From Lab To Kitchen

Happy New Year!!

2010-12-31T22:26:00.001-05:00

Saw this at H-Mart. Hands down the weirdest ice cream flavor I've seen sold commercially in the US! Cheese ice cream itself is nothing new, such as mascarpone or ricotta ice cream. But this looks cheddar-ish (note the big orange wedges of cheese)! Didn't try it, since it came only in big tubs, and I probably wouldn't finish a whole tub of queso ice cream.

Anyway, happy new year to all!

Eat Your Dulce De Leche: Dulce De Leche Gelato

2010-09-08T23:32:00.000-04:00

Awhile back, I shared this method for making your own amazingly rich and creamy dulce de leche. I actually learned it from Jamie Oliver's recipe for toffee apple tart. Which, by the way, I just made for a second time with a few adjustments. Boy, was I surprised when the overall consensus was "This is definitely worse than last time's."

I honestly thought it was too sweet last time, so I reduced the amount of sugar in the apples, as well as used the proper kind of apples plus more lemon in the apples and crust. Everyone said they liked it better the first time. Hmph.

Anyway, so I had the leftover dulce de leche (about 3/4 of a can), and I thought I would finally try making a dulce de leche gelato. I found this recipe from Emeril which got rave reviews, and it sounded interesting to me. I've only made gelato once before (olive oil flavor), and the method was completely different. In that case, the egg yolks were not tempered with hot cream, but mixed in cold. Emeril says to make a brown sugar simple syrup, then mix that in with the yolks over a double boiler until it start to "ribbon" (basically thick enough so when the spoon is lifted up over the mixture, "ribbons" are visible on the surface as it drips).

I have to say this method made a wonderful, creamy gelato with amazing flavor and texture. Highly recommended. Makes me wonder what other flavors of gelato can be made using this method...

Hiatus No. 1: Europe

2010-09-02T23:29:00.000-04:00

So I realize I've been away for a little while--ok, all summer--and I should probably explain myself. Reason number one is... my camera got stolen in Barcelona. Yes, pickpocketed out of my purse, even though every other person told me beforehand to really watch my things since pickpockets run rampant over there. I had that camera for less than a year, and although I didn't spend too much on it, I still felt that I had to punish myself by going camera-less for awhile. Sigh.

Reason number two: Too busy to blog. Lots of travel this year, I already talked about Miami, then there was California coast, Barcelona, London, and two trips to central Pennsylvania. Both Europe trips were for work (less than a month apart), and involved me running around stressed out and sweaty for a good chunk of them. Besides that and the stolen camera, both cities were wonderful and lived up to their hype. P.S. Photos are from my cell phone. Who knew that a crappy generic Blackberry knockoff could take such decent photos? Otherwise I would have taken more, arg!

Barcelona had amazing food, but unfortunately, on the one night we had planned on tapas bar-hopping, many of the places were closed. The standout dishes (for photos from other sources, click the links):

Queso de Cabrales (Cabrales blue cheese)
Sidra (Asturian hard cider, poured very high above the glass to aerate the cider)
Jamon iberico de bellota (cured ham made from at least 75% black Iberian pig, then the "de bellota" part refers to those pigs that only ate acorns for the period before slaughter; the "top of the heap" type of jamon iberico)
Pan con tomate (really simple, toasted bread with tomatoes rubbed on them, with a bit of garlic and olive oil)

Everyone knows the stereotype about British food. As Roger Ebert wrote in his review for Ratatouille, "Famous British recipe: 'Cook until gray.'" All in all, Barcelona beat out London for Overall Taste, but London had much more diversity in terms of cuisines available. In Barcelona, you saw the same 5 to 10 dishes served everywhere, some places better than others of course. London had the traditional pub food places, the Indian neighborhood, a sprinkling of various types of Asian cuisine, and the fine dining. Gordon Ramsay's restaurants seemed too high end for me, so I opted for lunch at Jamie Oliver's place in Covent Garden, Jamie's Italian.

For starter I had the bruschetta with smashed peas, broad beans, buffalo ricotta, lemon and mint. It seemed appropriate for the sunny (yes, I said sunny!) yet mild London afternoon. Would you believe it if I said it was sunny every single day I was there? I was there for almost a full week! I'm sure this contributed immensely to the gushing love I felt for the city. I could so live there. Back to Jamie's--the bruschetta tasted very fresh, but just too much ricotta and a bit too difficult to eat. Bread wasn't cutting well with a knife and fork, but it was too massive and piled up to eat by hand.

Then I had the pappardelle meatballs ("Incredible meatballs slow-cooked in a tomato and basil sauce with Parmesan"), and they were great. Really flavorful, rich, and delicious. Overall, impressed with the place and would definitely return. Service was excellent (cute waiter helped), modestly fashionable decor, and tasty food.

So that explains hiatus number one. Let's hope there isn't another too soon, but you never know.

Rhubarb "Jam": No Pectin Added

2010-05-24T22:06:00.001-04:00

I know I promised some food photos from my coastal California road trip, but first a quick and easy recipe for delicious rhubarb jam. Admittedly, it was not really supposed to be a jam, but did you ever have a moment in the middle of following a recipe where you realized, This isn't going to taste very good if I keep going as is... How to fix things before it's too late? In this case, my cooking companion had bought some rhubarb from the fruit market with a special German dessert-thing in mind. Unfortunately, he didn't get to make it in time, so I had to take over.

These were his instructions: "Take the rhubarb, cut it into small pieces, and throw it in a pot with some sugar and cinnamon sticks. Also add a little lemon juice. Stew until it breaks down, then chill and eat with heavy cream." But what's it called, I asked. He never gave me a straight answer, basically saying it has no real name. I did a bit of research (mostly consisting of googling "rhubarb dessert german heavy cream") but to no avail. The closest I came was on Wikipedia, where "rhubarbsauce" was described as being akin to applesauce and eaten cold.

I looked up a few recipes for rhubarb jam, since it sounded so similar, and to give me a feel for a suitable proportion of rhubarb to sugar. It was my first time making jam, actually, so I read a bit about jam-making as well. In the meantime, I discovered a neat website called The Accidental Scientist run by some women from the Exploratorium in San Francisco. They are also authors of The Inquisitive Cook (Accidental Scientist), a book which I have referenced before. In this article about preserves as well as on Wikipedia, they say that a high enough amount of the complex carbohydrate pectin is key for a true jelly or jam texture: "Hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions bind the individual pectin chains together. These bonds form as water is bound by sugar and forces pectin strands to stick together... to form a 3-dimensional molecular net that creates the macromolecular gel."

This process is called sugar-acid-pectin gelling--the pH needs to be low (acidic) enough to extract the pectin from the fruit's cell walls, and apparently sugar prevents the strands of pectin from sticking only to themselves. Rhubarb is naturally a low-pectin fruit and is thus usually combined with other high-pectin fruits or packaged pectin for making preserves.

The vague recipe I used resulted in something "jam-like" but I'm not sure if it would have stay gelled for the long haul, since I didn't add any additional pectin. Tasty though! I used this recipe as a basis for the rhubarb and sugar ratio, also added the water, and a splash of lemon juice instead of orange juice and zest. Also added 1 cinnamon stick and a tablespoon of apricot preserves. I thought maybe the pectin in the apricot preserves worked some magic, but turns out most pectin gels are non-thermoreversible (will stay a liquid if you heat it the second time around).

Food Place: Miami Beach, FL (Pt. II)

2010-05-11T22:33:00.002-04:00

So continuing from last week's post about my time in Miami Beach, onto the food. As I mentioned before, we stayed in North Beach rather than the more popular and touristy South Beach because of the location of the conference center. This meant block after block of authentic Latin American food places, such as Brazilian and Argentinian steakhouses and bakeries. The enticing layout of sweets above is from Buenos Aires Bakery, which was on the way to our conference hotel. I didn't actually get to sample any of those cakes above, or the flan pictured below for that matter, but what I did have was a quite good ham and cheese croissant.

I know what you're thinking: "You ordered a savory pastry from such a shop, with desserts that looked like that?" I ordered something akin to an Italian "cornetto con crema", or croissant stuffed with pastry cream, along with my ham and cheese. Unfortunately, when it came time for dessert, I realized they had forgotten to give me mine. So all in all, I recommend the place, but don't forget to double check the contents of your paper bag before you leave.

The delectable spread of random meats above is from Campo Argentino, which you might seen billed as "New Campo Argentino" ever since the change in management. My first experience with an Argentinian steakhouse, and we went all out--for lunch of all meals--with a bottle of red wine and the "parrillada mixta", or mixed grill platter. It came with skirt steak, short ribs, sweetbreads, chorizo, chicken breast, and blood sausage.

I had heard stories about both sweetbreads and blood sausage, but both were not as unappetizing as I had anticipated. Especially the blood sausage, which my sister had long ago described to me as "like eating congealed, gelatinous bloody jello". Its texture reminded me more of, say, liver than any type of jelly (to my relief). One of my dining companions remarked that it reminded him of "soondae", which now makes sense considering it can be categorized also as a type of blood sausage.

Lastly, one of Miami's delicacies: the stone crab. We went to the most well-known crab place in Miami Beach, Joe's Stone Crab, and despite the high price tag and aggressive salesmen--I mean waiters--it did not disappoint. Look at the size of those claws! Their thick, ceramic-like shells came pre-cracked for convenience, and the amount of meat in each one makes them worth the price. Even the side dishes were well-made, and the key lime pie (on the house for our party) was heavenly. Highly recommended.

Food Place: Miami Beach, FL

2010-05-06T00:19:00.001-04:00

April was a month full of travel, starting with a conference in Miami Beach, FL and ending with a road trip up the coast of California. Well actually, the month started with the craziness of preparing for said conference, then Miami Beach, then California. All in all, despite the exhaustion and creeping guilt of taking time off work, I love traveling. I feel alive, and like the world... it's turning inside out, yeah... (Sorry, I've had this song in my head for days. Just about to say how fun it is to bike to this song, and now found out it was voted best driving song ever by Top Gear fans!)

We stayed at The New Hotel in North Beach, which is about a 20 minute cab ride from the popular and much more bustling South Beach. The hotel itself was perfect--small and cozy, yet with modern furnishings and very friendly and attentive service. And another major perk--Lou's Beer Garden, a bar next to the pool with great beers on tap:

The beer selection during our stay:

First I had the Longhammer IPA from Washington's Redhook Brewery, which was not bad but a little dull for my taste. I prefer more bitter IPAs, the most bitter of which I've had in recent memory was this past holiday season's Celebration Ale. It literally knocked my head back with the first sip... but in a very enjoyable way. Bitterness of beer is measured by the International Bitterness Units scale (IBU), whose estimation takes into account the amount of hops used in brewing as well as how hoppy those hops are (otherwise known as "alpha acid percentage"). As expected, IPAs are on the higher end of the IBU scale than, say, a blonde ale or porter. However, the bitterness of hops are balanced by the sweetness of malt, and apparently the IBU scale does not take into account the amount the bitterness is affected by more or less malt flavor: "For example, an Imperial Stout may have an IBU of 50, but will taste less bitter than an English Bitter with an IBU of 30, because the latter beer uses much less malt than the former."

