Archive for February, 2009
Diners have been munching away on our Seabass Crackers and the feed back is very good.
They look like Prawn Crackers (or Shrimp Chips) and are made in the exact same way.
When we serve these Crackers, there are never any left over from the Service, (the staff like to munch on the crunchy chips, they are highly addictive!) :) .
For our next batch will be using Salmon, which hopefully should turn out a little pinkish. :) .
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Many people have been asking about our Pho Stock, which we use in many dishes. This is a very versatile stock and can be used to “lift up” many recipes. This is our basic recipe, which is unseasoned as it is neutral and will be further used and manipulated for other things.
Oxtail is washed and rinsed.
Before we start a working day, its meeting time.
During this short briefing we talk about what needs to be done on the particular day, and what tasks each cook has been assigned.
Everything needs to be planned ahead. (There is no use in preparing food for 100 people when we only have 70!.)
The occupancy of the hotel and the dinner reservations at the restaurant will determine what work needs to be done and what preparations need to be made.
For small groups we like to prepare Canapés for their pre-dinner drinks.
King Prawn Sushis.
Along with the usual “Mis en Place” for the evening, the Amuse Bouche also has to be decided .
Galangal Cream for our tepid Galangal Velouté.
Planning ahead saves time and takes away many of the everyday stresses that can be found in kitchens.
Talking about “planning ahead”, our Rabbits were delivered and work started on our three terrines.
Jamón and Rabbit.
The meat was removed from the rabbits and slowly poached in a Pho broth which was made with un-grilled onions to achieve a light coloured stock. When the meat was cooked, it was then cut by hand, along with some Spanish Cured Ham.
Downstairs in our Pâtisserie and Bakery, Pastry Chef Akiyama has been working with Chocolate.
White Chocolate Sculpture.
This small piece was presented to two diners who celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary at the hotel. Most times Chef Akiyama´s work looks too pretty to eat…but this is made out of chocolate… :) .
Upstairs in the main kitchens we have been busy making Crackers again.
Laying out the Crackers to dry.
These ones are made from Lubina, the Spanish name for Seabass.
In their current state, they have a “rubbery” texture.
They need to be slowly dried, so we place them in our Plate Warmer which is set at 70ºC throughout the evening.
We have added a new page on Laocook called “The Videos” (on the top right hand corner of the page).
Here you can find all of the videos, clips and recipes from LCTV on one single page.
:)
We serve marinated Duck Breast at the restaurant that is cooked “on the bone”. This way the breast has more flavour and tenderness.
Seeing as we buy the ducks whole, the legs and wings are removed for other recipes (the wings being used in stocks). The Duck Breast is a very popular dish on the menu so we end up having loads of legs left over.
We use some of the legs in our “Dtom Khem”, which is basically a Caramel Soy Braised Dish which is sometimes served as a Daily Special. Other times we include the legs in our Stocks (broths) and use the resulting meat to make Croquettes.
One day I asked one of the cooks to shred the legs, which he did very well but he also happened to throw away the fat and skin by mistake! :shock: .
After calming down 
(and picking up the pots and pans that had been strown inadvertently) I sat down to think about what I could use the meat for (Croquettes, the original idea needed some degree of fat in the recipe to ensure a succulent interior).
As it happened, fate had left us with some Foie Gras in the fridge, so I decided to match the pair and make a pressed Terrine.
Terrines are named after the cooking vessel that they were originally cooked in (like Paella is named after its cooking pan, the paellera), however nowadays it can refer to any stacked, shaped and set cold dish.
For our Terrine I decided to add some pickled Daikon and Carrots to compliment the Foie Gras and some Jamón (Spanish Ham).
The two “terrines” have been pressed for 24 hours.
Galangal is a root that goes by many names. Sometimes it can be found being called “Blue Ginger”, or “Thai Ginger”, or being spelt “Galangale” or “Galanga”.
It is an essential ingredient in South East Asian cooking, especially Thai cuisine. It parts a tender sweetness and spiciness to dishes as well as a pleasant sharpness. It has many medicinal properties and can be found in many remedies including processed and nautral herbal ones..
It is a fundamental ingredient in the Thai soup “Dtom Kha Gai”, meaning Boiled Galangal Chicken (soup) and not Boiled Chicken Leg (soup) as I thought it was for many years….. :shock: .
Recently we served up some warm Galangal Soup as an Amuse Bouche.
Warm Galangal Soup with Galangal Infused Cream.
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Furthering our sausage making adventures we prepared some Soured Laotian Style ones.
The recipe is basically similar to the normal Laotian Style Sausage, however some cooked and washed Sticky Rice is added along with some Rice Water.
It is then allowed to “sour” at room temperature for two days so that the flavour can develop, before being stuffed in to the casings then refrigerated to slow down the process.