Brownies

Anyone who does not like brownies please raise your hand. Perhaps you don't like chocolate, which is a fair reason for not liking brownies. But if you don't like brownies because it does not taste good or the brownies you had before were too sweet, then please allow this recipe to change your mind. 

David Lebovitz (http://www.davidlebovitz.com/) is my first-stop go to person for dessert recipe. He wrote a wonderful book called "The sweet life of Paris". If you were in Paris, or going to Paris, or dreaming about going to Paris, please read this book. 

I found David's recipe through another random website called http://leitesculinaria.com/36645/recipes-brownies.html  

I am going to copy the recipe verbatim from that website (reference and acknowledgement noted). I will simply highlight my own thoughts in RED.

Active time: 15 minutes | Total time: 30 minutes

Robert’s Absolute Best Brownies Recipe

Ingredients (serves about 12 people)

• 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted or salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan
• 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped. 
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•                                  No, Lindt did not sponsor my website and I do not endorse Lindt. 
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• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

2. Line the inside of an 8-inch square pan with 2 lengths of foil, positioning the sheets perpendicular to each other and allowing the excess to extend beyond the edges of the pan, or with a single large sheet of extra wide foil or parchment paper. Lightly butter the foil or parchment. [Editor's Note: The original recipe calls for a 9-inch square pan, although we've had success with an 8-inch pan.}

3. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the chocolate and stir by hand until it is melted and smooth.

(I used a water bath technique which I talked about before, by warming the butter and chocolate with steam)

                          I always like the lava appearance of melted chocolate

4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla until combined. Beat in the eggs by hand, 1 at a time. Add the flour and stir energetically for 1 full minute—time yourself—until the batter loses its graininess, becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away a bit from the sides of the saucepan. [Editor's Note: There are two crucial elements in the making of these brownies. One is throwing yourself into the making of them by stirring them "energetically," as the recipe stipulates. The second, also spelled out in the recipe, is making certain you stir the batter thusly for a full minute. It may appear to separate a few seconds into stirring, and it may appear grainy midway through, but when you stir with vigor for a full 60 seconds--and we do mean a full 60 seconds, along the lines of "One Mississippi, two Mississippi..."--you'll end up with a batter that's rich, thick, satiny smooth, and glossy as can be. And therein lies the difference between dry, crumbly brownies and what many brownie mavens around the world feel are, indeed, the world's best brownies.] Stir in the chopped nuts.

(To summarize: After adding the flour, stir the mixture until your hand falls off. Switch hand and swirl until that hand falls off too. Good arm exercise)

5. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center feels almost set, about 30 minutes. Do not overbake.

(I baked mine at exactly 350F for exactly 30 minutes. Perfect)

6. Let the brownie cool completely in the pan—this is the difficult part—before lifting the foil or parchment and the block of brownie out of the pan. Cut the brownie into squares. (The brownies will keep well for up to 4 days and can be frozen for up to 1 month.)

If you look carefully, you will see four layers. Top is the crispy crust, the middle "fudgy" layer is sandwiched by the "cakey" layer. I dare say that this brownie is perfect although I would prefer it 10% less sweet but my tasters find the sweetness just fine. I am at lost of words to describe my joy when I take a bite into this brownie. It is absolutely delicious (for lack of better words).

Kaya

Move aside nutella; get behind me, peanut butter; make way, strawberry jam and your entourage of fruit jams. Butter, stick around (pun intended). Here comes the new kid on the blog --- Kaya.

What's a Kaya? According to Wikipedia, there are more than 20 definitions. The most interesting one being "Marijuana" in Jamaican. Surely I am not talking about that kind of Kaya.

I am talking about the other Kaya that is translated to "RICH" and, boy, this a rich food item that everyone from poor to rich enjoys. It is a regionally confined food item that hasn't been spread around the world. The reason is simple - "Freshly Made". You can buy them at a grocery store in Chinatown but they are always a little off or too sweet.

So what's Kaya? It is a Jam that you put on a toast.

There are only three ingredients. Count with me. 1, 2......3.

3 ingredients come together to form what I called "Golden Nectar" (I should trademark this).

