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Cooking Meats

19 July 2016

Part 2: Cooking Meats

Preparation In any kitchen, preparation is the most important job- in my opinion at least. Not only will prep make the act of cooking a lot more easier but it can also give your friends the impression that you know what you’re doing. When it comes to cooking meats, any meats I always cook them at room temperature. If its cold or frozen it can severely mess up the cooking time and the cooking process. The outside will cook faster because it is in direct contact with the heat source however, the inside will not. As such, it can occur that the meat will look finished but it is in fact still undercooked/raw on the inside. As such always try to cook meats at room temperature. Of course, exceptions do exist, but more often room temperature is the trick. 

Seasoning Next, having a simple sauce or adding herbs to the meats goes a long way for flavour. It’s not always necessary but with chicken for example I always try to marinade it in something. This boosts the flavour and can also give you a yummy sauce to accompany your dish with. My tip with regards to seasoning the meats, put it in a plastic bag. You can then mush the herbs and sauce into the meats without getting your hands dirty. Generally, the longer you leave something to marinade the greater the meat will take on that flavour. It seeps into it... 

Browning First to clarify, browning refers to the term of cooking the meat at a high heat for a short period of time. Consequently lowering the heat to finish off the cooking process. In doing so, the outside is ‘sealed’. The idea behind the concept is to prevent the juices from leaking out of the meat thus, keeping the protein juicy. 

"When is it done?” I always get asked this in the kitchen with my friends. Not that I am an expert, its more a reaffirmation if anything. As student, we do not want to food poison ourselves because the humiliation from our peers and family is worse than the explosive bowel movements themselves.  If you are really concerned then I’d suggest getting a meat thermometer. It might seem excessive but it will give you that 100% reassurance that you will not get poisoned. However, I am cheap and did not purchase this. Instead I discovered this trick when daydreaming in class- sorry professors... When meat cooks, the proteins are denatured and become firm. Like in the egg, it goes from ‘fluid’ to a solid. The same principle is behind meats. Note this does not apply to fish, with fish you judge it by translucency. Can’t see through it, it’s cooked... Anyways, when you want something fully done press on it with a finger and the indentation should spring right back up. This means well-done, i.e. with chicken you need this. Medium rare you have an indentation that lasts around 3-4 seconds and medium it is 1-2 seconds. Seems simple enough. It definitely is not fool proof. Always look at the meat itself and use common sense. I do not want to be sued that I gave someone salmonella because they used this rule of thumb. I repeat, do not solely rely on this- this is a very rough estimate if anything.

Resting Chef’s always use this term. “Resting? Why rest a steak?” Well, dear child this is to not stress the fibres. I know its a bit paradoxical statement because you’ve just cooked and denatured the protein fibres- is there another level of stress? Well as it turns out, yes there is. If you do not rest a steak or chicken immediately after it has been cooked you risk losing all of the juices. After cooking it, the juices are still in the meat with no where to go- assuming you’ve done the ‘browning’ step... If you immediately cut into the meat, it gives the juice an opening to escape your stomach. However, when you leave it to rest for a few minutes. The protein fibres relax a bit and in doing so, it retains more juices. Ergo, leave your meats to rest a bit before indulging. Do not leave it to cool under the air conditioning unit or a fan though, it has happened during a dinner party unfortunately... 

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Banana Bread

27 July 2016

I love banana bread- actually no that’s a slight lie. I don’t mind banana bread, but I do love making it because it uses up overly ripe bananas. Waste not want not! In any case, I came back home and discovered a little collection of brown bananas that have become quite emaciated. I was bored and well, an hour later there was fresh banana bread in the house.

Ingredients

2-3 ripe bananas

140g self-raising flour

140g caster sugar

140g unsalted butter

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line/butter a loaf tin, you just don’t wan it to stick. Peel the bananas and mash it. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Slowly beat in the eggs one at a time and add a dash of vanilla. Add a bit of flour to prevent curdling. Then fold in the flour and baking powder into the mixture. Pour into the baking tin and leave it until a stick comes out clean, around 20min. Take it out and leave to cool fully before devouring it. 

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Dark Sugars Chocolatier

27 June 2016

Dark Sugars Chocolatier: 124-126 Brick Lane, London (United Kingdom)

Last summer we were introduced to Spitalfield and the Brick Lane. I believe it was weekend so it was obviously stuffed with swarm of people. Tourists like myself, hipsters, non-hipsters, passerby-ers using it as a shortcut- you know the usual menagerie at any market. At one point I distinctly remember hearing very upbeat music and as I usually do in a very non-chalant manner I bobbed my head up and down like an owl. Anyways, point being the source was this chocolatier place. It looked fancy and very inviting. Fast forward... we didn’t buy anything... We decided against it because we were going for a family meal later and didn’t want to spoil our dinner. Fast-Fast forward till today, and yeah we bought a little bag. 100g for 7GBP. It sounds steep but we decided we had to try it. 