Then I tried Dogfish Head's Midas Touch: "This recipe is the actual oldest-known fermented beverage in the world! It is an ancient Turkish recipe using the original ingredients from the 2700 year old drinking vessels discovered in the tomb of King Midas." In other words, worth drinking for the backstory alone. Also, a coworker mentioned that it is quite unusual to be found on tap, so I went for it. I didn't know what to expect, so I was shocked at the sweetness of it. It wasn't sugary-sweet, more like a rich golden honey-sweet, but an interesting beer experience nevertheless.

No photos of them, but the mojitos everywhere were amazing. Huge sprigs of fresh mint, sugarcane stirrers, and limes a-plenty. More about Miami to come (the food next time, I promise)...

Raw Oysters: Yay or Nay?

2010-05-02T14:02:00.000-04:00

In light of my last post about finding certain foods or flavors repulsive, I wonder what percentage of the population finds raw oysters to be disgusting, slimy things that they would never dare put in their mouths? I can already think of one friend (yes you, Jenobi!). But overall, the success of raw bars like Oyster House in Philadelphia already tells me that the little guys can't be universally hated.

I had my first raw oyster in New Orleans a few years ago, and it took some time to get used to the strong ocean taste and soft, fleshy texture. But with a bit of lemon juice and increased exposure (my companions ordered dozen after dozen), I started to see what all the fuss was about. Apparently, people have been eating oysters since "prehistory", and Jonathan Swift is quoted as having said, "He was a bold man that first ate an oyster".

At raw bars like Oyster House, they usually offer a few different varieties of oysters, differentiated by the region from where they were plucked. Wikipedia states: "Like fine wine, raw oysters have complex flavors that vary greatly among varieties and regions: sweet, salty, earthy, or even melon... Salinity, mineral, and nutrient variations in the water that nurtures them influence their flavor profile." When I went (first photo), the oysters were from Cape May, NJ. During my California trip, I had a Japanese-style preparation of raw Kumamoto oyster most likely from Washington State (photo above) at Shintaro Sushi. The Cape May had more of a salty, ocean taste whereas the Japanese preparation lessened that effect and brought out more of the sweetness. Really delicious either way, although in this case I think I preferred the Kumamoto oyster.

Side note: Oyster House has a nice happy hour special "A-Buck-A-Shuck" (M-F, 5-7pm, Sat, 9-11pm) where the oyster of the day is only $1 apiece and a select draft for $3. I had Cape May oysters and Kenzinger was on draft. Not a bad deal--the combination of fresh oysters and good beer is definitely a winner.

We also had these oyster shooters, which were really not for me. A raw oyster dunked in a liquor-filled shot glass. Blech! Already the look of it was a bit much... reminded me too much of a random organ half-floating in a mini-jar of formaldehyde. Downing it was quite a struggle.

Cilantro, Cilantro!

2010-04-18T13:25:00.000-04:00

Wanted to post an interesting article sent to me by my sister, all about why some people can't stand cilantro. Harold McGee writes: "Food partisanship doesn’t usually reach the same heights of animosity as the political variety, except in the case of the anti-cilantro party. The green parts of the plant that gives us coriander seeds seem to inspire a primal revulsion among an outspoken minority of eaters." My (other) sister is part of the anti-cilantro group, but strangely enough, both E and I are both strongly pro-cilantro. And I don't remember ever hating it, either.

McGee asks a neuroscientist, Jay Gottfried, where such hate could come from: "The senses of smell and taste evolved to evoke strong emotions, he explained, because they were critical to finding food and mates and avoiding poisons and predators. When we taste a food, the brain searches its memory to find a pattern from past experience that the flavor belongs to. Then it uses that pattern to create a perception of flavor, including an evaluation of its desirability." So his theory is that if you haven't had enough cilantro exposure, you may be bound to hate it forever. (Off-topic: By the way, how awesome is Dr. Gottfried's group website? They have actual photos on there of the group *gasp* socializing!)

Hmm, maybe this also applies to me and horseradish? Any flavors you absolutely can't stand? Give it a few more tastes and perhaps your brain won't label it as poison anymore...

Eat Your Dulce De Leche: Toffee Apple Tart

2010-04-08T00:16:00.001-04:00

I'm prepping for a month full of exciting travels, which I will surely post some photos of (food and otherwise), but before heading out I wanted to add a couple of recipes where one can use the lovely homemade dulce de leche. The first is a toffee apple tart from Jamie Oliver, and this is where I actually picked up the instructions to make the dulce de leche from canned condensed milk.

Speaking of Jamie, anyone been watching his new show, Food Revolution, where he goes around American schools trying to change the usual fare from fast food to more healthy stuff? I haven't seen it yet, but have heard good things from various sources (ok, one source--the other told me he saw a crazy commercial featuring a yelling match between Jamie and some school cooks). I saw parts of the British version though, and I'm all for the idea of "healthifying" elementary school food. It reminded me of when a certain wise someone said, "There used to be one or two fat kids in the class. Now there's one or two skinny kids."

Anyway back to the topic at hand. I found the recipe online here on his website, and also realized that you could substitute other fruits, and that this is essentially what banoffee pie is, no? Must try that next. The flavors were excellent though, it is basically a caramel apple with a flaky shortbread crust. Look at the cool method Jamie recommends for making the crust! You first shape the dough into a roll and slice them into rounds, as if you are making cookies...

Then simply lay them out into your tart dish and press them together to form a continuous crust!

One thing I regret is that I used the apples I had on hand, which were Fuji apples. I should have realized that the crispness of the Fuji apple would not go well with a baked apple dessert, and indeed, the apples would not "uncrisp" even through several minutes of overbaking. What makes an apple good for baking? A baking or cooking apple has to be somewhere in the middle in terms of texture--it can't be too crisp like a Fuji, and it can't turn to mush during baking like a Red Delicious. But to be safe, I would look up the actual type of apple that is best for your particular recipe. For this recipe, perhaps a Golden Delicious or Granny Smith, but these guides should also help.

Make Your Own Dulce De Leche

2010-03-25T00:17:00.000-04:00

I'm very embarrassed to say it has almost been a month since my last post! Actually by the time I finish writing this, it will have been a month. Sigh, what can I say, work has gotten the better of me these days! I'm still trying my best to cook whenever I can, but taking the time to post is another issue...

But anyway, before too much more time passes, I wanted to share a really neat and quick "mini-recipe" that's almost like magic. It's for making your own heavenly dulce de leche with nothing but a can of condensed milk and a pot of water! I actually learned this in the process of making a toffee apple tart (hence the apples and pie crust in the photo above) from Jamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook.

He describes the process of making "toffee" from sweetened condensed milk, and it couldn't be simpler: "Put your unopened tins of condensed milk in a high-sided pan, covered with water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer constantly for about 3 hours with a lid on top. It’s very important to remember to keep checking the pan, as you don’t want it to boil dry – otherwise the tins will explode. It will give you the most amazing toffee. Put the tins to one side and allow to cool."

Ok, so I will acknowledge it is a bit time consuming ("3 hours?"). And a little bit risky, it would seem ("Exploding tins?"). But honestly, don't let that stop you, because opening that once humble can of condensed milk to find silky smooth, golden dulce de leche is really worth it. I used a large pasta pot and filled it close to the brim to prevent any explosions, and checked it every half hour or so to make sure the water level was decent. The resulting caramel was quite thick yet spreadable, but supposedly if a more pourable consistency is desired, one can shorten the simmering time accordingly.

Why does this magic reaction occur? Wikipedia states: "Much of the water in the milk evaporates and the mix thickens; the resulting dulce de leche is usually about a sixth of the volume of the milk used. The transformation that occurs in preparation is caused by a combination of two common browning reactions called caramelization and the Maillard reaction." Both reactions require sugars, which is why sweetened condensed milk is required for dulce de leche; evaporated, or non-sweetened condensed milk lacks the added sugar for the reactions to occur.

Strawberry Basil Ice Cream: No More Curdling

2010-02-25T21:56:00.002-05:00

Ah, curdling. The bane of my ice cream making existence. I can't count how many custards have been sadly ruined after several minutes of infusing, carefully tasting and adjusting, tempering, slowly heating/stirring, and then... #^$*! One second too many turns perfectly smooth, thickened custard into egg drop soup. This is probably a testament to my somewhat reckless attitude towards cooking, as I'm sure this rarely happens to other ice cream making people. Or at least, multiple times.

Sure, people say you can "save" a custard by blending it back into shape, which I did once to some ginger ice cream (it was a holiday emergency), but it doesn't come out as good as it could be. So what's the idea behind curdling anyway? And how can we prevent curdling of any custard?

The Inquisitive Cook (Accidental Scientist) states that "In both cooked and stirred custards, setting happens at temperatures well below boiling. Cooking at too high a temperature or for too long toughens proteins and squeezes out liquid. This makes a baked custard "weep," and a stirred custard curdle--both signs of overcooking."

So temperature matters, as one would expect. But they also claim that it is the rate of heating that matters: "When egg proteins are heated quickly, there's a very small temperature difference (just a few degrees) between thickening and overcooking, so that custards seem to curdle instantly. When heated slowly, this range widens to 10° F or more." This is why some recipes call for use of double boilers for stirred custards, since they allow for a longer "grace period" before reaching the curdling point. Stirring is important for even heating throughout the custard, and not allowing one region (say the bottom) become overheated.

Ok, so now I have my double boiler and low heat. Wouldn't it be great if, with the help of my trusty thermometer, I knew exactly what temperature to look out for to prevent overcooking? This website says I can, with a greatly oversimplified formula. Unfortunately, application of this rule does not work. As described in Experimental Cookery, From the Chemical and Physical Standpoint, "The temperature at which coagulation (thickening) starts varies with the varying proportion of ingredients of the custard and the rate of cooking." So what works for my recipes won't work for someone else's, in other words.

On a related note, a few weeks ago I was reading an ice cream recipe on a popular blog that said to heat the custard to exactly 84° C (183° F). Of course, this was before I read about curdling, and so I thought "Oh great, a guideline for what temperature to heat my custard up to!" Next thing I knew, I had a curdled mess on my hands. What does help is keeping a thermometer in and taking note of approximately when thickening occurs. This way, from that point on you'll have a rough guideline (assuming the same proportions are used) of when to stop.

And lastly, with this newfound knowledge I made a delicious and beautifully pink strawberry basil ice cream! Simply use this recipe by Emeril (I cut it in half), but infuse the milk and cream with bunches of chopped fresh basil leaves for one hour. I also added a pinch of salt and half a packet of gelatin as described here. For presentation, I sprinkled the top with crushed dehydrated strawberries picked out a box of cereal, hehe. Wrong season for this flavor I know, and in summer it would be twice as good and refreshing, but keep it in mind until then!

