That Magician

I can sauté!

2010-05-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

I tried the sauteing procedure from 'How to Cook Without A Book.' I was nervous, but it was so easy! In no time at all, I was able to have some nice and juicy chicken breast, without it being tough and stringy. And, a pan sauce to boot! (The pan sauce was a balsamic vinegar one).

Sauté procedure:
1. Place the butter and oil on the skillet at low heat while preparing the meat.
2. Season the meat with salt and pepper, then dredge with flour. 2 minutes before actual frying, turn the heat up to medium high and wait for the butter to turn golden and smell nutty.
3. Cook the chicken breasts for 3 minutes on each side, turning only once (since my pieces are on the thin and small side, 2.5 minutes may be better). I covered the pan by the second turn.
4. Make the pan sauce reduction + whisk in butter after liquid has reduced to half.
5. Done!

Easy-peasy. It's even quicker than stir-frying! And the chicken breast did taste good... I'm a happy cook!

Soft Wrap Flatbread Sandwich

2010-05-25T03:50:00.001-07:00

Flatbread fresh from the skillet

I've always wished I could bake at the apartment but alas, I do not have an oven. However, my wish came true when I found this recipe at a blog. It was a flatbread that could be baked on a skillet. After some investigation, I found out it came from none other than the KA baking site! However, the blog poster mentioned that she used whole wheat flour instead of the original AP flour, so I decided to use WW flour as well. And what else did I use but the very nice White Whole Wheat Flour (Bob's Red Mill) that I found (finally!) at Healthy Options in Greenbelt. It was quite expensive (they only had organic WWW), but the sight of organic white whole wheat flour was quite exciting. It looked a lot like whole wheat pastry flour.

The first time, I did the recipe to the letter, but halving the ingredients so I came up with 4 flat breads. Putting boiling water at the start made a big difference in the manageability of the dough. It was very easy to knead and work with, I hardly needed to knead at all! I had to add more water (about 1 cup), though and a little bit more after I added the other dry ingredients. I dry-fried them on the wok soon after the 2nd proofing and they turned out great! I thought they were a bit on the salty side, though (I used a bit more than 1/2 tsp of salt), but I didn't find the breads salty the next day. Weird.

Tuna soft wrap sandwich with a dash of vinegar and pepper. It was quite good...

The next time (this morning, actually), I decided to be smart-ass and do my own variation. I wanted something creamy like naan, so I decided to put in some yogurt. And I wanted to freeze the doughs so I would always have fresh baked flat breads. The initial variations I made were:

Half-recipe:
1. 1/2 tsp of salt
2. 1 tsp of sugar
3. slightly heaping 1/2 tsp of yeast (for freezing)
4. a pack of yogurt (1/2 cup)
5. divided the dough into 5 pcs instead of 4

Unfortunately for me I may have made a recipe for disaster right from the start. Looking back, the answers are obvious: I didn't thoroughly read the recipe because I thought I already knew what it was about. I was a stingy with the boiling water because I wanted the yogurt to take center stage (I was planning to mix it after adding the dry ingredients). I didn't mix the boiling water and flour until it was smooth (a major oversight)!

I was wondering why the water-and-flour mixture was still sticky after the 30 minute rest, but thought it was just a quirk and proceeded to add the 2nd dry ingredients. Here is where another bumble took place. The dough seemed too stiff so I kept adding more yogurt, until the whole pack was gone! Really, I don't think that 1 1/2 cups of flour would need that much yogurt. Everything was a sticky mess that wouldn't come together. The previous dough was a dream to knead, but the new dough variation was a nightmare! I struggled and struggled until I ended up adding about 1/4 cup more flour and more potato flakes. I relented after many long minutes of kneading and let it rise for about half the time for the first rise, cut it up into 5 pcs (I could've made it 6), and tossed the shaped dough into the freezer. Here's hoping that the dough could be saved. I hate to throw away perfectly good ingredients.

Update:
I baked the frozen-and-thawed dough. The dough was very sticky so I had to roll it between 2 pieces of cling wrap. Baking took considerably longer. The bread also did not develop wrinkles and bubbles. When I fished it out of the pan, it was very soft - extremely so. Still, I used it for my standard soft-wrap. It was passable, considering that the taste is mostly from the filling, but the taste and texture of the bread itself was a disappointment. Obviously, adding all that yogurt did not affect the taste at all (it was bland), and the texture is shot. It was too mushy and squishy. I'll be sticking to the original recipe next time, adding just a tsp. of sugar.

Dubious chicken teriyaki, Decent stir-fry

2010-05-25T03:44:00.000-07:00

Overcooked chicken with a too-watery sauce

I tried my hand at a chicken teriyaki recipe from my Japanese recipe book last week. I bought the chicken breasts and even separated the breast from the bone myself (tough job, but I somehow managed thanks to my new and sharp knives). However, I should've known there was something fishy about the recipe since the sauce (which is cooked together with the chicken) contained no thickener whatsoever. I found it very strange but went ahead with the instructions. The result? Overcooked, slightly tough chicken breast with watery sauce. I can't believe my recipe book would let me down. Since the chicken cooked with the liquid, the searing and browning went to waste too (the chicken got boiled instead). I'm trying out a different recipe next time for chicken teriyaki.

Oyster sauce stir-fry from odds and ends in the fridge.

But at least I had a decent dish next time. Using the vegetable odds and ends from the fridge, I was able to make a decent oyster sauce stir-fry yesterday. I used the standard 'How to Cook without a Book' technique and for the sauce, used the first recipe in my new Periplus Simple Stir-Fries cookbook. Just great, though it's a pity the kangkong shriveled up the next day when I reheated.

New Cookware!

2010-05-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to be healthier and improve my cooking by using the right tools for the job, I bought some cookware today. Shopping for the right cookware was much more of a pain than I expected.

I first went to Gourdo's. The store personnel, Ryan, was very attentive and listened to my rants (though I overstayed in the store). It just takes me too long to decide anything. I actually found the perfect size and shape of skillet at the right price - unfortunately, it was coated in Teflon, the very thing I wanted to avoid and the main reason I decided to shop for a new pan. I also found the cast iron cookware that they had very interesting (and the price was lower than I expected!), but they were just too heavy to haul back home.

Omelettes, frittatas, pancakes, crepes....

In the end, I bought an 20 cm (8 in) frying pan, branded Green Pan which is supposed to be heat resistant up to 450°C or 850°F and uses Thermolon non stick technology instead of Teflon. Apparently it's ideal of shor high heat searing, frying, or flambeing. One has to be careful when using it though: warm it first (don't let it get too HOT), then pour in the oil, then wait about a minute for the oil to heat. The pan shouldn't get too hot. I bought this pan thinking it would be convenient for omelets and pancakes.

A wok, which I found out later has the same diameter at the bottom as my other smaller frypan! Oh well, I think it would be great for saucy/soupy dishes.

I couldn't find the perfect skillet at Gourdo's so I went to Landmark instead and ended up with a 26cm (10 in) wok from the maker Neoflam. It's made with ceramic so apparently it's non-toxic and heats evenly. I really wanted a saute pan, but I figured a wok is versatile enough, and I'll be searing meat in batches either way. (I still wish I had an 11" skillet, but alas it is not to be). I find it strange though, that the pan recommends low to medium flame (and I thought woks require high heat?). Oh well, at least this means I don't burn my food.

Other new gadgets that I found myself having: a Microplane(!) and a set of smallish knives and kitchen shears.

The thought has been simmering at the back of my mind for a while, but this was definitely an impulse purchase. Do I really need to grate that much? O_o; But yeah, it would be great for zesting.

I really hope these new pans and gadgets (that I paid a tidy sum for) would help push me to the next level.

----------

I ate lunch at New Bombay Greenbelt 4 (didn't realize they had a new branch there). The paneera and spinach was good though I'm surprised the chef didn't make it spicy enough! The lassi was GREAT. The naan was so-so. The best naan for me can really only be found at Pokhara....

For dessert, I went to the new French Patisserie called Bizu. It's only now that I fully realized that Japanese pastry shops are different because they follow the French style! I skipped the luscious-looking Operas and other mini cakes and opted for the Macarons instead (Php 35 each). I'm interested to know what all the hype was about. I had the mint, chocolate, and pistachio. It was sweet, but not in-your-face sweetness of local stuff, which was good. I think I should've stopped at the 2nd macaron, though. The sugar was starting to overwhelm me by the third piece. The chocolate flavored one was divine.

Conquering the Stir-Fry

2010-05-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

First attempt: Pork with soy-sesame sauce

This week marks my first TRULY serious attempts at cooking, armed not only with a vague recipe but a clear idea of the technique. In fact, I concentrated solely on one technique: the STIR-FRY.

My idea of cooking has always been the image of stir-frying: the cook tossing meat and vegetables around, then placing it atop some hot rice. It looked simple enough, and the technique and taste was distinctly Asian, my preference. However, until now, none of my attempts have even come close to the stir-fries I've had in restaurants. The reason only became apparent to me after way too many failures: I needed technique if I was to create a proper stir-fried dish.

