Chapter 120: The laws of tasting (2)
It was unfortunate, but they didn’t go to Rose Island. In the end, Martin gave them 150 reals equaly. Honestly speaking it was difficult to eat a luxurious meal with that, but even so if you used it normally, it would be enough even after three meals.
“……..Amazing. Rachel. When Emily and I protested he didn’t even bat an eye.”
“It’s the strength of experience.”
‘It rather seems like money and power.’
But Jo Minjoon didn’t say those words. Anderson opened his mouth and said.
“Teacher. If you have something you want to eat can you tell me please? If you don’t like to travel to go to a restaurant, I will cook for you.”
“I’m thankful for your thought, but as we come to Brazil shouldn’t we feel Brazil’s flavor and charm?”
“I thought of this because you said charm, but it would be difficult to see the carnival right?”
“This year’s carnival ended 6 months ago. They do carnivals on Februaries.”
Martin replied with a regretful voice and shrugged his shoulders. Jo Minjoon also felt regret at those words and at the same time felt relieved. With Jo Minjoon’s character, he would find it difficult to fit in that hot and cheerful atmosphere.
‘Thinking about it, netizens also say that i’m not fun as I look like a neet.’
But of course some may say that that side of him was his charm, but he could only feel bitter.
“Minjoon. What about you?”
“…….Yes?”
“Where do you want to go. A brazilian dish you want to eat, don’t you have any?”
Emily asked with a vivid voice. Could she feel grateful because he got on her side and made her dinner yesterday? Her two eyes were filled with a deeper good will. Jo Minjoon slowly shook his head.
“As I told you before, I don’t know much about brazilian dishes.”
“Mmm…..How was the feijoada you ate yesterday?”
“It was delicious. Actually I think that it was more delicious than the churrasco. It was a peculiar experience.”
“More delicious than the churrasco…… I think that I vaguely know your preferences in tasting.”
Rachel nodded. First, it was meat. How many people in the world hated meat? On top of that, if it was meat cooked by a profession that had worked for tens of years, the texture of the good quality meat could only be on a different level.
As Rachel wasn’t with them yesterday, she wouldn’t know the quality of the churrasco and the feijoada, but even so she could know what Jo Minjoon prioritized more on a dish.
Chef. How the thoughts and the methods that cooked it were shown on the dish. Honestly speaking, for things like feijoada, that the process was more complex and took more effort, it could show it more compared to the churrasco.
But of course, if he had a high knowledge on meat, he would be able to read the philosophy and thoughts of the chef with that simple movement of the knife. But even if it was Jo Minjoon, that had a good sense of taste and talent, being able to do that at this age was impossible. Because in the end, that was the role of experience.
‘My……Take my experience. Minjoon.’
If Jo Minjoon just wanted it, Rachel was planning on becoming his pillar and crag whenever he wished it. She wanted him that much. Jo Minjoon was a gemstone. Although Rachel wasn’t a jewel craftsman, she knew a well polished gem more than anyone. She was that gem’s wife.
Rachel said.
“How about coffee?”
The people let out an exclamation with an ‘ah’ and nodded. Brazil was so famous with their coffees to the point that they wondered why they couldn’t have thought about it until now. Anderson looked at Rachel and carefully opened his mouth. He just seemed like a job hunter that wondered if what he was going to say would be fine.
“Coffee and brunch (TL: Breakfast and lunch)….Thinking about it we won’t be able to go with it as we have to take three meals a day. As it’s breakfast how about an easy brazilian breakfast?”
“And how is that?”
What Jo Minjoon knew was only english and american breakfast. Anderson shrugged his shoulder and replied.
“Cheese, cold cut, roasted cheese, fruits, cereal, pao de queijo, orange or banana cake. There’s no need to have everything in it, and you don’t have to only eat that. But normally it’s that kind of feeling.”
“I agree.”
Emily said. Rachel and Anderson looked at Jo Minjoon. Jo Minjoon raised both of his hands.
“What can I do if I don’t know anything? I can only follow you.”
“Good. Let’s go. But teacher, do you have any restaurants that are close in mind?”
“I wonder. I have some, but as it has already been more than 10 years….I wonder if he died or not. That old man is older than me.”
Just how sad was it when surrounding people talked about death so calmly. Rachel put an a bitter smile for a moment and soon put on a composed face again. Looking at that face, Jo Minjoon thought. The reason why wrinkles of old people felt regretful could be because you had to send the people you appreciated so much?
Thinking that she got those deep wrinkles when she was only 60 made him thought that it was because of the grief she felt at the loss of her loved one, he felt choked.