Homemade Chipwich: Baking a Chewy Cookie

2010-02-15T19:54:00.001-05:00

Made with the Thomas Keller chocolate chip cookies, plus strawberry basil ice cream (post coming soon!). Sorry Ode, this flavor turned out awesome I must say, but next time I promise not to be too tired for ice cream making! The chipwiches looked and tasted good, but the cookies (and chips) were too rock-hard. That got me thinking, what's the best way to make cookies suitable for chipwich-making rather than for eating? Because for eating on their own, I like my cookies a bit crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside rather than chewy all around. How to best make them chewy all around?

The first thing I noticed was that size matters--I made two sizes of cookies, one about 2.5 inches in diameter, the other 4 inches in diameter. The 4 inch cookie remained soft the next day, at least in the middle, whereas the smaller cookies became rock-hard. Unfortunately, I used the smaller cookies for the chipwich, which really didn't work very well. I smushed the whole thing just by taking my first bite.

Second, I cooked them all too long for them to be chewy. In order to be chewy, the cookies have to retain sufficient moisture contributed to the dough by the eggs, butter, and brown sugar. Baking the dough for too long in the oven allows for increased evaporation of this moisture, making for an overall drier result. I basically left them in until the edges browned due to caramelization of the sugars in the dough, causing dehydration. So next time, I would want to use a shorter cooking time to preserve that moisture.

And lastly, a thicker cookie would also help. Shorter cooking time would help this, but to affect the thickness in a very significant way, I think the recipe would have to change. Which would subsequently affect the flavor, perhaps in a negative way, something like adding flour to thicken the dough. Well, shorter cooking time and bigger cookie diameter is a start, I suppose. Oh, and smaller chocolate chips. Because the chips were self-cut from a bar, I ended up with quite large chunks--which really hurt your teeth when bitten into frozen. What are your tips for making a better cookie for chipwich-ing? Any favorite chipwich combinations?

Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies

2010-02-13T22:01:00.000-05:00

I must admit I've been neglecting the blog a bit these days, mostly because of various visitors that have come to stay with me, a gigantic "snowmageddon" that hit, and well, a hint of laziness. The recent snow storm has actually helped me get me off the couch/bed/lab bench and back into the kitchen (due to my school being snowed in for two days, yeah! So there are benefits to having the city wait for snow to melt rather than cleaning it up...). I recently bought Thomas Keller's new book designed for more casual, family-style home cooking, Ad Hoc at Home, and tried my first recipe. Of course it turned out to be a dessert, and something simple: chocolate chip cookies. I was just curious... What do Thomas Keller's chocolate chip cookies taste like?

The recipe was easy enough, although it really took the wind out of me to stir cookie dough without a stand mixer/paddle attachment. For chocolate, he uses a combination of Valrhona 70% and 55% chocolates. I cheated, and added half milk chocolate instead of the 55%. I know, all true chocoholics would turn their nose up at me right now, saying "Milk? Please, who eats that stuff anymore after age 10?" But I really do prefer milk chocolate over dark, even in my cookies. Not sure what that says about me, especially since I do enjoy lots of bitter things, like super-hoppy beer. What's your preference?

I made a few test cookies first, to see if I liked the dough I had or wanted to add anything more to it. First off, I forgot the salt! Terrible mistake, salt is such a big thing in desserts to bring out the flavors properly. Second--and this is probably after years of making the Toll House recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag--I was missing the vanilla extract. I know, I doubt Thomas Keller uses vanilla extract, or extracts of any kind for that matter, in his cooking. But I ended up adding a teaspoon in anyway--my personal preference.

Overall the cookies were crisp on the edges, chewy in the middle, and tasted delicious. Not overly sweet, like so many of those pre-made dough kinds, and I think this recipe really makes the chocolate you use the star of the show. A lesson to use better chocolate--and more of it--next time. Anyone have their own chocolate chip cookie recipes or tips to share?

Fresh Mint Ice Cream: Introducing Gelatin

2010-01-24T21:37:00.003-05:00

A friend recently commented that I've been making only ice creams for weeks now, and I will admit that it has been awhile since I've thought of making anything but. I've become preoccupied with making a better homemade ice cream, especially regarding texture. Taste hasn't been too much of an issue, in my opinion, and I always have a long mental list of new flavors to test out. Last time I made my first gelato, and I thought it was quite successful texture-wise, but I don't like the idea of forever making gelato (I'm more of an ice cream person myself) and also forever using raw eggs. One thing I noticed was that it was nicer coming out of the freezer then my previous custard-based ice creams. Taste was less rich, admittedly, but texture was a bit more scoopable.

Before the gelato, my cornstarch ice cream was a terrible failure. Too pudding-like and melted strangely. So moving on to my next experiment, I decided to give gelatin a try. Gelatin is commonly used in desserts that "set", such as panna cotta, jello, and gummies. According to Wikipedia: "Gelatin is a protein produced by partial hydrolysis of collagen extracted from the bones, connective tissues, organs and some intestines of animals such as domesticated cattle, pigs, and horses." Gross, huh? Try not to think about that when you are eating or using anything with gelatin in it (probably a lot more products than you realize).

It was used as the main stabilizer in the ice cream industry for years, according to Dr. Douglas Goff, before being replaced by cheaper compounds. What's the benefit of using a stablizer? Dr. Goff states that adding a stabilizer increases the viscosity of the ice cream mixture by thickening the unfrozen portions of the water and preventing them from moving through the mix, joining together, and creating big ice crystals when re-frozen. Gelatin powder put into water, for instance, dissolves a little at room temperature, but then melts completely with sufficient heat. When cooled, the mixture then solidifies into a colloid gel--the water being suspended in a protective collagen matrix.

So I decided to use a few sprigs of fresh mint as my flavor (which by the way, gives such an amazing flavor as compared to the mint chocolate types of ice creams you buy at the store), just to keep it fairly simple as I didn't know how the use of gelatin would turn out. I used 2 egg yolks, half a packet of gelatin powder, 1/3 c sugar, 1 1/2 c whole milk, and 1 c heavy cream--along with my usual recipe for making ice cream mix, except I melted the gelatin in after infusing the mint into the milk/cream. Remember that you have to melt the gelatin at sufficient heat to incorporate it throughout the mix.

The results were a success! I found the ice cream more scoopable, yet still rich and creamy, and had firm "bite". Also, it had nice melt-down characteristics--none of that "pudding"-like weirdness that cornstarch gave. Unfortunately, it is not vegetarian, which is the biggest downfall of using it in ice cream (as far as I can tell). Which I assume would be where vegetation-based hydrocolloids like locust bean gum come into play. Anyway, I'm convinced! I now see the benefit of adding a stabilizer into my ice creams. As a temporary fix, gelatin seems to work well, but if I want my vegetarian friends to partake, I'll eventually have to find a substitute. Which is your favorite plant-based hydrocolloid and how do you use it?

Olive Oil Gelato: Gelato vs. Ice Cream

2010-01-12T18:58:00.000-05:00

As I've mentioned (and demonstrated) before, I always leave New York City inspired by its bustling and ever-evolving culinary creativity. About a year ago, I went to Mario Batali's Otto Pizzeria and had one of the more revelatory ice cream flavors in my life--olive oil gelato. E recommended it, and I was admittedly skeptical, but since she's usually right about these kinds of things, I took her word for it. It was surprisingly delicious, with the subtle taste of olive oil all wrapped up in soft, sweet cream. I had it a second time from Capogiro, the famous Philly gelateria known for their unique flavors and use of local, fresh ingredients.

So I was reminded recently that this was a flavor I had yet to try my hand at, and plus I had all the ingredients at home. The recipe comes from The Babbo Cookbook, and the first thing I noticed is that the egg yolks are not cooked. As in, it does not require you to make a custard. I know, it isn't ice cream that we're making, but I didn't know that gelato sometimes contains raw egg yolks. Then again, I've never made gelato before, but I had the notion that the only difference is that gelato uses only milk whereas ice cream uses cream and milk.

Another thing I heard was that gelato contains less fat than ice cream. This apparently is true. Wikipedia states: "Gelato differs from ice cream in that it has a lower fat content, typically 3.5% for gelato versus 10-12% for ice-cream." That was another reason why the Babbo recipe baffled me, because it actually contains the same proportion of ingredients as my usual ice cream base does, and that includes cream. Weird.

The only difference then, is that for ice cream I heat the milk, whisk the hot milk into the beaten yolks, and put the whole thing back on heat to cook the eggs which thickens the mixture into a custard. For the gelato, I basically mixed all ingredients together cold, and they even say you can throw into the ice cream maker right away. This means that, because the heating process is missing, the bonds between the yolk proteins do not break (even through "ribboning", as Harold McGee describes in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen), and the usual net-like matrix of unraveled proteins does not form as it does during cooking. Thus the gelato mix has a lower viscosity than traditional custard (which can be seen immediately upon making the mix), which affects "body and mouthfeel" of the eventual frozen product.

Qualitatively, the gelato certainly did not freeze as firmly as previous ice creams had, and had more of a "whipped" quality. But overall, it still turned out decently, but I would warn those that try to actually use a high quality olive oil. I used a mediocre olive oil because it was what I had on hand, and it gave me a bit of a strange aftertaste. Any tips on making gelato, feel free to contribute!

Nutella Ice Cream: No Eggs, Just Cornstarch

2010-01-07T20:08:00.001-05:00

Recently I've been giving some thought as to how I can improve the texture and/or flavor of my ice creams, and while reading some articles online, I stumbled upon this recipe for cornstarch ice cream in the New York Times. Sounds gross, doesn't it? It actually is an egg-less ice cream with cornstarch in place of the more traditional egg yolks. Then you may feel free to add whatever fruits etc. you choose, without (as some claim) any yolks affecting the intended flavor with their egginess. Not to mention it's a lot easier and faster to drop in a spoonful of powder and heat, than it is to separate yolks and proceed to watch/stir the custard ever so carefully to prevent curdling. And lastly, eggs (especially good quality ones) can get expensive, also considering that some recipes call for as many as six yolks.

Then I started thinking about why this would be, why can you substitute cornstarch for yolks? And what are the downsides of doing so? Well before going any further, I can tell you from a non-scientist's point of view that I was not pleased with my cornstarch ice cream at all. I followed the New York Times recipe exactly, except I added 1/2 c Nutella and let it melt while heating the cream/milk. Ever since I returned from Rome, I've been meaning to make some ice cream with the Nutella I bought there. Actually it isn't Nutella brand, but an Italian kind of "Crema Gianduja". I know, what a waste of 1/2 c Nutella. I should have tested the recipe with vanilla first, but I guess I trusted that it would work out as well as it did in the video.

Before even freezing the ice cream, the custard already had me worried because it had quite a different texture than the egg custards I've made in the past. It reminded me of chocolate Jello instant pudding, with its glossy finish and light consistency. Not that egg custard isn't shiny, but this was really glossy. Plus, the use of cornstarch seemed to have caused the custard to lose its "richness," in both taste and texture.

