God of Cooking

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Footsteps (2)

A dessert. Cho Min Joon wouldn’t have been nervous about anything else. He knew he had to go through it at least once.

But if this was before, he would have felt disappointed but not now. He wasn’t confident just because his gourmet baking level increased to 5. After all, not all desserts were made from breadmaking.

‘… Let’s do this.’

Cho Min Joon checked the system. What he was thinking of was a dessert he ate at Rose Island. Aside from the chocolate pastry, they were all 8 points, and that also meant Cho Min Joon had all of the recipes.

Of course, having the recipe didn’t mean he could make them, but he was confident he could imitate it closely. The dish with sudachi curd, green apple jelly, and roasted cashews.

After he returned from the restaurant, Cho Min Joon tried to imitate all of the dishes besides the molecular gastronomy, and the one he could imitate the best was this one. He tried it just yesterday, and he managed to get 7 points.

The only difference was the time. Cho Min Joon looked at Joseph’s lips with anxiousness, but it wasn’t Joseph, but Emily who spoke next, “You can pick from two things. One takes 1 hour while the other one takes 2 hours, but if you make something that only takes 1 hour in 2 hours, your score will suffer. Please utilize your time wisely to make the best dessert. Also…”

Emily stopped. She then continued with a serious look on her face, “Two contestants will be disqualified from this round. One from the 1 hour and one from the 2 hours. Those two contestants won’t get a second chance, so please pick wisely. We’ll give you 10 minutes. If you choose 1 hour, please go to the right cooking stations, and if you choose 2 hours, please go to the left.”

Cho Min Joon had no choice but to pick 2 hours. If he was going to make proper jelly, he needed that much time, but Marco was unexpected. Although his specialty was baking, he chose the 1 hour side. Kaya, Chloe, Hugo, and Peter also chose 1 hour.

There was a total of 5 contestants while 6 contestants picked 2 hours. Cho Min Joon, Joanne, Ivanna, and three other contestants. Cho Min Joon glanced at the others, and the one his eyes were fixed on was a black woman named Sasha. She was 5 years older than him. She was thin and had a nice personality, but Cho Min Joon had never noticed her before. She sometimes came over to ask for scores, but other than that, they didn’t hang out much, but that changed a few days back.

[Sasha Cane]

Cooking Level: 7

Breadmaking Level: 7

Gourmet Tasting Level: 6

Decoration Level: 5

The only ones with level 7 in breadmaking were Marco and Anderson. That was the case until a few days ago. Perhaps, it was until a few weeks back. It wasn’t like Cho Min Joon went around checking scores, but it was two days ago when he noticed a change in Sasha.

Two days back, Sasha brought a carrot pound cake for him to score, but something was off. 8 points. He was so surprised that he checked her level, and her level was higher than before.

‘… I can’t believe she improved during the competition, but then again, so did I.’

He couldn’t congratulate her comfortably. After all, she was becoming his competition.

Cho Min Joon looked at his stats in disappointment. He didn’t know if his levels could improve anymore. To be more exact, he was looking at his cooking level. All of his stats increased a level since he came to America, but his cooking level was still the same. Of course, since it was the most important level, it was higher to increase, but he couldn’t help but feel greedy.

‘Will my skills improve when my level increases? Or is it the other way around?’

He always wondered about this, but there was no one to answer him. When his cooking level increased to 6, it wasn’t when he was cooking, but it was while he was eating Lucas’ wife, Jane’s cooking. Perhaps, it was because his knowledge of food increased.

That was what happened. When he tried real American cooking for the first time, he realized what it was all about. His awareness broadened.

‘In that case, the three-star meal should’ve been enough to do something.’

But it wasn’t his cooking level, but his gourmet tasting level that increased. He was sad, but nothing could be done. Level 7. It was the same level as Kaya, Anderson, and Chloe, and trying to make that level increase higher would have been shameless. At that moment, Allan said,

“It looks like everyone has chosen. Remember that this mission is for desserts. Please make a dessert that people will throw up just so they could eat it if they’re too full. Those who picked 1 hour will start cooking an hour later. Please watch until then. Okay, let’s begin. Bring the ingredients!”

Cho Min Joon began moving. He wasn’t going to get all the ingredients at once. He wanted to prepare the green apple jelly as soon as possible. He could do a lot of things while it was boiling, so he was going to bring the rest later.

What he brought first was sugar, apple, caramel, and pectin. When he made jelly with Jessie when he first came to America, they didn’t have any pectin, so they used the ingredients on the peel, but there was no need for that if he had pectin.

