Chapter 176: The Person Who Showed Up on a Truck (2)
Chapter 176: The Person Who Showed Up on a Truck (2)
It was baffling. He could hardly help being surprised. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to see a food truck serving molecular gastronomy.
It was then that Minjoon noticed the equipment laid out behind the man: a syringe used to inject sauces or fruit juices into ingredients, a foam maker for producing foamed sauces, and a rapid-freezing machine called a Pacojet, capable of finely processing ingredients into ice cream or chilled mousse.
Disbelief filled Minjoon’s eyes as he looked back at the man. He could not begin to fathom what kind of person he was.
The passenger door opened, and someone stepped out of the truck. The moment Jo Minjoon saw him, he let out a groan.
“……What is going on?”
“You’re smart. I’m sure you’ve already figured it out. Am I wrong?”
“I have figured it out. But……”
“Dericiou……!”
Jo Minjoon’s words were cut off by Ella’s tongue-tied exclamation. Minjoon—no, both men—turned to look at her. With the spoon still in her mouth, Ella wore a blissful smile. She looked up at them while sucking on it.
“Can you give me one more of these?”
“Hold on a minute. I’ll make you a different flavour.”
“Not for me. I want to give it to my mummy. But…… hmm…… I do want to try another flavour too.”
Jo Minjoon smiled and held out his own spoon to Ella. She gasped and drew in a sharp breath. “You can take mine to her.”
“Ah, no. Uncle needs to eat it too. It’s really, really tasty.”
“I’ll ask him for another one.”
Ella stared at the spoon for a moment, unable to make up her mind, before finally taking it. “Thank you, Uncle.”
Watching her toddle back on her short legs, Jo Minjoon slowly spoke.
“Nice to meet you, sous chef. My name is Jo Minjoon.”
“Let’s save the introductions for a little later. I prefer introducing myself through cooking rather than words.”
Cooking ice cream. The phrase sounded somewhat strange, but Jo Minjoon understood what he meant. This was ice cream made through molecular gastronomy. Unless someone was adamantly opposed to molecular gastronomy itself, no one could reasonably claim that this was not cooking.
Another spoon was placed in front of Jo Minjoon. The dish scored eight points. Even though it was molecular gastronomy, it consisted of nothing more than sherbet and a carbonated cherry. It was easy to wonder how something made from only those two components could score so highly, but the moment he put it into his mouth, that thought disappeared completely.
Ah……!
At first, he had assumed it would be mojito or apple ice cream. What he tasted, however, was entirely different from what he had expected. The sherbet itself was not particularly sweet. Its texture was soft, but its flavour was slightly salty instead. And beneath that was another flavour, subtle but unmistakable……
“Asparagus.”
“I heard you were the best in the world when it came to identifying ingredients. Now I know the rumours must be true.”
“I’ve never even considered making ice cream out of asparagus…… I’ve never tasted anything like this.”
If it had been asparagus alone, the flavour might have been somewhat bland. It might have been refreshing, but not enough to truly call it ice cream. The carbonated cherry on top, however, brought everything together. Its sweetness struck the tongue at the same time as the carbonation, making the asparagus sherbet taste almost like a refreshing herb cream.
No wonder little Ella had thought it was delicious. Jo Minjoon nodded before speaking.
“It’s almost like dipping ice cream into a sauce. It’s definitely a unique creation.”
“That’s why so many people keep calling me a genius.”
The man smiled confidently. Just as he stepped down from the truck and reached out a hand towards Minjoon, a creaking sound came from behind them, followed by approaching footsteps.
Ella led the way, holding the spoon in her hand like a walking stick, while the rest of the kitchen family followed behind her. Anderson spoke first.
“Teacher, you’re here. That means this person is……”
“Rafael Yoon.”
The name did not come from Rafael himself. Janet had said it, almost with a groan.
“Are you…… our sous chef?”
“Rafael Yoon. Chairman of the Food Truck Chef Association…… the most innovative food-truck owner-chef. Originally began cooking at La Guarde in the Arjo Hotel…… Why does he have so many titles?”
“It just means he’s managed to succeed.”
Anderson answered curtly.
Jo Minjoon continued reading through Rafael’s career history on his smartphone. While attending culinary school, Rafael had decided it was reducing his efficiency and dropped out to become an apprentice at a neighbourhood restaurant. Just as he was about to become a prep cook there, he immediately transferred to a hotel. After spending only a few years there as a sous chef, he left that position as well.
Then he started a food truck.
That was the moment Rafael Yoon’s name rose to the level of a ‘Star Chef’. Rafael had used the food truck as a way to bring molecular gastronomy—something many people were curious about—directly to the public.
Naturally, it was a success. Plenty of people were interested in molecular gastronomy, but most molecular gastronomy dishes could only be found in expensive restaurants. There was little alternative. The cost of the necessary equipment was certainly one factor, but it was not the main reason. There simply were not many chefs who had properly studied molecular gastronomy, and those rare chefs were hardly likely to work in an ordinary restaurant.
In that respect, Rafael Yoon’s ‘Molecular Ice Cream’ had been remarkably refreshing. He kept the price in line with what customers expected from street food, which meant the portions were small, but ice cream was hardly something people ate to fill themselves up in the first place. At first, people visited his truck because they were curious about molecular gastronomy. Later, as the name Rafael Yoon became more famous, they came because they were interested in Rafael himself.