Fortunately, the restaurant Racheld had in mind was only 10 minutes away from them. Actually this was when you took into account Rachel’s speed, if it were Jo Minjoon and Anderson they would have arrived in less than 5 minutes.
But walking slowly had advantages on its own. First, you could enjoy the scenery you couldn’t watch properly. Actually, there was nothing special about buildings. You could see many antique buildings around, but those were things you could plentily see if you went to Europe or the US.
What rather caught your eyes were the people. There were many ethnic groups as it was one of the characteristics of Brazil, but even so the look of black people leaning on a chair below the parasol and conversing leisurely touched them deeply.
“Minjoon, you said that you didn’t have much experience on travelling overseas, right?”
“Ah, yes.”
“You did well on deciding to come to this program. If celebrities appear too much on a program, the scarcity may disappear so it is difficult, but we aren’t celebrities but chefs. When chefs lose scarcity isn’t when they appear on TV a lot but when their dishes turn slow and become congested. You know that there are many restaurants, that received their third star, that can’t survive on the reevaluation right?”
“There are also some that don’t want to receive it because of the burden.”
Anderson butted in. Rachel nodded with a soft expression.
“Right. But the important thing is that the reason why they take away a star isn’t simply because flavor lacks. It’s a three star. A three star. If the head chef doesn’t change, the normal quality would only remain. But even so they have a star taken away. Minjoon. Have you also thought about it? What do you think the problem is?”
Jo Minjoon fell in his thoughts for a moment. It was just like Rachel had said. If the head chef didn’t change, the level of the kitchen could also remain the same. Even so the evaluation becomes more strict, what could be the reason then? It was when he was opening his mouth at the end of the pondering. Anderson opened his mouth first.
“Is it because of the inertia?”
“Speak more specifically.”
“The moment they receive a three star, the restaurant is on the best state. Saying it with other words mean that the menu of that moment was at the best. The head chef and the owner would only find it difficult to change the menu. If the menu style gets standardized like that and changes start to disappear……The evaluation can only turn a little bit stricter.”
“Speaking as an epicurean, it’s not a little bit, but a lot. The kitchen of a chef that doesn’t research and change has no charm at all. Think about it. You have a lover, but if she wears the same clothe today and tomorrow…..On top of that it’s not that they are poor but they simply don’t have the will and care to pick another clothe, how will you feel as their lover? Right?”
Emily butted in in the middle. It was a really girl like comparison, but they understood it well. Rachel flicked her finger.
“It’s just that. It’s just an epicurean like expression. But in the place of the chef, they can only be like that. If I wear other clothes won’t they be saying that it’s not pretty, and if that’s the case won’t it be better to remain like I am right now? That’s why this moment is important.”
“How is this and that related?”
“It’s obvious that if you invest time and dedication on whatever field, it will get deeper. But if you want to want to be well versed in not only one field, but on a wide one you won’t need normal experience. If you feel a foreign culture and their thoughts, it will be of big help later on. Because your thoughts will broaden. Rather than composing a recipe in a small world, won’t it be more colorful to design it on a wide world?”
At Jo Minjoon’s question, Rachel replied with a low voice. Martin, that was looking at that, felt profoundness. It was certainly an entertainment program but it instantly turned to be an education documentary. But even so, it was important that the picture wasn’t bad. Entertainment doesn’t have to be funny, but interesting. If he just edited it well, he could see some room to make it interesting.
As they conversed for a while, the 10 minutes of travelling distance didn’t even feel that long. The place they reached was on a building that gave a feeling of restoration. The walls made with red bricks, and the windows made with a white plastic material you could see it was recently changed. And the roof made with red ceramic tiles. It gave off a feeling that made you think if you asked children to draw a house, they would draw exactly this one.
It was difficult to say that customers overflowed, but even so there weren’t that many empty tables. And it gave a strong feeling that most of the customers weren’t tourists, but customers. Because rather than having dressed up well, it was an atmosphere that they just dressed up casually and came out for a walk. Emily nodded as if it was satisfying.
“Certainly, to know about a proper flavor it would be better to go to a restaurants where residents come more than the tourists.”
Rachel didn’t reply and kept tilting her head towards the kitchen. Soon, one female worker approached and spoke in an english that could be seen it was memorized.
“If you seat daun I will teik your order.” (If you seat down, I will take your order)
“No. That’s not it…….Is Douglas here?”
Rachel spoke with a flawless portuguese. The worker replied with a brighter face. This time, she also spoke in portuguese.
“Douglas? ……Ah. Are you a friend of the previous boss?”
