God of Cooking Chapter 23:

The first thing Jo Minjoon grabbed was the cooking oil . He poured a lot of it in the pot and turned on the fire . Bringing up the heat of the oil wasn’t something that was done in an instant . You had to prepare it beforehand, and that was also true for water . Jo Minjoon put another pot next to the oiled one, put some kelp and turned on the fire .

There were four gas burners on the countertop, and Jo Minjoon was responsible for two of these . The other two were for Chloe . And for Marco didn’t need a burner .

While heating the water and oil, Jo Minjoon prepared the soft tofu quickly . He wouldn’t be late if he prepared the soy sauce and the vegetables later . If it was an ingredient that needed to be fermented, then that was another story . But for soft tofu, it was more important for it to have a neat flavor .

The size of the tofu wasn’t big . In the first place, it wasn’t good to have a big amount in an appetizer menu . Precisely speaking it wasn’t good for the overall course of the menu .

People have a tendency to see the restaurant’s dish amount and are reluctant to spend money on it . Jo Minjoon could understand them . Because, a restaurant’s price was as much as five times the normal price . But the amount of food in the plate was the size of a fist, no, the size of a thumb, so it wasn’t rare for people to complain about it . ‘Aren’t they saving too much ingredients?’ He thought .

But the restaurants didn’t put a small amount on the plate to save ingredient fees . Regret . That regret was the work of the flavor . And if you put a big amount of food, or ate many times the same food, feeling the same impression as the first time was difficult . Dishes with small amounts of food looked to impress the customers .

‘I’ll make it a bite size . ’

The knife sliced the tofu softly . The flavor and the regret came only with the size of a bite . There were even restaurants that served the steak already chopped in the size of a bite .

He put the sliced tofus on top of the cotton cloth . For the soon to fry tofu to still have moisture was a great mistake . And when you buried the tofu in the dough, it had a high possibility to break . It was a must to remove the moisture of the tofu .
At the same time, it was a quite a pain of a job . If you put it over a dry cloth, the surface of the tofu would stick to it . And if you did it with a wet cloth, the moisture didn’t absorb well . He had to use a not too dry nor a wet cloth like he was doing right now . That was the best method for the soft tofu not to turn bad and remove the moisture .

Jo Minjoon grabbed the kitchen towel and covered the soft tofu with it . And after taking a breath, looked at his surroundings . Marco was making dough for the biscuit for quite a while, and Chloe was putting the sliced scallops in the steamer .

He wanted to look at Kaya’s table, but he purposely endured . It wasn’t the time to pay attention to another’s cooking . Jo Minjoon, immediately grabbed the soy . Saying the truth, soft fried tofu was from Japanese cuisine .  Agedashi tofu(揚げ出し豆腐) . What Jo Minjoon was making right now was an improved version of that agedashi tofu . Actually, saying that it was improved was a bit embarrassing . Because he was just using the agedashi tofu as the base and slightly changed the sauce .

Jo Minjoon turned off the boiling water and put the katsuobushi . So far, there was nothing different with the normal sauce recipe . Even putting filtered gravy in the sieve and putting a spoon of soy was the same . However, that was where Jo Minjoon’s change was . Lime juice . It wasn’t too much . The amount was so low as to make one wonder if it would fill a spoon . But that lime juice would revive the sour flavor of the agedashi tofu .

And after that, it was entirely facing victory . Jo Minjoon looked at the soft tofu sharply . The cotton cloth and the kitchen towel were already wet . It also meant that the moisture of the soft tofu got out . Jo Minjoon, after pouring starch, slowly put down the soft tofu on top . It was quite a sensitive situation . If he put a little bit of strength, the tofu would break entirely .

Fortunately, he succeeded putting it on top of the starch, but it was too early to feel relieved . Jo Minjoon even held his breath and rolled a soft tofu the size of a dice on the starch . If it was left even a little longer the starch’s stickiness and the moisture left on the tofu could break it .

Was it luck? Or was it his delicate touch? The soft tofu didn’t break and could safely wear the starch coat . Jo Minjoon caught his breath and looked at the boiling oil . The soft tofus that were being fried in the oil seemed rather cute . He wondered that he would get this feeling when looking at a newborn .

When it got a white colour, Jo Minjoon, quickly took out the soft tofu out of the oil . A voice could be heard next to him .

