God of Cooking

“Well, even a fish prefers the water it used to play.”

“That’s why I want you to move toward that direction little by little.”

“It looks like you are pushing me.”

Maya turned her head with a smile. Min-joon shook his head at that. He wondered if Maya was a cook with the most wacko-style temperament among the demi-chefs of Rose Island.

‘But what she said is right.’

After buying the necessary ingredients at the market, Min-joon got down to developing the recipe right away. Normally, he would have focused on the expected cooking score, but not now. The expected cooking score was sort of a yardstick that could check if there were any flaws in his recipe.

‘People in San Francisco are eating salty food, as well.’

Min-joon was preparing for food with only one theme. Namely, serving steaks with all kinds of sauces. A jelly sauce made with red grapes and pomegranate, and a puree made with ginger and Paprika. And homemade basil pesto served on top of roasted onions, served with beets sliced ​​thinly then fried.

On the other hand, Anderson’s method was simple. A middle eastern style steak cooked in an arroser technique in which butter and olive oil were added along with Cumin and cinnamon stalks, along with oil over the meat, and then blackened onions and tomatoes, and indica rice fried and served with saffron.

Honestly, Min-joon’s steak was good for enjoying its taste, while Anderson’s steak was good for filling one’s belly. Was it because of that? On the day when they cooked steak for the first time on the food truck, there was some strange tension between the two. Neither of them said anything, but they knew they were now engaged in some sort of competition.

‘I don’t want to lose.’

Anderson mumbled quietly, watching those gathered to enjoy his steak. He looked askance at Min-joon slightly. As always, Min-joon had an air of shrewd chef presenting his recipe before his fans.

Nothing would change even if today’s competition was over. In some respects, this was the beginning. It was the start of a real competition between the two.

The truck door opened. The two didn’t know why they came up, but people were already waiting in lines. The two smiled brightly at them amid their cheering.

Their hearts were pounding, and their competition began.

‘The basic of this steak is meat.’

Anderson’s eyes shone sharply. Unlike Min-joon, who served a steak with various sauces, he thought that the taste of the meat itself would completely influence people’s reactions. The toppings he would serve with the steak would be charred onions and tomatoes at most.

It was for that reason that he used the arroser technique. There was no other part of beef that fitted the arroser technique as well as the fat-free sirloin steak. While the butter and olive oil finely permeated through the fibers of the skin brought out as much fat as that of pork, the aroma extracted from the stems of Cumin and cinnamon placed on the iron plate during the arroser process would permeate deep into the meat.

But it was almost three minutes later when Anderson started to take orders. Anderson’s menu was Original Steak, while Min-joon’s menu was Special Steak. Only then did Anderson feel his steak name was not appealing enough, but it was too late.

Anderson cleared up his idle thoughts. He put his palm on the iron plate to check the temperature, sprinkled olive oil on it, and took out the sirloin soaked in salt, and put it on the iron grill.

It was pleasant to hear the sound of the meat sizzling with the hot oil. It felt good. Anderson put cumin and cinnamon stalks in a hot oil on the iron plate then melted it in large chunks of butter.

This part was the heart of the arroser technique. If too much butter was added, the flavor of butter could be strong enough to kill the taste of other oil and meat.

‘I can’t afford to make any mistake.’

The heat of the iron plate was getting more intense. It was quite cold in San Francisco, compared with Los Angeles, but the heat of the food trucks getting warmer made them forget the cold weather. While Antonio wiped the sweat off of Anderson’s forehead, Anderson turned to look at Min-joon for a moment.

It was not that hard for Min-joon. In Anderson’s case, he had to grill the meat and pour oil on it at the same time for the arroser technique. Since the iron plate was relatively grooved, it wasn’t impossible to apply the arroser technique, but it was definitely inconvenient, compared to that of a regular fan.

In that sense, Min-joon might have made a clever choice. He didn’t need to make the sauces on the spot. Considering the special working situation of the food truck, it might be more appropriate to cook something simple like Min-joon.

‘Is it me who has been more stubborn than Anderson?’

He tightened his hand that held the flipper. Thinking he might have been really more stubborn than Anderson, he felt a bit frustrated. But he didn’t want to lag behind. He didn’t want to lose. At first, he was one cut below Anderson. When he met Anderson at the Grand Chef competition, he was lagging behind Anderson a lot.

