The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

17 Freedom of Creativity

Qian Huang didn't need to be asked twice. He cleared his throat and then started reading the comments. "'Pink Flower' says that she really likes how the figurative buns turned out and she would like to know if it is possible to color other dishes just like that."

Xiao Ming smiled, happy to hear that the viewers liked what he had shown so far. "Thank you. I'm happy that you like them. As for the answer to your question, it depends a bit.

"If you have other dishes made with dough, you can naturally do it this way as well. For example, while traditionally, you wouldn't color the dough of the sesame rollups, you can still do it. The only thing you have to pay attention to is that the amount of liquid and flour goes together. If you use juice to color the dishes, then naturally, you will need less water. So you'll have to try that out a bit.

"In the case of other dishes, things might be more difficult since you don't always have something that you can substitute with colorful ingredients. On the other hand, you can sometimes do this by adding ingredients though. For example, rice can be made into a beautiful yellow color if you add some turmeric to the water you boil it in. I can try to cover some other ideas on that in the upcoming streams if you want me to."

Qian Huang glanced over the comment section where some of the viewers were answering immediately. "Looks like everyone is on board with that. I guess we'll include it in next week's streams then.

"Alright, there's also a question by 'The Lord of the Castle'. They said they have registered for a 'Golden Spoon' already but they are a bit worried about the plating. They are in a similar situation to us in that they don't have many different options at home so they can't really practice much. They are wondering what they could do to make sure they won't have a problem with this when the casting starts."

Xiao Ming gave a hum, his expression a little pensive. "Practice is indeed important when wanting to learn something. So if you can't practice some aspects at home, it might put you at a disadvantage. Overcoming this also isn't always easy so I understand your worry.

"The best idea would probably be to ask friends and family whether they have something at home that they can lend you for a bit. That way, you can give the actual plating a try. If that isn't possible though, then just doing it in theory is better than nothing. I would suggest you cook the dish as usual and plate it on a plain plate while just thinking about or noting down what kind of plate you would like to use instead. If you need some ideas, you can always look up some plates online. Maybe keep a few of the pictures on your phone or print them out.

"Doing it this way is still different from actually doing it but it's already good to have thought about it. And actually arranging it will be independent of the pattern and more dependent on the size so as long as you have plates of varying sizes to try and see how that affects the aesthetic, it is already very good." His expression turned a little subtle when he said so. He gave an embarrassed smile and lightly cleared his throat. "Speaking of which ... it seems that I never talked about sizes. Let me include this here now."

He turned and motioned at the plate with the figurative buns, lightly touching the rim. "If you look at this, you can see that we used a big plate for the figurative buns which there are more of but only a middle-sized plate for both the sesame rollups and the sesame balls.

"In general, if there are more parts to a dish like when you have eight buns instead of three balls, then you should probably use a bigger plate. This is especially true if the parts are on the larger side. If the figurative buns were only the size of maybe a digit, it would be a different thing though and you could arrange them on a smaller plate very neatly as well.

"What you have to remember is that a very full plate is not necessarily a good plate. In terms of aesthetics, having a bit of free space on your plate is always important. Think of it like this: If you pick out a special plate with a special pattern, then the one eating should be able to see it on that plate, right? If all of it is covered by the dish itself, then you are losing out on an opportunity to enhance the overall impression."