Chapter 7
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Birth of Great Jang Geum
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Heo Yeop shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Huh. So there's a contest like this."
The cooking contest that followed was truly thrilling.
The masters gathered from all eight provinces of Joseon had each reached the realm of artisans.
They had surpassed the starting line of cooking that his stepmother had mentioned by over a dozen years, blossoming into flowers uniquely their own beyond mere sprouts.
Yet it was impossible to carelessly judge whether they were irises or peonies—which was more beautiful.
Thus, the contest host, Gourmet Unicorn An Sung-jae, tested their skills and pitted them against one another through utterly unique methods.
Time limit: one dakyeong.
Cluck-cluck-cluuuck!!
How are we supposed to cook in just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea!!
T-The... time is too short!
Shut up, all of you!! From now on, this kitchen is under my command. I'll pick the ingredients, Park will handle the knife!! Kim, the fire!! Jeong, the seasonings!! I'll only choose things that cook fast, so score them deeply, fire high! Seasonings bold!! No time—move!!
Demanding they produce a proper dish in the time it took to sip a cup of tea, for instance.
Yes, that house looks good. Today, we'll cook using only ingredients from that house's pantry. Prepare a formal banquet fit for ceremony.
What?! Isn't that the house of old bachelor Park who hasn't even married yet?
There won't be any proper ingredients.
The pantry check shows only dried radish strips and wilted spinach.
The rice is aged stuff that looks several years old.
The soybean paste is so rotten it's inedible.
Leading the chefs into the marketplace and suddenly pointing to one house, forcing them to cook only with whatever was in its pantry.
This is a dish called Boeuf Bourguignon, taught to me by a French chef who visited as an envoy during my time in the Ming capital. Taste it and recreate the exact flavor.
What is this? It seems like braised short ribs, but how does it have this spicy, sticky savoriness?
This is grape... and liquor?
Jang Geum's palate is trustworthy. Let's add grapes and alcohol first.
Bringing food from distant France thousands of miles away for them to taste, then making them recreate it with Joseon ingredients.
It tested not just basic cooking skill, but their quick thinking, adaptability, and creativity.
And at the center stood the man: Gourmet Unicorn An Sung-jae.
Even to Heo Yeop's eyes, he was someone of exceptional talent and character.
"Indeed, only someone of this caliber could earn the title of Gourmet Unicorn."
Next matchup: Jang Cheol-yong, who studied at One Flower Pavilion in the Ming and serves as head chef at Hanyang's Full Moon Pavilion, versus Kim Jeom-rye, the gukbap proprietress of Chilsun Valley in Mount Jiri!
It was a truly absurd matchup.
How could a backwoods gukbap lady from a Jiri valley in broad daylight defeat someone who studied in the Ming and headed the kitchen of Hanyang's top pleasure house, Full Moon Pavilion?
As everyone, Heo Yeop included, thought this, An Sung-jae gave a different verdict.
The ingredients grow in different soil, the water differs—how can you mimic Ming cuisine with Joseon materials? You're eliminated.
He would coldly critique a lavish banquet made with expensive ingredients.
Kim Jeom-rye, how many years have you run your place?
Heh heh, started when I could still walk, so probably over sixty years?
Indeed, only that much time yields such depth of flavor. Elder, I respect you.
He bowed his head in deference to the Gourmet Unicorn title before a humble bowl of gukbap.
The Master said: Steady the mind and posture, devote yourself persistently to one thing, and eventually you reach the principles of all things.
Kim Jeom-rye had touched Neo-Confucian truth with one bowl of gukbap, and An Sung-jae understood even that.
"Heh heh, dwelling in reverence and exhausting principle, investigating things and attaining knowledge."
Heo Yeop, pleased by the utterly fair judgment, happily turned the page.
Before long, the contest hurtled toward its finale.
And just as the National Academy, gathering the kingdom's geniuses, still had its top scholar, this assembly of provincial artisans had two standout geniuses: Park Chang-gi, head chef of Joseon's premier pleasure house, Pyongyang's Floating Jade Pavilion, and Jang Geum.
"What in the world is going on?!"
The day before the finals, the proprietor of Joseon's top pleasure house, Pyongyang's Floating Jade Pavilion, could not contain his rage and slammed his desk.
If he could catch the eye of the Ming-come Gourmet Unicorn, Floating Jade Pavilion would become the greatest pleasure house not just in Joseon but the Ming as well. Burning with ambition, he had poured vast sums to gather skilled chefs nationwide, sending them under the Floating Jade Pavilion banner.
Yet the hard-gathered chefs all fell, and though the head chef finally reached the finals, facing Jang Geum meant victory was no longer assured.
I can win, proprietor!
Shut up!! What if you lose—will you take full responsibility?!
Proud of his cooking, head chef Park Chang-gi stubbornly refused, but the greed-blinded proprietor eventually resorted to dirty tricks.
"Egad, such impudence! Bribing before a sacred duel? And what?! Drugging her?! You scoundrel!"
It was bribing officials to rig the contest and slipping Jang Geum Soul-Muddling Powder in her tea.
The bribed ones performed dutifully for their pay.
They rigged the ingredient lottery: tenderloin from a newborn black filly, ginseng, and fresh rice for Park Chang-gi; tough old hen, aged rice, beans—cheap scraps for Jang Geum.
They say ingredients make half the dish. Jang Geum despaired at the vast gap but resolved to fight with what she had—until she drank the drugged tea.
"Could she really lose like this?"
As a gourmet, Heo Yeop knew ingredient value better than most. Just grilling newborn filly tenderloin was exquisite; no matter how skilled Jang Geum, how could she beat that with an old hen?
Moreover, Jang Geum wasn't even in full health.
