God of Cooking

Rachel smiled feebly and said, “Yeah. So, when Min-joon is around me, I feel greatly supported. Do I look so small?”

“Well, I understand. That’s the moment that we all have to face someday. But I’ve got some regrets. Be more confident. Rachel, you are the best chef I have ever met,” he said sincerely.

Rachel responded with a nice look, “You’re one of the best sous chefs I’ve ever met.”

“It’s too obvious you’re praising me in return for my praise.”

“I have to because you did it first.”

Right at that moment, Anderson approached her. He put a round plate of pasta down on the table in front of her.

“Master, this time I am very confident about my recipe.”

“Do you know I’ve gained weight these days? You know, the weight of the elderly is really directly connected to their health.”

“Well, you won’t get fat anymore because of me, though you have to keep eating my coworkers’ sample dishes.”

“Oh really? I feel relieved that I can take even one plate off my test. Okay, let me try it.”

She sat down, grinning at him. Then she first checked the shape of the pasta Anderson served. On the surface, it looked like soba with Japanese yam juice and whites. But when she looked into it, it was different. First of all, the noodles were different. What he brought was Ravioli, pasta in the form of dumplings. At first glance, the stuff on top of it looked like white or yam juice, but it was actually a parmesan cheese creamy sauce.

“Oh, you switched to Ravioli.”

“Yes, I changed it because you said last time that although this dish tasted good, it’s rather inappropriate to serve in bulk because of its size, so I changed it as an appetizer.”

“Got it. If you eat just one dumpling, you can enhance your appetite with just the right savory taste. Then, what are you going to name it?”

“Carbonara Ravioli with Parmesan cheese froth. I’m thinking of that name.”

“How does it taste? Do other chefs say okay?”

“Can you try it first?” Anderson said with a confident expression.

In fact, Anderson felt it very painful to see her repeatedly declining his recipe, so he kept improving it with the feedback from his coworkers until he finally came up with this Ravioli.

She put the ravioli on a spoon and put it in her mouth at once.

Most people who were interested in cooking already know it, but a real Carbonara dish is not served with cream. Carbonara was supposed to be mix Parmesan cheese and yolk before pouring it over the slightly cooled noodles like sauce.

There was no particular sauce on top of Anderson’s Ravioli. Of course, there was Parmesan cheese foam sauce on it, but that was all. But the real sauce was in it. When she chewed on the Ravioli’s chewy skin, the yolk hidden in it burst out like a fountain. A bacon-like taste overflowed there with the aroma of Parmesan cheese covering it. Although it had nothing to do with Carbonara, it tasted really similar to it.

“As for the pork, did you put Guanciale on it?”

Guanciale was Italian bacon made from pork cheek meat.

Anderson nodded with a smile and said, “Yes, I’ve brought a bit of authentic taste to it”

“You did a good job. In fact, Carbonara is very difficult to make in high-quality taste. But you have created it so wonderfully. But how did the yolk in it come to life like that? It might have been cooked during the steaming process.”

“Well, I used a syringe.”

“Ah, good. That’s the benefit of modern convenience.”

Rachel smiled with a nod as if she understood. Anderson looked at her nervously.

He really had a hard time preparing this dish. Although Min-joon didn’t give him any direct advice, he used every way to help him in one way or another.

In fact, the idea of Ravioli came to his mind only when Min-joon said, ‘If you use spaghetti, carbohydrates are the main with rich taste.’ Min-joon might have wanted to mention Ravioli directly to him, but he respected Anderson’s pride. After all, it would be good for Anderson to devise and come up with his own original dish as the first recipe that he wanted to be recognized by Rachel.

So, Anderson wanted to pass Rachel’s test by all means. While he was keeping his fingers crossed earnestly, she was impressed by the aftertaste of Ravioli in her mouth.

She spoke to Raphael, who was standing by her, “I told you a little while ago that you could learn from anybody, right? Look. I’m really shocked by this Ravioli right now. It’s very fresh and stylish. At the same time, it has an authentic dignity in it. Thank you, Anderson. Your dish is very informative to me.”

