I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 153



Only Noblemtl

153 Arancini

“The food comes out quickly.”

It hadn’t even been 30 minutes yet, but Michael thought it was going too fast.

“If I had dozens of customers sitting and waiting, I would have prioritized the menu that could be served quickly.”

Romeo looks into the kitchen and smiles.

widely.

The server carefully places the food on the table.

“I guess you’re thinking of starting with soup.”

Alain looked at the food with an interesting expression. It was soup, but the bowl was unusual. It was not a bowl, but a cup-like container, containing steaming hot soup. Various herbs were placed on top of the orange soup, giving it a bright color.

“Let’s eat.”

Alain scoops up the soup with a spoon, revealing the insides.

“Hoo. It wasn’t just a simple soup?”

“It’s a bit thick. If it were thin, it would all mix together.”

It was just as Romeo said. There was a layer of cream and cheese in the orange soup, and underneath that was another layer of green. When Alain put his spoon all the way in, he felt a different texture at the very bottom that wasn’t liquid.

“The Daegu meat is thick.”

Romeo takes a spoonful of the soup and tastes it.

Alain also scoops up a spoonful of all the layers and puts them in his mouth at once. The first thing that touches his tongue is the fish flesh. The cod meat, carefully cooked in the pan, breaks up moistly and mixes with the sauce. Then, he can taste the rich aroma of pesto made with peas and olives. The cream and cheese add a soft taste, and finally, the sweetness of carrots disappears from his tongue.

“It’s a very calculated dish. The chef must have been studying this combination for a long time. Fish meat and peas go surprisingly well together. The strategy of making it in several layers so that you can taste it over time is also good.”

‘You’ve managed to make such a great dish in such a short period of time.’

Alain ate the soup cleanly, along with the bread and salad that came with it.

Next came Primo Piatto.

“I thought it would be difficult to serve pasta because there were so many people, but this is how we got through it.”

Romeo looks at the food and is impressed.

“They say he’s your disciple, but he seems to be smart just like you.”

“Better than me.”

On the table were arancini (fried balls of rice).

Arancini is a dish that is usually loved as street food in Italy. It is not a dish appropriate to serve in a place like today, but I don’t think the person I know would have served the featureless arancini.

The golden, well-fried arancini went well with the black plate. The bottom was decorated with a pattern that looked like mayonnaise, and the thickness and texture were unique, as if painted with a brush.

“There’s not enough sauce. It’s like street food, so it’s not very good… .”

Michael takes the knife and cuts the arancini, looking dissatisfied.

“ah!”

“You put the sauce inside. Are you kidding me? Hahaha.”

Alain laughs loudly.

When I cut the arancini in half, somehow a thin sauce came out and soaked the dish. If the sauce is this thin, it clumps together and is difficult to shape. If it had been soaked beforehand, the oil would have splattered when I fried it, making a mess in the kitchen.

“Aha! I see. After the sauce hardened, it was wrapped in ham and put in.”

It was an unexpected dish. Alain closed his eyes and savored the taste. It was not a simple dish. The rice was cooked with a combination of soft butter and various spices, and it was designed to create synergy with the truffle-based sauce.

“When cooking rice, you add butter, saffron, and porcini mushrooms and boil them. The rice itself is delicious. The protein is filled with coppa (ham made from pork shoulder).”

Alain smiles with satisfaction.

“I wondered how the sauce solidified, and it was lard. Lard solidifies quickly. It quickly dissolves when heated.”

Romeo tastes and analyzes the sauce separately with a serious face.

“Yeah. He’s a smart guy. It goes well with the mayonnaise on the floor. He added wasabi.”

“This is a composition that cannot be tasteless. It is so delicious that we would like to serve it for lunch at our restaurant.”

Michael’s hand movements become faster.

“There is no exaggeration in his skills. He is a chef who is skilled at combining ingredients.”

The chefs, who were hungry from holding meetings, eat in a combative manner.

Joseph presents a meat pie using Pithivier (French pie). The chefs’ faces brighten at the meal, which is of a higher standard than expected.

Chefs are the most troublesome customers. But today, they all cleaned their plates without complaint.

* * *

I looked around the hall.

When you run a restaurant, you can instantly tell if your customers are enjoying your food. It looks like we passed.

“Thank you for your hard work. You somehow made it on time.”

Serving meals for more than 30 people without any assistance was no easy task.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve cooked this much. But thanks to my good partners, I was able to finish it with satisfactory quality.”

Adele also had a bright expression, as if she was satisfied with today’s course.

“I was lucky to have Adele and Jaehee.”

Joseph slumps down, seemingly exhausted.

“I’m hungry, but I still have to say hello, right?”

Clap clap clap.

As we left, the chefs applauded. It seemed to be some kind of initiation ceremony. We humbly raised our hands in response and went around the table to say hello.

“It was delicious. I definitely want to visit your restaurant when I go to New York.”

Alain extends his hand to me.

“It is an honor.”

It was a day that was hectic but I gained a lot from it. Maybe it was because we went through hardships together, but Adele and Joseph also became closer.

Even after the meal, the chefs continued to gather in small groups and meet. I was able to learn about the latest trends by talking to them. However, some of them looked at me with disapproval.

“You guys don’t take tips and you don’t use unpaid work, right?”

