Chapter 3: Back to Seven Years Ago (3)
Chapter 3: Back to Seven Years Ago (3)
“…That’s true.”
Jo Ara nodded without even thinking twice.
Jo Minjoon could not help finding it amusing. To think their mother’s cooking was rated so poorly by her own children.
Still, even if one assumed Lee Hyesun was a competent home cook, Jo Minjoon was confident he could surpass her. He was close to the top level among amateurs. His cooking skills were certainly not inferior to those of an ordinary housewife.
“Ara, what do you want to eat? Pick something.”
“You need to give me choices first.”
“Why? You know, you can choose Western food or soup. Or noodles, if you want.”
“Hmm…”
Jo Ara began to think. Her oppa, who usually did nothing but stare at the ceiling, had suddenly started behaving like a chef. She found it extremely amusing, so she deliberately tried to think of something that seemed difficult to make.
Then something occurred to her.
Chinese food was supposed to be difficult to prepare.
Jo Ara gave him a mischievous grin.
“Jjamppong!”
(Translator’s Note: Jjamppong —A Korean-Chinese noodle soup normally served in a spicy red broth with vegetables and seafood or meat. The Korean version developed through Chinese immigrant cuisine, particularly Shandong-influenced cooking, during the early twentieth century.)
“…What?”
“Make me jjamppong. Jjamppong. Why? Can’t do it?”
Jo Minjoon found her ridiculous. Her intentions were so obvious that he could not even bring himself to get angry.
“I’ll make it.”
“…What?”
“I said I’ll make it.”
Jo Minjoon immediately headed for the chopping board.
He did not have any Chinese-style noodles, but he figured he could substitute flat rice noodles. There were some clams for seafood, but he did not have enough time to purge them properly. It was already almost six, and properly cleaning the clams would take at least three hours.
“Ara, go check that refrigerator and see if there’s any meat.”
“Okay.”
Perhaps she felt a little guilty for making him prepare dinner, because Jo Ara obediently did whatever Jo Minjoon asked. After rummaging through the refrigerator for a while, she returned carrying a lump of meat.
“Here.”
[Chuck Beef]
Freshness: 87%
Origin: Hoengseong, South Korea
Quality: High
“It’s chuck beef.”
Personally, it was one of Jo Minjoon’s favourite cuts. The richness of the fat was deeper than that of samgyeopsal or moksal, and the texture when chewed was quite different as well.
(Translator’s Note: Samgyeopsal —Literally “three-layered meat”, referring to pork belly with alternating layers of meat and fat. Grilled samgyeopsal became a major feature of South Korean dining culture during the late twentieth century.)
(Translator’s Note: Moksal —Literally “neck meat”, referring to pork neck or shoulder cuts commonly grilled in Korean cuisine. It is typically firmer and leaner than samgyeopsal.)
Jo Minjoon thought for a moment.
Will this work with the jjamppong broth?
He thought it would be fine, provided the meat was minced. If he left it in larger pieces, the distinctive texture of the chuck beef might clash with the noodles.
Jo Minjoon took a well-maintained, sharp knife from the knife block and immediately began chopping the beef finely.
One of the things Jo Minjoon placed the greatest importance on when cooking was knife work. An ordinary person might think that simply knowing how to hold a knife properly was enough, but depending on how the knife was handled, the finished dish could change considerably.
If the blade was even slightly dull, or if you failed to control your strength while slicing meat, the result could end up looking like a torn rag. Of course, if someone concentrated and put enough effort into it, even a child could manage it without much difficulty.
They simply would not be as fast as Jo Minjoon.
Jo Ara watched him with admiration.
“When did your knife skills get so good?”
“Why are you making such a fuss over this?”
Jo Minjoon grinned.
In truth, the period when his knife skills had improved the most was when he first entered a restaurant as the youngest member of the kitchen staff. He had lost count of how many onions and cloves of garlic he had chopped and sliced.
At the time, those days had seemed unbearably difficult. Looking back now, however, he realised they had been necessary.
That did not mean he ever wanted to repeat them.
Never.
After mincing the meat, he prepared the spring onions and garlic beside it. He crushed the garlic with the flat of his knife before slicing it, while the spring onions were cut lengthways.
Jo Ara watched with her mouth hanging open.
He had already been fast when cutting the meat, but now he was even faster. The skill he displayed while handling the spring onions and garlic was anything but ordinary. It was the sort of knife work one normally saw only on television.
“Mum! Oppa’s really good with a knife!”
“Okay~.”
Jo Ara raised her voice, but Lee Hyesun answered as though she could not care less.
How good could he possibly be?
