Kitchen Musings

Food tripping in the Philippines part 1

March 7th, 2010 · More Kitchen Musings, Other Food stuff

"The hot chocolate hut" photo by: Mark Perez

If there was one reservation that the "Hungry" Hubby had about me being in the Philippines for 5-6 weeks was that I’d come back the size of a whale. So he had a talk with my two brothers, who were the usual suspects and associates in my food binging crimes and said: "I want you both to return your sister to me in the same state, weight and form."

So, you all might say, I had to work for my food. As I mentioned in a previous post, some of my indulgences in crispy pork skins that accompanied luscious suckling pig fare were prefaced by grueling workout sessions like boxing.

Sometimes, I feel like the family pet where responsibilities for sensible feeding are a shared family effort.

For example, overheard in a conversation during a dinner party – it sounds funnier in Tagalog (the principal Philippine language) – so I’ll keep the original verbiage for those who understand the language – I’ll put the translation in parenthesis:

Brother to sis-in-law: "Pa-workout ako ng pa-workout diyan, pa-kain naman kayo ng pa-kain. Paano ko i-explain kay HH kung tumaba iyan." (I keep on forcing her to workout but you keep on feeding her. How am I going to explain to HH if she gains weight?)

Sis-in-law to brother: "Hindi naman ako kaya ang nagpakain ng bibingka diyan kanina, si C." (I wasn’t the one who fed her bibingka earlier, it was C.)

C is my niece, my brother’s daughter.

Brother turns to look at his daughter and in an exasperated and scolding tone: "Ano?! Pinakain mo siya ng bibingka?! Naku!" (What?! You fed her bibingka?!)

C smiles and keeps quiet.

See what I mean? So lets check out some of my eats. Some were not all bad. How can Spanish hot chocolate at a precious gem of a place, Choco-late de Batirol, be all that evil?

Enjoying a cup of hot chocolate

Batirol is an ancient method of preparing chocolate by grinding the tablea (chocolate cocoa blocks) with milk and sugar with the use of a wooden mortar.

Chocolate Batirol method

Cafe by the Ruins, is a restaurant that specializes in organic and healthy choices. For example, this tofu salad.

tofu salad with peanut dressing

Even the crispy fried tapa threads below appear virtuous served with a scoop of fiber-rich red rice.

Crispy fried tapa

But my favorite restaurant in Baguio has got to be O-Mai-Khan (the restaurant name is a play on words of native dialect, Ilocano, which means "Come on now") and remains to be the best Mongolian restaurant I’ve ever been to. It has stood the test of time since the early 1990’s when we were frequent patrons. Apart from their Mongolian grill, they also have other items on their menu. One of them, my favorite, is so aptly named, "The Barbarian" which is their version of the Crispy Pata – deep fried pork knuckles.

The Barbarian – yes that’s fried garlic on top!

To understand Filipino eating habits is to know Merienda, an afternoon snack usually taken between 3:30 to 5:30 in the afternoon. It should be a light snack before dinner but sometimes a hamburger could even be considered merienda. I personally like local fare like the bibingka – rice flour cake baked in a clay pot that taste best with salted egg on top and puto bungbong – made from purple glutinous rice and steamed in bamboo tubes.

Sorry, I don’t have pictures of the above. They are best eaten hot and my proper enjoyment of such delicacies took precedence over my blog. Maybe next time.

For times when you want to get away from the congested city center of Session Rd., you can escape to the Baguio Country Club.

A view from the verandah

They also have quite a pastry display which you can enjoy with, you guess it, hot chocolate.

Country Club pastry shop

Strawberry Shortcake

Other notable eats where pictures were forgotten because hungry hordes decended:

Man Han – great Chinese food, love their lechon macau.

Teriyaki Boy – cheaper version of Sugi’s Chicken Teriyaki.

Forest House – great ambience and food. Love their chicken skin chicharon.

* Manhan and Teriyaki Boy are chain restaurants also found in Metro Manila

I visited Manila twice. The first time was to attend a wedding. I shall cover the first visit here since detailing both would make this post too long.

I wanted a good peking duck and my brother took me to Hai Shin Lou on Pasay road.

Peking Duck

And of course, there is always lechon!

One of the many lechons consumed during this trip

That was lunch. You would think we would starve ourselves before attending the wedding that evening, after all it was going to be a Chinese laureat extravaganza at the Shang-ri-la hotel.

But somebody (me) wanted a mango crepe for merienda at Cafe Breton over at Greenbelt 3. Best fruit crepe ever! The crepe is so soft and stretchy, the cream and the mangoes inside make a divine combination!

Mango Crepe

And since I’m somewhat in the wedding business (not sure if I’m pursuing that route though), I felt it was my duty to show you the cake of one of the grandest weddings I have ever attended.

Wedding cake

I couldn’t get my camera to cooperate with the lighting in the reception hall but I did manage to capture a section of the gorgeous setup. According to my brother, who counted the tables, he figured there were around 600-800 guests.

The beautiful reception

We stayed behind a few days after the wedding to spend time with my aunt and to visit some pastry shops in the area. I did manage a quick stop at Bizu patisserie but I was after the more traditional pastries during this trip. I just loved the shops at Serendra at the Fort.

Conti’s

I love the ensaymada (like a brioche) and cheese rolls at Mary Grace. Simple and comforting.

Mary Grace

And I had to taste the cupcakes at Cupcakes by Sonja! Adorable shop, but the cupcakes didn’t quite match the hype.

A crowd about to descend for cupcakes

Adorable shop

Taking a bite into red velvet cupcake

That evening we walked around the shops until we could feel hungry. Sampling so many cupcakes kinda put a damper on our appetites – but not for long. By the time we finally found a place to eat at Burgos Circle at the Fort, Cafe Juanita – we were again a ravenous bunch. I got to sample crispy fried pork belly served with tomatoes and bagoong, crispy catfish salad, kare-kare and a whole bunch of other food.

Burgos Circle

Even before I made the trip home, I was determined to venture out into the zoo that is Manila’s Chinatown – Ongpin. Lucky for me, my aunt was willing to accompany me.

