Chapter 568: Cogwheels (3)
So, Peter wanted to take revenge on them. He wanted to take revenge on those who tended to look at him with prejudices. He wanted to kick the a.s.s of those who used to criticize him, using half-baked prejudices and the tacit silence of the majority. He wanted to teach them how vulgar and low their unfounded criticism was back then.
‘Yea, that’s enough.’
Back then, he could not make his life beautiful or s.h.i.+ne anymore. He couldn’t even s.h.i.+ne. He could no longer pursue the path that people admired and respected.
So he thought hard about his options. Since he was not smart, he had to go back and forth between his ideal and reality over and over again to find the best he could choose.
And finally, he found the answer, namely, revenge. He could no longer break free from the bondage of losers. He could not shake off the image of an idiot. If that was the case, he would bring those who criticized him into the same fence rather than trying to get out of it. He wanted to show them that the yoke they put on him had been put on them for a long time.
He was no longer afraid of how people looked at him because he realized how vulgar the way they perceived him. He was already too tired to be swayed by their misguided and vile perceptions and prejudices.
“Alright. I look forward to your great cooking, Peter,” Min-joon said calmly then pa.s.sed by him. Peter bit his lips. He didn’t like Min-joon. But as much as he hated Min-joon, he envied and respected this great chef from Korea. He even felt Min-joon’s calm att.i.tude was cool. Even though he had hard times because of Min-joon’s tough standard, he had absolute respect for this great giant.
‘But…’
Peter tightened his grip on the knife again.
The chef that Min-joon headed for after pa.s.sing by Peter was Michael Ohr. Actually, Min-joon was interested in him a lot just like others. He could be so eccentric as to be ranked first among all the chefs in the world. Min-joon didn’t know much about him, but he still remembered vividly the fact that using centrifuges he set up a restaurant bordering between a laboratory and a kitchen. Anyway, his eccentric actions like that were a shock to every chef.
‘In a sense, he must enjoy cooking more than anyone else in this place.’
But there was something ambiguous as far as his cooking was concerned. Even Min-joon was not sure whether he enjoyed cooking or experimenting.
He remembered what Michael once told him.
‘Cooking and science are inseparable. Even when people say food is all about the taste of the hands, there is actually a scientific principle in it.’
Of course, Min-joon did not deny it. Small or big, cooking was something that could not escape the laws of science, after all. In fact, they cooked in this world, so how could they escape from science, the law of the world?
“Oh, Min-joon, welcome!” Michael said with a smile when he saw Min-joon.
There was no sign of tension in his expression. It was natural that he looked so relaxed because he didn’t care if he would win this compet.i.tion or not.
Joseph once said that there were some chefs who partic.i.p.ated in this compet.i.tion to make some good memories. For those with such a mindset, winning was not a priority. Michael was the one who partic.i.p.ated in this compet.i.tion to make beautiful memories. At the same time, he was the one who would win this contest with a higher probability than anyone else.
‘Well, this guy is a cooking monster in a different league from Kaya.’
Min-joon looked at Michael’s stats.
[Michael Ohr]
Cooking Level: 7
Baking Level: 7
Gastronomic Level: 9
Decoration Level: 3
His stats were more than enough to win the Grand Chef compet.i.tion because he didn’t lag behind Anderson at all. The only area he was markedly lacking in was his decoration level.
As a matter of fact, his plating was the worst. More precisely, ‘worst’ was not enough to describe it. Wasn’t the physicist able to express his emotions? He was terribly insensitive to things like plating and decorations, which didn’t change until the end of this contest. In some respects, it was not something he could fix. And that was one of the reasons people looked down on Michael. He liked trying to make new dishes in a weird way, but such dishes always looked shallow and ugly. Nevertheless, the chefs who knew him reacted favorably.
So, they just thought Michael could cook well, and his dishes were delicious enough. But Michael was not content with cooking alone. Delicious enough? In fact, he was the one who advanced to the finals and beat Gwen at the Grand Chef compet.i.tion where the judges took into account the chefs’ plating when they evaluated the partic.i.p.ants’ dishes.