What are these ingredients?

Eggs, Coconut Cream/Milk, and Sugar.


Ingredients
(make one cup of kaya, recipe courtesy of Pat, http://chewsome.wordpress.com/)



5 whole eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1 can of coconut cream

Instructions:

1. Warm up the coconut milk while it is still in its can. Set aside.
2. Beat the eggs until very smooth.
3. Add the sugar and continue beating. Make sure there is no sugar lumps.


Should've beat the egg until smooth before adding the sugar. Don't be scared by the amount of  sugar


4. Boil a pot of water. When the water starts boiling, turn the heat down to a gentle simmer.
5. Set up a steaming mechanism as showed in the photograph. You can be creative with your own methods.
(The key in making a good kaya is to avoid cooking the egg in direct heat. Instead, you want to use the steam as heat source. The top layer of the water should be at least 2 inches bellow the top pan.)



6. Transfer the egg and sugar mixture to the pan and keep stirring gently.
7. When the sugar has melted, add the coconut cream a few tablespoons at a time.
(Add enough coconut cream until it reaches your desired flavor. I added about 3/4 of a can of the coconut cream).




8. Don't forget to keep stirring the whole time.
9. Keep cooking until the volume of the mixture has reduced significantly and the kaya begins to stick to the spoon.





10. Store immediately in the refrigerator.
11. In fact, go toast a piece of bread and spread it with warm kaya now!

 

If you haven't had Kaya before, please bug me until you have tried this "Golden Nectar". I was lucky enough to have multiple food tasters and one recurring feedback that I hear was that "it taste like butter".  I very really thought of it that way but I do see the odd resemblance in taste. What I really like about homemade kaya is that I can control the sweetness. I really don't like food that is over-sweetened and making my own kaya makes sure it does not happen.

Cantaluope with Translucent Sago and Fragrant Coconut Syrup

This is one of my favorite desserts of all time. No surprise, it involves coconut milk. It is a refreshing yet rich dessert that is commonly consumed as a drink. A certain restaurant in New York City has perfected this dessert in an item on their menu called "Frozen Banana Tapioca" and I have been determine to revisit my childhood memory and to recreate that dish with my own interpretation.

Ingredients

Cantaloupe/Honey Dew/Papaya - 1 small fruit is more than enough
A bag of sago
Sugar (for making the syrup)
1 can of coconut cream

Each of the ingredient in this dessert needs to be prepared separately for assembly later.

Instructions

Preparation
A) Fruits  - cut into small pieces and refrigerate
B) Sago - cook until translucent.
C) Syrup - Boil approximately 2-3 cups of water. Add sugar until the syrup attains your preferred sweetness. Chill the syrup in the refrigerator.


Assembly
1) Mix coconut cream with the syrup. I would start with a 1:1 ratio of coconut cream and syrup. There is a lot of freedom on how you much of each to use. It all depends on your taste and preference.
2) Lay the fruits at the bottom of a bowl, add the sago over the top and drizzle the coconut syrup.


It is that simple, isnt it?

Fresh fruit, the fragrance of coconut, the sweetness of the syrup and the soft texture of Sago. It dun't get any better than this. You can definitely use other fruits such as honeydew, papaya, watermelon, all kinds of berries and even banana.

Braised Pork Belly with Preserved Vegetable

This is one of those dishes that I categorized under the title "Classic Mom's dishes".  I would ask my mom to make this dish whenever I get the opportunity, which is rare. I am a blessed with a mother who cooks really well and extremely blessed to have my mother sojourning at my place for a short term.

We finally made it to Chinatown to buy the necessary ingredients to make this dish:

Braised Pork Belly with Salted Dried Vegetable.

So what is this Preserved Vegetable? In Mandarin, it is called 梅菜。 As the name suggested, vegetables (usually some kind of mustard) are salted and dried under the sun. As in most regions with cold winter weather, vegetables are pickled/preserved so that there is vegetable on the dinner table during winter times.

