I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 46



Only Noblemtl

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“Nice to meet you, Chef Shin Je-hee.”

Jimmy greets you warmly.

“It’s nice to meet you too. I didn’t know we’d see each other again so soon.”

I’ve been seeing Jimmy a lot lately, and I feel like he’s a friendly host of America’s top show.

“Haha. That’s right. How have you been the past two days?”

“I received a lot of calls. There were a lot of people worried because this was widely reported in Korea.”

“When I was revealed to be an alcoholic and was going through a difficult time personally, I only got three phone calls. Unlike me, Chef, you can be proud of yourself because it is proof that you have lived a good life.”

Looking at his bitter smile, it seems like he’s not just saying that. America is a country that has high fences, especially when it comes to entering the boundary of friendship.

“thank you.”

“This is Professor Robert Miller. You know him, right?”

Jimmy introduces me to Professor Robert.

Tall with a thin body. Hair neatly combed back and gold-rimmed glasses. Wearing an outdated suit that looks a little loose.

Since it’s a national broadcast, it’s understandable to show off a bit, but the professor looks like he’s about to enter the classroom and start teaching at any moment.

“Of course. I looked for interviews and read them. While listening to the professor’s lecture today, I was convinced without realizing it. I didn’t do anything wrong, but I thought, ‘Did I do something wrong?’”

“Haha. I’ve definitely come to realize that being an MIT professor isn’t something that just anyone can do.”

Jimmy is also acting cute.

It was definitely a great lecture. He logically convinced the audience of why he made that decision within a limited time. Even I nodded my head, so I thought that if I made a mistake today, I might suffer irreparable damage.

“Thank you for saying so.”

Professor Robert comes forward. It’s nice to see a professor I haven’t seen in a long time. Although he wasn’t my major in biochemistry, he was definitely a professor I respected.

“I am more grateful that you have come forward, Professor. I hope that all unnecessary arguments will end today.”

“You have given a thorough lecture, so I would like to ask you to conduct a full-scale verification.”

Jimmy wants to move quickly. He seems to be concerned about ratings.

“I have prepared two cases for you today. I will show you the first one first.”

At Robert’s beckoning, lab assistants in lab coats came out with plates of food. The personnel who did this work were graduate students, regardless of nationality.

“It’s exactly the way The Tonight Show did it: A good chemist is also a good cook.

Chemist Hervétis said, ‘The cooking process, that is, the phenomenon of transformation of ingredients, is nothing more than chemistry and physics.’

The process of cooking, which involves preparing and transforming ingredients in various ways to make them suitable for consumption, also has something in common with chemistry.

Robert takes a moment to catch his breath.

“Want to know what a lab-grown dish tastes like? Jimmy, join us. This dish is similar to what we did on The Tonight Show, with some unexpected ingredients hidden inside. That’s step one.”

I looked at the food the assistants had brought. It looked like a simple ragu pasta with beef stir-fried with vegetables and then boiled in tomato sauce.

“I’m nervous about serving pasta in front of an Italian chef. This pasta was made with great care by our lab staff. Just match the unique ingredients in it. Jimmy, please share.”

Robert hands Jimmy a fork.

“Mmm. This is delicious. This is really delicious. If they sold it for about $15 for lunch, I would buy it and eat it.”

Jimmy enjoys his pasta. After forking it out three times, he finally seems to realize something.

“Didn’t you say there was something strange in it? I didn’t feel anything strange at all. It was just delicious pasta.”

Jimmy looks at Robert with a puzzled expression.

“That’s the beauty of this dish. It’s hidden. In a way that’s not obvious.

Chef Shin Je-hee? Have you noticed any ingredients here that you don’t usually put in ragu?”

I tasted the pasta carefully. The sweetness of celery, carrots, and onions was in harmony. It was a classic ragu. The rich beef flavor and the flavor of tomato sauce with red wine whetted my appetite. But something was bothering me.

“gluten?”

I was talking to myself without realizing it. Every time I chew the meat, I feel the sticky gluten protein.

Professor Robert flinched when he heard me.

I think I got a hint. I tasted the ragu sauce carefully again. I tasted it assuming that there was something different, and there were more than one or two strange things. Why does the sauce taste like carbohydrates? It is the texture and taste of dietary fiber.

“Are the ingredients that went in there enough to last a while?”

Professor Robert looks at me and asks, curiosity in his eyes.

“This dish is questionable. If you made it in a lab, did you use some special equipment?”

If that’s the case, then it makes sense. If you transform the material particles, then you can put in any material without it being noticeable.

“That’s not it. It went through a completely normal cooking process.”

When I hear that, I can guess what it is. I don’t know why on earth he did this, though.

“Then there can be only one answer.”

I wrote the answer in my sketchbook.

[bean]

“Professor, is it true that it contains beans?”

Jimmy asks. I can see the spit rolling down his throat.

“This is really amazing. This is ridiculous. As you said, this dish is not a normal dish. The ragu sauce contains meat made from beans.”

