Happy New Year

To whatever readers I may have,

Thanks for following along and reading my food blog.  While I don't strive to be a professional chef, I have been having so much fun making interesting foods and experimenting with creative cuisine.  For 2012, I'll continue to look for new things to try and new places to eat.  I'll balance out the positives with the negatives and make things that anyone can easily make at home.

Enjoy your holiday weekend and we'll see you in the Leap Year.  In the meantime, don't forget to eat some Ozoni tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!!

Nostalgia meets Reality

As adults, we often hold foods that we ate in our youths with high regards and increase their exponential yumminess with each year.  So it was for me with Pee Wee's Drive Inn.  As  an early teen just starting out at a new school at the young age of 12, I often went there with my new friends from school to enjoy their daily offerings of Cheeseburgers, French Fries, and a cup of Green River.  To my young uneducated palate, and the fact that I was eating with my friends not my parents, this was the best stuff ever.  To me, those meals were the equivalent of eating at any 3 Michelin star restaurant. 

A few decades have gone by since those days gone by but I frequently find myself driving by the old eatery yearning for their crinkle fries hot out of the fryer and smothered in tangy sweet ketchup.  Ahh the ultimate combo of hot/cold, sweet/salty. 

A couple of weeks ago, I convinced myself to make a stop there to check out the place that has been under new ownership but heard that some things remained the same.  Having pulled up at 8:30am, I didn't really want to eat fries but rather a nice breakfast of eggs, linguica, and rice. 

Very excited, I took my first bite of the rice.

Wait, why is this cold?

I took the food back to the counter and asked them if they usually serve their fried rice cold?  Getting the rolled eye treatment, the counter lady grabs the container from my hand and without a word proceeds to the back of the diner.  Within seconds, I hear "Ssssssssss, SSSSSSssssssssss, sssssssssssss" 

Oh my god, is she grilling my rice on the griddle? 

Sure enough, she returns with all my rice warmed up off the griddle and now with the gift of greasy off-flavors from everything that had been cooked there that morning. 

Needless to say, my nostalgic gastronomic youth was destroyed with a flick of the spatula and the sizzle of the cold inadequate rice.  I'm definitely not going to be returning here anytime soon.

Go there at your own risk.

Thanks for reading

Restaurant Review: Lobster King

Having a mildly strong craving for seafood this week, I decided that this was the time to try the fairly new Lobster King on the corner of King and Keeaumoku Street.   The reason for this choice was the crowds I see every weekend when I pass by on my way to other destinations.  Joined by a fellow foodie, it was with great anticipation that we sat down and awaited our Friday rewards of succulent lobster and other tasty dishes.  Since it was only the two of us, we ordered only three dishes:

1)  Braised Kau Yuk and Taro in Hot Pot
2)  Lobster sauteed in garlic and butter
3)  Garlic Seafood Fried Rice

While there were other specials to choose from hese dishes were specifically chosen to represent that which we had the most reference to, and are fairly standard at most Chinese seafood restaurant.  It is by this watermark that we could make the best evaluation of the food being served.

 I came very close to ordering the deep fried intestine

Our offerings today

Unfortunately, this type of reward was not to be had by my friend at I on this particular location.

Without indulging in too much hyperbole, I can honestly say that every dish was something that could have been on par or beaten by an entree at Panda Express.  Here are my reasons:

1)  The Garlic Seafood Fried Rice had no garlic flavor nor was it fried.  It tasted like it would have used a few more minutes in the wok to get rid of the excess moisture in the rice.  What we received was bland, slightly soggy, and in desperate need of some salt and pepper.

2)  The Garlic Butter Lobster, like the fried rice, lacked the necessary garlic flavor.  While drenched in butter, it was the unsalted type which left the lobster greasy and again needing a little salt.

3)  The Kau Yuk with Taro, while not lacking flavor only yielded one flavor...Star Anise.  The over-indulgent use of this spice took over any taste of pork or taro that should have been in this dish.  It also seemed to need a bit more time braising as the pork belly was still chewy and the fat hadn't melted yet.

