I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 82



Only Noblemtl

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“Now, shall we take a look at our wine cellar?

I wanted to show off to someone all the wines I’ve been collecting over the years.

You might think that chefs know a lot about wine, but that’s a misconception. They only know the wines they need for their dishes, and they only have a general idea of ​​what wines would go well with the dishes they make.

The people who really know about wine are sommeliers, winemakers, and wine lovers. The wine market grows explosively from this time.

Wine, which was considered to be the exclusive domain of the upper class and cultured, has become a cultural phenomenon that ordinary office workers can enjoy, and its market size has expanded.

Naturally, as demand increases, the price of wine will rise two to three times, but since popular wines sell out quickly, there will often be cases where the product itself cannot be obtained regardless of the price.

This is why I have been steadily collecting wine, even though it has been a headache for me.

“Oh, I’m looking forward to it. By the way, the restaurant I worked at in California had one of the top five wine cellars in the area.”

Jenny speaks proudly.

“I think I’ll be in the top five in New York?”

“Are you serious?”

Jenny is surprised. It’s the fifth in New York and one of the ten in the United States. It’s not the size of a wine cellar that a restaurant that hasn’t even opened yet can have.

But I think it is possible. Old vintages are hard to collect, so I haven’t been able to get many, but if you limit it to young vintages, there is no restaurant in New York that has a more diverse collection than mine. In Austria and France, there are wineries that have over 200,000 bottles of wine, so it would be difficult to even hand out business cards.

“I’m very serious. So prepare yourself mentally.”

We carefully descended the stairs and headed toward the wine cellar in the basement.

Going down one floor, a wooden door made of oak is revealed. I took out my card key.

“You need a key to get in here. You have to hold up your card and enter the password within 10 seconds. The number is 0412.”

beep

Tit ti ti

Crash

“Now just push the door.”

“Security is pretty tight, huh?”

“If this wine cellar were put up for auction now, it would fetch a ridiculous amount of millions of dollars. It wasn’t worth this much a few years ago, but it has gone up a lot recently.”

“Is… that so?”

Jenny gulps. A wine collection worth billions of won? It’s hard to find anywhere else to see it.

And when you open the door, a huge wine cellar is revealed.

“Welcome to Segreto’s wine collection.”

I smiled and spoke to her, but Jenny was too absent-minded to hear. She was staring blankly at the huge wine cellar with her eyes wide open.

“Jesus Christ! Is this a museum or a library? It’s really amazing.”

The wine here is a library-themed structure that I designed. I just gave Logan the concept, but he implemented it in much more detail and beauty.

Just as bookshelves are arranged in orderly rows in a library, wine racks are arranged in long rows. Classification is indexed for easy identification by region and year. If this had not been done, one would not dare to try to find a specific wine in this huge cellar.

“No abnormalities in temperature or humidity.”

I checked the situation by looking at the LCD of the conditioning unit attached to the wall.

“The temperature is kept at 12 degrees and humidity is 75%.”

“Yeah. I guess since we have white, red, and sparkling, this should be the right condition.”

“Wow. That’s incredibly thorough. There’s no wine standing up. It’s all lying down.”

“Because when the cork dries out, air gets in.”

The cork must be wet. A dry cork lets in air and rapidly oxidizes the wine.

“That’s right. But most wine shops and even wine cellars don’t keep it that way. Should I say they don’t keep it?”

“Here, not only is there no direct sunlight, but all the lighting is indirect lighting. We’ve minimized the amount of light that reaches the room.”

“This is the first time I’ve seen a wine cellar managed so thoroughly.”

Jenny looks around curiously.

“Now let’s take a look at the collection. The expensive items are gathered in one place.”

I took her to the place with the most expensive wine collection. Here, she had to authenticate herself with her card key one more time.

Beep

“It’s Chateau Margaux.”

Jenny says, stroking the bottle.

“It’s a must-have for fine dining.”

Château Margaux is a historic wine that has been famous throughout Europe since the 16th century. It is also called the queen of wines because of its fascinating characteristics, such as its deep ruby ​​purple color and silky texture.

It is also famous as the wine that Thomas Jefferson, a key figure in the founding of the United States, loved the most. Although it is an expensive wine, it is a representative Bordeaux wine, so it is a must-have for fine dining.

“Oh my goodness. There’s also Romanee Conti. And 1999, 2002, 2005. All great vintages from years with great harvests.”

Romanee-Conti is probably the most expensive wine on the market. It can be purchased for between 5 million and 10 million won today, but in just 10 years, the price will have quadrupled.

Most of the vintages I have are from particularly good years. If you keep them, their value will increase to the point where you can ask for more, but they are not investments. I have no intention of selling them to customers who don’t know how to properly enjoy the taste and are just trying to show off, but I am willing to give them to true enthusiasts.

I am moved to tears when I think of the effort it took to secure these quantities. I am sure that there is no one among the famous wine importers in New York who does not know me.

“There are also regular vintage ones.”

Of course, they are also priced beyond imagination, but they can become precious memories for some people.

“How much should I sell this for?”

Jenny carefully picks up the Romanee-Conti, examines it with her eyes, and asks.

“I don’t plan on making a big profit on wine. I plan on selling it for about 20% of the market price. I’ll also set the corkage reasonably. Dining is supposed to be enjoyable.”

There are many shabby high-end restaurants that make a lot of money on wine. Such places do not last long. Most customers who come to fine dining know the price range of the wine they are drinking. You should not leave them with the unpleasant feeling of being cheated after finishing the meal.

“Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, Solaia, Almaviva. You don’t care about the continent? That’s a really great collection.”

Château Mouton Rothschild may be the wine with the most dramatic story in wine history.

