Chapter 519: Overcoming One’s Limit (5)
Chapter 519: Overcoming One’s Limit (5)
Kaya sighed. “Gosh, I’m afraid I’m going to gain weight if I eat all this.”
“Don’t think about your weight when you’re eating.”
“You know what? If you don’t, you’ll gain weight before you know it.” She scooped up more of the hemp cream soup and placed it in her mouth, then immediately made a strange expression as if she was melting into its flavour. Though still worried about gaining weight, she seemed to have forgotten about her diet completely, overwhelmed by the soup’s taste and unable to stop herself.
She was truly enjoying it.
Minjoon noticed this and recalled a trivial fact: when Kaya ate, she didn’t analyse the food. She simply savoured what was in front of her, not wasting time thinking but trusting her instincts and senses. He had envied this for a long time, because he couldn’t fully taste food without being completely focused, using all his senses. At the same time, he was envious of her. When it came to enjoying food, he could do what she did. But he wondered how she had managed to reach gastronomic level 10 without analysing the tastes as he did.
That was why she had always been different from him.
Kaya didn’t have to go through the thought processes Minjoon did, nor the long path he needed to walk, because she already had the answer. She possessed a perfect gastronomic perspective from the start and instinctively understood the composition of flavours and how their tongues affected the brain.
But Minjoon no longer agonised over how to match her abilities. His goal was no longer about her. His aim was similar, yet distinct.
She had to be perfect.
When Minjoon learned the conditions for a perfect gastronomic level, he naturally guessed the difference between cooking levels 9 and 10. In truth, the gap between just one level was overwhelming and brutal.
I have to make Chef Rachel’s level perfect.
That was probably the only way for her to catch up with Daniel.
At that moment, a familiar figure approached them. It was Justin. After briefly nodding at Minjoon, he said politely, “This is the bread to have with the dish. I’ve made this rye bread with apricots and figs. And this is an English muffin.”
“How are you doing, Justin?”
“Oh, I’m doing well.” Surprised by such a personal question from Minjoon, Justin paused momentarily before smiling in response. According to the latest rumours, Justin had finished working as a stage cook and been promoted to a full-time chef here. Perhaps that was why he had come out to personally cut the bread for them.
Some might have underestimated Justin’s position, but they were mistaken. Rachel took even bread-cutting very seriously. Only when the chef met her exacting standards—thickness, temperature, and more—could the bread be served to customers as she intended.
Shortly after the bread arrived, the next dish was brought out. It was a lettuce dish with stone-like dumplings, stuffed with foie gras and escargots. The lettuce was moist and sweet, as if steamed, but inside it was a different story. The foie gras was expertly cooked over the fire to bring out the ultimate flavour, while the escargots were rich and fat when chewed, both blending seamlessly as if they were a single piece of meat.
Of course, there were more than just these two ingredients. Potatoes, carrots, and tomatoes confit with various herbs stimulated the appetite further.
When Minjoon tasted the truffles served with the lettuce, their scent overwhelmed his senses, and he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
There really isn’t anything I can fault here.
In retrospect, it was only natural he found no flaws. He had never found any shortcomings when visiting Dave’s restaurant; Rachel was simply a few steps ahead in cooking. Even after ten years away from the culinary scene, she remained as competent as ever.
Minjoon confirmed her exceptional skill once again when a gratin was served next. Filled with pumpkin zucchini, pumpkin gnocchi, crab meat, and a creamy masala sauce, it was crowned with truffles sprinkled over perfectly browned cheese. When the cheese stretched to meet his lips, he instinctively felt his initial rating approach had been flawed. Rachel’s dishes could not possibly be wrong; she was far too intelligent to miss any flaws in her cooking.
For instance, when Minjoon used to work for her, he would present a dish he thought perfect—only for her to point out problems he had failed to notice during preparation.
But I must not act recklessly.
He knew that if he failed to find the key to perfecting Rachel’s level, it would not only be his loss but also jeopardise his intention to bring hope to her. That could not happen under any circumstances.
If he could not detect any faults in her dishes, he would have to find a way to make them more beautiful. For however beautiful a woman might be, her looks could change completely depending on what she wore.
So, he had to find the right clothes for her now.
Let me think this through systematically. Let me reflect carefully from beginning to end. Let me examine how each dish tastes in my mouth. The ingredient composition is good. I feel the garnish is a little excessive, but she has chosen to do that intentionally. It’s merely a matter of preference. So, what really separates her from Daniel?
While absorbed in such thoughts, dishes continued to arrive for him and Kaya. Tasting each one carefully, he tried to discover the gap between the two culinary giants.
The lasagna, brushed with langoustine juice and containing pork feet and langoustine, accompanied by stir-fried arugula, was highly impressive. At every bite, different juices burst in his mouth, offering the most aggressive flavour of all the dishes served today.
The dishes that followed maintained that standard. The red mullet, deep-fried with finely ground almonds like flour, rested on sliced lime and salad, topped with olive pickles. When the crispy skin blended with the moist flesh beneath, Minjoon smiled, proud to have once cooked right beside Rachel.
Next came a tenderloin steak with a generous helping of sliced truffles, followed by rump tartare topped with caviar almost embedded in the perfectly minced beef—an intricate fusion of flavours that was neither solely caviar nor tartare, but something mystical.
The final savoury dish before dessert was corn purée. At first, he thought it was simply corn purée, but beneath it lay a steamed oxtail, sprinkled with truffle powder.
Biting into the cow’s tail, infused with the warmth and flavour of the corn, Minjoon was surprised. Serving corn purée with beef was not unusual, but this dish brought out the corn’s natural sweetness as much as possible.
If strawberry milk tasted more like strawberries than actual strawberries, this corn purée tasted more like corn than just corn. So much so, he felt even the beef tasted like corn. That was his impression.
“Yeah, this is it!” he murmured, looking at Kaya. She immediately understood.
“Oh, you’ve found the answer!”
The cooking score for the steamed oxtail with corn purée was 10. In fact, it wasn’t the only dish he rated a perfect 10 today. Yet, he felt this was the best amongst Rachel’s offerings. Considering the combination of corn purée and steamed oxtail wasn’t a novel concept, the score was even more surprising. From the moment he tasted it, he had no choice but to appreciate Rachel’s mastery.
Though he had been amazed by her ability to amplify the flavours of foie gras and use truffles with such brilliance, this dish made everything else pale in comparison.
“Wow, this is the pinnacle of her cooking!”
“Yeah, I think she poured her everything into this dish and pushed her skills to the limit.”
Examining the dish itself, it was no surprise to say it deserved a perfect 10—indeed, it could easily be Daniel’s dish.