Ongpin

President’s is an old restaurant/establishment known for its fried chicken and roasted duck and it was newly renovated. I remember eating there as a child with my dad.

I miss him. If there was one regret in my life it was not learning enough about food from him. How my dad would love to see this sight of hanging delicacies:

YUM!

And of course, more lechon!

More YUM!

I am fortunate that in my aunt I see an extension of him and all the knowledge is not lost.

In Ongpin you see the regular street vendors. And since the Chinese New Year is close, you see more of them.

Souvenir shopping

And I seem to see a lot of chesnut roasters:

roasting chestnuts

I must admit, it was hard for me to just stand and take pictures and act like a tourist. Chinatown is known for pick-pockets and purse snatchers, you always have to be aware of your surroundings.

I was extremely happy that my aunt found my dad’s regular Chinese grocer where he got supplies for our restaurant ages ago. For readers in the Philippines who want to find authentic Chinese ingredients, this is the place to go.

TH grocers

Yes, they are simply called TH grocers. If looking for Chinese sausage, duck ham or dried oysters you’ll have to ask them specifically for them since they do not have them on display.

Dried oysters

I love dried oysters in soup with bean curd sheets. They can also be mixed with ground pork to use as fillings for lettuce wraps.

Duck ham and Chinese sausages

Duck ham and chinese sausages can be steamed on top of rice. This would give your rice great flavor. It makes me sad that I cannot find the quality of these sausages where I live in Richmond, Va. I guess, something to do with U.S. laws.

The end of this post is a perfect introduction for my next post, as we leave the Philippines to venture out into Hong Kong!

→ 22 CommentsTags:baguio eats·chocolate batirol·manila·ongpin

A journey home…

March 3rd, 2010 · More Kitchen Musings, Other Food stuff

What can I say? I’ve been MIA for more than a month. Some of you knew I went home to the Philippines, while some of you emailed me wondering if I had turned my back on blogging. The truth is, when you stop blogging for a couple of weeks because someone still had dial-up internet connection at his home (yes, I’m looking at you bro), you kinda lose your blogging mojo.;)

So what have I been up to? Can’t say it was all food-related, although you can all be assured that there had been a lot of eating specially of the deep fried pork belly and lechon macau variety – gah! I do hesitate to have my cholesterol checked right now.

I got into the Filipino teleserya craze. Well, not really. Just one particular series. But at least I kinda know who is who in Philippine cinema and television now and at least won’t be told by my nieces and nephews "Naku tita, Aga Mulach is so last decade!" No TFC (The Filipino Channel) for me yet though.

I got hooked on frozen yoghurt. Somehow it tastes healthier than ice cream.

I got to look a live duck in the eye before it met its maker (that experience was traumatic…I’ll be honest I couldn’t bring myself to eat the duck dish after that).

I tried boxing. And I mean 12 rounds in the ring with a trainer in the same gym that Philippine boxing hero Manny Pacquiao trained in for his fight against Cotto.

I ate bibingka, puto bungbong, ensaymada, and had hot chocolate batirol galore.

I got to join a marathon, ran the 5k segment and now know who coach Rio is.

And now I’m getting ahead of myself.

So where exactly is home? Home is Baguio city. The city of pines. The summer capital of the Philippines, because the weather is simply gorgeous even when the rest of the country is under an oppressive tropical heat wave. It’s a city high up in the mountains.

Unfortunately, the Baguio of my youth is no more. The city has become congested with people, cars and smoke-belching jeepneys and taxis. But remnants of its charm somehow manages to surface when rush hour is over and when the cool breeze descends it makes you reach for a light coat and stay cozy.

And I do have fond memories of the Baguio market. My Ah-ngin (grandma) used to take me with her when she did her daily marketing runs for the restaurant. I always thought the wet market was "icky" but now with a new found understanding of food and cooking, I wished I had paid more attention to her – maybe she was trying to teach me something, I was just too stubborn to listen then.

So when my brother asked me if I wanted to visit the market, I jumped on the chance to come face to face with the source of my food. Sometimes you need to get out of the comfortable trappings of the supermarket and experience the dying trade (apparent in most industrialized countries) of the wet market.

You really can’t get fish any fresher

than this…

They could gut it for you too, no problem.

I think for the first few days in the Philippines I wanted shrimp at every meal. There is this small variety called the "jumping shrimp" . They taste best when they are still alive …and well … "jumping" right before you cook them. If I heard my aunt right, you throw them into the pot and make sure to put the lid on it if you don’t want these crustaceans leaping at ya.

However if you are out of luck and the market is out of them you still have a wide variety to choose from…

Prawns are big shrimps called "Sugpo"

I didn’t have a lot of luck taking pictures in the meat section because the lighting was off but I did manage to catch this. I did a double take when I passed this guy…

Beef Cheeks

Outside there are also lots of breakfast sausages called longanisa. They taste so good dipped in vinegar and accompanied by garlic fried rice.

longanisa

And some street food that simply makes my mouth water.

Lotsa freshly grilled food!

Lechon – roasted pig with crispy skin!

Times like this is when I wish I had a second stomach.

Anyway, Baguio is also known for its strawberries. This is the Japanese variety called Shoga.

Shoga strawberry

And since Baguio neighbors Trinidad, known as the "salad bowl" of the Philippines, the produce is unparalleled.

Bitter melons – my mortal enemy as a child

Sitaw – long beans

Peppers

Mushrooms

Gabi- not sure what it is called in English

So it’s time to head back to the kitchen.

Uhm…it’s not a home kitchen. Ever seen a vat of tofu frying?

Tokwa

The burners here are super-high, watch-out don’t burn your eyebrows BTU.

Now that’s the breath of a wok!

So you can make bilao (trays) like this…

Here’s my sister-in-law making short work of the the green onions. Yes, that is a sack of carrots in the back. The kitchen is really small considering all the orders that come through, I was afraid to drop my camera in a wok of hot oil.

Sis-in-law trying to sneak in some personal cooking

Half-steamed fish prepped for final cooking

And of course, I’d like to introduce you all to my mom – 80 and still cooking!

