He tried paprika jelly with mushroom puree first because he felt that eating something with a strong scent like carpaccio first would disturb his taste when he tried something else. Then he just grabbed the fork tightly. Its cooking score was 9. Putting aside its recipe that flashed in his mind, he was struggling to feel its taste.
He felt like he was dreaming when he tasted it. It just didn’t mean it tasted fantastic. When he tested it, it was obviously delicious, good, and made him feel happy, but when he tried to retrace what it tasted like, he couldn’t remember it at all. So much so that he just turned to cast a glance at the paprika jelly placed in front of Kaya. Of course, she put the jelly right into her mouth after quickly noticing his glance.
“Man, there is a reason why they call Rachel a living legend…”
It was just one bite that made Kaya, who was tricky and fastidious, admit Rachel was the best chef. She didn’t have to eat the whole amuse-bouche.
As soon as the two ate the dish, they had no choice but to feel something they had never seen before. The cooking score was 9, but its taste was much more overwhelming than a 10-point dish.
The puree Rachel made with a simple composition showed the best of her cooking know-how through years of experience. So, they felt like they were overwhelmed by the softness of the puree itself. They wondered if they could find any other puree that could be as soft as this one, which made them realize that the cooking skills they knew until that moment had a way to go.
In particular, when Min-joon put the lobster mousse in his mouth, he was forced to be shocked. It’s a recipe that he saw countless times when Janet was making it right next to him, but it was the first time he ate it as a customer, not as a chef. And I had no choice but to feel that Rachel who he saw as a chef was definitely a great chef. But when he saw her as a customer, she was even greater.
‘Do I want to find fault with her dish?’
Min-joon once again realized how arrogant and empty that question was. He reached cooking level 8, and his gastronomic level was 9. People recognized his cooking skills and won the Paris International Culinary Competition. So, he might have thought it would not be long for him to catch up with her, and he caught up with her a lot by now. But he was made to look back at himself and the stern fact that he didn’t yet increase his cooking level by one more. In other words, he had to admit he was far behind her.
Before he went into the Rose Island main restaurant, he reassured himself that he would not be nervous, but he had to take back his reassurances like that. He was nervous now, and he had no choice but to be nervous. He just got used to her presence because he used to be around her all the time until some time ago, but as a matter of fact, she was a giant chef that he could not get used to.
So, when he finished trying the amuse-bouche, his face looked ten years older than before. As a matter of fact, he could not get a sense of how to point out the problem of the dish. All he could was just heap praise on it.
At that moment, he looked at Kaya, but he was forced to make a puzzled expression. Kaya was just happily enjoying these dishes right now. It seemed that she wasn’t afraid of evaluating Rachel’s dish at all.
At last, he asked, “Is it okay?”
“What are you talking about? Food? Of course, it’s okay. Yeah, it’s great. How about you? You don’t think so?”
“Oh, it’s great. That’s why I’m worried. I just don’t know what I should point out.”
“Gosh, you idiot! Why are you worried about it? If you feel her dish is great, that’s it. You don’t have to point out anything. You should point out when you feel something strange about the dish. If you want to evaluate the dish in your frame of mind, you are already trying to find fault with it, not evaluating it. Got it?”
He just shut up at her sharp rebuke. She was right. If he only focused on pointing out the shortcomings of the dish, he might not be able to taste the essence of the dish from the start.
“What if we can’t find anything lacking when we’re done?”
“Well, you just have to admit it as it is. By the way, we need to edit our conversation. It’s so funny that I’m afraid I can’t post it in Choters Guide.”
“I guess so…”
Min-joon could understand her feelings. He even thought her attitude was more desirable than his now. But that wouldn’t solve his question. So, he had to find out which part of Rachel’s dish was not as good as Daniel’s.
‘Can’t I figure it out at my current gastronomic level of 9?’
In fact, he was not sure if he really understood Daniel’s dishes well because there must be a huge difference between what he saw and felt from Daniel’s recipes now and what he would see and feel later when he grew further.
But he couldn’t give up evaluating her dishes and had no intention of doing so because if he gave up now, he would give up Rachel, not his stubbornness.
He couldn’t leave Rachel as she was right now. Then I had to do the most basic thing first. Apart from finding the shortcomings in her cuisine, he had to fully understand how she made the dish and how she brought out its taste, namely the most basic stuff about her cuisine.
‘Daniel, what would you have done…?’
Min-joon recalled Daniel’s notes and thoughts in his cooking journal one by one. He recalled the point of view Daniel had in cooking, which was different from, and higher than his point of view.
Hemp cream soup with spinach oil and anchovy cream pastry was placed in front of him now. There were breadsticks made from paprika and parmesan, as well as sweet potato chips. He picked up the sweet potato chip and dipped it into the cream soup. And he took it to his tongue.
‘I have no perfect palate now and I won’t in the future,’ he thought.
But that’s why he had to take full control of his tongue right now. He had to accept the sensation of touching through his tongue without missing anything, small or big. He had to feel the ingredients that made up the taste, and perfectly at that.
Was it because he gave it such a serious thought and focused on it? He clearly felt the unique scent of sweet potatoes remaining in the dried sweet potato was holding on to the taste of the hemp and spinach. The moment of the tastes mixing slowly passed through his brain just like a never-ending film. Although it was at the end of the whole process, he finally saw it.
[The possibility of obtaining gastronomic level 10 is determined the moment you are born. Since you have peeked into it already, you have already obtained the possibility of getting it.]
[You have realized the first and last conditions for achieving gastronomic level 10.]
[Feel cooking with all your senses.]
[The condition of gastronomic level 10 is ‘perfect.’]
“Perfect…”
When Min-joon murmured before he knew it., Kaya asked, “What’s perfect? Soup? Or going well with chips?”
“Both…”
He answered her question roughly, then read out the message again that appeared before his eyes. Perfect. The conditions that he needed to reach the gastronomic level 10 was extremely simple, namely being perfect.
‘Well, it’s easier said than done…’
He suddenly felt empty. He needed to meet only one condition to reach gastronomic level 10, but that condition was not just one. In fact, it was more difficult than a few hundred conditions. Requiring him to be perfect meant that he should be able to reach a stage where he could meet all the possible conditions.
He looked at Kaya. He has always known that Kaya’s gastronomic level 10 was great. Nobody he had ever seen reached the gastronomic level 10 except for her.
Only now did he realize the weight of that little number 10. He became convinced that what he thought about gastronomic level 10 was true. In other words, gastronomic level 10 was not available to anybody. It was not something they could obtain by trying hard. Only when they got the right mix of luck, talent, and other things could they reach that level.
Who the hell is this woman Kaya who has reached that level even before turning 20?
“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Well, because you are enjoying the dish well.”
“I haven’t gained weight!”
“Hey, don’t change the topic! I didn’t ask you that,” he said, smiling at her as if he didn’t expect such a reply.