New Year, New Foods, New Beginning

Happy 2014!!

After almost a year of no posts, I've become inspired by the foods I've eaten recently and decided to express my voice once more.  What can you expect from me this year?  I'm hoping to create a point of view that is informative, delicious, and most importantly, me.  If you like Asian foods, cuts of offal, grilled meats, and foods that appeal to old British ladies then stay tuned.  In the meantime, here is a bowl of noodles from one of my favorite local places, The Pig & The Lady.

More about this place in a future installment.

The Science of Food

A blog I subscribe to called Khymos is a food science one that deals with my favorite pasttime in the scientific sense.  While they do not post very often, when they do, it's always something that I find educational and will someday incorporate into my own cooking style.

Today, a post came out about a free food journal available online today.  Entitled International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science, it is formatted in a way that will remind you of other scientific journals usually reserved for physicians and scientists.  Since my regular job requires me to read such academic journals, this fits very comfortably into my reading style. 

For now, the first issue has been made available as an open source with no news on whether or not it will become a "for pay" site.  While it's up, I would suggest you download it and save it somewhere safe to read later.  I've already downloaded the entire thing and will be reading it on my iPad as soon as I can. 

Thanks for reading

Eating On The Road (Kealakekua)

Happy New Year!  It's been a busy one for me so far and I have missed writing this blog for those of you who have expressed their desire to see me continue my culinary ramblings. 

Last week, I had to go to Kealakekua for work which is on the island of Hawaii.  While there, I did have my usual pork chops from Manago Inn but that's a story for another time.  Not to leave you high and dry, however, here is a pic of my lunch for that day. 

What really got my foodie palate excited was a little fruit stand next to Manago Inn that was selling a fruit I've never seen before.  Tamarillos or "Tree Tomato" is a little fruit from New Zealand that looks like a small oblong tomato.  When I saw these, I found myself fascinated by something new that I've never eaten before and spend a measly $1.50 for four of these little exotic fruits.  I proceeded to take these away in a small brown bag reserving a little time after lunch for a tiny Tamarillo taste test. 

As you can see, the outside had an interesting color with a thick skin that reminded me of persimmons.  The inside flesh tased like tomatoes but what really was interesting were the seeds.  The seeds tasted like. . . . guava!  While it wasn't a strong guava taste, it certainly was the taste of that familiar Hawaiian fruit.  Overall, the primary flavor profile ends up being tomato and that is also what is left on your tongue after the fruit has been eaten (probably a result of the acidic qualities of the flesh).   End of the day, I do believe I would try this again, but I will probably get one that gives to the touch to ensure ripeness and see if the fruit develops more sugars. 

Thanks for reading

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!!