Posts
BRUNEI 2009
Keep your eyes on T.O.F as I am finally getting around to posting my trip to Brunei this year. There will be some great authentic Brunei, Malay, Indo and Chineese recipes, great photos and a few travel tips.
Taste Australia 2009
BRUNEI 2009
Keep your eyes on T.O.F as I am finally getting around to posting my trip to Brunei this year. There will be some great authentic Brunei, Malay, Indo and Chineese recipes, great photos and a few travel tips.
Would the real BBQ please stand up...Well summer is here and I feel I am expieriencing a little de ja vous, as it was exactly a year ago when I was sitting here telling you that 'summer is here again and it is time to BBQ'. But, over the last year I have learnt a few things that have changed my understanding of what it really means to BBQ.
Over the next few months you will find yourself being invited to your mate's place for a BBQ where standing round talking shit and sinking a few cans you will watch your best intending host pleasuring themselves in their outdoor kitchen. However most likely they will be commiting one of two evils - scortching snags on a nuclear hot fire or stewing steaks on a luke warm hot plate.
It seems the Australian BBQ technique has been adapted from its American and Asian origins to suit our neglected palate and hectic lifestyle. What has long been a slow cooking method is now nothing more than an outdoor extension of the normal household kitchen and because of this we are missing out on the true pleasure of what cooking with fire does to our food.
Rules for BBQ
Use Fire
The first and most important rule is
you must use real fire. I have often been called an idealouge because of many things and I am sure the philastines would try a sling a little mud on me here but when it comes to food I practise what I preach and barbequing without coal or fire is nothing more than grilling - or broiling as the yanks would say. Here in Australia "BBQ" has become more of a verb justifying getting pissed during the middle of the day (something I see nothing wrong with) but if you build on this tradition with a genuine wood or coal fired barbie it will make for a better day.The two sorts of fire you can use are char-coal or wood. Coal is great because it saves you the time of waiting for the wood to burn down until it is coal but if you have the time and the wood you will be rewarded with different flavours imparted by different timbers. Redgum is a trusty favourite but old hardwood building offcuts like jarrah have a beautiful smoking flavour.
Necessity is the mother of inventionAfter spending a bit of time in Asia over the last year I have really learnt you dont need to spend the money on a fancy 'outdoor kitchen'. Some of the best food I have eated this year has been cooked on make shift satay grills or terracotta coal BBQ's. My favourite at home is the hole in the back yard with an older webber grill sitting on a few rocks. I have easily cooked dinner for 30 people but then the best part is continuing in the Aussie tradition of getting pissed, take off the grill load the fire up with wood and you have a ready to go bonfire.
This Malaysian satay grill has been fashioned out of steel off cuts and is fueled with coal logs, something we could knock up for no more than $100 here in Australia but on which the stall holder makes his livelyhood.
BBQ is a Slow Cooking Method
Although using fire is the most important rule - what you do with the fire is a very close second as you could quite easily use fire too hot and wreck everything. A little internet psedu-research and you will quickly find one concept is heavily repeated - BBQ is a slow cooking method for secondary or larger cuts. Probably the most famous example from the home of BBQ, America, is pork spare ribs. For spare ribs to be at their best the sweet gelatinous fat dripping meat needs to fall of the bone with only the perfect amount of resistance. A final result which can only be achieved by slow cooking.
Like any of the slow cooking methods it is a waste of time and money if you use fancy cuts of meat. This is not to say that grilling eye fillet outside is not a worthy practise, just in the context of what is truelly a BBQ it doesn't fit.
Why do you slow cook. I will put it two ways. First scientifically - tougher cuts are tough because they have a lot of tendons, fast twitch muscle and fat. These types of tissue need long and gentle application of heat to alter their chemistry to make them palatable, processes such as transforming colagen which is unsoluable into gelatin which soluable. Second gastronomically - Slow cooking changes the tough fats and gristle into tender sticky sweet goodness that when combined with a great marinate will leave you liking your fingers clean.
Some good cuts for slow cooking are shoulder, belly, marylands, shin and neck to mention just a few. Slow cooking whole beasts and birds is good because you get a mixture of all of the cuts with the fat and tendons all still in place.
Fag it up & Keep it Real!
