Yan Kit's Sauteed Mackerel

iChrissy has returned from both non-existence and from a 10-day vacation in Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau! As there is very little to do in any of these places but eat and shop, iChrissy has taken advantage of both activities.

iChrissy, partnered with iGuy, ate their way across Singapore in a very short weekend where their wonderful hosts allowed a variety of samples of chili crab, black pepper crab, hawker favorites, and delicious kaya (coconut jam)! iGuy's resident family in Hong Kong exposed the iCouple to roasted goose, roast suckling pig, squab soup, whole abalone, and shark fin soup! Macau held a myriad of special macanese dishes such as huge stuffed prawns, African Chicken, and po tat(Portuguese custard tarts)!

Upon iChrissy's return to the US, extra suitcase in tow, her renewed spirit to recreate the Asian dishes of her recent trip has been released! The first attempted dish, from one of many new cookbooks added to iChrissy's collection, is Sauteed Whole Mackerel from "Yan Kit's Classic Chinese Cook Book".

While in Kowloon, a short ferry ride across the harbor of Hong Kong, sent the iCouple to a Shanghai Restaurant called Wu Kong that had the most delicious soup dumplings and whole roasted mackerel. Seen as how iChrissy has never made a whole fish before in her life, she figured she'd take this in baby steps and use a cookbook recipe to start.

At first, the recipe seemed startling by requiring a "shallow fry" in 8 ounces of oil, but once added to the wok, it came together easily. The whole fish was fried for 6 minutes on each side until browned and crackling, then most of the oil was drained, a pre-mixed sauce was added on top of the fish and left to continue to cook for another 3 minutes. At this point, the fish began to smell amazing and the color was exactly what iChrissy was hoping for. Shredded ginger and chopped spring onions (green onions) were added, covered and cooked a little while longer to turn out a perfect looking mackerel! Oh how proud iChrissy was!

Pre-Cooked:














Post-Cooked:
















The Conclusion:

The fish came out very good! It was perfectly cooked, moist, meaty, and full of flavor! A little oily, but it added to the fish without being heavy. The sauce was made with a blend of dark soy and light soy sauce which added depth and a very different taste quality that would not have been achieved from using just one type of soy. iChrissy will definitely make this fish again, but perhaps part of a much grander meal than just wonton soup and mackerel.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Cupcakes of Approval!

Gourmet Magazine's Perfect Hamburger Buns

On Mother's Day weekend, iGuy came to visit iChrissy for what was suppose to be a jam packed and exciting weekend. Instead, iGuy was greeted with an iChrissy that was terribly ill, tired as all hell and gross as can be. Being the sympathetic guy that iGuy is, iChrissy and iGuy hung around the house while iGuy made an attempt at "baking" as iChrissy watched from the sidelines:

iGuy's Comments: iGuy likes to cook. Roasting, braising, barbecuing, grilling, sauting and– these are all some of iGuy's favorite things. Not on the list and henceforth not one of iGuy'’s favorite activities is baking. This is simply because iGuy doesn’t much like to follow recipes or directions or anything that vaguely resembles an edict of any sort. Recipes are merely a structure or template, where iGuy will omit and add things as he sees fit, as well as, most importantly, "“eyeballing" most measurements. Who wants to measure out a ½ cup of red wine to throw into a Demi-Glaze reduction? Just pour it in, damnit! With baking, this cannot be done. Measurements must be exact and recipes must be followed verbatim or your final result will fail. But surely iGuy could eyeball some hamburger buns...right?

And so the story begins of iGuy'’s first attempt at baking bread. iGuy found a recipe for the "perfect hamburger bun" in the May 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine. If everything was to workout perfectly, a nice meal could be made with freshly baked buns and seared foie gras/black truffle burgers. iGuy was tempted to give it a shot (under the careful supervision of iChrissy). Confusion and mayhem had ensued from the first measurement to the last dough shaping. How will iGuy know if the dough has doubled? How thin does the dough have to be? Is this big enough for a hamburger patty? Do I have to finish the project? Exhausted, defeated, and anxious iGuy and iChrissy waited eagerly for the buns to come out of the oven.

