Korean Banchan !

Sometimes I wonder. Do they feel is that too much dishes for washing?

Paparotti

Favorite #memade Mexican Coffee Buns
Love to work with yeast dough

Chawanmushi

That is how I use fish stock from class.

Vietnamese Chicken & Corn Egg Drop Soup (Súp Bắp Gà)

I am not big fan of soup because it needs to be cooked with large portion, have to finish it in a day and take more time to make a base or stock. Back to my childhood, there is a soup which is my favorite all the time. This is  a very popular appetizer for wedding banquets and large group parties in Vietnam which is diet and child-friendly. With some simple ingredients within 15 minutes, I can have one pot of tasted soup ever. 

The base for soup is chicken stock I made in Essential Class last week which I found it make the soup have a really great flavor. 

The ingredients are:

1L of Chicken Stock

1 Can of Miniature Corn, strained, cut in bite size

2 whole eggs, beaten well

1 cooked chicken breast, shredded

2 king oyster mushrooms, washed, trimmed, cut in bite size

2 kinds of dried mushroom, put in warm-hot water for 15 minutes

6 whole, quail eggs, hard-boiled, peeled.

2 tbs of cornstarch, mixed well with some cold water, set aside, mix well before pour in soup for thickening.

Half bunch of cilantro,cleaned, chopped, save some leaves for decorating

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Instructions:

1. Boiled water for quail eggs. Prepare dried mushrooms. Cutting all ingredients in bite size. Bring chicken stock to boil and let simmer.

2. When the soup base is ready, put in shredded cooked chicken breast, mushrooms, corn. Mixed well, seasoned with salt and pepper, let simmer in medium low heat until soft and all flavor come together.

3. While the soup is simmering, slowly add the starch slurry and stir gently. Cook for 1 minute. Then very slowly add the beaten eggs while gently stirring the soup in one direction. The eggs will be cooked within second and form tiny ribbons. Turn off the heat. Add in chopped Cilantro and hard-boiled quail eggs.

4. Transfer to a serving bowl. Season with some cilantro leaves, peppers, chili oil (optional). Serve hot. 

It taste exactly the soup I used to have when I was attended in my parents' friends wedding. That reminds me a lot about my childhood. The best thing is, I can use all the leftover ingredients in my fridge for this soup but it is tasty, healthy, and fast ! My roommate taste it and have some ideas, she prefer to put a lot of peppers to taste. 

Next time if I make this soup again, I might cut the veggie in smaller cut, it is quite big and crowded the soup and I should make this soup more, it sounds good for winter and holiday.

Simple Bean Sprout Pickle with Carrot and Garlic Chive !

When starting with Pickles, Preserves and Ferments project I didn't have much ideas except something like kimchi which might cost me alot and it take long time to be fermented and taste. Fortunately, thanks to my greatest Mom's idea, she reminded me about the one of my favorite side dish I would love to have with five-spice braised pork belly is Bean Sprout Pickle. That is so easy to make, cheapest ingredients ever, don't have to wait for tasting, never fail and absolutely delicious !

So start with the brine ingredients:

Mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 3 cups of water, in that, put in 1-1 1/2 tbs of pickle salt and 3-4 tbs of sugar, stir until dry ingredients dissolve, taste for more season

Next is the main ingredients:

Bean sprout after wash and drain well, for good presenting I took the yellow stem and the brown root of bean sprout just leave the white part for pickling. 

Garlic chive, rinse well then cut into same size with bean sprout and carrots, that will add more taste and color for the dish and really fit with braised pork belly either

Peeled carrot and cut to same size with bean sprout, another option is shaping that into flower or butterfly, that would be nice when eating that after too.

2 - 3 cloves of garlic, thinly slice.

Then put all the main ingredients to the bowl of prepared brine, mix well.

Pour everything in to mason jar and tightly close the jar and leave it for best using time is after 1 to 2 days. After 2 days I found my pickle look really night and balance with brine but might a little sour because the white vinegar here is quite too strong compare with Asian one. In the next time, I will add some spicy kick with chili and ginger and less amount of white vinegar but overall, my bean sprout pickle is 8 out of 10 and now I can enjoy it with my favorite dish ever.

DURIAN – THE WORLD’S SMELLIEST FRUIT

Durian is one of the naturally strongest smelling fruits I have ever come across. And apparently I am not the only one who feels that way. It is actually forbidden to even have any of the fruit with you on public transport and in some hotels because its odor is considered so revolting by some. One thing’s for sure: it seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it kind of food.