You dont have to ditch the snags and burgers, just start to think outside the square a little. Sure a pre digested Safeway sausage in cheap white bread with sauce or Mums secret recipe rissoles are a good start for the novice, but between Masterchef and Jamie Oliver I am sure you have been shown enough to start to think a little grander. And don't just go for fancy, go for authenticity. Like any of the top chefs and their food, for it to to be truely good it has to have indestructable foundations. It has to have a lineage that can be traced back to authenticity somewhere - even if two styles of cuisine are fused the elements of each must be able to stand alone. Whats all this waffle mean - try things like indonesian BBQ chicken or Malaysian Satay, even American BBQ pork spare ribs.
What I am cooking here is a whole scotch filled marinated with herbs and oil. The scotch took about 45 minutes to cook just past medium rare and was divine. The fire started out hot enouugh to seal the outside then cooled perfectly to continue gently cooking. When you are barbequeing in this way it is important to keep turning your meat, the opposite of hot cooking.
Aussie Style BBQ Tandoori ChickenCut the chicken through the breast then push down to flatten out. Cut out any of the small bones like the ribs or the wish bone. For the marinate I use a bought tandoori paste - Pataks is better then Sherwoods. To this paste I add lots of crushed garlic, ginger, salt & pepper, some finely chopped chilli a bit of lemon juice
Marinate for a few hours then cook as pictured. It takes about 35 - 45 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Size 15 are the best compromise between size and texture, as when the birds get too big the breast are dry by the time the legs are cooked.
My Vietnameese BBQ Chicken Salad
Slow Roast Rosmary, Garlic & Lemon Lamb Chops
PERI PERI Chicken
Home Made Fancy BBQ Jus
Welcome to Tattoo On Food
Hello and welcome to Tattoo on Food. I am Tattoo and this is my blog about a life gourmand.
Looking up gourmand in Wikipedia, it tells me the expression was used in the past not to describe someone simply as passionate about food and wine, but rather someone more so obsessed with gluttony. "A person given to the excess in the consumption of food and wine" to use their words exactly. Strangely I don't mind falling under either definition.
The real love of food is a passion, and for those like me, an obsession. Call it gluttony if you must, but finding room for the 11th course of a degustation is not gluttony, rather the accommodating nature of love. Who would ever want to feel guilt as a result of the culinary Nirvana obtained from eating wonderful foods like sweet, silken, rich foie gras, rinsed with the perfect acidity of an incredibly long and mouth filling Sauternes. Even the pleasure of an M&M peanut or a cheeseburger!
If a life gourmand can be gluttonous in consumption then by the same token it can also be gluttonous in production. Is it not true the great chefs and wine makers of the world have given themselves in excess to their obsession? An obsession we thank them dearly for.
Tattoo On Food (T.O.F) is about discussing the love of food. I will write recipes for dishes I have made, I will review restaurants I have visited and I extend an invitation for you all to do the same. T.O.F will also review wines, offer culinary advice or simply discuss anything relating to the gastronomic world. I will also be inviting my gourmet friends for interviews, to give recipes or just talk about anything food or wine.
My background is as a chef and waiter but do not hold that against me. My love of food is as a personal consumer not a professional producer. There is, however, no better feeling received from giving, than the feeling received when the gifts are from your own hands.
As I live in the South West of Victoria, T.O.F will have a focus on the restaurants and produce of this area, yet T.O.F is not exclusively about this region and I invite the world to join me.
Welcome to Tattoo on Food and I look forward to your next visit,
Tattoo
Looking up gourmand in Wikipedia, it tells me the expression was used in the past not to describe someone simply as passionate about food and wine, but rather someone more so obsessed with gluttony. "A person given to the excess in the consumption of food and wine" to use their words exactly. Strangely I don't mind falling under either definition.
The real love of food is a passion, and for those like me, an obsession. Call it gluttony if you must, but finding room for the 11th course of a degustation is not gluttony, rather the accommodating nature of love. Who would ever want to feel guilt as a result of the culinary Nirvana obtained from eating wonderful foods like sweet, silken, rich foie gras, rinsed with the perfect acidity of an incredibly long and mouth filling Sauternes. Even the pleasure of an M&M peanut or a cheeseburger!
If a life gourmand can be gluttonous in consumption then by the same token it can also be gluttonous in production. Is it not true the great chefs and wine makers of the world have given themselves in excess to their obsession? An obsession we thank them dearly for.