After freezing, I have the same complaints as when it was unfrozen--glossy, loss of richness--and while the flavor was ok, I had a hard time eating it as noticed it melting into a pudding-like thing. One good thing, it certainly scooped easier right out of the freezer than the egg ice creams. Perhaps I used too much cornstarch? Or did the Nutella affected the custard in a negative way? I haven't written off the use of cornstarch in ice cream completely, but I will certainly put less than 3 Tbsp of it next time.

If anyone has a good or bad experience with cornstarch ice cream, please share! Ok, enough of the qualitative talk, now I want to know what the quantitative difference is between using yolks vs. cornstarch. To be continued...

New Year, New Look!

2010-01-01T03:07:00.000-05:00

Hopefully 2010 will be full of even more interesting experiments in the kitchen. Notice the new look of the blog, banner courtesy of E!

Crepes Suzette: Does Flambe Matter?

2009-12-31T23:54:00.002-05:00

First off, happy new year to all! I've been having a relaxing time at home over the holidays, and the break has been a good chance to try out some new things in the kitchen, including making crepes. It was Christmas morning, and we had a bunch of oranges in the house along with a nip of Grand Marnier, so I thought why not try Crepes Suzette? I've never actually eaten Crepes Suzette, but know of it as a classic recipe that utilizes flambé. The recipe I used was this one by Bobby Flay, that did not include any flambéing. An alternative recipe by Nigella Lawson states to "Warm the orange liqueur of your choice in the emptied but still syrupy saucepan. When the crepes are hot in the orange sauce, pour over the liqueur and set light to the pan to flambé them." (She also says to use store-bought crepes, so I don't know how much to trust this particular recipe.)

So what does flambéing accomplish? Is it even necessary? I had heard somewhere that it is simply for show, and nothing more. Others claim that the flames consume any alcohol in the sauce, thus changing its flavor--and then some. Wikipedia states: "Because alcohol boils at 78°C, water boils at 100°C and sugar caramelizes at 160°C, ignition of all these ingredients combined results in a complex chemical reaction, especially as the surface of the burning alcohol exceeds 240°C."

But that logic is assuming that the entire dish (or at least the surface of the food) is engulfed in flames during the process. If the flames are only above the food, this whole reaction won't happen (although some alcohol may be consumed in vapor form). This book explains that, in order to achieve a proper flambé, one needs to heat the liquor mixture to a temperature above the flash point, which is "the lowest temperature at which the liquid gives off enough vapor to ignite on exposure to a flame." Why vapor? Ethanol is more easily ignited in vapor form than in liquid form (even fuel is burned in vapor form rather than liquid). A cold liquor will not ignite because there is not enough vapor, which is why flambé recipes require heating of the liquor beforehand. Heat it above the flash point (for a 50-50 mixture of water and alcohol, it would be 75°F), and the vapors will ignite when a match is brought close to the pan.

So if only the vapors above the pan burn, doesn't it mean that the supposed caramelization of flavors doesn't really happen at all? The most that would happen, I would think, is that perhaps more of the alcohol would be consumed than if you simply simmered the liquor mixture. However, I must admit I have never actually flambéd anything, so anyone who has more experience cooking or tasting flambé dishes, give me your qualitative (or quantitative) opinions on whether it does more for your dish than create a fancy show!

Happy Holidays from Lab to Kitchen!

2009-12-24T18:12:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone is indulging in some delicious holiday eats and drinks! Frohe Weihnachten!

And the indie rock version...

Cherry & Amaretto Ice Cream

2009-12-20T00:52:00.001-05:00

After the more-or-less success of the fig & port ice cream from last post, I thought about other variations on this "alcohol plus dried fruit" theme. I had some leftover amaretto liquor on hand, plus some dried cherries from Thanksgiving... yes, another ah-ha moment--cherry & amaretto ice cream! This time I had less of both the liquor and cherries, so I cut the recipe down a little. No more amaretto also meant I couldn't add extra at the end if I felt it wasn't amaretto-y enough, which it wasn't, but this was not a bad thing.

The final product tasted a lot like Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia (but without the chocolate pieces, which one could easily add at the end). I would also say this had the best texture of all the ice creams I've made, due to the addition of alcohol that softened the final product and made it super creamy and scoopable.

Cherry & Amaretto Ice Cream

1/4 c dried cherries, roughly chopped
1/4 c amaretto
1 c whole milk
1 c heavy cream
3 egg yolks
5 Tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt

Combine cherries and amaretto in a bowl to allow the cherries to soften and absorb the amaretto, for about 2 hours or more.
While the cherries soak, combine cream and milk in saucepan over low heat, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a simmer. As it heats up, whisk egg yolks with sugar until they turn pale yellow and fluff a bit.
When mixture is simmering, turn off heat and pour 1 c very slowly into the yolks, making sure to keep whisking so the eggs do not scramble. Then add back to saucepan and turn on medium-low heat.
Keep stirring over heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Then take off heat, cover and refrigerate until it cools. After the figs have soaked, use a few pulses of an immersion blender to chop the cherries to small shreds, but do not puree. Combine with custard and refrigerate overnight.
Freeze in your ice cream maker.

Also I want to note that after soaking the cherries, they didn't become quite tender, which worried me. However, after freezing the combined custard, they became nice and soft as opposed to the figs from last post, which ended up a bit more firm. All in all, a delicious treat that (in my opinion) tastes better, more natural, and packs in more robust cherry flavor than any store-bought cherry ice cream. Very highly recommended!

Next up: Italian inspiration!

Fig & Port Ice Cream

2009-12-15T21:44:00.004-05:00

I have developed a "like" of port wine over the past year for two reasons. 1) I received a bottle of amazing (and probably quite expensive) shiraz port for Christmas last year, and it changed my mind about how port can taste; and 2) Since then, a favorite recipe of mine is this one from Giada, pork with fig and port sauce. Of course for cooking I bought a lower quality port, which I found basically undrinkable as a result of being spoiled last Christmas. But I was amazed at the combination of figs and port, and from then always thought of using them together in a dessert. Tada, fig & port ice cream!

Sound weird? It's just a riff on rum raisin ice cream, which I thought I'd hate but really enjoyed. I used dried figs, half good port and half not-so-good port (best if you use a good-quality one, but I can understand that most people won't have it lying around). But because its flavor comes through so strongly in this ice cream, I would use a better one next time. Also the significant amount of alcohol in the custard will prevent it from freezing firmly, so I would freeze it in the ice cream maker, then keep it in the freezer overnight before eating it. Texture was softer than other ice creams I've made in the past, which was actually an improvement! The figs I ended up chopping with an immersion blender because I didn't want big chunks of frozen fig, but rather small shreds of fig dispersed throughout.

Fig & Port Ice Cream

1/2 c dried black mission figs, roughly chopped
1/3 c + 2 Tbsp good-quality port
1 1/2 c whole milk
1 c heavy cream
4 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
Pinch of salt

Combine figs and port in a bowl to allow the figs to soften and absorb the port, for about 2 hours or more.
While the figs soak, combine cream and milk in saucepan over low heat, add a pinch of salt, and bring to a simmer. As it heats up, whisk egg yolks with sugar until they turn pale yellow and fluff a bit.
When mixture is simmering, turn off heat and pour 1 c very slowly into the yolks, making sure to keep whisking so the eggs do not scramble. Then add back to saucepan and turn on medium-low heat.
Keep stirring over heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Then take off heat, cover and refrigerate until it cools. After the figs have soaked, use a few pulses of an immersion blender to chop the figs to small shreds, but do not puree. Combine with custard and refrigerate overnight.
Freeze in your ice cream maker.

I have to warn you that I was taken aback by the smell of this ice cream, especially in custard form. It scared me a bit, that I had ruined yet another ice cream, since the custard had such a strange, almost savory scent. Originally I had added less than 1/2 c of sugar because I thought the port would be overwhelmingly sweet on its own, but I eventually had to ramp it up spoonful by spoonful. Something about the intense, eyebrow-raising smell and taste of alcohol mixed with cream and eggs made me seriously doubt this flavor's success.

Thankfully, when I froze it the next day, it was delicious... but not immediately. It required a little thought. I ate a spoonful, and it was a shock to the senses at first, then a sort of "ahh, it's port and figs" moment. Any hint of "savory" went away with freezing, which was a big relief. And yes, you can definitely still taste the alcohol.

Next up: Same but different!

Apple Crisp with Ginger Ice Cream

2009-12-02T22:45:00.007-05:00

First I must apologize for the lack of posting these days! I have had quite a month... including swine flu (yes, really--they even swabbed my nose for it!), missing being a maid of honor because of said swine flu (congrats again, Jen + Jordan!), and hours upon hours of basement lab torture (of both the experimenters and the experimentees). On the upside, I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends, actually my first without any family members present. I wanted to share the recipe that some would say was the hit of the night, haha. First I wanted to make a pie, but alas, the lab prevented something so time-consuming. So I thought, what's easy and fast? Immediately I thought of apple crisp, since I've made it in the past and as desserts go, it doesn't take very long to put together.

I found this recipe by Ina Garten that I altered a little, threw in some homemade ginger ice cream, and the results were fabulous! I really enjoyed the combination of the two, and it was interesting to see people's reactions--some favored the crisp more, others were fascinated by the ginger ice cream. Ginger seemed like a natural choice, since its spiciness would go well with the sweetness of the apples, as well as complementing the spices already flavoring the apples, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Apple Crisp with Ginger Ice Cream

For the apple crisp
6 medium to large Braeburn apples, peeled and cut into wedges
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 c rolled whole grain medley (oats, wheat, barley + flax seed)
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 t kosher salt
1/2 lb cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch sized pieces

In a large bowl, combine apples, sugar, lemon juice, zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until apples are evenly coated with juice and spices.
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine flour, whole grains, sugars, and salt in a smaller bowl. Add cold pieces of butter and massage with hands until mixture becomes crumb-like and largest pieces are about centimeter sized.
Arrange apples in casserole dish or ramekins, then generously sprinkle crisp topping over apples. Bake for about an hour, or until apples are bubbly and soft, but not overcooked.

For the ice cream
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1/2 c whole milk
4 egg yolks
Thumb-sized piece of ginger, grated
5 Tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt

Combine cream and milk in saucepan with grated ginger and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar until they turn pale yellow and fluff a bit.
When mixture is simmering, turn off heat and pour 1 c very slowly into the yolks, making sure to keep whisking so the eggs do not scramble. Then add back to saucepan and turn on medium-low heat.
Keep stirring over heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Then take off heat, strain into a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Freeze in your ice cream maker.

One thing to note, I had some trouble with the ginger ice cream. The first time I tried to make it, the ginger actually reacted with the milk and cream, causing them to curdle. So I acted quicker the second time and tried not to over-simmer, and it worked better, but didn't thicken to the extent prior custards have. Also I noticed when I strained the custard, there were some bits of cooked yolk that caught in the strainer, oops. But when I froze the ice cream, it came out less creamy than I would have liked, but overall not bad.

