Archive for the ‘General’ Category
Firstly, a belated Happy Lao New Year to everyone!
Things have been pretty hectic around here lately, so many things to do, with so little time to do them in! However, the team and I did find time to enjoy a New Year Party and invited the rest of the hotel staff to join in too! (Crazy night!)
In the kitchens I have been working on a new menu and some new dishes. With the restaurant being fully booked every evening, its been a long and hard month, but the team and I are pleased with the results!
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Crispy Pork Belly getting ready for its third and final blast in the oven.
I never imagined how hard it would be to find this pork cut in Spain. Every time I ordered it, something different would arrive, they finally got it right when I called it “Bacon Crudo” (raw bacon) and sent them a few photos of pork belly.
The belly is cooked three times over two days, it´s a long winded technique but the result is a tender piece of pork with a wonderful crispy skin, my favourite part!
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Cooking it this way ensures that the meat remains juicy and doesn’t dry out.
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“Crackling good!”. I normally cook the pork up to the second stage, portion it, then finish it in the oven once it is ordered.
It needs to be trimmed before it is put in to the oven so that it has a nice, even and presentable shape.
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We don´t waste any food in the kitchens, the trimmings make a perfect staff meal!
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A little tub of Chili Fish Sauce is always present when we take a few minutes to eat!
Talking about pork, many places seem to be serving pork skin at the moment, its cheap and a little goes a long way.
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I always have a few boxes on stand-by.
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Much like prawn crackers, these fluff up in a matter of seconds.
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Its not only the customers that enjoy these, they are very, very popular with the cooks! “Crunch, munch, crunch, munch!”, can be heard all over the kitchen when these are fried up! 
Two or three pieces are served per person as an appetiser before the meal.
Fluffy prawn and crab cakes have been another small dish that we have been serving.
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These are made fresh on a daily basis and fried to order and served with a tangy sweet chili sauce.
One dish that has been a favourite in the past month is my Mini Lao Burger.
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Lao Burger? What is that?
It´s basically a Lao pork sausage shaped in to a patty and served with a sticky Lao Tomato Chutney, which is basically a “Jeow Mhak Lhen” with most of the liquid removed by gentle heating.
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Buy reducing the moisture content the flavour becomes more concentrated, perfect for squeezing on top of a char grilled burger.
We have featured Dtom Khem a few times on the menu, though never in its original state. Previously we used it in our “Dtom Khem Ravioli” , however this time we thought that it should be served in its authentic form, boiled egg included!
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This recipe used pork ribs, slow cooked so that the meat falls off the bone, no need to get your hands dirty! 
A nice dinner should be complimented with a nice dessert.
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Cream is slowly heated with a few vanilla pods, yes it´s créme brûlée time again!
Following my adventures with Malt Flavoured Créme Brûlée, my new dessert is now flavoured with green tea.
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Not just any green tea, I use Maccha (or Matcha).
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It is made is a similar way to my malt version and cooked in exactly the same fashion. At first glance it doesn’t look much like a green tea créme brûlée at all.
However, once its cooked the colour changes.
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Continuing with the “green theme” below is some green juice.
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Pandan Juice to be exact.
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The leaves are striped and placed in a blitzer with a little water. There is no way to find Pandan Leaves in Spain, so I had to get them from Paris.
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Once blitzed and strained the juice is portioned in to 40g containers and frozen for later use in my Pandan Créme Brûlée.
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It´s not been work, work, party, work, party, all of the time. Relaxing the other day over brunch I came across an article about grocery shopping the magazine supplement of the national Spanish newspaper “El Pais”.
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And there was former Laocook Girl Emilie and my friend and fellow blogger Iñigo of Umami Madrid.
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Goi Pa. A Laotian ceviche of some sort? Or is ceviche a South American version of Goi Pa?
Who cares? Its yummy and easy to make!
Like many Laotian salads or “Larbs”, Goi Pa is raw, or almost raw, cured and briefly marinated, it must be served as soon as its made.
You need fresh fish, I find white fish is the best for this dish, but you could use salmon or tuna, it really doesn’t matter, as long as the fish is fresh.
There are different ways to prepare this dish, this is my way. The fish is ever so briefly heated, glazed in its own juices actually, this gives it a wonderful texture, semi raw if you like. You have to try it to appreciate it.