Jo Ara felt frustrated, but she did not continue bothering her mother. In any case, Jo Minjoon was nearly finished with the preparation.
He poured cooking oil into a wok. Once it was sufficiently hot, he added the garlic and spring onions.
The moment the moist vegetables hit the hot oil, they began to sizzle.
The sound put him in a better mood.
Occasionally, droplets of oil spattered onto him, but that was unavoidable.
Beside the wok, he began boiling a pot of water. Rather than pouring cold water over ingredients that had already been stir-fried, it was better to add water that was already hot.
The aroma of the spring onions and garlic tickled his nose.
Once the garlic began turning golden brown, Jo Minjoon added the chuck beef. The fat from the meat mingled with the cooking oil, while the smoke was drawn up into the extractor hood. As the beef cooked, its surface gradually browned.
That was when it was time to add the chilli powder.
Without wasting a moment, Jo Minjoon added the chilli powder and oyster sauce. Immediately afterwards, he grabbed a handful of dried cabbage leaves.
Jo Ara, who had been watching from beside him, stared in alarm.
“Everything else is fine, but are you sure about putting dried cabbage leaves in there? It’s not even potato soup.”
“I think it’ll be fine.”
“What kind of answer is that?”
He could not confidently tell her that it definitely would be. He had never tried it before.
Still, he thought the flavour of the dried cabbage leaves would blend nicely with the jjamppong. It felt as though he might end up creating a distinctly Korean-style jjamppong.
He briefly considered adding coriander, but Jo Ara did not particularly like it. Besides, if he added coriander, the dish might start leaning more towards Thai cuisine.
“Oppa, give me some of that meat.”
“…Honestly.”
Jo Minjoon smiled and handed Jo Ara a spoonful of the cooked chuck beef.
After tasting it, she grinned.
“I love meat.”
“Me too.”
Jo Minjoon nodded and sampled a piece himself.
Mmm. This is one of the perks of cooking.
“Wouldn’t this be good just fried like this instead of putting it in jjamppong?”
“That’s because you only ate one bite. If you kept eating it by itself, it’d get too salty.”
“Mm. Now that you say it, maybe you’re right.”
If it was already salty enough when meant to go into soup, eating it on its own would naturally taste even saltier.
Jo Minjoon checked the pot of water.
It was boiling.
He lifted the pot and slowly poured the hot water into the wok.
Chaa—
It made a sound almost like water extinguishing a fire. Soon, the aroma of spring onions and chilli powder spread through the kitchen.
“…I didn’t expect this, but I think it might actually be delicious.”
“Don’t come asking me to make it for you again later.”
Leaving the wok to simmer, Jo Minjoon picked up an onion and returned to the chopping board. He cut off the top, then sliced it horizontally along the grain.
It took him barely ten seconds to slice the entire onion.
Jo Ara could only stare at him, torn between confusion and admiration.
“Oppa, are you sure you study English at university? You haven’t secretly been going to cooking school instead?”
“That’s a compliment, right?”
“No… It’s just too sudden. You can cook? My oppa? This well?”
Her confusion was obvious in her voice.
Jo Minjoon merely smiled instead of answering.
In truth, there was no point trying to explain it. Could he claim that he had practised on his own? When would he have had the chance, living in a house with his entire family?
He could only change the subject.
“Enough. Bring me some cabbage.”
Still confused, Jo Ara said nothing, but obediently brought it over.
Jo Minjoon sliced the cabbage perpendicular to the grain. If the pieces were too large, not only would they be difficult to fit into the mouth, they would also take too long to chew.
He added the cabbage first and let it cook for a minute or two. Then he added the rice noodles.
If noodles were boiled directly in broth, they could lose some of their springiness and become firmer, but at the same time, they absorbed more flavour.
Personally, Jo Minjoon preferred pouring soup over noodles that had already been cooked separately. He liked cleaner, simpler flavours.
But there was a reason he was not doing that now.
Too much trouble.
Preparing the broth and noodles separately took two or three times as much effort, and the difference in flavour was not particularly dramatic. It was ultimately a matter of preference.
If that was the case, there was no reason to make things unnecessarily difficult for himself.
Besides, rice noodles did not absorb broth particularly well. He expected that boiling them directly in the soup would allow them to take on more flavour.
Jo Minjoon quietly stirred the noodles to keep them from sticking together and continued boiling them.
While he was doing so, another notification appeared before his eyes.
By now, it was no longer as startling as before.
[Chuck Beef Jjamppong]
Freshness: 94%
Origin: Hidden (Contains too many ingredients)
Quality: High
Cooking Score: 5/10