I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 146



Only Noblemtl

146 Fireballer

The Master Chef team mission filmed in Segreto showed the contestants as they were.

Their appearance, in which they did their best to finish cooking while wandering and blaming each other, was far from perfect. However, it was enough to reveal their human charm.

[Is it just me who finds Theo’s sudden outburst funny?]

└I understand. The cooking piled up, but there’s a lot of work to do. But wouldn’t you get annoyed if someone next to you kept urging you?

└What the heck. To be honest, Kyle was struggling among the trolls.

└Is Kelly acting the same way? It was a bit sad to see Lily cowering in the corner.

└It’s fortunate that none of the remaining kids are as trash as Mia. I was watching it with my family, and it was the first time I heard my grandmother swear.

└If Shin Je-hee wasn’t there, we wouldn’t have been able to cook and it would have ended in a huge fight. The charisma was just so-so.

└Why you need a head chef in your kitchen.

└It seems like Soyoung and Ella are really close. When Soyoung finished and went in, Ella hugged her. It was nice to see.

└Kyle and Theo also helped each other out in the end and it ended well. It was a warm ending.

The broadcast had another side effect: competition for Segreto’s reservations became more intense.

The beautiful collaboration and resulting dishes that the chefs showed were well received on screen. This aroused favorable curiosity among viewers and led to reservations from nearby residents. And I was flooded with requests to appear on TV again.

But I’m still left alone in the kitchen of the closed restaurant, continuing to ponder.

It seems like it’s within reach, but it slips out of your hand. The direction of cooking I pursue has always been the same. It’s a dish that gives surprises. Sometimes it’s a trick using the sense of sight and taste, and sometimes it’s an active use of smell.

I think they’re kind of change-ups.

A pitcher who throws a changeup well is definitely a great pitcher, but it is also inevitable to have admiration for a fireballer who throws a fastball that the batter knows he can’t hit. This time, I wanted to make a dish that is decided solely by taste.

A dish where you can taste the rich flavor of bisque sauce and soft fish meat together. And an unexpected combination of flavors. I think carrots would go well as a garnish. I tried making bisque sauce again, but no matter how much I thought about it, the impact was weak. This is because all the flavors were within the expected range. Even if I improved the sauce, I could only elicit a slight exclamation of ‘Oh!’

‘Was it a mistake to choose bisque sauce?’

Bisque sauce has so much personality. Even if you make variations like curry, it ends up being curry with a different name.

The vast amount of data I had accumulated so far began to simulate in my head.

The fish that goes well with the dish I want is red mullet. The flesh is moist and soft, yet has a luxurious taste. I removed the crustacean from my mind. Then I thought of a combination of sauces that would go well with it. Of course, if it is not a crustacean, you have to use the fish bones.

The spices that connect the red mullet and the sauce go well with seeds. Coriander seeds and fennel seeds are good. Adding garlic, star anise, and thyme balances the flavors. However, the sauce that uses the fish as is leaves an unpleasant aftertaste after the meal.

‘How do I solve this?’

It’s a shame to serve two sauces. You can’t control how your guests eat. I want to improve the aftertaste with a soft and creamy sauce based on the rich flavor of fish and herbs. The impact of the first bite is also important. Finally, the image of the taste is captured.

I started to clean the fish on the tray. The flounder bones, with their guts and flesh removed, are delicious when boiled in spicy stew, but they are also often used as ingredients for broth in Western cuisine. I removed all the fins and guts, leaving only the parts that produce clear broth. I sprinkled coriander seeds, fennel seeds, and star anise on them. I added chopped garlic, thyme, and onions to add sweetness.

The savory flavor of Western cuisine comes from tomatoes. Add a moderate amount of fresh tomatoes and paste. Then, drizzle a generous amount of olive oil on top.

Something doesn’t feel right. I crossed my arms for a moment and thought about it. It’s 2% lacking.

As I turned my gaze, I saw numerous spices in bottles. I looked around and picked up saffron. The reason I deliberately avoided saffron was because it looked similar to bouillabaisse (French seafood stew). However, I couldn’t find a better match.