Growing on trees in moist, tropical climates throughout Southeast Asia, durians have a limited season and an extremely short shelf life. The fruit, each weighing several pounds, plummets down, already reeking with its characteristic aroma. Because of the short duration of tasty ripeness, durians are expensive. They seemed to average about $10/kilogram but highly prized varieties can go for $30/kilogram. A quick search through the internet reveals a range of interesting descriptions of the fruit from the flattering, “… a food of the most exquisite flavor it is unsurpassed,” to the slightly less-than, “Its taste can only be described as…in describable, something you will either love or despise…Your breath will smell as if you had been French-kissing your dead grandmother.”

I am from Southeast Asia so of course I had many chances to taste this most special fruit. When I came to Canada, I did not think I could find durian here because with natives, they do not even know what durian is. So I wonder, “Huhm…Maybe I can find it in Chinatown?” And I am right! I did not have to look far. Durian is everywhere – from ice cream, custards, pastries to the hard candies and of course fresh whole big durians.

For one, durian does not have an exoskeleton to go crunch when you take a bite. Once you chop through those threatening spikes, the durian is a soft cream-filled delight that is not scary or particularly disgusting at all. Finding a perfectly delicious durian can be difficult even for me. Especially here I did not have a choice when choosing durian because they are all frozen!  They cost me $6.99 for a frozen box of flesh durian and about $7.49/lbs for whole fresh durian one.

No food in the Western palate really compares well to durian. None. Zilch. Cheese comes close – sometimes. Butterscotch pudding – occasionally. Onions caramelized in wine – it depends. Durian is a strange combination of savory, sweet, and creamy all at once. I cannot compare it to another fruit because to me the fruitiness is unlikely any other. When it ripe it can smell like a dead animal, but get down to the pale yellow, creamy, sweet flesh, easily pried from the seeds, is the overtones of hazelnut, apricot, caramelized banana and egg custard with just a slight bitterness. It truly is sweet and rich, pulpy and meaty, like cherimoya with and even thicker custard consistency, but its aftertaste, which seems to travel up your throat, down your nose, and then back up and around again for hours after consumption, is incredibly powerful and I personally found it extremely unpleasant. That is the reason why I am not a big fan of this fruit. However, I must say: I do craving for that sometimes.

Based on my experience, I will sum it up like this: durian needs time to be appreciated. Do not expect to love it at first bite, because you won’t. Once eaten, durian has a hard time letting go. And don’t go inhaling a big whiff of it before you take a bite. If you give it a chance (and do try the fresh fruit when getting used to it), you might be surprised. It may just begin to grow on you. 

Lab Test !!!

Happy birthday to Me

The first birthday cake I made for myself :). Wish me all the best in this new year

Culinary Blog Activity 2: Sensory Evaluation

BALUT – DARE YOU TRY?

“A Balut is a boiled fertilized duck embryo. It is ideally 17 days old, just as when the embryo starts to develop, before it becomes ready for consumption. Also at this point in time, the bulk of the egg is made of ‘yolk’ while the embryo, which would turn into cute little chick eventually, is simply nothing but a small lump covered with white albumen-like membrane. The balut should be boiled for about half an hour before it is eaten, similar to preparation of a hard-boiled egg.”

This is not the first time I have baluts (I have been tried duck balut and quail balut before) but the example I have today is also the first time I tasted: Chicken Balut! In Vietnam, we don’t have chicken Balut because we think it is quite small, not tasty like duck balut or quail one and somebody said that will cause poison inside?! Although I got balut before but whenever I have balut, I still feel shuddering inside. 

Visually, chicken balut is plainly an egg, except that this one has feathery wings, premature beak, and a pair of brittle legs.. By not imagining too much on how it looks, eating balut is as easy as peeling its shell. As for the taste, it is at par with the regular hardboiled egg, even more flavorful indeed. Moreover, eating balut is an art. Each country has different ways to enjoy this unique dish. The art begins by cracking a small hole on its shell. Start peeling the shell from the crack. As I peeled, the amniotic fluid would eventually drip. I started drinking all the juice from the egg. The salty flavor of the amniotic fluid would remind me of your favorite entrée, and for that, I was getting the right appetite for the main course. I kept sipping through until there was not any of “juice” left. This is my most favorite step when eating balut. After that, I continue peeling the shell until the main course is finally revealed. Start with the yolk first; this was the yellowish part of the chunk. That is good with sprinkles of salt and pepper. The yolk tasted like any egg yolk and the texture is consistently soft. There was the hard egg white part which I really enjoyed chewing it. Last but not least, the chick! I guess I was lucky because this was a ideal balut which had a bit small chick and mostly covered by a thick white membrane. As usual, I felt a little bit giddy when going with chick part, so I used some Vietnamese mint (which we always use when eating balut in Southern style) to reduce the strong flavor of balut. After spooned out whole chick from the shell, I bite into the crunchy break of tiny bones from the chick which well combine with a bit chewy texture. Surprisingly, chicken balut tasted all the same but less flavor comparing with duck balut. It might because the chicken balut is smaller and quite “young”, the texture is more tender than original one. 