Lemon chicken with asparagus and mushrooms

So when I decided to put 'How To Cook Without A Book' (my new textbook that I'm planning to cook through) to use, it was a no-brainer for me to start with the Stir-Frying section even though it was halfway through the book. As it turned out, Stir-Frying was simply following a simple technique and formula:

1. Marinate the protein in a tbsp each of rice wine and soy sauce for a short while
2. Cook the protein in batches in a very hot skillet to sear the meat and prevent it from boiling,
3. Setting aside the meat, then tossing in the onions,
4. Then putting in the minced garlic and ginger
5. Then the vegetables, in the proper order they should be cooked
6. Put the meat back,
7. Toss in the flavoring sauce prepared beforehand
8. and then some cornstach in chicken broth to thicken.

And that's it! Following the formula, I was able to make some very decent stir-fries. I have a problem with the book's flavoring sauce recipes though. The Soy-Sesame sauce was too salty for me. The Lemon flavoring sauce was too lemony and lacked depth of flavor. The third time, I decided to make my own original sauce, and it turned out the best of the three. The protein and doneness of the vegetables were spot-on, though. I was surprised how juicy the chicken breast turned out. For the first time, I was made aware of the importance of texture in cooking food. I always thought it was just about taste.

Third time's the charm: tofu and ground meat with an original sauce concocted out of sake, shoyu, hoisin sauce, worcestershire sauce, and sesame oil. (I think I'll replace sake with mirin next time. I also didn't add the ginger).

I think I have come close to mastering the stir-fry! Next on the list: Sautéing.

Condensed Milk Pound Cake

2010-05-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

This week, I decided to try out recipes using simple and easily available ingredients, so I tried out this Condensed Milk Pound Cake recipe. The recipe came from here.

tight crumb, simple but delicious flavor.

My variations are as follows:
1. I lessened the sugar from 45g to 30g, and increased the condensed milk a tad (about 1 tbsp to account for the whole wheat flour).
2. The original recipe called for cake flour. I used my Whole Wheat Pastry flour.

Doubling the recipe makes 3 mini loaves. I put a lot of vanilla extract (1 1/2 tbsp) the first time, and I thought the vanilla flavor was slightly overpowering. So next time (for 2 loaves) I put in only 1 tbsp but this time I miss the vanilla flavor!

For the bigger pound cakes, I had to tent them with foil (20 minutes in for lesser browning). The top of my oven really is too hot.

Nyan said it was too buttery(!?) Never mind, I don't trust her judgment much. The cake did taste better and was moister the next day. I find it a tad too dry, though. It wasn't as soft-looking as the original blog pic. But it's not bad either, (tastes quite good out of the oven actually), so I'll definitely be making this again next time I need a simple pound cake recipe.

Honey Wheat Rolls

2010-05-10T05:40:00.001-07:00

Today marks my first foray in the land of yeast breads. The honorary recipe? Honey Wheat Bread from the King Arthur website.

That's about as close to "round and smooth" as I could knead it...

This was one of the times that I sorely wished I had a teacher to teach me the basics of bread making. I made do with the knowledge I stocked up from reading and watching online videos. Kneading the dough was a big challenge. In a rare show of masochism, I decided to do everything by hand (I figured it would help to have a 'feel' for the dough). The dough was wet and sticky and unwieldy for a looong time. I set the timer and even after 20 minutes, the dough was nowhere near "round and smooth." But I'm glad I persevered because at about the 40 minute mark, the dough started coming together. Then I started scraping the sides and I think that messed up the consistency of the dough and it started getting sticky again. I must've been kneading for about an hour when I gave up and told myself "that's the best I could do." The dough wasn't a perfect ball, but at least it could hold itself together.

On the tray for the 2nd rise.

Since the original recipe called for 1 cup King Arthur AP flour which I knew had a high protein percentage, I approximated that with 1/2 Gold Medal AP flour and 1/2 Bread Flour.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to take a photo of the first rise. I fell asleep and even though I set the alarm for 1 hour, I overslept..not sure how many minutes more but when I checked, the dough had indeed doubled in size. I deflated it slowly. The dough consistency was surprisingly very soft and airy. But at least it wasn't falling apart and I could cut it up and shape it into balls for the 2nd rise.

After the 2nd rise.

About halfway through shaping the dough, I figured I should vigorously roll the dough with medium pressure using the heel of my hand to get a good round shape. The later rolls definitely had better shape and form than the first ones.

Close-up of the risen dough.

I put egg wash and oatmeal on top to create interest. Unfortunately, I think my silicone brush is too rough on the doughs and they did deflate a little after I put the egg wash on them. I think I'll invest in a better (softer) pastry brush next time.

Into the oven they go...

When they were done, I brushed some butter on top to keep them moist. They were definitely best freshly-baked. Nice and soft and chewy. I ate a piece with strawberry jam ane one with peanut butter. It doesn't have the deep flavor of sourdough, but it was much better than what I expected for my first try. With strawberry jam, I found the taste strongly wheaty, but the funny thing is, I like the taste better when eaten by itself. I think I'll use proper orange juice next time (the one on the box). I have a hunch the natural OJ I used (from Navel Oranges) lacked tartness that could hide the tannic flavor of whole wheat.

Done!

All in all, I'm very happy with my first attempt at bread. The dough smelled wonderful throughout, from the time I was mixing it to when I was proofing it, and especially when they were baking. Daddy asked me to make the same recipe next time. I'm not sure if it's what I'll bake next time, but I'll definitely be making these Honey Wheat Rolls again. They make great wholesome dinner rolls.

The rolls were kept warm using kitchen paper and a towel.

Now the question is if they'll still taste great after they cool down the next day. I'm looking forward to eating some for breakfast!

Marimorimo's Classic Donburi Made Better

2010-05-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

The donburi even shot beautifully!

Armed with my newfound realizations, I decided to tackle my 'signature' donburi dish (the recipe from the Bento Cookbook). Even when I didn't know what I was doing, this recipe hasn't failed me yet. But I wanted to see if my newfound knowledge would influence my take on this dish.

I followed the instructions more closely this time, instead of winging it. I didn't have enoki mushrooms so I subbed dried reconstituted mushrooms. The mushrooms took it over the top and beyond. They were so rich and flavorful. I think it's the naturally-occuring glutamate in the mushrooms (I've read of this somewhere before).

I may have browned the meat too much (and it didn't taste as rich as the mushrooms!).

Next time, I'll brown the meat just enough for it to change color, then put in half the sauce so it will take more time for the sauce to seep through the meat and develop the flavor. I prefer softer meat to tougher fried meat.

It was a good move of me to double the amount of sauce. It was just right. And I didn't play around with the sauce ratios either. It was just right. I think the meat and vegetable ratios are just right, though I just eyeballed them. Unlike when I usually go overboard and toss everything in, even the finished dish looked picture-perfect!

My previous 'revelation' has definitely started influencing my cooking, and I'm looking forward to cooking more!

Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry Take 2

2010-05-03T08:07:00.000-07:00

In my previous cooking post, I mentioned the importance of learning technique in cooking - something I was seriously lacking in. So tonight, armed with cobbled-up know-how from painful experience and elsewhere, I decided to revisit an old favorite, Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry.

For the first time, I actually knew what I was doing.

This is a simple formula I got from Hiro-kun's dad. Previous attempts to replicate it produced soggy messes. This time, I decided to focus more on technique and the right proportions and set out to create a better version (perfect may be pushing it).

I made sure to dry the meat before placing them on the well-heated pan. I made sure not to overcrowd the pan. I think I was successful because I noticed that the meat was browning - I have never been able to achieve this before. I was afraid the meat might overcook while I sauted the vegetables so I temporarily removed them from the pan, but later I found out this fear was unfounded. If anything, I wish I cooked the meat more. I used only half a head of a small cabbage, and it was just right. The cabbage cooked very quickly - too quickly for my expectations. In the end, I think they were slightly overcooked, but not so much so they still to tasted good. I put in the sauce last (concocted using miso paste, mirin, sugar, and my tastebuds). I added a sprinkling of black pepper in the end. I think I could use a tad bit more sauce. I was afraid of another goopy mess so I held back on the sauce this time. I think I also made the right decision by making the sauce more sauce than liquid. I added a sprinkling of black pepper in the end. When the dish cooled slightly, I could see there was some watery residue at the bottom, though I never added water.

All in all, I think this was a successful dish. The meat could use a bit more browning and a bit more sauce, and the vegetables slightly less cooked. These improvements I could work on and tweak next time. Amazing what knowledge of what exactly you are doing does to your work and methods. I'm inspired to study cooking science more. Alton Brown and a bunch of other cooking books, here I come...!!! (Now if only I had an unlimited budget...*sigh* I could be raiding Amazon US and Amazon Japan right now.)

Souffle Cheesecake

2010-05-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

I challenged myself to another recipe from my Japanese Cheesecake Book - this time, a souffle cheesecake. Since the instructions are impeccable, I had no trouble following. The only problem was my own clumsiness and stupidity.