Sprinkle saffron over the ingredients and mix with your hands to marinate them well. Then wrap them in plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator. You will need to let them marinate for a day.

There are many different ways to make red mullet, but I plan to make one that is crazy rich and full-bodied, with a creamy aftertaste. I want to add some sweetness as a garnish to create a real orchestra of flavors.

This path is very narrow. If you take even one wrong step, you will fall off the cliff. It is relatively easy to find the point where two flavors are in harmony. However, if there are three or four, it is a different story. And this is why there are many chefs who study one sauce for years. You have to find the point where various ingredients and flavors are in harmony.

I cut off the scales of the red mullet with a knife and removed the head. Then, without hesitation, I cut open the belly and back and separated the meat. Salt and tomato powder would be good for seasoning.

This will bring out enough umami, but the sauce will be incredibly strong. The fish should be able to stand up to it. Trim the kelp and wrap it around the fish. Then, sprinkle some white wine on top, and the kelp will stick to the fish in an instant. After a day like this, a bomb of umami will be completed.

Carrots, which are responsible for sweetness, are not only the core of the garnish, but they also have to be visually beautiful. It would be good to make flowers using purple, orange, and yellow carrots. It is not only bright, but also matches the seasonal feeling well. If you express the green leaves with basil, you can satisfy both the taste and the visual beauty.

I put the pan on fire. Then I poured sugar. As the pan heated up, the sugar melted and started caramelizing. Then I added finely chopped shallots, salt, and a lot of butter and simmered.

After it was somewhat reduced, I added finely chopped carrots and poured in white wine vinegar and vegetable stock. This adds acidity and gives body to the stock, which neutralizes the sweetness and butter flavor and makes a more refined sauce. After it was reduced completely, I ground it in a mixer and strained it. It was done. I smiled when I tasted it. It was exactly as the image suggested, without a single error.

Now the next thing I have to do is tomorrow. I quickly cleaned up the kitchen and headed home.

“You worked hard, oppa.”

Joo-hee comes out to the front door to greet me. It’s been two months since we got married. It’s something I experience every day, but my heart feels like someone is waiting for me at home. I hug Joo-hee carefully.

“How have you been? Are the kids healthy?”

Joohee’s belly is now so swollen that anyone can tell she’s pregnant. She says she often feels the baby moving, as if the kids are fighting. I laughed as I remembered what I saw in my dream.

“It was a mess today too. It’s amazing how things keep moving while wiggling.”

She smiles, patting her belly.

“What about food?”

“Don’t worry, my brother made the sauce for you. My mom sent me a lot of it, and there’s someone working there too.”

Managing a five-story house is usually not an easy task. I was introduced to a reliable maid through Will. She was a Mexican immigrant and a professional with excellent cooking and housekeeping skills.

“Did Marianna get off work?”

“Yeah. I told you to go in first. Mexican food is really my style. It’s so delicious.”

Both Joohee and I were captivated by the tacos and burritos she made. With just one bite of the roughly chopped and cooked ingredients wrapped in a deep-fried corn tortilla, we could not help but think, ‘Ah! This is real Mexican.’

“What about work?”

“I’m going to hold off on expanding the business until the kids are born. Just do your existing work, so there won’t be any problems if I’m gone. I’m just receiving reports.”

“Where were you thinking of expanding to?”

“I’ve done a lot of research as I’ve been involved in food distribution. The easiest field for us to enter right now is the dairy market.”

She makes a playful face.

“Milk and butter are expensive in Korea.”

“It’s not that expensive. The distribution margin for dairy products in the US is around 10%. In Japan, it’s 15%. How much do you think it would be in our country?”

“Double?”

“That’s right. It’s 38%. That’s a real cartel. Our company has already eaten up more than 10% of the Korean wine market. So we’re going to try the same strategy. We’re going to bombard the Korean market with cheap dairy products from the US and Eastern Europe. We’ve already made enough progress with local companies.”

“It sounds like you’re going to do logistics too?”

“I need help with logistics from my second brother. I’m already getting help, but I think I need to think about what to do in the future. I feel like I’m causing too much trouble since it’s not even an affiliate.”