Mommy dearest

That’s all for now! I have to sift through more pictures. (Most of the wonderful shots above, the first fish picture and most of the produce were taken by my brother. Thanks Mark!)

→ 24 CommentsTags:Baguio City·wet market

Macaron Chronicles VI: An Italian Meringue rematch

January 10th, 2010 · Desserts, Macaron Chronicles

Macarons with olive oil and vanilla ganache

I finally got a chance to do an entry for Macattack the monthly challenge sponsored by Deeba and Jamie over at Mactweets blog where macaron-obsessed folks gather, cheer, whine and gain tremendous support in a united quest to overcome the finickiest confection ever created on this planet. The theme for this round is to “do something or add something you’ve never done before but wanted to try.”

I’ve always wanted to try olive oil in a ganache ever since I’ve seen this interesting combination in Pierre Hermé’s (PH) “Macaron" book. Fortunately, we made it in our class too (well, another team made this) and the instructor cautioned us repeatedly that olive oil and cocoa butter do not mix easily, you need to heat the olive oil to a certain temperature so the cocoa butter in the white chocolate ganache does not seize. As long as you keep this in mind, the ganache is fairly easy to make … and extremely delicious. The “Hungry” Hubby rates this as his second favorite flavor with passion fruit milk chocolate still ranking as number one.

The way ganaches are made at PH is more meticulous than what baking books will have you do. With PH method, you add cream or any liquid to your partly (or wholly) melted chocolate slowly just like making mayonnaise. The reason is, the emulsion is better and you end up with a smooth and creamy ganache that feels absolutely sexy in your mouth.

Though French Meringue macarons are still the best in flavor, I do enjoy the challenge of Italian Meringue – PH way – and believe me I have sampled plenty of Italian meringue macarons made by many shops that are just so, so wrong and this is sad because this gives macarons a bad reputation. PH does not add any sugar to the whipped egg whites, all his sugar is in the syrup. What this does is lessen the meringue-like texture that most Italian Meringue macarons tend to have. After adding the sugar syrup to the whipped egg whites you use it almost immediately so the heat of your meringue will melt the confectioner’s sugar in your tant pour tant. I believe this reduces the sweetness problem in macaron shells. And you need to work fast otherwise your meringue will get too cool to melt the confectioner’s sugar.
And luckily, HH came home in time to take pictures just as I was mixing the whole macaron batter. This differs from the way I do my French meringue, so for now this applies only to the Italian Meringue.

It is best to use a bowl scraper. Have enough leverage. I had to stand on a 4-inch stool (I’m 5′4") to be able to beat this stiff meringue down without wearing out my shoulders.

Start at 3 ‘clock, sweeping the scraper under

continue sweeping clockwise

when you reach 9 o’clock bring up the scraper to form a small wave

At this point, immediately give the bowl a quarter turn counter-clockwise with your free hand and resume at 3 o’clock. Continue to do these motions until you feel you are reaching the desired consistency. The point when your batter reaches this is called "macaronage" although I heard my instructor say "the macaron". To do this you want to dig your scraper further below and do a big wave like this:

Testing "macaronage" with the big wave

The height of the wave should slowly flatten back into the batter and it might even leave a peak, but that should disappear once you tap the bowl on the countertop.

Puff Pastry – two ways

January 9th, 2010 · Desserts

Roasted pear-saffron mascarpone millefeuille

* Note. Colors of pictures are more vivid when clicked on to activate lightbox

Luscious apple tarts!

One evening after the new year, I had an odd compulsion to make puff pastry. It must have been triggered by this arctic blast that had sent people (me) scuttling indoors and despite the furnace running up my heating bill, my fingers remained ice cold. What better time to make puff pastry, right?
Some flour, some butter – okay, lotsa butter, ice water and icy fingers, you get one of the miracles of pastry. Multi-layered sheets of buttery heaven, how can one resist?
The one disadvantage of making puff pastry is the time commitment needed to produce it. It’s almost unheard of for a home cook to make their own and there are certainly store-bought ones that may be passable, but mastering the art of puff pastry is a worthwhile endeavor, I believe. Then again, there is still the time constraint.
Back in July, Helen showed me how to make rough puff pastry and I was amazed with the results. But you know me, curious to the very end, I wanted to compare them side by side.

Saffron, pears and pistachios

I also had some Iranian pistachio that I wanted to use in some dessert. If there are two things Iran is known for, it is for the quality of their pistachio and saffron. I did not have the heart to use it for pistachio paste, after all at 25 euros for 1kg, one must use it wisely. I leafed through “Sweet Seasons” by Richard Leach and found his roasted pear and mascarpone filling. I thought if I infused the cream with saffron, I could use that to fill a millefuielle and then sprinkle some ground roasted pistachios on top. It’ll look pretty…let’s hope the filling holds up.
I also wanted to do a repeat of the peach tart on rough puff pastry but this time use apples which was the original recipe anyway.

A fruit composition

Please excuse the abundance of pictures, I thought since it’s already 2010, I should improve my food photography and it takes patience (by not being too tempted by the dessert before good pictures are taken) and lots of practice (playing with different camera settings.)

This recipe for my regular puff pastry comes from by Bo Friberg. We used it in our Daring Baker’s challenge for the Gateau St. Honore and I found this to be one of the best and problem free puff pastry recipe that I have tried.

Regular puff pastry on its 4th turn

LFM: Bouchon, a bistro I could get excited about

January 5th, 2010 · Local Food Musings

Haven’t done a local food musing in a while. Yes, we still eat out but there hasn’t been much to write about regarding the food scene in RVA from our point of view (I missed all the hype when Balliceaux opened.)
If the “Hungry” Hubby and I would like to go out for a date night, our choice would be Can Can, Sensi or Cafe Rustica – it’s hard to be adventurous and go to a new place when you want sure-fire value for your dollar. Acacia has fallen out of favor when they moved to their new location – we’ve been there once but our soft-shell crab had been lackluster, however, we’re willing to go back, just haven’t gone around to it yet.

Now Richmond Magazine has released their 25 best Restaurants. Most of them have already proven their worth in my book like Can Can, Sensi, Cafe Rustica, Umi (forget about the sushi, I love their sashimi) and Full Kee (I’m Chinese and this is the closest I can get to my grandma’s cooking).

