A Picture of Blessedness - Kuppersbusch Kitchen and Giant Bananas

This is my friend's beautiful kitchen equipped with state-of-the-art Kuppersbusch ovens. I should say, this is only part of her kitchen. She is blessed with a showcase kitchen but alas, she hardly uses it! So this morning's mission was to show her how easy it is to make Jamie Oliver's baked chicken legs in her own oven. Her son in particular loved the recipe, and this is enough motivation for her to try to make it on her own the next time. Mission accomplished.

Very even heat distribution noticed in the browning of the chicken meat.

Look at this picture of summer! It even comes with a hot stone in front! I so want to get my hands on this to try some recipes!

 And what about this cute, sexy trolley induction grill. The top panel can be removed to serve directly on the table. How cool and awesome is that. It would be totally impressive to serve a chunk of Angus beef on this!

I was at the right time at the right place as they also harvested their giant bananas that morning, and she blessed me with some to go.

Bigger and chunkier than a cucumber!

Yellowing and browning after a few days, perfect for a snack or a bake!

A picture of abundance! This is the time to test Marcus Wareing's Banana Bread Pudding!

Word of the Week - Claypot

This is a very typical Chinese claypot and commonly found across some parts of Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia and China. After salivating over Alan's post on claypot rice, I had to go out to buy one. Such claypots are not easy to come by anymore. I scoured 4 traditional shops before I eventually found this one in Chinatown. If you're looking to get one, ideally, you should find one that has a wire gauze around it for more even heat distribution. Alas, I read that only after my purchase. Whatever it is, don't buy claypots from Amazon! I just saw the obscene price they published on their website.

My claypot is unglazed for the most part, and comes with a cute handle protruded from the side. Most claypots available today come in 2 round handles but I much prefer my traditional version. Plus, mine has an added bonus of "Tao" hand carved on it. "The Way", yes, "The Way"!

The flat-base bottom of the pot is glazed as you can see here.

While at the shop, this cute Thai baby claypot caught my eyes and I just couldn't go home without her. I like her Tuscan colour and petite look. Never mind that I have no idea what to cook in it - that's totally irrelevant.

Afraid of cracking my new pot (like I did with my Jamie Oliver baking stone!), I researched on how to prepare it for the first use. Plus, you do realise today is Friday the 13th!

A few things stood out:

1. Don't subject it to sudden heat change. Sudden high heat or sudden cold can break the clay.
2. Soak it before first use to remove dirt, grit and condition it.
3. At the first use, start with low heat and gradually increase.

Do not wash your claypot with soap as the clay will absorb the detergent.

Next post: Extra Virgin Claypot Rice!

How to open the top of an egg

I posted about helping out at a private dining event, and got a few people asking me how we opened the top of the eggs based on the photos. The secret is in a tool called - what else - egg opener. There are many types of egg openers if you google for images. This is a picture of the one I used. With your left hand, cap the top of the egg snugly. Using your right hand, pull the spring loaded knob and release.

The pressure is gentle enough not to break the egg, but to only create a horizontal crack line around the cap. You then use a razor blade to carve along the hairline crack.

It's easier than it looks. It was my first time doing it, and I only damaged one egg out of 20 I made.

Now, why would you want to do that? So you can remove the whites and give the yolks a nice hot spring treat.

Word of the Week - Sous Vide Supreme

Uses energy like a 60 watt light bulb, very efficient

I talked about Sous Vide (pronounced "su-vid") before - see my first mention of it. Well, not only have I succumbed to sous vide cooking (meaning, "under vacuum"), I am now the proud owner of a home sous vide machine! How romantic is that for a birthday present from hubster? (Picture 3 teenagers rolling their eyes**)

Well, allow me to introduce my new toy. This is a water oven aimed at home cooks looking for some serious eats. Designed and launched in 2009, some chefs believe the SV oven will become as commonplace as the microwave in the home kitchen. The technique is very simple - see what it says on the box here.

Because the temperature is precisely controlled, you can never overcook your food. Ever. Bye-bye-dry is the new way to go for that piece of exquisite steak. If the temperature is set to 60 degrees Celsius, for eg, the meat that is being cooked cannot possibly go beyond that temperature, guaranteeing you the medium rare, pink-blush meat you are craving for. Takes the stress out of always wondering if you are under-cooking or over-cooking your meat, in other words, idiot-proof and virgin-chef-proof. Engineers would love this? I read about an overseas student with a SV machine in her dorm because she can't cook!

Testing it out with a vacuum-packed chicken breast in thyme.

You can tell this is going to keep me busy for a while. No more home improvisations. Expect to read more sous-vide recipes here!

Kitchen Organisation

I yanked everything out of all my kitchen drawers and cabinets and placed everything on open shelves. Say goodbye to expired ingredients and forgotten utensils. Yes, I feel such a great sense of control now... hmm...it smells suspiciously of a midlife crisis!

Nothing pretty like my dear friend's in Germany. Mine is purely functional, but I'm loving it.

Learning to waste time - a new level

I walked the streets of Chinatown for 2 hours before I found these - crockery I grew up with. They give a whole new meaning to "rustic" - read "rusty". Food evokes memories, and so do kitchenware like these. They are of course very different to another type of kitchenware I like - see those I got from Tuscany.