Also notice that in the picture, I used a ramekin, but that was only one of two that I put remainder apples and topping into. Don't think I was crazy and brought tens of little individual ramekins to my Thanksgiving potluck dinner! I had one of those large rectangular foil pans with high sides, and reheated the whole thing in the oven before serving it with the ice cream. If you do choose to use ramekins, make sure to cut the apples in smaller pieces like cubes, not wedges.

Next up: Not sure yet!

Panko Breaded Asparagus with Pecorino Romano and Thyme

2009-11-17T21:16:00.008-05:00

I picked up some nice asparagus at the fruit market and was wondering what to do with it when I realized I had panko breadcrumbs left over from the family vacation that I hadn't used yet. My mom usually uses them for breading shrimp, but I thought panko breaded asparagus would be something new and worth trying. Panko breadcrumbs are much "fluffier" and have more crunch than traditional breadcrumbs since they are made from crustless bread. This was my first attempt at panko-ing anything, and I thought it turned out quite well. The asparagus was fully cooked inside (maybe a little too soft, I might turn up the heat next time so the breading cooks faster), very tender and the rich earthy flavor came through nicely with the crunch of the panko. Also I enjoyed the sensation of eating something panko-ed with thyme and a strong cheese, as opposed to traditional Asian-style accompaniments.

Panko Breaded Asparagus with Pecorino Romano and Thyme

1/2 bunch asparagus (8 to 10 spears)
1 c Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 c flour with sprinkle of salt
1 egg
Red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Sprig of fresh thyme
1/4 c Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Cut off ends of asparagus spears and wash. Prepare 3 shallow bowls or plates: one with beaten egg, one with tempura flour, and one with the breadcrumbs.
Meanwhile fill a large saucepan with about 1/2-inch of vegetable oil over medium-low heat. The oil is ready for frying when a piece of breadcrumb sizzles and turns golden brown after a minute or two.
Dredge the asparagus first in the flour, then egg, and lastly in the breadcrumbs. Drop in the oil and fry on one side until golden brown, then same for the other side. This shouldn't take more than a few minutes on each side. Then place them on a plate with paper towel to collect excess oil.
After doing this for all the spears, arrange them on a plate and season with pepper, more salt if necessary, red pepper flakes, grated cheese, and fresh thyme.

Next up: An ice cream for autumn!

Warm Confetti Potato Salad

2009-11-05T21:07:00.016-05:00

As I noted in a previous post on brussels sprouts, Russ Parsons has dug up some interesting facts about the vegetables we eat every day. This time, about potatoes, he writes: "Tubers reproduce asexually. As every elementary school science student has learned, if you cut a potato into pieces and sow them in the ground, each piece will grow a plant exactly like the one you started with (they are true clones)." How creepy! Although potatoes do tend to have an alien look about them sometimes, with their amorphous figures and eyes that stare. Kind of reminds me of the cover of this old Stephen King book of short stories my parents had with the drawing of a hand with eyes all over it.

Besides these downsides, they are delicious cooked in every which way, and come in so many great colors and shapes. I bought a baby potato medley and thought I would try my own take on a simple recipe by Parsons. You don't have to use the fancy colored potatoes (although they certainly look beautiful), but make sure to use waxy potatoes for this recipe, not starchy potatoes. According to Wikipedia, "For culinary purposes, varieties are often described in terms of their waxiness. Floury, or mealy (baking) potatoes have more starch (20-22%) than waxy (boiling) potatoes (16-18%)." Russets are known as baking potatoes, and their plentiful starch cells absorb water when cooking and separate, leading to fluffy potatoes. Also that's why you see russets specified often in recipes for gnocchi, since you want that lightness of the dough. Waxy varieties (I assume all the potatoes in my medley were waxier than russets) have less starch and tend to hold their shape better during cooking.

Warm Confetti Potato Salad

1/2 lb confetti potatoes (I used a mix of baby Yukon Gold, Purple Peruvian, and Red La Soda potatoes)
1 Tbsp butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp whole-grain mustard
1 tsp ground cumin
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Cut potatoes (skin on) into small cubes, about 1-2 cm a side. Steam until easily poked with a fork, while still retaining their overall shape (about 15-20 minutes). Meanwhile in a bowl, combine butter, mustard, and cumin.
When potatoes are done, add them to the bowl directly from the steamer basket and mix everything until potatoes are well-coated. Salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle rosemary on top and serve.

A two-step recipe, an amazing first for this blog, especially with the lengthy souffle recipes of late. Simple, yet delicious--the butter and starchy water from the steamed potatoes forms a sort of thickened base that reminded me of a sticky potato salad. Hence the name, but I definitely prefer this side warm rather than cold. I tried both, but I thought the warmth went better with the spice of the cumin and mustard, which I felt became rather muted straight out of the fridge. A very "cozy" tasting dish, highly recommended as a simple winter side.

Next up: Something panko-breaded!

Butternut Squash Souffle

2009-11-02T18:46:00.010-05:00

In my last post, I learned a valuable lesson regarding why my previous souffle had fallen. The main gist: I didn't allow the souffle to cook long enough, which prevented the egg white proteins from fully denaturing and reforming a cage-like structure, and thus causing the top of the souffle to fall without sufficient structure below to hold its weight. With this in mind, I decided to make a Thanksgiving themed souffle using butternut squash (although pumpkin could easily be substituted) and spices.

Butternut Squash Souffle

1/2 butternut squash, peeled and roasted (for instructions go here)
1/2 c heavy cream
1/4 c whole milk
2 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/4 c sugar, plus extra for dusting the ramekins
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Splash of vanilla extract
Butter to grease the ramekins

Puree butternut squash with blender and set aside to let cool.
In a small saucepan, heat cream, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger and vanilla to a simmer.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Add a cup of the hot cream mixture very slowly into yolks while continuing to whisk. Then add yolks and cream back to saucepan and keep stirring over low heat. Mixture should thicken in a few minutes, then turn off heat and incorporate into squash puree.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, making sure the rack is near the bottom. Place a baking sheet in the oven. Butter your ramekins and dust the insides and rims with sugar.
Then take egg whites in a clean bowl and whisk until glossy. It should form stiff peaks when you remove your whisk from the bowl, and should be able to hold the weight of an egg. Use a spatula to combine the egg whites scoop by scoop into the squash mixture, making sure they form a fully homogeneous mixture, but do not overmix.
Carefully scoop your mixture into the ramekins up to the rims. Bake on lower rack for about 25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown. They should rise, but with firm tops and jiggly centers. Makes about 4 souffles (or one large one if you wish).

To tell you the truth, I still messed up in the end! I undercooked the souffle (but this time less so), as you can see from the photo above. The tops are not golden brown, so if you replicate this dish, leave them in for longer. These souffles did deflate slightly, but only after several minutes, instead of right after removing them from heat as with the black tea souffle, and not to the same extent. So I have yet to master the souffle as some people have, but I suppose I'm on the right track. The flavor itself was delicious, very reminiscent of pumpkin pie, but with such an airy and feather-light texture. I could easily see this as either a side dish (you could cook it in a large casserole dish) or a dessert alternative to traditional pumpkin pie.

Next up: A super simple side!

BLT Prime's Giant Popovers

2009-10-28T23:56:00.011-04:00

A restaurant on my "Must Try" list is BLT Prime, supposedly one of the best steakhouses in New York, featuring dry-aged steaks and mouth-watering sides courtesy of chef Laurent Tourondel. I saw him and his restaurant featured on After Hours With Daniel, and the giant popovers he serves as pre-meal bread looked amazing--huge and crusty, with a soft spongy inside. The recipe for these popovers is no secret, but I must admit that the recipe doesn't seem to quite live up to the real thing (as far as I can tell) since mine didn't come out quite as crusty-looking. (Anyone know the science behind crusty bread?) But they were delicious nonetheless, and I would make them again, with maybe a tweak to the recipe here and there to try to get them as beautiful as Laurent's. Also I added some grated Pecorino Romano and chopped rosemary on top instead of the usual Gruyere.

BLT Prime's Giant Popovers

2 eggs
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
Olive oil to grease muffin tin
1/2 c grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1 Tbsp chopped rosemary

Grease a muffin tin with olive oil and place in an oven heated to 350°. Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
Meanwhile, heat milk over medium heat until it begins to simmer. As it heats, beat eggs until frothy in a large bowl, then slowly add milk while whisking as not to scramble eggs. Then add flour and salt slowly until you have a smooth batter.
Remove muffin tin from the oven and add batter about 3/4 full in each cup. Drop muffin tin from an inch or two off the table to tease out excess air (so you don't get a hollow center). Add a sprinkle of cheese and rosemary over batter.
Place on baking sheet to catch drips and cook for 15 minutes. Then rotate pan for an even rise, and cook for another 35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and serve.

A light and airy--as well as dramatic--alternative to traditional biscuits or rolls for your Thanksgiving meal. I wish I added more cheese on top, since I didn't get enough cheese or rosemary flavor as I wished, but perhaps incorporating them into the popover batter could help solve that issue. Also, no deflating occurred because I cooked them sufficiently which allowed the egg proteins to fully set and support the structure of the popover. Which clearly failed to happen with my previous souffle, but lesson learned! To prove this point, I removed one popover a bit early, before the top had turned a golden brown, and it immediately started to lose its proud puffy structure. When I opened it up, the middle was mushy, hence the toppled top. Last time when my souffle fell, it was most likely due to the fact that I hadn't cooked it thoroughly enough (I had been afraid of overcooking). Time to take on the dreaded souffle once more!

Next up: Using what I learned to make a festive dessert (or side)!

Brussels Sprouts Lardons with Cherries and Walnuts

2009-10-27T20:15:00.019-04:00

With Thanksgiving coming up so soon, I started thinking about what kinds of dishes I could make for the occasion, specifically sides and desserts (in my opinion, the most fun parts). Two Thanksgivings ago, I discovered my love for brussels sprouts. Before that day, I never tried a brussels sprout in my life, if you can believe it. My sister and I roasted them whole, with olive oil, salt and pepper. I loved the explosion of flavor as you popped them in your mouth and bit into them, a very earthy and rich flavor with some crisped up bits on the outside. Even more recently, I saw what they look like on the stalk--alien-like, even! How could so many people dislike such a great vegetable?

Turns out that most people overcook them and, as Russ Parsons describes, they are "high in chemical compounds that produce hydrogen sulfide when exposed to heat for a sufficient amount of time." What's so bad about hydrogen sulfide? Wikipedia responds: "Hydrogen sulfide is the principal odor of untreated sewage and is one of several unpleasant smelling sulfur-containing components of flatulence." Hmm, so now I see the potential downside of brussels sprouts...

