Well, I cooked up a storm like I was under a spell. Did the Kitchen God point at me while I slept?
Thursday
I started with making the most coveted dish: 台南肉燥 (braised pork belly) in the morning. Dicing pork belly was the hardest part but someone had to do it (me). This dish took a whole day to make but it was well worth the effort at the end. The aroma, the taste, the presentation, the satisfaction of achievement. Hey, all hard work forgotten.
台南肉燥
Friday
I prepared the duck legs to make confit. Got 6 duck legs from Golden Gate Meat Company on Wednesday. I'm getting gutsy. I started with 2, then 4 and now I'm doing dinner size of 6! I rubbed those legs with herbs and spices and let them rest in the fridge. I'll come back to them on Sunday.
I moved on to baking two loaves of milk bread and making two daikon cakes (because the recipes were enough to make two each). While at it, I also braised a beef tenderloin (五香牛腱)for Robert. Yap, all on my little stove/oven at the same time. I gave myself points for multi-tasking.
The milk breads came out super wonderful. I bow to the bread god who created this recipe! The secret is a roux (mixture of flour and milk/water) that is to be made and chilled 24 hours in advance. It's then incorporated with the bread dough. It somehow makes the bread soft and moist. I haven't figured out why but heck, the formula has been proven and I'm not going to ask questions. Just follow the recipe!
Making daikon cake is tricky and the outcome is a little bit unpredictable. The size of the daikon will affect the ratio of water to rice flour mixture. Too much liquid, it will be mushy; too little, it will be chewy. I never know what I'm going to get. I was lucky this time.
For Friday dinner, mom taught me how to make an easy Tainan sticky rice dish (米糕) using the braised pork belly as the topping. Soak long grain sweet rice (not short grain) first then cook like regular rice. Pile the pork belly sauce on top, sprinkle dried shredded fish for an authentic Tainan taste. Check out the photo... isn't the color just gorgeous? I can improve the texture of the sweet rice though. I think it came out too soft and sticky. I probably soaked it for too long. Note to self: soak just 30 minutes next time.Saturday
I took a little break spending some quality time with my doggies. I was tempted to make some doggy cookies but I got lazy. Oh, I did make a banana bread for Carli in the morning.
Sunday
I was back cooking. I made Vietnamese pho broth!!! Yes, I did!! This was my second attempt. Learning from past mistakes, I used more spices and less water this time. The broth came out beautifully after 3 hours of simmering. I prepared the traditional pho condiments: bean sprouts, chili pepper slices, fresh basil, cilantro and lemon (sorry I forgot it's supposed to be lime). It did taste like the real thing. Oh My Kitchen God, did I really make pho???
Back to the duck leg confit. Confit is another one of those food that takes love and tender care. I brought the chilled legs back to room temperature then deep fried them in 200 (F) degree extra virgin olive oil for 90 minutes. This meant someone (me) had to stand by the stove checking the oil temperature and moving those legs around. After frying, the legs were stored in the oil and back in the fridge. They will be ready for consumption after 7 days.
Duck Confit
So, folks, what do think of my 4-day weekend? All the food was devoured by Sunday night (except the duck confit).
The Kitchen God gave me a good challenge and I think I met it. OK, I didn't make any new dishes but it was a good practice to make them perfect. I would do again.
Bon appetit!
No comments:
Post a Comment