After First Rise/Pre-Punched:

After Shaping and 2nd Rise/Pre-Baked:

Post-Baked:

The Conclusion:

The result was less than spectacular. Flat, disky biscuit-like pieces are what remained. The problem seemed to be over handling of the dough after the first rise. Perhaps iexcitementr excitment to "punch" the dough causing iGuy to brutalize the airy mixture. Or maybe it was iChrissy's critical backseat driving in the kitchen pointing and sneezing from afar. But whatever the probleinitial the inital attempt to baking was not a good one. The buns were tasty and buttery but not fluffy or tender as iCouple had initial An inital glance at the buns from various iPeople was always a comment like "nice looking biscuits" or "what's the biscuits for?". Thus iCouple's Black-Truffle-and-Foie-Gras Burger was to be eaten upon (*gulp*) Wal-Mart Bread. Which, by the way, was actually pretty good, toasty brown, fluffy, tender and all 8 buns for only bargain The bargin buns just begs the question: Why the hell did iGuy waste his time making his own biscuits..i mean, bread?

Rating: 1 out of 5 Mallets of Approval

Cooking Light's Garden-Style Lasagna

iChrissy has decided a healthier, more fit lifestyle is a must if she's going to be in sexy swimsuit shape this season. As iChrissy was standing in the grocery store line with her little basket of organic granola, fortified soy milk, and lean chicken breast...She stared off into space when the cover of a cooking magazine caught her eye. It was a big bowl of Mac and cheese! iChrissy truly felt like the cover's headline "mmm...Mac & cheese"...Oh, how the granola is already making her wish for a double cheeseburger and fries...

But wait, the magazine was COOKING LIGHT! What luck! Maybe healthy eating won't be so bad. iChrissy bought March 2006 issue in an attempt to model her lifestyle after the tag line plaster on the top "Eat Smart - Be Fit - Live Well". Flipping through iChrissy found a more interesting recipe than the Mac and cheese. She found Garden-Style Lasagna that didn't use ricotta cheese, but cottage cheese instead. With only 272 calories per serving, iChrissy was expecting the worse.

The recipe calls for a variety of frozen and pre-cut veggies that layered with a milk-based cheesy white sauce. So far, it didn't seem so bad.

3 layers were easily put together with oven ready lasagna noodles. The milk sauce was mixed with thawed chopped spinach. On top of that was the raw noodles and on top of that was the cottage cheese-veggie mixture. 3 or 4 layers later, we have ourselves something that looks like normal fattening lasagna!

White Sauce:
















Cottage Cheese Sauce:
















Lasagna Pre-Baked:
















Baked at 375 for 20 minutes and tahdah! A beautiful lasgana came out! The only thing left was the taste test. Would the cottage cheese be a good substitute for ricotta cheese? Would the veggies be a good filling with enough flavor?

Post-Baked:
















The Conclusion:

Honestly, the lasagna wasn't too bad. The cottage cheese had melted into oblivion leaving no substitute for ricotta cheese and the white sauce tasted a bit more like milk than cheese. But all in all, I can't say that I won't make it again. It was a healthy alternative to the regular lasagna and it was a whole lot lighter. iChrissy tried to pass it off as regular lasagna to iBoy, but he knew something was up. But with more convincing, iBoy accepted that it was just crappy lasagna.

Rating: 3 Out of 5 Cupcakes of Approval

iChrissy's 1st Official iKitchen Steak-Off

Here it is folks, just as the title proclaims, iChrissy's iKitchen's First Official Steak Off!! Not that long ago, iChrissy and iGuy were arguing about how great Costco steaks were and how incomparable Harry's Farmers Market (aka, Whole Foods) Dry Aged Steaks tasted. iGuy unrelentlessly rooted for Whole Foods where as iChrissy insisted Costco was superior by far. This weekend, it was the be all ends all Battle of the Beef - Round: Porterhouse!