We only picked the truffles because well, they looked like we’d get our money worths. We eventually decided on: Matcha, Overdose, Chilli, Coffee Walnut, Orange peel. Before I share my not-so-important opinion I feel like I should give some context. So this store makes these truffles from scratch, everyday. So you get fresh truffles everyday i.e.  you have to eat it within a week of purchase. If this doesn’t give you an excuse to eat chocolate I don’t know what will... We had a sample of day-old truffles and yes you could taste the difference. The truffles are made from 85% cocoa, that’s pretty intense and guess what? The “Overdose” one was pretty much just that- pure cocoa bliss.

Matcha I like green tea, and I did have matcha chocolates before. It intrigues me because you need to find that balance of expressing the delicate flavour of matcha as well as the intense richness of the dark cocoa. I do have to say, this was not exceptional. The truffle is really good and there was a perfect balance. However, I’d prefer it if there was more matcha flavour. Instead, it was more like a bite of chocolate while drinking weak matcha tea. It was nice, but I wouldn’t go back for another one

Overdose If you love dark chocolate I really recommend this one. I’m not that keen on an OD of chocolate but this is worth it. The truffle is melt-in-your mouth because its just that fresh- although this was the case for all truffles. There is just enough sugar that you don’t get a massive bitter hit from indulging into this little gem. I don’t know how to describe it... It is simply a really good dark chocolate truffle- obviously I’m not good with words. 

Chilli This one was chosen purely out of curiousity but it is worth it. I didn’t think much of it because I’ve been disappointed by chilli chocolates before i.e. I do not taste any chilli whatsoever. Like matcha, it needs to have a fine balance between the heat of the chilli against the rich bitter and creaminess of the chocolate. And, Dark Sugars nailed it! The first bite I just thought, well this is a nice piece of truffle. But- towards the end the chilli comes through really nicely. Because you tongue is still coated with the remnants of the truffle it isn’t a Indian-take-away spicy, more like an accidentally-put-in-an-extra-pinch-of-hot-cayenne-pepper spicy. Absolutely perfect balance. 

Orange Peel Chosen out of sentiment sake, because we always used to eat these as kids. Can’t go wrong with this. It was good chocolate, however I think we agreed that the chocolate could’ve been tempered better. It wasn’t much of a “melt-in-your-mouth” experience as the previous truffles gave. I’d still recommend it if you love orange and chocolate. 

All in all, a really good chocolatier. The price is steep for students, but then again you could just buy one truffle and pay for that. It goes by weight. There is no minimum spend so do not feel guilty if you just want to buy one truffle. If you do, I’d really recommend Overdose. Additionally to the truffles this place also does chocolates and drinks. I didn’t have the time or luxury to try them but if the truffles are this good I reckon their hot chocolate would be a pretty big hit as well. The shop has a really chill Jamaican-style vibe, which I think fits perfect with the ambiance of Brick Lane. If you swing by Brick lane, pop in for a visit!

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Bruschetta

21 June 2016

Oh yes, this is super simple. I don’t even know why I decided to make a recipe for this. But you know, start off small. For the past week I had to finish my leftovers from the freezer because I’m moving. I’m normally used to cooking food from scratch, and having to resort to freezer leftovers is killing me. Then I had a brainwave and thought “I’m going to have dinner parties next year!”. Which got me thinking, what is good dinner party food? I believe dinner parties need to have simple but flavoursome dishes. I believe that a dish shouldn’t have too many components. Simple but pure tastes make the best profile. And, as a student you want it to be inexpensive as well. Ergo, bruschetta is a pretty done deal! I love the fact that the toasted bread gives another dimension to this simple dish. It gives a crunch to the otherwise soggy tomatoes. Similarly, adding just a bit of balsamic gives the tomatoes another depth of flavour. Cherry tomatoes are normally a bit sweeter but still have a hint of tartness. Adding the balsamic balances it out nicely. Then its a simple mixture of olive oil, salt and pepper. Basil and tomatoes are a match-made in heaven i.e. it’s a given.  