Tattoo On Food (T.O.F) is about discussing the love of food. I will write recipes for dishes I have made, I will review restaurants I have visited and I extend an invitation for you all to do the same. T.O.F will also review wines, offer culinary advice or simply discuss anything relating to the gastronomic world. I will also be inviting my gourmet friends for interviews, to give recipes or just talk about anything food or wine.
My background is as a chef and waiter but do not hold that against me. My love of food is as a personal consumer not a professional producer. There is, however, no better feeling received from giving, than the feeling received when the gifts are from your own hands.
As I live in the South West of Victoria, T.O.F will have a focus on the restaurants and produce of this area, yet T.O.F is not exclusively about this region and I invite the world to join me.
Welcome to Tattoo on Food and I look forward to your next visit,
Tattoo
How to Poach an Egg
It is one of the first questions asked of me by people when they find out I can cook – How do you poach an egg? It surprises me a bit though that such an honestly simple task can be so difficult for some. But it is really such a simple thing to do that I believe everyone should be able to poach an egg.
There are two key factors that need to be understood to perform this task well. The first is how fresh the egg is and the second is the temperature of the water.
The freshness of the egg is so important. The fresher the egg the stronger the proteins that make up the white, which means when the egg is cooked, the white part will neatly and firmly hold itself together.
If you have ever poached an egg and the white has broken up into stringy bits this because the egg was not fresh.
The reason the egg white breaks up is because the proteins which form the egg white deteriorate over time. So when these proteins which are like little chains hit the water, rather than clinging together as they would when they’re fresh and responsive they end up breaking apart because they are old and weak. Leaving a pancake looking egg or worst case the yolk abandoned by the white all together.
The second factor, water temperature, is arguably more important than the first, as getting this wrong can wreck even the freshest of eggs. One of the things you learn at trade school as apprentice is to be able to identify the temperature of water when it is around boiling point by observing it.
When water is rapidly boiling, meaning it is moving around vigorously with bubbles bursting on top it is at 100 degrees. If you turn the heat down and the bubbles start to stop but the water still gently moves on the surface the water is about 98 – 99. Then if you turn the heat down a little more, and the water becomes completely still, it will be about 95-96.
This might sound a bit complicated but it is a good reference point that will help you know when to put the egg into the water. As an aside it also demonstrates how gas stoves are much better for certain methods of cooking as they give you much more control – and if you want to be a real fancy pants, use copper pots as these will give you absolute control.
Talking about poaching eggs without talking about using vinegar would be negligent of me. It is not really a point of contention for most people, as it seems industry commonplace that whenever the poaching pot is set up in the morning it always receives a customary splash of cheap vinegar, but this practise should be contentious. If the eggs are fresh you do not need vinegar, in fact, using it will even lessen the quality of the final product.
Vinegar acts similarly to heat in that it also sets the proteins in the egg white – this is why it is used, to help bind eggs consistently. But if the eggs you are using are fresh then vinegar is not only useless, it will actually cause the eggs to become over firm and a little rubbery.
I am not saying don’t use vinegar but rather don’t use it when the eggs are fresh, and only use fresh eggs! How do you tell if an egg is fresh? Google it and there might be some way wives tale but I say know the chook. Or if you can spare an egg, crack it into a bowl and see how firmly the white holds together.
So now armed with this information, you should now be able to successfully poach the perfect egg. Firstly set up. You need to get your ingredients and equipment, or mis en place, as it would be referred to in a kitchen. Fresh eggs, a whisk, a cup, a slotted spoon, a piece of bread for toasting, an electric toaster, no vinegar and a big heavy pot filled with water - preferably made of copper sitting on a gas stove! Use a big pot with lots of water too, it works better.
Bring the water to the boil. This is where your new found observation skills come into play. You want the water to be more towards 98 - 99 degrees initially. When the water comes to temperature make sure the heat is constant. Place the bread in the toaster, but don’t press it down, then crack the egg into the cup. Using a whisk stir the water in a circular motion to form a gentle whirlpool. Moving the water will cool it down to the perfect cooking temperature also.
When the whirlpool is gently spinning, smoothly but quickly poor in the egg directly onto the surface of the water into the centre of the whirlpool. Now push the toaster down. Toasters make for perfect egg poaching timers. Once you have done this once you will know if you like your eggs poached more or less than the time it takes to toast a bit of bread.
