God of Cooking

Chapter 222: A Warm Christmas (1)

Min-joon’s eyes, looking at the system window, were glaring. They looked to be too clear for a sick man. Looking into his eyes, Anderson felt a bit creepy toward him. Anderson was about to ask him if he was okay, but he shut his mouth right away and took off his hand from the doorknob.

‘Dang it! This guy came up with something again?’

Actually, Anderson had seen him doing it several times before. It meant that Min-joon came up with some great idea, or he found a perfect solution to his idea. Leaning against the door, he looked at Min-joon with a confused expression.

Min-joon’s eyes were trembling as if he concentrated on something so much. He didn’t move at all since he was so tense, and even his breathing seemed to stop. Time passed for some time. Min-joon finally raised his eyes and looked at Anderson slowly.

He asked blankly, “Hey, Anderson.”

“Are you done? Let’s go in.”

Without hearing his reply, Anderson immediately opened the door. Whenever he saw Min-joon acting like that, he felt some mixed feelings surging deep down. Maybe he was jealous because Anderson didn’t have the same level of concentration as him.

Whenever he saw Min-joon, who had an air of a genius by any standards, he was tormented by a sense of loss. However, he was not the type who just remained dejected by something like jealousy. He was not so shallow in his words and action.

“So, did you hit upon a good idea??”

“Yeah. I think I can certainly satisfy Master Rachel with it.”

“Good. All I know is this is a particularly important moment for you.”

“So, I think that’s why I could concentrate more because I’ve got a clear motivator.”

Anderson muttered his words deep down, “Motivator?”

In fact, at some point, they had no definite motivation in their career pursuit. Of course, they wanted to be a good chef and cook good food, but it was too vague. What could motivate him now? Anderson thought about it, then looked at him.

Min-joon asked curiously, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Well, I thought maybe you might be my motivator.”

“Oh, come on in.”

Kaya was lying on the sofa with a remote control in hand. She approached Min-joon and put her hand on his forehead.

“Do you have a fever? I don’t know.”

“I don’t think so. I took cold medicine. It’s not hard.”

“That’s why I reminded you that you might catch my cold.”

“Well, don’t you know you got so close to me after you said that?”

“If you regret it, you can do the same to me!”

Having said it, Kaya stuck out her chin. Grinning at her, he grabbed her shoulder and sat down on the sofa.

Anderson sighed while watching them and said, “Don’t get sick again, guys. I don’t want to catch a cold because of you.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t have you catch my cold.”

“Who knows he might have already caught a cold?” Kaya said mischievously.

Sitting on the sofa, Min-joon proudly said, “I came up with a recipe.”

“Recipe? You didn’t pass Rachel’s test yet? You just came up with it?”

“I’m sure I’ll pass.”

“Really? You are so confident. What kind of dish is it?”

“I don’t want to tell you now because it’s a surprise gift. You can see it then.”

“It seems like you never think you might fail the test.”

He said with a nod, “Nope, because I won’t fail.

***

Just because a recipe is perfect, it doesn’t mean that a chef could always make it according to the recipe. Min-joon realized that the pomegranate candy he envisioned was more difficult to make than he thought after he actually tried it.

“I have never done this kind of shaping before.”

He had no problem with other stuff, but it was really difficult to turn melted pomegranate toffee into the shape of a pomegranate. He had to inflate the candy while injecting air, but while he was doing it, he often saw holes forming here and there.

Maya said with a sigh, “Chef, do you think I can make this?”

“Well, it’s even hard for me, regardless of whether you can make it or not.”

He sighed after ruining another pomegranate candy. Among the numerous molecular dishes, this was the most troublesome for him. Of course, there would be no difference in taste, but the essence of this dish is the fun of creating the replica of a pomegranate.

“Give me this.”

At the end of the day, Raphael reached out. And in an instant, a pomegranate was created in his hand. Raphael shrugged as if he was conceited, looking at Min-joon and Maya who were apparently surprised by his skills.

“You guys know what you’re doing wrong now?”

“What is it?”

“Well, the very first one. Look at this.”

Raphael took a new pomegranate toffee paste in his hand. He carefully peeled the dough and made it round. He then pressed the center of it again with his finger. It was a little crooked, but it looked good.

“Everything depends on this one. It’s the same with everything in the world. If you fasten the wrong button longly, you won’t get anywhere. Got it?”

“What’s the difference between our paste and yours?”