“Minjoon! You are doing fine, right?”
“Don’t worry . It’s perfect . ”

Jo Minjoon replied simply at Marco’s question . Looking at the white fry made him satisfied . While the soft tofu was removing the oil, Jo Minjoon prepared the vegetables . For now, it was the radish . He started to grate it with the grater and put it in the soy sauce, and then sliced the green onions . That was the end .

Jo Minjoon silently observed at Marco and Chloe . He wanted to help them, but couldn’t because of the rules . Jo Minjoon endured wanting to help them and observed the cooking of the both . Now that he thought about it, it has been a while since he observed someone cooking like this . When he was working at the restaurant as the youngest, he only cut ingredients in a corner, he couldn’t see someone handling the pan that much .

Marco put the biscuit dough in the oven, and now was preparing the yogurt ice cream to put over it . Saying the truth, it wasn’t fun watching all of the baking processes .

That was the reason Jo Minjoon started to observe Chloe . She was shaking the scallions, vegetables and a red sauce in the wok . At times, flames arose . On the countertop, there were a total of nine dishes being cooked, but Chloe’s pan fried scallions aroma was particularly strong .

‘Perhaps it would be able to get 8 points . ’

It wasn’t impossible getting that kind of thought . At least, it’s appearance and the aroma seemed almost perfect .

And after some time passed, Jo Minjoon could tell that he wasn’t wrong . Jo Minjoon looked with a face that had nothing more to admire at Chloe’s dish .

[Pan fried scallions]
Freshness: 92%
Origins: (Too many ingredients to know)
Quality: High (Average ingredients)
Cooking score: 8/10

It was the first time he had seen an 8 point dish after Kaya’s grilled eel . Jo Minjoon could feel his mouth watering . Even admiration voices could be heard from the participants on the 2nd floor . He, who was observing right next to Chloe, could tell that it was no ordinary dish . Jo Minjoon opened his mouth .

“Don’t you need to taste it?”
“I don’t…… Do you want to eat?”

Chloe looked mockingly . Jo Minjoon couldn’t even feel that he was being mocked and nodded . That was just how charming her dish was . Chloe used chopsticks to put a scallop and bok choy in a steel spoon . And then held it out to Jo Minjoon .

It’s appearance was perfect . The scallop that was fried with a red chilli oil could be seen that it had knife marks on it, and the green colour of the bok choy seemed to make the scallops fierceness more humble .
And even after it entered his mouth, it was the same . From the spaces between the knife markings on the scallion, could be seen some oyster sauce and chili oil and it’s flavor was tasty and heavy . Usually Jo Minjoon didn’t like the combination of salty and sweet flavor . But even he couldn’t help but be amazed . The scallops had a sea aroma left, but it was suitable . It didn’t smell fishy and it contained a beautiful flavor inside it .

And the bok choy wasn’t placed just because so . The leaves stimulated a soft feeling to the tongue, and each time he chewed the crunchy stem, the unique and clean juice flowed out and washed his mouth . The strong flavor of the pan fried scallops was being eased with just one bok choy leaf . It even made him amazed .

So at the same time, Jo Minjoon couldn’t help but be surprised . If she had lost to Kaya it was understandable . But when there were at least 10 participants left and the winner was almost confirmed, Chloe wasn’t on that place in Jo Minjoon’s memories .

‘What could have happened……?’

It was a problem he didn’t have to think right now . Even if he thought about it he wouldn’t get any answers . So Jo Minjoon turned his head to look at the soft tofu . For now, the oil should have drained . The given time was almost over . He had to start moving the soft tofu to the sauce .

Soft fried tofu . Precisely speaking, while finishing the agedashi tofu, Jo Minjoon felt something he didn’t know . At first, he thought it was the scallop he had eaten, but it wasn’t . And that feeling soon appeared before him .

[Agedashi Tofu]
Freshness: 90%
Origins: (Too many ingredients to know)
Quality: High(Average ingredients)
Cooking Score: 7/10

7 points . Usually, he thought that it was good enough . He thought that it was a relatively safe score . However looking at that score, he didn’t feel as satisfied as usual . He remembered Kaya’s eel . And also remembered the scallop he had just eaten .

Jo Minjoon lifted a spoon and put a soft fried tofu in his mouth . It was good . The feeling of it touching the tongue, the oily flavor of the fried coat, and beyond that was the bland flavor of the tofu . However, he wasn’t satisfied .

Was the flavor lacking? Or could it be because of the score before him .

If he didn’t see the score, would he be satisfied?

<  Three dishes and one meal (2) > End

Translator’s note: Don’t forget to check the glossary!