I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 73



Only Noblemtl

Meaning of the test

Ella brings in a large plate. There is no food in sight. It is covered with aluminum foil.

“Mr. Papillote. I’m already starting to get excited.”

Gordon, a French chef, expresses interest.

“Papillote is a cooking method that requires a lot of consideration. Once you wrap it in aluminum foil and put it in the oven, you never know what you’re going to get.”

Joe provides further explanation.

“That’s right. Once it’s in the oven, there’s no way to fix it. Especially if it’s your first time cooking. You probably have a clear image of what you’re cooking.”

Ella places the plate on the table and looks at me.

“Are you telling me to open it?”

“Yes, Chef.”

I stabbed the aluminum foil with a knife and cut it lengthwise. Then I opened it so I could see the food. At that moment, steam suddenly escaped from inside. A fragrant smell filled the studio. It seems that she wanted me to open it myself for this reason.

“It’s beautiful. The colors are wonderful.”

Joe takes a closer look at the dish. Inside are pork belly cut into bossam-sized pieces, asparagus, Brussels sprouts (mini cabbage), red peppers, carrots, green and red peppers sliced ​​into strips, zucchini, and green onions. You can also see dried tomatoes. The vegetables are brightly colored. It looks like they were lightly stir-fried.

“It smells so good. Papillote is a technique often used in French cooking when cooking salmon. Come to think of it, it goes well with pork belly too.”

Gordon looks into the camera and explains to the viewers.

“Because it’s an oily ingredient.”

I accepted what he said.

“Yes, this is a way to cook oily ingredients in a light way. Let’s taste it.”

We all picked up our forks and ate the pork belly and vegetables in one go.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a dish that I really liked. It’s really great. It looks simple at first glance, but it’s been thoroughly calculated.”

Joe is amazed.

“That’s right. Bitter, sour, sweet, salty, savory, and spicy are all perfectly balanced in this. I’m especially satisfied with the pork belly. It’s so moist and tender. Papillot is a dish that is sealed in paper and steamed with the heat of the oven and the steam from the ingredients. That’s why it has this texture. The vegetables also have all the textures.”

Gordon smiles with satisfaction.

“I stir-fried the vegetables first. Since each vegetable takes a different amount of time to cook, I stir-fried them separately considering that they would go in the oven. I also stir-fried the pork belly in a pan first, then cut it up and put it in the oven. It adds flavor by inducing the Maillard reaction in the meat, and the texture becomes chewier. It also probably meant to remove the excess oil from the pork belly.

The sourness is from the white wine. And I mixed in some balsamic vinegar and a little soy sauce. The sweetness is brought out by the vegetables and the kick is from the chili peppers. I can’t stand it. It’s really great.”

The more I analyze Ella’s cooking, the more I’m amazed at how much she’s grown. She can make dishes like this just by reminding her of her strengths once.

“What I would like to praise most is the part where dried tomatoes were added. Inevitably, these ingredients reduce the savory taste. On the other hand, if tomato sauce was added, there was a risk that the dish would have a soggy texture. Above all, it would not have looked good. This dish was quite surprising to solve that with dried tomatoes. Ella.”

Ella blushes in embarrassment at Joe’s compliment.

“The chef gave me courage. After that, while I was resting, I thought a lot about what my strengths were. I just couldn’t give up healthy cooking.

But healthy doesn’t mean tasteless. I plan to continue to challenge myself and pursue this kind of cuisine in the future.”

Ella looks straight at me and speaks confidently.

“It’s rare and a great blessing to have a solid cooking philosophy from a young age. I look forward to the future.”

Gordon pats Ella on the shoulder.

Ella went in and we continued eating her cooking.

“It’s really delicious. I want to add it to my restaurant’s recipe.”

Joe rarely eats multiple bites of food. Joe is the type to eat small bites, so in competitions where there are many dishes to judge, he rarely eats more than one bite.

“I thought it was amazing that I added a little soy sauce. With the balsamic and olive oil, it felt like I was eating Mediterranean cuisine. The chili peppers were also perfect.”

I used just two chili peppers to add flavor to the dish. Pork is an ingredient that goes well with spicy food.

“First of all, the visuals are great. What’s more, the fact that this color scheme isn’t just for decoration but is designed to let the flavor of the vegetables permeate the meat is amazing. She knew exactly what she was going to make before she even went to the pantry.”

Joe seems to really like this dish. He raves about it.

The contestants look at Ella as she goes up to the second floor. No contestant has ever received such high praise from the judges. Ella has definitely become one of the favorites to win this competition.

The next contestant doesn’t come forward readily. They don’t want to be directly compared. I have no choice but to nominate them.

“Kimura. Bring me the food.”

Kimura, a second-generation Japanese, has experience working in a Japanese restaurant. He was quick in selecting ingredients, so we can look forward to his work.

Kimuri sighs and walks towards us. He then places a bowl down in front of the judges. It is a bowl used to serve ramen.

“Please introduce the dish.”

“I made a char siu don (叉焼丼) using pork belly. It’s delicious when eaten with rice and chopsticks.”

“Samgyeopsal is oily. So it’s burdensome to serve it alone. It’s usually served like this with rice or vegetables.”

Gordon speaks, picking up his chopsticks.

“I also found May’s frozen pork dish a bit too difficult to eat. The lettuce wrap was great in that sense.”