Ingredients  (10 servings)

One bunch of preserved vegetable (about 1 lb)
Pork Belly (about 1.5 lb)
Pork Butt/Pork Shoulder (about 1 lb)

                                                                Preserved Vegetable

Seasonings

One whole garlic bulb
Two thumb-size ginger
half tablespoon salt
3 tablespoons light soy sauce,
3tablespoons dark soy sauce

Instructions

All of the work in making this dish are in the preparation

Preparation:

1. Cut the meat into small chunks and boiled in water for 10 minutes to remove the grim.
2. Clean the preserved vegetable thoroughly and chopped into small pieces
3. Clean and remove excess dry skin from the garlic (leave it as a whole bulb)
4. Slice the ginger into thin slices

Cooking:

1. Combine the cooked pork, preserved vegetable and all the seasoning ingredients into a pot.
2. Add just enough water to cover the top of the meat/vegetable.
3. Turn the heat on high.
4. Once it starts boiling, lower the heat and simmer for 1-1.5 hours. Or until the meat is fully tenderized.
5. Seasoned with more salt if needed.


Imagine you are sitting outside an old quaint cottage in the village with your partner when the sun is setting. You basked in the residual warmth of the sun and enjoy a bowl of rustic stew. That's the only way I can describe the feeling of eating this dish.


If that's not pleasurable enough, treat yourself to a glass of homemade mint tea.

Oxtail Soup

When I was little, my family used to go to this nice little steak house once a year on special occasions. This steak house was the real deal in my little brain at that time because of its red and white checkered table clothes and steaks that were served on wooden board. The only thing that I remember about this place other than the deco and the serving-wares is the Oxtail soup.

This soup has a special place in my heart because I associate it with special occasions. I don't remember those occasions anymore but I sure do remember the soup. After all these years, I finally decided to make an oxtail soup and tried to recreate childhood memory.

I looked around the internet for a recipe that has some of the ingredients that will create the flavor that I was looking for. This led me to the recipe on this website: http://www.thecookingdoctor.co.uk/search?q=oxtail  do check it out for its complete recipe.

Ingredients: (8 medium size bowl servings)

A) Main Ingredients
2-2.5lb oxtails
1 large onion
1 large carrot
1 head of celery

 
 
                                                 


B) Aromatics

1 large shallots or 3 small shallots (roughly chopped)
2 inches of ginger (roughly chopped)
1 large tomato or 2 small tomatoes (cut into small chunks)
1.5 tablespoon coriander powder
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1/2 tablespoon cumin powder
2 stalks of lemon grass, the white part only.



 

Two Parts Instructions: 

A) Roasting the oxtail (I adapted this step from the French technique of making soup stock)

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Cut the carrots, celery and onion into rough pieces.
3. Lay the cut vegetables at the bottom of a roasting pan and overlay the top with the oxtails.
4. Roast the bones for 30 minutes until the meat and bones turn brown.

 



B) Cooking the soup
1. Transfer the bones, all the vegetables and the juices into a large pot.
2. Add all the aromatics to the pot and add enough water to cover all the ingredients.
3. Turn the heat to medium and cook the soup for 2-3 hours.
4. Season the soup with salt

(In my case, I used a pressure cooker and cooked the soup for 45 minutes)







In my opinion, this soup came out PERFECT. It tasted exactly the way I remembered. I would say the key ingredient is indeed the top note aroma of the lemon grass, without it, it will not be the same. The middle note of the "holy trinity" of soup - onion, carrots, celery, enhances the flavor and the tomato flavor completes this dish.

Oh, did I mention the meat was "fell of the bones" tender???

Molten Chocolate Cake (Update)

If there is a word that is repeated in the laboratory more than any other words, that word is --- "REPEAT". Whether it is a successful or failed experiment, you will always have to REPEAT until you correct the failure or duplicate the success. For a chef or scientist or musician or athlete, they achieve success by doing one thing really well --- REPEAT --- over and over again until they achieve greatness or perfection.

In my truly scientific nature, I was compelled to, what's the word? REPEAT making molten chocolate. As you have read in the post immediately before this, my molten chocolate wasn't quite "molten" because I over-baked it, so I REPEATED the experiment.

                                              9 minutes = 80% molten

 
                                                        10 minutes = 40% molten

                                              11 minutes = 10% molten


What's the moral of the story?

