The CEO's Sweet Chef

Chapter 2: The Unlucky Banquet Table

Macken realized that Katherine was having a headache over the matter. He gently suggested to her: "Why don't you go find pork and I will stay here to prepare it with everyone?"

Katherine was delighted to be freed by Macken. She is always easily stuck when she is in a passive position. It's like a form of her psychological resistance. Although her father once took her to psychological treatment, the results did not change overnight. Katherine thanked Macken with a smile, then told everyone: "That's fine… everyone prepared the menu, I'll go to the market to find pork."

Kenny squealed, "It's going to be hard to get fresh pork today."

"If you haven't gone to the market, how do you know it's difficult?" Katherine grabbed him by the collar and dragged him out of the kitchen. Kenny was dragged around but still managed to tell Macken in some rather sensitive words right now to Chef Katherine, something no one would dare say: “Uncle Macken, Chef seems to have changed. Change your mind about the Michelin gold star."

Macken laughs after Kenny: "She just needs a little push."

And so the air of the kitchen returned to its stillness as it had never been before, only the sound of grease and pots clattering together with the horrible sweet aroma of spices. The rest of the kitchen knew well that with the exception of Katherine and Kenny, it was difficult for anyone to strike up a conversation with Macken easily. His strange stillness was nonetheless far more tolerable than Katherine's intensity.

At that moment, Katherine and Kenny climbed into the bulky car with the promotional images of the restaurant her father had equipped for everyone in case they needed a car on 'duty'. Kenny drove straight to the market, but there weren't any butchers left to satisfy Katherine. The meat wasn't fresh, it was frozen, too much fat… so many things prevented Katherine from making the special dish on the special menu for Home Sweet Home's special guest tonight. Kenny can't wait for the fire to burn, but he doesn't know that Katherine is hotter than him. Kenny asked her as innocently as possible: “Chef, where should we go?”

Katherine frowned and looked around and suddenly answered Kenny. She said in an annoyed voice: “It's Baby Pop, of course. Right now, we can only look forward to that place.”

Kenny told Katherine indignantly that he didn't have any happy memories of himself. Kenny was once played quite painfully by the owner of Baby Pop when he intentionally swapped out local sirloin for foreign loin when delivering his order. This resulted in him being scolded by Katherine for two hours for not meeting the strict ingredient requirements: “Who would name a butcher shop Baby Pop?”

"Don't question other people's business." Katherine reminded Kenny. She knew he wasn't happy with Baby Pop, neither was she, but the most important thing right now was that she had to have a whole fresh pig in order to make the dish. Soon after, the two began to stop at a rather large butcher shop located in the Flusing area. Katherine and Kenny had just stepped inside the store when they were met with a rather satisfied smile by John Devoilt - the owner of the butcher shop. Katherine thought that he seemed to have guessed her presence there. She saw on the meat counter a pig that had been prepared, cleaned, and most of all, it met her own standards. Miss. Katherine said, "Hi John, I need fresh, whole pork today."

“It would be difficult…” John replied weakly to Katherine. She glanced at the pig without paying any attention to his words. She pointed at the pig and said to Kenny, "About twenty pounds?"

Kenny nodded, deliberately avoiding John's gaze. He then said to Katherine: "Today is Thursday so it's hard to..."

Katherine suddenly rushed over to John's side as if to grab him. She was as angry and strong as a leopard, growling, ready to bite anyone's skull: “Get it here! I have to make a special menu for some old lady at Michelin today.”

John rolled his eyes at Katherine. He laughed, "Oh my God! I am very honored to be the supplier of ingredients for a three-Michelin-star restaurant.”

True to his word, if Katherine's Home Sweet Home gets three Michelin stars, Baby Pop itself could become a prestigious ingredient supplier in Queens. John thought: “Whose pork did Home Sweet Home get three Michelin gold stars? Thanks to Baby Pop!!!”

Katherine waved her hand, pretending to be familiar with John, but her pompous demeanor made him feel alienated. She said, “Thanks, but could you hurry up a bit?”

The smile on John's lips had not yet bloomed when a guest outside appeared with a very elegant appearance and he made that smile quickly disappear. John looked at Katherine with pitying eyes: "Oh my god... I forgot someone preordered this pig."

“What restaurant is that? I will negotiate with them.” Katherine was a little disappointed, but she tried to stay as calm as possible right now. John growled and spoke quickly to Katherine. He tried to explain as easily as possible: "Not a restaurant, that customer seems to have bought it to cook for the family."

As soon as Katherine heard that, she became extremely annoyed. She said to him in a disparaging voice: "What? What family has to eat a whole pig? Did they live in the Middle Ages?”

"It's my family's business, please step aside so I can bring the pig home." A voice rang out, the guest had just entered with golden hair, a handsome face that was so infatuated with others. He silenced Katherine for a moment. From her deep blue eyes, high nose, sharp jawline to her well-proportioned figure, Katherine immediately recognized this as the man of her dreams. The guy she thought only appeared in movies or Men's Health magazine. Katherine was a bit gentle, her voice was also softer because of that, she smiled at the guy: "Can we negotiate?"

However, in response to Katherine's kindness and kindness, the young man was as cold as possible: "Of course not. My family is having a party tonight. Is it a pity?"

“This bastard!” Katherine lowered her voice, she glanced at Kenny and whispered a curse at the other boy. Still, he motioned for John to pack up the pig so he could take it home. Kenny looked at Katherine's red face and interrupted: "Chef, we can't be aggressive here."

