Chapter 423: Sowing Weed Seeds (4)
‘The combination of the dishes is perfect.’
In fact, Min-joon didn’t think the combination itself was difficult. It was difficult to bring out the individual taste of each dish while matching various dishes with each other, but it was not so tricky to perfectly fit the combination itself.
The real problem was each individual dish. The specific recipe he came up with for now was just one, namely a dish that could be called rib bourguignon, somewhere between braised short ribs and beef bourguignon. What Min-joon and Kaya decided to do with this dish was to bring out the richness and saltiness of the soy sauce rather than its sweetness. So, they had to be very careful in choosing soy sauce. They didn’t put lots of sugar in it, which was the usual case with typical short braised ribs. And all of that was for the fish dish that Min-joon had in mind, namely, deep-fried sea bass seasoned with a sweet and sour sauce with fruit jam on top then accompanied by fruit paste or jelly used in the jam. This was a dish that clearly revealed his preference, who liked to make fruit-related sauces most.
“Well, it’s rather ambiguous to call this a Korean dish,” said Kaya.
“Honestly, it’s close to Chinese food. By the way, we are not supposed to make a Korean dish from the beginning, right?” asked Min-joon.
“That’s right. I’m not saying I don’t like it. I think it’s good because it shows your taste. I think a chef’s own stamp on a dish is good. It’s more fun than you think,” she said.
“You will find this combination itself much more fun than my own taste,” he replied.
Asian people might not be able to realize it well. They might ask if it was important to have a good harmony of Korean, Chinese, and Japanese dishes. But this wasn’t that common of a combination. Even when fusion cuisine was in vogue, chefs in Korea tried to mix Korean food with Western food instead of Chinese or Japanese food.
Of course, he could understand it because Asian cuisine, especially Korean, Chinese, and Japanese dishes, had a lot of similarities. So, it was more difficult to properly mix the unique taste of each other’s dishes because even most of their characteristics were the same. Of course, with Chinese spices, it would be possible to make a different combination, but the problem was that the strong spices could completely kill the Korean or Japanese taste.
Besides, fusion cuisine itself was not a dish that could appeal to people. Of course, when you go to a Western restaurant in Korea, many people didn’t even know that what they were eating was fusion cuisine since they didn’t know much about Western food.
However, it was not the same case in Korea, China, and Japan. People there had quite a bit of knowledge about Asian dishes. They knew it was a fusion, and they could feel that the taste of the fusion wasn’t familiar to them. And they often misunderstood that fusion dishes didn’t taste good.
Of course, this kind of phenomenon was common in other countries. As a result, there were not many chefs who could make fusion dishes properly. In Western-style restaurants, various dishes tended to be mixed more and more under the name of molecular cuisine and creativity in recent years, but Asians had a strong tendency to value the traditional taste of Asian food.
It was hard to start something in the beginning. If the wall of Asian fusion cuisine was torn down, people would probably say the start of all this was a whole Asian meal on one table. Min-joon and Kaya intended to enjoy that little glory in this contest.
The chef’s daily life was supposed to be thoroughly dependent on what customers felt about their dishes, from the moment they ate some dishes, that was it. An excellent chef might be cherished in their memories for the rest of their lives, and they might think of such a chef as part of their lives by being regulars at the chef’s restaurant.
But such a relationship with the customers would be at an end the moment they died. Of course, there were many jobs in the world that had the same fate as a chef, but Min-joon wanted to have something that would never disappear forever. He wanted to leave his own legacy, and he thought the only thing he could do was a recipe.
‘But this cooking project in the semi-finals is different in nature.’
The more he tried to think seriously, the more he felt pressured by the weight of the final results, namely, the moment he won would change the history of the culinary world. Of course, the results of this competition alone would not lead to dramatic changes in an instant.
It was fun. Kaya was a Westerner, and Min-joon’s specialty in cooking was Western food.
Nonetheless, they were now at the forefront of the globalization of formal Asian dinner.
Min-joon’s eyes shone sharply. The more he felt tense, the more energized he felt.
“What do you like about fruit? As I said earlier, I think oranges, strawberries, or even pineapples would be okay. What do you think?”
“As you said, fruits with moderate acidity would be nice. But when I think about it, pineapple is not good. Pineapple has a unique and strong scent. It probably kills all the taste of sea bass.”
“That would be the same for tangerines. Well, if you use moderately sweet tangerines, would it be better?”
“It should be sour only enough to remove the fishy smell and make you feel refreshed in your mouth.”
“Well, let’s think about it after tasting all the ingredients.”
“Okay.”
Min-joon and Kaya almost finished conversing when they spent almost all six hours given to them. At the same time, the judges began to take their seats. Was it because of time constraints? Only two of the judges appeared this time, namely Bastien and Norris.
Norris first opened his mouth.
“From now on, you can bring the ingredients from the pantry and start cooking. You have 72 hours. Everyone, please work harder!”