The book uses M size eggs. I thought this was a boon, until Mommy started stocking up on Jumbo size eggs that have 2 yolks in them! I was happy at first, but it started getting to be a problem, especially with the souffle, which relies a lot on eggs for body. My mistake was that I just haphazardly guesstimated the amount of eggs to use. The next day, I weighed the eggs, and found out that the jumbo eggs weighed 77g with shells on! L size eggs are about 60g, and M size ones about 50g. Thankfully, it didn't ruin my cheesecake, but it did have an eggy taste. My taste testers still loved it, though.

Most of my post-baking disasters are due to my impatience and stupidity :(

Personally, I consider this a semi-disaster. The cheesecake was baked in a water bath, and I placed two layers of foil on the bigger pan (6 inch instead of 7 inches because of my stupidity). Nothing seeped through, but the smaller 4-inch pan didn't fare as well. It was very soggy because I didn't take enough care to seal the bottom with foil. I was actually confident nothing would seep through. This little experiment proved me wrong.

On hindsight, I should've filled up the pan with more hot water, but I had to keep the water level low due to the smaller pan. I took the cheesecake out a few minutes before the allotted time because the top was starting to look dark. It looked baked on the outside and on top, but when I cut through it, I realized that the bottom was still underbaked! It was the part that was submerged in water. I should've known - next time, I'll fill the water halfway up, and do the toothpick test (I skipped that).

I also had a disaster unmolding the cake. It was still hot as I handled it and placed it upside down on a plate. The nice baked top skin peeled right off. Really, someone needs to hammer patience into me....

Chocolate Pound Cake

2010-04-30T02:39:00.001-07:00

I've been working almost exclusively with chocolate these past two weekends. Making chocolate cakes and treats has always been one of my goals. It surprises me that I haven't started working on chocolate sooner! Or maybe not, because of the Whole Wheat Brownies disaster previously...

The batter is best filled up to near the brim. They do puff up a lot.

Since I wasn't keen on another chocolate disaster, I decided to try out a simple chocolate pound cake recipe. It was also an excuse to try out my new fancy baking pan that I bought for cheap from Living Well at the Podium. The pound cake is mostly made from whole wheat pastry flour (plus a bit of bread flour), straight from the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book. I followed the recipe to the letter the first time I tried it out, except that I slightly reduced the sugar (about 1/4 or 1/3 - I'm not sure anymore). I converted most of the units to grams, since I halved the original recipe and working with volume measurements was getting unwieldy. I wanted to use good quality Dutch Cocoa so I settled for using the Ghirardelli Sweet Chocolate one, so I had to adjust the sugar quantities too. I think it made a difference. I wish I could find some good quality Dutch-process cocoa soon. I find it strange that Dutche brand Dutch cocoa isn't dark at all!

Beautifully formed pound cakes

The cakes formed beautifully. I dusted powdered sugar on them, only to find out later that powdered sugar is best put immediately before serving since a few hours later, the powdered sugar absorbed some of the liquid and turned into an appetizing mess on the cakes. I don't know if it was also responsible for the much drier cake I ate just a few hours later. It was a disappointment because the cakes were wonderfully moist and chocolaty when they were fresh out of the oven. Somehow, the taste and texture changed after just a few hours!

The first batch was moist and soft and chocolaty a few hours after coming out of the oven.

I decided to rectify the dryness issue the 2nd time around (this weekend) by adding about 45g or nearly 1/4 cup of sour cream. The sour cream considerably changed the consistency of the cakes. They were much softer so the mold wasn't as well-defined. I brought some for Nyan on the same day and she said she couldn't taste the chocolate, and that they were too greasy. I really don't know why theses pound cakes quickly lose their chocolate flavor... :( They were really great about an hour from the oven. But they were indeed a bit greasy, since the next day, I tasted them and they did remain moist but had this grease-like film. Maybe I overdid it with the sour cream. I should probably only put in a couple of tablespoons next time.

Another breakthrough I had the 2nd time around was with creaming the butter and sugar. I still don't know if I indeed did it right, but this time, I used butter straight from the fridge and creamed with a hand mixer it until it was as fluffy as I thought it would go without falling apart. The butter did change color - it was lighter looking. The batter was also less fluid when I put it into the pans. I filled the pans near the brim and succeeded in filling the whole pan without any leftovers. Hooray! Half the recipe is just right.

I was going to declare this pound cake recipe a keeper, but the disappearing chocolate flavor is very disturbing. Maybe it's not the recipe's fault but rather the cocoa I'm using? I have to get hold of better cocoa (the Ghirardelli can is nearly empty, anyway). So for the meantime, I'm still on the lookout for another chocolate pound cake recipe.

Double Chocolate Banana Muffins

2010-04-30T02:36:00.000-07:00

I know I said previously that I just can't fall in love with Banana Bread, but there's a banana combination that I absolutely adore - Banana and Chocolate! It's all because of this wonderful cake that I shed 200 yen for in Jusco long ago - a whole banana wrapped in whipped cream and chocolate sponge cake . It was heaven, and it took all of my willpower not to succumb to the 200 yen temptation every time I was at the grocery store.

Well this recipe is far from that heavenly memory from long ago, but it combines two good things - banana and chocolate. I got the recipe from this thread in ChowHound.

The muffins were so dense they didn't rise much

The recipe had banana, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. Sounds really good, right? I cut the sugar in the recipe to half, but the muffins still tasted sweet due to all the bananas in there. Speaking of bananas, I'm pretty sure I went overboard with the mashed banana, because I was desperate to keep them moist for more than a day. The result wasn't bad, but the muffins didn't rise much and they were very heavy, as commented by my co-worker, Ma'am Ruth.

Ma'am Jeng liked them, and I got comments that said they were full of flavor and had just the right sweetness (I thought they were too sweet). They weren't bad, but I think they were missing complexity of flavor. They didn't taste very chocolaty to me too :( If I'll make these again, I'll add some coffee powder, vanilla, and use the correct amount of mashed bananas!

I admit it. I am a terrible cook. Or, failed 'Chicken Cacciatore'

2010-04-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

soupy mess

We ate at Holiday Inn a few weeks ago and I enjoyed a dish so much I decided to look it up. It's called Chicken Cacciatore, which is tender chicken in tomato sauce. I found a recipe with good reviews at allrecipes, and considered myself good to go.

What I appreciated about the dish is that the ingredients were all easily available. The only ingredient new to me was the white wine. Mushrooms and a can of tomatoes were easy to find in the supermarket.

I was quite excited to make this dish. I read through the recipe and followed instructions as best as I could. I had trouble with browning the chicken. I don't know if it was my stainless steel soup pan (I used that since I thought my regular skillet was too small) or the electric range or both, but the chicken refused to brown properly. I even made sure to fry in two batches but it didn't do the trick. I gave up when I thought the chicken skins were burning, not browning.

Later, I put in the whole 14.5 oz can of tomato in. Uh-oh. That was a big mistake. The tomatoes were actually enough for about 4 times the amount of chicken I was cooking. I ended up with a SOUP. What makes chicken cacciatore tasty is the SAUCE. Major FAIL :(

My confidence has gone up the previous weeks since I find myself to be a fair novice baker and the torta I made last week was good enough, but it has reached rock bottom once again. I'm trying to analyze what happened. I am quite successful as a baker since I follow recipes as strictly as I could (but always with some modifications), I read a lot about baking so I have extensive theoretical knowledge that help me come up with modifications successfully. I have read extensively about the techniques (how to cream butter and sugar, how to mix batter, what pans to use, the ingredient proportions to use....) so I know how they work and how to apply them.

In hindsight, I may have been too adventurous my despite my extremely limited knowledge of cooking. I always read that unlike baking, cooking is not an exact science so one is free to improvise. However, someone like me does not have the required knowledge, experience, or technique to make suitable improvisations. I realize now that my biggest downfall in cooking is that I have no regard for ingredient proportions. My mother and grandmother never measure anything, so I thought I could get away with it, too. However, this is only possible if you have had prior experience and an idea of how the ingredients will work together - I don't.

I still like blaming my electric range which I think heats up too much even on the lowest setting, but it is only half of the story. If I actually knew how to compensate for that (like what I do with my baking pans), I may still get a decent dish.

I always end up with crowded or soupy dishes, and that's because living alone, the amount I require is usually much less than the 6-8 servings usually seen in recipes. Now if only I followed the ratios more closely and didn't pour in the whole can, I might have been able to come up with something halfway decent.

I hope that next time, this blog will bring a success culinary story.

Baking Without An Oven. Or, the Japanese find ways for almost anything

2010-04-13T08:09:00.001-07:00

I notice a lot of people want to try baking but don't have an oven. I feel their plight as for many years, I didn't have a one myself. When I got a boyfriend, I wanted to make goodies for him and searched for ways to bake even without an oven. Fortunately for me, I was in Japan at the time and the Japanese have a how-to book for every need you can possibly think of. Here are some of the things I've tried.

