I Got the Almighty Tongue - Chapter 89



Only Noblemtl

New Course

“Brother, what are you so worried about?”

Joohee looks at me and asks.

“There are already many customers who have visited the restaurant multiple times. I think we should increase the number of course meals.”

Segreto currently offers chef-recommended course menus and a la carte menus.

First-time visitors to a restaurant first order the signature menu. Then, they check if the food suits them. If they are satisfied with the food and service, they visit again and explore the food in every corner of the menu to get to know all the tastes of the restaurant.

Now we need two more new courses.

“There were a lot of course menus at Luce de Sole, right? The menus that my brother came up with there were also good.”

Joohee makes a regretful expression. She seems upset because she can’t eat her favorite menu at my restaurant.

“I guess I didn’t upload it because I felt bad about using those menus since I retired anyway.”

There is no law that says I have to do it this way. I just don’t feel like it.

“You don’t have to be sorry. I went there with Ellis a while ago, but all of your signature dishes were gone.”

“okay?”

I was surprised. Even if the chef leaves, the menu developed by the restaurant usually belongs to that restaurant. Since it is not copyrighted, it is okay to put it on the menu after becoming independent, but it is true that I feel uncomfortable about something. However, I did not know that they would preemptively remove all my signatures from the menu. It must be a consideration for me and Romeo’s confidence.

“Romeo?”

-You’re finally calling. How’s it going? Standing alone?

“I am once again realizing how great Romeo is. I am having trouble planning the menu.”

-I’ve walked this path once. You’d probably go crazy not being able to use the ingredients you want to use as much as you want, right? But the effort to bring out the maximum flavor and creativity within those limits will help you grow.

“Thank you. And you even spared me my signature dish.”

-It’s a given for me. There’s no reason to use that menu if there’s no chef who made the dish.

“Thank you. It will be a great help in organizing the menu.”

-Come visit me sometime. The kitchen staff still talk about you a lot.

“I’ll go and buy you something delicious.”

Even in fine dining restaurants, when the restaurant is busy, people often order pizza or burgers from a nearby restaurant.

After talking to Romeo, I thought about the menu again. An idea came to me. I went to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Since Joohee is at home, the refrigerator is quite full. There are also many Korean food ingredients she bought.

I started searching through the fridge and pantry, pulling out things I thought might be useful and testing them out. Suddenly, I felt a gaze and turned around to see Joohee sitting comfortably with her feet up on the sofa, looking at me with her legs crossed. Her expression looked pleased.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I asked her, curious at her seemingly knowing yet unknowing expression.

“There are things you learn when you’re together for a long time. If you suddenly wake up and start digging for something, there’s a high chance that something delicious will come out.”

“Are you satisfied with the food coming out of Segreto now?”

Joohee made her own table in the corner of the restaurant.

It was a corner where it was hard to fit a guest table, but a table for two was possible. He prepared a small version of a restaurant table and brought it in, and it was cute how he smiled and said that it was his seat. I think he was worried that if I took away a good table because of him, it would have a negative effect on sales. However, I think he couldn’t give up his own table, so he came up with this method.

“I’m completely satisfied. It’s delicious. But it’s true that I’d like to try something a little more authentic.”

I was thinking about it too. The first chef’s recommendation course was a menu to show people who I am. I can’t say that there was no showmanship mixed in there. Now, I want to create a course that focuses on the original taste.

“Thank you. That was helpful.”

“So what are you going to make for dinner tonight?”

Joohee still prepares dinner and waits for me when I get home from work. Her cooking range has expanded, and now she makes japchae and bulgogi, and she also makes delicious seaweed soup. Yesterday, I made LA galbi, which I learned somewhere, and it was pretty good. On my days off, I want to make something delicious for her who works hard.

“What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t think they’ll do it···”

Joohee trails off.

“What is it?”

“ramen.”

“Ramen? Are you asking an Italian chef to make ramen for you right now?”

“Would it be difficult? Hehe. Actually, I’ve been craving spicy food for a while now. And it’s been over a year since I’ve had ramen, so I’m suddenly craving it.”

Joohee looks embarrassed as she twirls her hair with her index finger.

