The Onion-Cutting Ninja's Secret Crush

100 How Did She Do?

The three of them fell quiet and turned back to the screen, watching on as Tao Jin cooked.

By now, she had finished blending the fish and was adding it to the dough she had made before. Finally, she put it on a work surface, waiting for it to cool down a bit further before she formed it and put it into the mold tray she had prepared.

"They're already starting to look like they are supposed to come out later on. That is something I've struggled with a lot at the beginning. If you've seen 'A Field Trip in the Summer' back then, you will know that we didn't know what kind of shape they were supposed to have. We made them into sticks, balls, and other different shapes because we just wouldn't get it."

The TV show back then had been produced for the same channel so it wasn't a problem to reference it every now and then. In fact, she was sure it would be encouraged. Her own agent would also be satisfied. Even though it was a slightly older work of hers, tying things together could never hurt. It would just make people more curious to check out everything else she had done.

"By now, I know how they are supposed to look traditionally. After the show finished back then, I had my husband take me out to some French restaurants to have a look at the real deal. It was a very nice experience. We didn't just have quenelles though and instead chose a variety of things to try with quenelles being just the one constant in our meals.

"Anyway, this is the shape they are supposed to stay in. To make sure that that is the case, we'll have to cool them further." Saying so, she turned to look for a crew member.

Somebody immediately came over from the room next door where they had been waiting, motioning for her to follow them inside.

Tao Jin waved at the camera and then followed the crew member, being led over to a small fridge where she could put her tray.

The camera followed her all the time until she turned back around with a smile.

"Well, now, we wait!"

With that, they sped up the recording, showing Tao Jin glance at the fridge, then going back to the other room to have a look at the countdown and tidy up a little before finally going back again and opening the fridge just when the small countdown in the corner jumped to [00:00].

"Finally! I've used the time to tidy up what isn't needed anymore but having to wait until you see if it has really worked out can be so excruciating. Anyway, it's time to take them out of the mold and see how I've done." She put the tray down and carefully took the quenelles out, then held one of them into the camera. "Ow, they're so cold! I'd better put them onto the baking tray I prepared."

Once again, the crew sped up the recording of her taking the quenelles out of the tray and putting them on the other. Finally, when the last one had been placed, Tao Jin looked back up.

"At this point, you can add some other things to bake this with. For example, you could make a sauce or use other ingredients to make them au gratin. That is optional on my eyes though. You can just bake them without anything added. Anyway, I'm happy with just having quenelles so let's put these into the oven, and wait again." She laughed, put the tray in the oven and then closed the door, leaning back to wait for the dish to be done.

This time, the crew didn't speed up the recording and instead just showed a black screen for maybe half a second before they changed to the view of her opening the door again and taking out the now steaming tray.

Tao Jin looked at the finished quenelles and nodded. "Well, for me, this looks alright. I'm really tried to have a taste though. I know this should probably go to the judges immediately but I haven't needed that much time to make these. Even with telling you about it at the side and first taking care with getting everything ready, it's only been a little over an hour. Everyone has three hours so if I taste this now and it's not good, I could still make another batch.