This is a long post, with many photos (25 more to go!), but trust me, its easy to prepare.
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Two medium sized fish will serve 4 to 6 persons. Here I use Dorada (Gilt Head Bream). I would have preferred to use Sea Bass, but we ate those the previous day!
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The other ingredients include a knob of galangal, the juice of 4 limes, 2 spring onions, lemongrass, a few chilies, a handful of both mint and coriander.
Apart from the fresh chilies, you will also need some dried chilies.
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Deep fry the dried chilies in hot oil until they turn a dark red, not burnt!
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Pound the deep fried chilies with a pestle and mortar.
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Freshly made powdered chilies have a roasted aroma. You can make them in advance and store them in an airtight container, but the roasted aroma dissipates over time. That´s why I like to make mine when it´s needed.
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You will also need some fish sauce, I use 55 grams, you can use a little less, then taste the finished dish and add some more if you want.
Malt Brulee or to give it its full title, Malt Flavoured Crème Brûlée is a new dessert that is now a regular fixture on my small “Sweet Things I like” menu.
I love a good crème brûlée, and trust me, I have tried many! It´s essentially a rich custard with a crunchy caramel lid or topping. I love the smooth silky texture of the set custard and the sweet bitterness of the caramel.
The name Crème Brûlée is 100% French (though that does not mean it was invented in France, if you believe everything that you read it can either be British or Spanish in origin! :shock: ), in Spanish it can be called “Crema Quemada”, both translate to “Burnt Cream”.
It is similar to its culinary cousin “Crema Catalana”, which is sometimes incorrectly referred to the Spanish version of crème brûlée, when in fact it is a different dessert, flavoured differently and cooked differently. The similarity lies in the texture of the custard and the burnt sugar topping, which is achieved by using a hot iron for the crema catalana and a grill or blowtorch in the case of the crème brûlée.
Commonly the dessert is flavoured with vanilla, however it can also be found on menus flavoured with coffee, chocolate, mango, orange, jasmine etc…
Why malt?
The reason I choose malt is because I was very impressed with a dessert that I had at the vegetarian restaurant Vanilla Black in London during a visit in November 2011. On their menu was an “Iced Malt and Burnt Orange Marshmallow with Muscovado Sugar Meringue and Parsnip Purée”. It was the “Iced Malt” that got my attention. It was lovely! 
My brother King who used to work there managed to get hold of the recipe for me, one of the key ingredients was malt extract (obviously!).
Its not easy trying to track down some ingredients in the countryside of Spain, so after a while I gave up and filed the idea in my head.
Then on a recent trip to Belgium and after ordering a crème brûlée in every restaurant I ate in (yep! lunch and dinner!) and seeing and tasting the difference in textures and flavours between different restaurant versions, my mind was made up… I wanted to have a version on my menu, the way I like it, so I could share it with my clients.
I knew then that I wanted to make a malt crème brûlée.
With that idea in mind I visited a few health shops thinking that it would be easier to find malt extract in a large city. Boy was I wrong. 
Then it hit me! Actually it hit me over a few beers . There is no doubt that the best beers in the world are from Belgium!! It was over a discussion about the many different beers (all 1100 of them!) and how I used to brew my own that I realised that I knew exactly where to get hold of malt extract. I had some at home. I always had!!!
Once back in Spain I set about trying to make my “Malt Brulee” (no need for accents in my version!). After a few trials and errors I finally came up with a recipe that I liked.
This is a seriously rich dessert, loads of sugar, egg yolks and cream! But hey!, Sometimes you should spoil yourself. I know I do!
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Malt Brulee
Ingredients:
- 300g Dried Malt Extract
- 125g Milk
- 1 litre cream (at least 35% fat, in Spanish its called “Nata para Montar”)
- 2tsp good quality Vanilla Extract (or use 1 Vanilla Bean if you can get it)
- 150g Egg Yolks (from about 8 eggs)
- 120g Granulated Sugar
- Brown Sugar for topping
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I use Extra Dark Spray Malt from my stout making days. This dark malt extract adds a nice caramel colour to the finished dessert, using a light spray malt will result in a lighter, golden coloured dessert which is equally nice.
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I use 8cm diameter small ramekin style bowls that hold about 50-60 grams, this recipe is enough for about 18 to 20 of these bowls. These are placed in a baking tray that will allow you to add hot water, otherwise known as a “bain marie”.
