God of Cooking

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: Unexpected Collaboration (2)

Cho Min Joon’s memory was right. That afternoon, the staff gathered the contestants, and in the kitchen were the judges. At the end of their opening speeches, Allan announced the mission, “This mission is a buffet.”

In response to Allan’s calm voice, Kaya grinned at the belief that she won and glanced at Cho Min Joon. It was understandable. A buffet made more sense as a group mission, but Allan wasn’t finished.

“You must all make a dish. The residents of this neighborhood will come here tomorrow evening and enjoy a meal. You must captivate their hearts with your dishes so that you can win them and our votes. And as for the cooking, you must only give them the portion specified. 10 points for each vote, plus the number of plates that you served. The contestant with the lowest score will go home.”

Kaya’s eyes shook. She stare at Allan’s lips in disbelief. Allan saw Kaya’s eyes and flinched. He didn’t know why, but it looked like she was glaring at her worst enemy. Allan looked away. Joseph continued with a smile, “Turnover ratio isn’t the only thing you need to worry about. You’ll realize it before the day ends. It’s up to you what you make, but as you probably learned from the food truck mission, your food must fit the theme of the mission. A bad choice can easily make you lose right off the bat.”

“Be thoughtful. At the same time, think of the customers who will eat your food. It’s not a dish for the mission, but a dish for them. Good luck.”

The announcement ended with Emily’s words. Cho Min Joon nudged Kaya on the shoulder. Kaya jolted her eyes wide open and scanned him up and down. It wasn’t a preferable scan, but he didn’t feel insulted.

“Oh no. Looks like you’re making me lunch, too.”

“Shut up, you pig.”

“Stop calling me a pig. You said I’m too skinny last time.”

“If you eat both breakfast and lunch, that makes you a pig.”

“You eat all your meals, too.”

Kaya kicked the ground repeatedly. Cho Min Joon smirked and said, “If you hate it that much, you can take it back.”

“No! I might have grown up poor, but I never go back on my word.”

“Really? You barely made me breakfast this morning though.”

“That’s because you woke up too early.”

Kaya grumbled. She twisted her fingers and then said, “21 times. We were too busy during team missions or the food truck mission, but I made you breakfast 21 times. Isn’t that good enough?”

“Yeah. Good job.”

“… You always acknowledge it so easily.”

He liked how she bit down on her lip and looked like a little kid. She normally looked like an adult, but for a teenager, she was very cynical. As Cho Min Joon smiled, a staff shouted.

“It’s time for interviews! Please come to the interview room when you hear your name!”

It didn’t take long before it was Cho Min Joon’s turn. He was the 1st one to go. When he got to the interview room, Martin smiled and asked, “How have you been?”

“Not bad. It’s hard to be bad with a pantry like that.”

For people who liked to cook, a full pantry was Heaven. Martin nodded in understanding.

“What do you think about the mission?”

“I figured a buffet would come up sooner or later. I wasn’t surprised.”

“Have you decided what to make? Oh, maybe you need more time.”

“I’ve thought about it but haven’t decided yet. My choice will depend on what others will cook as well.”

In response, Martin let out a laugh. Cho Min Joon wasn’t just a chef with sensitive taste buds. He knew how to think. After all, he had a good idea about the structure of the mission shortly after the announcement.

“You’re smart. I didn’t think you’d understand the mission this quickly.”

“It’s simple. The customers won’t only be eating my dish. They’ll eat the other contestants’ dishes, so we need to reach a harmony.”

What people reached for first at a buffet was meat. It didn’t matter if it was fish or beef, but what would happen if 9 dishes contained meat while one dish contained vegetables? It wouldn’t be as loved as the meats, but the vegetables would be the most eaten.

And it didn’t take long before everyone realized that. It wasn’t because they all realized it themselves. As soon as the interviews ended, Sasha gathered everyone in the 4th floor lobby. Sasha said, “We’ll need to collaborate on this.”

“On what?”

“The menu. If we don’t’ talk about it, we could all make pasta, or we could all make desserts. We don’t want people making the same thing, right?”

“I agree.”

Cho Min Joon nodded with his answer. When he looked around, no one particularly refuted Sasha’s proposal. Sasha sighed in relief and continued, “I’m thinking of making a dessert. A strawberry chiffon cake. Can you all share what you’re making?”

Some hesitated, but they couldn’t keep quiet either. Everyone began sharing what they were making. Chloe was making mapo tofu, Marco was making tiramisu, and Andesron was making lasagna and those who hadn’t picked yet couldn’t say. Cho Min Joon answered as well, “I’m thinking of a chicken dish. I haven’t made my decision yet though.”

