Banquet of Chefs (2)
I lifted the bottle holding the rotten wine. The sharp, sour smell of rotten wine brushed the tip of my nose, but I didn't care. I poured that wine onto the scorching hot pan.
That was when.
“Huh! That's rotten wine?!”
The head writer, who'd been watching the monitor, shouted in shock.
“What? Rotten wine?”
The PD beside the writer asked back in surprise, and the writer hurriedly explained.
“Yes! I put that wine in deliberately as a trap ingredient. Rotten wine.”
The PD asked, still surprised.
“Is rotten wine even used as an ingredient?”
“Well, I mean, they say it is. That's not the problem. Chef Do Eun-seong shouldn't be using that right now......”
“What do you mean?”
“I heard it's an ingredient that's hard for beginner chefs to handle. So I put it in for around the final round, but now he's using it.......”
It was a mistake. The writer had assumed that, smelling the rot, he obviously wouldn't use it, but he was pouring it out in a gush like that. And Chef Do Eun-seong, of all people, who'd said he'd never even formally learned cooking!
“But why is he pouring that on his steak?”
When the PD said it in a loud voice, everyone on the set stopped moving at once and looked at me. The audience members began chiming in one by one too.
“He's using rotten wine? No way.......”
“Is he out of his mind?”
“I mean, no matter how short his career is, not being able to tell rotten wine is too much, isn't it?”
At the commotion, the junior chefs who'd been quietly watching the match also started debating among themselves.
“Is he trying to use the rotten wine on purpose?”
“If the ratio's even a little off, that'll ruin the whole dish. It must be really hard to use.”
“But why on earth is he using that?”
The studio stirred, and the camera operators quickly changed their angles to put all the focus on me.
“Chef Do Eun-seong. One moment!”
And MC Jo Young-ho hurriedly ran over to my workstation. On his face, along with bewilderment, there was a strange hint of a smile, the kind that said he'd just scored some airtime.
“Mr. Do Eun-seong, could it be that the wine you're using right now... is actually rotten wine?”
Instead of answering, I held out the leftover wine to him.
“Hmmm.......”
He carefully brought his nose to the mouth of the bottle and smelled it. It must have been foul, because his face scrunched up. He poured just a tiny amount into his hand and tasted it.
“......”
After a moment of silence, conviction filled his face.
“It's rotten! It's definitely rotten! This is truly, definitely rotten wine!”
At his exaggerated reaction, the studio once again burst into laughter, along with whispers mixed with criticism.
“He didn't really put it in without knowing it was rotten, did he?”
“Aw, even if he's a junior of only a week, a chef from a Michelin 2-star would make a mistake like that?”
“Wow, the show's going to be fun today because of him.”
No one thought I'd put it in on purpose.
At the commotion, Seo Jin-woo, who'd been leisurely grilling cube steak at the next workstation, also stopped moving and looked my way. Then he smiled at me. No, to be more exact, he sneered. Everyone on this set was looking at me and either laughing or being shocked.
But through all of this, I didn't say a word. I just wanted to finish this dish quickly. Because this would definitely be delicious. I moved my hands quickly once more.
***
Jeong Tae-o, head chef of ‘Raviola.’ He was the mentor of Seo Jin-woo, who was currently competing against Do Eun-seong, and the head chef of a Michelin 1-star Italian restaurant.
He was watching the juniors' match on a monitor in a separate control room together with Yang Geon-ung.
His disciple Seo Jin-woo was doing exactly what he always did. Cutting the poor-condition meat into thick cubes to hide its gamey smell as much as possible, and pre-seasoning it with an almost excessive amount of spices. On top of that, using a heavy cream sauce to cover up the meat's lacking flavor. It was a very typical method.
Seo Jin-woo's cooking had always been like that. Rather than a challenge aimed at the highest score, all its focus was on avoiding the worst. A safety-first mindset that hated being criticized and never made a mistake worth getting scolded for.
His skill at executing cooking within that safe path was excellent in itself, but it never stirred any anticipation about the taste. It was an all-too-obvious recipe that you felt you knew without even tasting. So there wasn't really anything to instruct him on.
‘But what is that guy?’
Strangely, Jeong Tae-o's eyes kept drifting to Do Eun-seong.
Of course, at first, it had just made him laugh. A career of only one week. Even if it was a juniors' match, the gap was too great. If it was going to be like this, he'd wondered whether there'd been any point in sending out Seo Jin-woo, who'd built up two whole years of experience at a Michelin 2-star in Italy.
He'd only sent him because the writer had begged and pleaded for him to bring the most skilled of his juniors, but it was to the point where he'd thought even bringing a kitchen assistant would have been better than this.
But.
‘Was I mistaken?’
From the moment Do Eun-seong began handling the pan, the air of the entire studio had subtly changed.
The ordinary people in the audience might not have noticed, but chefs with long careers definitely sensed the change. The chefs watching their cooking from the control room gradually grew quieter.
Every gaze focused on only one person: Do Eun-seong's workstation. The way he grilled the meat was not that of a junior cook.
He placed the meat on the pan and flipped it with precise timing, drawing out a perfect Maillard reaction. While the outside formed a beautiful brown crust without any excess, the inside seemed to stay moist. The more he watched, the more it resembled the practiced skill of someone who'd done nothing but grill steaks in front of a griddle for five years straight.
And of course, the highlight was...
The wine. That rotten wine.