There were several on the list that I have not tried yet, and with one week to go before I leave for the Philippines, I wanted to knock down at least two from the list. So we finally went to Balliceaux – an underwhelming experience despite our initial excitement upon seeing the bourride on their menu. Since the restaurant received much praise both online and in print, I’ll reserve judgement until I could pay them another visit as it does show some promise.

I had high hopes for Bouchon bistro whose food is touted as “decidedly French” in the Richmag article. And guess what, it did not disappoint!

HH’s appetizer of seared foie gras was expertly cooked, having that melting center which the cranberry compote and dried orange peel complemented by cutting its richness with the tart and bitter. My own plate of country paté was a revelation – I made this at the CIA bootcamp, so I respect the effort taken to turn out such an interesting texture and flavor. Partnered with the adorable cornichons and mustard, I also enjoyed the extras like the olive tapenade, olives and pickled onions.

The knockout dish of the evening was HH’s red wine marinated beef stew. Do not miss this if it is on the menu.The beef is succulent and fall apart tender. This even initiated a conversation at what temperature should meat cook so the tendons and ligaments dissolve so as not to squeeze the moisture out from the meat – I said 300F from a Cook’s Illustrated test. Anyway, back to the dish, the sauce was definitely rich with the flavor of the wine, rosemary and walnut so well blended I wonder how long it took to cook this. I ordered the roast chicken breast, I know so tame and so unlike me but I was curious about the tarragon and pink peppercorn sauce and ever since my trip to Paris, I’ve seen this so much on restaurants’ menu over there, I wanted to compare. I enjoyed my dish, but HH’s definitely eclipsed mine.

Now the beef stew, as a whole, was not perfect in every way. The truffled mac and cheese, besides being so out of place in the center of the dish, did not taste of truffle at all. I am a firm believer that truffle flavor and aroma should punch you in the face and if you have to search your palate to find that taste, then it is best to leave truffle out.
Dessert was uneven, I’d hate to give it a fail. HH’s chocolate marquise was quite enjoyable, better than most desserts in other RVA restaurants and my elderflower creme brulee had a good overall taste but it was the texture I had an issue with. It was grainy and bordering on eggy. However, I overheard a diner in the table behind us declare (okay, gush) to the hostess “ Your creme brulee is out of this world.”
I looked at HH and said, “If the price of the creme brulee is over $7.00 then I have an issue with it, otherwise …” I shrugged.
When we got our check, the price of my custard dessert WAS $7.00.

I am very pleased to have this little French Bistro make a splash on the Richmond food scene. The dinner was a bit pricey. Our bill for 2 appetizers, 2 glasses of wine, 2 dinners, 2 desserts, coffee and espresso was $137.00. This wouldn’t be a spur of the moment place to go to. They also have a prix-fixe menu on Tuesday nights for $50/pp that includes a bottle of wine. I would have loved to have gone this Thursday to their "all about birds" night featuring quail, squab and pigeon, but oh well maybe next time because we’re definitely going back.

Oh, and check out RVAfoodie’ s opinion on the 25 best restaurants. He makes a good point, besides it’s a compelling read (whine?)

→ 6 CommentsTags:Bouchon bistro·Richmond va dining

Here’s to a prosperous 2010!

December 31st, 2009 · More Kitchen Musings, Petites Bouchees

The "Financier"

Where to begin? I’ve long wanted to write this but couldn’t find the right time or words.

I was let go from my computer job last August. I had no bitterness against the company who, as a media business, was one of those hit hardest by this recession. I was struck with mixed emotions of liberation, sadness, elation and fear. The weeks that followed the lay-off, I had not shed a tear nor expressed anger and everyone kept asking me if I was okay. I searched my feelings but it was blank. I felt like I was in a state of suspended animation. Logic would have me charging full force with growing my little pastry business but even my interest in that waxed and waned.

It took me almost a month to realize that it was fear.
I had no excuses anymore why I cannot bake this or that. I had all the time in the world, but something was holding me back.
It was fear. Fear of not realizing my business the way I envision it, fear of being too old to attempt a career change, fear…of…failure.
At first, we thought of canceling our Paris trip. After all, my fledgling business hardly made up for the lost income. We’ve booked it way back in June and it was a dream trip. Somehow "Hungry" Hubby and I knew that if we didn’t go, that might send me spiraling into depression (okay, maybe that was being dramatic but who knows?) I needed this break to find out if I wanted to move forward with this business path or start typing up my resume to send out.

I’ll admit that there was a time when I started on my resumé when a friend said he may have a position open but then I would need to move out of Richmond. HH has a telecommuting job, so it was a non-issue. It was tempting.

But then that would be playing it safe again. A voice in my head told me “For once, Veronica, take a chance in your life to find out what you really want to do!” So I did not act on the offer.

Now it’s the end of December, but I have not done a thing to move towards my goal. I’ve learned a lot from my class at Pierre Hermé but that hardly makes me an entrepreneur. I realized that I have the attention span of a gnat and I need to organize a list of mini-goals to meet my big goal. I need to organize my days into what recipes need testing and what procedures need to be streamlined. (Sounds like I need a book for this, any recommendations?)

My journey into food began as a child in the restaurant/bakeshop that my parents started which is now under the charge of my brother and the creative direction of my sister-in-law. So I’ve decided to revisit that journey: I will go home to the Philippines to find out if this life of creating food is really for me. I will be gone for 5 weeks, I’ve never been away from HH this long! In between gathering recipes for the business and blog, I am embarking on another project: memoir-fact finding that could become reminiscent of “The Joy Luck Club” (yeh, I’m delusional). So much materials can be gleaned through oral history, but like any memoir I’ll have to weigh whether these experiences are worthy to be told with the chance that someone’s feelings may get hurt or just scrub it all together and bury the rich stories of my youth. I shall see. And yes I’ll be blogging from there.

