Chapter 327: Their Counterattack (2)
When she said that unexpectedly, Anderson remained silent and turned to her.
She glanced at him then blew her lips with a weary look.
“Don’t think about something weird. I’m not talking about that accident.”
“Okay. So, how are you going to cause trouble?”
“First of all, we have to admit first before doing it.”
Janet held up the empty gla.s.s. She was about to turn to the bartender for another gla.s.s when he put his hand on her cup.
“If you want to have a conversation with me, stop drinking anymore. If you drink more, you’re going to ramble. You’re already rumbling now.”
“What a cold-hearted guy you are…”
She glanced at Anderson with a resentful expression then fell down on the table.
She murmured as if she fell asleep, “Who’s in front of you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I see Chef Rachel. Also, Chef June, Raphael, and Min-joon… Yeah, I see that guy, too. And all the chefs who boasted before me until now. I would like to surpa.s.s all of them. I want to prove that I can surpa.s.s them, and I’ve already surpa.s.sed some of them.”
“What do you think about Min-joon? Do you think you can surpa.s.s him, too? Or have you already surpa.s.sed him?”
“Well, I’m more curious about your opinion than mine. You are very close to Min-joon, right?”
When she said that, Anderson took his palm off her cup. When she put a piece of ice in her mouth and chewed it, he quietly took his gla.s.s to his mouth. He didn’t open his mouth for some time, but she didn’t push him.
Eventually, he opened his mouth again, “Min-joon is a weird guy.”
“I know.”
“I’m not just talking about him as a man. His cooking, his approach to food and his recipes, etc. Something is not adding up about his cooking. I don’t really feel inferior to him, but sometimes, when I look at the recipe he develops…”
“You want to say you don’t inspire as well as him, right?”
“I don’t know how to interpret the lack of inspiration on my end. If I am not as competent or lucky as him, that’s fine. But if I’m not as talented as him…”
The moment he tried to take the gla.s.s back to his mouth, she took the gla.s.s from him and waved it before his eyes.
“I think you’re grumbling more than me. Isn’t it time you stopped drinking?”
“Good point,” he said with a sullen expression.
She smiled at him then burst into laughter suddenly. Even before he got mad, he was watching her, embarra.s.sed. Stopping after a hearty laugh, she said, catching her breath, “It’s so funny. It’s good to know you, and we are almost in the same boat.”
“But I’m not always complaining about things around me like you, Janet.”
“Really? People who know us say you and I are in the same boat. Do you hate yourself”
“I don’t want to answer that.”
Janet grinned at him then said, staring at the melting ice in the gla.s.s, “Yeah. Min-joon is good as our short-term goal. Then, what should we make up for? What are we lacking, compared to him?”
“Popularity, sense of taste, and the results.”
“As for his popularity, we can’t do anything about it. As for the sense of taste, we can’t do anything, either. After all, we have to develop a dish that everybody can’t help but like, some dish that is widely popular among the people.”
“How?”
She looked at him. He opened then closed his lips. There was some hesitation on his face, but it didn’t take long for him to nod at her.
***
The day after the party, Rachel’s food truck was closed for the day, so her staff was taking a break. But Min-joon couldn’t afford to feel relaxed. Watching him filter out the cheese and broth melted at room temperature with a coffee filter and put them in the refrigerator, Maya muttered, “The process itself is pretty simple, chef.”
“Yeah, as for air foam kit, you can just add lecithin to cool it before blending, and you can cook the broth and cheese for the foam at low temperature then mix and put them in a siphon. But it’s not that simple. There are not many who have a siphon gun. Even if you are interested in cooking, it’s hard for you to actually have it.”
“Well, general restaurants can use it more widely thanks to the wide supplies of cheap siphon guys for industrial use. So, please take solace in it.”
While comforting him, Maya clicked her tongue deep down. She was touched by his deep considerations for the restaurant customers, which might be called a chef’s instinct, but his desire for it was too strong.
‘Those who don’t know him might carelessly comment that Chef Min-joon has a good personality.’
But she had a different opinion. Of course, it wasn’t that there was a flaw in his personality. However, it wasn’t from his altruistic considerations that he was caring about the customers. Basically, he did it, motivated by his desire.
Just like a football player that wanted to score a fantastic goal, Min-joon also wanted to make a dish that more people could enjoy. Maya thought that his obsession with lowering the prices of dishes was part of his efforts to put the customers’ interests first.
Anyway, his efforts produced good results. Jefferson had to put a lot of effort into drawing Min-joon’s positive response. While he was making dedicated efforts in responding to Min-joon’s demands, he developed three types of Cho Reggiano for sale in the pizza market.
The first was the completion type. Going through the process of putting it inside the square box made it relatively less beautiful, but Jefferson succeeded in wrapping it without crus.h.i.+ng the bubbles after trying it for a long time.