In other words, it was very clear that his dish was overwhelming enough to beat Gwen’s, so much so that it made up for the points that his bad plating took off.
‘Yeah, he’s a genius…’
He was just a genius, not a genius in cooking, in that he instantly understood anything he liked and interpreted all the principles there were.
Ordinary people think that cooking was in the emotional and unquantifiable realm, but Michael was able to quantify even these things.
“You look really relaxed. Aren’t you nervous?”
“Ah, I’m more nervous than anybody else here. I get more nervous when I stand in front of students. What’s more, I am not a professional chef,” said Michael, giggling at him. There was a strong curiosity in his eyes. When Michael looked at him with an inquisitive att.i.tude, Min-joon said calmly, “Can you briefly explain what kind of dish you’re going to make?”
“Ummm… Well, I’m going to make a simple j.a.panese meal.”
“If you say j.a.panese cuisine, isn’t it too general?”
“Ah, that makes sense. Well, I don’t know what to call it. Calling it tataki is a bit awkward, but it isn’t correct to call it something grilled.”
“It looks like you want to cook it tender.”
“Yes. The only thing that bothers me is I don’t have enough time to marinate it. Well, let me try anyway. I think it’s enough if I marinate it for 40 minutes. By the way, can I ask you something? ”
“What?”
“You know what? I really thought that there was n.o.body who had a perfect palate. But I was really surprised to know as a judge of this compet.i.tion that you have a perfect palate. I am really curious to know about your perfect palate and how it works.”
Min-joon smiled at his praise.
“Well, it looks like you want to judge my cuisine. Your expression is interesting.”
“Does it mean you want to show it to me?”
“Nope. I don’t think I can show it to you until you become my judge.”
“Hmm…”
Michael lowered his head with a sullen expression. He felt it quite refres.h.i.+ng to see a man whose face already began to have wrinkles expressing his feelings to others so transparently like a child.
Min-joon watched him cooking mackerel. Perhaps he was thinking of grilling only the skin of the mackerel to bring out the proper taste of its sas.h.i.+mi and grilled flesh.
‘It must be quite difficult.’
If Michael could not properly control the heat, he might overcook or undercook it. When he mentioned tataki, he seemed intent to cook it well instead of cooking it slightly.
Min-joon looked at the sauce with which Michael was marinating the flesh of the mackerel. Judging by its color, it seemed that Michael wanted to bring out the taste of the flesh with the soy sauce, vinegar, and fruit juice.
‘Alright. This can get rid of the fishy smell to some extent.’
Of course, he could not know more than that. Maybe he could know better when Michael came up with the finished dish.
Min-joon now started to look around the other partic.i.p.ants. He naturally found himself frowning at them, unlike the four chefs including Michael that he already met, because of their poor cooking.
“Oh my G.o.d… Have you never cooked fish?”
“Not really, but let me try as best as I can.”
“Focus on removing the fishy smell the most. Winning this compet.i.tion depends on it.”
“Can’t you see the guts of the mackerel?”
“Oh, I see. I’m going to rinse it right away,”
“Well, you don’t have to. I’m not going to try it anyway. Why don’t you bring a new mackerel instead of using it? Is there any reason why you want to use it? Don’t you think you’re overconfident?”
“How many cold mackerel are you going to serve us if you already start roasting them? You are not doing this to make canned mackerels.”
“Right now, you are saying you intend to cook it by all means, but you are not doing anything, Diana. You have given up, but you still pretend to try your best, right?”
Min-joon looked around them, pointing out their soft spots one by one. He could understand their cooking skills were lacking. It wasn’t their fault that they couldn’t overcome their mediocre skills, but he could not accept their selfish att.i.tude, who seemed obsessed with satisfying their own greed even when they knew clearly that their poor cooking skills would definitely disappoint the customers. Watching him criticizing them fiercely, Joseph looked at Kaya and said, “Man, Min-joon has got the devil of a temper! He’s so aggressive.”
Kaya replied, “Well, I’ve trained him well.”