BAKING WITH A FRY PAN
The first baking book I bought had the title "Baking Cakes and Breads with a Fry Pan." The photos in the book looked all so wonderfully delicious, and they were all made with equipment I already had on hand - a frying pan! I tried the easiest but most scrumptious looking recipe, a cookie. Unfortunately, it did not turn out well at all. Even my American friend told me "I don't believe there is such a thing as a bad cookie, but that cookie is BAD." That discouraged me from baking with frying pans and I shelved the book. Though now that I know a bit more about baking, I might try another recipe from there again. After all, that time I could not properly control the heat of the electric range and didn't know how to properly measure and handle ingredients.

BAKING WITH A MICROWAVE OVEN
The second book I bought was "Making Pastries Using A Microwave Oven." The one recipe I tried from there was such a disaster I got discouraged from baking anything at all, period. The recipe was looked very simple and straightforward (peanut butter cookies - do I see a pattern here?) and I even checked that our microwave had the specified wattage, but the end result was so bad I threw everything into the trash. I should've trusted my instincts when I looked at the instructions to zap for 8 minutes and thought "whoa, that's way too long." I didn't even reach that long as I could smell something burning not even halfway through. I ended up with hard, crumbly pucks with sugar granules still clearly visible in them. Yecchh.

BAKING WITH A RICE COOKER
My third book was "Cakes and Breads with a Rice Cooker." As the saying goes, the third time's the charm. I initially baked my first ever chocolate cake in a regular rice cooker and came up with something edible, but with a burnt bottom. Upon careful rereading, I discovered that the rice cooker to use was was an IH model (Induction Heating). Yes, they are much more expensive than the regular kind but make very delicious rice. Since I was itching to bake something and sick of looking for the disappearing rice cooker (it was a shared dorm appliance), I bit the bullet and bought one. I came up with passable results and a splendid Pumpkin Cheesecake, despite the fact that at the time, my measurement and mixing methods were probably a disaster. I'd make cakes with my rice cooker again, but sadly, I can't use it here because its a 110v appliance

BAKING WITH A KALDERA (STOCKPOT)
I haven't actually tried this, but a cousin of mine bakes cakes and cupcakes using a big kaldera with soil padded at the bottom on the stovetop. She learned of this technique from a local baking class.

Funny enough, the books mentioned above actually got good reviews from Amazon Japan. So maybe there was just something wrong with me/my microwave/my baking karma for the day. I think I'll dig up my books and try baking with them again (though I am still wary of the microwave book).

Like Pancake in a Muffin ⇒ Sour Cream Muffins

2010-04-11T07:05:00.000-07:00

Early this morning while I was between dreaming and being woken up by the blast from the TV morning mass, my mind was in overdrive thinking what to do with the leftover Nestle cream from the cheesecake I made the previous night. Use it as ganache for the whole wheat chocolate cake I've been meaning to try? Cookies? I'm sure about half a dozen possibilities came to me, but just before we set out to go for the mass (the real one), I settled on making the Sour Cream Muffins from my King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book.

So I removed the cream and the eggs from the fridge right before we went out, so when I came back, the cream was no longer thick and both the eggs and cream were in room temperature. Then I decided to do the cream + lemon juice = sour cream substitute trick in earnest. I didn't think I did it well enough last time, but the conditions were perfect this morning because I had lots of time, the cream was room temperature, and it was very warm in the kitchen. I squeezed in about 5 pieces of calamansi juice, stirred the mixture, and left it alone... after about 20 minutes or so, I was surprised that the cream actually curdled!! I'm not sure if it's real curdling I saw, but the cream did get thick, and it smelled sour. I was very pleased with the result. However, I was not pleased at all when I noticed halfway through sifting the flour that I only had 1/2 cup of sour cream! I needed 1 cup, especially after I had already measured and mixed the required amounts of flour and baking soda! This was my fault for being a dummy and not preparing ingredients in advance.

Already my mind was in overdrive, but thankfully all the baking blog reading paid off - because I found the good sense to substitute instead the pack of yogurt I had left in the fridge (thank goodness I bought 2 yesterday!), then to increase the butter to compensate for the lost fat. Well originally I was planning to use 1/3 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup (basically what I had left of a package after the PB muffins and cheesecake) but I didn't want to risk it so I used up part of an unopened package of butter to come up with roughly 1/2 cup of butter. Not too bad; it still has less fat than the original. I also subbed Whole Wheat Pastry Flour instead of White Whole Wheat, and I can't say the change had a negative impact.

the first batch didn't puff up much

The original recipe called for mixing in berries or chopped stone fruits, such as peaches. Well, no berries here, and I didn't want to open the can of peaches in light syrup I bought 'cause I'm reserving that for peach pie. We, however, had bananas, grapes, oranges, one Granny Smith, and a bunch of Fuji(?) apples in the house. Apples aren't stone fruits after all, but I decided to try my luck with a chopped Fuji and Granny Smith, then tossed in some nuts for good measure. I made sure to toss them in a bit of flour before mixing into the batter.

I creamed the still-cold butter and sugar (2/3 cup) using my hand mixer, and I think it went well, even though I did the creaming in the warm kitchen. Everything went smoothly from there, except that at the VERY END, I found out that the batter had to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes - the one time I've preheated the oven for good measure, it wasn't needed at all! Arggh! Well I wasn't about to let the electricity get wasted more than it already was, so I popped in the muffins without the fridge rest. I don't mind the texture of bran, anyway. There was quite a lot of leftover batter that made 4 big muffins with my extra muffin pan, and that went chilling in the fridge.

I was hoping for the best, even though I was concerned that the recipe called for only 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, so the chilling might affect the rise. In fact, I think it did, because my first batch of muffins didn't get a nice high mound on top unlike my 2nd batch, though I'm suspecting the nonstick pan might also have a part, because I always get ridiculously high rises and mounds when using that pan.

The taste, however, was heavenly. They smelled really nice coming right out of the oven, and when Daddy and I digged into the first one, oh, it was heaven! Moist and creamy and delicious! Didn't taste sour at all, despite being made from sour cream. Hands down the best muffin I've made to date. It kinda smelled and tasted like pancakes, and the apples carried themselves quite well, considering. They also got the thumbs up from my Mom, because they were not too sweet. The batter really is versatile - you could probably toss in just about anything in there and it would still be delicious. This muffin is a certified BAKING SUCCESS!! :D No wonder the King Arthur Flour bakers placed the recipe first, and were singing praises about it!

big brother muffin with puffed tops, and little sister muffins

Of course, there are always a few notes to consider when baking next time:

1) Prepare all ingredients beforehand!
2) DO NOT preheat the oven.
3) Make sure the cream and eggs are at room temperature before starting, or curdle the cream in advance.
4) Make sure to prepare 1 cup of sour cream + juice of about 8 calamansi
5) Fill the muffins almost to the brim (but not too densely) to get a nice high top.
6) Should I consider getting an ice cream scoop to put the batter in? It's getting to be a pain...
7) Brush the muffin liners with vegetable oil way in advance, or maybe while the batter is chilling. It does help keep the muffins intact.

All in all, this muffin recipe is definitely a keeper!!! :)

soft, creamy, moist crumb

Basic Baked Cheesecake can't be more basic than this

2010-04-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

messy-looking, but utterly creamy and delicious

Making cheesecakes was one of my first goals when I started baking (don't know how it devolved to making dozens of muffins instead -_-; ). But since cream cheese is expensive, I didn't want to risk my money on dud recipes so I patiently waited for my Cheesecake Book from Amazon to arrive. And it did, before Holy Week, so I had the pleasure to peruse a number of cheesecake recipes during the holidays, all unique and very informative. The Japanese are genius at making recipe books - even the best English ones are only half as comprehensive and easy to use. There are pictures of each little step, complete with commentary, so even a total idiot would be hard-pressed to totally mess up a recipe. Add to that the Japanese palate which does not fancy overly sweet and sugar bombarded foods, and I don't even have to mess around the sugar proportions! How convenient is that! :)

One thing I was initially stymied about was the sour cream required in almost all recipes. I didn't want to spend a fortune on the refrigerated heavy cream, so I decided to try out the Nestle Cream in can - not the all-purpose one, but rather the Premium Quality labeled one. I figured that since it'll turn out to be more like a custard, canned cream wouldn't matter. I squeezed in the juice from one calamansi over the still-cold cream. On hindsight, this was a mistake, since I found out later that it takes much more than one calamansi to make a tablespoon, and that the cream was too cold to curdle! Well never mind, since the recipe called for a teaspoon of lemon juice, I just added in a bit more juice than called for.

I was totally disgusted at SM Supermarket Clark when I went and found out that not only was there no President French Butter (unsalted OR salted), they didn't even have any Philadelphia Cream Cheese! And to think I thought I had a good chance because SM Lipa even carries Neufchatel! Arghhh!! They only have Anchor whipping cream by the way, while SM Lipa has half a dozen varieties. What a totally useless supermarket. I think I'll be buying exclusively from Marquee next time. So, despite feeling blasphemous, I went ahead and bought a single package of Magnolia Cream Cheese. I would've bought more, but I didn't want to risk it if the cream cheese turned out horrible!