“You’re welcome. I’m rather grateful for your compliment. By the way…”

He gazed at her, anxiously waiting for her approval.

Rachel said with a smile, “What’s the name of this menu? Oh, yeah. Ravioli Carbonara with Parmesan foam. Let me tell Isaac to put that name on the menu.”

At that moment, Anderson clenched his fists and shouted, “Great!”

His excessive excitement was not like him, but he didn’t care. He was so happy now that everybody around him could notice it.

Rachel said with a bright smile, “Keep working on it like that with your colleagues in the future. You can’t develop a new dish alone. You can invent it only when you work with your coworkers. If there are no customers who can have our dishes, we are nothing.”

“Yes, I will keep that in mind.”

As if he couldn’t control his grinning, Anderson stood up with a smile.

When he got back to the kitchen, other demi chefs could roughly guess what was going on by looking at his expression.

Janet asked with a complicated look, “Did you pass?”

“Yes, I passed!”

Having said that, Anderson looked at Min-joon.

Min-joon opened his mouth with a bright smile.

“Congratulations!”

“If I had been a girl, I would have kissed you right now. Even if you were a girl, I would do the same.”

Min-joon responded as if he was dumbfounded, “I would refuse your kiss, Janet.”

“Hey, don’t take her joke seriously, man,” said Anderson, looking at Min-joon sulkily.

However, Min-joon turned his eyes away from him then looked at Janet and Havier.

“Now, you guys are in trouble.”

“Why?”

“Now, the bottom line is who is not the first, but the last to get Rachel’s recognition. Come to think of it, if anyone of you gets her approval but the other fails, we have to wait earnestly for the current season to pass as soon as possible, right?”

When Min-joon said that, Havier and Janet looked at each other’s eyes. After having a staring game for a while, Havier opened his mouth first.

“Why don’t we give up altogether to prevent it?”

“You go ahead and give up. I’m determined to pass.”

“Dang it! Why are you so mean, Janet?”

Instead of answering, Janet paced up and down the sous vide machine.

Min-joon approached Havier and whispered over his drooping shoulders.

“Can I help you?”

“What?”

“I can help you devise the menu.”

“Uh… No. Don’t tempt me. This is my first time devising it. I think I should do it by myself. If I devise it with your help, it’s already a foul.”

Havier was obviously attracted to his offer, but it seemed that he could not accept it because of his pride.

Min-joon leaned against the kitchen table leisurely and said, “Well, for now, you guys have to come up with your own recipe, but after this season is over, we’ll have to rely on each other. Honestly, we’re not perfectly trained like Chef Rachel, so we should rely on each other.”

That was what Min-joon learned while coaching the other three. He learned that he should not cook alone. What mattered wasn’t just about cooking in the kitchen. If anybody was devising his or her recipe alone, they could not do it as well as they wished. Min-joon was convinced that when he got his coworkers’ feedback and took their opinion into account, he could come up with a flawless recipe.

For example, as for his pomegranate dessert, they might think he conceived it alone, but practically, it was a dish that he could invent with the advice of many people. In some respects, he could develop it, based on the feedback of his coworkers after they tasted his sample dish. After all, their feedback helped him a lot to come up with the recipe from a new

But it was meaningless for him to directly point it out. His coworkers could truly realize the meaning of mutual cooperation when they felt it directly. He thought maybe Rachel might have given each of them the opportunity to develop their own recipe, so they could learn the lesson by experiencing this kind of situation by themselves.

“Anderson, it looks like you got a lot of load off your chest!”

“Absolutely. I finished my job, after all.”

“Shall we devise the next dish together? If we are going separate ways like now, I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult to come up with one in a month.”

“Sure, no problem.”

“Next time I can go to your place and ask Kaya freely. I love that!”

In fact, Min-joon didn’t make good use of Kaya because this was his first recipe that would be put on the Rose Island menu, and it was a surprise dish for her family. Given her amazing sense of taste and cooking, he was really frustrated with it.