Chapter 52: Crossroad (3)
Chapter 52: Crossroad (3)
When they returned to the kitchen, the atmosphere was just as awkward as it had been in the garden. That was inevitable, regardless of the mission. Unless the challenge involved something they were already proficient at, like steak, it was bound to be difficult.
Compared with Alan’s assignment, however, Joseph’s theme had one advantage: it was somewhat easier.
“You got paella?” Jo Minjoon asked with a helpless expression.
(Translator’s Note: Paella— A rice dish originating in Valencia on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. Its name comes from the shallow metal pan in which it is cooked. Rural Valencian forms developed particularly during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, traditionally combining locally grown rice with available meats, vegetables, beans, or seafood.)
Chloe nodded. “Yes. I was surprised too. I never thought a Spanish dish would come up.”
She sighed after saying that, but Jo Minjoon was actually envious of her. At least paella could be made without cheese.
He did make risotto occasionally, but it had never suited him particularly well, perhaps because cheese was such a fundamental part of the dish. It was not that he disliked cheese. His body simply did not digest it well. Hadn’t he ended up with a stomachache from eating risotto right before the preliminaries?
Even if he could make a passable risotto, he had no confidence in making a perfect one.
He could not even cook risotto properly al dente. Except at expensive restaurants, most of the risottos he had encountered had been disastrous. Perhaps they had been adjusted to suit local tastes, but the rice was usually cooked all the way through until the grains became soft and crushed.
Because those were the kinds of risotto he had grown up eating, he had never acquired a proper standard by which to judge one. Even so, he did not despair because he still had the advantage of the system. When he designed a recipe, any awkwardness in the composition would show up through its estimated score.
They had ten minutes to design their recipes.
Jo Minjoon repeatedly constructed different combinations in his head. He considered mussels, bacon, and all sorts of other ingredients that might pair well with risotto.
It was not easy.
Most of the recipes scored five points, while the ones he personally thought were good only reached six.
Am I designing them incorrectly? Or does the score also take into account how much I actually know about risotto……?
Frustration crept over him. Even while he was worrying about it, time continued to pass.
Jo Minjoon was not the only one struggling to design a menu. Kaya and Carlos were having the same problem.
Kaya had never eaten what could properly be called risotto in her entire life. To be precise, she had eaten it exactly once: Alan’s risotto, just a short while ago.
She stared at the empty worktable in front of her. In reality, she was imagining herself making risotto there. She combined ingredient after ingredient in her head, but only one recipe seemed remotely good enough.
And even that……
“Go and get your ingredients! You have one hour to complete your dish!”
There was no more time to think.
Jo Minjoon started moving. His recipe was not perfect, but there was one idea that appealed to him: a risotto made with prosciutto, one of Italy’s representative cured meats, and ripe pear.
(Translator’s Note: Prosciutto —The general Italian word for ham, though in English it most commonly refers to prosciutto crudo, uncooked dry-cured ham. Prosciutto di Parma is produced around Parma in Emilia-Romagna by salting and air-curing pork legs without smoking them. The region has centuries-old traditions of cured ham production, with Parma ham documented from at least the medieval period)
For the cheese, he intended to use Parmigiano Reggiano, the same cheese Alan had used.
The meaning of the name was simple: cheese associated with Parma and Reggio Emilia. The Italian cheese was more commonly known in Korea through the general name Parmesan, but the two were not actually the same thing. Parmesan was a broader term used for cheeses inspired by Parmigiano Reggiano, while authentic Parmigiano Reggiano referred to the regulated Italian cheese itself. Treating them as identical would be like treating pure gold and an alloy as the same material.
He also chose the same rice Alan had used: Arborio.
It was one of the varieties most commonly used for risotto. The grains were short and plump, capable of releasing starch while retaining some firmness, which made them particularly well suited to absorbing and combining with other ingredients.
For the pear, he chose Bosc.
Compared with the large, round Korean pears he was accustomed to, Bosc pears had a different shape and texture, with dense, crisp flesh and pronounced sweetness. Jo Minjoon liked them so much that he sometimes wished Korea produced nothing but Bosc pears.
(Translator’s Note: Bosc pear —A European pear cultivar generally traced to France or Belgium in the early nineteenth century. It is distinguished by its elongated neck, brown russeted skin, dense flesh, and pronounced sweetness. It became commercially important in Europe and later North America)
Normally, to judge the ripeness of a pear, he would have had to press gently near the stem, and checking several fruits could take time.