Katherine thought for a moment, and as soon as the other man touched the pig, she grabbed his sleeve and said in a surprisingly low voice: "Your family can have a party at Home Sweet Home. How do you feel? As long as you give this pig to me, your family will have a table of ten in the VIP area at Home Sweet Home.”

The young man and Katherine made eye contact, and suddenly he smiled, an enchanting smile. He put the pig on the glass and, looking at Katherine as if he was meditating, he said: “Fifteen people. Full cost free. But how can I trust you?"

"Agree." Katherine nodded quickly, taking out her business card and handing it to the young man. He looked at the business card and nodded. The young man greeted John and left the store with Katherine's business card. She said to him: "Thank you."

“I will be at Home Sweet Home tonight.” The young man turned to look at Katherine.

As soon as he was gone, Katherine changed her attitude quickly, screaming like a madwoman: “You bastard! If it weren't for the fact that the restaurant had to host a food critic today, I would be a long way from accepting this crazy offer."

Kenny was not surprised at Katherine, he could only comfort her in this moment: “Come on! After all, Chef already has pork. This is something much more important.”

Katherine was just about to withdraw the money back to John when he refused, saying that the boy had already paid the money. She laughed and said that the contract this time was not bad. Katherine motioned for Kenny to put the pig in the car and quickly left the Baby Pop store with John's nostalgic gaze. He purposely said something to Kenny, but he said goodbye loudly and walked away. Katherine and Kenny's car sped back to Home Sweet Home restaurant where everyone was continuing to prepare ingredients for tonight. Katherine never said a word to anyone about how she managed to win such a delicious pig but Kenny was different, he was like a radio in the kitchen. Of course, right after that, Katherine had piled him up with so much work that he didn't have any energy left to rambling about. Katherine motioned for everyone to approach and said that the main dish of the day was English roast beef. Everyone was quite excited because to them, the English roast was the best dish Katherine and Macken had ever made.

All the signature ingredients were prepared by Macken for Katherine from the moment she said she was going to look for pork. He was the one who understood her best in this kitchen. Katherine smiled at him as a sincere thank you to her father, her teacher. Right on the kitchen island is a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, distilled by Macken himself and his longtime friend in the Mediterranean during his travels to the gulfs of Europe. Next to the olive oil bottle was a glass bottle tightly sealed with cork, inside of which were beads that glittered with a light as sweet as rose quartz. She realized this was the bottle of pink Himalayan salt her father loved so much, he rarely used it. And yet, Katherine was also surprised when she saw a jar of Phu Quoc red pepper. It was a souvenir that her parents had received on their last trip to Vietnam.

These condiments made Katherine realize that Macken had taken great care in making English roasts today. Katherine eyed the spice jars, then smiled at Macken, and said to him, "It's been a long time since we've used them, have we?"

After Katherine finished, she quickly handed Macken the fresh pig and showed Kenny how to handle the meat. She was just talking and guiding everyone when suddenly Kenny responded, he said: "Chef, don't we have to choose the boneless pork belly?"

The knife in Katherine's hand glanced quickly at each area of meat to grind, then suddenly it stopped with a look sharper than her knife for Kenny: "Since when did you become my teacher? The pork belly has not been boned, it must be the pork belly that has not been boned.”

Macken then explained to Kenny that if you use pork belly without bones, the broth will ensure a more moderate sweetness and be used to make the sauce for this meat dish. This was a special formula that Katherine had never used before. Kenny marveled, he continued to follow the tip of Katherine's knife as she traced straight lines across the pig's skin, shallow lines deep enough not to reach the fat but deep enough to reveal the skin. moderately thick. Katherine's craftsmanship was superb, Kenny whispered. He knew that she had been holding a kitchen knife since she was ten years old because her mother had taught her to cook at an early age. After the preparation was complete, Kenny brought a rather large cast-iron baking tray on the kitchen island. Katherine used the spice jars that Macken had prepared in advance. She ran her hands over the meat like a massage technician. After the meat was fully marinated, Katherine motioned for Kenny to take the meat 'on vacation'.

That night, Home Sweet Home opened quite early to handle a large number of visitors. Macken has to put on his signature industrial friendly face when he greets customers, which makes it a little funny to see him trying to be as jovial as possible with the guests. As for Katherine, she calmly directed the kitchen and most importantly, tried to stay calm. At exactly nineteen o'clock in the evening, the boy from the Baby Pop store appeared with an army of more than ten men and women following in droves. Katherine's business card had just been placed on the table when Macken smiled and led the young man and those guests into the back area of ​​the restaurant, where there is a small courtyard in the neoclassical architecture full of the taste of the past. breast. The young man was surprised to learn that Katherine had kept his word and carefully prepared for his arrival. Everyone accompanying them was amazed. One girl in the group immediately said: “I have eaten here countless times but never knew there was this VIP area. It feels like visiting the CIA's secret facility in the New York culinary industry. Freddy, I didn't expect you to have such an influence. Booking a table at Home Sweet Home is not a difficult thing for you, but being able to enter the VIP area of ​​this place, I really respect you. ”

“Who am I? It's Freddy!" The guy laughed and motioned to the male staff waiting outside to bring the menu. Unlike regular customers, the VIP area will have an unlimited menu. Customers only need to rely on the main ingredients available on the day and request processing in their own way. This makes Freddy extremely satisfied and satisfied. He smiled at the male waiter and said: "I want English roast beef."

Just as Freddy and his group of friends entered the VIP area, from the outside, a Vietnamese woman with bright eyes wearing an ultraviolet striped waistcoat and demi-garcon hair entered the Home restaurant. Sweet Home. She sat down at the table following Macken's instructions. She didn't even look at the menu, but smiled and said to him: "I want an English roast."