Laying in the warm spring sun, iChrissy and iGuy planned the official menu: 1 Porterhouse Steak each of Costco and Whole Foods, a fancy-yet-simple herb potato dish, and Buttery-Garlic White Button Mushrooms. Two hours later, the iCouple were on our way and ready to cook. Surprisingly, the iCouple started allotting points with a raw side-by-side comparison. Whole Foods' steak was clearly darker with Costco's Porterhouse looking like a pork chop. But iChrissy did not waiver in her opinion, she stuck to her guns are she prepared the raw meat. A simple kosher salt dusting and resting to less than refrigerator temperature was perfect for outdoor propane grilling.

Raw Steak/Pre-Grilled:
(Costco t-bone on left, Whole Foods dry aged on right)















iGuy trashed talked his way through the whole grilling process and iChrissy being the dimure, shrinking violet that she is, nobly stood by keeping the faith that the mega warehouse meat would be the shining star. To keep the contest constant, iCouple decided the meat would be cooked medium-rare in accordance to the Brookstone Grill Alert Talking Remote Meat Thermometer. (This device is a must for the avid meat eater or the notorious meat overcooker).

Trash Talking iGuy:















Grilled Steaks with Thermometer probe:
(Costco Steak on left, Whole Foods Dry Aged Steak on right)
















IGuy expertly grilled each steak with the picturesque grill marks. After ample resting time, the games had begun!!

Costco Porterhouse steak: $8.00 each (pack of 2: $16)
Whole Foods Dry Aged Porterhouse steak: $17.00

4 pieces from each steak, 2 from the tenderloin and 2 from top loin.
Piece 1: outer edge, away from the bone on the top loin side
Piece 2: outer edge, away from the bone on the tenderloin side
Piece 3: close to the bone, from the tenderloin side
Piece 4: close to the bone, from the top loin side

Constestants:
(piece as described above from left to right)















Taste-Test iGuy Primed for Eating:
(Between bites, iGuy washed his palate with swigs of Monty Python's Holy Ail)















The taste test was simple. IGuy has piece 1 from steak A, comment on the flavor, texture and doneness, wash his palate with Monty Python's Holy Ail, and eat piece 1 from steak B. After both piece, he would tell iChrissy which steak was better. To be fair, iGuy has a preference for pieces with more char, but nonetheless, the results were unanimous.

The Conclusion:

In the end, iGuy had chosen the Whole Foods Dry Aged Porterhouse every round! iChrissy was crushed! Unbelievable! For sure the pieces close to the bone would have reigned supreme! BUT NO! Feebly, after iChrissy tried a few pieces of no particular order, she too had to admit that Whole Food's Porterhouse was more tender and slightly more flavorful. But the price difference is far too great to side with Whole Foods in the Porterhouse arena. iChrissy still votes for Costco despite the flavor differences.

iGuy's comments: iGuy, now known as the Carne Connoisseur, was able to identify the Dry-Aged fancy pants porterhouse in all four rounds. Let it be known, however, that the taste of each steak was too close to call in each round sans the fourth round. IGuy had to switch to texture in the first three rounds to determine a favorite, and thus it was not surprising that the Dry Aged fancy pants porterhouse won in the tenderness category. Visually, it was no contest. The disparity in pre-grilled and post-grilled color made this contest a wash. As for value, this was also a no contest. Costco’s steaks are definitely of high quality, and when incorporating value into the equation, it would be tough for iGuy to overlook the fair budget value of the warehouse brand.

iGuy's Full Action Shot:
















iGuy's Rating: Whole Foods Dry Aged Porterhouse: 4 out of 5Cleaverss of Approval







iGuy's Rating: Costco's Porterhouse: 3.5 out of 5 Cleavers of Approval

Almond Creme Mochi

iChrissy is a bit out of routine with the blog since it has been a while since iChrissy has been posting her cooking adventures. However, mochi is a good ease back into the cooking "scene".