Jo Minjoon had no need to do that.
The system told him everything.
[Bosc Pear]
Freshness: 94%
Origin: California
Quality: High
That was the best one Jo Minjoon could find at the moment. Even ingredients delivered immediately would inevitably lose some freshness compared with something harvested locally.
His eyes moved rapidly across the pears. After checking more than twenty system windows, he selected two Bosc pears, then picked up shallots and fresh sage.
Sage, also known by the botanical genus Salvia, had a particularly strong aroma.
Saffron was tempting as well, but Jo Minjoon was not confident that he could handle it properly. Saffron was notoriously difficult to use well. Since risotto was already an unfamiliar dish for him, he could not help hesitating to add another ingredient he did not fully understand.
After leaving the vegetable section, Jo Minjoon stopped in front of the cured meats.
Prosciutto.
Like Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto was strongly associated with Parma. It was made by salting and air-curing meat rather than smoking it.
In principle, the process concentrated flavour as moisture gradually left the meat, somewhat like the concentration that occurred during dry ageing rather than wet ageing. The scale, however, was completely different. Prosciutto could be cured for many months or even years.
The prosciutto available here had already been sealed in plastic packaging, so its quality was relatively consistent. Jo Minjoon grabbed a packet without hesitation and moved on.
Chicken stock, butter, dry white wine, and pepper completed the list of ingredients he needed.
He did not take any salt.
He intended to rely on the cheese and prosciutto for seasoning.
Jo Minjoon was one of the fastest contestants when it came to choosing ingredients. The others had to inspect their ingredients one by one, but the system spared him that trouble.
He was the first to return to his station.
Jo Minjoon heated a small saucepan over medium heat, and the judges soon approached him. Joseph asked,
“You chose your fresh ingredients well. What kind of risotto are you planning to make?”
“A risotto with pear, prosciutto, and sage.”
“Sage has a strong aroma, and so does prosciutto. Are you confident you can keep the flavours from clashing?”
“I’m planning to use as little sage as possible. If the dish turns out the way I’m imagining it, then at the very least, it shouldn’t end up in the rubbish bin.”
The judges looked at him with intrigued expressions but said nothing further.
Jo Minjoon ignored their attention and concentrated on cooking.
The estimated cooking score was six.
Although the recipe itself was decent, that score also meant something was still lacking. Risotto was that kind of dish. The recipe mattered, but the chef’s technique could create a difference as vast as heaven and earth. For a beginner, it was the sort of dish one could fail at a hundred times out of a hundred.
That was precisely why Jo Minjoon concentrated harder than ever.
He poured olive oil into a pan and heated it carefully. He could not let it smoke. Once oil reached the smoking point, it meant it was beginning to burn. When its surface developed a light sheen, it was hot enough.
Jo Minjoon sliced some prosciutto thinly and placed it in the oil together with four sage leaves. He waited until both became crisp, then lifted them out with a strainer and laid them on kitchen paper to drain.
Next came the stock.
Jo Minjoon poured the chicken stock into a medium-sized saucepan and turned on the heat. Maintaining the proper temperature was essential.
While bringing the stock to a simmer, he placed shallots and another portion of prosciutto on the cutting board. It was not the prosciutto he had just fried, but a fresh portion.
He finely chopped the fresh prosciutto and shallots in roughly equal amounts, then added them to the pan over low heat.
Before the shallots began to brown, there were several things he needed to accomplish within the next minute or two.
First, he moved the fried sage leaves aside. Then he peeled a pear and began cutting it into small dice.
While working on the pear and glancing around his station, he realised the shallots were already nearly done.
Jo Minjoon hurried his hands.
And that was when he heard a voice.
“Minjoon! Your hand! Look at your hand!”
It was Emily.
Jo Minjoon stared blankly around him at first, then finally noticed a fairly deep cut on his left thumb.
He raised his left hand.
The medical staff rushed over immediately, disinfected the wound, and applied a haemostatic agent to his thumb.
Emily watched him anxiously. “Can you continue?”
“I can.” Jo Minjoon answered briefly.
Using his other hand, he finished chopping the remaining pear and added it to the pan.
Pear, rice, and a teaspoon of sage.
He was not trying to fry the rice so much as coat the grains evenly with oil while tossing the pan. Next came the wine.