Also today, December 31st, marks the day I’ve finally sorted through the boxes of my old life from my previous company. I felt a pang of melancholy. I did love being a DBA and it’s a life I think I can go back to in case this life in pastry did not pan out. So, I’ve carefully set aside my books on database administration and shredded all the paperwork that needed shredding. HH will take these to the basement for safe keeping just in case I find out that I do like being a geek.

And yes, that was liberating.

I am okay, but still beset with mixed emotions and I know they will be with me for awhile, but right now I am SO full of HOPE for the New Year.

Stacks of "Gold Bars" ,great thought for the New Year, don’t ya think?

I’ve had this financier recipe tucked away for awhile not knowing what story to spin around it. I find that this popular tea sweet is so appropriate for the New Year as its traditional shape is similar to a bar of gold – a shining symbol of prosperity. The financier is on my to-do list of recipe tweaking as I am researching ways to make it taste as good 2-3 days after it is baked as they tend to be dense and dry when not reheated. Rose Levy Beranbaum’s recipe uses baking powder probably to make it less dense but this is still not the texture I am looking for but it is delicious nonetheless.

Hopefully, in 2010, my quest for the perfect Financier will be realized among other things.

So I wish all my dear friends and readers a Prosperous and Joyous New Year! May it bless us all with the beginning of good fortune and happiness for many years to come!

[Read more →]

→ 46 CommentsTags:financier

Macaron Stage at Atelier Pierre Hermé

December 27th, 2009 · Culinary Boot Camps, Macaron Chronicles

A view of the pastry kitchen

Hope you all had a great Christmas! It took me several tries to finally finish this post, what with holiday orders, shopping and celebrations. So here it is , my experience as a stagiere at Atelier Pierre Hermé. Should I tell you all how nervous I was? I had a dream a couple of nights before my class that I burned the caramel and got booted out of the program. I really should not be afraid of caramel because I make this all the time at Petites Bouchées. Caramel fleur de sel is my best selling macaron but sometimes old fears remain in our subconscious always waiting to bite us in the ass.
To compound my anxiety for the class, I did not seem to be over my jet lag as I had hardly slept the previous night, and if my boot camp class at the CIA was any yardstick, this hardly bodes well in my favor.
Anyway, when I got to the classroom, there were a few students already there. I counted 12 seats. When everyone arrived, our instructor immediately launched into the philosophy of Pierre Hermé about his products. I started to zone out because I’ve already heard this before. After this short introduction, we headed out to the kitchen where we weren’t allowed to bring our personal belongings like handbags, which is why I did not take pictures of our first day.
Our instructor, Olivier (I know, I forgot his last name), proceeded to delve into the discussion of ganaches and different fillings. He would first explain in French and then he would translate in English. For some reason, the English version was always shorter. Maybe it does take more words to say things in French.

He divided us into 4 groups. I was assigned to the English-speaking group “so we could understand each other,” Chef Olivier says (duh, makes sense). He began to assign the fillings to each group. Our group, group #2 gets compote orange passion, caramel buerre sel (oh shit, "I am going to burn in hell" was my initial reaction), banana – avocado ganache (yum!), ganache chocolate lait passion (hey, I make this already). He then explained each of the recipes. For example, custards should not be overwhipped because the foam will prevent it from cooking properly, whip after custard had gelled. When working with yuzu juice, you need to respect the temperature, add the butter at 40 C/ 104 F or your ganache will be grainy. When making the olive oil ganache (this was one of my favorites), it is important to know at what temperature cocoa butter melts and solidifies -> 31 C/ 88 F, warm the oil to 35 C/ 95 F so as not to seize the cacao butter. He also discussed storage of the fillings. Some were stored at 4 C/ 39 F and some were stored at 12 C/ 54 F (hmmn…might need to sequester one of hubby’s wine coolers).

Wall of ingredients, alphabetically arranged

Chef said we needed to finish our fillings before lunch. I was getting hungry and I glanced at the clock it was 10:30 am, don’t we get a little break – what? all the fillings? what, no break? Everybody started to get busy (or look busy), I guess no break. My team was an interesting bunch, not using their real names, Stephan was from Slovenia and Diego was from Spain. We started with the passion-fruit ganache which I was very familiar with and then the avocat-banane ganache, which I was not. This was also my first encounter with a semi-dried banana. The fruit does not resemble a wrinkled piece of dehydrated fruit however all the moisture has been sucked out of it. It was kinda rubbery feeling and wasn’t oxidized at all. Chef was very adamant about adding the cream slowly. "like mayonnaise!" he would repeat over and over like a mantra. I was nervous at first about melting expensive chocolate in a microwave that I was not familiar with, but it looked like their microwave had very low wattage since after 2 minutes, the white chocolate hardly melted. Chef came by and told us to start the caramel. I ignored him hoping one of my team mates would be up to playing with sugar. No one budged. Hmmn, looks like I’m not the only one NOT looking forward to this. Chef came by again…so I sighed and went looking for a saucepan to make the caramel. Turned out, Chef was going to do it because he was going to take the caramel pass the normal caramel high point. He used a white bond paper to test the color of the caramel and it was a real dark amber before he deglazed it with the demi-sel butter (yes, half-salted where the heck can I find this in the U.S.?), then the cream. He then left us to cook the whole lot back up to 110 C/ 230 F. Whew that wasn’t too hard. After all the fillings were made, we headed back to the classroom for the technical part of the class. It was 12:30 and I was really starving. These French are hard core.

Paris – it’s a love-hate relationship…

December 16th, 2009 · Macaron Chronicles, More Kitchen Musings

…mostly love, actually

A view of the Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero

So we ate…a lot, but we walked a lot too. In fact, I’ve never walked so much in my life. I shall spare you most of my sightseeing pictures as I’m sure that there are more than enough travel blogs that cover this, but I think it is my duty to tell you about my adventures in Paris in relation to food.

I didn’t prepare too much. In fact I did not make an itinerary or reservations at any popular restaurants at all. Since sightseeing, getting together with "Hungry" Hubby’s aunt and his friend are priorities, we needed to play it by ear. From past experience, after spending the entire day walking everywhere, the last thing you want to do is to dress up and sit down to a 10-course meal. What I did do was to make sure that I knew how to buy macarons and tarts in a pastry shop and my good friend Helen helped me brush up on my French (I took French language lessons from her over a year ago). She also recommended the restaurant where I had one of the best meals of my life…but I’m getting ahead of myself.