“That can’t be true. I eat vegan food often, and I know that meat made from soybeans tastes different. This was definitely beef.”

Jimmy speaks in an exaggerated acting tone, as if he has decided that this is the climax.

“I said it was made from soybeans, but I didn’t say it was vegan. It’s made from dried soybeans, then boiled in beef broth and simmered. It’s soybeans that have absorbed a lot of the flavor of beef.”

Robert smiles bitterly.

“How mischievous. Isn’t this a total trap?”

“That’s right. In fact, even if I failed to guess this dish, I had no intention of claiming that the show was rigged.

“I actually prepared a question of similar difficulty to the one that was on TV. I just made this dish to show how easy it is to fool your taste buds. But I really didn’t think I could get it right.”

Robert looks at me.

“As you said, I’ve tried a lot of ragu sauces. If there’s a flavor that doesn’t come from the regular ragu, then that’s the culprit.”

Still, this was a pretty difficult task. It was clear that a lot of effort went into combining the beans and gluten to create the texture of the meat.

“What was that?”

“It’s gluten. It’s strange that meat tastes like gluten. And I can taste the fiber and carbohydrates. That’s when I realized that the meat was made from soybeans.”

“I totally give it my all. Chef Shin Je-hee really has a special sense of taste. Ordinary people can’t taste gluten or fiber. Let alone when it’s mixed in a sauce, further proof would be meaningless. Personally, I have an experiment I’d like to do.”

It’s a face that makes you want to drag me to the lab right now.

“I will decline. I am just a chef. I actually did not want to be in the news like this. I just came out because I did not want the Tonight Show and me to be accused of something I did not do.”

The tension is relieved. Now that the misunderstanding has been resolved, we can finally return to our daily lives.

“I understand. I have one last request. In case Chef Shin Je-hee discovers the source of the soybean in the ragu, I have prepared a dish to use. This is purely scholarly curiosity, unrelated to verification. I will not hold any grudge if you refuse.”

“Good. Now that the charges have been dropped, I can enjoy myself.”

Lab assistants in lab coats come in with special cups.

“Please drink the water in these two cups and tell me what you think. You don’t have to match the ingredients.”

The assistant sets down two cups in front of me. He does the same for Jimmy.

“Here, drink it. It’s perfectly safe.”

Robert makes a mischievous face. Jimmy picks up the cup and downs it in one gulp.

“This is a bit salty.”

Jimmy frowns.

“Try the other one too.”

“This tastes sour. Did you mix it with vinegar?”

“Now it’s Chef Shin Je-hee’s turn.”

I tasted the two cups one after the other. The strange thing is, I couldn’t taste anything in the water in either cup.

“The contents of both cups are the same. They are just pure water.”

As soon as Robert hears me, he jumps up. Then he grabs my shoulder and looks me in the eye. His expression is one of disbelief.

“Why are you doing that?”

I was momentarily overwhelmed by his spirit.

“Recently, we have discovered through research that we can artificially stimulate human taste receptors. This cup continuously sends electrical signals to the water it contains.

And when we drink it, we actually get a taste sensation that’s stimulated. These two cups have salty and sour taste cues set up respectively.

But somehow your sense of taste is not disturbed by electrical signals. Could you please come out to the lab for a moment?”

I had no idea that they were doing this kind of research. If the research is successful, bitter medicine could be disguised as sweet and given to children.

“Not everyone is fooled by electric stimulation, right?”

I’m sure this won’t work for everyone.

“We started with animal testing. Rats like sweet tastes the most. When we gave them an electric stimulus corresponding to sweet taste in the water in their water bottle, they drank more water than usual, on average, by 50%.

But there are exceptions. There were definitely some individuals who drank only as much water as usual, but with a very low probability. Obviously, after the transition to clinical trials, these individuals stopped appearing. Chef Shin Je-hee is the first case.”

Robert drinks the water placed in front of him, his throat burning.

“I came out today to resolve a simple question, but I ended up having many new experiences.

Absolute taste cannot exist in theory.

Absolute pitch is the ability to express all sounds in a musical note, which is why we can use the word “absolute.” Food ingredients are almost infinite. It would be impossible for a human being to know the taste of all the foods in the world even if he spent his entire life.

But if you limit your scope to common ingredients, you will be a human being who is infinitely close to absolute taste.”

The audience gulps and swallows.

“There is no such thing. I just want people to remember me as a chef with a slightly more sensitive palate than other people.”

People are afraid of others who are different from them. In extreme cases, they even reject them. That is not what I want.

“Haha. Okay, I understand. Even if you don’t say that, I won’t be pestering you to go to the lab with me.”

“Well then! Does that mean all our charges have been cleared?”

“Yes, that’s right. I misunderstood. I’m sorry. Even as a scientist, I forgot that there are always exceptions.”

Jimmy sighs. He must be under a lot of stress.

“To the audience. And to those watching at home on TV. The Tonight Show has never done anything wrong. I’m so glad to see that proven. I’ll end today’s show with that. Thank you.”

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