God of cooking

Chapter 39: The role of a head chef (1)

It does not belong to me. It is translated by KobatoChanDaiSuki  

There was a little change after word that Jo Minjoon had an absolute taste spread. And that was that the other participants brought the dishes they made to Jo Minjoon.

At first, it was quite good because he could eat various dishes, but as time passed by, it became more tiresome. The participants didn't simply want him to taste it. He didn't know where they had heard from, but they also knew that Jo Minjoon could score a dish. And the result was what was happening right now.

"What is the score.....?"

Chloe looked carefully at Jo Minjoon. The noodle was blended along a peanut, pork, green onions, etc. sauce. (탄탄면). It was a simple dish from China, just like it was for (비빔국수) in Korea. And because it was simple, and even the cooking method was simple, the score could only be low. 6 points. Jo Minjoon wondered how he had to reply to her and brought the noodles to his mouth.

The peanut oil that was fried along with chili, was covering the noodles like a sauce, and as soon as he ate a bite, his tongue got slightly numb. But the numbness felt good. After the spicy flavor, came the delicious flavor, and the thick noodles that were between (우동) and chinese noodles, lessened the oily flavor.

The salty flavor of the pork was also good. But the end result was 6 points. Jo Minjoon put the friendliest voice he could and opened his mouth.

"It's delicious. I'm not even chinese so it's rather awkward to say this, but I think that you expressed all of the flavor the dandan noodles could have."
"Really?"
"But the score is only 6."

At Jo Minjoon's words, Chloe became instantly depressed. It seemed like she was trying not to get that depressed, but it was also a score that was hard to get happy with. Jo Minjoon tapped her shoulder and said.

"I told you. That high scored dishes aren't the only good ones. The score only shows the technique that was used in the dish. Although it could be an important standard on missions, usually, there's no need to be bothered too badly about it."
"Hmm..... Then that means that if this dish is presented in a mission, it would be difficult to pass, right?"
".......Probably, you won't receive favorable comments."

Excluding the things he had observed until now, there were cases where 6 points dishes would be approved and passed by the judges. Probably, it would be a dish that contained something other than cooking technique, but not only because it was a 6 points dish meant that you were going to get eliminated. However this dandan noodles was different. The score was a score, but it didn't seem to have the strength to pass on a mission.

He couldn't console her through lies. Jo Minjoon remembered that Chloe didn't survive for long, and he thought that it was because she focused more on flavor than in the cooking process. Perhaps, it would be something possible because of her pure love for cooking, but even so, she had to be more greedy to survive in these missions. Didn't he almost get disqualified for his sloppily made korean meal? Jo Minjoon said in a serious tone.

"Chloe. I understand the philosophy you have for cooking. You care more about the flavor than the technique, right? I also understand that. However, that shouldn't be the case for the missions. You saw the results I got in the previous vegetarian mission. Of course, aside from the technique, it wasn't such a good dish....."
"To make bibimbap that wasn't even fried rice along with seaweed soup on the mission, it was indeed terrible."

Kaya, that was across them, said while laughing. Jo Minjoon glared at her, but she pouted at him as implying what did he want. Marco opened his mouth.

"Even so..... I think that it was a nice try."
"What? That meal?"
"No. Challenging the mission with a relatively familiar meal. Of course, the results weren't good..... But chefs often want to make that warm meal."
"If you want to make something warm you can just fry it on the frying pan."