On iChrissy's recent trip to NYC, she indulged in edible glory with friends at Kom Tang, fancy cocktails at Pegu Club with a much loved one, and a 3-hour lunch with family at Bouley. In addition to eating massive amounts of chow and walking off massive of calories, iChrissy met up with iMom, a formally trained foodie from San Francisco. She told iChrissy about a discovery in Gourmet magazine. Turns out it was a Japanese sweet treat called Butter Mochi. Traditionally mochi is made by pounding glutinous rice into a sticky mass then molded into shapes and dusted with potato starch. Modern times allows mochi to be produced relatively quick and with much less effort and home cooks can now steam some up in their home microwave. Even though it is more closely associated with Japanese New Year (lunar new year) mochi is available year 'round in a variety of flavors ranging from traditional plain to fresh strawberry and chocolate. While iChrissy was flying back home in a hot airplane cabin, she got to thinking. Its been a while since mochi has been produced in the iKitchen...And a treat so easily made...Why not make some upon return? After a day of much needed rest, iChrissy thumbed through her trusted cook book (Hawaii's Best Mochi Recipes by Jean Watanabe Hee) and found the perfect experiment Almond Creme Mochi!

The main ingredient of mochi is Japanese mochiko flour, a very fine flour milled from glutinous rice. A proportioned amount of mochiko flour, water, and almond extract was added to make a thick and sticky liquid. (my apologies for not providing a pre-steamed picture of mochi "batter"...Next time iChrissy makes more mochi, a new picture will appear). This is then poured into a lightly greased microwavable container and covered with plastic wrap. 8-10 minutes later, a slightly transparent block of mochi is finished. Using a PLASTIC knife, you can cut the block into smaller bite-sized pieces and dust it with katakuriko (potato starch) for a delicious, slightly sweet almond creme snack!

Post-Microwaved:















The Conclusion:

iChrissy was worried that with only 10 oz (2 cups) of mochiko flour and 2 cups of sugar the mochi might be too sweet, but in the end, it was almost perfect! iChrissy didn't get the microwave timing perfect which made for a slight rubbery surface, but flavor was an A+! If you like almond extract, you would LOVE Almond Creme Mochi!!

Rating: 5 out of 5 cupcakes of approval!!

iGuy's Osso Bucco

iGuy whipped up this rich dish a while ago, but unfortunately iChrissy has been traveling and gallivanting all around not giving her much time to post it. Anywho, here's iGuy's result! (and a humble result at that!)
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What can iGuy say about this classic Italian dish? Not sure when iGuy first made it, but it was quite a while ago. If iGuy remembers correctly, he first made it after seeing how it turned out on a cooking show, not sure which one. The one difference between the last time and this time was this time iGuy braised it in the oven instead of on the stove top, and iGuy likes the oven method much better. Much more gentle and forgiving. The shanks were delicious (thanks to the high quality meat used from iChrissy) but iGuy made a terrible mistake – he put the shanks marrow side down. Very disappointing as three out of the four shanks had their share of the marrow enriched in the sauce instead of their respective palates. iGuy is hard pressed to make this a five star dish, but truth be told, he’s not sure how to improve upon it. Suggestions?


Pre-Braised/Post-Browned:
















Post-Braised:
