Overall,  I was fairly disappointed with the whole meal and feel pretty certain that I will not go back there anytime soon.  If any of you feel the urge to go here, save your money and get some Panda Express.

Thanks for reading!!

My Bread Odyssey

Earlier this week, I became hooked on a BBC TV show called Great British Food Revival.  Every episode deals with a local food product or dish that is distinctive British but is in threat of disappearing from the British culture due to lack of awareness and use.  In one particular episode, they focused on artisanal breads and how easy they are to make at home with products you can buy at the store.  Feeling inspired by the show's message I decided to try my novice hand at making the basic White Bread Sandwich Loaf.

Having never made bread before, I had a few items that were missing from my pantry.  The most important ingredient on the list proved to be the most elusive.  Lyle's Golden Syrup is a distinctively British sweetener akin to Karo's Corn Syrup in the U.S. but with a much deeper flavor due to caramelization of the syrup prior to bottling.  As luck should have it, I was able to find a small stock on the bottom shelf at the only Whole Foods on the island.  Could I have used a substitute?  I probably could have but I wanted to maintain the integrity of the recipe as far as I could as this was my first time making bread ever.

(This was worth the search)

With ingredients at the ready, I prepared to make my bread...

Let me reiterate that I have never made bread before so when I encountered the point in the recipe to add my yeast I had no knowledge that the dry yeast I was using was different then the fresh yeast listed on the recipe.  After spending the appropriate time mixing, kneading, and baking, the bread never developed it's rise and what I ended up with was more like a garden stepping stone then an actual bread.  For those interested, I didn't take a pic of the disaster but here is a impression of what it looked like...

What the bread felt like to me

Not to be discouraged, I did my due research online and figured out how to activate my dry yeast (much easier than I thought).  The next evening, I dove back into my flour, yeast, and golden syrup and tried it again.  The second iteration, while "yeast-y", became a victim of my own hubris and impatience.  Because I thought that I had the riddle of my bread solved with the yeast, I overlooked the amount of liquid I was adding to my flour-yeast mix.  I ended up committing the ultimate novice mistake and blindly followed the recipe rather than my instincts about what the product should look like while putting it together.  Using all the liquids afforded to me by the recipe, I ended up with a very runny dough that had the appearance of a grey flour pudding.  While I did get rise from my yeast, and a nice flavor, the end product was a bit limp and retained a yellow hue due to all the butter in the recipe.

 (Looks ok, but. . .)

(. . . it didn't quite meet standards)

With greater knowledge in hand, and a semi-obsessive desire to get it right, I tried it one more time the following evening.  

With this third iteration, I followed the recipe, activated my yeast, and added my liquids slowly to the flour mix til I got what I thought was the right texture for raw dough.  Adding my secret ingredient, patience, I got the appropriate rise from my bread and retained the wonderful flavor that was in the second loaf.  

(Chewy Success)

So was the end result worth all this effort?  I certainly think so.  The flavor that is imparted by the golden syrup and the butter is unlike any bread I've had before and the chewiness of the bread crumb is due to my own kneading of the dough.  Knowing this, I can modify the chewiness in the future as I gain more insight into how to manipulate gluten to my benefit.

  

Overall, I feel much better about what I'm doing and plan to keep making breads for the household.  With only 6 ingredients in the recipe, it's not only healthier than store bought bread but it's cheaper as well. 

Thanks for reading!!

Chicken Wings Aren't Just Bar Food Anymore

Most weeks, due to a fairly busy schedule, I cook my dinners with the idea that there will be leftovers for at least 1 or 2 nights.  I found myself today with a need to cook dinner that yielded no leftovers since we usually do not eat at home for dinner on Friday and Saturday nights and by Sunday I have no interest in eating food I cooked Thursday. It was this premise in mind that I decided to try thisrecipe from Ferran Adria's new cookbook The Family Meal. 

