Closed Tri-Cook Club Main Thread Section 2: Auditions PV

Reducio

Checked - arrived || Not Checked - not arrived

@Hjørdis Jensen
@Eun-ji Lee Hunt
@Bailey Glade
@Pax Zhang
@Cassandra Ironwoods
@Emily Flower
@Marina Oriel
@Galahad Damaris
@Quinn Root
@Noah Jupe
@Sophia Nelson
@Sage Lilly
@Felix Jeong
@Avery Chen
@Shanelle Meza
@Vienna Goodwin
@Alqwyn Davidson

Blue in English, Red in Korean

Eun-ji was first to be called in and she didn’t mind. On the contrary, she was quite happy about it. Waiting before any kind of audition or trial could be mentally draining and she really didn’t want to be pulled into any meaningless conversation here. She greeted Kim and eventually Professor Jensen as she passed her by but otherwise she walked in silence, curious about the provisional kitchen setting.

It was not ideal but it wasn’t bad either. The witch was provided with all she would need to make her dish except for some vital ingredients and those she brought herself. Putting her basket with all the missing ingredients on the table, she silently praised all the Gods available that her mother and father finally replied to her letter and sent whatever was necessary. Her dad bought everything, while the witch made sure to preserve the food with magic. “I’ll be making Dak Galbi today. You are not allergic to any food, are you?” She double checked as she was removing the vegetable from her wooden container. Thankfully, it seemed the cats were Kim’s only bane of existence and she was free to do whatever she wanted. “It is not necessarily my signature dish but I make it quite often for my dad...Charles loved it too,” she finally smiled a bit as she said this. Eun-ji always liked to remember the times people ate her meals happily. That is what made her house feel like a home.

Finally, all the vegetable, meat, sweet potatoes and Tteokbokki filled the table and she could start preparing her sauce. The Ravenclaw knew they were allowed to have pre-prepared sauce or even conjure it if they knew how but that was not her style. She liked to prepare everything from scratch. Taking note of where everything was in the kitchen, she grabbed two bowls. One she filled with cold water and put the rice cakes in it. They should soak for twenty minutes or so. The other she took and started mixing her sauce ingredients in it. Gochugaru, sugar, Korean curry powder, soy sauce, rice wine, oligo syrup, gochujang, sesame oil, grated ginger and some nicely minced garlic. Most of the ingredients she had to bring herself but there were some that she found among the stuff provided in the kitchen as well.

Once the sauce was done, Eun-ji cut the chicken into bite size pieces and mixed it into the red blend. She would let it sit there while she cut the vegetables. That way it would be well seasoned once she threw it into the pan. It was quite easy navigating the kitchen but it would be better if she used it before. She wished she could be home in her own, where she could almost walk blindfolded and still know exactly where everything was. Not that she actually did that, that wouldn’t be dangerous but outright stupid. “A fine knife,” she muttered under her breath as she started chopping the potatoes. It was nicely sharp…she just hoped others would be aware of it too. “You have a lot of first years there. Maybe warn them before they use it?” She didn’t want to assume none of them knew how to handle kitchen utensils but they were young. Even she didn’t know everything back then. She was more of a helper than doer until the end of her first year at Hogwarts.

Done with the vegetable cutting, Eun-ji heated a pan over medium high heat and added the marinated chicken, sweet potatoes, rice cakes, and cut vegetable. She would leave the perilla leaves and scallion out for now as they would wilt if she added them right away. Eun-ji made that mistake once or twice in the past. Now she knew better. They were supposed to go in at the very end. For most part of the process, the girl would stay quiet. Cooking was her escape and while she often talked with Charles when he came in for dinner and watched her prepare everything, this was different. Kim knew what he was doing and he was here to judge her. Charles was usually simply in awe that she could cook in the first place. It was kind of cute actually. Eun-ji wanted to ask whether Kim ever cooked for his best friend as well but she wasn’t sure if this was the right place or time to do so. Once again she became very aware how little questions she asked her “fiancé”. I should write him a letter soon.

After couple minutes of occasional stirring and regulating the heat as necessary, Eun-ji finally added the perilla leaves and scallion into the pan. There…she was done. She wished she could have prepared more side dishes as well but for today she settled for kimchi and seasoned soybean sprouts. She didn’t want to delay the others too much. Some of them looked really nervous. “There…I hope I did everything correctly. Never really cooked anywhere else besides my home and my grandparents house.” The girl admitted as she presented her dish to the chef.