My first day in Paris was marred by an embarrassing incident at the Paris metro. Taking Helen’s advice to take the RER B and skip the 50 € cab fare from Charles de Gaulle to the 6th Arrondisment, I think she did not realize we had 3 huge suitcases, which was fine for the RER but the Paris metro was a different matter. I went ahead through the composter (the machine that accepts your ticket and the portals or turnstile let you through) but I was not quick enough and was horrified that the jaws of the machine clamped down on my suitcase! HH, who was struggling with the 2 bigger suitcases saw my predicament and heaved from the other side to pry my suitcase free but not after an earnest struggle and a lot of stares from les Parisiennes.

We did get to our hotel without further incidents but became embarrassingly aware of our awkward burden as we passed more experienced, well-traveled Parisians pulling their dainty suitcases behind them. Our concierge conversed well in English, and to our pleasure we were upgraded to a junior suite for the whole of our 12-day stay. Yipee!

When we got to our room, it was gorgeously appointed with luxurious silk drapes but our awe was short-lived once our American-sized suitcases filled the room and every inch of available space diminished. It had a gorgeous bathroom and an Elchim blow dryer – wow no cheesy Sunbeam blow dryer here. Bathtub was also lovely but not very friendly to take showers in. Ahh…the Parisians… they want nothing "pas jolie". Extra hooks to hang towels and toiletry bags would have been useful, but I guess they were "pas jolie" too.

Anyway, you are all here for the food, right?

I think the biggest misconception I had about Paris was regarding its coffee. The only French-press I saw was an antique and was not in use. When we were in San Francisco at La Boulange, they served our coffee in a bowl and HH exclaimed that his Uncle in Paris prepared it that way every morning. So imagine my disappointment when I was served coffee in an espresso-sized cup – their café . I attempted their watered down version called café allongé but my face below says it all.

not a drinkable cup

No wonder, there is an abundance of Nespresso boutiques in Paris. Even Parisians can’t drink their own coffee! Through sheer tenacity, we finally did find a great cup of coffee at Malongo Cafe (and I do mean great).

Okay let’s start with the best Macarons and overall Pastry.

Pierre Hermé on rue Bonaparté

Sorry Ladurée fans, but Pierre Hermé simply blows everyone out of the water. I visited Ladurée’s tea room and had one of the most ordinary chocolate eclairs of my life.

Tea at Ladurée

I also visited Ladurée’s boutique and was met by a pouty salesperson who treated me like I was scum as though if I touched anything on display I would contaminate it. So, uhm I was wearing a hoodie and did not look like I was dressed for high tea but I visited Pierre Hermé in the same outfit and they were cordial, helpful and extremely professional.

I did not let this prevent me from trying Ladurée macarons on another day. Sorry, but I can’t understand the hype. They were not good. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.

Laduree Macarons

In fact, I liked the macarons of Sadaharu Aoki and Gerard Mulot better than the Ladurée. Aoki’s matcha millefueille and Mulot’s canelé were also very good.

So why does Pierre Hermé rule (rock!)? Vivid taste, balance of flavor, luxurious ganaches. His white truffle macaron was sublime but I really loved his macaron Chuao – a macaron with single origin chuao chocolate infused with cassis (black currant), that also had pieces of the fruit in it.

At this point I realized that several of you are already up in arms for my remarks about Ladurée. The concept of how a macaron should taste is wide and varied and it’s all a matter of preference. I do not like shells that taste obviously crunchy. I like my macarons to have a shell that my teeth would not have a problem with. I like a macaron where I do not have to guess what its flavor is from the rest of the group. That said, the macarons made by the hands of Pierre Hermé and his assistant were still the best, so there is an obvious loss of vision in the end product when it gets pushed to production. The difference seems to be the outer layer. The egg-shell thin outer layer gives an audible snap that does not reduce to crumbles in your mouth. More about this in another post.

We took a selection of pastries back to a friend’s house for dinner.

Clockwise from top: Vanille tart, hazelnut ?, Coffee tart, Chuao tart ->my favorite

Hubby cannot shut up about the coffee tart and wants me to reproduce it.

Ispahan gateau – I had a smaller version of this back at the hotel

More macarons at Pierre Hermé boutique

Best Duck Confit?

Chez Dumonet it is.

Unbelievable Crisp Skin!

Yes, that’s a thick slab of foie.

I’ve had good confit at a chain restaurant called Chez Clements too, in fact the taste of the meat was a bit better, but did not match the skin crispness of the Chez Dumonet one. I had a bad duck confit at another establishment, but I won’t say where since it is a historic restaurant. But I must say my own duck confit would give them serious competition, actually HH said in terms of flavor mine was still the best.

I wonder if Chez Dumonet deep-fried their confit leg?

So let’s insert something else I hate about Paris and would be a reason why I might not survive there. The wine, I just cannot take the wine. I know there are a lot of French wine lovers but I truly love Napa Valley wines. All I can say is, watch the movie "Bottle Shock".

So who had the best Hot Chocolate?

This is tough – the best le chocolate chaud. But I gotta hand it to La Maison du Chocolat. Its hot chocolate was thick and bitter yet glides smoothly down the throat. A close contender was Angelina and Patisserie Vennoise – both these places get very packed so be prepared to wait.

Angelina hot chocolate

Watch out for the buses when you step out of this cafe

A chain called Le Deux Maggot also serves a decent hot chocolate. Stay away from the shops that have their hot chocolate in a swirling machine or you’ll get something akin to Swiss Miss.

My favorite place involves the kitchen shops. HH’s friend had us take bus #85 with him so we can see Paris from above ground. We got off at the Etienne Marcel stop.

The historic cookware store, E. Dehillerin

Can I say, hold on to that credit card?

More Stuff

It can be real confusing when you get into this store. Most of the prices are listed in a book and you have to look it up with the item number stuck to the product. Someone actually followed me around and told me the prices of each, I felt a bit hurried but the salesperson was nice enough. I managed to get out of that store without having to take out a 2nd mortgage but I did leave with a very nice copper jam pot which HH later hauled all over Paris.