In French it is Rothschild, in English it is Rothschild. That is the family. The history of Chateau Mouton, which earned the classification given to the best wine after 118 years of effort, will excite wine lovers just by looking at the label.

Solaia is a high-end wine from the Tuscan region of Italy. This wine, which means ‘shining like the sun’, is a famous Italian wine that is recognized for its value to the point that it was ranked first in the world’s 100 best wines selected by Spectator.

Almaviva is also the pride of Chilean wine.

“From here to there are high-end wines, and the rest are organized by region. I have the list on my computer and in a book. From now on, you have to manage it.”

The Jenny I know is an honest person. If I’m going to trust someone, I want to show my full trust first.

“The responsibility is enormous.”

Jenny mutters in a low voice. She seems to be feeling burdened.

“You can do it. And I’m planning to increase the wine supply to 70,000 bottles. Jenny, you should also list and purchase the wines that our restaurant needs to have in the future.

And every quarter, you have to taste our menu and pair it with the right wine to create a list of recommendations for our guests. Of course, it’s your job to replenish stock when it runs low, right?”

It may seem like a lot of work, but these are all tasks that sommeliers must do.

“I know. It seems like you’ll be busier than I thought. The treatment seems to be good.”

Jenny sighs.

“Now this is all your territory.”

I handed Jenny my card key. Jenny took it with trembling hands.

I’ve spent too much energy managing the wine. I just want to get over it quickly and see the results. After all, my employer is the best.

* * *

Cooking has begun in the kitchen. Of course, it is practice. I have no intention of opening a restaurant until the staff has fully mastered the menu.

For chefs, memorizing recipes every time they move to a new restaurant is more difficult than you might think. There are dozens of menus, and even if you only pick the sections you are in charge of, you have to memorize a lot of recipes and cooking methods for a lot of menus.

But fortunately, we’re just getting started, so the menu isn’t that extensive.

“Sam. Have you been working comfortably?”

Maybe it’s because Sam is taking a break, but he’s not as fast as before.

“No, Chef.”

Sam came over from Luce de Sole. Jason failed to get promoted, so there was a serious shortage of personnel. It seems like this was an internal agreement, as he even brought Romeo’s letter of recommendation.

“But you’re burning the coffin and eating it? You wouldn’t serve something like that to a guest, would you?”

“I was just looking at the pasta for a moment and I’m late. I won’t make that mistake.”

I gave Sam the CDP of Pasta and put Dominic under him.

“Dominic. You don’t have Demi. That means you’re both a coyote and a demi. There’s nothing you don’t know when it comes to pasta. Got it?”

“Yes, chef.”

Dominic has a lot of experience in the kitchen, but this is his first time in fine dining. He is still lost.

“Sam, teach Dominic properly. Remember, I always worked while teaching you? Now it’s your turn.”

“Yes, Chef.”

Sam sighs. Memories of working with me come flooding back vividly.

The CDP of Coldpart hired Bruno, who was working as a demi at Percy. Since there was a shortage of staff and no more promotions, it is understandable that he would move to a new restaurant. In addition, since I am a promising stock that will rise in the future, Bruno must have come here too.

“Bruno. This soup doesn’t taste good enough. Did you do it exactly as I showed you?”

But we still don’t fit together. I don’t know Bruno and he doesn’t know me.

“Yes, Chef. I followed the recipe.”

“Taste the soup you made, and I’ll make it again, so follow the steps exactly.”

“Yes, Chef.”

Bruno looks dejected.

“Okay, let’s get started, so open your eyes wide and look. The menu you have to make now is the face of the course. It has to be perfect.”

“All right.”

Antipasto, which corresponds to appetizers, is a menu that can show the character of a restaurant. I want to start the course with a strong Italian dish.

Drizzle olive oil on the pan and start frying the sliced ​​garlic. Before the garlic is cooked, add the shallots and fry them together. Season with salt and pepper and add the halved tomatoes. Four should be enough.

Sprinkle some sugar on the tomatoes to activate the sweetness. Then, add white wine vinegar to give them acidity and ground cayenne pepper (a pepper from Central and South America). Once the Maillard reaction has occurred sufficiently, place them in the oven and roast them at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

While the tomatoes are roasting in the oven, finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes.

Put the sliced ​​tomatoes in a mortar and grind them. Put the pine nuts that were once toasted in a pan in the mortar along with the tomatoes and grind them. Then, add the grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Pour a little olive oil and mix them together to complete the tomato pesto.

Pour vegetable stock over the tomatoes and vegetables that are ripe in the oven. Then pour in the cream and mash all the contents with a potato masher. When it is broken up to a certain degree, use a hand blender to grind the rest finely and finish. Finally, pour the soup into a bowl and top it with the pesto you made.

“Here, try it.”

Bruno tastes the soup.

“Isn’t it different?”

“The chef’s recipe tastes better, but I don’t know why.”

Bruno would be frustrated too.

“Each chef has his or her own cooking style. The cooking level they feel is different, and the amount of seasoning, vinegar, and spices they add are all slightly different. So practice until you get the same taste.”

“Yes, Chef.”

“Soyoung is the same. She should be able to do the same.”

“All right!”

Soyoung answers bravely, making a saluting gesture with her right hand.

“And Benjamin!”

Pastry chef Benjamin joins the restaurant.

“Yes. Did you call?”

“Make me some focaccia to go with this soup. Focaccia is just baked in olive oil and salt. I think it would go even better if you added butter to the dough.”

Many people enjoy the rustic taste of Italian bread itself, but it is too simple to serve in a fine dining setting. I would like to give it a slightly richer and softer flavor.

“Huh? Then it’s not focaccia?”

“There is no set recipe. Taste is the most important thing.”

“All right.”

I need to train the hall and the main building is still far away, so it seems like I will have to work a little harder until it opens.