Yuzus

The lesson of Luke's Crepe Cake.

A yuzu is not a lemon.

But it looks like one.

It doesn’t yield as much juice, it has a more complex taste, and it’s a slightly different shape.

A few weeks ago, there was a challenge involving yuzu on my favourite cooking show, MasterChef Australia.

The challenge was simple, not easy.

Contestants had to pick a single ingredient and build a complete dish out of it. The only other ingredients they were allowed to use in the dish were basic things like flour, sugar, salt, and milk (referred to as “under-bench staples” on the show).

Contestants were given four options for their core ingredient. One of which, was yuzu.

One contestant named Luke, decided to create a Yuzu Crepe Cake as his dish.

You don’t need to know anything about yuzu nor crepe cakes to make sense of what follows.

All you need to know, is that a key ingredient to Luke’s Crepe Cake was a custard, and in order to make that custard, he needed juice. Yuzu juice.

How did it go for Luke? You can watch this 2 minute and 40 second clip to find out: Luke’s Crepe Cake

Watching the clip isn’t a pre-requisite for what follows.

But you should watch the clip.

**

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post titled, The Area Under the Curve.

The basic idea is this: If you’re chasing some meaningful outcome, slowly increasing your effort over time will make it more likely for you to achieve that outcome.

This is different from: A. Giving up too early, B. Keeping your effort the same over time.

If you didn’t watch the clip of Luke’s Crepe Cake, I’m going to spoil it for you now.

He had a disastrous cook.

He treated the yuzu like a lemon, only to realize that it doesn’t yield the same amount of juice.

Despite this, he juiced roughly 10 yuzus to make his custard (a key part of his cake).

When it came to judging, one of the first questions that a judge asked him is whether he couldn’t get enough yuzus, because there were plenty available for the challenge.

Another judge goes on to say that there were in fact 50 yuzus available.

Luke stopped juicing after 10.

What if the magic number to help make his custard consistency better, therefore making his entire cake better, was 26 yuzus?

A little more effort and Luke might have got there.

**

Since you and I are not competing in a nationally televised Australian cooking competition (though, please inform me if you are), then we likely don’t need more literal yuzus to achieve that meaningful outcome we’re seeking.

We need more time.

Time is our yuzu.

Let’s take Luke’s lesson to heart. Let’s not give up too soon.

There’s more time available. Let’s use it.