Mostly haute pastry stuff here

Another kitchen store is Mora. It looked like it was manned by a couple hoity-toity pastry students. One of them yelled at HH for taking a silicone mat off an induction burner. Good thing HH’s friend was with us and he told off that dude in French which translated to " If you do not like working here, go home". Score one for the tourists. Yeh!

Great ingredients here!

When we got to G. Detou, I had to mentally compute how much luggage room we still had. Shelled Iranian pistachios, plump vanilla beans, foie gras paté, canned duck confit, Valrhona chocolate packed to the ceiling what more can this girl ask for?

Why can’t we have a store like G. Detou in Richmond, Va? Shall I open one? .

Butcher shop

My most favorite street in Paris is rue Montorgueil not too far from all the kitchen stores above. Now this is the kind of neighborhood I would love to live in. A neighborhood butcher shop, hubby refused to take a picture of the dead bunny on the display window (what happened to investigative reporting?)

A fish shop

And home to the historic Stohrer Patisserie.

A breakfast at Tiffany’s moment, instead of jewelry – food!

HH’s friend is a fan of Paul a boulangerie/patisserie that was further up the road.

Which reminds me, one thing I love about Paris is that everyone had great baguette. Even the shittiest tourist joint serves great bread! Unlike croissants which HH and I swore off after having them for a few days for breakfast, the smell and taste of bread is a constant welcome encounter.

One of the things I hate about Paris that could give any tourist heartburn is their constant strikes. When we were there, some museums were on strike. But the worst of all was the transportation strikes. Two days before our flight home, the taxis went on strike. I felt sorry for a guest at the hotel who had two kids (thankfully one was a teenager) who had to drag her suitcases around Paris looking for a cab to take her to the airport because the concierge couldn’t find her a taxi. Then on the day we left, the RER went on strike and that cost a bit of traffic too.

But you gotta love the Paris Metro (when they are not on strike). It can get confusing at first, but after a few tries that’s all you need to get around Paris. In fact, because of the taxi strike we decided to just take the metro to L’Ami Jean and it was easy-peasy…

…. and where I had one of the best meals of my life!

That’s Chef Stéphane Jégo the genius of Basque cuisine

The interior was unassuming, I love the homey feel with ham hanging from the ceiling and football (rugby?) paraphernalia on the wall. Amusingly enough the cuisine is Basque not French. The menu was, despite my passable restaurant French, totally alien and all I understood was langue de veu (veal tongue) and lapin (bugs bunny). Our waiter spoke English (thank goodness) and he rattled down the menu in the language we understood.

Pumpkin soup

I am not a fan of foamy dishes (visual yuck!) that seem to be popular nowadays with haute cuisine but this soup absolutely transported me to heaven with every creamy spoonful.

Veal tongue

If there was a dish I wish I could savor forever, it was the braised veal tongue. I loved the texture but the flavor was just an assault on my gastronomical senses. It was hard to describe, heck I didn’t even know what was in it.

For dessert I had riz au lait. The waiter proclaimed it the best in the world. I took his word for it and it came in a big bowl enough to feed four people. It was pretty good but nothing as sublime as the hubby’s apple tart!

Apple tart with granny smith ice cream

I was beginning to doubt that Paris could make an edible apple tart, I’ve had quite a few in several places and all of them were so tasteless I could only think of Helen’s remark about how most pastries in Paris are bland.

But this, this was perfect! I had a bite (okay 2) and this was second to the best apple tart of all time.

BTW, you get a better deal when you order entrée+plat+dessert. For our three course meal plus 2 glasses of wine, this fantastic dinner only cost 91 €, a bargain in Paris. The food here is haute comfort food!

Other notable eats were at Le Comptoir du Relais, Chez Christine and other brasseries and bistros but this post is already so long, maybe HH can cover them at his Hungry Hubby website (if he starts updating it again…slacker!) including the time when we asked for ketchup for our moule frites. Also, lest I forget the touristy Fouquet’s, where I had the most expensive bottle of coca-cola ever, 8 €, you can be sure I savored every drop of that soda from the bar till the end of our late lunch.

We’re at the home stretch, how can I not mention ice cream at Berthillon?

Tarte Tatin with Vanilla ice cream at Berthillon

The ice cream was incredible, the Tarte tatin was not and was an example of a bland dessert. Do not be fooled by the beautiful caramelization. Here’s a view of the elegant interior of this famous ice cream shop.

Berthillon

Along this stretch of road on Ile st. Louis is an amazing foie gras shop!

foie gras galore!

I so wanted to bring home a couple of jars but HH was feeling icky of stuffing it in our suitcases. The guy did say he had U.S. customs clearance forms and I should have listened to my stomach this time instead of my Mr. Pasteurized Hubby.

This is in no way an expert’s guide to Paris. On the contrary, HH and I were a couple of wide-eyed tourists as any tourist can be on their first time in Paris. We were lucky that HH’s aunt (did I mention she lived a couple of doors up from Mariage Freres near Hotel de Ville) and his friend showed us a couple of places we probably wouldn’t have gotten off the internet without specifically looking for it. We love the architecture, we love the food and the bread! We just loved the walking and the metro! The only time we used a taxi was when we left for the airport to come home – with four suitcases.

If you are planning a trip to Paris, I suggest you read David Lebovitz book "The Sweet Life in Paris" and website for great recommendations on places and how not to piss off the Parisians. And luckily, David had a book signing while I was there.

The photographer should have told me my book was facing the wrong side!

And I found this map indispensible, Streetwise Paris. I also had the book "Hungry for Paris" by Alexander Lobrano. I did not use it much but it was no fault of the book, simply my unfamiliarity of Paris. Now that I have an idea of how Paris is oriented and have done most of my sightseeing, the next trip will be planned around eating.

Until then,

Au Revoir!

