Pig ears. You either love them or hate them.
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You´d be surprised at how many tapas you can get from a set of ears. When the ears arrive, they are given a few blasts of the blow torch to get rid of any hair. Then they are washed and boiled, once cool enough to handle, they are thinly sliced before being fried with some garlic, seasoning and coriander.
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The texture is somewhat between fatty, sticky and crunchy.
Other “crunchy” tapas that have been served include Chicken Skin.
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I adore crispy chicken skin, for me its the best part of the fowl. It perplexes me to see some people remove the skin when they are served roasted or BBQed chicken. All my friends know that I love the skin, so there’s always extra for me! 
Its not only chicken skin that I like, pork skin too, especially from a nice piece of roasted pork. In the UK we call the roasted skin “Crackling”, named after the sound it makes when eaten. Pork rind that is sold in small packets are called “Scratchings”. In Lao it is known as “Kiep Moo”.
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Kiep Moo is served as a snack or as an accompaniment to Papaya Salad.
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I serve both of the skins as an Amuse Bouche.
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As they say, “The Honeymoon is over”…and its back to work…
Actually the Honeymoon was over some time ago, I have been occupied by the World Cup as well as a new menu.
Here in the summer, it gets really hot, and I mean REALLY hot, and a lot of our guests ask for lighter dishes and smaller portions.
Before the wedding I had started to plan for our new Summer Menu that would feature Tapas, small dishes that could be ordered instead of a full blown (heavy) dinner. The menu is proving to be a success, we are serving between 130 to 180 Tapas every evening.
The menu changes every two or three days, depending on what is available at the markets. It also gives us the chance to serve some traditional dishes alongside our modern ones.
To Tapear (pronounced Tah-pé-ah) informally means in Spanish ” to have some tapas” and our menu is called Tapa-Ya (pronounced the same Tapear), which is my funny way of saying “lets have tapas, already”.
With so many changing dishes on the menu, the “mis en place” has changed dramatically. This is a good thing as it keeps all my cooks “on their toes” and frees us from the sometimes mundane preparations that are made daily for a regular “a la carte” menu.
A lot of the inspiration for our tapas comes from Spanish dishes that I see everyday, as well as the food that we prepare for ourselves at home.
“Albondigas” are Spanish for Meatballs. Our Albondigas are made from pork.
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The meatballs are shaped by pushing them up through the hands, which is quicker than rolling them.
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This is the traditional way that meatballs are shaped “back home”. Next time you have a bowl of Pho with meatballs in Vientiane, look for a place that has the irregular shaped ones, that proves they are “homemade” and taste so much better..
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These Albondigas will be served in a spicy curry sauce made with red spices.
“Gambas al Ajillo” is a typical Spanish dish of prawns cooked in olive oil with garlic and chilli. My version has the addition of ginger and spring onion as well as homemade roasted chilli oil. This makes the dish more spicy and aromatic.
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Spice up your life…why not?!
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Moving away from Spanish influenced dishes the next one is made from chicken.
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One night whilst having a stroll on the banks of the Mekong, I saw stalls selling BBQed Chicken Hearts, such a simple snack, grilled while you wait. The smell was wonderful, and the taste was equally so, especially with a jug of Beerlao at hand.
Back then I thought to myself that one day I could share this cheap luxury with others. I didnt know that a few years later I would be serving them in a 5 Star hotel…
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These chicken hearts are marinated along with the livers before being skewered then char-grilled. How wonderful simple things can be…
With some Japanese influence our next dish is Tataki.
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Briefly seared tuna is dressed with some very yummy Wasabi-Miso sauce.
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The Tataki is one of our best selling Tapas.
However, my favourite is the Lao Burger.
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I have been known to snack on 4 or 5 of these small burgers throughout the day! (one of the advantages of being the Chef, tasting for “quality control! 
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The Lao Burger is basically a Lao Sausage shaped in to a burger and served in a bun with Lao Tomato Chutney (Jéow Mhak Len).
This dish is fondly called a “McLao” in the kitchen………..
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There is a reason why I have been off line for a while, I got myself a wife!