“Look at the uniformity of the dough’s thickness,” Raphael said, pointing at the dough.

Min-joon carefully looked at the dough. And he admired Raphael.

As Raphael said, the thickness of the dough folded like a tulip was very even.

“How can you make it like this?”

“The basics of cooking are always the same. Min-joon, concentrate. Pay all your attention to the whole dough. The more you pay attention to it, the better it gets. If you cut habitually because you have improved your cooking skills, you will eventually cut your fingers. That’s why even craftsmen are nervous and tense when they hold a knife.”

“Do you mean I wasn’t tense and alert?”

“Can you say confidently you were not?” Raphael asked. Then he looked at Min-joon calmly.

Min-joon asked himself, ‘Was I slacking off?’

Maybe that was true. It was different from the competition. He didn’t have to be tested every day, and all he had to do was to make Rachel’s dishes without any mistake.

Besides, he didn’t feel any financial difficulties. The salary he got from Rachel was pretty good for his age, and he had no difficulties as a chef. In terms of the rank, only Rachel and Raphael were his superiors at Rose Island, so he didn’t feel stressed out.

‘I think I might have slacked off.’

It was natural for him to enjoy cooking, but he might have focused only on enjoying it. He thought he needed a more desperate mindset.

Raphael asked, “Will you try it again?”

“Sure.”

Min-joon raised his gloved hands and hand-rubbed the dough. The dough he peeled off in circles was harder than it looked. It was natural, given that it wasn’t just plain dough, but toffee dough and candy dough. So, it was hard to control his grip on the dough. Compared to the usual flour dough, he had to tighten it a lot more, but in that case, the dough might be easily crushed.

‘Let me stay alert. Let me stay alert. Let me stay alert…’

Chanting the phrase like a spell, he trimmed the dough. Surprisingly, when he concentrated a little more than before, the dough became more and more flat. Even when the dough was completely flat, he did not feel relaxed. He slowly folded the dough into a tulip shape and put an air blower in the hole.

Even after this, it was even hard. When he could make a dish with his hands, he just needed to focus on the sensations of his hands, but it was trickier than he thought to feel the swelling of the dough while injecting air.

Raphael quietly watched him doing it. Although he didn’t express it, he was amazed deep down.

‘How can a man change like that when I only told him to stay alert?’

Of course, Raphael also expected Min-joon would change, but little did he think Min-joon could change dramatically in an instant because there were things he had to do first.

Raphael thought that he could get the real sense of it only after ruining one or two more doughs.

However, his concentration crumbled his logic like this. The moment Min-joon made up his mind, he could enter a completely different space, which made Raphael astonished.

‘Concentration and patience, what more would be needed when it came to cooking? Come to think of it, he could excel not only in cooking but also in other fields.’

Folding his arms, Raphael watched him pouring air in the dough. He could make up for his mistake in the dough if he kept fidgeting with his hands, but putting air in it was totally different. Since an air layer was already created inside, it was almost impossible to refine the shape once it was made.

Was it because of that? The way Min-joon put air into the dough was really slow like a snail.

If he had done so in a real cooking contest, he would have been flooded with lots of complaints from the customers.

But Raphael didn’t bother to point it out. Min-joon just got started. So, it was more important for him to get used to it more than anything else.

He swelled the dough and began to draw a smooth circle on the outer surface. How long did it pass? After he ignited the part where the air injector was inserted, he pulled out the other equipment through the gap where the part was slightly melted.

Next, he trimmed the hole where the candy was sagged and poured powdered pomegranate ice cream into it by inserting a straw. After applying pomegranate cream lightly to the hole, he stopped. With a bright smile, he turned to Raphael.

Raphael said, shaking his head, “I couldn’t believe it, but you did great. Man, you’re so impatient!”

“Well, it looks like my determination has paid off.”

“But I still can’t,” said Maya next to him, who was about to cry, holding a very uneven dough. As if he was in a hurry, Min-joon placed pomegranate candy next to the dry ice and quickly froze it. Raphael asked with a puzzled expression, “Why did you put it there? It will be frozen even if you just put it in the refrigerator.”

“Well, I want to get it done quickly and show it to Master Rachel.”

“Oh, how nice of you!”

Raphael had no choice but to burst into laughter at his childlike words.

While checking the time impatiently, Min-joon picked up a plate and put it on a tray with pomegranate jam as soon as a few minutes passed.

“I’ll be back after serving.”

“Yeah, let me cheer you up.”