Jo says, his mouth watering as he thinks of lettuce wrap.

“I can’t help it, since this is a place where I have to show off my cooking skills. Come on, let’s eat.”

At Gordon’s words, we all picked up our chopsticks and tasted the char siu with rice. We covered the rice with the well-cooked char siu and put egg yolk in the middle. We finished it off with a sprinkle of green onion, making it visually appealing.

“It’s delicious. Sweet and salty is a universal flavor. The saltiness of soy sauce and the sweetness of sugar go well together. The greasiness is reduced with mirin and the savory taste is enhanced with katsuobushi. It is similar to Dongpo pork, which is grilled once, the fat is drained, and then simmered in sauce, but the ingredients are different. It was delicious.”

Kimura’s shoulders slump, perhaps because his reaction is different from Ella’s.

“There’s a reason why Asians eat rice the most. This dish is incomplete without rice.”

Gordon also puts down his chopsticks. Then he looks at Joe.

“Joe. Joe, will you sell this food at Joe’s restaurant?”

I tossed a bomb to Joe.

“Absolutely not.

Kimura. This food is definitely worth eating. It’s quite tasty.

But you brought us the most typical samgyeopsal dish that a Japanese person can cook. Without even changing the recipe.

There is no expectation or surprise. If you just go into a ramen place in Tokyo and order a chashu-don, this is what you will get. It will taste exactly as you expected.

Elimination is harsh. You didn’t make that many fatal mistakes, but it’s hard to give you a good grade.”

Kimuri returns to his seat with an ambiguous expression, either relieved or disappointed.

The facial expressions of the contestants who have yet to be judged are tense. In comparison, the expressions of the contestants who have already passed are much more relaxed.

“Damn! If you just grill it and wrap it in a tortilla, it’s a taco? And what’s with that crappy salsa? It doesn’t go well with pork belly.”

Gordon snaps.

The contestants pack their bags one by one. They must have thought about the dish first and gathered the ingredients, so if they lack the basic skills, they will have a hard time. The contestants will have made dishes that are far below their expectations.

And then it was Dominic’s turn.

“Dominic, can you explain the dish to me?”

“It’s no fun if I explain it in advance, so I think it would be better if you just eat it. Eat it like an English pie.”

Dominic’s dish is placed in a square ovenproof dish. It is covered with a batter made of butter and flour like an English pie and baked in the oven, giving it the appearance of a pie.

“Wow. I’m looking forward to it.”

Gordon taps the outside of the pie with his spoon, as is typical of British people. The pie crust breaks, revealing the filling inside. It is a cream-based filling. Gordon takes a bite and closes his eyes.

“You guys try it too.”

I also picked up the spoon and looked closely at the filling. Finely chopped pork belly, shiitake mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, carrots, and celery caught my eye. When I put it in my mouth, the soft creamy bechamel sauce gently enveloped my tongue. And when the impression of the cream faded, the pork belly, mushrooms, and other vegetables created a harmony that gave me great satisfaction.

“Because pork belly is fatty, it’s not easy to match it with béchamel, which is mostly fat. However, it’s a combination that’s often used in Italy. Once the fat is drained, it’s a good combination when combined with soft béchamel and mushrooms and vegetables.

Dominic chopped the pork belly into bacon-like pieces and fried them until crispy. Almost all the fat from the pork belly was gone. When I write it like this, it seems like he used sliced ​​pork belly instead of pancetta (Italian salted pork belly). Is that right?”

I ask Dominic a question.

“That’s right. But that’s not all. Dig deep into the bottom with a spoon and scoop it up.”

As Dominic said, the judges put their spoons all the way to the bottom and there was something wrong.

“Mashed potatoes!”

Gordon puts mashed potatoes, pork belly, and vegetables on his spoon all at once and puts them in his mouth.

“The filling can be excessive in fat and protein, but the mashed potatoes balance it out. It’s soft and very rich. It’s well made. But I wonder if this is a pork belly dish.”

Gordon puts down his spoon.

“But I have to admit, you have a knack for cooking. You visualized the flavors in this form before going to the pantry.”

Joe looks at Dominic with a pleased expression. I feel the same way.

“Also notable is the combination of British pie and Italian mushroom cream sauce with pancetta. It was delicious.”

Dominic gets a light pass and heads up to the second floor. Personally, I want to see Dominic in a more extreme situation. Perhaps because he has a long history of working in restaurants, he is very good at dealing with situations.

Already, 7 people have packed up and gone back. All of them are contestants who failed to follow the basics of cooking. If they had simply tried to grill pork belly and use it as a topping, they would never have passed this test.

“Still, the level of the contestants is high. There are many contestants who have a good grasp of the core of this competition.”

There is another reason why Gordon insisted on this test. It takes knowledge and technique to cook samgyeopsal deliciously in a short period of time.

“That’s right. You didn’t tell me, but actually, this test has a set answer.”

“It requires complex cooking.”

“That’s right. If you cut the pork belly and grill it, it becomes too hard like bacon. If you just boil it, the taste is lost. In the end, you have to grill it while retaining its moisture. Or find a way to retain its moisture after grilling it.”

“Some contestants used stir frying, simmering, and steaming, while Ella and Dominic used grilling and then braising. I wonder if the rest of the contestants got the answer right.”

And Leon, one of the contestants who we had no idea what he would cook, came to us with his dish.