Archive for June, 2008
Chilled soups are a great way to start a summer meal. We have reworked the appearance of our Tomato Soup, which was previously served with grapes.
Though the soup is almost clear, we wanted it to show that it was made from ripe Tomatoes.
The insides of the Tomato are carefully scooped out and dried in a low oven for 30 minutes before being chilled. The drying amplifies the flavour. This small soup is packed with flavour and is one of our favourite Amuse Bouche to serve.
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Any kind of Larb is good, especially a raw Larb, served with crispy vegetables and fresh herbs.
Our Larb “Mis en Place”.
When it comes to Duck Larb, because the skin and fat are being used, this Larb is served cooked.
Like all good Larbs, the meat should be cut by hand. We usually use a whole duck, with the carcass and wings being used in a soup.
The skin and fat are removed and chopped by hand, along with the innards, which are then seasoned and cooked in a pan with garlic. No oil is needed as the duck fat will melt and yield a lot of fat, some of which is reserved and used to cook other dishes.
No Larb is complete without the “secret ingredient”.
Satays always remind me of street food. The aroma of coal grilled Satay´s in the early evening, and the prospect of a chilled beer are a welcoming sight along the banks of the Mekong.
A lot of restaurants serve Satay´s, generally made with Pork or Chicken. Skewered on bamboo sticks, these grilled titbits are normally served as starters or snacks. However, seeing as most restaurants do not have a dedicated grill, many resort to deep frying the Satay´s, bamboo sticks and all.
There are many recipes for the marinades used, depending on what recipe is followed (Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai etc…). Brushing Satay´s on the grill with Coconut Milk gives off a wonderful aroma and gets the taste buds flowing.
Most Satay´s are accompanied by a Peanut Sauce. Sadly, many eateries abroad resort to using Peanut Butter mixed with Spices and Coconut Milk to make the sauce. Dry toasting raw Peanuts to make the sauce is time consuming, but well worth it.
Over the past few weeks I have been thinking about a new way to serve them, as eating from bamboo sticks not only makes our diners fingers dirty, getting the last piece from the skewer doesn’t look in place over a romantic dinner.
To cut a long story short, I decided to lightly chop the meat (we use pork), and then remove the sticks after grilling them. After a few trials I decided to add a small amount of pork fat to the mixture to stop it from drying out over the high flame. Without the sticks, it is easier to eat, and the added fat makes it juicy and tender as the fat melts away when cooking.
Our New Style Satay is served with Pickled Carrots, Shallots, (real) Peanut Sauce and Curry Salt.
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Deep fried King Prawn Tempura is one of my favourite snacks. We use fresh “Langostinos de Sanlucar”, which have a wonderful natural sweetness, and must never be overcooked.
Baby Carrots and Sweetcorn with “Langostinos de Sanlucar” Tempura.
The idea is to just deep fry them in clean oil (we reserve some oil in a separate fryer for exclusive use for Tempura) for a minute or so.
They will continue to cook when removed from the oil, the batter acts insulation to the harsh heat of the oil, basically “steaming” the flesh whilst the batter crisps on the outside. We never drain any Tempura on kitchen towels, as this can make them soggy, instead we use a wire rack.
They must be served as soon as possible.
The Baby Carrots and Sweetcorn´s inherent sweetness matches that of the King Prawns and also provide a nice crunchiness to the dish.
Talking about King Prawns, we have been working with some rather different ones lately.
These Scarlet Prawns are called “Carabineros” and fetch higher prices than Lobsters.
It has been a busy week in the kitchens. Not only are we introducing new dishes to our everyday menu, there are also a lot of group bookings and large tables.
Dessert is prepared for a table of 18 diners.
As a rule, any tables with greater than 10 diners, a special set menu is served. Not only does a set menu facilitate the service and kitchen, it ensures that the rest of the restaurant doesn’t have to wait too long for their food.
Sous Chef Khamsene browns off a whole Beef “Solomillo”, which will be placed in the oven to finish cooking.
“Solomillo” (pronounced Solo-Mio) is the Spanish term for Tenderloin or Fillet. It is the most tender cut of meat (normally associated with Beef, Pork or Venison). When cut in to portions it is also known as “Fillet Mignon”.
The Solomillo is normally located running along the inside of the spine, between the shoulder and hip. This part of the meat does very little work, therefore remains the least stringy and most tender and free from fat. It is ideal served rare or used for raw dishes like Steak Tartare (and our New Style Beef Larb).
There are so many things you can do with Salmon. We use it in our Sushi Bar, we smoke or marinade it, we grill or poach it.
Farmed Salmon can be fatty, so it is worth spending a little bit more money on Wild Salmon, you can see and taste the difference immediately. The pink/orange colour of the flesh comes from its diet that is largely based on shrimps, farmed Salmon are fed Food Pellets that contain artificial colouring.
When Salmon is cooked, it looses its bright colour which becomes light pink and the flesh becomes flaky. The best way to serve it is to briefly cook it, so it retains it nice texture without breaking up.
We wanted to partner some Salmon with Carrots because we found the colours similar and vibrant.
We brushed some Salmon with a light Miso paste and covered it with Sesame Seeds before pan frying it for a few seconds and serving it with our Carrot sheets.
The Sesame Seeds add a light nutty and crunchy flavour and texture.
Another fish that appears on a regular basis on our menus is the Tuna.
Tuna season is well upon us, and whilst the fisherman are hard at work, cooks are also busy.
Some wonderful cuts arrived to the Laocook Kitchens, and immediately we mixed up some Wasabi and Soy Sauce (for product quality testing purposes only 
;) ).
The texture of high quality Tuna is unlike any other fish. There is nothing “fishy” about it. It looks like meat, and has a similar texture, but more soft, more delicate.
As a Starter for a special Aharn Menu (Tasting Menu) we put together the following.
Our Trilogy Of Tuna.
The Tuna is cut by hand in to small dice, and briefly marinated in various vinaigrette’s, then served at once.
A closer look…
The first is served with Flying Fish Roe (Tobiko), which is fabulously crunchy.
Next follows an extravagant mouthful. Caviar “Ecológico“.