If' you're a crazy food stalker like me, you'll recognize the name of Ferran Adria as the owner and chef  of the former el Bulli in Spain.  His new cookbook contains recipes not from his restaurant but from those foods that was often cooked for his staff behind closed doors. With this in mind, I decided to tackle this rustic recipe that not only looked delicious on paper but is also budget minded, utilizing the lowly chicken wing and elevating it beyond that of bar food. 

As I proceeded cooking this dish, there were a few thing that I found appealling

1) The transformation from this...

....to this.

And with the addition of a few spices and some cremini mushrooms, I can go from this...

....to this

Viola!!

Overall, the dish takes about 40 minutes to cook, of which 30 minutes is spent cooking the wings on medium heat to get a high-index crispiness that gives both texture and fantastic flavor.  A very simple dish (it only uses 7 ingredients, 5 of which I already had in my pantry), and at $8 for dinner for two , it is certainly worth a try.

Thanks for reading!!

Chasing Windmills (Star Anise-Ginger Chicken)

Earlier this year we took our semi-regular trip to Taiwan to visit my wife's extended family.  I always look forward to this trip, not for the sights and shopping but for the food, naturally.  Over the years, I have become accustomed to the flavor that can be found here.  Overall it is Chinese food that is simple, slightly spicy, and always packed with flavor.  However on this last trip, I was blind-sided by what I can only attest to being the best chicken dish I have ever had.

Best chicken dish ever

Known to us non-Chinese speaking people as 3 Cup Chicken, it's essentially 3 cups of chicken, 3 cups or garlic, 3 cups of ginger cooked in a sort of soy-flavored stew and served over rice.  What made this dish at this specific restaurant particularly amazing is that they finish the dish in a stone bowl bake it so that most of the liquid has been reduced and you are left with a sticky glaze and lots of chicken, garlic, and ginger (all equally edible due to the long cooking time). 

Having declared it the best chicken dish I have ever had, I have been chasing this flavor since I returned to Hawaii and have been failing miserably in my efforts to recreate this dish.

The other day, I ran across this recipe for Star Anise-Ginger Chicken which by it's description sounded eerily like that dish I had in Taiwan.  Since seeing this over the weekend I took the opportunity to make it tonight for dinner.

My Western version

Overall, the taste was pretty close which I think was due to the addition of honey, which all 3-Cup Chicken recipes I've found online do not utilize.  As for the reduction, while this recipe uses the liquid reduction as a sauce, I decided to toss it with my chicken and use it as a glaze, to see if I could replicate that elusive flavor.

Having come this close, I will probably stick with this recipe and continue to tweak it.  I do think, however, that until I buy some stone bowl to bake in the oven, I will probably still be more far then near.

Thanks for reading!

Restaurant Review (Kiss My Grits)

Sometimes in life things can get pretty hectic.  So it's been for me, which explains my lack of any post or any interesting cooking for that matter.  Still, I did want to put up this quick review on a new Southern restaurant that just opened up in Honolulu.

Kiss My Grits is a small private eatery that is located in the back alleys of Puck's Alley.  Owned and operated by a brother and sister from North Carolina, this is the place for good, heart-warming, comfort food even if you have never eaten this type of cuisine.  With a fairly varied menu, from grits, to fried chicken, to fried green tomatoes, this has quickly risen to the top 3 on my lists of favorite places to have lunch.

I was fortunate enough to pay my first visit with my wife and a bunch of friends.  The benefit of this is that we were able to order a variety of items and share "family style".  For those who want to EAT, get the fried chicken plate and rinse it down with their often sold-out Bourbon Bread Pudding.  For those who are on a budget, I would strongly recommend the chicken tenderloin biscuit sandwich.  At $3.95 this is a fantastic bargain and comes with a side of country gravy that will ensure a full stomach and a smile on your face.

Biscuits and Gravy 

Oyster Po' Boy

Brunswick Stew w/Cheesy Grits

Shrimp and Grits

Fried Green Tomatoes

Bourbon Bread Pudding

Banana Pudding

Thanks for reading!