My fears were unfounded, though, since the Basic Baked Cheesecake turned out surprisingly well. I broke into a cold sweat when my mom, right before taking the first bite, said "Let's see if it tastes like Holiday Inn's cheesecake." I was about to tell her that it's too tough of an act to follow, but kept my mouth shut. I love Holiday Inn's cheesecake. In fact, last year, I asked my Daddy to buy me a cheesecake instead of a birthday cake for my birthday :)

Imagine my delight when my mom said, "Yes, it does taste like Holiday Inn's." WOW. I took a bite as well, and yes, it was quite good. I actually like it a bit better than the cheesecake at Conti's. It wasn't as dense as Holiday Inn's - more creamy but that may be because I didn't bake the 6-inch pan long enough. It wasn't undercooked though. I thought it was a little tart when I ate it last night, but the tartness mellowed by morning.But Mommy never noticed anything about the mellowing. The book did mention that the cheesecake develops the flavor overnight, and I think this was true.

Here are the adjustments:

1) Used 225g pkg. Magnolia cream cheese instead of 250g
2) adjusted liquids downward to about 90g sour cream and 90g yogurt
3) Used 6-inch regular pan with parchment and 4-inch springform pan. Springform pan is much better, or devise ways to make a cleaner edge from regular pan with parchment.
4) Using pre-crushed graham crackers saves prep time.
5) Make sure to curdle the sour cream in advance next time.
6) Baked 4 inch pan @ 40 minutes, 6-inch pan @ 45 mins. The 4 inch pan may be better off at 30-35 mins to prevent creacking, the 6-inch pan may be better off at 45-50 mins.
7) The cheesecakes take a while to cool on the rack, then they take at least 3 hours to refrigerate - must be made a day in advance.
8) Since sifting the cheesecake mixture through a sieve is a must and the bottom of the sieve touching the batter is a royal pain, I'm considering sifting the batter first before pouring into the pan. The brown spots are also the left over bits from sifting - what to do with those? Press them more into the sieve so they become fine enough?
9) The batter does rise about 1/3, so take that into account. It shrinks while cooling, though.

I am very pleased with my 2nd ever cheesecake. The basic baked cheesecake is so easy to make and so delicious, it's almost unbelievable. Is this recipe a keeper? Definitely yes! I'm looking forward to working through all the cheesecake recipes in the book :D This is another of those times that I'm so thankful I can read Japanese.

Taking over REESE ⇒ Peanut Butter Muffins

2010-04-11T06:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, I was seriously itching to bake something to bring to Nyan's house. I don't know how it happened that I have a ton of ingredients at home and NOTHING to bake - there was always some stray ingredient or so that prevented me from trying out the recipe. I consulted my numerous books and finally decided on a recipe that could be cobbled up pretty quickly and whose ingredients I already had in the pantry or could be bought quickly at the local supermarket. The recipe was PEANUT BUTTER MUFFINS, courtesy of the King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book.

The recipe called for buttermilk, and I had just bought a bag powdered buttermilk from Chocolate Lover so I was eager to use it. But I was a bit dismayed after I mixed in the powder and tasted it - it tasted just like regular, cheap skimmed milk!! What's the the difference between the buttermilk powder and Bear Brand? It didn't even taste sour. But I gave it the benefit of the doubt so even if I was dubious, I poured it in.

I had leftover chocolate chips in the fridge and a can of honey-roasted peanuts and cashews lying around the house, so I crushed those and tossed them in the batter (lightly floured, of course).

The recipe said that the muffins were supposed to be moist and crumbly-ethereal from the buttermilk and whole wheat pastry flour, but they didn't seem that moist to me. They were crumbly, though. Not dry, but not my idea of moist, either. Surprisingly, even after all the peanut butter, it wasn't so sweet (I used half the amount of sugar required). Must be the brand of PB I was using. I was worried picky eaters who need their sugar high won't like them, so I quickly whipped up the accompanying peanut butter glaze, but using only 2 tsp of confectioner's sugar instead of 3 tsp. The glaze was sweet enough, and I drizzled that over the muffin tops as decoratively as I could.

Nyan said that it was like biting into a Reese peanut butter muffin. She asked if I made the glaze myself. Ate Nhor said it was ok and not too sweet, but she could taste the baking soda. Now that I think of it, I'm not sure if I've mixed up 1 tbsp of baking soda for 1 tsp... gotta be careful, though my palate isn't sophisticated enough to detect the baking soda?

Will I be making these again? Probably, if I find myself with an abundance of peanut butter. But next time, I'll probably just use the milk + calamansi juice = curdled milk sub, instead of the dubious buttermilk powder. Or maybe it's time to look for the PROPER buttermilk powder manufactured by SACO.

crumbly crumb

Decadent Banana Bread

2010-03-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

Right after the disaster with the whole grain brownies, something good DID happen. The very next day, I tried the banana bread recipe again, with a few adjustments based on my parents' suggestions. My dad thought the banana bread before didn't taste much like banana and told me to add more banana next time. My Mom wanted it less sweet. She also gave me a pack of honeyed walnuts from HK, which was great so I didn't have to buy any walnuts. There was still some more of the leftover cheap chocolate from the WW brownies, so I tossed those in as well.

Tita Kulet helped me with the preparations. I used a bunch of overripe bananas (conveniently and cheaply obtained from Marquee Metro supermarket, my favorite supermarket recently. I'll explain why in a future post). I wanted her to mash only 6, but she ended up mashing the whole bunch (about 7, I think), and that frazzled me up a bit 'cause it wasn't part of the plan, but she convinced me to go ahead and use up all of it anyway. What a great suggestion, because I came up with a very moist and banana-ey bread that stayed moist for a whole week!

I was still using the Pillsbury Healthy Baking recipe, except I substituted half AP, half WW flour. Actually, I think 100% WW flour would do nicely since the bananas keep everything very moist.

Here are the tweaks I made:

Used 7 medium bananas instead of 3
Used only 1/2 cup sugar (still sweet due to moist bananas. I may actually get away with less!)
1 tsp of vanilla
almost 1/2 cup of butter (could probably use less - about 1/3 cup next time due to moist and very ripe bananas)
chocolate chips
walnuts
1 tsp vanilla flavor
added cinnamon streusel on top

Baked for 23 mins at 325F (due to using nonstick pans).

Yield: 3 mini loaf pans (5 3/4" x 3" x 2") or (15 x 7.6 x 5.4 cm)\\

Cinnamon streusel recipe from About.com:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

half of 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 stick unsalted butter

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

I won't be using this recipe next time. Probably due to the tropical temperature,the butter became too soft and became more like a paste. I also found it too sweet,despite halving the brown sugar. I'm planning to use a more interesting and less sugar-laden oatmeal streusel topping next time.

All in all, Tita Kulet and I declared it the "best Banana Bread Ever!" My Mom even took hers (sans the streusel topping) to the office and her coworkers said it was 'not too sweet.' And, I gave Nyan a piece and she liked it so much I gave my loaf to her. Ahhh, sweet success :)

P.S. I like eating fresh banana bread, but I realized quickly that I can never fall in love with the taste of banana bread! There's just...something...about it that doesn't give me the smiles and fuzzies :( What a pity...

YE OLDE APPLE PIE for the 1st time

2010-03-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

Today (Mar 28), I made pie for the first time in my life. I was hesitant about pies at first because of all the apprehensive pie bakers I've read about online that talk as if pie crust is the Holy Grail of baking. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I LOVE PIE MORE THAN CAKE, so I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO MAKE PIE (it was an intense itch), so I kept on reading a lot and absorbing information, took a deep breath, bought myself a baking mat and a rolling pin, and WENT OFF TO MAKE SOME PIES!!! :D

adorable mini apple pies

Originally I wanted to make Pumpkin Pie, which I believed to be the Best Pie Ever the first and last time I had a taste of it at the International Students' Pot Luck Christmas Party. But due to wanting to make my own pumpkin puree and not the canned kind and thus needing more time and effort for it, I decided to try instead another American favorite, Apple Pie.

The base pie crust I used is the All Butter, Real Fla ky Pie Dough from SmittenKitchen. I wanted an all-butter crust and didn't want to mess around with shortening. Assembling the pie dough itself was easier than I expected (but this was probably also due to my extensive reading on the subject, I was prepared for everything). The real challenge, however, was in the ROLLING part, and then the actual BAKING part. Here are my notes:

A definite flake on the top crust - even though I was almost sure it was overworked!

PUTTING THE PIE DOUGH TOGETHER
1. I used 1 cup whole wheat flour plus 1 1/2 cup all-purpose. Taste was excellent. It was also easy to work with.
2. All utensils should be placed in the freezer/fridge beforehand. Premeasure the flour and chill in the freezer. Butter MUST be be frozen. The baking mat (which I use for rolling) should also be chilled.
3. I used the more expensive President brand of French butter and I believe it made a difference. The butter was a dream to work with, and had a pleasant buttery smell and pale butter color unlike local brands.
4. I was planning on grating the butter, but the grater I had was useless so at the last minute I cubed the butter. I had no pastry blender so I tried the fork method but found using my fingers the most efficient. It was pleasant doing this, actually. Only the fingers/tips should be used. The palms are warm enough to melt the butter. Again, COLD is the key.
5. I had slight troubles in putting together little mounds of dough for my mini pies, but that was because I wasn't sure how much dough I needed to fill each muffin pan.

