Meet fresh

Meet fresh. A strange name to approach, I don't really mean to spoil things but nothing about this shop is neither meaty or fresh. I don't fully understand it's name but I think it's meant to be a taiwanese pun of some sort. Moving on :)

With the recent boom of quick-stop drink shops CHATIME and Easy Way it would be no surprise that more of these types of shops would move in. You could say meet fresh is more refined but the principles are the same. All food is pre-prepared and scooped out of buckets to serve, despite what the name of the shop says nothing except the shaved ice is fresh if that counts.

Here you can order a wide variations on crushed ice and syrup. Several chewy , subtly flavoured but very colourful taro and sweet potato starch balls with more starchy pearls depending on what you order. Other items on the menu include cold and hot drinks such as pearl milk tea.

Always expect a line around normal meal times. The wait is not justified by the quality or price of the food although it is quite refreshing. It's a great treat to have during summer especially during those sticky summer nights and it's a nice change from those heavy creamy western flavours of vanilla and chocolate.

Still on the hunt

More Chashuu to chew through and analysis to do

As promised I'm still trying out the Chashuu ramen around sydney. Stay tuned as the collection of critical analysis to making my ultimate ramen guide is growing!

Ramen Kan

Pizza at home

I guess a lot of people have wanted to try making pizza at home. So I tried it myself, making everything but the cheese from scratch.

As my first test I'm trying to use bread dough to form the base. It seemed like it would work up until I tried to hammer out some bases. I think I lack the technique to stretch the dough :(

3 cups bread flour, 1 1/2 cups water and extra virgin olive oil

After 18 hours of fermentation and rising

Ready for the oven (shouldn't have put the basil there yet)

Delicious! Lacking the crust but the elements are present

Notes:

• Basil should be added after baking
• Need a pizza stone to get right crust
• Learn to toss pizza dough
• Use better cheese

Din Tai Fung

THE WORLD'S TASTIEST! COULD IT BE?? (in world square)

Din Tai Fung is an internationally renowned Taiwanese best known for their dumplings. Although it feels incredibly strange trying to describe such an asian food in plain english, excuse the awkwardness. Let's begin our critical analysis.

 Like all simple foods, high quality control over each aspect and element of the final product is essential to provide a satisfying experience. The worlds' best must achieve an ideal level of perfection in each of the following areas according to my limited experience in asian cuisine:

1. Dumpling skin / "pastry". The dumpling skin should be thin opaque but thin enough to be illuminated by the reflection of the colour of the filling. Skin thickness should be consistent and the wrapping should be as above tapered off to ensure the whole skin remains moist and evenly cooked when steamed. The skin should not stick to the steaming apparatus and when pierced on the spoon it gleams and slips around once coated in the juices. 
2. Juices. The "juice" that comes flowing out of the dumpling serves several purposes. The first is to provide a large proportion of the flavour. The fattiness of the source contains a lot of the flavnoids of the pork and should be derived from pork skin and should be collagenous and therefore have a faintly thick fatty stickiness to it which lubricates the skin of the dumpling, providing a seamless transition between the flavours and textures of the skin and filling.
3. Filling. This is where the juice originates from, the fat and collagen melts during steaming. In other words this is the source of all flavour that isn't from the skin. The yin of the yang which completes the dumpling experience. The intense porky flavour is mellowed by underlying tones of ginger which fill the mouth and perfume the nose. Flavours can vary but pork is the general filling, seafood and prawn are possible fillings which sweeten the filling.

Simply delicious

 I'd almost describe these as I did above. They are definitely very good! My favourite of this restaurant and the best dumplings I've tasted so far :)

Also some other things we had:

Shrimp dumpling - sweeter filling with thicker skin

A very clean and crisp wonton soup

White wonton rose

Pork bun - Pretty, but your average pork bun (not bbq style)

Classic beef noodle soup

 The beef noodle soup is quite the traditional noodle soup. The soup itself isn't made that well, it really lacks a depth of flavour but the noodles on the other hand were really nice. Everything we had paled in comparison to the dumplings, so if you ever find yourself craving some good dumplings you know where to look.

Mamak

Theres just something about watching my food getting put together that is truly captivating. The mesmerising flipping and spinning of roti (law-ti) dough, the smell and buzz of an open kitchen. I don't think theres really anything else that could make a restaurant experience more enjoyable for me other than the food itself.

The restaurant is always busy and is closed at around 2-5.30 in preparation for the dinner service. The line for lunch is fairly long, expect a 15-30 minute wait depending on the time. The line for dinner on the other hand is tremendous! A 30 minute wait is only normal if you don't get there early.

