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 god. 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!
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Translator : Subak
Proofreader : Maled