Cheat day

The Taste of Korean Cuisine (4)

Participant number 6, Yook Hye-rin’s seafood japchae was a dish that reflected her determination to make healthy food as delicious as possible.

“To be honest, most of the ingredients in this japchae aren’t that tasty. But the fact that you made it so delicious through seasoning and cooking techniques is really impressive,” said Omikyeong, the food columnist sitting on my left, nodding in agreement.

“Moreover, all the ingredients had great texture. The cooking process looked quite complicated, but I really enjoyed it,” she added.

Holding up a score of 9, Judge Ham Seok-ho opened his mouth to speak.

“As Ban-chan said, Yook Hye-rin took the time to consider how to cook each ingredient separately before stir-frying them together. This means she knows how to prepare each ingredient and how long to cook it to maintain the right texture. It was a wonderful japchae that considered the eaters,” he said, giving it a score of 8.

Then Judge Omikyeong gave the same score, so Yook Hye-rin earned a total of 35 points from the judges and 42 points from the panel, bringing her total to 77 points.

Participant number 3, Choi Eun-sam, who had received 36 points from the judges and 34 points from the panel, was currently holding the lowest score at 70 points.

Participant number 2, Lee Sang-ho, who made oyster rice and oyster cold soup, received 38 points from the judges and 40 points from the panel, totaling 78 points, putting him in the lead.

Having tasted various participants’ dishes, the judges’ tendencies began to emerge as the judging progressed.

Judge Ham Seok-ho, known for being reserved and respected as a master in Korean cuisine, seemed to surprisingly favor unique dishes rather than traditional ones, contrary to my expectations.

Judge Park Jeong-ah was aptly described as lively and insightful, possessing extensive knowledge that allowed her to accurately grasp the participants’ intentions. It felt like she was comparing the cooking’s purpose with the outcome to assess its completeness.

In contrast, Judge Lee Chan-seok, despite his friendly demeanor, exhibited a rather old-fashioned perspective, tending to highly evaluate dishes made with expensive ingredients while undervaluing those made with relatively inexpensive ones.

He had also made odd comments about using ingredients appropriate for “The Taste of Korean Cuisine,” directed at Yook Hye-rin, who utilized angel hair, and Kim Han-yeol, participant number 10, who prepared braised mackerel.

I didn’t like that he quickly changed his attitude when Judge Ham Seok-ho praised October mackerel.

Lastly, food columnist Omikyeong preferred healthy dishes, scoring the overly salty dombe-gi jeon a mere 6 points while giving Yook Hye-rin’s seafood japchae a more favorable score of 8.

“As we approach the final participant, let’s take a look at the current rankings,” said host Woo Wang-seon, as the central screen displayed the scores so far.

The first place belonged to participant number 4, Sa Daemun (48), whose mussel rice and tomato mussel soup earned a staggering total of 90 points, demonstrating a significant score gap.

I definitely want to try following that recipe later.

“And currently, the lowest score goes to participant number 3, Choi Eun-sam.”

Choi Eun-sam, who cooked shark meat, had remained at the bottom and, at this rate, would start the second round with a 4-point deduction.

Although he was holding his ground, his agitation was palpable.

“Now, let’s taste today’s final dish: participant number 12, Joo Ji-seung’s soga리 bread.”

He created a dish I could never have imagined.

Having always come up with difficult combinations in his cooking, I was excited to see what kind of flavor Joo Ji-seung would prepare for his first stage toward his dreams.

“Oh, soga리 bread? This is perplexing,” host Woo Wang-seon said, tilting his head.

“Isn’t this the one where they got in trouble for making fish cutlets out of a sea bream?”

“Right! I saw that too. They used an expensive fish in a strange way,” chimed in singer Haim, and everyone laughed in agreement.

In fact, it’s hard to imagine that soga리, a very expensive fish, is being made into bread.

“To be honest, I feel this might be a bit excessive. Could you please explain?”

Woo Wang-seon handed over the floor to Joo Ji-seung.

“That’s right. For the first round of the main competition, I prepared a luxurious dish. I’ll let the taste speak for itself,” Joo Ji-seung replied confidently.

“Sounds good. Let’s move on to the tasting,” said Woo Wang-seon.

Joo Ji-seung placed one bread in front of each of the two judges.

I wanted to eat one completely, but it seemed he couldn’t make that many due to time constraints.

“Oh.”

Joo Ji-seung placed a whole bread right in front of me.