Closing up for pre-dinner preparation

Mamak is Malaysian for just about everything Indo-Malaysian. In other words when you walk in to Mamak  you walk in to a Malaysia tuned to the Sydneysider wavelength. Though true to those Malaysian flavours, the curries show signs of international influence and so do the roti.

Lunch at Mamak

Marinated chicken and satay

Lots of delicious, great colour - a good start to lunch

I can almost taste this with my eyes. Sweet, fragrant with peanut bits well incorporated. I can eat this by the spoon

Alright I can taste this one with my eyes

Roti Canai - the classic, all fluffed up and ready to go. Very delicate and crisp.

Buttery roti - a heavyweight version of the original. A little western influence.

Giant roti stuffed with a lamb omelet

So omelet, so little roti, so disappointed. My bad choice of order.

Banana roti with vanilla ice cream

 The banana roti was one of the most memorable of all the above. The way the sugars of the banana slices seeped through the roti and caramelised made it look spectacular, but above all the taste and the texture this created was absolutely amazing. A small short crunch of the buttery pastry is followed by a sweet rush of banana while the ice cream amalgamates and accentuates those flavours and textures.

Overall a good experience! I recommend you try Mamak. If spices aren't for you then just have the roti without the curry. Don't know what to order? For normal orders I recommend you try their roti canai and ayam goreng, you can't go wrong.

Nandos

I don't usually enjoy my eats at chain restaurants but there was this one time wonder of a burger I had at Nandos

A handsome crusty Portugese style bun, with the chicken, works and chips

Why not examine the sauce, enough fat and flavour to round off the lean, but still juicy chicken breast to complete the burger

The bread was simply fantastic, so flavourful - yet so light and fluffy in the centre but so carefully enveloped in a very thin layer of crispy crust. Sadly the same bread was not produced the next time I made the same order. To top it all off the chips were really nice and cripsy, and as a rare treat I got to have them with the vinegar dispensing bottles they had there. Yum, salt&vinegar hot chips!

$15 for a 'Portugasm'. Hmm, not bad.

My "Perfect" Wagyu beef steak

By perfection I can only mean the best so far, as I believe perfection is something that cannot be achieved - only strived for.

Sous Vide in a ~10% w/w brine sol. and seared with grapeseed oil.

Premium Wagyu

mmm extensive marbling!

The Sous Vide off the frying pan

On to the chopping board! Perfect medium rare

Amazing texture - explosively concentrated flavour

Dinner plate: Wagyu steak served with fondant potatoes

Chashuu Ramen

In recent years Japanese culture and in particular Japanese cuisine has surged in popularity, seeing a surge in the emergence of Japanese restaurants. Although the Japanese are renowned for their meticulous nature there is a massive variations on the flavours and quality of the same dish.

To begin stripping down what is possibly the best heavy flavoured dish Japan has to offer I'm venturing around Sydney to see what the city has to offer in Chashuu ramen.

I've broken down my ramen analysis to:

• Noodles
• Soup
• Topping

Starting off with one of the best I've tasted so far:

 

**This is an ongoing 'project'. I'll write up a really big post once I get more intel.**

Suuuuushii making at home!

 You can achieve professional results at home! All it takes is the right ingredients a little touch. I'll get around to posting a step by step for sushi, it will probably begin with a rice washing tutorial! (Very crucial! it's what makes sushi taste like sushi)

Super Vide

Heres the update on sous vide I promised. I'm very pleased with the result

7% w/w brine at 50 degrees celcius for 23 minutes:

An ordinary piece of salmon?

 It's a shame a photo isn't enough to impress. I'd have to either cook one for you myself or get you to make one yourself in order for you to believe me. If it helps, just have a look at how much moisture the meat has retained and how the salmon falls apart in this short clip.

Thai green curry

As a big fan of green and Thai, it was only a matter of time before I moved on to green curry. I'm a firm believer in having as much as possible, if not everything fresh and home made. So this curry recipe calls for everything to be made from scratch.

Green curry paste

The soul of a curry is composed of its spices. For a curry like this the curry paste is almost the complete dish condensed into a few spoonfuls. Making it from scratch is well worth the effort as it tastes better and like all home made food you can rest easy knowing what goes in it. This is a version I adapted and tweaked that uses minimal ingredients to produce a mild and flavourful curry.

Ingredients

1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
6 white peppercorns or 1 tsp ground white pepper
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
2 lemongrass stems (pale part only), roughly chopped
1 tbs freshly grated galangal or ginger 
3 long green chili, roughly chopped
4 kaffir lime leaves (fresh) spine removed, roughly chopped or 4 dried kaffir lime leaves
2 eschalots, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Method

1. Toast the dried spices until aromatic and grind to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle

2. Transfer the spice mix and remaining into a blender or food processor and blend with 1 tbsp water until a paste consistency as seen above.


