Chapter 4: The Unlucky Banquet Table

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, this is 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 using 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 these 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."