Chapter 613 - Two Sides of Coin (5)
“Oh, you came here because Rachel introduced you to me?”
“Yes. Has Chef Rachel bought cows from you, too?” “Unfortunately, not now. She used to buy cows from us in the past, but while she left Rose Island for 10 years, she was off the list of my clients. As I already told you, the cows at our ranch are fully booked. Even Chef Rachel can take priority over those who have already booked. Oh, wait a minute.”
Having said that, Jimmy, the ranch owner, went into the slaughterhouse. It was not uncommon to run a ranch and a slaughterhouse at the same time. Such practices were more common in a vast country like the United States. Looking back at him, however, Min-joon had no choice but to feel sorry about him, thinking how terrible he would feel when he had to slaughter the cattle he raised himself. Of course, he could not ask Jimmy about it.
While waiting for Jimmy, Min-joon raised his head slightly and looked up at the sky. All he had on his body was a short-sleeved T-shirt and baggy-fit shorts, but his arms and legs already got sticky with sweat.
“Do we really have to eat it?” Kaya asked.
“Why not?”
“I guess he wants to serve us with roast beef. But I don’t think he’s exceptionally good at cooking. Besides, if it’s delicious, I feel like I’m going to get mad because we can’t buy cows here anyway.”
“Just wait.”
Min-joon narrowed his eyes and looked at the slaughterhouse where Jimmy disappeared. He wondered why that good-looking guy wanted to cook for them. Did he really want to serve them just because he felt sorry they came a long way here? Or did he want to show them that they still had a chance?
‘He didn’t lie to me.’
Whether it was a good or bad lie, he had little reason to lie to them. All cows have their owners. There was no reason for a man running such a huge ranch to lie to undermine his words.
Nevertheless, he brought them here, even though he knew that they would not appreciate his treatment much.
There was obviously a reason why Rachel recommended this place to them. If Rachel didn’t intend to buy cows here, she certainly knew it was not that easy to buy cows from this ranch. If she recommended this place to Min-joon when she clearly knew it was hard to buy cows here, it meant he would obtain something advantageous to him.
“I’m bored. How about broadcasting?
“Do it after you get Jimmy’s permission first.”
What she referred to was doing a live broadcast through Starbook. The live broadcasting service on Starbook had been around for quite some time, but it was only recently that the two have started doing it. The reason why they did it was obvious. They knew the power of broadcasting all too well. So much so that it decisively made them what they were today.
So the two wanted to grow Lotus Bridge faster with the power of broadcasting. What the two came up with was obvious. Namely, they wanted to rely on the power of a documentary.
If they managed to cast a producer interested in them with the help of Martin, they knew lots of cameramen would follow the two right away.
So they contacted Martin first, but his response was not what they wanted to hear.
“I’m sorry. I can’t find anyone for now who can make a documentary for you. Those who are competent say they can’t take time out, and those who are not competent are idling away. How about this idea?”
What Martin recommended to them was live broadcasting. Min-joon and Kaya thought the idea was pretty good because the power of Internet broadcasting grew stronger everyday. Min-joon knew how big this internet broadcasting industry would grow in the future.
From time to time when they were free, the two turned on the live broadcast. Sometimes, they posted a video showing some simple recipes, and sometimes, videos showing them just cooking. What was interesting was that the not-so-professional broadcasts were well received by people.
Min-joon glanced at the slaughterhouse where Jimmy disappeared. He wondered what people would think if they saw this. People thought Min-joon and Kaya were probably the best chefs in the world, but what would they think if they saw the two chefs struggling to buy cows here?
He didn’t have to agonize over that quest for long because Jimmy came back at that moment.
Min-joon exclaimed, looking at the big paper bag in his hand.
“It looks quite big.”
“I want to show you everything.” Jimmy grinned.
Ironically, the place where they headed was not the kitchen, but the barbecue grill in the garden. Flames rose between the stone-shaped charcoal. Jimmy laid out pieces of beef on the chopping board with an excited expression.
“Since you are chefs, I don’t have to explain to you how beautiful this one is.”
“Yeah, it’s good.”
“You will like it better if you eat it.”
The parts Jimmy brought were rib eye, tenderloin, and sirloin. They were the most common beef cuts in America, but interestingly enough, its marbling was exactly what Min-joon wanted.
“It looks like Kobe Wagyu.”
“But it’s different from wagyu.”
“Yeah, I get that. Still, for a cow raised in America, it has quite a bit of fine marbling.”
“I chose such a cow on purpose. Since you are from Korea, I thought you might like that kind of cow.”
“You said you chose this particular cow on purpose. You mean you have other kinds of cows, too?”
“Yeah, I almost have all kinds of cows here,” said Jimmy with a satisfactory smile.
Just by looking at his face, Min-joon knew how proud he was of his ranch and cattle.
Kaya frowned slightly and asked, “All kinds? Are you really serious?”
“It’s just a matter of suffering a little.”
“Oh my God…”
Kaya was truly shocked because what Jimmy was talking about now wasn’t how to raise cows, but how to breed them. In other words, he was talking about whether he let cows graze or feed them, or breed them caged. Every little difference in all these breeding methods changed the style of cows.
But Jimmy said he was taking care of all that stuff, which was something that any ranch owner could do easily. Regardless of the size of the ranch, the ranch owner would generally aim to produce prime grade cows, no matter how large the ranch was.
“That’s why our ranch is so popular because they can buy all kinds of cows they want. And our meat here never disappoints them. I even check their health after tasting cow dung.”
“Well, your last words make me lose my appetite, so I don’t want to ask anymore…”
“I’m done. Would you like to let it rest before trying it? Or you want to try it right now?”
“Well, it looks like you don’t have to let it rest because it’s thick. Oh, wait a minute. Let me try it 30 seconds later. I want to have a proper taste of it.”
At this point, Kaya also seemed to be quite curious about this confident man’s cows. Seeing her eyes twinkling, he smiled even more brightly and put the meat on the chopping board. After carefully absorbing the juices from the meat with a kitchen towel, he picked up a sharp knife and carefully cut the meat.
‘Oh he is good!’
Min-joon was impressed. Jimmy’s cooking level wasn’t that high, but his trimming of beef was more delicate than any other chef. Judging by the beef cut into the ideal size for human consumption, Min-jonn thought that maybe he might be slaughtering cows by himself.
And when he put one piece into his mouth, Min-joon felt it was perfect. What Jimmy gave him was black salt. Seeing that salt placed on the black beef cut, Min-joon took it to his mouth.
“Ah…”
Min-joon exclaimed momentarily. It tasted completely different from what he expected. Min-joon thought that Jimmy was confident because of the juice of the beef. Of course, there was juice in it, and there was also meat flavor. After all, this meat flavor was what impressed him the most.
Min-joon realized at that moment that there might be lots of people who raise cattle as well as Jimmy, but no one raised them better than him.
Jimmy’s beef had the best possible beef taste.
Kaya muttered, “I want to make Six Meats with this.”
“Uh? Six Meats? What is that?”
“Ah, it’s my own recipe…”
After relishing in the beef taste for a moment, she began to explain about Six Meats with a tired expression. When she was done, Jimmy was obviously impressed. No wonder he admired it because Six Meats was the most sophisticated and beautiful way to express the taste of beef.
“Can’t you show it to me once?” Jimmy asked.
“It’s annoying because it needs a lot of work. I can’t make it by grilling here roughly. By the way, it’s a holiday today.”
“Are you sure? I think you can get something from me.”
“You just said you had no cows to supply for us, right?”