Set the oven to 120ºC. In a large pan bring to the boil about 4-5 litres of tap water.
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In a saucepan add the malt extract and the milk.
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Give it a good stir. Dried malt extract has a tendency to clump up when liquid is added to it, stirring it now will reduce the amount of clumps when the cream is added.
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Add the cream slowly, stirring constantly. Place the pan on a low flame and allow to come to a simmer, make sure you don´t let it boil. The low flame is necessary, you don’t want to scorch or burn the mixture. If you are using a vanilla bean you can split it in half, scrape out the seeds and place everything in the mixture now.
It is cold here! That´s what you get by living in one of the “Casas Viejas”, or “Old Houses”, which this town is now named after. These typical white houses nestled in villages in southern Spain adorn picturesque postcards, they look so lovely and cosy, which they are, but what these pictures don´t tell is is that during the summer, they are hot as an oven (I am sure I can cook something Sous Vide by leaving it wrapped up and placed in a water bath throughout the night!), and during the winter they are hideously cold. All of my neighbours have chimneys, outside you can smell the wood smoke, sadly my house doesn’t have one, it just has gas powered heater that I sit next to, shivering… brrrrrr….
I take some of my annual holiday in November or December when the hotel is less busy. I tend to return to London, another cold place, to visit family and friends.
Obviously there are many, many places to visit in London. Once you are done with “all that tourist stuff”, Brick Lane is a great place to visit and unwind.
Famous for its Sunday Market, the place is teaming with the trendy set, the arty types and the bargain hunters.
There is a huge amount of street art and installations to be found on every corner. Its one of my favourite places in London, away from the hustle and bustle of the West End and it´s “tourist stuff”.
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Its not only the artwork that draws people here. Over the years the area has become quite trendy. Major labels have opened branches of their stores in the surrounding roads, however the best shopping can be found in the outdoor, street and covered markets. The latter are more vibrant on Sunday´s, the former offer a good reason to visit during the week.
“Back in the day”, the area was known as the “Curry Capital” of the UK. Every outlet that could be converted in to a kitchen and eating area housed a restaurant, it was also home to the famous 24 hours Bagel outlet (there are a few more now), a favourite place to stop off on the way home after a night out in the town.
Nowadays the cuisine is diverse as the residents of the area. In the street market area you can find good food from around the world on stalls and trailers, where the aroma of freshly grilled sausages mingles with the smokiness of the jerk chicken being cooked over coals. You can buy BBQ´ed satays on one stall and from their neighbour buy some freshly squeezed vegetable or fruit juices. You can get yourself a fajita, walk a few steps and get yourself a steaming bowl of noodles.
There is seating available at Ely´s Yard which is surrounded by more food stalls and trailers. In the corner you can find the Laughing Buddha trailer, home to Thai & Lao Cuisine and the kitchen of former Laocook members King & Laurene, my brother and his wife.
What looks like an abandoned trailer is actually home to a small kitchen and work area and deliberately covered in graffiti (arty eh?).
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My brother´s menu is simple and straight forward and prepared “a la minute”.
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I always warm up my appetite with a small plate of spicy fried noodles with tofu, which is extremely satisfying during the cold weather, especially with the homemade chili oil, before I head out and venture in to the labyrinth of other food stalls and trailers.
The queues can appear quite long during the lunch hour, but they move quite quickly.
Laurene also serves her homemade Pandan Chiffon Cake. There are only 12 slices of the light, airy and fragrant cake available daily. However if I´m in town, there are only 8 slices available during the days until I leave!
Apart from the menu on display, special orders can be made in advance. Fancy some Laotian Rice (aka Sticky Rice), Laotian Grilled Chicken (Ping Gai! also ask for some Lao Tomato Chutney!), Spicy Papaya Salad (Extra Spicy – I dare you!), Fresh Rice Paper Spring Rolls or even my special weird sounding childhood favourite Spaghetti with Chili, Roasted Chili Oil, Coriander, Garlic and Parmesan (yep, Spaghetti!).
It´s a far cry from the setting of a five star hotel or award winning restaurant, but street food has something special about it.
As a trained Chef and Maitre d´, King and Laurene also offer catering for private parties in the comfort of the clients kitchen and home, where they offer customised vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus featuring traditional and modern dishes. Once a Laocook, always a Laocook!
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