Ingredients

500g cherry tomatoes

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Fresh Basil

Balsamic Vinegar

2 garlic cloves

1 small shallot

Ciabatta bread

Salt and Pepper

Slice the ciabatta bread into roughly 2cm thick slices. I prefer not to have it any thicker because my palate is such a sensitive thing. Jokes aside, any thicker and it will be a pain to eat for your guests (literally and metaphorically). Generously brush the ciabatta with the olive oil. Then heat up the grill or if you have a griddle pan do the same.

Meanwhile, dice the tomato. Chop the basil. Finely dice the shallot, you don’t want a mouthful of onion... Throw it all in a bowl and mix it up with a generous helping of extra virgin olive oil and around a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. You can add more if you want to, but I prefer it to not have a lot of balsamic as it might overpower the tomatoes. Some acidity will bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes, because that’s just how our taste buds work! Add salt and pepper to taste.

When the grill/griddle pan is hot place the bread on top of it. Leave it on there for around 2-3min on each side before flipping. You want it nice and toasted as the base layer. It needs to support all that tomato-y goodness on top. Once done, peel the garlic and rub it lightly on the toast. This imparts the toast with a garlic flavour without leaving the individual with a massive dose of garlic breath. Afterwards, place the tomato mix onto the toast slices and serve immediately- or else you’ll have a soggy mess and no one wants that!

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Madeleines

17 June 2016

I fell in love with these little cakes while on holiday in France. There is this restaurant where you can order a little basket of them as dessert. It’s recommended for two, I ate it by myself. No shame really, I love them. I finally decided to attempt making them myself and realised I needed a mold... I went to the store and had to choose between metal or silicone. I have used both before for cupcakes and both had their pros and cons. Metal tends to give you greater heat due to its conducting properties, meaning that the madeleines would have a ‘crispier’ exterior. However, silicone would be easier to maintain and store. As I am a student after all, I decided to go for silicone because storage is easier. I have also opted to go for the mini mold because I find them cuter and nicer to eat- great for sharing. After this first hurdle I then looked up a recipe. I would say I have tried so many different ones and discovered 'the’ one, but I did trial and error. I can’t remember where I got the original recipe from but after making it for the first time I sat down and reflected. I remember it being dry, not that fluffy and honestly not too flavoursome either. So I adjusted as usual. Today, I would like to say that I have perfected the recipe to my liking. My parents have agreed that they are up to standard, but then again they might just be saying that to be polite. In either case, I do not need to go outside to eat on these little goodies ever again.

My Madeleines

Ingredients

100g of unsalted butter

105g of cake/top flour i.e. extra-fine flour (look here as to why)

100g of caster sugar

2 room temperature large eggs

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Zest of a lemon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of salt

Melt the butter in the microwave and leave to cool. Meanwhile whip the eggs and sugar together until pale in colour and fluffy. It might seem as if the mixture is separating i.e. foam on top and liquid underneath. This is fine, because the foam is caused by the incorporated air. While the liquid is the sugar attempting to dissolve into the egg mixture. Add a pinch of salt, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Mix it into the batter. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold it into the batter. Ensure that the flour is properly folded into the mixture. Then, add in the melted butter. It might seem like this is hopeless because the butter won’t mix in at first. This is because the butter is high in fats, while the mixture is high in water and these two don’t mix. But, the flour acts as the binding agent- so just continue folding them in. Finally, when mixed well together take plastic wrap and cover the batter. Make sure that the plastic is touching the batter fully, if not you have a dried up layer that will ruin the texture. Leave it to rest in the fridge for a minimum of 2h. This allows the flour to absorb the fat and gives it more moisture. 

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Take the batter out of the fridge and prepare to fill in the molds. Please do not overfill them, I did and you end up getting a chain of madeleines. The batter is stiff because the melted butter has set in the fridge. Note that the heat from the oven will melt it causing it to expand, so no overfilling! I generally use one teaspoon per individual mini madeleine mold. When done, you can pop them in the oven and keep an eye on them. As every oven is different they might cook really fast or not at all. Generally they will take 7-10min. If you’re unsure, look at them. The batter should rise up and get that characteristic hump. The outsides should be browning up a bit. When you lightly tap them using a stick it should bounce back nicely. I use these cues to know when its done. Take it out of the oven and leave it to cool for 5min. Then carefully pop the individual cakes from their respective molds. I like it when they are served immediately as it’s still warm. 

I’ve been experimenting with different flavours since perfecting the basis. Swap out the lemon zest with orange zest. I once made yuzu ones which was a bang at our dinner party. I tend to keep to citrus extracts but other options work as well. I currently have ideas for an olive oil and rosemary one with bacon dust, I shall keep you updated on how that one goes. 