1. Timing is everything. 9 minutes in my oven is not the same as 9 minutes in your oven. Your oven might be 10, 20, 30F different from my oven. You have to do this a couple times in your own oven to know for sure when to take your cake out.

2. This is purely empirical -- there are two signs that the cake is ready when
a) you smell the warm chocolate scent in the kitchen
b) the top of the cake has set

3. I would be fearful as a pastry chef in charged of making molten chocolate cake. Success and failure is in the difference of 30 seconds. Imagine you have to make many orders that come in at random time.

Molten Chocolate Cake

   (I apologize for the out-of-focus picture. I am learning how to use a new tool to take these pictures)

When I look back at the list of food that I have cooked and documented in this blog, I realized most of the dishes either have sentimental value or trigger a specific memory. I think this is what makes food special. Just like music, it triggers neurotransmission in the brain in a way that is still a mystery.

Molten Chocolate Cake is one of those dishes that brought back memory.

I don't remember when was the first time I had molten chocolate cake but I do remember one memorable occasion sharing molten chocolate cake with wonderful friends and family at "Finale Desserterie" (Cambridge, Mass) two Augusts ago.

History books documented that famous chef Jean-George Vongericthen invented this dish many years ago after pulling the cake out of the oven too early.

I finally get around making molten chocolate cake recently and I am very pleased to share the experience with you.


Ingredients (6 servings of 1/2 cup size ramekin)

One stick of unsalted butter
6-9 ounces of dark chocolate (I used a 72% cacao dark chocolate)
2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour

Instructions (some of the lines are copied verbatim from Jean-Georges' recipe that has been circulating everywhere)

1. Preheat the oven to 450F
2. Rub butter on the inside of the ramekins, lightly flour the ramekins and tap out excess flour. Set the ramekins in a baking sheet
3. In a double boiler, over simmer water, melt the butter with the chocolate (break into smaller pieces first). Once the chocolate and butter have melted completely, mix it well and make sure there is no lumps. Set the mixture aside to cool down to room temperature.

 

4. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt until the mixture turns pale yellow and thick.



                                  I love how the light reflects off the melted chocolate

5. Slowly add and mix (original recipe uses the word "quickly fold") the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, add the flour during this time. Once everything is mixed properly, transfer the batter to the ramekins. Tap the ramekins to make sure that the batter sits evenly.




6. Bake the cake for 6-7 minutes. If you have lights in your oven, you can take your cake out when you see the outer layer of the cake sets.



7. Let the cake cool outside of the oven for 1 minute, cover the cake with an inverted dessert plate and reverse the ramekin (beware of hot ramekins). Wait for 10 seconds. Slowly remove the ramekins.

8. Voila!  serve immediately. 

                             The finish product with a dollop of homemade whipped cream

                                                 Is it molten inside?

                                                    No!!!  Explanation bellow




Although this cake wasn't exactly a molten chocolate cake, the core of the cake was very moist. Eating a warm, freshly baked chocolate cake is truly and purely an enjoyment. There is something magical about the smell of the kitchen when the cake is being baked. I baked 6 cakes for a party of 5 and we have to fight for the 6th. "Hunger Game"-style!

Here are some extra after-thoughts:

1. If you look at most of the published "official" Jean-George recipe, it says "bake for 12 minutes". I baked for 11 minutes because I was impatient. Turns out 12 minutes is absolutely too long. Most food-bloggers who documented this dish baked their cake for 6-7 minutes. Hence no molten chocolate. Easy fix!

2. Many places also suggested that you can make the batter a few hours before, store it in the refrigerator and warm it at room temperature prior to baking. I am a little skeptical about the integrity of the batter (especially when beaten eggs are involved). I made the melted chocolate butter ahead but the egg mixture right before baking.  Perhaps someone can share their personal experience.

3. If you are uber-health conscious, read no further and consider yourself warned:
a) 1 stick of butter (8 tablespoon) between 6 cakes, which is 3/4 tablespoon of butter in each cake
b) Half a chocolate bar in each cake
c) and finally 2 grams of sugar in each cake