ROLLING OUT THE PIE DOUGH
1. Pie dough straight from the freezer is too hard. From the fridge is best.
2. Again, chill the baking mat.
3. Our kitchen is too hot. The pie dough becomes warm in about 2 minutes. It really is best to work in an AC room.
4. It's better to place plastic wrap sheets between the dough - makes the dough MUCH easier to move and roll. It also saves the rolling pin from getting gunky and dirty.
5. Roll pie dough by turning the dough clockwise with each roll.
6. Don't roll out the dough too thin, as the filling may leak.
7. Do not overwork the pie dough. Handle it as little as possible.

ASSEMBLING THE PIE
1. Poke holes with a fork at the bottom of the crust to prevent it from bubbling up.
2. Apply a layer of egg white wash to prevent sogginess.
3. Hot temperatures make a lattice top virtually impossible. If I want a lattice top, I think I may have to freeze strips in the freezer beforehand.
4. Always make sure to chill the assembled pie beforehand, top crust and all. This prevents shrinking.
5. Make the top crust bigger than called for to make room for folding in the sides. Alternatively, I'm thinking of making a decorative braided edge.
6. Paint with egg wash (+ milk next time) for a shiny top.
7. Make sure there are no cracks at the sides.

fruit juices bubbling on top

BAKING THE PIE
1. Fruit pie filling bubbles up and releases juices, so it's best to bake with another pan underneath.
2. The top crust really does bake much faster than the undersides. I have to tent the pie with aluminum foil about 10 or 15 minutes into baking, (as soon as I see the top browning),
3. then I have to increase baking time to probably about 40 to 45 minutes. I used the #7 setting in the oven.

Shrunken top crust, because I didn't chill the top enough.

Underbaked crust, but I think this is deliciously tender!

CONCLUSION:

For my first pie, I must say...the taste is superb!!! I am crust-lover (as long as the crust is worth it), and the crust was very flavorful indeed. It was sweet, but just the right sweetness. Even though the bottoms were undercooked and such weren't as flaky, the tops did show signs of flakiness. I'm expecting to get better and get good flakiness next time (though I think most people here, including myself, actually like the tenderness of underbaked crusts much better). But I want to try the 'classic' flaky way first.

For the filling, I used the recipe Apple Pie by Grandma Ople from Allrecipes since it has such rave reviews. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon, but McCormick cinnamon is so weak I couldn't even detect it! I'm thinking of investing in the more expensive organic cinnamon next time. Since I used muscovado sugar instead of brown (no decent brown sugar here), the filling was an intense dark brown and had a strong brown sugar taste. But still good, though my mom wanted it less sweet (I simply had too much syrup). Personally, I was surprised that the sugar mixture was not as sweet as I expected. I didn't think it was tooo sweet at all. But next time I'm definitely going to use a lesser ratio of syrup to filling! The filling wasn't liquidy (maybe because I frantically added a teaspoon more of flour than called for?) so I mixed the apples in them instead - not a bad strategy, actually. The Granny Smith apples were pleasantly tart, in contrast to the syrup. I'm thinking that next time I could reduce the butter as well, maybe to 1/3 cup.

These mini apple pies are definitely better than McDonald's Apple *cough* Chayote Pie *cough*. However, I am still on the lookout for the perfect Apple Pie filling. I am also going to add nutmeg next time.

Second Bake: Whole Grain Double Fudge Brownies

2010-03-13T02:17:00.000-08:00

So today is another weekend, which meant that I was baking yet another project. This time a King Arthur Flour recipe. It's included in the Whole Grain Baking book and also in the website so I tried it out. I have to say, though I followed almost everything to a T, the result was a semi-disaster :(

First of all, the Whole Wheat Double Fudge Brownies were...okay. Okay, which means they're passable but not great. I realize now that my tastebuds have become so demanding that almost anything I would come up with would not meet my expectations. I'm starting to think now that the reason I thought I was an OK cook back in Japan was that back then, my standards were quite low - as long as it's edible, I could live with it. But not anymore. So, I have my work cut out for me.

I did some modifications, some to suit my tastes and some because I had no choice. Here are the changes:

1. Used 1 cup + 1/4 muscovado sugar vs. 2 cups of dark/light brown sugar. I originally was planning only 1 cup because I was putting in honeyed walnuts, but I tasted the mixed liquid ingredients and thought they were too bitter so I added some more.
2. Used 2 tsps. First Pick Nescafe Instant Coffee Powder instead of 1 tsp espresso powder. The result wasn't bad, but I think I'll stick with the recommended 1 tsp next time so the brownies wouldn't taste as dark.
3. McCormick Vanilla Flavor, as I couldn't find Vanilla extract anywhere! *sigh*
4. 5 eggs instead of 4 large eggs, since eggs here are puny. I used the conversion guide here.
5. Added honeyed walnuts.

COMMENTARY:

I used a 500-gram bar of the Tulip brand of semisweet chocolate that I chopped up into morsels - bought at SweetCraft because it was ultra cheap (about Php 80). I tasted it a bit while I was chopping. It tasted like cheapo chocolate. Personally, I wouldn't eat it even if I was paid, but I guess it was OK for trying out baking with chocolate. I was hoping the cocoa and other stuff would cancel the horrible stuff out - and yes, that was what happened. It didn't taste horrible in the final product, but I'm going to buy something better (even if it was more expensive) next time!

The book recipe, which is what I followed, called for mixing the baking powder with the liquid ingredients, while the online version called for mixing the baking powder with the flour. I think I'll stick with mixing the baking powder with the flour as an extra protection against activating the baking powder.

I think I may have overmixed the batter a tad, but nothing so major. The BIGGEST BLUNDER I did, however, was that after I had the batter and the greased pan with parchment all ready, was that I realized I didn't have the oven preheated!! What a terrible mistake!! I'm afraid the extra time waiting for the oven to heat up may have negatively affected the batter. And not only that, I think I had some oven temperature problems. Because I was in a hurry, I may not have set the oven temperature right. Due to space constraints, the thermometer was in front of the oven door, and the temperature reading may have been lower than it really was at the middle. I set the temperature at 325F (25F lower due to a darker, nonstick pan), and according to the oven thermometer, the optimum setting was between 6 and 7. However, I'm thinking I may have had better results if I set the correct temperature during preheating in the first place, and not have to bother with constant readjusting, which may have had a negative effect. I set the timer at 24 minutes (5 minutes less than the recommended time), but the edges weren't shrinking so I set it another 8 minutes. I remember that I was smelling a slightly burnt chocolate smell about 15 - 20 minutes in. After 32 minutes, I realized the edges weren't shrinking at all, and when I pulled out the pan and checked the center with a toothpick, it came out totally clean - UH-OH. I didn't care anymore about letting the brownie rest in the pan overnight. I cut it immediately as soon as the pan would allow, and my fears were confirmed - overcooked brownies with very hard edges, no thanks to the nonstick dark pans.

So now I'm stuck with brownies with very hard tops and a dense cake-like texture, kinda like a cake that has gone hard. I'm very disappointed, but I'd like to try the recipe again with new strategies. Here are the modifications I'll do next time:

Planned Modifications:
1. Mix the baking powder with dry ingredients.
2. Use better chocolate
3. Use an aluminum pan - IMPORTANT!
4. Scale the recipe for a smaller pan - the yield is too high.
5. Check the cooking time very early - maybe as early as 15 mins. Laura did say that she takes out brownies early because they continue cooking while in the pan.

First Bake: Whole Wheat Banana Bread

2010-03-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

When I came home this weekend, I had a lot of pleasant surprises waiting for me. I had 5 packages in! One was from Chad Lawson, who generously gave me his CD, "Set on a Hill". It's an album full of beautiful and soothing solo piano music. I'm really happy that he remembered. I wish I could give back to him in some way, but I don't know how!

My other packages were from Betterworld Books and Amazon. One of the Betterworld package came with a nice milk chocolate bar with rice crispies (Divine, a fair trade chocolate company). I munched on it while browsing my new books - it was quite good, considering that I don't really like milk chocolate anymore nowadays. Even better the next day after I put it in the fridge.

My new books were a couple of cardmaking books, Nyan's origami book, and the stars of the show, my TWO new baking books dedicated to healthier baking. One was the 2nd hand Pillsbury Healthy Baking Book, and the other one was my much-awaited King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking Book. I love them both, though I think the KAF book might be more practical considering that the information about whole grain baking is newer and if focuses solely on whole grains (the Pillsbury book dates from 1994), but at least the Pillsbury book has a lot of reduced fat and half-whole wheat recipes.