Usually, two ingredients were used to make jelly. Gelatin and pectin. Many people made jelly with cornmeal, but that caused the jelly to be too thick.

The difference between gelatin and pectin was simple. Gelatin was made of collagen from animals while pectin came from mandarin peels and apples, and the flavors were also different. Jelly made of collagen tended to be more firm but tasted bland, while those made with pectin were less durable with a stronger flavor.

He didn’t have time to decide between gelatin and pectin. After all, the jelly he ate at Rose Island used Pectin. There were clear footsteps in front of his feet. Those of great dessert makers. In that case, he just had to follow in their footsteps.

After cutting up the apples in wedges, he put it in boiling water, sugar and caramel. He then headed to the pantry. He had to bring the ingredients that he didn’t gather yet. Starch, pear, cashew nut, celery, egg, and butter.

Once he got back to his spot, he checked his spot. That was when the judges approached.

“What are you making?”

“I’m going to imitate a dessert I had at Rose Island. I’m going to make starch curd and put jelly on top. I’m going to add other ingredients as well.”

“I’m not sure about that. I get that you were inspired, but this kind of recipe is all about harmony and proportion, so…”

Allan paused his criticism. His eyes shook. He stopped himself from doubting him.

“… Let me ask you a question, Min Joon. Are you able to read not only the ingredients but the proportion as well?”

“There’s a lot of information on a plate.”

Cho Min Joon responded in a calm voice. In response, Joseph looked blank. He could not only guess all the ingredients but guess the proportions, too? That was unbelievable. If Cho Min Joon could read recipes as well, they would be so surprised that hey would get angry.

“… The head chefs of all restaurants will have to keep their guards up with you.”

“Why?”

“Because you can become the best spy in the food industry.”

In response, Cho Min Joon laughed. Allan stared at Cho Min Joon for a while before he walked off. He had to see the other contestants as well. Emily opened her mouth.

“There’s one more reason why I need to get close to you now.”

“There’s no harm in a chef and food critic getting close.”

“You’re drawing boundaries again. No need to take my previous proposal seriously. You can relax.”

Emily smiled before walking off. Whether there were judges or not, what Cho Min Joon had to do remained the same. He stirred the apples so that they wouldn’t burn and then prepared the sudachi curd.

What he had to do first was clean the sudachi. He used baking soda and water to rub the sudachi until it bubbled up and then repeated the process with salt. After that, he just had to boil it in water for 10 seconds.

The reason why he picked raw sudachi instead of using sudachi juice was because he needed sudachi zest. After mincing the green part of the peel, Cho Min Joon cracked the eggs into a bowl. It was one sudachi to one egg. After putting a pinch of salt into the egg water, he added sugar and then added the sudachi juice. He meant to add flavor as well as the ingredients of sudachi to make the eggs creamy.

After that, Cho Min Joon checked up on the apples. The apples were very soft. When he stabbed it, he noticed that it easily fell apart. Cho Min Joon boiled the water for the sudachi curd and then mashed up the apples. After putting a filter in another bowl and pouring apple juice on top, the strong apple and sugar scent burnt his nose, and the heat wasn’t so pleasant either.

He carefully tied the top of the filter and then waited for the apple juice to filter out. If he wrung it out, the inner contents were bound to come out. In order to make the flavor as clean as possible, he had to wait for the juice to filter on its own.

After that, he just had to boil it down with pectin powder and then put it in the fridge, and while the juice was boiling down, it was time to work on the sudachi curd. Cho Min Joon added the prepared eggs and sudachi water into the boiling pot in order to warm them. If the temperature was too high, the egg could just cook completely, so he had to keep the water at medium temperature.

It took him 10 minutes to stir the curd so that it wouldn’t burn. He spooned the jelly part carefully and noticed that it was complete. It was finished. Cho Min Joon put down his spoon and put the jelly in the fridge.

When he returned to the cooking station and pressed down on the curd, it was stiff. That meant it was complete. After taking it away from heat, he added sudachi zest and butter and stirred. Since it was still hot, the butter immediately melted. The zest didn’t melt, but since it was minced well, it looked like the sudachi curd was complete. Cho Min Joon tasted the green curd with a pounding heart.

“… Great.”

He let out an exclamation without meaning to. It was sweet and sour. Those words described it perfectly. The sudachi was wrapping around the sweetness of the sugar. It was clear that when the green apple jelly was eaten with it, the melted caramel and then apple would create the most perfect combination.

He knew the result without even eating it.

[Starch curd]

Freshness: 94%

Origin: (Too many ingredients for an accurate calculation)

Quality: High

Cooking Score: 7/10