From what Jeong Tae-o saw, Do Eun-seong seemed to have noticed the rotten smell as soon as he opened the wine bottle. He'd seen him frown very slightly the moment he opened the cap.
But then suddenly. Do Eun-seong began pouring that rotten wine into the pan.
‘Why on earth would he do that?’
Even stranger was Yang Geon-ung's attitude. He, who extremely hated seeing his food ruined, was simply watching this whole situation.
Beep- beep- beep- beep-
He'd even completely cut off communication with Do Eun-seong, despite knowing he'd started using the rotten wine. He did it on purpose. Yang Geon-ung had definitely cut the connection with Do Eun-seong on purpose.
Then Yang Geon-ung, wearing an intrigued smile, watched the sight of Do Eun-seong pouring out the wine. As if he'd been waiting just for this moment.
-Chef, what should I do?
Then, through the earpiece, Seo Jin-woo waited for Jeong Tae-o's instructions.
“You figure it out yourself too.”
Jeong Tae-o answered briefly. He was no longer the least bit curious about what dish Seo Jin-woo would make. He was just so curious why, no, why on earth Do Eun-seong had made such a provocative choice. And at such an important moment, with everyone watching, where the whole process would even go out on air, no less.
Chop-chop-chop-chop.
Do Eun-seong began finely chopping onions again. Very quickly and precisely.
He'd expected his knife work to be at least basic since he'd worked at a Chinese restaurant, but his hand movements far exceeded expectations. Without a single unnecessary motion, he minced the onions at a precise, steady speed, like a machine. It was a perfect skill that could compete with the knife work of the head chefs here right now, no, one beyond that.
“Is he trying to neutralize the spoiled wine's sourness with the onion's sweetness?”
Another chef sitting nearby broke the silence and asked.
“Well. The spoiled wine's acidity would be too harsh for that.”
Jeong Tae-o answered.
But contrary to their expectations, Do Eun-seong began handling the rotten wine very cleverly and meticulously.
First, he poured the wine into the pan and began slowly reducing it over low heat. Doing so, the wine's alcohol would evaporate and only the concentrated flavor would remain. Even though the wine had already rotted and oxidized, he seemed to be aiming for the piercing sourness to soften considerably through this reduction process.
“He's using the rotten wine just like a grape vinegar.”
On top of that, he added various herbs and spices to fill in the aroma the wine itself lacked. Going further, he added rich butter and fresh cream to soften the sauce's texture and wrap up the acidity. Finally, he delicately adjusted the acidity with sweetness, using a small amount of sugar and honey.
Up to this point, it was within the expected range. It was a basic technique for rescuing an ingredient with strong sourness or compensating for its weaknesses.
But Do Eun-seong never took only the obvious path.
“What's he putting in right now?”
Chef Kim Gyeong-cheol, who'd been sitting nearby, exclaimed with wide eyes. On the monitor, Do Eun-seong scooped something into the sauce made from the reduced rotten wine with a small spoon.
It was... doenjang.
“Doenjang?”
At his action, the control room began to stir.
“Doenjang in rotten wine.......”
Jeong Tae-o muttered without realizing it.
And at that very moment-
“Alright, ten seconds left now!”
MC Jo Young-ho's closing call began. Without the slightest hesitation, Do Eun-seong quickly poured that bizarrely colored sauce over the perfectly grilled steak and completed his dish. The sauce made with rotten wine and doenjang.
“All chefs, please come to the studio for the tasting.”
At those words, all the chefs sitting in the control room hurriedly stood up.
Jeong Tae-o did too. He stood up from his seat faster than anyone. He was dying of curiosity. He wanted to quickly confirm whether that bizarre combination of a dish was simply a rookie's bravado, or a perfect judgment.
The chefs who arrived at the studio began examining the finished dishes placed in front of their seats. And without hesitation, they all ate Do Eun-seong's steak first.
Jeong Tae-o did too. He quickly picked up a piece of Do Eun-seong's steak with his fork.
‘Hmm.’
The sauce's color was a light brown with a subtle sheen, but the aroma it gave off was clearly different from the steak sauces everyone knew. And so, the moment he put Do Eun-seong's steak in his mouth and took the first bite-
‘This bastard.... He calculated all of this when he made it.’
Jeong Tae-o knew it the moment he chewed.
The kick was doenjang, after all. Into a Western dish, doenjang, something a novice couldn't even imagine, wouldn't even dare attempt, and doenjang in rotten wine, no less.
The result was fantastic. The doenjang was meeting the rotten wine's acidity and creating an explosive synergy. The deep, savory, concentrated umami of the doenjang gently embraced the rotten wine's acidity, which had softened through the reduction process. As a result, it created unexpected depth and complexity.
The rotten wine's acidity, which had seemed like it would sting and never fade, met the doenjang's saltiness and struck an exquisite balance, and blending with the steak's savory juices, it delivered a rich, multilayered feast of flavor that filled the mouth.
This wasn't a dish that simply hid flaws. It was a work whose layers of flavor had been meticulously calculated.
If Seo Jin-woo's dish was predictable safety, Do Eun-seong's dish was the taste of a challenger who charged only toward the highest score without fearing failure. The food of someone who willingly accepted the worst condition, a rotten ingredient, and who drew out the best flavor using even radical ingredients like doenjang if necessary.
Jeong Tae-o could tell the winner of this match without even tasting Seo Jin-woo's steak. Do Eun-seong's steak was the taste of a winner. An extremely overwhelming one, at that.