懷石便當

真難想像，讀我這一課也要捱更抵夜趕工課．．．還剩下兩個星期，快點過就好了．．．

今天晚上的講座，有越吃越餓的「懷石料理便當」做晚餐，是由剛拿得全日本廚藝大賽第五名的　Master Chef Masaki Hashimoto　掌舵的「Kaiseki-Yuzen Hashimoto 」提供，號稱第一間把懷石料理用便當形式出售的餐廳。

可是，懷石料理不是要坐下好好欣賞廚師的食物嗎？

咖喱

After class I decided to get some gelatin powder to practice the lab for next week. And when I get into St. Lawrence's Market I found this store that sells a lot of spices in good very good price and quality, so I picked up some spices to make my "own version" of curry, i.e., trying it out the first time :-)

Interesting enough, my mom bought exactly the same stuffs as I did: curry powder (thought what she got was pre-mixed), lamb for stewing, onions, and coconut milk. It all happened coincidently... pretty amazing, isn't it?

I don't know the final result yet, as it's still cooking. However it does smells really good!

失敗之作

近期有很多失敗之作。

【個案一】

煮了這個「鴨汁海參」，但汁不夠濃，海參不夠軟身，汁液沒法黏在海參上。

用鴨淆的「double consommè」實屬多此一舉，湯煮得太久味道變得怪怪的。

幸好鴨胸煎得不錯，味道也很好。

其實要食物好吃，何需大費周章？





【個案二】

柏根地燉牛肉 （Bœuf bourguignon）是法國里昂菜（Lyonnais）的經典。

Paul Bocuse 是近代法國菜的經典人物，被譽為是20世紀法國最偉大的主廚之一。植根於里昂。

本來，經典的里昂菜由經典的里昂主廚所撰寫的食譜一定不差，可是卻大失所望。

不過，我想是我的問題吧？

其實這個菜的汁很好，只是用後腿眼肉（eye of round）實在太瘦，像吃乾柴一樣。

其實之前也作過這菜，用了上好的肋眼（rib eye），而且非常好吃。

看來，忠於食譜，得付上代價．．．

【個案三】

同樣出自於 Bocuse，同樣很「硬」。

問題在於那層皮，差點連刀也折斷了 ：Ｐ

都說我的意文不成

把歌詞釋錯了。

這句「Forte come il gusto della grappa contadina」我把「grappa」當作是「祖父」！

今天讀《Heat》，裡面提到 Mario Batali 拿了一支 grappa 到作者家作客，我才醒覺。

其實家中也有一支 grappa，是幾個月前從意大利帶回來的。可是一直不知道自己在喝啥，真攪笑。

風雨中的感恩

Tomorrow is Canada's Thanksgiving, but we're having heavy rains and thunderstorms during the day today. I was planning to go out and get something good for dinner, but eventually I had to call it off. So I just opened up the fridge, and get whatever I have to make a dish--using the brown beef stock I made last night (actually early this morning, since I made the soup till 2 a.m. or so).

And eventually I made something that seems to be very simple, but it took me a while to finish it--it's all because of the beet chips and the potatoes chips.

I did a little experiment on whether baking or deep frying is best for the beet chips, and I guess the result is obvious--deep frying keeps the color a lot better than the baked one. Taste wise, they're both better than eating it raw, since the nutty flavor of the raw beet is gone, and it becomes sweeter as well. Of course, baking is preferable if low fat diet is necessary. One thing though, don't cut the beet too thin since a paper-like chip will not retain its shape after deep frying or baking.

As for the potato chips, my chef said that purple potatoes should never ever be used as French fries... since the color will turn into yellowish brown and it'll be like a mess... which I am quite skeptical about that. So I did another experiment... I julienne'd the potatoes and did a double fry--yup, although they are fine julienne I still double fried it to make it crispier... and the result?

I think they look beautiful!

Oh, and I have started a new blog《我們小心養大的》 that has most, if not all, recipes of the dishes I made... hopefully I'll get connected to those who love cooking :)

Thanks my friend for picking the title of the new blog :-)

朱古力波波

There is a local chocolatier close by the campus I have my French class, and I've heard good things about it. Yesterday I decided to give it a try.... and they're extremely delicious! My parents and I finished half a dozen of bonbons within hours! They're really tempting.... especially the Tarragon Black Pepper! The infused ganache is a little bit spicy but it's very exciting. Also be careful when you eat the Sea Salted Caramel, since the caramel ganache will flush out as soon as you break the shell!




js bonbons
163 Dupont St, Toronto
(416) 920-0274

They also have classes teaching you how to make the bonbons, which I'm thinking of taking them :-)

美味 Foie Gras?

I heard that people over-feeding ducks to farm foie gras, but couldn't imagine it can be this inhuman:



I have decided not to take any foie gras from now on...