So I decided that after all the research and dreaming, it was time to do some BAKING! But before that, I went to Marquee Mall and shopped for MORE supplies - I have a knack for hoarding all sorts of kitchen stuff as though I was a pro and racking up huge charges in the process, since my "perfectionist" streak always gets the better of me. However, I did chance upon a lot of useful stuff, such as a silicone spatula, a nice wooden spoon, lots of Baker's Secret Pans that are affordable considering the bump in quality, and wonder of wonders - an oven thermometer! I never dreamed I'd find one in Angeles. I ended up with 800+ PHP measuring cup and spoon set, though. These babies better be worth it!

So for my first try, I chose Whole Wheat Banana Bread from the Pillsbury book, since it's a quick bread and is supposedly very forgiving. I checked the recipe vs. Laura's and the only differences are the half whole wheat flour and the salt so I went ahead and did the Pillsbury version. I have to say, I think I chose the right recipe - it is indeed very forgiving, despite the numerous blunders I made along the way.

List of blunders:
1. I melted the butter in the preheated oven. The common way to melt it is through stovetop or microwave. Still, can't the oven suffice? I was scared I might do something to the butter so I removed it while it still had a few lumps, but I don't see any adverse effect.
2. I immediately put in the sugar together with the flours. It was supposed to be mixed into the butter. I was praying it wouldn't spell disaster. Fortunately, it didn't (thanks to the forgiving recipe).
3. The butter clumped up when I put in the water into the egg-mashed bananas-butter mixture. I briefly placed it in the oven so the butter will melt a little. Thankfully, I don't notice any ill effects (see how forgiving it is?)
4. The last 1/2 banana I put in wasn't mashed properly, and as a result I see some banana bits in the bread.

List of changes made:
1. Used approx. 2/3 cup sugar instead of 1 cup.
2. Baked approximately 35 minutes at 350F instead of 55 to 65 minutes
3. Used 1 mini loaf nonstick pan and 1 7" aluminum loaf pan.
4. Used 4 bananas (the lakatan were a bit on the small side; instead of 2 or 3)

I was scared I was overmixing the batter, so I tried as much as possible not to move it around too much. The banana bread wasn't dense, so maybe I did the mixing right or it was just the baking soda or the 2-time sifting. It was very nice watching the bread puff up in the oven. My oven thermometer is heaven-sent. I immediately found out that our oven is 25F off, so I adjusted the temperature - achieved a perfect 350F. However, I just couldn't make up my mind whether the bread was done or not (the crust was puffy, brown and developed early on which scared me) so I ended up bringing out and putting back the mini loaf pan into the oven. I set my timer at 45 minutes, but in the end I think I only managed barely 35 minutes due to my impatience and paranoia. But still it's a good thing, because I learned a few things:

1. Nonstick bakeware develop an nice brown crust and cook faster. According to the Baking 911 site, when cooking with glassware or darker nonstick pans, one should lower the temperature by 25F.
2. The aluminum pan loaf, though cooked a bit longer (due to not having been brought out), did not develop a crust at the sides and could have stood baking a few more minutes (maybe 45 mins. or more).
3. Nonstick bakeware are great for pound cakes due to the nice even crust. Aluminum pans are good for achivieng no-crusts.
4. Both of the cakes were easy to remove, the nonstick one a bit more so. I butter-greased the bottoms only.

Suggestions for next baking:
1. Cut the sugar to 1/2 cup, Mommy's request
2. Add more bananas (2 more, or 6 bananas total).
4. Add nuts (walnuts!)
5. Lower the temperature by 25F, increase baking time to at least 45 mins (though checking carefully after 35 mins).
6. Invest in 2 more mini loaf pans. They are a great size!
7. Thoroughly melt the butter.
8. Consider adding lukewarm water next time (prepare in advance, and not from the tap!)

Others:
1. Buy some baking gloves
2. Get a flour sifter, so the flour doesn't fly all over while sifting.

All in all, I'm still very pleased with my first try. The gods (or GOD), must be smiling down on me today :) I can't wait to bake more next week! :D

Not-so-hot pork and cabbage stir-fry :(

2010-02-25T05:02:00.000-08:00

So I challenged myself to another dish tonight. It's a simple pork-and-cabbage Japanese dish that I first had the priveledge of eating when I ate dinner at Hiro-kun's house. I got the recipe from his dad. It's very simple. Miso + mirin + sugar. I didn't get the exact measurements, but I adjusted it according my taste, and it turned out delicious the first time I tried it, albeit a bit soggy. So I decided to do round 2 this time.

I wanted to get it right this time, with crunchy cabbage and sticky sauce. The last time I made it, the stir-fried meat looked more like boiled meat, so I made sure the meat was dry and that the pan was hot. The first few strips seemed to cook and brown nicely, but after I put in all 270 grams of pork slivers, the pan was very crowded and probably due to the drop in temperature, the pork started to boil, not fry! :( Maybe it's really impossible to put in so much meat at the same time? Do I need to study the art of stir-frying after all? (Probably, yes.) I put in a dash of pepper on the meat, since it's the kind of thing I would do.

The next major problem was the vegetables. I was afraid the meat might overcook so I removed them from the pan while I sauteed the onions and red peppers (just to add color). Then the cabbage came. I wanted to cook the cabbages only lightly, but it was very difficult to work with them as my pan was too small and there was simply too much cabbage, even after I threw away lots (I was using a medium-sized cabbage). Arggh. Next I put in half the miso-mirin-sugar sauce, and tried to mix everything in before I added the meat. Here is where I did my greatest blunder. Thinking that the sauce was too dry, I added in more mirin. Big mistake. While it cooked, the water level seemed to rise higher and higher (seeping from either from the miso itself or the vegetables?) My stir-fry ended up looking more like soup :( It was even soggier than my first try. I have only my impatience to blame.

Still, the great thing about this dish is that it still tastes relatively nice soggy vegetables and all. But I'm very unhappy about it, especially since I probably have to eat the leftovers for about a week D:

The next time I cook this dish, I plan to keep Kentaro Kobayashi's (Bento Love cookbook) advice to heart: Don't overcook the cabbage and keep the sauce under control.

And I had this book all along. Drat.

Ginisang Pechay and Corned Beef a la Tintin

2010-02-24T03:09:00.000-08:00

Dinner today was a simple affair. I just heated up the Ginisang Pechay I cooked up last night and sauteed the premium version of Argentina corned beef sitting in my cupboard. It cooked up fast, and was totally fuss-free unlike my other fancy recipes. And to my surprise, it made for a very satisfying meal. It's not perfect (I have never made something I was totally satisfied with - yet), but I'm proud that I can finally cook up a decent meal, even though sauteed corned beef doesn't really count as cooking since it's from the can. But corned beef isn't such a simple affair, as I learned the last time I cooked some and ended up with undercooked potatoes and a taste I wasn't happy with, at all. I wanted corned beef that tasted the way Mommy cooks it.

Here's my recipe:

1 can (210 g) of Gold Label Argentina corned beef
1 medium sized red onion, chopped (or half - I like lots of onions, so 1 onion is OK for me)
1 biggish potato, diced
1 tablespoon patis (fish sauce), to taste (I'm planning on cutting down to 1/2 or 3/4 next time)
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Fry the potatoes (diced small) on hot cooking oil and saute them for a while on medium heat (on my electric stove) until all the oil has passed through them and they turn a darker shade of yellow. Move them to the edge of the frying pan and put in some more oil (I used the oil sitting on top of the corned beef) then toss in the onions. When they're half-cooked, fold in the potatoes at the edge and saute the potatoes and onions until onions become translucent. Next, put in the can of corned beef and mix well. Cover for 5-7 minutes, until potatoes are of the desired tenderness and meat looks cooked. Add patis to taste. Done!

I was very happy that this time, the potatoes were nice and soft (but not overdone). And thank goodness I overcame the compulsion to add black pepper! (I am a black pepper addict and put several dashes of the stuff in everything). It does taste like Mommy's, maybe even (slightly) better. It seemed there was a bit more potato and onion in it than meat, though, but I don't mind that so much. Good extenders! Anyway, Yosuke did say he likes potatoes in corned beef. I'm trying to eat less meat. The one biggish potato left in my vegetable bowl sufficed, and I realize now that I always put in too many potatoes, ingredients, and spices in my cooking. Really, moderation is the key. Next time I will also cut back a bit on the patis since I can tolerate less salty foods.

Now for the Ginisang Pechay. This was the biggest breakthrough for me in a while. I like pechay (I love my greens), but there's something about the 'acidic' taste in pechay that I don't find appealing. The funny thing is, I've been eating pechay all my life and it was only recently that I noticed the 'acidic' taste (My tastebuds are getting more sensitive, especially after I left Japan and now that I'm starting to cook). I believe the acidic taste is what separates pechay from my favorite dark green vegetable and Popeye's food, spinach. For some reason, spinach is just divine.

So I was cooking the ginisang pechay late last night and wondering what spice or flavor I could use to give it a twist, especially since the water and pechay had started boiling and I could smell the acidic smell - quite unappetizing. I had very few spices on hand, so I decided to take the plunge and put in a few dashes of dried McCormick oregano, which I love so much in tomato dishes. The wonderful oregano smell quickly overpowered the acid, but I had yet to know how the taste would be. I cooked the pechay quickly so it won't be overcooked (to my standards. Then I added in a couple of dashes of my ever-favorite black pepper.