“One is left over,” I noted.

Since there were five judges and we paired off in twos, one bread remained, so I got to keep one for myself.

What a delight!

“This…”

Looking to my left at Omikyeong, the judge, and to my right at Park Jeong-ah, I saw them shaking their heads.

“I think it’s fine to share since we’re full. Right, Teacher?” Park Jeong-ah asked Omikyeong.

“That sounds good. Chan-yong can have one,” she replied.

What a stroke of luck.

I was in awe of Joo Ji-seung’s thoughtfulness and grateful for Omikyeong and Park Jeong-ah’s consideration.

However, I had one concern.

As the two judges mentioned earlier, since we had already tasted 11 dishes, most of us, except for me, were quite full.

Among those dishes were salty foods like the dombe-gi and intensely flavored dishes like the mussel rice and tomato mussel soup, so everyone’s palate was likely fatigued.

It would be hard to appeal to the judges and panel with any ordinary stimulus.

Despite knowing this situation, Joo Ji-seung wore a confident expression.

“Let’s see.”

The soga리 bread was about 10 cm tall and had a rectangular shape, with a golden-brown crust that looked appetizing, but there was nothing particularly unique about it.

“Cut the bread in half and enjoy it with the filling inside,” Joo Ji-seung instructed.

As I tore the bread apart, a thick, red sauce oozed out.

The spicy smell hit my nostrils with an unmistakable familiarity.

“Spicy soup,” I blurted out without thinking.

“Wow, that’s fascinating! Did you put spicy soup inside the bread?”

Everyone exclaimed in surprise, staring at the mixed appearance of the red sauce, soga리, and various vegetables, which resembled concentrated spicy soup.

It seemed like if you just added water and boiled it, you’d have spicy soup ready to go.

“Let’s try it.”

Dipping the bread into the sauce, I took a bite and experienced the warmth of freshly baked bread paired with the rich and thick sauce.

As I chewed slowly, the sweet and spicy flavors of the soup mingled with a subtle buttery aroma that filled my nostrils.

Fish flesh and various vegetables crunched between the soft, thick bread.

“This is so delicious!”

“A declaration of deliciousness has been made! Ban-chan, what do you think?”

“My dad loves fishing. He would go to places like Goseong Bukcheon and Yanggu Suipcheon every weekend,” he said.

“Yes.”

Woo Wang-seon, who had asked the question, looked somewhat puzzled.

“In winter, we’d catch icefish and sweetfish, and in summer, the bullhead catfish. Well, I was just happy whenever my dad brought home fish. My mom was different, though. Back then, we didn’t have cell phones, so you couldn’t tell if he was turning into a water ghost or if he was just out fishing. After all that worrying, when my dad came home, she’d be glad to see him but also upset. If I had given my mom this soga리 bread during those times, ah! I think she would have acknowledged it too.”

“Ha ha ha! Worrying stomach troubles. Soga리,” Haim laughed heartily, playing along with my joke.

“Ah! So she would have acknowledged it, right?”

“Exactly! If I had just given her this worrying bread, she would have told him, ‘You’re going to work starting tomorrow!’ It’s so delicious!”

I held up a score of 10, prompting Ham Seok-ho to speak.

“I can only imagine how much research went into concentrating the spicy soup into a sauce; it couldn’t have been easy.”

At Ham Seok-ho’s words, Joo Ji-seung seemed to brighten.

“If you had simply thickened it, it would have been overly salty and spicy, but it complemented the bread really well,” Ham Seok-ho continued.

Joo Ji-seung looked like he wanted to say something, and Woo Wang-seon caught his eye, giving him the floor.

“There’s a food show on WTV called ‘Following White Rice’ where they introduced a dish called ‘Jjamppong Bread.’ I got the idea from there. It wasn’t easy to balance the seasoning, so I appreciate you recognizing that,” Joo Ji-seung explained.

Ham Seok-ho nodded at Joo Ji-seung’s additional comments, seemingly impressed with the creativity behind the spicy soup bread. He awarded him 9 points, making it the highest score of the day alongside the mussel rice.

“I really enjoyed it,” began Lee Chan-seok, the judge.

“Soga리 is also known as ‘sudon,’ which means it tastes as good as pork. It has a great texture, and it felt like there was almost a whole fish inside this bread. As you mentioned at the start, it was indeed a luxurious bread,” Lee Chan-seok said, awarding 10 points.

