Monthly Archives: October 2008

Here is a look at my first baking attempt at my new place a couple months ago. It’s a french apple tart. I have done this tart several times so it was a good way to get use the gas appliances.

Tonight I made a classic japanese dish, sukiyaki. It’s one of the common one would see at a Japanese resturant. I categorize it as a nabe. These are like soups cooked in a single pot and usually severed tableside on a portable burner to keep it bubbling hot. It is very to prepare this dish just fry up some thinly sliced beef or pork pour in the sauce and dump in a bunch of different veggies. The secret to the taste is the sauce, it varies from place to place but basicly it’s just soy sauce, sugar, sake, and water. Taste ranges from sweet to salty depening on your taste.

I made some muffins today. It was fairly quick since I didn’t have to do too much mixing to do. Since I am lacking in a mixer right now it was the perfect recipe to do. The banana’s weren’t very ripe, but i think the taste was good. I think I am getting use to the gas oven. It feels like it operates a little differently then the an electric oven.

I made a tart this time. I haven’t really baked anything recently and I’m not really sure why. Perhaps I don’t eat sweets as often as others, but I do enjoy relaxing and following a recipe. I like to make tarts more then cakes, I feel that fruit topping are lighter and more refreshing then cakes. So todays filling was a mix of strawberries and raspberries. I felt the filling was right on slightly tart and slightly sweet, but the dough was rolled too thin. I think it tasted good overall, but will try and make sure to compensate for the dough issue next time.

For the first time in a while I made curry. Curry for me is one of those things that is good once in a while, but never more then once every month. The last time I made curry was when I still lived in SOMA. Recently I have had problems with my curry not tasting like curry, but tonight was the first time in a while that it actually tasted like curry. I’m not exactly sure what I did differently to make it taste okay this time. I have decided that it is two different variables that could have caused this changed. First I did a mix of beef and chicken broth this time, and I cooked the curry into the onions longer this time before adding the broth. It was not without its problems though. One problem that occurred was the potatoes were not cooked long enough. I think this could be related to the size of each piece. If i made them smaller I think I would have cooked on time. Secondly it felt too thin, I had to make a secondary roux to thicken and still it felt slightly too thin. I believe if i had made a roux 3tbsp instead of 2 it would have turned out better.

Tonight I made dinner with my roommate. I prepared the meat loaf and she prepared the sides. I’ve done this meatloaf several times before, although each time has been a different variation. My consistency is incredibly lacking. The inside is stuffed with various vegetables and the outside is covered with bacon and a glazed made with brown sugar, ketchup, and cumin. The sides were a mixed wild rice and a zucchini onion dish. Overall for me the meatloaf was alright. The taste was there, but the vegetables seemed undercooked. I should have roasted them, did this step previously and it turned out rather well. Since they were roasted they shrank so I was able to fit more in there. One step I did this time was tuck the excess bacon underneath the loaf. I noticed this actually allowed it to hold its shape better and it seemed there was less leakage of juices.

Tonight I made what has been called a Japanese pancake/pizza, okonomiyaki. I don’t think I would consider it either. Maybe it has a closer relationship to a omlet or a quice. The filling is mainly cabbage but you can add other ingredients too. I added some mochi and small dried shrimp. The top has a sweet and tangy sauce along with some Japanese mayo and bonito.

This was my first attempt at anything sou vide. For all of you that don’t know this is a cooking technique developed in France in the 1970s. Food is vacuum packed and then cooked in a water bath at a very low temperature, usually around 150F. What this does is prevents the heat from breaking down the meat making it tough. Since I didn’t have a vacuum packing machine i used several layers of saran wrap packed tightly around the chicken. So this isn’t true sou vide, but more of something cooked in a sou vide style. I was more or less happy with the results, but I do think i kept it in for too long, I was quite worried that I would be under cooked. A reminder cooking items sou vide can be dangerous, since it the meat may not get hot enough to kill all the bacteria in it. However, when its done right the results is meat that is very juicy and soft and perhaps unlike any thing you would have tasted before.

I made this dish a about three weeks ago I think. It’s a miso glazed salmon donburi. I’ve done the miso glazed salmon part before, but this was the first time I made it in a donburi form. Under the salmon was some kimpura and there is some dried seaweed on top. Overall I think it turned out well and I was told that it feels very Japanese.

Tonight I kept things simple and made a burger. The burger was mixed with onions and a little panko and eggs to bind everything together. The toppings were shitake mushrooms, caramelized onions, and bacon. It was on top of a toasted sourdough bread. The toppings were pretty good, but I think the burger itself could have been cooked longer.