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After more than 10 years waiting, Rosalia the most beautiful girl in the world arrives…
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On Saturday 29th May 2010, I married my best friend…
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A firm handshake from my brother King, who read a wonderful verse in the church.
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Close family members turned out in traditional dresses for the service.
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The rest of my team and family.
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Good fun and good food (and drink).
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My mother and aunties stayed in their traditional dresses whilst the others changed in to something more “danceable”!
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Cheers!
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Apart from our regular fixed menu and daily specials, we have served quite a few “Tasting” menus during the past month or so. Tasting Menus costs a little extra, but you get a few more dishes than you normally would. These menus we enjoy preparing the most!
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Below are some highlights from the previous month…
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King Prawns in Pho Consommé Jelly get ready for the final touches.
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It is garnished with some micro-herbs and a few good dollops of Citrus Truffle Sauce.
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Next up are Spider Crab Futomaki.
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Our Spider Crabs, locally known as “Centollo” are purchased live before being cooked. The meat is then removed whilst it is still warm and used in various recipes. Slices of cucumber give the Futomaki an nice crispy crunch. These are hand rolled just before serving to ensure that the Nori sheet retains its texture and doesn’t become soggy.
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Carabineros are an extravagant topping for sushi. Per kilo they are more expensive than Lobster. The taste is simply divine and well worth it. Like in all our recipes featuring the Scarlet Prawn, a sauce is made from the head. In the case of this sushi, the sauce is served separately in a small bowl with a brush so that the diner can “paint” more flavour on to it.
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Next up is Salmon Skin Temaki.
Some new dishes have appeared from the kitchen within the past few weeks.
Having some spare Scallops in the fridge gave me an opportunity to serve them “Goong Che Nam Pa” style.
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The scallops are quickly seared in a pan before being cut horizontally and dressed with Crystal Shallots and the Nam Pa mixture. The semi-raw scallops have a really soft texture.
This dish was part of a small Tasting Menu and was followed by our Dtom Khem in Ravioli.
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The main course of this dinner was Pigeon 63.
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The pigeon breast is cooked at 63ºC “sous vide” for 25 minutes. The result is a medium rare breast which almost melts in your mouth.
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The most interesting dish that has come through the swinging doors lately is our Instant Yellow Pepper Noodles.
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“Noodles in a squeezy bottle”….
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Spring is back and the fields are once again covered in green!!! 
Macarons are great for filling with savoury flavours. These morsels offer a delicate crispy exterior that gives way to a moist and fluffy interior.
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Our green macarons are filled with Chorizo Cream.
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Chorizo are a cured Spanish pork sausage. The red colour comes from Paprika, which lends a smokey slightly spicy flavour. These sausages are usually found in homes and tapas bars. There are hundreds of different varieties available, both fresh and dry cured. Fresh ones have a higher fat content and need to be cooked. The resulting oil which is released from the cooking is very aromatic and I have been known to fry some Chorizo then use its oil to fry some eggs for a quick lunch on many days…
Cured Chorizo can be sliced and served as is.
Another “amuse bouche” that we have been serving lately is Foie Gras Mi Cuit with Smoked Mackerel.
We make our own Foie Gras Mi Cuit (which means intentionally partly cooked duck liver) and smoke our own fish in the kitchens.
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Slices of bread are brushed with butter before being toasted, then spread with a little Yakitori sauce before being topped with thin slices of the Smoked Mackerel and finally crowned with a sliver of Foie Gras.
Often overlooked as a simple piece of garnish (as used in our Long Satay and our Honey Roasted Pigeon dishes), pickled vegetables offer a fresh crunchy, salty and sour taste that is great to open a meal with, especially with a pre-dinner chilled glass of Sherry .
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Using firm fresh vegetables ensures that they retain their texture. Cauliflower florets, mini carrots, mini courgettes can keep for some time in the liquid.
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Other softer ingredients such as large courgettes and cucumbers are best used within a few days. The chilli is really there as a garnish and diners are advised that they eat it at their peril! (though that hasn’t stopped some people! 
