Chapter 10: Grand Chef Preliminaries, and… (1)
Chapter 10: Grand Chef Preliminaries, and… (1)
Jo Minjoon had told Jessie that he would be leaving soon, but even after getting his cards reissued, he continued staying at Lucas’s house. It was not because he particularly wanted to impose on them. Lucas simply refused to let him leave, and Jane was no different.
At first, Jo Minjoon had intended to decline and find somewhere else to stay, but one sentence from Jane changed his mind.
“Be the bridge that lets Jessie cross back to her father.”
How could he keep insisting that he was leaving after hearing something like that?
Jessie herself grumbled as though she disliked the idea, but from the way she acted, it did not seem as though she actually minded having Jo Minjoon stay.
Fifteen days passed like that.
On the morning of the preliminaries, Jo Minjoon stood in front of the chopping board in Lucas’s kitchen, staring blankly ahead. At least, that was how it looked from the outside. In reality, he was studying the window floating before him.
[Estimated Cooking Score: 5]
It was a new function he had acquired after his Cooking Level rose to six: a cooking simulation for whatever dish he wanted to make. If he imagined a recipe in his head, the system would predict the final Cooking Score.
It had countless uses. No, simply calling it useful did not do it justice. As long as he followed the recipe exactly, there was practically no chance of the dish failing. In truth, it was precisely the sort of ability that could shine in a competition like Grand Chef. Countless contestants were eliminated because they made mistakes while planning or designing their dishes. If the design itself contained no errors, the probability of successfully completing the dish rose dramatically.
And I’ll be able to save money on ingredients.
As a cook’s skill improved, they gradually developed something resembling intuition. Even without tasting a dish constantly while cooking, they could begin to predict how the flavours would come together. That naturally reduced the chances of failure when experimenting with something new.
But there was a limit to that.
Being able to avoid making something outright unpleasant was one thing. Identifying, on the very first attempt, the exact recipe that brought out the best possible flavour was something else entirely. People capable of doing that generally belonged to one of two categories: masters or geniuses.
Jo Minjoon was neither a master nor a genius.
However, within certain limits, he could borrow their abilities through the system. Of course, he still lacked the startling artistry and instinct that true masters or geniuses possessed.
Hard work will make up for it.
Jo Minjoon believed that. Talent was not everything in cooking. Talent could certainly help someone improve faster, but the heights a person could ultimately reach through persistence were not necessarily lower. Beyond that, it depended on the individual.
While helping Jessie make jelly, Jo Minjoon had thought about many things. What Jessie made had not been simple jelly. It had contained resentment towards her father, but also affection and encouragement. Those feelings were what made that jelly so valuable.
A thought had occurred to him then.
What chefs placed on a plate was not simply food.
So what were they supposed to put into it?
The vague hope that someone would enjoy eating it? That sounded too superficial.
Jo Minjoon had continued thinking about it, but he still had no answer. Even so, he was not anxious. Just as he had once told Jessie, cooking was ultimately a battle with oneself.
“Let’s cook first.”
Jo Minjoon had agreed with Lucas that, instead of freeloading, he would take responsibility for preparing the meals. In truth, it was a compromise that benefited both sides. For Jane, it was a way of allowing Jo Minjoon into her kitchen despite his circumstances. For Jo Minjoon, it gave him a chance to practise his cooking while also saving money.
For the past fifteen days, Jo Minjoon had prepared every meal without missing a single one. Most of them had been American dishes, ranging from the jambalaya he had eaten on the plane to Jane’s macaroni and cheese and hamburger steak. He had also tried preparing dishes he had never encountered before alongside those he already knew.
Even Korean food changed when made with American ingredients.
Rice alone was a good example.
The rice commonly eaten in Korea was generally japonica, a short- or medium-grain variety with strong stickiness and aroma. In the United States, long-grain indica varieties were much more common, accounting for roughly seventy per cent of the rice consumed there.
(Translator’s Note: Japonica rice —One of the principal cultivated groups of Asian rice, widely grown in Korea, Japan, and other temperate parts of East Asia. Japonica grains are generally shorter and become relatively soft and sticky when cooked.)
(Translator’s Note:Indica rice — Oryza sativa indica — Another major cultivated group of Asian rice, particularly widespread across tropical and subtropical Asia. Its grains are generally longer and remain more separate after cooking than japonica varieties.)
The remaining thirty per cent included Calrose, which had characteristics somewhere between indica and japonica. Its stickiness was moderate, as was its aroma, and Calrose was the variety Jo Minjoon had handled most often over the past fifteen days.
(Translator’s Note: Calrose rice — A medium-grain rice developed in California. The variety was released commercially in 1948, and its moderate stickiness later made it especially popular in Asian-American and Pacific cuisines.)
Even the method of cooking Calrose fell somewhere between japonica and indica. It required more water than indica rice but less than japonica. Small differences like that existed even in something as basic as rice.
The most important thing was understanding American ingredients.
Jo Minjoon was confident.