She struggled to stay conscious but succumbed to the Soul-Muddling Powder. Heo Yeop clicked his tongue at her collapse.
"Alas... how could this be."
Must she truly yield like this?
After all her trials, no reward?
Heo Yeop set aside his regret and turned the page to see her end.
And light dawned.
"Rise, Jang Geum."
"Mother...?"
"Get up quickly. You are my daughter. Wash the ingredients, grip the knife, light the fire."
"Mother!!"
"I believed in you!!"
Was she watching?
Though not borne in womb, raised in heart—watching anxiously even from the afterlife?
His late mother's face flashed; a tear rolled from Heo Yeop's eye.
Jang Geum had never forgotten that voice calling her, the feel of aged, cracked hands caressing her cheek, the warmth of being called daughter through swallowed tears. The stepmother's spirit appeared before her, caressing her cheek warmly once more.
"Jang Geum. Are you weary? Think you can't win?"
"Yes... Mother. I'm so tired..."
The stepmother smiled softly at her daughter's whining, unseen in this life. Stroking her head proudly, she said,
"You can do it, Jang Geum. Remember the shepherd's purse soup I made when you were little?"
How could she forget? When hunger made her whine as a child, Mother boiled warm soup from market soybean paste and hand-picked shepherd's purse. She'd tasted renowned dishes across the provinces, but none surpassed it.
"Even shepherd's purse blanketing the foot of Samgak Mountain has its own flavor. If you can't figure it out, ask the ingredients. Listen to their voices. Feel their breath. Can you do it?"
"...Yes, Mother."
"Good girl, Jang Geum. I'm proud of you."
The warm touch faded.
As the mother's caress vanished completely, Jang Geum's eyes snapped open. She rushed to the kitchen, caressing her meager ingredients by hand.
"The breath of the beans... the chicken's breath... the rice's breath..."
After long fondling, Jang Geum bolted outside.
"Yes, that's what you wanted to say."
What had she realized? She shouted,
Uncle, press oil from these beans. Granny, grind the rice. Auntie, grate lotus root and prepare eggs. I'll prep the chicken.
"What dish is she making?"
Jang Geum's cooking that followed was utterly different.
Even Heo Yeop, who'd eaten every provincial dish, saw unfamiliar methods.
She filled a huge pot with bean oil, lit a roaring fire.
Coated chopped chicken in rice flour, lotus root powder, egg—then plunged it straight into the pot.
The chicken pieces erupted in the pot like a volcano, gleaming golden.
What is that?! Not even seen in the Ming!!
What the hell?? Damn it!! Got distracted!!
Even Park Chang-gi, in the finals with Gourmet Unicorn An Sung-jae, was stunned.
Heo Yeop recalled every dish he'd eaten, assembling flavors mentally, but couldn't guess the taste.
"What could it taste like?"
Time passed; judging began.
Pale-faced Park Chang-gi and bright-eyed Jang Geum, free of the drug, presented to An Sung-jae.
What dish is this?
Filly tenderloin grilled on dried rice straw, coated in a sauce of ginseng, soy, and vinegar.
An Sung-jae tasted Park Chang-gi's tenderloin roast, expression subtle. Eating more, he rinsed his mouth and spoke.
The sauce is peerless.
Thank you.
But the meat isn't evenly cooked. Filly roast should preserve tenderness along the grain, but it's lacking.
"Kekeke, pathetic fool. Nose three feet long, yet fixated on others—putting cart before horse."
A man with his own nose three feet ignores his flaws.
As Heo Yeop mocked Park Chang-gi for ruining prime filly, it was Jang Geum's turn.
An Sung-jae asked with genuine curiosity,
What dish is this?
Golden Fried Chicken. Made by listening to the ingredients' breath, as my mother taught, my creation.
Hmm... let's taste. Wh-What is this!!
A storm of flavors hit.
The exterior puffed crisp, glistening slickly. One bite unleashed a crisp 'crunch' echoing in the mouth. Skin like pastry, beneath moist tender meat. Juices burst, nutty savor wrapping the tongue.
Stunned by the flavor onslaught, An Sung-jae devoured gluttonously, composure gone, until the plate emptied. Regaining senses, he gripped Jang Geum's shoulders.
Your name is Jang Geum... Jang Geum, yes? Your family name! What is your surname?
Jang Geum pondered An Sung-jae's question. She recalled her birth surname from Mother, but did she need it now? She was already Mother's daughter. Shaking her head slightly,
No surname. Just call me Jang Geum.
Impossible. You've already become a master of flavor... Yes, Great Jang Geum! Henceforth, I shall call you Great Jang Geum!
And so Jang Geum became Great Jang Geum.
"Well done. Perfect."
Culinary Duel: Jang Geum neared its end.
Jang Geum, now called Great Jang Geum, became a legend in Joseon's culinary world. The scheming Floating Jade Pavilion proprietor and bribed officials were exposed and imprisoned.
Park Chang-gi, uninvolved in the plots, received leniency: stripped of chef credentials.
"Yes, that's how it should end. The righteous path brings glory; the wicked face judgment!"
Thrilled by the bold, kingly resolution, Heo Yeop eagerly read on.
Of course, regret lingered. So little left. When was the last time a book made him laugh, cry, shout like this?
But all beginnings have ends. Heo Yeop pushed aside regret and turned the final page.
An Sung-jae said,
"Great Jang Geum. Your skill has reached the pinnacle of flavor. Care to challenge for Gourmet Unicorn?"
"No... way."
With An Sung-jae's endorsement, Great Jang Geum leaves beloved Joseon for the Ming...
Wha... not the end?!
It was ongoing?!
Heo Yeop shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Next volume!!"