THE DISH:

@Kim Sato
WC: 850

@Kim Sato

When Kim came out and called her name, Bailey stood up, giving Sophia a quick hug and then walking over to Kim. She was tempted to give Kim a hug too but figured he probably wouldn’t appreciate it here and at this time. Instead, Bailey just smiled at him and asked “How are you doing today?”
As he told her that the kitchen was curtains off and not to worry about smoke she smiled. As he told her that she can use any of the stuff, as well as any spells or notes, and any ingredients she brought she grinned again- this is going to be fun Bailey thought. She knew Kim liked her baking, but she wanted to try something that he had not tasted before. When he said that she was going to make her signature dish, Bailey smiled. Her signature dish, French Macaroons, was a highly complicated dish but she knew she would be able to pull it off.
Deciding to make lemon macaroons with a lemon curd in the middle, Bailey looked to Kim for permission to start. As he told her to be careful with the knives and such, some smiled- he was so cute when he was concerned.
Then he told her that she could start. Looking to him, Bailey said “Ok! Thank you! And…. I brought the vanilla extract my mum made that you liked in the meringue. Did I ever tell you have it was made?”
With that, Bailey began to bustle around.
She started by pulling out a food processor and putting in the almond powder, powdered sugar and salt. She Processed it for about one minute, till it was extra fine. Once she finished with that, she sifted it into another bowl.
After she had finished sifting, Bailey separated three eggs and egg whites; she put the egg yolks aside for the curd and she added the egg whites to the electric mixer with a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Bailey then whipped it till it reached stiff peaks. After Bailey flipped the bowl upside down to double check that it was whipped long enough (it was) she put it back and added three drops of yellow gel food coloring and the vanilla extract that her mum had sent.
It had been made with vanilla beans from Brazil which had been soaked in polish vodka. The recipe was an old family recipe, passed down from her mums side - her mum was polish.
After the food coloring and vanilla was mixed in, Bailey took the bowl with the whipped egg whites and poured in 1/3 of the almond flour mixture. Slowly mixing that in with a spatula, Bailey did the same with the rest of the mixture, 1/3 at a time.
Bailey mixed it till it fell in ribbons when she held some of it up. Once able to draw an 8 with it, Bailey put it into a piping bag.
Getting a baking pan, Bailey put a silicone mat on it and piped the mixture into dots about 3 centimeters. They were spaced approximately 2 centimeters apart.
Then bailey looked at Kim and said “Don’t be surprised- I’m going to bang this on the counter to get the air bubbles out. I just didn’t want to startle you.”
After that, she smacked the pan gently in the counter to do what she said: get the air bubble out.
As she turned to the oven, preheating it to 300˚F (150˚C), Bailey set a timer for 30 minutes- the time the macarons needed to set.
Grabbing another bowl, Bailey collected powdered sugar, vanilla extract, lemons, and butter. Bailey put away the ingredients she would no longer need- like the almond flour. The butter she had placed on the counter to soften at the beginning, so now it was nicely softened.
Attaching the bowl to the mixer, Bailey put the butter in to start whipping. It would whip for the next ten minutes while Bailey zested and sliced the lemons.
Ten minutes later, started adding powdered sugar to the whipped butter; this would become buttercream.
Once another ten minutes had passed, Bailey added the last cup of powdered sugar to the buttercream along with some vanilla extract. Then she made sure the macaron cookies were ready for the oven, and then she put them in the oven to bake at 300˚F for 17 minutes.
After that Bailey got put two pots to start the lemon curd. One was to mix in and the other was the bottom of the double boiler.
Separating one more egg yolk from its egg white, Bailey added all four egg yolks, granulated sugar, more lemon zest and lemon juice along with a pinch of salt to the top pot. Starting the stove, Bailey brought the water to a boil and started whisking the mixture; she whisked it for ten minutes. After the ten minutes were up, Baileys arm was tired, but it smelled so good!
Pulling the top pot off and into a towel, Bailey cut a stick of butter into cubes and stirred it into the mixture till it melted. Once it was melted, the timer was ringing for the macaron cookies! Pulling them out of the oven, Bailey put them onto a cookie wrack to cool. While the lemon curd and the macaroon cookies were cooking, Bailey searched the kitchen for something to plate them in. Digging though a cabinet , Bailey found a lemon plate that was perfect!