“Don’t expect instant answers from me, I’ll think about it for a moment.”

I was thinking of a spicy and tangy noodle soup.

The first food that comes to mind is chicken noodle soup, America’s soul food. It is so popular that there is no household that does not eat it, and each household has a different recipe. However, there is a standard recipe.

After roasting and eating a whole chicken, the remaining bones are removed and boiled. Then, chicken meat and vegetables such as celery, carrots, and onions are added to the soup. If you add any pasta noodles you have at home and boil it, you have chicken noodle soup. It is similar to our country’s chicken porridge.

This dish, which also exists in 12th century literature, is a type of Western health food. Just as we eat bone soup when we are not feeling well, the West eats chicken soup. The reason why foreigners are crazy about chicken or samgyetang when they come to Korea is probably because they feel the taste of their hometown in an unfamiliar land.

I looked in the fridge and there happened to be some fresh noodles. I took the raw chicken out of the fridge and quickly dismantled it. After quickly removing the meat, I started boiling the stock with the bones.

Traditional chicken noodle soup may be a healthy option, but it’s not very appealing because all the ingredients are boiled.

I decided to change things up here. I started by seasoning the chicken breasts with salt, pepper, and curry powder and grilling them in a pan with olive oil.

As the chicken cooks golden brown, the rich flavor of the fat in the skin becomes more intense. Place the seared chicken in the oven and turn it.

Then, I added the fondant remaining at the bottom of the pan to the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic and stirred until everything was absorbed. After frying them to a suitable degree, I added water to make vegetable stock.

Mix chicken stock and vegetable stock. The rich chicken bone broth and the savory flavor of vegetable stock combine to create a familiar taste like Japanese ramen soup. However, this is not the kind of ramen Joohee wants to eat. I melted lard on a hot pan and added soybean paste, garlic, and ginger. The heavy taste of lard, the savory taste of soybean paste, and the ginger and garlic act as a kick.

I mixed the finished sauce into the soup and it became quite like ramen soup. I mixed red pepper powder, minced garlic, green chili pepper, and shrimp paste to make a seasoning sauce. Since you said you wanted spicy food, I should make it spicy. As for the toppings, oven-roasted chicken and green onions would be enough.

“All done. Let’s eat.”

Joohee gets up from the sofa and sits at the table.

“Wow! The visuals are nice. It looks like Korean ramen, but also like Japanese ramen.”

Joohee’s eyes sparkle as she picks up her chopsticks. Homemade ramen is tricky to make at home because it requires broth.

Since I don’t have time to boil it for a long time, I quickly brought out the flavor with a chicken bone broth base, vegetable stock that absorbed the chicken’s fond, and a sauce mixed with lard and miso. If a ramen craftsman saw this ramen, he might frown and say I cheated.

“Try it.”

Joohee tastes the soup by scooping it up with a spoon without mixing in the red seasoning sauce that she put in the middle.

“It’s a familiar taste, but it’s sophisticated. It’s clean. But it also tastes a bit like instant noodles. It’s exactly the ramen I’ve been looking for.”

Stir-frying lard and soybean paste will give it the flavor you want. It replaces the savory flavor of the seasoning. As a bonus, the soybean paste also helps cover up the awkward flavor of celery in the chicken noodle soup.

“Wow, it’s spicy. But it’s so delicious. I think it would be a huge hit if they really sold this.”

Joohee exclaims in admiration as she continues to slurp down the soup that has turned red from mixing the seasoning sauce.

“This is a soup that can’t fail. I’ll tell you the recipe later.”

“Yeah. Please let me know. I can do this too. I wish I had more recipes that I could make for you.”

“I’m eating deliciously. Thank you.”

“So when do you think we can get married?”

She looks at me with a mischievous smile. Sweat is dripping down her forehead from eating spicy ramen.

“I plan to create a course that the Michelin inspectors cannot help but give a star to.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

Joohee smiles and picks up the noodles with her chopsticks.

Slurp

She eats really well. If there is no one to eat it for, I don’t feel like cooking. That’s why I often eat fast food when I’m alone. It’s nice to just watch her eat.

