Salt

"Be careful with the salt!"
My mind reminded me.
"If you oversalt it, it's ruined."
Similar sayings popped up in my head
during my final culinary exam.

I prepared the chicken according to the recipes.
I made the pan-fried chicken breast,
the braised chicken,
and the airline chicken breast.
All I needed was the Supreme sauce.

I put the butter in the pan
added the flour,
and created the blonde roux.
A perfect thickening agent for the sauce.
But that was just one of the components.

I sweated the celery, onions, and carrots.
In went the roux as I whisked constantly.
I added the sliced mushrooms
and heavy cream.
I brought it to a boil.

After a while, I turned off the heat.
I added a small pad of butter
and began to add the salt.
"Don't put too much!"
My brain screamed at me.

"I won't!" I shouted back.
I grabbed the salt and added a pinch
of the flavoring agent.
I plated the sauce
and served it to the chef.

The chef brought the spoon to his lips.
He looked at me.
"Try it." He grabbed a new spoon and gave it to me.
Not enough salt. Bland.
I felt like a failure as the sauce's result crushed me like an anvil.