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Ingredients for baking

11 June 2016

While baking recently I have wondered, why use granulated sugar and not icing sugar? Why do I put salt in my batter? I’ve decided to look into these pretty frivolous questions and answered them. 

Salt- Why do we put salt in baked goods? Granted not all recipes do so, but I tend to add a pinch of salt in my baking regardless of what it is. I avoid salted butter at all costs because not all butters have the same ratios of salt, which can make the overall product immensely salty. To circumvent this issue- use unsalted butter and add a pinch of it instead. Salt activates our senses, its one of our primary senses (others being sour, sweet, bitter and umami). I believe it balances out the sweetness nicely, giving the product more flavour when eaten. 

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Butter- A fat component needs to be present, more often this is found to be butter for baking. I’ve always believed that the fat component gives moisture to baking, or in some cases the perception of moisture. Creaming butter and sugar together is a technique that gives the “melt-in-your-mouth” sensation, the reasons why will be explained in part 2. I tend to use butter because I have tried substitutes and determined butter just gives the product the best moisture, taste and texture. If a substitute is necessary I’d suggest going for a very mild-flavoured oil.

Flour- I’m pretty sure flour is necessary for all baking... Before I started I didn’t realise there were so many different types. I made the mistake of using self-raising flour in my madeleines and then adding baking powder to that- the poor things looked like mini volcanoes. It then hit me that self-raising flour had some baking powder in it. Top or cake flour is flour ground very finely. This gives the product a very light texture, I tend to use this for butter cookies and madeleines. All-purpose flour does not have a leavening agent, this basically equates to: it does not have a raising agent. I tend to use this type of flour for pizzas and bread. There are so many other types out there, but I will cut it at these because the others are used for items like pasta (which I will post about as well). In baking, flour can absorb moisture from butter or the air itself- this also prevents the product from being a dry piece that sucks all the saliva from your mouth... 

Sugar- the sweet component. There is more to this crystal-like structure than you’d expect. Yes, duh, sugar gives the product its sweetness. It is after all one of our primary tastes. In cases where yeast is present it activates yeast by giving acting as food. So it will be quite self-explanatory that sugar is important for taste. Secondly, common knowledge says that sugar dissolves in water, yes this is true. But, when you add water in the correct ratio, it resembles syrup. This is because sugar takes the water, and doesn’t share it afterwards. Meaning, that if there is a lot of water present in the batter sugar will take it. The lack of water gives more structure to the product, this is especially important for cookies. For bread, you want water to be present because it activates the gluten giving it more structure. It is important that the sugar ratio is on par, not only for sweetness, but also to achieve the right texture. When in the oven, the water being held captive by sugar evaporates giving the product its ‘crispy’ side. Lastly, there are different sizes of sugar. Granulated sugar has relatively large sugar crystals vs. caster sugar which is tiny. This is important when creaming sugar and butter together. Icing sugar is the finest form of sugar possible but it has a coating of cornflour to prevent it from lumping together immediately when in contact with moisture from the air. 

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Eggs- an eggciting addition (pardon the pun). I have always known that eggs are added to any baking recipe act as a binding agent. An egg itself is high in protein and this protein will hold together the batter sludge. The egg can be separated. Egg white can be whipped into peaks, this is achieved by incorporating high quantities of air. This can then be folded into the batter to give it a light structure. The yolk is high in fats i.e. why some individuals avoid consuming egg yolks due to high cholesterol. This fat will coagulate in the presence of heat, and once again bind the product and giving it structure. 

Leavening Agent- rising up to the challenge. Leavening agents are added to put more air into the batter. Be it yeast or baking powder. Saccharomyces cerevisiae a.k.a. yeast is a microorganism. It takes sugar and metabolises it, producing ethanol and CO2 gas. The gas provides the air and allows the batter to rise. Moreover, yeast is commonly used in bread. However, it does not mean it is exclusively found in bread. Cakes can use yeast, but the ethanol by-product can ruin the taste profile. Therefore an alternative is used, namely baking powder/soda. This component uses chemistry to create CO2 gas. Bicarbonate of soda (baking powder or soda) is a base and reacts with an acid component to release sodium salt, water and CO2. Commercially, the baking sodas have an acidic salt. When it comes in contact with water the proton is released, which can then react with the base;  NaHCO3 + H+ → Na+ + CO2 + H2O. It is important to note that adding too much baking soda with not enough acid will mean that there is an excess of acid and not enough base. Thus the batter becomes quite acidic and ruins the taste. However, this is generally avoided due to the presence of acidic salts in the baking soda. 