Following that, Park Jeong-ah gave 9 points, and Omikyeong awarded another 10 points, citing that it was a dish that could only be enjoyed here.

With a total of 48 points from the judges and 45 from the panel, Joo Ji-seung claimed the solo victory in the first round.

“Han-sik Ye-chan! The winner of Round 1 is contestant number 12, Joo Ji-seung!”

As Woo Wang-seon and Jo Wang-taek declared this with enthusiasm, Joo Ji-seung clenched his fists in triumph.

Seeing him a step closer to his dream stirred an unexpected emotion within me.

***

“Great job!”

Park Jeong-ah’s junior, Kim Sang-hee, greeted her.

“Shh.”

As Park Jeong-ah shot her a look, Kim Sang-hee awkwardly smiled.

This opportunity to see how TV show recordings proceed and how other chefs participate in the competition was something she had begged for, and she wasn’t going to let it end with just one chance.

“How was it?”

As they exited the broadcasting station, Park Jeong-ah asked Kim Sang-hee about the competition that day.

“Everyone made dishes that were truly unimaginable. They must have put in a lot of preparation.”

“That’s how sincere they are.”

“Yes. There were so many things I wanted to try. Oh, how was the seafood japchae? Was it really okay for you?”

“Well, the texture was a bit disappointing. I think the chef knew that and tried hard.”

“You gave a good evaluation, though.”

“Really? I thought I was pretty strict.”

Park Jeong-ah recalled the seafood japchae made by contestant number 6, giving it a score of 7 out of 10. While the idea was good, she felt the texture of the seaweed stems would likely be divisive, and above all, she thought the seasoning was too bland for a competitive dish.

“I’ve never received a 7 before.”

Kim Sang-hee recalled being evaluated by her senior.

“She did much better than you, though.”

“Oh.”

Kim Sang-hee dropped her head in defeat.

“Didn’t you come to get inspired?”

“Yes, that’s right. By the way, I noticed that there was a side dish chef among the judges?”

“Oh, Ban Chan-yong?”

“Yes. I wonder if that will come up in conversation.”

Though she didn’t specify, it was easy to understand what she meant.

There could be a debate about whether Ban Chan-yong, a non-expert, should have the qualification of being a judge in Han-sik Ye-chan.

“I was a bit surprised at first, but he was fine,” Park Jeong-ah replied.

“I hadn’t seen Ban Chan-yong’s YouTube, so I didn’t know, but he had both knowledge and a good sense. He recognized just by looking at contestant number 12’s ingredients that it wasn’t spicy soup. And he spoke entertainingly.”

Park Jeong-ah smiled slightly as she recalled the ‘worrying stomach bread’ joke.

“Isn’t that just because he knows you?”

“No.”

Park Jeong-ah firmly denied it.

“If he recognized it because he knows you, would he have noticed that contestant number 6 cooked each ingredient separately while making the japchae?”

“Oh.”

“In the case of Joo Ji-seung, everyone could see he was using spicy soup ingredients and kneading them, so they all thought of either sujebi or knife-cut noodles. It wasn’t particularly visible or an attention-grabbing dish.”

Kim Sang-hee nodded.

While she was interested in the soga리, she didn’t care much for spicy soup, so she turned her attention to the other contestants.

There were so many dishes that piqued her interest.

“Even so, Ban Chan-yong was paying attention to each person. I’ve heard he speaks well, but he was quiet, so I looked over and he seemed serious.”

Park Jeong-ah also found it puzzling that a non-expert was on the judging panel for Han-sik Ye-chan.

With a grand prize of 300 million won and the title of Han-sik Ye-chan champion, any chef wanting to open their own restaurant would naturally yearn for this competition.

Having participated in a cooking competition herself, Park Jeong-ah could imagine how the contestants felt about the event and hoped the judging would be conducted sincerely.

Yet, despite being a non-expert, Ban Chan-yong had left a deeper impression than anyone else.

He picked up on details about each participant, bringing out stories that even the experts had missed.

At times, even Park Jeong-ah was surprised by his detailed critiques, making her question if he was really a non-expert.

Above all, he expressed what the chefs were most pleased to hear: that their dishes were delicious, and he articulated that in a really entertaining way.

“He was really impressive.”

“Listening to you, I see I was short-sighted.”

“Everyone has biases. Just recognizing that one’s own thoughts might be a bias is a wonderful thing.”

Park Jeong-ah shrugged her shoulders, thinking of a former competitor who was now seated beside her as a fellow judge.