However, Min-joon’s growth was so fast, so much so that his one day looked like others’ one month. Min-joon was running ahead of others very fast.

When he stopped running and looked back, Min-joon found his colleagues striving to catch up with him. He felt terrible to see them struggling.

‘I don’t want to lose.’

But from the start, Anderson’s defeat was unavoidable. People kept ordering Min-joon’s Special Steak. By the time when the ingredients ran out, the sales of Min-joon’s Special Steak were double his Ordinary Steak.

Anderson lost at least on the surface.

***

WS Kim: Has anybody been to the Rose Island truck in San Francisco today?

└ Mariana Balleza: Me.

└ WS Kim: @Mariana Balleza I ate the special steak, but what did you eat?

└ Mariana Balleza: @WS Kim I ate the original steak, but my friend ate the special, so I tried it a little.

└ WS Kim: @Mariana Balleza Which tasted better?

└ Mariana Balleza: @WS Kim Well, it depends. If you eat steak often, Original is better. But if you eat it just once, Special is better. First of all, the special steak tasted a bit complicated. It’s good to have a lot of sauce in it, but unless you rinse your mouth with water every time you took a bite, your aftertaste is mixed with a new sauce, so it tastes rather weird. I was sure it tasted good, but Europeans might like it better than us.

Aong Napon: I enjoyed the special steak. I thought this was a high-end restaurant dish though. I felt it was a bit hard to know how to enjoy the taste.

Maryam Hanifi: I’ve tried both, but I recommend the original steak. The special steak was very complicated like she said a while ago. If you eat the original steak, you just feel it’s ‘delicious.’ If you have a special steak, you might end up wondering what the heck this new taste is.

Uni Lee: Honestly, the special steak was rather disappointing, given Min-joon’s fame. Of course, he couldn’t make it better on the food truck.

That was how those who tried the Original and the Special Steaks commented on the first day.

It was on that same day that Kaya called Min-joon.

Pretending to be calm, she opened her mouth with subtle concern.

“How about your work on the food truck? Is it fun?”

“You are not working just for fun.”

“If you think cooking is your work, not fun, it looks like you’re having a hard time.”

As always, she smelled a rat. He sighed in an exhausted voice.

“I think I’m feeble-minded. It hurts so much when people criticize me a bit.”

“Despite that, did you tell me not to feel hurt by bad comments?”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

Maybe that was why the way he spoke thoughtlessly made Anderson upset.

As if she read some concern in his face, she said, “Tut, tut, tut. It looks like you are also worried about other things. What is it?”

“What?”

“Don’t try to hide it. You must be hiding something from me.”

“How do you know? Yeah, you’re right. But I won’t tell you about it.”

“You had a quarrel with Anderson, right?”

Startled, he blankly looked into her face on the smartphone screen. She raised one eyebrow quickly and said with a smile, “Looking at your expression, my guess is right.”

“How did you know?”

“Well, there are several things that depress you. For example, when you are scolded by Rachel or when you have a quarrel with Anderson. You’re not easily depressed when you see people’s bad comments about you, right?”

“Whew... yeah. I’ve nothing to hide. I had a quarrel with him. I don’t need to explain what happened. So, he and I competed today. I sold more steaks than him, but people’s comments about him are much better than mine. I feel very uncomfortable because I haven’t won, nor have I lost.”

“Maybe Anderson said something right. Oh, don’t tell me. Let me guess. Did he take issue with your habitual preaching? I don’t think he quarreled with you about cooking.”

When she said that, he made a complicated expression. I felt even ashamed when he thought that she could find out his thoughtless action so easily.

She asked in a subdued voice, “So, what are you gonna do?”

“Nothing serious. He has his own idea, and I also have my own idea.”

“Well, I don’t want to meddle in your matters because I know you won’t listen to me. I know you guys are quarreling all the time.”

“Somehow, I will work it out with him anyway. By the way, what were you doing?”

“They are shooting Grand Chef Season 4.”

“Season 4?”

“It’s on air. I got here in my capacity as a special jury as the winner of the previous season. Grand Chef House, I feel great here because it’s been a while since I came here last. This place is pretty meaningful to us.”

“Yeah, I sometimes feel like it’s my hometown. I miss it.”

“If you are planning to come to Chicago, stop by then.”

“Let me think about it.”