In general, these are the main ingredients I come across in the kitchen when baking. At first glance all of the reasons as to why they are used are pretty obvious. If you’ve been baking for a while you notice that eggs are the binding agent. Flour gives structure. Butter gives moisture. Sugar gives crispiness and sweetness. The deductions are made after you’ve done quite a number of attempted baking. Now the real skill is using this knowledge next time you bake. Is the cake too dry? Do you want a crispy cookie or chewy cookie? For example, chocolate lava cake has a 1:2 ratio of dry to wet ingredients. Less flour means less structure. More often, this recipe has quite a number of eggs than common cake recipes. This is because you want the ‘lava’ component to be gooey, and eggs coagulate the mixture making it resemble ‘lava’. That’s a fun fact for you!

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Orange Raspberry Sponge

5 June 2016

It’s right smack damn in exam week for me. But you know, studying gets monotonous and boring after a while. As a means to procrastinate, why not bake. It’s an excessive way to procrastinate. I know.... Coincidentally it was a stunning sunny day, so the house decided on an impromptu BBQ. Cake, BBQ and sun- what more could you want? I decided to bake a sponge because I’ve never done it and it looked simple enough. Let’s say its my “ode to ye British culture”. 

We had a nice BBQ, but the fire died within 30min and we didn’t have more coal... #noobmistakes. Oh well, nothing too bad we then decided to finish it off on the good old-fashioned hob. It missed the charred flavour that a BBQ provides but at least I’m not eating raw sausages- can’t have everything in life innit? After the BBQ one of my housemates left to play tennis with some friends (although she has never played tennis before... I know we were confused. It’s the company that counts though!). In all honesty, her snapchat showed her watching, laughing and encouraging the others so it worked out. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew decided to sneak in a slice of the cake because well... We didn’t know when she would come back and, well- we wanted cake. This then resulted in us going back for seconds. BUT- ladies and gentlemen. Me being the mother of the house convinced the others to leave her a big(ger) slice. We told her and she sprinted back. Safe to say I think my house likes it when I bake. Great thing with that, there’s no leftovers and I can ask them for favours- ha. 

I found this recipe from Waitrose, but changed it up a bit. As I usually do. Also, before I forget. I misread the recipe instead of 20″ cake tins they used 20cm. Suffice to say the cake layer was minuscule (1.5cm I measured!) so if you have two 20cm cake tins use them otherwise do not use a 20″ cake tin, anything smaller works. This buttercream frosting is based on the 20″ cake tin, in all honesty you can easily make additional buttercream if need be. 

Can I just give a shout out to mixers! I have a mixer back home but here I don’t- creaming butter and sugar by hand sucks.

Orange Raspberry Sponge

Ingredients

175g of unsalted room temperature butter (for batter)

100g of unsalted room temperature butter (for buttercream)

175g of caster sugar

175g of self-raising flour

200g of icing sugar (for buttercream, although adjust it depending on how sweet you want it)

juice and zest of an orange

3 room temperature large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons raspberry jam

fresh raspberries are optional

Preheat the oven to 175˚C. Line your baking tin with parchment paper. 

Cream together butter and caster sugar i.e. beat the living hell out of it until light and fluffy. The colour will be paler than butter which is how I estimate that it is creamed/beaten well enough. Beat in the eggs one at a time, ensuring the egg is well incorporated into the batter before the next one. Stir in the vanilla and orange zest. Sift the flour before folding it into the batter. When incorporated pour the mixture into the cake tin, smoothening the layer. Then, pop it in the oven for 15-20min depending on how temperamental your oven is (mine is really a diva). If it is temperamental like mine is, you’re probably better off keeping an eye on it and judging it by eye. With sponges, if you touch the top and it springs back nicely- it will most likely be cooked. Remember that the residual heat does continue to cook the cake a bit. When done, take it out of the oven and leave it to cool in the tin for 5min before taking it out to fully cool on a wire rack. 

Meanwhile, since you have time to spare while the cake cools- it is time to make the buttercream. Use a mixer if you have one because by hand is a workout. Beat butter and the icing sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy. I’d advise to beat in the sugar one at a time just to keep the kitchen from becoming covered in sugar. When its one nice homogenous mixture, stir in the orange juice. Add a pinch of salt, I will explain to you why in the near future. 

To assemble, well here is where I screwed up but the same principle applies. Take your layer, spread buttercream on top of it. Get an even layer and everywhere! You don’t want to have a slice with no buttercream. On top of that, spread the raspberry jam followed by fresh raspberries in a decorative way as you see fit. (I’m a scientist I have zero creativity). If you have two layers plop the second layer on top and repeat. Then your pretty much sorted to impress your friends!