God of Cooking - Chapter 248

<A Chef’s Greed Has No End (1)>

Minjoon quietly looked at the car keys in front of him. They weren’t simply car keys to him at the moment. They were a symbol of a promise of future monetary support. Regardless of how expensive things would get.

Several things passed in his head right then. He had originally decided not to take money to give this dish a special meaning. It was the first dish of his that garnered international attention after all. He didn’t want to connect such a thing with money. But…

“It looks to me that you’re trying to invest in me, not the dish.”

“You won’t be held to anything even if you accept this money. I just want to get on your good side is all.”

“You should understand what it means to form a contract with me. I’m a pretty annoying little bastard. I won’t go easy on you just because you’re operating in a factory.”

“Of course. That’s exactly what we want.”

Jefferson answered with a smile as he extended the keys to Minjoon a little further. Minjoon took them with a grin on his face.

“And I don’t even have a license either.”

€

Minjoon’s life didn’t change much even after getting the contract. Though it wasn’t like he led a very boring life to begin with. He always got to meet new people at Rose Island. Plus, he made sure to have time to develop a new dish every day.

“…Chef, this is really annoying.”

Maya said with a sorrowful voice. Right now, her task was to extract egg yolk out of a poached egg. She would stick a needle into the egg and suck out the contents with it. It might sound easy, but it was actually rather difficult trying not to damage the egg white as one was doing it. Minjoon smiled at Maya playfully.

“You were the one who asked to help. Too late to back out now.”

“Ugh… Why do you always make difficult stuff? I hope this doesn’t get on the menu.”

Her complaints were pretty valid, especially considering how all the dishes Minjoon so far all required special care.

Minjoon’s current idea for a dish was simple. It was a fusion dish composed of the scottish… well, scotch egg, the french cassoulet, and a Korean herb placed on top.

A scotch egg was a meat-coated egg that got fried with a breading. A cassoulet was a dish that was surprisingly similar to the army stew back in Korea. A bean stew with no frills at all.

It was really a collection of everything and anything in a pot. A stew that got cooked to fill the bellies of hungry french soldiers. Funnily enough, this dish was still being loved dearly back in France.

It had many ingredients to prepare, but the answer dish was surprisingly simple. You just had to soak beans in salted water for half a day. Then, you had to put chicken stock in the oven with some gelatin.

The duck fat then got melted in a dutch oven. You would then fry salted pork in it until the meat turned crisp. Just as Minjoon was doing now. Maya sniffed a few times before asking a question.

“Will the dish taste good with so much meat in it? I heard you had to stick with just one type of meat when you’re cooking a dish.”

“That’s if you’re just bad at cooking. Plus, this is how you’re supposed to make cassoulet to begin with. You never tried it?”

“Never. French food is too expensive. I can’t afford it at all.”

“So I’ll be making the first cassoulet of your life then. What an honor.”

“You’ll be giving me some too?”

“Of course. You think I’d leave you in the dust after how much you worked?”

Maya gulped. Minjoon’s dishes were always tasty. They weren’t exploding with flavors or anything, but chef Minjoon seemed to know how to bring out the flavors of the ingredients well. His food fit her palate the most out of all the other demi chefs.

“It’s a promise.”

Maya started extracting egg yolks a lot faster than before. She almost looked like a nurse under that lighting. Minjoon turned back to his station with a smile. Using multiple ingredients meant that he had to know exactly when to add said ingredients. The cook had to be able to see the big picture when cooking, just like a head chef. Just that instead of looking over people, he had to pay attention to his hands and time.

Minjoon took out the pork from the dutch oven. Now, it was time for the chicken.

Minjoon put the chicken in, skin-side first. There was no need for any more oil. The skin would take care of the oil by itself. By the time the skin crisped up nicely, Minjoon flipped it before putting it away with the pork. By the time he was done cooking up the sausages, little droplets of sweat had formed on his forehead. Maya wiped his head with a towel in her hand.

“Chef, aren’t you working a little too hard? It’s Sunday. You should at least get a little bit of rest during break time.”

“No worries, this is fun.”

“You’re going to get sick at this rate.”

“Should I stop here, then?”

“No, but…”

“Let’s talk after I’m done. I should feel better once I get something tasty in me.”

Well, he did feel a little more tired recently. Minjoon started moving a little faster. He started dicing onions. Right then, Minjoon frowned.

“Chef!” Maya shouted.

“Ah…”

Minjoon groaned. He was looking at the onion below him. The little droplets of blood were spreading deeply into the cracks of the vegetable. Justin ran over with a band-aid and ethanol.

Minjoon extended his finger forward with a sorry face.

“I thought I graduated from getting knife injuries. I guess chefs are just destined to cut themselves.”

“You’re saying that now? I told you to rest.”

“Fine. After this ends.”

It really didn’t look like he wanted to stop here, though. Right when Minjoon took out a new onion to cut, Maya stopped him.