“……What a rollercoaster of a life.”
“And now our restaurant is part of that rollercoaster.”
“I wonder why.”
Janet, who had been quietly listening to the two of them, murmured under her breath before continuing somewhat awkwardly, “Looking at his career, he just seems like someone who does whatever he wants. But he must have a reason for choosing Rose Island. He’s already succeeded with his food truck. He’s probably received plenty of offers to become head chef at other restaurants, so why would he come here at the cost of giving up the food truck he loves? Stranger still, he’s coming as a sous chef. There has to be some reason he would take a gamble like that.”
Jo Minjoon thought seriously about Janet’s question. There was only one answer he could come up with.
“To learn from Teacher Rachel. I can’t think of any other reason.”
As he said that, Jo Minjoon looked towards the office. Rafael had gone straight inside as soon as he entered the restaurant. Javier stood outside the door trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, but it did not seem as though he could hear anything. If he could, he probably would not have kept his ear pressed against the door until Isaac abruptly opened it.
Isaac stared at him coldly, and Javier gave an awkward laugh.
“Uh…… how did the conversation go?”
“Mr. Javier. Just what are you doing here?”
“It’s all right, Isaac. They’ll hear about it eventually anyway. Everyone, come over here.”
Rachel beckoned them over. Once everyone had gathered, she smiled and began speaking.
“As I mentioned earlier, Rafael will be taking on the role of sous chef. At last, our kitchen is properly balanced. Now that that’s settled, we can start dealing with the homework that has been piling up for some time.”
“When you say homework, perhaps……”
Janet spoke with barely concealed anticipation. Rachel nodded.
“Yes. It’s time to decide your sections. At the same time, we also need to determine which prep cooks you’ll be partnering with.”
Everyone’s ears perked up at Rachel’s words. For the demi chefs, it concerned the sections they would be responsible for. For the prep cooks, it concerned which demi chef they would work under. Naturally, everyone was tense.
For Jo Minjoon, the matter was especially complicated. Not because he expected arguments over the sections, but because he still had not decided which one he wanted.
Pasta.
Or mains?
He had not even considered molecular gastronomy.
Rafael looked over the group before asking, “Let me ask something first. Is anyone here interested in molecular gastronomy?”
None of the demi chefs answered. In fact, they all tried to avoid making eye contact with him.
Rafael continued in a disappointed voice, “Chef, didn’t I tell you? These days, everyone seems to have this urge to reject molecular gastronomy. It isn’t a bad style of cooking. It’s also a field where a chef can shape and express their own soul.”
“Yes, I know. So relax.”
Rafael had been blurting out his disappointment, but before long, he lowered his head with a dejected expression. His emotions seemed to change remarkably quickly. Perhaps that aspect of his personality was why he had never remained in one place for very long.
Rachel continued.
“I thought long and hard about how to assign your sections. And as usual, there was only one answer. No matter what, chefs must speak through their skills!”
“Are you talking about a face-off?”
“Something similar. All of you will learn his cooking from Rafael. Not only the demi chefs, but the prep cooks as well. At the same time, you’ll also be learning from me.”
“……Teacher, you’ll be doing molecular gastronomy too?”
Anderson asked in surprise. No one else said anything, but their expressions showed that they were thinking the same thing.
Rachel had spent her entire life cooking traditional dishes. Although many recently popular fine-dining restaurants relied on techniques from molecular gastronomy, that was generally when the head chef was relatively young. Most chefs like Rachel, who had spent decades researching traditional cooking, were not particularly eager to adapt to such drastic changes.
Rachel nodded.
“I wasn’t simply playing around for the last ten years. I focused on cooking more intensely than I ever had before, all so I could bring out an extraordinary flavour. Molecular gastronomy was no exception.”
Jo Minjoon groaned inwardly. He was glad that Rachel had studied molecular gastronomy. The problem was why she had done so.
Rachel had always regarded her husband’s cooking as the pinnacle she needed to reach. But if she could not close the gap even with molecular gastronomy when Daniel had been cooking in an era before molecular gastronomy had even been developed…… could his food still be considered human cooking?
Probably the cooking of the gods.
If that was the case, Daniel had been little different from a living God of Cooking. If his cooking level had truly been that extraordinary, then Daniel’s shadow probably felt even larger now than it had while he was alive. Rather than accepting that there had once been a man whose dishes she could neither imitate nor even imagine……
Perhaps it was easier to believe he had been a god.
Clap.
The sound pulled Minjoon from his thoughts. Rachel looked at each of them in turn before speaking.
“There are three rules in my kitchen. First, make sure we give our customers flavours they could otherwise taste only in their dreams. Second, never forget our gratitude towards our customers. And third, the final rule, never stop changing, so that no one can ever grow tired of our food. Molecular gastronomy is one of the changes we have to overcome as well.
“Even if you don’t end up in the molecular gastronomy section, you still need to understand how molecular cooking works and how to bring out its flavours properly. The dishes you handle may belong only to your own section, but no dish exists on its own. Cooking is not about individual plates. It is about the course as a whole. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes, Chef!”
Jo Minjoon answered first, and the others immediately shouted in unison.
“Yes, Chef!”
Rafael slowly looked over each of the demi chefs. When his gaze reached Jo Minjoon, he stopped and casually asked, “So, what do you think? Still no desire to take charge of the molecular gastronomy section?”
Jo Minjoon answered without hesitation.
“None at all.”