The second type was designed in a way that everything except foam and air was finished, in which the froth and cream to be used for foam and air and cheese powder of different aging periods were contained.
The third type was an unfinished product. Basically, it was prepared for those who couldn’t find cheese of different maturation periods, even though they had the necessary equipment and manpower to make Cho Reggiano.
‘The problem is whether these three types of Cho Reggiano can continue to generate profits…’
No matter how friendly Jefferson was to Min-joon, he wasn’t a philanthropist. If he lost money, he could not continue to make the product.
Min-joon took out the cheese for air from the refrigerator, added lecithin, and immediately added the blender. Watching the bubbles rise beautifully, Maya muttered ecstatically, “At first, I didn’t want to do molecular cooking very much, but it seems really pretty and fun.”
“You didn’t mention one thing. It tastes good.”
“You bet!”
While she was giggling, he took out the ingredients for the foam, put them in the siphon gun, and started shaking it. Nitrogen gas instantly froze the cheese, and a moment later when the contents came out, the perfect cream lay on the plate.
“Well, I don’t think I can make a better dessert than this in my life as a chef.”
“I don’t know if you are praising me or swearing at me.”
“Absolutely, I’m praising you. You have made a dish that even you can’t overcome, and you have created something that goes beyond your limits. Your recipe doesn’t disappear, right? So, you can enjoy it during your lifetime.”
“Well, it depends on how you interpret it. Where are the kids?”
“Wait a minute. I’ll bring them here.”
Having said that, she stepped out to the front door. Shortly afterward, he felt something strange. He heard her opening the door, but he didn’t hear her footsteps. Rather, he heard her moaning, startled, “Oops… chef!”
Wondering who it was, he also turned and even he was astonished. Chef June was there!
Smiling gently, June said to Maya, “I stopped by on my way to see Chef Rachel. I would like to talk with you, Min-joon. Is it okay with you?”
“Oh, sure! Oh, I’m not in a position to say yes, but Chef Min-joon will gladly see you… Please come in!”
While rumbling a bit, she realized that she let June in without asking for Min-joon’s permission and hurriedly stepped aside.
June pa.s.sed Maya, expressing grat.i.tude to her in a soft voice. Then she approached Min-joon. He stood up awkwardly, looking at Maya.
“Aren’t you tired? It was a pretty loud night yesterday.”
“Fatigue is a cook’s lifelong friend. Please have a seat. Would you like to have some?”
“Have you made it in person?”
“Well, about half of it. I made foam and air and put them on it by myself, and fruit galettes and other things are finished products.”
His cooking score was 8. In the case of a finished product that had foam and air, the cooking score was 7. However, it was hard for him to bring out the taste he wanted with these ingredients alone.
“Cho Reggiano… This is that famous dish you have developed. This dish enjoys such popularity among customers that even Chef Rachel can’t obtain.”
“I was lucky.”
“Well, you can be lucky when you are competent enough. If you are not, you will soon reveal the limits of your skills even if you are lucky.”
“Would you like some?”
“Thank you. I was really curious about it.”
June didn’t decline his offer then received a fork right away. The way she crushed the galette, dipped the souffle, foam, air, and sauce, looked quite unfamiliar to Min-joon, for his impression of her was always cold and strict.
But June was now just one chef who paid all attention to the dessert in front of her.
Watching her, he felt like he could understand her.
She looked at the Cho Reggiano silently then opened her mouth.
“Last time, when I tried it at a local restaurant, I was quite surprised, but I was even more surprised to eat it as a product. The quality of this factory product is amazing. I just wonder if you gave them any advice on the process of making Cho Reggianon at the factory.”
“Yes, I did because I wanted to bring better taste out of this.”
She looked into his eyes. She had a rough idea of what kind of world would be reflected in his dark, but bright brown eyes because she had met all kinds of chefs.
“I’ve come here to apologize to you today,” said June.
“Pardon? Why are you apologizing to me?”
“I heard what Jenin told you yesterday.”
“Ah…”
He nodded, as if he understood, and shook his head again.
He said, “You don’t have to apologize to me about it. I rather respect you. The fact that there is somebody who values you so much like that means that you have won over his or her heart completely.”
“Anyway, I think what Jenin told you was rude. I don’t want to be a villain who uses all kinds of tricks in this compet.i.tion, which actually doesn’t look like a compet.i.tion. The villain doesn’t get good results at the end of the day, as you know. In fact, I’ve got a lot of handicaps, so I can’t afford to be a bad guy.”
Min-joon didn’t answer because she made the remarks on the a.s.sumption that she now treated him as her rival. But she immediately noticed what made him uncomfortable.
Reading his mind casually, she said, “I wanted to know what kind of person you are or whether you are interested in competing with me at all. I’m sorry to tell this to you, a demi chef, who just started in this cuisine world. I imagined having a conversation like this with Dave, but I’ve never thought I would talk with a demi chef like you like this. I’m stupid, ain’t I?