I had to admit I put in a bit too much oregano since the opening from the spice bottle is big and oregano, I think, is best placed on a spoon to prevent accidents while using, since it's such a strong herb. Still, it didn't affect the taste, and I had a fragrant ginisang pechay with no acidic taste. Hurray! :D

Bulgogi

2010-02-09T03:59:00.000-08:00

My first time to try a recipe from the Good Housekeeping cookbook vol. 6. I've amasses a pile of local culinary magazines the last few days and so far, it's the first two I got - the Good Housekeeping tomes, I see as being the most practical. My first try is the Beef Bulgogi, a simple Korean recipe with 2 steps and all the necessary ingredients in my pantry. I remember how much I savored the Bulgogi made by Harry's wife and replicating it seemed like a wonderful idea. The recipe didn't call for any onions, but that's how I remembered the good Bulgogi to be so I added in a nice big yellow onion and about 1.5 additional teaspoon of the liquid seasoning. The recipe was to be fried or grilled, and the photo certainly looked like dry bulgogi, but my attempt produced a watery version - not really bad, because my favorite bulgogi was watery too. Still, I wonder if I should've gone the dry route and added in the beef into the pan very slowly to sear the meat. I put everything in and the pan temperature certainly dropped. Maybe I should put more attention to that pan temperature thing always touted in cookbooks. Anyway, the beef was boiled more than fried.

The result? The dish did look good, and I think the beef was cooked just right. Cooking time was short due to the thin cuts. The taste? It's...good, but unfortunately after eating such spectacular bulgogi in the past, my personal attempt seems quite dim. I followed the recipe (almost) to the letter, but I think there's something missing from it. I was itching to add in some cracked peppercorns while I was eating, much like how I do my standard donburi. Did the good bulgogi have pepper in it too? I don't remember.

The sweetness was light, to my surprise (I was expecting it to be quite sweet due to the sugar). It did smell like bulgogi at close sniff, but somehow even the smell seemed several levels dimmer than Harry's wife's version. It suddenly made me think about "umami" and left me wondering if adding a dash of aji-no-moto would solve the problem. (Not that I would put any of that MSG stuff in my food!)

Would I make this again? Yes, but not without some variation. Maybe I should've added some more sesame oil? Threw in peppercorns? I really don't know. I may look at online bulgogi recipes and see what others do. But maybe the best bet is to ask Harry's wife after all.

------
Edit: After looking through online recipes, I came across some interesting points:
1) They all had ground black pepper
2) some call for white cooking wine (sake or mirin)
3) some also call for pear juice
4) some recommend toasting the sesame seeds
5) the marinade is not included when searing the beef
6) a lot of recipes call for grilling, but using a skillet is OK too.
7) It's probably best to use good quality soy sauce, not the Philippine kind.

Hmmm...I'm disappointed that Good Housekeeping has a recipe that leaves out the black pepper! Apparently it leaves something to be desired. Now I'm a bit hesitant of the other recipes in the book...

Roll Cabbages

2010-02-03T05:21:00.000-08:00

←　The plain steamed version of the cabbage rolls.

I finally made the roll cabbage recipe I've been meaning to try cooking for 5 years now. Is it edible? Yes. Is it delicious? ..Yes. Am I satisfied? No.

I had a bunch of blunders which made the food less than satisfactory, though thankfully not enough to ruin it. The list of improvements I'm planning to do next time are:

1. Pay more attention to the cabbages while preparing them to be soft enough for rolling. I think I slightly overcooked them.
2. I think I can use slightly less ground meat and it'll still taste great (hooray for a healthier recipe!)
3. Use only a pinch of salt in the mix. I overdid it this time. I didn't mind lots of black pepper powder, though.
4. The leftover cabbage from the hard stalks chopped up and mixed make a good and healthy filling.
5. Cook the butter on low heat! (of course, the dang electric stove is partly to blame for this) I also don't need much butter. The 15 grams called for was more than enough.
6. Immediately turn off the heat when fine bubbles form on the butter-and-flour mix.
7. Use only half the Knorr broth cube. That and the salted butter + too much salt in my meat mix was the downfall of my recipe. Too salty for my taste, though thankfully still edible.
8. Use the biggest cabbage leaves from the biggest cabbage I can find. They're easier to roll and look better.

I seriously think I have some issues with either too much sodium or MSG. Maybe it's the sodium, or both. I get the same slight headache when I eat instant noodles, even though it's my favorite Lucky Me. So, it's best to cut down, I guess.

------

I steamed the leftover rolls for dinner tonight. So now I can directly compare them with the buttered versions.

1. The taste is just right, maybe just a little too salty for my taste which means that I definitely overdid it with the salt. Now that I think of it, the bacon was probably already salty too.
2. No significant loss in taste, just less "savory" and strong.

I think I'll stick to steaming next time. Less calories and no MSG. I'm thinking of incorporating some butter into the meat mix, though. And no Knorr.

On the occasion of Lola's funeral....

2008-11-06T06:15:00.000-08:00

As usual, my reaction to news of death is delayed.

When I heard of the news that my grandmother died last Monday night, I was shocked, but then I continued with my everyday concerns without much thought on the death. It was kinda expected already, since she's been sick for a long time, though I'm still surprised that she was taken so soon. I was expecting her to hang on even just a year more. But alas, death does not wait for anybody.

The full gravity of the situation only hit me while on the bus and jeepney back to Batangas. The burial was held 3 PM this afternoon and though I felt a tinge of sadness as I took one last look at my grandmother, my emotions were more or less neutral the whole time. I've always avoided looking into caskets these past years, but with the new elevated casket used for her, I had to look though I didn't want to. It's strange..whenever I looked at her chest I always thought that it was gently swaying, as though she was breathing. But of course, that was my imagination. Her face was full of make-up so she looked quite good, with her black hair even at 84 years of age and no hair dye. But looking at her arms and hands, she looked very dead. Her palms were whitish-gray and her arms were grayish too. I could see the numerous injection marks on her arms and even on her fingertips. It was these that reminded me the most just how dead the body was in front of me, and that it was just a shell - it was not really my grandmother anymore. It was a container without its contents.

I was never really close with any of my grandparents, though I knew and spent more time with my grandmother than I did my late grandfather. Especially since she was living in our house for the last 7 months before her death. She always wanted to go back to her own house in San Simon, but due to some complications, she couldn't go back. During that time, I got to know how much of a nervous person she was, how picky she was, how much of a worrywart she was, how much of a complainer she was, and how much of a negative thinker she was. But at the same time I learned of a person with simple joys, whose greatest happiness in life is staying in her own home, cooking and cleaning for others. When she was stronger and I stayed at her house during the vacation for a couple of weeks or so, I always looked forward to her delicious dishes. And she always cooked my favorite boiled and caramelized bananas. She was a smart person, still able to answer mathemetical questions at her age, despite the fact that she only finished 4th grade. She was quite interesting to talk to when she was in one of her better moods. And, she was always concerned about the safety of others.

When tears started rolling down my cheeks as I was in the jeepney, it was because I realized that I wouldn't be able to hear her voice anymore, or see her laugh. She was really nice to see during the rare times when I was able to make her laugh. Neither would I be able to ask her to tell me stories of things that happened long ago. Thinking back, I wouldn't mind anymore if she asked me to make oatmeal for her every mealtimes or asked me to get fruits for her or stayed with her a bit more if it meant that she had lived a bit longer... In short, I wish I had been able to do more for her instead of ignoring her for the most part that she was in our house. I feel sorry for myself because I wasn't able to make her feel happier during the time I was with her. Now, even though I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of my personal enjoyment for her sake, it's too late. I won't be able to do any of those things for her anymore even if I wanted to.

This just reminded me how important it is to cherish and treasure the people and relationships that we have NOW. I wish that next time, I wouldn't feel this way anymore when someone passed away. I wish that when that time comes, I could confidently say that I had been able to show all my love and effort and that I don't have any regrets. We don't know when any of our loved ones will be taken from us. Each day that we spend with them is a special gift that we have to make the most of.

The Magician? THAT Magician!

2008-09-06T10:09:00.000-07:00

It's horrible.

I had just made the perfect Magician banner. But all the decent addresses with the words
'magician' had been taken on Blogger :(

What to do?

I tried the-magician and mymagic. Taken, as expected. mymagician. Still no luck. Well then, let's try yourmagician. Still taken! How about ourmagician? I can't believe that darn address was also taken!!!!

This takes drastic measures. Okay, since I can't have 'the' in there, how about zemagician? Thankfully, that address was free. But thinking about it, it could be a pain when talking about the blog to others. Just imagine: Oh, you can visit my blog. It's zemagician at Blogger. Response: "Ze what??"

I need a better play on words. Hmm..what's near to 'the' but not quite 'the'? Why..that of course.

And so, That Magician came to be.