Once the treatment was finished, he pulled a rubber glove over his injured hand and poured half a cup of dry white wine into the pan.
His hand burned with pain, but Jo Minjoon was far too concentrated to care.
He raised the heat beneath the pan and waited for the wine to cook down and soak into the rice.
Only then did he notice Emily was still watching him with concern.
And she was not alone.
He did not know when Alan had approached, but he was standing nearby as well, staring at Jo Minjoon’s hands—or more precisely, his left hand.
Jo Minjoon lowered his gaze.
Now that he was consciously aware of the injury, the hot, throbbing pain made him frown.
Alan and Emily could not bring themselves to tell him to stop and receive proper treatment. They understood too well how much this place meant to Jo Minjoon and every other contestant.
Jo Minjoon composed himself. “I’m fine. You don’t need to worry.”
“……As soon as the mission is over, get it treated properly.” Alan spoke bluntly, then turned away.
Emily sighed before moving towards another station.
Jo Minjoon bit his lip.
The pain was getting worse, but this was no time to complain.
My thumb…… It’s a little difficult to move.
The pain had partially numbed his sense of touch, but fortunately, he was already finished with the knife.
The inconvenience was not serious enough to stop him.
When most of the wine had cooked down into the rice, Jo Minjoon poured roughly half a cup of simmering chicken stock over it.
When that reduced, he added more.
Then again.
And again.
Ten or fifteen minutes passed that way, and the rice gradually became creamier as starch thickened the liquid around the grains.
It was time to add the remaining pear.
Jo Minjoon peeled another portion, diced it as before, and added it to the pan. Under the heat of the stock, the pear slowly softened, lost its shape, and seemed to melt into the risotto.
Jo Minjoon tasted it repeatedly.
He felt the roundness of the rice grains against his tongue and searched for the faint aromas hidden within them.
He still did not perfectly understand what proper al dente risotto should feel like, but he did everything he could to guide the flavour.
This was something the system could not do for him.
His own tongue had to do it.
It was difficult.
The flavour of the rice. The pear. The wine. The stock. The sage.
Perceiving all of them at once and judging how they interacted was extraordinarily demanding.
But Jo Minjoon was more focused than he had ever been.
This was an unfamiliar dish.
Precisely because it was unfamiliar, he had to judge it even more carefully.
Before long, he forgot the pain in his thumb.
All that remained were the flavours.
Taste, aroma, texture.
The only thing he could see was the risotto. The only thing he listened for was the sensation of the grains yielding beneath his teeth.
Jo Minjoon poured every ounce of his concentration into his tongue.
No.
That was not quite right.
He was not merely concentrating on his tongue.
He was immersed in cooking.
No—cooking itself seemed to envelop him.
Before he had even used all the stock, Jo Minjoon realised the rice was ready.
The grains had swollen, plump and rounded, yet when he bit into them, the centres still offered a delicate firmness beneath the softness.
The aroma of wine and chicken stock mingled with sage and prosciutto, fitting together like pieces of an intricate puzzle.
Jo Minjoon turned off the heat and allowed the risotto to cool slightly.
After about a minute, he added melted butter, grated cheese, and pepper, adjusting the final seasoning.
It was finished.
The estimated score was six?
Jo Minjoon bit his lip as he stared down at the risotto.
The system was his strength.
But in the end, it did not define his limits.
An excellent risotto.
He had never eaten what he could confidently call a perfect risotto before, but ultimately, risotto was still food.
Delicious food.
And Jo Minjoon knew how to create flavour.
Just as Alan had said, he understood cooking.
He might not possess the absolute sense of taste everyone believed he had……
But Jo Minjoon trusted his own talent and his passion for cooking.
There was a saying that nothing was impossible for those who believed in themselves.
At times, he had thought those words sounded too idealistic, too simplistic.
Now, however, he felt as though he finally understood them.
And that understanding, that faith in himself, rewarded him.
[You have created a risotto beyond your current limits through extraordinary concentration!]
[The ingredients have harmonised perfectly. The rice has absorbed and united all of their flavours!]
[Your mastery of Italian cuisine has increased!]
Jo Minjoon’s eyes trembled.
With the same unsteady gaze, he looked at the final system window.
[Pear Risotto]
Freshness: 95%
Origins: (Too many ingredients to display)
Quality: High
Cooking Score: 8/10