Over the past fifteen days, he had handled all sorts of unfamiliar ingredients. It was not as though he had mastered every one of them, but he had at least absorbed most of the theory. He believed he would somehow be able to overcome whatever challenges came his way.
“I should at least pass the preliminaries.”
He had to make it through.
He wanted to stick with it.
With that thought in mind, he muttered, “Should I make cheese risotto for breakfast?”
He would stick to the competition just like risotto stuck together, thick and gooey.
“…Idiot. After going through all that trouble to make it, you gave yourself an upset stomach.”
Inside the car on the way to the preliminaries, Jessie looked at Jo Minjoon as though he were pathetic.
Jo Minjoon sighed, looking exhausted.
“Cheese doesn’t agree with me…”
It was not that he hated cheese, but whenever he ate it, his stomach became upset. Naturally, that made it difficult for him to like it very much.
Jo Minjoon closed his eyes and concentrated on enduring the discomfort in his stomach. If he started getting carsick while staring out of the window, things would become truly miserable.
Lucas, sitting in the driver’s seat with both hands on the wheel, glanced at him worriedly.
“Is it bad? Will you be able to take the test?”
“Ah, it’s fine. My stomach hurts, not my hands.”
“Whew… At least sit up properly. You’re making me feel sorry for you.”
Jo Minjoon merely laughed at Lucas’s concerned expression.
There were at least a thousand people at the preliminaries.
These were only the applicants for New York, and the tests were divided into hourly sessions, yet there were still this many people gathered. Of course, quite a few were friends and family members who had come to cheer contestants on, but even taking that into account, the crowd was enormous.
“Wow. Only a few people from the preliminaries make it through to the next stage, right?”
“Yeah. More or less. At most, around five people are chosen each week…”
Put that way, simply passing the preliminaries would already be an achievement.
Jo Minjoon grew nervous as he looked around. Cameramen moved among the crowd, stopping here and there to interview contestants.
Right.
This was not an ordinary cooking competition.
This was Grand Chef.
The process was fairly simple. First, preliminary auditions were held every weekend across the United States. The first stage was an interview. The exact questions varied, but they generally tested the contestant’s understanding of ingredients and cooking.
People entered the interview rooms and emerged again within five minutes. More precisely, five minutes seemed to be the maximum. Plenty of people came back out after only a minute, and their expressions were rarely good. It looked as though they had been dismissed after exchanging only a few words.
So I just need to last five minutes.
In other words, during those five minutes, he had to show at least some degree of genuine understanding of cooking.
“Number 591! Contestant 591!”
“I’m here.”
“Go in.”
The staff member gave the instruction curtly.
Jo Minjoon nodded and entered the interview room.
Inside were three people whose faces he immediately recognised.
Only then did Jo Minjoon truly feel as though he had stepped into the same world he had once watched on television.
The first was Alan Craig. Before he had even turned thirty, he had earned two Michelin stars, and many expected him to receive a third before reaching his forties.
(Translator’s Note: Michelin stars — Restaurant distinctions awarded by the Michelin Guide. The guide was first published in France by the Michelin tyre company in 1900. Restaurants began receiving stars in 1926, while the modern one-, two-, and three-star hierarchy was established in the 1930s, with three stars representing the guide’s highest rating.)
Next was Emily Potter, recognised as one of Europe’s foremost gourmets and, at the same time, the heiress to Potter Beer.
Finally, there was Joseph Vincent. He owned numerous restaurants around the world, and there was hardly a guide or publication in which his establishments had not received Michelin recognition.
Of the three, Joseph naturally carried the greatest prestige. It was not that Alan or Emily had unimpressive careers. Joseph’s achievements were simply on another level entirely.
Perhaps that was why Jo Minjoon felt a peculiar pressure emanating from him.
Joseph spoke first.
“Minjoon. According to your application, you came all the way here from Korea?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
“What made you come all the way to such a distant country?”
It was clearly a question he had to answer well.
Jo Minjoon did his best to remain composed, although he could not completely hide the nervousness in his voice.
“Ever since I was young, I’ve dreamed of becoming a chef. After I entered university, that dream only became stronger. I realised I couldn’t keep putting it off. I wanted my parents to acknowledge me as a chef, and for that, Grand Chef was the best stage available to me.”
“I wonder about that. Plenty of people come here believing they’ll make a spectacular debut, only to be eliminated and ridiculed instead.”
“Then I’ll have to hope I don’t become one of them.”
Jo Minjoon answered calmly.
Watching him, Joseph felt faintly amused.
Jo Minjoon spoke slowly, and his voice carried a certain weight that naturally made people listen more closely. His appearance was also quite appealing by Western standards, even if that might not necessarily have been the case in Asia. At least outwardly, Joseph could imagine him becoming someone viewers remembered.
The fact that he had travelled all the way from Korea to pursue his dream also gave him a story with impact.
But only if he has the skill to back it up.
There would be plenty of time to judge that after the interview began in earnest.
Joseph exchanged a glance with Alan and Emily.
Emily spoke first.
“Let’s start with some basic knowledge.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me the difference between cutting an onion vertically and horizontally.”
Jo Minjoon smiled brightly