* * *

We have a direction for the new course. Now we have to choose the ingredients. There are many meat recipes in the West. And it is safe to say that there is nothing new. But what about fish?

The West generally treats fish with contempt.

While seafood is enjoyed in some Mediterranean regions, such as the coastal areas of Spain and France, which are rich in seafood, and southern Italy, Americans tend to look down on seafood. The seafood they enjoy is mostly limited to Japanese dishes such as sushi, or intuitive flavors such as king crab, shrimp, or lobster.

I want to create a seafood course that even Americans would find delicious.

I want to provide freshness and visual enjoyment not only with fish but also with various types of seafood.

Octopus, scallops, and langoustines come to mind, which we no longer use in our restaurant. Fish intestines are a part that we rarely eat in the United States. However, they can also make wonderful sauces and garnishes, depending on how they are used.

I planned out a variety of seafood courses in my head.

It is not easy to give the same satisfaction as meat with fish. The course should be two steps longer than usual. I want to serve various fish raw, grilled, steamed, smoked, dried, and fried. Finally, among my signature dishes, there is a pasta that is worthy of being served as primo piatto.

After work, I sit in the empty kitchen and make various sauces to capture the image of the taste.

The main thing is to use sardines. Sardines are a mysterious fish. Every few decades, the catch increases dramatically and then disappears in an instant. During World War II, sardines move in such huge schools that sailors on ships mistook them for islands.

Naturally, these anchovies were used as war food and processed into canned food and supplied as combat rations. The technology of the time was limited to making canned food that was so bad that soldiers would be reluctant to eat it even when they were on the verge of starvation. Naturally, it is said that the American soldiers at the time were afraid of anchovies. This image continued until the Vietnam War.

After not being caught for a while, the mackerel began to be active again a few years ago. It may not be a fish that Americans have good memories of, but I am confident that I can prove the mackerel’s innocence.

However, in order to satisfy customers who pay a lot of money to order a course, high-quality fish species must also be served.

Red mullet (red mullet) comes to mind, which is mainly used in French formal dinners. If the lack of weight is compensated for by using anglerfish liver to give it a richness similar to foie gras, guests will be satisfied. This course seems to be quite expensive.

I started making the sauce every day after work.

The process of creating a sauce is similar to the process a perfumer goes through when mixing perfume. It involves making countless mistakes until you find the right combination of scents to achieve the desired image.

So it’s common to see chefs spend years researching a single sauce, but if I have a clear image of the flavor, I can reduce trial and error by creating and adjusting various combinations in my head.

Still, this was not an easy task.

* * *

The kitchen staff at Segreto have changed their clothes and gathered in the hall. It is now time to leave work.

“Sam, what is the head chef doing in the kitchen these nights?”

Dominic asks Sam a question he had been holding back. These days, Jehee has been left alone every day for over two weeks, making something. When I went to work in the morning, I often saw her sitting on her chair, nodding off, wearing her chef’s uniform, as if she had stayed up all night.

The other staff members didn’t say anything, but they were looking at Sam’s face, perhaps out of curiosity.

“I get scared whenever the head chef does something like that. One time, he spent weeks mulling it over and he came up with a signature sea bass dish. But the sea bass was so hard to prepare.”

Sam shivered as if he was getting chills.

“Huh? Isn’t cleaning fish a common task? Sam catches salmon every day, too.”

Ella tilts her head.

“Ella, have you ever caught a live bass? You had to open the gills while it was still alive and find the artery. You injected saline solution into the artery with a syringe and drained every drop of blood. After that, you mixed a seasoning solution that flows instead of the blood.”

The chefs who were listening gulped.

“At first, everyone had a hard time. But Jehee taught them one by one, and eventually after a week, all the chefs in the kitchen were able to do it. Even now, when I think about that time, I jump out of bed.”

Sam teases and scares the chefs, as if he finds it funny.

“Sir..surely it won’t be like that this time either, right?”

Dominic looks at Sam and says nervously.

“It won’t be the same, but whatever it is, it seems like a new course is about to begin, so I think everyone should be nervous.”

The chefs were worried at Sam’s words, but at the same time, they couldn’t hide their anticipation for Segreto’s new course.