To be more exact, he was thinking of fried chicken or stir-fried chicken. The viewers liked it when Cho Min Joon made Asian food. It was inevitable. After all, Cho Min Joon was Asian. He wasn’t even Asian-American. He was an Asian who came to America just for the show, so it was no wonder they wanted him to make foreign food.

But it wasn’t easy to make foreign food that fit their taste buds. Foreign meant it was unfamiliar, which could be hard to handle for many. Even when pasta entered Korea, the oil and cheese sauces slowly were replaced with cream sauce. The traditional pasta was seen as too bland or too heavy for Korean people’s liking.

In that sense, he had a lot to consider in making fried chicken or stir-fried chicken. He could make them both delicious, but it was a matter of which one could be deeper and more desirable.

‘… Stir-fried chicken might be better.’

The experience was completely different. He had nearly no experience frying chicken because of the difficulty of handling oil. On the other hand, he made stir-fried chicken from time to time, so he was more familiar with it.

The other contestants were making sure no dishes were the same. Luckily, Cho Min Joon was the only one who wanted to make chicken. Chloe glanced at Cho Min Joon and asked, “Have you decided yet?”

“I have. I think I’ll make stir-fried chicken.”

“Oh, I like that. Not bad. How are you going to make the sauce? Soy sauce or hot pepper paste?”

“You’re adding doubanjiang to yours, right? Then hot pepper paste would be too similar. I’m thinking apple vinegar, ginger, soy sauce, and hot pepper flakes for a little kick, but since that’ll be too strong still, I”ll serve it with rice.”

“Ugh, I’m salivating.”

Chloe put her index finger on her lips and laughed. Cho Min Joon said, “Why don’t we evaluate each other’s dishes? We’ll need to taste it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“I’m in.”

Kaya jumped in. She looked at Cho Min Joon and stuck out her lip.

“I need the help of a perfect palate.”

Kaya’s way of speaking was rough and clear, enough for everyone to hear. The other contestants also approached Cho Min Joon. Cho Min Joon smiled awkwardly.

“I can’t eat that much though.”

***

The sticky red sauce stuck on to his tongue. As the doubanjiang and oyster sauces turned sweet and went up to his nostrils from his mouth, the soft tofu broke on his tongue. And the pork had the right amount of fat in it, making it perfectly chewy. It wasn’t too heavy, and it wasn’t too hard either. He could taste the abilities of the chef. It was delicious, but…

“It’s good. But I think the ginger is too strong. Same with the spice. People who like spice will like it… But you know that you’ll be evaluated by many different people.”

“… Yeah, maybe I’ll use a cooking wine instead of the ginger. I understand. Thanks. But can I ask you one more thing?”

“Yeah.”

“How many points?”

In response, Cho Min Joon smiled and stared at Chloe for so long that she flushed.

“I know it’s not a good habit to keep asking for the score. I also know the points don’t convey the true worth of a dish, but I’m curious.”

“7 points. It’s not the best, but it’s delicious.”

“… Hm, I don’t know if I should be relieved for angry.”

Chloe tilted her head. Since she reached 8 points multiple times, she was a little disappointed. Of course, that was for Chloe to figure out, not Cho Min Joon.

The other contestants wanted to be evaluated as well. They were competitors, but they didn’t want to be cold either. They wanted to win because they were good, not because someone messed up. Especially if customers were counting on them. Some could call Cho Min Joon foolish, but that was how he was.

After tasting and evaluating each dish, Cho Min Joon handed out his stir-fried chicken. After adding olive oil, garlic, ginger, hot pepper flakes, apple juice, ketchup, sugar, vinegar, and bean sauce, he roasted the chicken in the oven.

The cooking score was 7. It was as he expected. No matter how many times he mixed the sauce, he couldn’t reach 8 points. Once that happened, that would be the day he reached level 7. It could be about more than just technique alone. He needed to grow more.

“What do you think?”

“It’s good.”

“I’m sure it is. It’s 7 points, but something’s missing. What do you think it is?”

Criticizing was never easy to do. They all glanced at each other without saying anything. At that moment, Kaya asked, “This is all chicken leg, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then is there a need to marinate it beforehand? Maybe you should roast the chicken and then slowly boil it with the sauce. It’s chicken leg. There’s no need for it to be softer.”

“That’s true…”

Cho Min Joon tried to change the recipe in his head. And at that moment, Cho Min Joon’s face changed. He couldn’t believe it. Those few words changed everything.

[Your predicted cooking score is 8.]

But the aftermath was not so easy to handle.