Reducio

Five minutes later, Bailey had the buttercream in a piping bag and had the macaron cookies lined up. Piping a ring on the edge of the cookies, Bailey spent the next five minutes leaning over them, piping.
After she had piper the rings of buttercream, Bailey spooned a little lemon curd into the middle. Putting the tops onto them, Bailey plated them and brought them over to Kim.
As she handed them to him, Bailey said “You do not have to eat all of these- I promised Sophia that I would save one for her. Anyways, I made lemon macarons with vanilla buttercream and a homemade lemon curd. Also, I think I said this earlier but I used the vanilla extract my mum made and sent me.”
While anxiously awaiting Kim’s response, Bailey looked around. She had left the kitchen pretty clean. While the lemon curd and cookies had been cooling she had cleaned most of the dishes. All that she had not cleaned was the piping tip and the plate she had used for plating.
Hoping this was ok, she asked Kim “I did clean everything but the piping tips… I didn’t have a chance to clean those. I can before I leave if you want me to. Just let me know.”

word count: about 1135

When the Head Chef called them in to begin their audition, Pax gave a small smile, nodding curtly at the others. After all, this was a competition, right?

They felt a little apprehensive, especially as their cooking skills let a lot to be desired, listening carefully as Kim explained everything and where everything in the kitchen was. When he stepped back to let them cook, Pax gulped, before walking cautiously over to the ingredients. "Uh...I'm going to be making my mum's pizza sandwich," they announced, grabbing a jar of flour, a packet of yeast, some salt and some sugar.

They tipped a rough amount of flour into a bowl before dumping the sachet of yeast, a sprinkle of sugar and a smidgen of salt into the mix. After, they added an amount of water into the mix. Pax grinned sheepishly. "Recipes aren't really my style, if you couldn't tell."

They quickly flicked the switches on the oven, remembering that their mother always would turn on the oven before cooking, before grabbing a large wooden spoon and beginning to mix the dough. "So...how are you? You had a good day?" They attempted to make conversation as they furiously mixed. Dumping the dough onto a floured surface, Pax looked at the clock and began to furiously punch the dough. Any anger that they had, they took out on the poor uncooked bread. They replaced it back into the bowl after around five minutes of kneading, and then covered it with a tea towel.

Next, they took a saucepan and a box of tomato... sauce this is actually passata, but Pax does not know what passata is, dumping the sauce into the pan before putting it on the stove. With a chopping board, they cut up some tomato and a little amount of chili pepper, dumping them also in the pan, before finishing the sauce off with a sprinkle of salt and pepper, before covering it with a lid and letting simmer. They honestly weren't sure if that was actually correct, but it had happened now. They then grabbed a grater, and grated a few different types of cheeses into a bowl, before giving them a quick toss around to mix them.

After around 30 minutes of awkward silence or slight conversation, Pax began to cook again after waiting for the dough to prove. They transferred it into a loaf pan and then let it cook for another half an hour, and then removed it from the pan to let it cool on a cooling rack. Taking a knife- carefully, they sliced the bread and laid it out on another chpping board. Letting the bread cool a little longer, they removed the sauce from the stove and quickly sliced some more tomatoes, as well as some pepper, mushrooms and onions.

Then, it was time for assembly. With two slices of bread in front of them, they ladled out a spponful of sauce onto either slice of bread, topped each slice off with the grated cheese, and then vegetables, before finally clapsing the two bread slices together to form a sandwich. They repeated this until all the sauce and bread had been finished, before cutting them in half and stacking them onto a plate. Carefully, they walked over to Kim and presented them. "Uhm...these are my pizza sandwiches. They are topped with tomato, pepper, oinions and mushroom, so I'm sorry if you don't like that on your pizza. I- uh- made this because my mum's bread is my favourite food, and I didn't want to serve you simply bread. So, I hope you enjoy."

They lowered to plate and stepped back, nervously waiting around to see the verdict.

Word Count: 625

Interacting: @Kim Sato