“Previous?”
“Ah, don’t worry. He didn’t leave or anything like that. Nowadays he’s retired and is resting. He does come to the store at times……But I wonder. I don’t know if he would come or not.”
“And who’s the boss now?”
“Mister Douglas’s daughter. She’s called Kamila…….”
“Ah…..Right.”
Rachel sat down while replying with a weird face. Maybe he had already died, but could it be because she was expecting him to work in the store like the memories she had? While even she had left the kitchen and the restaurant and retired. She smiled calmly and turned to look at everyone.
“You said you wanted to eat brazilian breakfast, right? Tell me if you want to eat anything else. There’s the recommended menu, and the menu you should never eat.”
“……….Didn’t you bring us here because they have skills?”
“Just because the face is pretty, it doesn’t mean that the body is also pretty.”
In the end Jo Minjoon chose the brazilian breakfast in the middle of the uneasiness. And he also ordered feijoada. He wanted to feel moved again just like when he ate a spoon of Emily’s feijoada. And even the price wasn’t that burdensome. The two together was only 25 reals.
‘The churrasco store from yesterday was the expensive side.’
It was a buffet, and as it was located on a beach, it made sense. At the same time he also thought. To serve the customers with good ingredients the most economically possible, they would have to move to somewhere where the land is cheap.
‘But if the land is cheap, there won’t be many good places where there are a lot of tourists……..’
Whatever side it was, it wasn’t a problem to be thinking about it now. The worker came with plates. Depending on the contents of the brazilian breakfast, the price and the amount varied like heaven and earth, but Jo Minjoon ordered the most ordinary thing. He also wanted to eat a well breakfast that brazilians ate, but he was also worried to get full because of the feijoada.
Jo Minjoon looked at the dish placed in front of him. A french roll bread baked like portuguese, ham made by slicing off the meat of the back leg of a pork and fermented, baked pao de queijo that had half papaya and cheese in it, a cold stored mozzarella and cheese and corn cake came out.
What he ate first was the pao de queijo. The name was unfamiliar, but the moment he ate it, the texture and the flavor it gave was quite familiar. The feeling and the texture of the bread was like glutinous rice bread, and between that rough bread, there was the spreading aroma of the cheese. The cooking score was 6. It wasn’t that amazing but……..
‘If I had this next to me, I would eat it until I was full.’
It wasn’t that it was overly delicious, but it had a faint charm, an addictive flavor. But he couldn’t keep eating only that. There wasn’t that much but also what came first was trying the other dishes too.
As he placed ham and mozzarella on the roll bread and ate it, honestly speaking he didn’t feel any special flavor. Jo Minjoon, that was staring at it, turned to look at the feijoada. And then glanced at the others.
‘……….They won’t think weirdly of me, right?’
Jo Minjoon poured feijoada over the bread with a calm attitude, as if it was nothing. But at that moment, contrary to his expectations, the three turned to look at him. Could they be thinking that he had done something strange? It was at that moment when Jo Minjoon was laughing awkwardly. Emily said as if it was unexpected.
“Minjoon. You prefer pouring soup over the bread?”
“What about it?”
“Mm…….Won’t it be better to stick it and eat it? The thick soup gets crushed on the bread, and when you pull the bread it gives the feeling as if you are pulling from a marsh. And the soup seeps in between the bread and the aroma turns better.”
“I wonder. When I stick it on the bread the soup doesn’t adhere as much as I think, and placing things over the bread is also uncomfortable. Most of all, if you eat it by pouring it the texture of the soup feels more clear. Anderson. How about you?”
“You have to stick it. That’s more comfortable. If you pour it with a spoon, if you make a mistake you stain your fingers and you get dirty.”
Jo Minjoon chewed down the bread with a sulky expression. Then, Rachel said while smiling brightly.
“I also like pouring it. If you stick it, breadcrumbs enter the soup and the texture gets faintly rough so I don’t like it.”
“Ah, even so there’s someone at my side.”
At Rachel’s words, Jo Minjoon smiled as if he had been rescued. Anderson, that was looking at the two of them, cleared his throat and said.
“Actually, thinking about it, I pour it more than sticking it. Although it’s uncomfortable it’s more delicious, and just like teacher said, I also hate the breadcrumbs getting in my soup……”
The eyes of the three people directed towards Anderson. Anderson turned his eyes to the dish with a slightly embarrassing look and said.
“…….Tastes are diverse.”
< The laws of tasting (2) > End
Translator’s note: Thanks for reading!
PR note: This episode gave me horror film flashbacks.
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Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Saihikawa