I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 162



Only Noblemtl

162 Identity

While waiting at the airport, soon after, I see Lee Sang-beom pushing a cart and looking around awkwardly.

“Chef!”

He spots me and approaches me with a bright smile.

“Representative!”

He said he had never been abroad in his life.

Hotel restaurants do not have regular holidays. Of course, they adjust their work schedules to create off days, but it is rare to have two consecutive days off.

We took him to a previously prepared accommodation. For the time being, we plan to have him stay in the staff apartment with Segreto staff so that he can get used to English.

The next day I picked him up and headed to a farm in New Jersey.

I was curious to see how he, who has been making Korean food for over 20 years, would evaluate the sauce I made.

As we leave the densely packed downtown New York City, the road becomes increasingly quieter. And soon enough, sheep and cows leisurely grazing in the meadows come into view. After driving a little further, we arrive at the Sun High Farm.

“This is our farm. Here, we plan to make our own soy sauce and grow Korean crops that are hard to find in the United States. Things like bracken and crown daisy are common on the road, but they are not marketable in the United States. The same goes for spring greens like crown daisy and mugwort.”

He looks at the open farm and admires it.

“Wow! It’s really spacious.”

“In the United States, farms of this size are very small. We have plans to expand the business, but we are still in the testing phase, so we haven’t started out on a large scale.”

I walked with him and showed him around the farm.

“It’s spectacular. It’s a strange feeling to see jars lined up like this in the United States.”

His voice trembles at the sight of 200 jars, 100 each for soy sauce and soybean paste, lined up in a row.

“Everyone becomes a patriot when they go abroad. Most of the employees here are Korean. They will do simple farm work and pickling and managing the soybeans.”

He looks around curiously.

“The soy sauce is not fully fermented yet. But the soybean paste is already finished. Would you like to taste it?”

“Of course!”

As I opened the jar, the savory smell of soybean paste spread. I used a spatula to scoop the soybean paste onto a plate.

Lee Sang-beom picks up the spoon and tastes it. Then he closes his eyes.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen traditional soybean paste like this. Commercially available soybean paste is too sweet. That limits how you can cook with it. But this isn’t like that. It has a deep flavor. It doesn’t leave a bitter aftertaste and has an incredibly strong savory flavor.”

He tastes it again and nods with satisfaction.

“When I put the meju in the jar, I put dried pollack and kelp together. This was to maximize the amino acids. I added dried red pepper and jujube to it to give it a clean taste.

After maturing for about two months, we separate the soybean paste and soy sauce. It takes a lot of work, but I am satisfied with the results. It was my first time, so there was some trial and error, but the next time I make soy sauce, it will be better than this one.”

The soybean paste made in the traditional way is dark in color. I tasted the sauce that was left out and it tasted deeper than the last time I came. It was a luxurious and heavy taste that could not be compared to the soybean paste sold in stores.

“I didn’t know the chef was this serious about Korean food.”

“I have a fixation when it comes to cooking. If I don’t like any of the ingredients, I feel like there’s a thorn stuck in my throat. If I start, I have to do it right.”

He looks at me with sparkling eyes. His gaze seems to be filled with admiration, which is burdensome.

“Shall we taste the soy sauce as well? It’s not fully aged yet, but it will help us get an idea of ​​the flavor.”

Let’s pour some soy sauce on a piece of paper and he tastes it.

“This is also good. It doesn’t have the typical rough taste of commercial products and is clean. It has such a deep taste even though it hasn’t been aged much, so I’m looking forward to the future.”

“Because commercial soy sauce contains sweeteners and preservatives. Like acid-hydrolyzed soy sauce, it leaves a bitter aftertaste when it is made by breaking down proteins with hydrochloric acid and extracting amino acids. After I decided to start eating Korean food, I tried it at various Korean restaurants, but I didn’t like the sauce. I had no choice but to make it myself.”

“I want to make a meal with these quickly.”

He takes a note out of his bag.

“These are the recipes I’ve organized while working. It’s about 10 notebook volumes, but I only brought one.”

The worn-out notebook contained his entire, intense life.

It was a recipe book that described in detail, even including illustrations, various seasonings, soups, stews, side dishes, and meat dishes.

“I guess I’ve got a good handle on people. Now let’s go to a restaurant together.”

The menu is already roughly decided, but it’s nice to have more recipes to reference.

“I’m already excited to see what kind of place it will be.”

We got back in the car and headed back to Manhattan.

When deciding on a location for your restaurant, it is important to clearly analyze your target customer base.

I had no intention of creating a restaurant that tourists would visit. I wanted to target local residents and deeply penetrate their lives. So the location I chose was Midtown East, the most bustling area in Manhattan with many office workers.

Fifth Avenue, the shopping district of New York, Grand Central Terminal, the busiest train station in New York, office space including the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building, and even the UN headquarters are located here. It can be said to be the center of New York administration.

But if you go just one block inside the main street, a different scene unfolds.

There are rows of old buildings that are over a hundred years old, and you can often see tables lined up at street stalls. The city is leading the redevelopment of the old streets with private companies, and I knew that the value of this place would increase in the future, so I was able to make the decision to invest without hesitation.

I took over this shabby building and remodeled it. I spent money on repairing the exterior walls, and it now looks pretty good.