Some notable addresses:

Pierre Hermé – 72, rue Bonaparte

Ladurée – 16, rue Royale

Sadaharu Aoki – 35, rue de Vaugirard

Gerard Mulot – 76, rue de Siene

La Maison du Chocolat – 52, rue Francois 1er

Angelina – 226, rue de Rivoli

Chez Dumonet – 117 rue de Cherche-Midi

L’Ami Jean - 27, rue Malar

Berthillon – 29-31 rue Saint Louis

G. Detou – 58, rue Tiquetonne

Mora – 13, rue Montmartre

E. Dehillerin – 18, rue Coquilliére

My prized copper jam pot that the hubby hauled for a day in Paris

* All the pictures were shot with the Panasonic Lumix, LX-3, a great camera to take on a trip! The picture of the Tarte Tatin and most of the outside pics were unretouched. Pictures are best viewed in the lightbox just click on the picture to open the lightbox.

→ 49 CommentsTags:Duck Confit·E. Dehillerin·G. Detou·Laduree·macarons·Mora·Paris·Pierre Herme

J’etais ici

December 11th, 2009 · Desserts, Macaron Chronicles

Eiffel Tower, on a cold rainy night

It was like another world away, this place we refer to as the old world. My first time in Paris was surreal, I can’t believe I was there. Twelve days of eating, twelve days of trying to fit more into my belly, I was bursting at the seams, but I soldiered on, it was for research after all.
I have sampled as much macarons as I could and I’m glad I could now say which one is undoubtedly superior. Best hot chocolate? I have that for you too.
How about the best duck confit? You’d be surprised at what I think.
The French are great people, the myth that they are rude is simply just that, a myth. The most unfriendly of French are those I met at the restaurants around the touristy areas and I simply think they were just perpetuating the myth of their rudeness – part of the "tourist" package. More about that later.

Technical Discussion room

I am also very excited to share here the completion of my 2-day macaron stage at Pierre Herme’s pastry program. It was intense and tiring but I have learned a lot and it will take me days to decipher my notes. It had a technical track and “Hungry” Hubby thought it was a chemistry class as I had graphs of ph-balances of different ingredients and how these affect your product. Did you all know that Pierre Herme and Laduree use the exact same recipe for their macaron shells? It’s the procedure that is different. Hmmn..not sure if I was supposed to divulge that. Anyway, if you all would like to know which method – French, Italian or Swiss meringue is best for you then check back in a week or two. I will be blogging about the food of Paris first then do a recap of the class.

Me, filling the mac shells

→ 28 CommentsTags:macarons·Paris·Pierre Herme

Swirls of Gold

November 22nd, 2009 · Desserts

Passion Fruit Layered Cake

I have no excuse. I simply don’t. Sure I was a bit busy, sure I had family over for a visit but the plain truth was I let myself be distracted so much that to sit down and write a post was quite a challenge. I don’t think I can define this as blog “block”, I have a ton of ideas running through my head, but just the thought of putting them together to form delicious prose during sweeps month on TV (the month where shows put on their best episodes) was indeed no contest. Yes, I watch too much TV. I could probably produce 3 posts a week if I just turned the idiot box off, but what can I say, I follow way too many programs.

That does not mean I had not been baking or cooking. In fact, the kitchen’s been humming and I’ve been worse in my obsessions. I’ve been testing recipes one or several ways. I have spied several must-try recipes from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s new book “Rose Heavenly Cakes.” I’ve been researching different fillings, cake textures and frostings – trying to figure out ways to reduce sweetness without sacrificing moistness in cakes and “standability” in frostings and fillings. When my sister-in-law was here we talked shop (she has taken over the reins of our family restaurant/ bakeshop) and about how American cakes seem to be too sweet (particularly fillings and frostings) and wondered if I developed one that wasn’t, if it would sell at all. We also discussed my niece’s wedding. Three hundred guests are expected, three hundred cupcakes for giveaway and a full blown dessert table to be planned that would include macarons hopefully. Fun! Specially since my sister-in-law has an army of bakers working for her, all she and I have to do is to prototype and delegate. Now is that not a dream job? Anyway, the event is going to be in the Philippines so I guess I can say Petites Bouchees will be going International!

Anyway, this is a long recipe so I’ll keep my ramblings short. The genoise tasted a bit starchy – as if the cornstarch had not properly dissolved. I imagine the results would have been better if I had used Wondra flour. I made the genoise twice. Once with cake flour-cornstarch, the second with all-purpose flour-cornstarch. The cake flour version’s crumb was more fine than the all-purpose one but tastewise, was relatively the same.

I noticed a mistake I had made as I was typing out the recipe. I melted 3 tablespoons of butter for the clarified butter, the instructions meant to melt 4 tablespoons of butter and then take 3 tablespoons from the resulting clarified butter or buerre noisette. I do not think this would have changed the taste of the genoise too drastically though.
The passion fruit curd tasted very good, however, I thought the passion fruit syrup was overkill and made the whole cake too sweet and too “passion fruity”. I imagined a simple syrup mixed with rum would have balanced the curd better. My favorite part was making the White Chocolate Cream Cheese frosting and it complemented the flavor of passion fruit so well. More involved than regular Cream Cheese Frosting stiffened with powdered sugar, it does need to be refrigerated however it makes up for it by being silky and luxurious on the palate and not too sweet!

Passion Fruit Curd Filling

LFM: Bouchon, a bistro I could get excited about (6)
- How to Buy Medieval Clothing: WOW!! Looks very delicious.
- 淘宝网: I’ve never had such a meal, but it certainly sounds like a treat.
Food tripping in the Philippines part 1 (22)
- 淘宝网: I’ve never had such a meal, but it certainly sounds like a treat.
- pity: how wonderful, lots of food, enjoy the rest of your trip and get back to us soon with more photos! cheers from...
- Maria: How fun! Thank you for sharing your adventures!
Here’s to a prosperous 2010! (46)
- 淘宝网: I’ve never had such a meal, but it certainly sounds like a treat.
Macaron Chronicles VI: An Italian Meringue rematch (51)
- Veron: Jessica, sorry for this late reply. You can try adding egg white powder to your egg whites to make the shell...
Pierre Herme’s Vanilla Tart (55)
- Veron: I don’t remember how many tarts this made, but I know it made a lot.

Tales of culinary obsessions