But! If you cook them correctly, they will be a delicious side to your Thanksgiving meal. I riffed on this recipe for brussels sprouts lardons, also imparting some wisdom from Parsons on how best not to produce excess hydrogen sulfide. P.S. "Lardons" refers to the pancetta in the recipe (although actually it is supposed to be straight-up fat) used to flavor the brussels sprouts.

Brussels Sprouts Lardons with Cherries and Walnuts

1 lb brussels sprouts, halved and with small cut down the middle of stalk
1/2 c dried cherries
1/4 c chopped walnuts
2 oz pancetta (or bacon), cubed
1/2 c low-sodium vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil

Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium heat, then add pancetta. Allow to cook until browned and crisp, then turn off heat and remove pancetta only (keeping the leftover oil and fat in the pan).
Reheat pan over medium heat and add brussels sprout halves, stalk-side down. Cook for 8-10 minutes, then add stock to pan and let simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until stalk has become slightly tender.
Then toss sprouts around for a few more minutes and add cherries, walnuts and pancetta. Cook until all components have evenly been heated, and the cherries have absorbed some liquid.
Salt and pepper to taste, then serve!

What a simple recipe, and the components went together really well--the earthiness of the sprouts and the saltiness of the pancetta, along with the sweet-tart cherries and crunchy walnuts for texture. I also enjoyed this method of cooking brussels sprouts, as a good alternative to my usual roasting method.

Next up: Another festive dish!

Eat Your Pasta: Handmade Pasta with Pancetta and Butternut Squash

2009-10-25T20:42:00.011-04:00

One meal I had in Rome that stands out was the signature dish of a family-run restaurant in Trastevere called Trattoria di Lucia. The dish is apparently unique to Rome, called spaghetti alla gricia, and only requires two main ingredients: guanciale (cured pork cheek) and Pecorino Romano cheese. So simple, yet delicious. I wanted to add more of a "fall/winter" spin on it, and found some good-looking butternut squash and brussels sprouts at the fruit market that I thought could go well with the pancetta (unfortunately I found no guanciale) and cheese.

Handmade Pasta with Pancetta and Butternut Squash

1 lb. handmade (or store-bought dried) noodle pasta
1 medium butternut squash, split in half and peeled
4 oz. pancetta, cubed
1 1/2 c of brussels sprout leaves
2 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 c freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

First roast the butternut squash: place in roasting pan with a little oil, roast at 400° for about 30 minutes or until soft. Cut into cubes and set aside.
Meanwhile, start boiling a pot of water for the pasta, making sure to salt and oil the water. Put the pasta in when boiling, remove and strain when al dente.
Heat olive oil in saucepan, then add pancetta and cook over medium heat until slightly browned. Remove only pancetta from saucepan and place on paper towels. Add brussels sprout leaves to saucepan with oil, toss to coat and cook for 5 minutes.
Add butternut squash to pan with brussels sprouts and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Then add cooked pasta and pancetta to pan and toss for a few minutes.
Plate and grate a generous amount of cheese over the pasta.

The pasta turned out quite good, although I would probably eliminate the brussels sprouts next time since they didn't provide much flavor. Also the noodles themselves were a bit too thick, as I mentioned in my last post. But overall, I thought the butternut squash provided a smooth and sweet counterpart to the salty pancetta and Pecorino Romano. P.S. In case you are wondering what the garnish is, I wanted to try frying some sage leaves that I had leftover from the ice cream of a few days ago. They looked nice, but I have to be honest, I didn't end up eating more than a bite!

Next up: Some holiday dishes!

Make Your Own Pasta (By Hand)

2009-10-24T21:33:00.014-04:00

I recently visited Rome and must admit that, despite my dreams of heavenly Italian food at every corner, I had both good and bad food experiences there. Because I was doing all the typical tourist activities (Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Vatican City, etc.), I frequently ended up at the more touristy restaurants selling the more mediocre food. But I did happen to have a guide book with me (an excellent one, by Rick Steves), which was great help in terms of sifting out the hidden gem restaurants, and the rest I found through walking around more neighborhood-y areas and outdoor markets.

So in the end, I did get a taste of some delicious and interesting foods: chocolate tiramisu from a store that sells nothing but different kinds of tiramisu (it was amazing), unknowingly buying and cooking horse meat (wasn't bad, but a bit too funky-smelling for my tastes), chestnuts roasted by street vendors on top of what looked like antique stoves, to-die-for panna cotta with "caramello" on top, the most tomato-tasting tomatoes I've ever had in my life, and on and on. Oh and one can't forget the once-a-day gelato quota, where I had some flavors that to this day I'm still not certain of ("cassata siciliana"?).

When I returned back to the States, I thought... why not try making my own pasta? I thought also of gnocchi, but pasta seemed easier to me and a good first step. I don't have a pasta machine, or even one of those pasta rollers (which now I know are probably very worth it to buy if you plan to make pasta often), but I found a recipe that claimed you could make noodle pasta without any additional equipment.

Handmade Pasta

2 c all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 Tbsp milk
1 tsp olive oil

Sift flour and salt onto cutting board, and create well in the middle. Break eggs into well, and also add milk and olive oil into well.
Using your fingers, mix liquid and dry ingredients together carefully until you form a ball of dough. Dust your surface with flour and knead the dough for several minutes, then wrap in plastic and let sit for 15 minutes.
By now the dough should have a nice, slightly elastic texture. Dust your surface again, more generously, and roll out the dough as flat as you can (I would even suggest working with half or a quarter of the dough at a time), less than 1/8 of an inch, to a rectangular shape.
Flour some more, then pick up the rectangle and fold it loosely into thirds. Using a large knife, cut thin strips to make your noodles (I would recommend about 1/4 of an inch thick).
Hang them over something (I used a laundry basket) to dry for at least 3 hours. Then cook as you would your regular dried pasta.

Overall the dough was quite easy to work with, although I definitely broke a sweat rolling the dough so thin (which in the end wasn't quite thin enough, hence I say thinner than 1/8 of an inch). That's the crucial part, I think, in making a decent pasta. Because I didn't roll mine thin enough, the texture was not as enjoyable as a store-bought kind, and plus some noodles had tiny air bubbles trapped inside. Perhaps next time I'll try a ravioli or a simple hand-torn pasta rather than the effort of noodles.

Next up: What I made with it!

Honey Sage Ice Cream

2009-10-21T22:26:00.012-04:00

It has been awhile since the last interesting ice cream, so I decided to post a quick and easy ice cream with ingredients I already had--and it turned out to be my favorite one yet! The other day, I bought a whole bunch of nice-looking items from the fruit market (hopefully to be used in a recipe to come), fresh sage being one of them. Just the way sage smells is intoxicating (according to Dr. Martin Lersch, sage may have common odorant molecules with chocolate!), and I'd gladly take any excuse to use more sage in cooking. I originally had something else in mind for its use, but I had a bit of an "Ah-ha!" moment when I thought... sage and honey flavors in ice cream--I have to try this!

Honey Sage Ice Cream

1/2 c heavy cream
1 1/2 c whole milk
About 8 large leaves of sage
3 egg yolks
1/4 c honey

Combine cream and milk in saucepan with sage leaves (squeeze them to bring out their oils for more flavor) and bring to a simmer. Then remove from heat, cover and let infuse for 1 hour.
After infusing, remove sage leaves and put back on low heat. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and honey until they turn pale yellow and fluff a bit.
When mixture is simmering, turn off heat and pour 1 c very slowly into the yolks, making sure to keep whisking so the eggs do not scramble. Then add back to saucepan and turn on medium-low heat.
Keep stirring over heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Then take off heat, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Freeze in your ice cream maker.

This ice cream really blew my mind! First off, even the custard smelled heavenly, but tasted a bit too sweet. Freezing tempered the sweetness and it turned out much better than I expected. The contrast of sweet honey and refreshing sage in a cold, creamy form (along with the crunch and spice of a gingersnap cookie that I ate with it) was to die for. A winning recipe for sure, that I can see myself making again and again. Next time maybe I'll even put a gingersnap cookie crumb swirl into the ice cream itself.

Next up: Inspiration from Italy!

TGRWT #19: Round-Up Posted

2009-10-17T19:23:00.006-04:00

After every TGRWT ("They Go Really Well Together") challenge, to which I submitted my Black Tea Souffle, a round-up of all the entries is posted by the host blog. The full round-up of TGRWT #19: Tomato and Black Tea can be found on Medellitin here. All in all, a really fun experience! It definitely got the mind and senses churning to try and come up with something. I'm really curious as to what the next pairing will be. Whatever it is, you can guarantee I'll be entering!

Next up: Now I know!

Food Place: Chincoteague Island, VA

2009-10-15T20:13:00.013-04:00

My family and I recently took a trip to Chincoteague Island off the coast of Virginia, a beautiful vacation spot with beaches, wild ponies, and plenty of seafood just waiting to be plucked from the ocean and eaten. There are opportunities to fish, crab, and pick fresh oysters, mussels, and clams. We caught blue crabs, oysters, and mussels (pictured above)--all were delicious. I'd say my favorite was the fresh raw oysters, although it was a shame we didn't catch more of them.

We went crabbing first, which I thought consisted of simply putting a trap in the water and waiting, but the woman at the bait shop said we could lure them towards the water's edge with a piece of fish on a string. Then you net them, which actually turned out to be the most difficult part. Getting them to take the bait was fairly easy, and there were plenty of them lurking around the bottom although some were too small to take. The crabbing area itself (photo below) was actually in Assateague Island, directly east of Chincoteague Island.

We caught a total of nine blue crabs, and killed them first by placing them in boiling water very briefly. This caused their pretty blue shells to turn a typical red--as for why this happens, look here. A simple question, a really complicated answer! But essentially it seems a protein that is one of the main components of many crustacean shells normally is bound to a molecule called astaxanthin, but when this protein is denatured by heat when the crustacean is cooked, the change in configuration releases its bond with astaxanthin and this molecule then causes the red color.

We opened them up, removed the upper shell, then chopped them in half and put in a large pot for a crab kimchi stew. Along with the crab halves, we added water, onions, kimchi, tofu, and various other spices (my parents made it so I don't have exact ingredients).

Also bought some shrimp for the grill, which was delicious even with no seasoning, but a little hard to peel.

As seen in the first picture, we also caught tons of mussels (a huge netful, to be exact). We steamed them in beer, with some onions and garlic. Delicious! Actually we originally went to the area for clams, but couldn't find any, but my mom did find tons of mussels! Plus a few oysters, which tasted amazing straight out of the shell with no accompaniment.

All in all, a great vacation and highly recommended spot. Make sure to stop by Woody's Beach BBQ for fried chicken and ribs!

Next up: Not sure yet!

Make Your Own Slow-Poached Egg

2009-10-05T22:42:00.029-04:00

According to my parents, I was such an egg fan when I was a baby that I would laugh and point whenever I saw anyone even cooking an egg. But somehow over the years, I started to dislike eggs--well mostly, I despised the egg whites. I would always pick out the chalky yellow sphere from any hard-boiled egg I was given, or spoon out the runny innards of the over-easy egg, much to the outrage of my parents. What happened? Did my taste just change over the years? I still love egg yolks (but only runny ones, except for in egg salad), but my taste for egg whites diminished after years of rubbery and/or netty whites, improperly cooked.

