Chapter 343 - You Can’t Touch Pitch Without Being Defiled (4)
Chapter 343: You Can’t Touch Pitch Without Being Defiled (4)
Even without eating it, Kaya could imagine how it would taste because she was a chef.
So, she was more thrilled now than any other moment. Of course, it wasn’t that difficult to taste delicious dishes at the restaurant. However, it was a different story if this dish was made from the recipe that she came up with while she was drunk.
The moment she took the plate and turned around, she got tense a bit and looked at the participants. Just looking at the expressions on their faces, she immediately realized how they would react.
She held the plate tightly and said in a tense voice, “Nope, I won’t give it to you. This is mine.”
“Oh, please let me take a bite of it…” Laura said in an earnest voice.
Kaya flinched for a moment. Laura’s gaze at the Sous vide venison tenderloin seemed too desperate for her to just turn away. However, if she allowed Laura to take a bite of the venison tenderloin, she felt she also had to have the other participants behind her share the tenderloin. She hated it.
“I’ll tell you the recipe later. So, you guys make it in person.”
“Your recipe is not important at the moment. I want to try what you have made now. So, let me take just one bite. I’m so curious,” Laura said earnestly.
Watching her quietly, Min-joon smiled silently. In the Western world, it was not uncommon for chefs to take a bite of each other’s dishes. But usually, someone asked them to try his or her own dish first then the other person responded. Chefs who were exposed to the smell of food all day didn’t feel a strong appetite as a rule.
So, it wasn’t very common for a chef like Kaya whose dish was up for sampling to call the shot. And that meant that Kaya’s cuisine raised the expectations of those who saw it. Min-joon could understand the situation because even he felt thrilled to see the venison cooked medium, with its reddish skin sides revealed, wondering how it would taste.
“I’ll give you mine, so don’t worry too much,” Min-joon told Laura.
“Really?”
“Oh, Chef Min-joon, please let me have some, too…”
“Let me take a bite a couple of times, then I’ll give you the rest of it.”
Min-joon shrugged as if he couldn’t turn a deaf ear to their request. Watching him with a complicated glance, Kaya turned her head reluctantly.
“Hey, Laura, here you go. Deduct 3 scores when you eat it. Same to Min-joon.”
“Are you helping him now?”
“What’s wrong with me helping my boyfriend?”
“Nothing, notthing at all.”
Grinning brightly at her, Laura grabbed a fork from the kitchen counter. Kaya, who cast a displeased glance at her, cut the medium-roasted potato Rosti, put it on top of the venison, then dipped it in clementine puree with red wine sauce. The moment she put it in her mouth, including the leaves of kale that had been boiled and softened, those watching Kaya swallowed, watching her mouth.
And Kaya looked blank for a moment. They wondered what kind of taste made her make such an expression because she rarely expressed it when eating food. Watching Kaya showing an expression she had never shown before, they seemed to be thrilled with anticipation rather than thinking that her expression was funny.
At that moment, Min-joon also put the fork in his mouth. Even his calm expression changed when he took a bite of it. Although even professional chefs were reluctant to deal with venison because of its fat smell, he didn’t smell it at all when Kaya processed it according to her recipe.
“As expected, her cooking score is perfect…”
’10 points.’
While they were cooking together, Kaya and Min-joon never made any single mistake. As a result, they could achieve exactly the dish based on her recipe.
Cooking score 10.
Min-joon could see it relatively often when he worked under Rachel, but it was usually impossible to find a dish with a cooking score of 10 even in all the restaurants of a city.
‘Besides, she came up with this recipe when she was drunk…’
At that moment, he realized once again that Kaya, who used to growl when she woke up every morning, holding his blanket next to him, was the best chef he once admired and respected more than anyone else in the world. She was going to be the top chef in the world within seven years, he thought. She might reach the top that only Rachel once claimed.
‘Man, I can’t afford to get behind her.’
He suddenly felt he was slacking too much in his work recently because of his exposure to the praise and expectations of people. However, Kaya’s dish made him stay alert in an instant. This was a dish she made with the recipe that she recalled while she was drunk. Of course, she was lucky in some respects, but obviously, she had the potential to make a great recipe like this at any time.