Now I have to ask my mom for her good old recipes to eat childhood food in these. Maybe it's time to try that Thunder Tea Rice recipe from my dear Hakka friend.

Now, don't ask me where this shop is - it took a while to trace back to where my car was. And I'm sure I cannot find this shop again.

Word of the Week: Mezzaluna

This double blade knife rocks!

Meet my first Mezzaluna, bought more than a year ago in an obscure corner of a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. Yes, Malaysia Boleh!

Meaning "Half moon" in Italian, the Mezzaluna consists of a rounded blade with 2 handles on each end. Some people call it a herb chopper.

My chef at-Sunrice taught me that a rocking motion is gentle on the herbs, preserving its essence and extends its shelf life.

I've enjoyed the use of this elegant tool since my purchase, although I sometimes wonder if it's an insult to chefs with good knifing skills. It also runs the danger of being in the "useless tools" category since a normal knife can quite do the job if you can just execute a proper chiffonade.

Today, I'm chopping some fresh dill for my salmon gravlax. I can't wait to serve my guests in my second private dining event tomorrow.

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How to cut without getting cut, anyone?

Roasted tomatoes with sea salt, black pepper and sprigs of fresh thyme.
Snapped in the restaurant kitchen with an iPhone.

OK, here's a confession. The more I use the knife, the more fearful I am of it. Too many horror stories seen and heard, and a few near-misses of my own have kept me pretty much on my toes. When I hold a knife in my hands, it has my full attention and I don't allow myself to get distracted. I will also not allow anyone in the commercial kitchen to rush me. The customer can always wait, but I want to leave this place with my ten fingers intact. There is no one I want to impress with my (lack of) knife skills so I'm quite happy to be perceived as the snail in the kitchen. 

This is how much tomatoes I cut today with Chef giving me several tips and guidance for which I am so grateful. An Extra Virgin Chef needs all the help she can get!

The best duck breast in the world!

How wicked does this look??!!

THIS POST HAS ALSO BEEN FEATURED ON THE ASIAN FOOD CHANNEL OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE.

I knew it was a matter of time before I would succumb to sous vide. I've been thinking about it for as long as about 6 months. Today, I yielded to the temptation and attempted my first home sous vide duck breast. The effort was worth every minute of my time and attention! 

In the absence of a commercial sous vide machine, I did a home version consisting of a cast iron pot, ziploc, water and a meat thermometer and maintained the temperature at 55 degrees Celsius for an hour.

Then, I pan-seared the meat for 5 minutes on the skin and 1 minute on the other side. This golden glow got me wildly ecstatic!

Pan-searing the duck breast ensures the fat is rendered, leaving a nice crisp skin that encases the moist flesh beneath.

A big thumbs-up from my man. "Fine dining domesticated," he says.

This costs a fraction of what you will have to pay in a restaurant. Ducks, duck fats and I have a lot of chemistry going. I've roasted a whole duck in 4 hours - click here to see the photos. But this little duck breast project has got to be my most exciting and rewarding culinary experiment. Rated a close second is my home-cured smoked salmon. I will definitely be making this again, and very soon too!

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My recipe collection book

My daughter got this for me for Christmas from Munich and gave it to me during our Europe pig-out which means this book travelled with us to Austria and Italy. I've found it so practical in helping me to organise my thoughts and notes and loose clippings.

There are coloured pockets for me to insert the occasional news clips of recipes that I would want to try my hands on when I feel like it.

There are also clear folder pages so I can see the pictures and be allured by them to want to try them out.

Yes, beef carpaccio is also very high in my To-Try List. 

Coloured tabs for me to categorise and label - should I label them Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner or Must-try, I-dare-you, and Dream-on?

Chawan-mushi at home

Chawan-mushi literally means "tea cup steam". It is a savory egg custard dish not too different from the Chinese steam egg except for the ingredients and toppings. As far as my circle of friends is concerned, I noticed Chawan-mushi is popular with Asians and less so with Caucasians. Is this true for you? An American friend looked at it in disgust once commenting that she expects custards to be sweet, not savory, and just could not reconcile her head with her taste bud. Yet, it is a highly popular dish in the Japanese restaurants all around the world.

Using dashi as a base for my stock, I whisked 4 eggs for 5 portions and slowly added the dashi to it. Then I strained them into the cups for steaming. Next, I prepared a few other ingredients to add to the egg.

I soaked 4 dried Chinese mushrooms for half an hour. Then I added sugar and soy sauce to the water used to soak the mushroom. Boil it with the mushrooms and cook till the flavour seeps into the mushrooms.

I'm now ready to add my ingredients. I stole some gingko nuts that my mom has painstakingly prepared for a Chinese New Year dessert. You can buy some ready made canned ones.

I also added some boneless skinless chicken breast meat diced. They are marinated with mirin and soy sauce.

Cover the chawan-mushi before steaming. You can use cling-wrap too.

This steam oven is one of my best buys, I have to tell you and sell you. It's so clean, convenient, practical and I have found that I am using it almost every day since I bought it.

Just add water into this canister and it slots nicely in. The oven lady told me chawan-mushi tastes much better using a steam oven. I did not believe her then, but now I absolutely do!

Twenty minutes of newspapre reading later, I get this.

See if you would like to try this. I did have a few utensils to wash but this dish was worth the effort.

Arigato!