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On a less spicy note, we had a huge delivery of ripe avocados this week and quickly put them to use.
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A simple Guacamole is enhanced with a dash of Sriracha and served as an Amuse Bouche. This went down well with the diners and even better with the staff!
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Later in the week I had the pleasure of preparing a special tasting menu. One of the dishes involved lobster. I am a big fan of raw seafood, and when the crustacean arrived, I knew that it had to be served raw. In the past I have served Lobster Sashimi, so this time I wanted to do something a little different.
Its good to get back to normality.
As a child I always enjoyed a nice “Dtom Khem”. The recipe is made by braising pork (or sometimes chicken) and spices with soy sauce and sugar, the resulting dish has a lovely dark caramel colour and a sweet and savoury taste. The best bit has to be the hard boiled eggs that are added to the pot that take on the wonderful colour of the sauce.
I could just eat the sauce over steamed rice and that would be a fine dinner.
We have toyed around with Dtom Khem in the past, sometimes changing the hens eggs for quail eggs, or swapping pork for beef. However, its return to our kitchen this time sees it served in pasta.
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Notice that there is no sauce accompanying the dish. You´ll notice that I said it is served “in” the pasta, and not “with” pasta. 
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Sorry that it has been a while since the last update. This past month or so has seen the entire hotel exclusively booked by a major car group for their launch of two new models. During this time the restaurant has been serving various dishes for international motor journalist, and the restaurant has been closed to the public.
During the past month I haven´t been able to update, maintain or reply to posts on the site, once again I apologise.
Now that the event is over, its back to “business as usual” as well as work on a new menu.
Expect some new posts soon!
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I know them as “Moo Foy“.
These lovely soft threads of seasoned pork are so versatile. I was first introduced to them when I was young and they were sprinkled on top of a hot bowl of “Khao Piek” (rice soup), yummy!.
Since then I have seen them used in sandwiches and other snacks (best of all, wrapped up in sticky rice!). There are different types available, crunchy and crispy or soft and fluffy. The latter is probrably its most popular form, and due to its appearance is sometimes referred to as Pork Floss.
Seeing as we live and work “out in the sticks“, there are no Asiatic stores nearby and we only ever get Moo Foy when someone visits from abroad (the visitor is always given a shopping list prior to arrival….. ), so in “Good ole Laocook fashion”, we decided to make our own.
Questions were thrown about in the kitchens on how to achieve the end result. Theories mentioned included roasting stewed pork, shredding it then allowing it to dry in a low temperature oven. This seemed okay, but how would we get the “fluffiness”? It was clear that the meat had to be moved around whilst cooking. Also, the oven technique wouldn’t allow us to get the “crunchiness”. Deep frying the shredded meat would give us a result that was too crunchy.
We knew that fluffiness could be achieved by cooking the shredded meat in a bowl placed over simmering water, we have used this technique before with fish when making our sushi ingredients.
In the end, we decided to make three batches of Moy Foy using different finishing methods.
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Pork shoulder is slowly cooked then shredded whilst still warm. Shredding any meat is much easier when it is warm.
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Over a low flame the pork is then seasoned with soy sauce, salt, sugar and slowly cooked and stirred. This method would result in our crunchy(ish) Moy Foy. As the sugar melts in the pan it takes on a lovely caramel colour and provides a slight crispiness to the pork. Vigilance is important here, lack of attention could end up with a burnt and bitter tasting result.
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With the second method, the pork was finished in a bowl over simmering water. This method was the hardest, and most time consuming, but would yield the fluffiest result. Constant stirring is needed here so that the pork dries out evenly and air is incorporated.
Half way through this technique when some of the meats moisture had been removed, half of the pork was transferred to a large baking tray and placed in an oven at 90ºc for just over an hour.
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Meanwhile, there were other tasks that needed attending to.
More pork was being cooked, this time our version of “Char Sui” or Chinese Style Roasted Pork. However, our cooking process started the night before. 
Our pieces of pork are cooked “Sous Vide” for 12 hours.
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This results in a very tender and juicy piece of meat. The meat is browned in a hot pan just before serving.
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