Someone whispered to me in a low voice so that no one could hear. I turned around and saw that it was Manuel, the head chef of the famous Spanish restaurant Cosa.

His restaurant is notorious among young chefs for using a lot of unpaid interns.

“Yes.”

When I answered nonchalantly, he frowned.

“Don’t mess around. Don’t disrupt the order that the industry has maintained.”

Am I not following the rules?

But if exploiting youth by disguising it as experience is the order of the day, I intend to continue to willingly ignore it.

Tch.

As I was silently looking at him, he looked around and stepped back.

The event continued until the evening, and it wasn’t until the next morning that I was able to board a flight to New York.

* * *

“Chairman, I have received a reply.”

Chairman Heo Man-ho stood up from his seat and looked out the window.

You can see the entire view of Gangnam, the heart of South Korea, at a glance. I wanted to see this view.

The new building we moved into this year still had a new building smell that was uncomfortable, but he didn’t seem to care at all and moved in quickly.

“What did you say?”

Recently, he received a report that a start-up company was planning to distribute dairy products in bulk.

There were two strategies that were fundamental to the STC Group’s rapid growth into a dinosaur in the baking industry.

One was to intervene in the production and distribution process of all the raw materials needed to make bread.

He established subsidiaries one by one for sugar, eggs, butter, milk, flour, and even fruit, thereby achieving vertical integration.

It was difficult for milling and dairy products to have a monopoly position because there were already dominant players in the market.

Here, Chairman Huh’s vision shined. He abandoned the retail market and focused on B2B (Business-to-Business). In this way, STC Group established a milling and milk processing company and made all of its affiliates use it.

There was another advantage: by inserting the headquarters into the middle of the distribution process of materials, a so-called ‘toll’ of around 10% could be collected. This still remains an inexhaustible source of income for STC.

The second is a dual strategy.

Even if he monopolizes the bakery business, there is a limit to the size of the market. After taking over the parent company, which was reeling from the effects of the IMF, he was thinking about ways to increase his influence in the retail market.

At that time, Korea was experiencing a shift in consumption patterns from supermarkets to convenience stores and large marts. Chairman Huh read this and focused the group’s capabilities to develop various products to match this trend, gradually increasing market share.

And finally, his business sense was nothing short of outstanding, as he came to have over a 70% share of the commercial bread market.

Only by acquiring both the bakery and the commercial bread markets could the STC Group become a true industry dinosaur.

Of course, there was competition. However, the cost of dairy products and flour is absolutely crucial in making bread. Since these are controlled by cartels, they could never produce bread at a lower price than STC.

Just when I thought this would not change in the future, Irregulars appeared.

“I appreciate the offer, but I decline.”

A company that is not part of the cartel wants to distribute dairy products, which lowers the cost of bread and creates an environment for competitors to grow.

So far, all such attempts have been blocked by cartels, driving up prices or driving out the industry, but in the case of ‘Rebello’, things were different.

“The conditions weren’t too strict?”

STC proposed a ‘collaboration’ to Revello. They recommended that he match their prices with those of other companies to get a higher margin. And they also offered to trade a significant amount of STC at the same price, so it was an incredibly good deal for Revello, as he could only profit without any losses.

“No. I think they are trying to use the same method they used to enter the mainstream market. What they want is not margins, but market dominance. They are also looking for targets to acquire crude oil processors.”

“Okay.”

“How about making an appointment with Chairman Seo?”

“I already tried contacting them. The secretary’s office said that since Libero has no shares in LK, they have no connection to it at all.”

“Then, even if something happens later, you won’t come forward. For now, I think it would be a good idea to talk to Gyeongseong Dairy and the milk side tomorrow and pressure them by cutting off their distribution network.”

“If you rush too much, things will go wrong. It would be best to wait and see for now. We’re not in a hurry right now.”

The distribution cartel won’t let them off easy.

But since entering the mainstream industry, Revello has rapidly expanded into high-end food and dairy products. He feels that this may not be the end.

* * *

Joohee gave birth.

Although I went into labor two weeks earlier than my due date, I called an ambulance as I had prepared in advance, packed my bag, and hurried to the hospital.

As I waited blankly in the hospital hallway, an hour felt like a day. Fortunately, the pain did not last long, and after two hours, I was able to see the faces of healthy twins.

Phew.

It was strange to see two little lumps of flesh lying wrapped in a blanket. The little cubs were crying and writhing without even opening their eyes.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

Joohee’s face was covered in sweat. But she was looking at the children with eyes that were beyond love. She looked so beautiful that I couldn’t help but kiss her forehead.

“I’m the one who’s thankful. They’re really pretty, just like their brother.”

Tears well up in her eyes, perhaps because she is touched. The children are uncomfortable being outside, so they cry as if they want to leave the world, but when they feel each other’s presence, they stop crying.

“We cry together and cry together. I’ve heard that twins do that. Is it true?”

Joohee smiles while looking at the children.

I wiped the children’s tears with my fingers. Their hands and feet were unrealistically small, so I was careful.

Pwaaaang.

The children began to cry again. Joohee and I held them in our arms one by one and comforted them. Something warm rose in my chest. Is this what family is?

Click.

“I’m sorry. It looks too good. I think the pictures will come out well. I’ll develop them and give them to you soon.”

A nurse holding a camera winks.

It was our first family photo.