“and!”

[Hundred Dishes]

He lets out an exclamation of admiration as he looks at the sign.

The interior is clearly visible through the modern glass windows. When I was designing this place, I asked Logan to create an interior that would be as exposed as possible to the citizens passing by.

Local citizens who commute to work will wonder about this place and come visit at least once.

When you open the glass door and go inside, at the end of the hallway there is a chest that looks to have been built over 200 years ago.

This is an item I found by chance at an antique shop while I was thinking about interior design.

Curious as to how it ended up across the ocean to America, I asked the owner, but he simply said that it had been purchased somewhere else 30 years ago and was causing trouble because it wasn’t selling.

I bought the backrest like I was possessed. And after thinking about where to put it, I decided to make it the mascot of the restaurant. I placed it at the end of the entrance passage so that all the customers coming to the restaurant would pass by here. I bought a few pieces of Joseon white porcelain (commercial products) and placed them on top of the backrest, and I felt satisfied.

The completely Hanok-style interior does not provide comfort to the guests who visit here.

I mixed Korean elements into the modern interior as a focal point. If Koreans come here, they will find various elements such as soft lighting, windows covered with Korean paper, and ornaments with a motif of traditional Norigae, but to foreigners, it is just a slightly exotic restaurant. To match the Korean elements, all the pillars and tables are made of wood.

“It’s better than hotel interiors!”

“Haha, that’s not it. It definitely lacks sophistication. There are also a lot of tables.”

“There are certainly a lot of tables.”

This is not fine dining. It has to turn over as much as possible. But they have not forgotten the minimum consideration to avoid it being too crowded.

“Take a look at the kitchen too.”

The kitchen was renovated to suit Korean cuisine, modeled after Segreto’s.

As there are a lot of stews and stir-fries, the number of burners has been increased and the number of ovens has been reduced. A grill for direct grilling and a separate space for preparing and storing various vegetables have also been provided.

“My heart is pounding. I have never seen such a wonderful kitchen before.”

Chefs working in the kitchen cannot perform to their full potential if they are stressed by the environment. We know this better than anyone else, so we have put a lot of meticulous attention into the kitchen layout and flow of the kitchen.

“I told you the concept before. Today, I’d like to make it a little more concrete.”

After the tour, I came into the office and started meeting with him.

“Go ahead. I’m confident in anything.”

“We minimize individual orders. You can think of it as a single menu.”

“yes?”

His eyes widen in a way that would be unthinkable in a hotel Korean restaurant.

“There are too many things to prepare for Baekban. I think our menu is Ocheopbansang. Since you are a Korean chef, you probably know a lot about this, right?”

“Of course. In addition to rice, soup, kimchi, soy sauce, and stew, a meal with five more side dishes is called a five-cheop banchan.”

“I’m thinking of arranging this. Americans don’t enjoy soups. There are overlapping elements in soups and stews. I’ll take out one of them and add a braised dish. For grilled dishes, I’ll use meat more than fish. Then I’ll add vegetables, side dishes, pancakes, pickled vegetables, or salted seafood, and it’s done.

Once the kitchen and guests get used to this, we are considering upgrading to a seven-course meal with steamed dishes and raw fish.”

“I understand. If it’s just a single menu without individual orders, it seems entirely possible.”

“But it’s also a shame that they don’t serve grilled fish, even though it’s Korean food.”

“Haha. That’s true.”

“We are used to eating with bones because we are good at using chopsticks. But that is not the case here. When grilling fish, you have to make fillets with perfectly removed bones. The same goes for stewing. I will teach you how to do it.”

“How do you plan to rotate the menu?”

“I think about the weekly basis. The dishes change every day, but you can taste the same dishes a week later. In fact, customers find it annoying to choose a menu. That’s why courses and recommended menus sell well in each restaurant.”

“Hahaha. I think so too.”

“Of course, we will allow best-selling items such as soft tofu stew and soybean paste stew to be exchanged for an additional charge. This is because these menu items do not put a burden on the kitchen.”

“Is there anything else I should know?”

“I plan to sing all the menus in Korean style.

I will print out the menu for that day in stylish graphics and post it. Korean food is not well known. There are less than five Korean foods that foreigners know. And those are things like bulgogi, kimbap, and kimchi.

We will make it so that customers who visit here will naturally learn the names of the dishes. Regulars will soon learn them all by heart.”

“All right.”

“And I would like you to make your own tofu. Of course, it would be hard work, but our policy is not to use commercial products. We plan to hire enough people, so don’t worry too much.”

“Whew. It’s a popular restaurant, but it’s not an ordinary restaurant. Even a high-end Korean restaurant wouldn’t be able to do this.”

He sighs as if he is tired, but his expression looks bright.

“Of course, you will be charged a reasonable price. New York is surprisingly expensive. Don’t think about the price of a meal sold in Korea.

“This is a restaurant that I run with my name on it. I know that the customers have high expectations for the quality of the food. I don’t want to disappoint them.”

“If I was going to do it half-heartedly, I wouldn’t have come here. I ask for your continued support.”

He stands up and bows his head in greeting.

If my Korean restaurant becomes popular, there will definitely be new entrants. We need our own unique elements that cannot be copied. I plan to make handmade the identity of Hundred Dishes.