He didn’t make any other comments other than that. Min-joon wondered if he had been waiting in the venue to make such a simple announcement. When he thought that Bastien would have rather his staff member announce it, Norris and Bastien approached other pairs and spoke to them.
It was Norris who approached Kaya and Min-joon.
“I heard from our staff that you are going to make one whole meal on a table.”
“Yes, I know it’s pretty dangerous to make such a dish in France, but I want to try it.”
“I’m not asking you to criticize it. Actually, I’ve asked to cheer for you. Frenchmen are gourmets. And they are familiar with most French dishes. They can check out the delicate taste of a dish like a gourmet. Of course, it can make them narrow-minded…”
“Well, I understand because they tend to turn to familiar dishes instead of bothering to get used to a new dish.”
“That’s right. In France, you don’t get tired of enjoying various dishes because there are so many dishes of different types. But it’s time they woke up to something new, so they can enjoy not only French cuisine but also other delicious non-French dishes.”
The moment Min-joon heard Norris, he recalled the elderly in Korea. Even among the elderly in Korea, there were lots of gourmets. However, they also tended not to give much attention to anything other than Korean food. Lots of Chinese and Japanese cuisines were localized, so they tended to accept such non-Korean dishes to some extent, not to mention Western food.
“Norris?”
“Yeah.”
“We have to go get our ingredients.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’ve interrupted you.”
“You can follow us if you want.”
Min-joon and Kaya walked away, but Norris sneaked up by their side and watched how the two exchanged opinions. He didn’t bother to speak to them along the way because he was more interested in standing by them and watching how they would cook and think this time.
There were three things Norris realized after he watched them up close. First, the two cooked in a more organized way than he thought. In fact, he suspected they seemed to cook spontaneously, so he wondered if they cooked whatever they wanted to, depending on their inspiration. But they didn’t. It didn’t mean they organized their recipes in a calculated way.
Their cooking on impulse but at the same time in a calculated way. This might sound very weird, but that was what Norris felt after watching Min-joon and Kaya cooking. They didn’t even stop for a moment. He could confirm it while watching them choosing the fruit for the sweet and sour sauce of the fish dish right now. The two didn’t even decide exactly which fruit to use. But they checked out the characteristics and aging of the fruits while tasting them one by one. Using that information, they quickly put together the recipe they prepared instantly.
This was impossible for any inexperienced chef. The pair were thinking and inferring in an instant what kind of change in taste would occur, depending on the taste of each fruit, instead of looking for the taste that was most similar to what they had in mind.
Of course, any check could make such an attempt like the pair, but while listening to the pair talking to each other, Norris could see that his reasoning was not wrong at all.
And the pair’s reasoning was correct as if they were chefs who had been using the ingredients in France for decades. Their senses of taste played a decisive role in helping them cook in an improvised and calculated way.
“This is fantastic!”
Norris let out a hot breath as if he was so impressed. Just watching them prepare their dishes thrilled him as if he was watching an interesting opera.
Norris recalled what he had told them earlier. In other words, they could change the narrow-minded perception of the French gourmets. He initially said it half-jokingly because their challenge itself was beautiful, regardless of the outcomes. However, given the way Min-joon and Kaya were cooking up to now, he thought the pair might make a dish that would really make the Frenchmen have a crush on their dishes.
‘Frenchmen and one whole meal on one table…’
In fact, Norris thought the French people would never see anything like one whole meal on one table during their lives, given the long tradition of a full course in France. Besides, the French were very obsessed with the full course. In other Western countries, there was a food culture in which they placed several dishes on the table at once and ate them little by little, but in France, they emphasized a course meal even at home.
Of course, their practices like that could not be called bad. Such stubbornness helped the Frenchmen keep their tradition, developed their food industry, and made France the country that developed the best food culture in the world.
However, Norris thought that the Min-joon pair might make a dish that would break the French people’s stubborn attitude toward their food.
Norris asked Min-joon and Kaya, “Why did you two participate in this competition?”
“Why are you asking that out of the blue?”
“Well, I suddenly got curious because it seemed to me you had no interest in winning the contest at all. If you really wanted to win, I don’t think you had one whole meal on one table unless you’re really confident.”
“Well, we are interested in winning in terms of the prize money and other great benefits. How can’t we?”
“But you didn’t come here to win the contest, right?”
“Well, we just wanted to challenge ourselves. This contest is the most magnificent feast held in France, the center of Western gastronomy. So, we want to…”
“So, you want to be part of it, right?”
Min-joon turned to Kaya at that moment. She shook her head.
She asked, looking at Norris, “Norris, what do you want to do when you see the blocks stacked incredibly well?”
“Well? Take a picture of that?”
“No, I’m going to break it.”
Norris was at a loss, not knowing how to respond at that moment.
She said in a low voice, “Because I can stack the blocks again by myself only when I break them.”