Chapter 542: Unexpected Twist (10)
While the head chefs were squabbling childishly, the cameramen captured the serious looks of Min-joon and Rachel as well as possible. They were really surprised to find that no matter how competent and talented he was, Min-joon seemed comfortable and relaxed while evaluating his senior chefs here.
Maybe Min-joon might have been influenced by Choters Guide. To prepare and compile the guide, he evaluated almost all of the big chefs in and around New York. So, he didn’t get cold feet at all when he was tasked with evaluating his seniors at the compet.i.tion this time.
As a result, they could not help but think like Daisy that it would have been much better if he had partic.i.p.ated in this compet.i.tion.
At that moment, one of the reporters murmured, “Why does Rachel try to choose her successor right now? It looks like Min-joon is too precious for her to give him up at this point.”
“You bet. There were lots of rumors that she had him in mind as her successor. Of course, it’s symbolically meaningful that she has him as a judge of this compet.i.tion, but at the end of the day, isn’t her successor who laps up the cream?”
“Well, I think Rachel has a plan,” said Angela.
Without even giving a glance to her fellow reporters, she looked at Rachel and Min-joon.
Then she said, “Just like you said, he is too precious for her to use him as a judge alone.”
“Did you hear anything about him?” another reporter asked Angela.
“I’m just guessing. It’s my very basic and reasonable guess that Rachel won’t end up making him the mascot of this compet.i.tion.”
While she was thinking so, Angela also felt maybe his role as a judge at this point was more than enough. Standing on that platform and evaluating his seniors, he looked so awesome that he seemed to be in a different world. She felt when others moved only one step, he took ten steps.
So, she muttered unwittingly, “Maybe this compet.i.tion itself is a means of proving himself to the world.”
Her fellow reporters burst into laughter at her words. It was natural that they laughed because it was too absurd for Rachel to host this compet.i.tion to publicize and show off Min-joon to the outside world.
However, Angela looked puzzled, watching her fellow reporters who began to question Rachel’s intentions. She could not understand why they laughed.
She asked one of the reporters, “Do you think what I’ve said is ridiculous?”
“Do you really think so?”
“Of course, I don’t believe it 100%. I don’t think it’s too costly and wasteful for her to have this event just to promote Min-joon only.”
“What do you mean?”
“But I think she might regard his role as a judge as something like her secondary purpose.”
If her purpose was to publicize and market Min-joon’s name, she could think of hundreds of ways to do so instead of hosting this kind of compet.i.tion. But she might have judged that this compet.i.tion would achieve her dual purpose of benefiting the partic.i.p.ants here and growing Min-joon further at the same time.
The purpose of this compet.i.tion was to decide on Rachel’s successor as well as the head of Rose Island. In that respect, it was perfect to draw people’s attention.
“In any case, people will have no choice but to give Min-joon the most attention on this occasion. That’s natural. The head chefs at each branch will get attention for only one day, but as you know, he will continue to serve as a judge throughout the contest, so the cameramen will focus on him accordingly. They will capture and show everybody every single word he says and every single dish he a.n.a.lyzes.”
“So, you think that alone will make a big issue?”
“Let’s wait and see,” Angela replied with a confident expression.
Since she watched Min-joon for a long time, she believed that he would make the news in this event, whatever it was. In her eyes, he was a superb chef destined to draw everybody’s attention because of his innate cooking abilities.
After the dish with scallops and Iberico ham was served, a sorbet came out as the aftertaste.
It was an ordinary sherbet, but not ordinary. Vanilla and banana, plus sorbet with corn emulsion. Considering that the sorbet that came out between courses generally rinses the mouth with a sour and refres.h.i.+ng taste, few could say that the sweet and savory harmony of this sorbet was the way to go.
Why did Deborah make this? Why didn’t she bring out its sour taste? Was there any effect that she wanted through that combination? Numerous questions came to his mind. It seemed like he could find all the answers with a little more attention, but he deliberately decided not to delve into it. He didn’t want to try it after finding the answer first. He just wanted to seek the answer, only relying on his tongue without knowing anything.
When he put the sorbet in his mouth a little later, he had no choice but to be grateful for his decision not to seek the answer.
“Yeah, this tastes good,” he muttered in a low voice.
Rachel smiled at him. Although she took him here to do the job as a judge, he was enjoying the food rather than judging, but she didn’t feel bad about it. In fact, what she expected of him was not just to evaluate the partic.i.p.ants, but to feel for their dishes as well. She believed that what made him the happiest would be the best dish.
“I feel great.”
So, Rachel chimed in quietly. But the cameramen who were shooting the scenes were a little frustrated. They hoped the judges could evaluate Deborah’s cooking a little longer, but the two judges just commented briefly. Although this event was not for broadcasting at the moment, they wanted the two judges to create some dramatic scenes to make this compet.i.tion an issue.
As if he noticed their frustration, Min-joon said, “Maybe those who are just watching this scene won’t be impressed with the dish here, but I want to tell you this. I have no other choice but to say that each and every dish of Deborah’s dishes is perfect, but this sherbet, in particular, has impressed and thrilled me so much.”
Having said that, he caught his breath for a moment. He wondered how much they could understand the value of this sherbet after hearing what he just said, but it was up to them. On his part, he had to do his job as a judge today because he was there to judge, evaluate and recognize them. This compet.i.tion was like a challenge where their cooking career was at stake.
Could they easily overcome that challenge?
“When I ate this sorbet, I felt it was incredibly sweet. But it wasn’t long before I knew that this sorbet itself wasn’t so sweet.”
He even wondered if the sorbet used the least amount of sugar ever. However, the reason why he felt it tasted so sweet was simple. It was because the lingering aftertaste of the previous dish marked by the salty taste of ham and the savory taste of scallops brought out the sorbet’s sweetness more clearly. It meant that Deborah mastered how to cook a lot smarter than before. It meant that she could compose a much more strategic dish. And it meant she could take one step further in creating and composing her recipes.
Min-joon did not try to explain all of that. It didn’t matter to them even if he told them she improved her cooking skills a lot better than before. He did his best to convey a little more clearly the impression and feelings that he got after trying the sorbet.
He said, “It’s the first time I realized that banana and vanilla essence and their intrinsic taste could be so sweet. Maybe if you just bought sorbets at an ice cream shop along the road, you wouldn’t feel this kind of taste. But I could feel it only after I tasted the scallops and ham dish. Yeah, it was really delicious.”
“Thanks,” Deborah replied.
“Good job!”
Deborah was choked with tears when he praised her cooking. Was it because she had been longing for such recognition? She turned her head back to the kitchen, holding back the urge to break into tears. She knew she was not done yet. She had to prepare more courses such as middle course, main course, and desserts.
What she served as a middle course was a cod dish served with mushrooms and cauliflower. When he dipped the cod seasoned with a sauce made from a mixture of soy sauce, brown sauce, and beef stock in a transparent celery puree, he kept putting it in his mouth, forgetting he was already full.
What came out as the final course was simple. It was a duck dish made with Moroccan spices mixed with rhubarb gra.s.s, turnips, and yogurt. The combination of fat-rich duck meat in a sauce made from steamed wheat and a mixture of herbs was not unfamiliar to him, but it had a taste that would surprise everyone who tried it.
Was it because of that? By the time they had desserts, not only Min-joon and Rachel, but all the head chefs made a surprised expression, at a loss what to do. The reason why Deborah wanted to get dishes evaluated first was because she wanted to do her homework as soon as possible and forget about it, but the dishes she served were really a game-changer that surprised everybody including Min-joon and Rachel.