God of cooking

Chapter 80: The unfamiliar one (2)

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

The first ingredient Jo Minjoon thought of using was octopus. For Westerners, and especially for sailors, it was an ingredient that was famous for being called as the devil fish. It wasn't that there were no octopus dishes in the region of the Mediterranean Sea, like Spain, France, and Italy, but even so, it was an ingredient Westerners avoided. In Korea, it was similarly treated as jellyfish. And perhaps, it was even worse than that.

The proper recipes he knew about octopus was teriyaki or octopus sushi. But it was the kind of dish that was difficult to get a cooking score of 7, because the cooking process was too simple.

To pick cow tripes... it was a dish he ate more than cook, and the only cooking process he could think of was grilling or frying. It wasn't easy to get a high score with that simple cooking method. To accompany it with purée or sauce, he wasn't confident on thinking up something that could suit well with cow tripe.

In the end, what Jo Minjoon picked was the truffle, precisely speaking the box that contained the white truffle. At least, he knew much more cooking methods compared to octopus and cow tripe. Alan just looked at the box and said.

"Truffle......Although it looks to be the easiest from here, it's the most difficult ingredient to bring the right aroma. What are you planning to cook with that?"
"I haven't decided yet. I'm halfway there. I will decide when I get to know the cooking time."
"Then, I will immediately announce the time for cooking. One hour. It's not for only you, Minjoon, but everyone here has to complete their dishes in that time."

One hour. Many recipes he had thought of disappeared. Alan just stared at Jo Minjoon. And only then did Jo Minjoon notice him and returned to his place with an 'ah'. Emily covered the lid for the remaining 7 boxes and said.

"Everybody turn around. I will change the position of the boxes. Nobody look this way before I tell you to do so.

The eight participants all turned back. The sound of lifting and placing the boxes was heard. Kaya tried to concentrate on that sound. From the right, from the left. However, even if she did concentrate, there was no way she would know where the boxes went. Because they could have lifted it and just placed it in the same place. Kaya frowned.

'It would be good if only I don't get that.'

She was confident in being able to handle most of the ingredients. She even had experience cooking octopus in the market. Because when the market people gave her ingredients that were about to rot, she couldn't throw it away, even if it was a monster like octopus.

She had never handled truffle, but she was confident on being able to get the hang of it if she got familiar with the flavor and aroma. However, sea anemone was an exception. It was also the first time Kaya saw one. Even if she wanted to test by grilling or boiling it to see how the flavor changes, she didn't have a big amount.

The people took the boxes one by one. And it was the same for Kaya. She felt that it was unexpectedly heavy, but she couldn't know if the box itself was heavy or not.

As everyone returned to their places, the judges smiled. Even at first glance, it could clearly be seen that they had expectant faces to see the reactions of the participants. Joseph yelled in a surprise.

"Everybody open your boxes!"

There was no need to, but they tensed up at his voice. Kaya opened the lid of the box in the nervousness that if she didn't open it immediately, it will blow up like a bomb, and she moved her hands so fast it seemed like she was convulsing. And then, she immediately contorted her face.