras with white grape puré . ”
“So are you saying that you depended on that image alone to replicate the flavor?”
“Yes . ”

Jo Minjoon replied shortly . Joseph looked frustrated at Jo Minjoon . What was this youth? To follow the flavor inside of an image? Of course, you could get inspired by the image in the image . However it was a really picky combination . Be it the demi-glace sauce that connected the foie gras with puré, or thinking about cooking foie gras with the arroser method .

But that Jo Minjoon made the recipe . Was it coincidence? Or talent? Saying the truth, he wasn’t confident in judging this participant . He was a really peculiar participant . He was a peculiar chef .

“…… . Excellent . You have good talent . Minjoon . ”

In the end, the only thing Joseph could tell him, was only that . Jo Minjoon replied while smiling .

“Thank you . ”

After they finished evaluating Jo Minjoon, the judges shared their opinions . The debate didn’t last long . Even after they sensed it to be a drag, Alan glanced at Kaya and Jo Minjoon and asked .

“What are you doing here?”
“……Yes?”

Alan laughed .

“Go to the 2nd floor!”

< Getting help in the face of getting disqualified (4) > End

 

Translator’s note: Regular chapter! Thanks for reading and for your support!

Regulars being on: Tue, thurs, sat and sun

Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Maled