Thai Green Curry

With a paste prepared, a complete curry is only a few steps away  

Ingredients

2 tbs sunflower oil or vegetable oil
2 baby eggplants, halved lengthways, cut into 2cm pieces
2-3 tbs green curry paste (see above recipe)
500g skinless chicken thigh fillets, cut into 3cm pieces
2 cups (500ml) coconut cream
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
125g fresh baby corn, halved lengthways
2 tbs fish sauce (optional for taste)
1 tbs lime juice
1 tbs sugar, to taste (personally I use 3 tbs because I like my curry sweet)
Sliced red chilli and Thai basil, to garnish

Method

1. Heat oil in a wok or deep frypan over high heat. Add eggplant and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Set eggplant aside.
 
2. Add paste to wok and stir briefly. Add chicken and stir-fry, tossing to ensure paste doesn't burn, for 2-3 minutes until seared. Add coconut cream, stock and corn and bring to the boil. Return eggplant to pan, then reduce heat to low and simmer for a further 5 minutes until chicken is cooked and corn is just tender. Stir in fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and heat through for 1 minute.
 
3.Garnish with red chilli, extra lime leaves and Thai basil. Serve with steamed rice.

  

   

Holiday cooking

Helloooo it's been a while since I've updated my blog. Sorry! I've just been eating out so much and cooking quite a bit at home and I just couldn't decide on what to write. So heres a big post.

During one of my many home cooking adventures I stumbled across the 'Sous Vide' (soo veed) technique of cooking. This technique is used in quite a few more expensive dishes in higher end restaurants which meticulously cook their food to perfection, and to be able to do this myself at home with no technical ability at all, I find it particularly exciting.

Sous Vide

There are many cooking techniques out there that are well known: Deep/Shallow fry, stiry fry, pan fry, boiling, steaming, etc.. But the thing that sets Sous Vide apart from these is that the technique itself requires knowledge of the specific cooking temperatures of food and to a lesser extent water content and the behavior of the food that is being cooked when it is cooked. (Chemical reactions, physical processes, e.g. contraction / formation of collagen fibers.)

So in other words, Sous Vide is food science at it's best - at least what I've seen and tasted so far.

Sous Vide salmon - Take note of how the salmon broke. Just cooked to flaking point. Mindblowing texture. No knife was used.

What is Sous Vide?

Sous Vide means under a vacuum. The technique refers to cooking food in vacuum sealed plastic in a water bath at lower than normal cooking temperatures for a longer time. But why go through all the trouble? The answer is simple. The end product has a much more intense flavour and a better texture. Meats are so moist and tender you will be left unbelieving.  

The experiment begins

After a very successful experiment with a stray piece of salmon from a previous salmon crusade: 

Potato crusted salmon on crushed potatoes

Salmon crusted salmon on asian greens

Crispy skin salmon with asparagus and garlic dip

I  continue to exploit this technique like a child exploits all kinds of uses for their newfound toy.

Method

First I portion off my rib eye steak and soak it in a 10%  w/w brine for 10 minutes 

1 kg eye fillet $$$

 While it soaked I prepared a simple garlic thyme marinade

Garlic, Thyme, Olive oil, Soy, Rice vinegar and a splash of brandy

moosh

 Taking the steaks out of the brine, I dried them off with a paper towel and sealed them off in a glad zip bag after sucking the air out with a straw.

With the smallest burner on the stove at the lowest setting I set up a pot of water with a crumpled rectangular cake tin. The tin ensures no direct heat is transferred from the pot.

Lowest of low!

The home lab

After an hour and a half I took the steak out and put it on the pan to give it some colour

Not so pretty

Brushed up

Using whatever juices and remaining marinade that was left in the bag I made a quick sauce to plate up

Looking too well done and possibly dry

Results

So the beef turned out to be just under well done. I was disappointed.  The pang of failure seemed to hit me. The lack of colour and the rareness of the meat really put me off. So. I thought I had reached a point in my cooking where I could no longer pull off dishes without practise.

I gritted my teeth and shoved aside my intense hate for well done steak. Wiping away my tears for wasting my rib eye steak, I took a bite.

 It tasted pretty good! Okay, pretty good was an understatement - Even as a well done steak, it rivals a perfectly cooked medium to medium rare steak in terms of flavour, texture and moisture. This only lead me to wonder how a perfect medium rare sous vide steak would be like... but that's for next time. I'll report in again when I can get my hands on some more rib eye. Oh and I went and got a thermometer so I don't have to use my hand to test the water now haha. Until next time!