“I’ll do this. You just watch here.”

“I’m fine…”

“No, you’re not. Plus, this is supposed to be my job. Just tell me what to do. You want me to dice this?”

“Yes please. Thanks.”

After cooking the onions till they become translucent, you had to add the beans, carrots, celery, garlic, parsley, basil, cloves and the stock. The stew began to let off a smell of something akin to intense perfume. Now all they had to do was wait. After around 45 minutes of waiting, Minjoon took out all the vegetables and spices.

“Maya, add the meat over there. Ah, and make sure the skin of the chicken is facing up, not down.”

“Oh, because you don’t want the skin to get soffy?”

“Yeah. Looks like you really learned a lot, huh?”

“Those are just the basics.”

Maya grinned at him. Minjoon moved the dutch oven into the oven without a cover on.

“How long do we have to wait now, chef?”

“Two hours.”

“…What?”

“A crust will form in two hours. We just need to crack it every 30 minutes six times.”

“That’s four and a half hours! Wait, hold on. This isn’t even it. Are you actually thinking of putting this on the menu?”

“Who knows. That’s up to chef Rachel to decide.”

“…Oh god. I hate that. I hope this gets rejected.”

“No worries, Maya. You won’t be the one doing all this work.”

Maya gave him a strange look, which just made Minjoon grin.

“The only molecular gastronomy part is the egg really. The others are just…”

“My work, huh?”

Janet commented with an annoyed tone. Minjoon rolled his eyes a little.

“You made me work quite a bit with the recipe you developed last time. It’s just karma, man.”

“Are you just trying to annoy me?”

Minjoon just smiled in response. Ignoring Janet’s glare, he turned to look at the system window in front of him.

‘The cassoulet is 8 points. With the egg… 9 points.’

He couldn’t really imagine what it’d taste like, but the combination probably wasn’t too bad. There was value in trying it out for sure.

Now, it was just the waiting game. The smell of the cassoulet cooking was almost torturous. For it to continue for four hours as well… Even Rachel ended up coming out of her office to check it out.

“The smell is quite something. Is this… Cassoulet?”

“Yes. I’m planning on making scotch egg with it.”

“Scotch egg with cassoulet…”

Rachel made a confused expression. After sniffing around for a few more seconds, she smiled at Minjoon.

“How much longer from now?”

“It’s almost done.”

“Would you mind if I waited here?”

“Of course not.”

“Thank you. It’s been a while since I last became happy from just smelling food.”

Rachel stood on one side of the kitchen with a smile. Once the cassoulet finished, the rest of the dish was practically done. Minjoon blended the vegetables in the cassoulet into a sauce and put it where the egg yolk used to be. He covered up the egg with the meat of the stew before frying it in oil.

[The cassoulet scotch egg is 9 points!]
‘Good.’

He made no mistakes in cooking. After putting the egg on the dish, he brought it over to Rachel. Rachel looked back at him with a strange expression. The sentence that came out of her was not at all something that he had expected.

“How are you feeling?”

“What?”

“People all over the world are paying attention to you. It makes me curious.”

“Ah… I’m feeling the same as before. It’s pretty interesting how people changed around me though.”

“That’s just what the world is like. People like to pay attention to your achievements.”

Rachel spoke with a quiet tone. Minjoon could only sigh in response.

“What are us chefs supposed to do? I sometimes feel like a real pro would just focus on his dishes, but that sometimes feels like being overly stubborn.”

“It looks like you want an answer of some sort to that, but I can’t really give one. I’ve thought about it many times myself… But in any case, I’d like to try eating this first.”

“Ah, yes.”

Rachel looked into the scotch egg. The meat used was pretty interesting, and seeing the stew flow out of the egg was a bit of a surreal experience. Rachel bit into one half of the scotch egg. A smile almost formed on her face, but she ended up putting her fork down. Minjoon made a surprised face.

“Is it not good?”

“No, it’s just not as deep as I expected it to be. It’s not a bad mix. But that’s about it. Minjoon… Could you bring me the cassoulet you made?”

“The cassoulet?”

Minjoon put some of the stew on the dish. He plated the dish as best as he could, but it was a stew in the end. He couldn’t make it look like anything upper class.

“Cassoulet… I’m not french, but our family would have this every once in a while. It’s pretty time consuming, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it really was.”

“It was still one of my favorite dishes. Even now, as a matter of fact. I sometimes crave food like this even more than fine dining food. Not just because of memories either. Flavors of food like this is quite memorable.”

“Is that… so?”

Rachel took a bite of the stew with a warm smile. A delighted look came over her face, one much bigger than the one from when she had the egg. Minjoon looked at this with a surprised look. The scotch egg clearly scored higher on the system. He put more time and effort into it. But…

Rachel opened her mouth.

“The scotch egg was a bit strange. But this… Is nothing short of art.”