Those unnatural textures made me lose my appetite, not the "flavor" of the white. For instance, I love a poached egg where the white is slightly fluffy and soft. So when I read and saw about how one can slow-poach an egg, I thought I would give it a try.

The science behind the slow-poached egg (as written by chemist and molecular gastronomist Herve This) is that the proteins in white and yolk begin to denature, or lose their structure, at different temperatures (white at 63° C and yolk at 65° C). When you place an egg in boiling water (100° C), it is an easy and thermometer-free way to take the temperature of the egg up enough to denature the proteins and thus have your cooked egg. But the timing (usually "4 to 6 minutes" for soft-boiled) is inexact because it will vary from egg to egg depending on its size. So theoretically, to get your perfect egg (runny yolk, set but not rubbery white), you must keep your egg somewhere between 63° C and 65° C until all white proteins have fully denatured.

Experimentally, it takes some practice. For instance, how long do you keep the egg at the given temperature? Various sources state times ranging from 20 to 60 minutes. It all depends on how you like your eggs (and how accurate your thermometer is). Wylie Dufresne, who popularized the slow-poached egg on his menu and on Top Chef Masters, prefers his yolk with a fudge-like texture and says to heat to 64° C for 55-60 minutes.

Because I do not own a circulator, I used a plain oven thermometer and a pot of water over very low heat. I tried to maintain temperature at about 150° F for 40 minutes.

When you crack the egg open, make sure to do so over a bowl because basically a poached egg comes tumbling out! Very weird. It worked out fairly well, probably more in a Wylie-style than my own--I would have liked a more runny yellow, but it was more fudgey. Next time I might try a longer period of time at a lower temperature, because I want the white slightly more set and the yolk more liquid. Still delicious though, and no rubbery or netty white part! I'm thinking of many accompaniments to decorate this new kind of egg!

Next up: Some food photos!

TGRWT #19: Tomato and Black Tea

2009-09-29T23:08:00.021-04:00

I promised you some real science this time, and well, you will get it but not really in the way I originally intended. I had something else in mind, but deadlines are deadlines. And October 1st is the deadline for monthly cooking challenge TGRWT #19: Tomato and Black Tea hosted by Pablo at Medellitin. TGRWT (They Go Really Well Together) was initiated by Dr. Martin Lersch, a chemist with an interest in finding new and fascinating flavor combinations based on "the hypothesis that if two foods have one or more key odorants in common it might very well be that they go well together and perhaps even compliment each other." Essentially this stems from the fact that an estimated 80% of a given tasting experience comes from odor. Read more about pairing by odor on Martin's blog here.

I decided to try my hand at this month's TGRWT, tomato and black tea. Not an easy combination of flavors, I would say, since I've never heard of any dish combining the two. Actually I have to admit that I never had a sweet or savory dish that used black tea at all, except tapioca milk tea which doesn't count as a dish really. So to start with, I decided I wanted to do a sweet dish, and in particular a souffle for a couple reasons. For one, a souffle is a bit of a "blank slate" similar to ice cream where one can infuse almost any flavor, and souffles are even more versatile since savory flavors are readily accepted. And second, I've only made one souffle in my life--at a cooking class with my sister, where all 20 or so of the students' chocolate souffles fell--so why not take on a new challenge? Lastly, on the first episode of the show After Hours with Daniel, Daniel Boulud serves this unbelievable-looking, super-tall green tea souffle for dessert. Green tea... black tea souffle?

Upon searching online, I found two recipes from which to base the souffle off of: this jasmine tea one by Ming Tsai and, of course, one by Daniel himself. I decided to leave the black tea flavor largely untouched in the souffle (just a tiny bit of vanilla), and used tomato and plum in the caramelized sauce.

Black Tea Souffle with Caramelized Tomato-Plum Sauce

For the sauce
2 plums, peeled
4 tomatoes on the vine
4 Tbsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp butter

For the souffle
2 Tbsp black tea
1/4 c + 1 Tbsp heavy cream
3 Tbsp whole milk
Splash of vanilla extract
2 eggs, separated
2 Tbsp sugar, plus extra for dusting the ramekins
Butter to grease the ramekins

Peel plums and blanch tomatoes to peel them, by plunging in boiling water for a several seconds (until you start to see splits in the skin). Cut both plums and tomatoes into medium-sized pieces, then puree with blender.
For the sauce, melt butter over medium heat. Add sugar spoonful by spoonful and stir, waiting for each to melt before adding the next. Then add half of puree, wait for sugar to melt once more, and add remainder. Let reduce by about half, then take off of heat and set aside.
In a small saucepan, heat cream, milk, vanilla and tea to a simmer. Then take off of heat and let infuse for about 20 minutes. Then strain mixture, add 1 Tbsp sugar, and put back on medium-low heat.
Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk yolks until pale yellow. Add a ladle of hot cream mixture very slowly into yolks while continuing to whisk. Then add yolks and cream to saucepan and keep stirring over low heat. Mixture should thicken in a few minutes, then refrigerate for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees, making sure the rack is at the bottom. Place a baking sheet in the oven. Then take egg whites and whisk until glossy. It should form stiff peaks when you remove your whisk from the bowl. Use a spatula to combine the egg whites scoop by scoop into the cold cream mixture, making sure they form a fully homogeneous mixture, but do not overmix.
Butter your ramekins and dust the insides and rims with sugar. Carefully scoop your mixture into the ramekins up to the rims. Bake on lower rack for 15 minutes. They should rise, but with firm tops and jiggly centers.
Warm up the sauce, and serve with the souffles.

First, the good news: The souffles tasted really good (pretty much like tapioca milk tea in a warm and fluffy form), and so did the sauce (tartness of the plum, sweetness of the tomato). And did TGRWT? Overall, I thought this was an eccentric but successful pairing. When I first smelled the tomato and black tea together, I thought it made sense--it reminded me almost of a tomato and herb combination. Implementing it was more difficult, but nonetheless, I thought the bold and earthy black tea was offset well against the sweet and tart tomato-plum combo. The tomato here showed off its true "fruitiness", being treated as such in the puree, but it also kept its distinctive "heartiness" in the aftertaste.

The bad news: The souffles fell! Sadness all around:

I tried to mask it with the sauce here, but you can still see the sad wrinkles on top. Clearly, I failed to whisk the egg whites long enough on one hand (I did it by hand... arm cramps), and on the other, I didn't bake for long enough (I did 12 minutes instead of 15) for the outside to set. This isn't the end of the souffles for me, I'm determined to make them as good as Daniel!

Next up: A different way to cook a household staple!

Momofuku's Cereal Milk Ice Cream

2009-09-26T22:38:00.006-04:00

During my last trip to New York City, I felt inspired by a number of mouth-watering foods: freshly made spicy guacamole at Dos Caminos, frisée Lyonnaise (with chicken livers and a poached egg!) at Bar Boulud, a flight of chilled red wines at Blue Ribbon Downing Street Bar, and Shake Shack's 'Shroom Burger--a portobello mushroom and hunk of cheese breaded and deep-fried. In terms of dessert, my sister and I went to Momofuku Milk Bar for some of their trademark (literally) cereal milk soft serve, which was delicious and interesting with a definite essence of cereal milk in it. But I wondered how the overall effect would be as a more solid ice cream rather than as a soft serve, and figured it should be quite easy to make.

So I did... and it turned out decadent and rich, with the sweet taste of Honey Bunches of Oats (my chosen cereal) contrasting the slight tartness of pure milk. I decided to use a higher cream-to-milk ratio than I did with the previous ice creams, to try something different. I personally thought it was a bit too rich (as in, I probably couldn't eat a whole bowlful), but others preferred the thicker texture.

Momofuku's Cereal Milk Ice Cream

1 c heavy cream
1 c whole milk
1 c cereal of your choice
3 egg yolks
1/4 c sugar (approximately, depends on sweetness of cereal)

In a medium bowl, combine cream and milk with cereal of your choice. Refrigerate for up to 30 minutes.
Strain cereal out and discard. Put mixture in saucepan with sugar (to taste) and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks until they turn pale yellow and fluff a bit.
When mixture is simmering, turn off heat and pour 1 c very slowly into the yolks, making sure to keep whisking so the eggs do not scramble. Then add back to saucepan and turn on medium-low heat.
Keep stirring over heat until custard thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Then take off heat, cover and refrigerate overnight.
Freeze in your ice cream maker.

As I mention above, the amount of sugar (and overall flavor, of course) will vary with the cereal you choose to use. I chose Honey Bunches of Oats because that's what I've been eating lately, and I had it handy. Also I thought the honey flavor would go well with the "pure milk" flavor. I think Milk Bar has made cereal milk ice cream with Fruity Pebbles and some other cereal I can't remember right now. But I could easily see making this ice cream again, maybe with a chocolate flavored cereal, and also because it is so easy to make compared to other ice creams. No pureeing or major straining/juicing involved!

Next up: Some real science!

Eat Your Ice Cream: Peach Cornbread

2009-09-24T00:09:00.007-04:00

Peaches are officially out of season now, but I saw a few remainders at the fruit market and thought I would try to make something that went with the sweet corn ice cream from a few posts back. As I mentioned in the post, a scoop of the ice cream over a warm piece of cornbread would be simple and delicious, and seeing as I was inspired by a recent taste of the best cornbread ever (at Woody's Beach BBQ in Chincoteague Island, VA), I decided to make some peach cornbread.

The thing is, this cornbread I had wasn't your typical kind--it was very sweet and had the texture of a cake, with almost no grittiness. So I tried to find a recipe that called for less cornmeal and more flour, and found this one. The description sounded like what I was looking for, but unfortunately (and by no fault of the recipe, just not the type I wanted) it was still too gritty and not fluffy enough. It also wasn't as sweet as the Woody's cornbread. But as a regular cornbread, it was still okay. Next time I would add more sugar and probably increase the flour-to-cornbread ratio.

Peach Cornbread

1/2 c white cornmeal
1/2 c flour
1 peach, diced
3/4 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c milk
1 egg
2 Tbsp butter, melted

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. In one bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a smaller bowl, whisk the egg with milk and melted butter.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, and gently whisk together until just combined with minimal lumps.
Fold in the diced peach, and pour batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for about 20 minutes.

After the cornbread was done, I let it cool slightly and then cut a square, placed a scoop of the ice cream on top, and surrounded it with pieces of peach sauteed with some sugar and honey. The peach and corn flavors melded very well together and was a nice summery combination, although I wish the cornbread had been more cake-like.

Next up: Copying a famous ice cream...