“You won’t think it’s a nuisance, will you? I guarantee you’ll like it. Don’t worry. If you distribute cheap and good products in your mart or department store, it’s a win-win for both parties. Koreans have been buying dairy products at too high of prices.”

In Korea, there are many items that distributors make huge profits from. That is why gaps like this exist.

“I have to get these guys out first before I can do anything. Their tastes are all different, so it’s a headache for me too.”

“What did you want to eat today?”

“Porky wanted tacos, and Bambi wanted pasta. So I had no choice but to eat them all. I think I can make pasta as well as any good chef now.”

She speaks in a sarcastic tone, perhaps embarrassed by having eaten so much.

Joohee has really improved her cooking skills. The pasta she makes is full of Italian sensibility. Joohee especially loves Ligurian food, a Mediterranean region in northern Italy, and even I was impressed by the pesto pasta with walnut sauce.

As we chatted about this and that, the night grew deeper. I had a quick snack of the pasta she made and fell into a peaceful sleep.

* * *

“It’s been a while since you asked me to taste something.”

The next day, I finished cooking with the ingredients I had prepared in advance. The corners of my mouth went up without me realizing it. Since I had made an appointment to meet Romeo, I called him to the restaurant and asked him to try the food.

“It’s almost done.”

I succeeded in making the sauce with the texture I wanted with Espuma. The tray is filled with red mullet, sous vide at 52 degrees. I charred the outside with a torch to bring out the Maillard reaction. Pan searing did not produce the desired texture. The goal is extremely soft fish flesh.

Place the fish on a plate. Then pour the sauce over it, and it feels like Mediterranean cuisine. The flowers made with basil leaves and carrots are gorgeous. The bright yellow carrot sauce added to it makes the primary colors stand out and it’s beautiful.

“It’s all done. Try it.”

Romeo cuts the fish flesh with a knife and puts it in his mouth along with the sauce. Then he closes his eyes.

“I can’t tell what the sauce is. It’s based on fish bones, but it’s much more complex. It seems to have a multi-layered structure. It’s a very intricately designed dish. The fish meat was also specially processed. It’s so that it meets the sauce and explodes with savory flavor. The soft fish meat soaks up the sauce and spreads in your mouth.”

He stops talking and cuts a carrot and tastes it with the sauce.

“The garnish goes well with it. Did you want to put all the tastes that a human can feel into the dish? Sweetness, saltiness, sourness, savoryness, and the taste of soft fat are all harmonized in one dish.”

“Do you like it?”

“This isn’t Italian. It’s not something I would ever make. But it’s excellent. You didn’t forget what I said. I think you should give this sauce a name.”

I roasted the marinated fish in the oven, then boiled it with white wine and sake. I added tarragon and dill to give it some flavor, skimmed off the oil, and boiled it for a while. Then I made hollandaise based on egg yolk and olive oil and emulsified it with the sauce. It was a difficult task to find the balance, but my taste buds made it possible.

Ring ring ring.

The phone rang during our conversation. I apologized to him and answered the phone.

“This is Shin Je-hee.”

-Chef. This is Jack from Fox TV.

“Director Cho. What’s going on?”

After mumbling for a while, he finally confessed his business to me. The point was that he wanted to verify that Kyle was absolutely tasteless and that he wanted to use me as a comparison group.

I was about to decline, as I had already done enough favors for the Master Chef. But then I had another thought.

‘Couldn’t I promote my new recipe through broadcasting?’

“Director Cho, I understand the situation. But I don’t want to do clown stuff again now. I’ve always refused such requests.”

-We know that too. But how about we just do it this once? We’re starting to go up, and we just need to make one last shot.

His voice sounds desperate.

“Then how about another way?”

-What method is it?

“I’ll make the dish. It’s a new menu item. If Kyle gets all the ingredients right, you can absolutely approve of his taste.”

-Really? That would be a nice picture too.

I don’t know which one would help the ratings more, but can Kyle really figure out the combination of sauces that even Romeo couldn’t figure out? If so, then another divine taste has appeared.