After the egg goes into the water it should fall to the bottom of the pot. Having swirled the water should stop it from sticking to the bottom but if you notice it does gently raise the temp up a degree and it should lift. Return the heat back down.
When the toast pops up, remove the egg from the water using a slotted spoon and allow all the water to strain off. Conveniently there is some toast ready so maybe you could have already cooked some bacon too. That is how to poach an egg.
Serving eggs without any salt is sacrilege. A sprinkling of good quality sea salt perfectly complements the both the texture of the white and the flavour of the yolk
There are two key factors that need to be understood to perform this task well. The first is how fresh the egg is and the second is the temperature of the water.
The freshness of the egg is so important. The fresher the egg the stronger the proteins that make up the white, which means when the egg is cooked, the white part will neatly and firmly hold itself together.
If you have ever poached an egg and the white has broken up into stringy bits this because the egg was not fresh.
The reason the egg white breaks up is because the proteins which form the egg white deteriorate over time. So when these proteins which are like little chains hit the water, rather than clinging together as they would when they’re fresh and responsive they end up breaking apart because they are old and weak. Leaving a pancake looking egg or worst case the yolk abandoned by the white all together.
The second factor, water temperature, is arguably more important than the first, as getting this wrong can wreck even the freshest of eggs. One of the things you learn at trade school as apprentice is to be able to identify the temperature of water when it is around boiling point by observing it.
When water is rapidly boiling, meaning it is moving around vigorously with bubbles bursting on top it is at 100 degrees. If you turn the heat down and the bubbles start to stop but the water still gently moves on the surface the water is about 98 – 99. Then if you turn the heat down a little more, and the water becomes completely still, it will be about 95-96.
This might sound a bit complicated but it is a good reference point that will help you know when to put the egg into the water. As an aside it also demonstrates how gas stoves are much better for certain methods of cooking as they give you much more control – and if you want to be a real fancy pants, use copper pots as these will give you absolute control.
Talking about poaching eggs without talking about using vinegar would be negligent of me. It is not really a point of contention for most people, as it seems industry commonplace that whenever the poaching pot is set up in the morning it always receives a customary splash of cheap vinegar, but this practise should be contentious. If the eggs are fresh you do not need vinegar, in fact, using it will even lessen the quality of the final product.
Vinegar acts similarly to heat in that it also sets the proteins in the egg white – this is why it is used, to help bind eggs consistently. But if the eggs you are using are fresh then vinegar is not only useless, it will actually cause the eggs to become over firm and a little rubbery.
I am not saying don’t use vinegar but rather don’t use it when the eggs are fresh, and only use fresh eggs! How do you tell if an egg is fresh? Google it and there might be some way wives tale but I say know the chook. Or if you can spare an egg, crack it into a bowl and see how firmly the white holds together.
So now armed with this information, you should now be able to successfully poach the perfect egg. Firstly set up. You need to get your ingredients and equipment, or mis en place, as it would be referred to in a kitchen. Fresh eggs, a whisk, a cup, a slotted spoon, a piece of bread for toasting, an electric toaster, no vinegar and a big heavy pot filled with water - preferably made of copper sitting on a gas stove! Use a big pot with lots of water too, it works better.
Bring the water to the boil. This is where your new found observation skills come into play. You want the water to be more towards 98 - 99 degrees initially. When the water comes to temperature make sure the heat is constant. Place the bread in the toaster, but don’t press it down, then crack the egg into the cup. Using a whisk stir the water in a circular motion to form a gentle whirlpool. Moving the water will cool it down to the perfect cooking temperature also.
When the whirlpool is gently spinning, smoothly but quickly poor in the egg directly onto the surface of the water into the centre of the whirlpool. Now push the toaster down. Toasters make for perfect egg poaching timers. Once you have done this once you will know if you like your eggs poached more or less than the time it takes to toast a bit of bread.
After the egg goes into the water it should fall to the bottom of the pot. Having swirled the water should stop it from sticking to the bottom but if you notice it does gently raise the temp up a degree and it should lift. Return the heat back down.
When the toast pops up, remove the egg from the water using a slotted spoon and allow all the water to strain off. Conveniently there is some toast ready so maybe you could have already cooked some bacon too. That is how to poach an egg.
Serving eggs without any salt is sacrilege. A sprinkling of good quality sea salt perfectly complements the both the texture of the white and the flavour of the yolk
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