Cinnamon Beet Ice Cream

2009-09-21T21:33:00.013-04:00

I promised a unique ice cream, didn't I? A few posts ago, I mentioned that I picked up some things that looked good at the farmer's market without having ice cream in mind, then thought "what if...", and the first item was sweet corn. The second thing I bought was a bunch of beets to maybe make a beet salad. I had never worked with fresh beets before, and now I understand why people complain so much about everything turning red in their kitchen after peeling and cutting fresh beets. Imagine using an immersion blender to puree your beets--I had plenty of red splatter marks everywhere, including all over the very laptop I'm typing on now.

Beet ice cream doesn't immediately come to mind when thinking about what to use beets for, but I also didn't think it was such a stretch. Beets go well with "sweet", for instance in beet salads often there will be a sweet component like honey or fruit. And indeed I found recipes online for beet ice cream, most of them riffs off of a recipe by Thomas Keller. I followed the recipe for the most part, but decided in the end that it was a bit too "pure beet" for my tastes and added some cinnamon and a little vanilla.

Cinnamon Beet Ice Cream

About 1 pound beets
1 1/2 c whole milk
1/2 c cream
3 egg yolks
6 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Peel and dice beets. Puree with blender (or juicer if you have one). Strain with a sieve, pressing down on pulp, and set juice aside.
Remove pulp from sieve into a saucepan with milk and cream. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, then remove from heat and let infuse for up to an hour.
Strain the mixture and place the liquid back into the saucepan. Discard beet pulp. Turn on medium-low heat once more, and add 3 Tbsp sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer.
Meanwhile, beat 3 yolks and remaining 3 Tbsp sugar in a separate bowl until it turns a bit frothy and pale yellow in color. Pour about 1 c of the simmering mixture slowly into the yolks while whisking to prevent scrambling. Keep whisking for a few minutes, then transfer all back to saucepan.
Keep stirring the mixture until it thickens to a custard, and coats the back of a spoon. Then refrigerate overnight.
Take the beet juice from earlier and reduce to about 1/8 c over low heat. Also refrigerate overnight.
Combine the custard and beet juice, then freeze in your ice cream maker.

The ice cream certainly tasted very strange, a much stranger sensation than the sweet corn ice cream. The beet flavor is overwhelming, even with the cinnamon added in, and and first I thought it was too weird for me to enjoy. But as I had a few more bites, it started to grow on me... earthy and sweet, with a bit of spice. My sister also enjoyed it, and said it reminded her of sweet potatoes. I still would say that beet ice cream isn't something I would make all the time, but with the right food pairing, it could be delicious. Any ideas?

Next up: Something to eat your sweet corn ice cream with!

Make Your Own Horchata

2009-09-19T23:09:00.011-04:00

Whenever I go back home, I try to visit a Mexican place downtown for two reasons--amazing guacamole with housemade chips and the horchata. Horchata (at least in the form served at these Mexican places) is a refreshing rice-based drink with a hint of cinnamon and nutty flavor. Kind of like rice pudding in milky drinkable form, and since I'm a big rice pudding fan, I thoroughly enjoyed horchata from the very first sip. I didn't know whether the horchata I'd previously had was housemade or not, but after my attempt to make my own, I have to assume it was probably store-bought in a powder form. Not to insult the taste or quality of it, but rather to say I found horchata much more difficult to make than I thought it would be. A lot of work for a drink! I made some mistakes along the way as well, unfortunately.

I based the recipe off of this one from Rick Bayless, except I ended up adding more ground cinnamon as the flavor from the stick alone wasn't strong enough. My first mistake was trying to blanch the almonds myself. Various sources claim that after pouring boiling water over the almonds and waiting for 5 minutes, the skins "slip right off". I must have done something wrong because I resorted to rubbing them one by one on a grater to start with, then peeling the remaining skin off with my fingernails (plenty of almond got up under them too, which hurt). Even if the skins on all the almonds came right off (some of them did), what a pain to have to peel a tiny skin off of 1 1/4 c of almonds--more than this many:

Horchata De Almendra

2/3 c rice, medium or long grain rice (I used jasmine rice)
1 1/4 cup almonds, pre-blanched
3-inch piece of cinnamon stick
Ground cinnamon to taste
2 c whole milk
2 1/2 c hot tap water
Sugar to taste (about 1 c)

Combine rice, almonds, water and cinnamon stick in a bowl. Let cool, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
Blend on high with about 1/2 c sugar until the mixture is as smooth as possible, until the graininess is very fine.
Strain through a sieve lined with cheesecloth, trying to get out as much liquid as possible. Pour into a pitcher, add milk and more sugar and cinnamon to taste. Serve over ice.

The second mistake I made was using just a sieve to strain out the remaining solids of rice and almond. It ended up too grainy, and I had to let the drink sit for some time and then ladled the liquid off the top (I had no cheesecloth with me). I would highly recommend using the cheesecloth. But overall, the horchata itself still turned out delicious and refreshing, and I dare say better than the horchata I've bought in the past. (Note: I also saved the pulpy solids from above to try my hand at an horchata ice cream. Will report back later.)

Next up: A unique ice cream, for real this time!

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

2009-09-16T22:07:00.016-04:00

As I mentioned in my first post, I recently bought an ice cream maker (this one) with the idea of making interesting flavored ice creams. At first I thought of the flavors I've had in the past that were less common but enjoyable such as ginger or red bean, but then I thought, what would happen if I made some really off-the-wall flavors that could maybe work, but would nevertheless be a totally new taste experience?

I decided to trek forward with this thought in mind as I started with some ingredients I already had from the farmer's market, the first of which was sweet bicolor corn. Now I'm kind of a corn fanatic. It is one of those "go-to" foods, that I can never get enough of, and often order a dish at a restaurant simply because of the presence of corn. I've been stuffing myself with bicolor corn all summer, and now that we're at the tail end of it, why not celebrate with a refreshing treat that combines two summer essentials: sweet corn ice cream.

Having never seen or eaten sweet corn ice cream before, I found some recipes online (these two) to start with, and went my own way from there. I decided not to add vanilla or any other flavor accompaniment because I wanted the pure fresh taste of "just corn" to shine through, and I also didn't want it too sweet.

Sweet Corn Ice Cream

1 ear sweet corn
1/2 c heavy cream
3/4 c whole milk
3 egg yolks
2 1/2 Tbsp sugar

Shuck corn, cut kernels off into a bowl, and break the cob into thirds.
Put cream, milk, kernels, and cob pieces into a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 2 Tbsp sugar and bring to a boil. Remove cob pieces into a bowl and blend mixture with immersion blender until kernels are fairly pureed. Infuse for up to 1 hour with cobs added back in.
Meanwhile, whisk yolks with 1/2 Tbsp sugar until they become lighter in color and airy, about a minute or two. Bring corn mixture back to a simmer, then turn off heat.
Slowly pour in 1/2 c of hot corn mixture into the yolks while whisking to prevent eggs from scrambling. Keep whisking for another minute, then add back to saucepan over medium-low heat.
Make sure to keep stirring the mixture until it thickens to a custard, and coats the back of a spoon (it took 10-15 minutes). Then put custard through a sieve, pushing it through thoroughly, and refrigerate the custard for at least 4 hours.
Freeze in your ice cream maker and eat!

I made a small amount because I was experimenting, but I thought (and others too!) that the ice cream turned out fantastic. Not overly sweet, and bursting with the crisp taste of fresh corn. Also would be delicious scooped over a warm slice of cornbread or with honey drizzled on top.

Next up: Another unconventional ice cream!

Eat Your Radish: Vietnamese Sticky Chicken

2009-09-10T20:49:00.015-04:00

So after making the simple pickled radish, I needed a meal to eat it with. I found this recipe for "Vietnamese sticky chicken" in a lettuce wrap style that uses a similarly pickled daikon. However, I don't own a benriner (a Japanese-style mandolin), which is suggested in order to thinly slice the chicken. I would like to buy one, but since I just bought an ice cream maker and subsequently also an immersion blender (this really cheap one, has worked out great so far!) for the ice cream bases, I should probably lay low on purchasing kitchen appliances for awhile.

So I sliced the chicken in thin pieces by hand instead, and didn't use a real grill which I'm sure would have made it taste better. Also made some modifications to the recipe in terms of accompaniments to the chicken. But overall, not bad. Not as "sticky" as I would have expected but I did enjoy the marinade. I would also recommend marinading for longer than 30 minutes.

Vietnamese Sticky Chicken

For chicken
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Asian fish sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp canola oil
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce
1 1/2 pound skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices

Accompaniments
Pickled daikon radish
Fresh herbs: Cilantro, basil, mint
Seaweed squares and/or romaine lettuce leaves
Rice

Combine garlic, sugar, fish sauce, oil, lime juice, and Sriracha sauce in a large bowl. Mix until sugar is dissolved, then add chicken slices and toss to coat. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Afterwards, put chicken on grill batch by batch (I used a George Foreman grill) with tongs, and cook thoroughly on both sides for about a minute. Then remove from the grill and onto a plate, then cover to keep warm.
Then arrange and eat with accompaniments however you please, usually with some rice, chicken, herb sprig, and radish on top of a lettuce leaf or seaweed square.

Here's the spread of the chicken with various accompaniments:

I tried every combination and this was my favorite:

Seaweed square + rice + chicken + radish + cilantro. I did think this was a dish that highlighted the crispness of the fresh pickled radish.

Next up: Interesting ice creams!

Make Your Own Pickled Radish

2009-09-08T22:52:00.021-04:00

A coworker gave me a bunch of daikon radishes the other day and encouraged me to try pickling them, saying it was super easy to do. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to try, they had wilted badly and refused to even peel properly, so I bought a nice new one from the fruit market. I used this recipe, except I replaced the canning salt with kosher salt (which is OK, but regular table salt is a big no-no for pickling). Also the recipe is for radish and carrots, but I wouldn't recommend the carrots. They seemed a bit out of place to me, and I ended up just eating the radish.

Pickled Daikon Radish

1/2 pound daikon radish
1 carrot
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 c water
1/4 c distilled white vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Peel the radish and carrot, and cut them into thin (1/4-inch) half circles.
Sprinkle the salt on the cut veggies, then mix them around with your hands. Let them sit for 30 minutes to let some water out. Afterwards, squeeze them handful by handful and get as much water out as possible.
Pour over the mixture of vinegar, sugar, and red pepper flakes.
Pack the veggies in a jar, refrigerate overnight, and they will be ready to eat the next day (but taste better after a week). Can be stored for up to 4 weeks.

Overall, they turned out quite tasty and not too spicy, but it is really worth making them a week or so in advance to allow them to develop a sharper flavor. Coming up, a meal to eat them with!

First Post

2009-09-07T23:23:00.005-04:00

I decided to jump on the food blogging bandwagon mostly as a way to document all the little things I want to try in the kitchen as well as out. Things like... interesting ice cream flavors (just bought an ice cream maker!) and making food you would normally buy (pickles, butter, etc.). Plus whatever random thing outside of the kitchen I feel like trying. Enjoy!