He also recalled the days when he was with Kaya at the Grand Chef last year. Back then, he wished he could cook by her side, and he could be someone as competent as her. Come to think of it, he didn’t want it simply because she was a good chef.
‘I can hang out with Kaya on an equal footing now.’
But maybe in the future, he might fall behind Kaya. When he thought about it, his heart began to beat, and he suddenly felt he wanted to cook something.
At that moment, Kaya looked overwhelmed by the dish she made and said in a thrilled voice, “I love this dish so much… I just can’t believe I have made it.”
“You’ve made it. So, you can be proud of it.”
“Thanks, Min-joon.”
Min-joon did not ask what she was grateful for. He thought he didn’t have to ask because there were hundreds or even thousands of things they had to thank each other for. So, even if he asked her why, she would not be impressed at all.
He said in a calm voice, “Since I first saw you at the Grand Chef, I thought I wanted to cook with you. I thought I wanted to make a dish befitting you. Now, when I see this plate, it seems like I have achieved that dream a bit.”
She looked at him wistfully. In fact, her position in the restaurant world wasn’t that great right now. She was still merely the winner of Grand Chef Season 3. As such, she was not as widely known as him in the restaurant circles. His wide recognition was natural, given that people regarded him as a head chef, even though he was a demi chef with only one year of experience.
However, he always thought the world of her. In Laura’s opinion, Min-joon seemed to think of Kaya more highly than himself. In fact, his attitude like that made her trust herself. It was not because she was his girlfriend that he did so. He didn’t lie to her as far as cooking was concerned.
She grabbed his cheeks and kissed his lips.
At that moment, the cooking score of their dish appeared again.
[Sous vide Venison Steak with Clementine Puree and Potato Rosti]
Freshness: 97%
Country of origin: (There are several ingredients that are hidden)
Quality: High
Cooking score: 10/10
While looking at the system window quietly, he turned back to Kaya.
He felt people around were casting a sharp glance at Kaya and himself.
“Hey, how come you kissed me all of a sudden?”
“It’s you who flirted with me first.”
“Flirting with you? Can’t you use that expression for a guy trying to hit on you?”
“Talk to Anderson, not me, if you want to discuss gender equality. Okay?”
Saying so, she picked another piece of the venison. It was a big one this time.
Watching the others around them, she said regrettably, “Well, I don’t want to share it with them once I taste it.”
“Yeah, I understand. This kind of dish is more delicious when you eat it alone than you share it,” he said, chuckling with a nod.
Then she said with a gentle smile, “Without you, I almost forgot this recipe because I was drunk. It’s my first time thinking that I’m glad you didn’t drink last night,” she said, putting the fork down. She reluctantly took her eyes off the plate, but it wasn’t too bad for her to treat others. She originally wanted to show them the dish, but at the same time, she wanted to show it off deep down.
As soon as Kaya and Min-joon put down their plates on the table, Laura and other participants approached them. But Brian was standing at a distance, afraid to approach them and the sample dish.
His behavior was understandable because his interest in Kaya was noticed by almost everyone. So, it was so miserable for him to see the two kissing right in front of them and eat their dishes right before their eyes.
However, he found it uncomfortable staying away from the sample dish. If he didn’t while others enjoyed tasting it, they would immediately find out why. So, he had to find himself miserable in this situation that he could not avoid. That was the fate that he could not avoid as a man whose unrequited love of Kaya was rejected.
If he could not help but look miserable, he decided he would rather taste it anyway. After all, he approached them and hesitantly lifted the fork. However, even with Brian standing beside them, the participants had no sign of giving up their turn. When he stood behind the line and picked up the fork last, all that was left on the plate was a really small piece cut in half.
“It would be best to eat all the ingredients together. It would be fun to eat one by one and compare its taste, but unfortunately, there is one small piece of meat left,” Min-joon said, feeling a bit sorry for Brian.
Brian nodded with a blank expression. He then slowly began packing all the remaining ingredients. Others who already tasted it was standing with blank stares as if they were possessed by something. He felt rather scared by their look, wondering how much it tasted so good as to make them look like that.
Laura looked at him rather nervously. Since she already tasted it and got carried away with its taste, she realized keenly how great this dish was. She still had that lingering taste in her head and mouth and head, so she knew how he would react after tasting it.
“I really feel sorry for Brian,” Laura muttered to herself quietly.