Balut is not an egg, not a chick, it is something in between which make it is the unique in the unique dish ever to dare people to try. Moreover, this is a high protein dish with at some point have a health benefit for human body. I do enjoy eating balut sometimes but I still have the shuddering feeling whenever I eat it. Therefore I am thinking of another dish with these unique dishes. May be I will deep-fried it then deep in tamarind sauce with a little bit of chopped peanuts and crunchy fried slice shallot twisted in some Vietnamese mint. That will upgrade all the best flavor from balut and the deep-fried cover will make it look more tasty by eyes and even when eating it.

Cheese Tasting

Vegetable Cookery

Week 4 already

Croquembouche - From the goodies sweet treats to fancy wedding cake.

I do love cakes and bake cakes. After the love for Tiramisu with me, is Profiteroles or Cream Puffs. I have never made it before but I would love to if I have time. When I craving for small, cutie, soft and creamy Puffs, I just go straight to Sobeys and buy 1 box of Sensations Profiteroles – that is the best brand having really taste and quite cheap for Cream Puffs.


Back to Recipe Research, I found the recipe I am really interested in and would love to make it on my birthday from Patisserie: An Encyclopedia of Cakes, 1994 of Aaron Maree. “Croquembouche” or Cream Puffs tower means Crack-in-the-mouth – A traditional French wedding cake of choux pastries (profiteroles), each filled with crème patissiere (smooth custard cream), joined together in a pyramid shape with caramel, and decorated with spun sugar.


Recipe


Pastry


1½ cups water


150g unsalted (sweet) butter


1 ¼ cups plain (all purpose flour)


5 eggs lightly beaten


Filling



2 cups of crème patissiere


To Decorate


1 quantity of caramel


Basically, every ingredients and steps in this recipe is the same with any recipe to make cream puffs and caramel. However, instead of Cream Puffs have the whipped cream filling inside, the Profiteroles for Croquembouche have the custard cream. In my opinion, I would prefer the whipped cream for Croquembouche, that will bring more fresh taste for the cakes, not too sweet and heavy thick texture for a bite of Cream Puff.

Culinary Blog

Hi, my name is Trang Nguyen or you can call me Scarlett because my favorite color is red and by another personal reason: the short called of Scarlett is "Scar". I am Asian girl and with the age of 23 I just think I am quite old to start over again with studying instead of starting build up my career.

As you know, everybody loves eating, me either, so I just feel I love cooking and be serious with that when I was back my hometown, had my internship for my last year of university. At that time, I spent my time with my family, enjoyed every single time with them and took care by cooking for my parents. Day by day, I felt in love with cooking and especially baking so much. Whenever I felt stressed and depressed, I led myself to the kitchen and cooked anything I could, just focused on that and forgot anything upset me. However, the weird thing is I was usually not eating what I cooked. I don’t know why but I am prefer sitting there, look at the way people enjoy my dish and be happy. I will be happier if receiving feedbacks about my food.

Asking a question about “Why you want to be a Chef?” and studying Culinary now. The best answer is I just do what to make me happy and help me to improve myself with passion. After graduated, I want to work for a while to gain experiences and have enough money to pursuit my continuing study in France for Pastry Arts or Italy for Savory Dish. That is my dreaming plan at this time.

Currently, I am offered a job in line cook of Wilbur Mexicana (opening soon). That is my first job too so I feel little nervous for this commission. 1 year ago when I was at home, I ran a small online-business for cakes and goodies. That did not bring me as much profits but at least I could bake and tried new recipes and learnt.

My personal philosophy of cooking is “Cook with Love”. I found the love with cooking few years ago because cooking makes me happy and feels de-stressed. I put my heart on that then my dish is full of loves and tasty. “Whatever you do, do with love and that will give back love to you”.