iGuy's Explosive Rating: 4 out of 5 POW!'s of approval

African Chicken from Macau

iChrissy's nostalgic walk down memory lane towards the cinnamon buns of yesteryear inspired guest chef, iGuy, to try his hand at slow roasted chicken. After much careful negotiation, iChrissy has decided to post the results.
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This is a dish that iGuy and iBro (they're twins) fondly remember from Macau, a small island off the coast of Hong Kong. The island was a Portuguese colony until it changed hands in 1999, becoming a district of China with little fanfare. Part of iGuy's family lives in Macau making it easy to visit when iGuy takes the occasional trip to Hong Kong. Macau's cuisine is truly spectacular! It's a rare mix of African, Indian, and Chinese spices, techniques, and flavors. Because of its geography, the seafood is fresh and always excellent. Ocean fresh fish and shrimp as big as lobster tails are the norm. Being mainly carnivorous, iGuy and iBro do not always think of seafood when they think of Macau. But instead thoughts wander towards Macau's tender fire-roasted chicken in a thick, spicy, rich red sauce that is phenomenal over rice. This dish is known as African Chicken although iGuy ha’s seen it referred to Cafreal Chicken. On iGuy'’s last trip to Hong Kong in November 2005, he surely did stop in Macau. Unfortunately, iGuy did not get African chicken, opting to skip on the poultry during the height of the Avian Bird Flu scare (iGuy returned to the States fine, but longing for poultry). Thankfully, iGuy had pick up a cookbook of traditional Macauanese cuisine. This is iGuy'’s first attempt to recreate the magic of his bird flu free past.

Pre-Roasted:
















Post-Roasted:
















The Conclusion:
The chicken was quite tasty! iGuy, iRoomie, iBro and his iWife all sampled the chicken and gave it a thumbs up! The chicken was butterflied and rubbed with a paste of garlic, lemon juice, chilies, and tumeric. Normally, iGuy prefers brining a chicken before roasting it, but this was not necessary as he basted the chicken with coconut milk. The combo of the coconut milk and pan juices made a delicious sauce that was spooned over rice. The chicken did not turn out the color iGuy had wished as he remembers the dish being a rich red color, though as you can see it turned out the orangey-yellow color of the tumeric. The dish also had much more sauce in iGuy's childhood memories. But iGuy can'’t complain about the flavor, but the recipe will have to be tweaked in the future to include more red colored ingredients (perhaps foreign grown tumeric?).

iGuy's Specialized Manly Rating: 3 out of 5 fists of approval

Gotham Bar and Grill's Cinnamon Rolls

When iChrissy was smaller making cake from a boxed mix she took a mandatory cooking class in high school. (Perhaps this is where iChrissy's passion for cooking began?) One of the first projects in class were Cinnamon Rolls that were gooey, creamy, and delicious. The dough had vanilla pudding mix in it making it fluffy and soft. Since then, many, many years have past and that recipe is long gone. It wasn't until recently that iChrissy's internal Cinnamon Bun flame was rekindled! Flipping through my new issue of Food and Wine (February 2006) I found that the "Last Bite" was "Fluffy, Buttery Cinnamon Rolls". With little thought and much gumption, iChrissy dug in and began mixing, rolling, and spreading at 11a promptly to bake the finished product at 8pm the same day.

Pre-Baked/Post-Risen:

Post-Baked:
The Conclusion:
iChrissy might have made these incorrectly since the recipe called for whole milk and iChrissy used skim lactaid milk and the thickness of the dough was suppose to be 1/4 inch thick. iChrissy squashed her dough good and flat. Thankfully yeast compensated and fluffed itself back up with extra rising time.
The best part of these cinnamon rolls is exactly what the narrative in the magazine says. It's fun to plate the rolls exactly how it comes out of the springform allowing hungry testers to pull the rolls apart themselves. The rolls have earned the iChrissy cute approval! The dough isn't as creamy as my vanilla pudding recipe of yesteryear, but still quite delicious. Next attempt iChrissy will use the whole milk and start a day earlier.

Rating: 4 out of 5 cupcakes of approval


Recipe: Food and Wine (February 2006)

Emeril's Asian Braised Short Ribs

The one thing that iChrissy and iGuy love to see on a menu is braised meat. Those small words always seem to pop out at first glance and iChrissy always orders it to "try". Since the first time I tried iGuy's braised pork at Brown Sugar Cafe (Boston, MA) I've been on a declared journey to try and find the perfect braising recipe of my own. And today I put another notch in my braised meat belt with Emeril's Asian Style Braised Short Ribs.

Pre-Braised Short Ribs:

Post-Braised Short Ribs:

The Conclusion:
The recipe calls for braising in a shoyu-lemongrass-garlic-ginger type of liquid with a hint of orange and green onion. At which point, you braise for 3 hours and remove the ribs and reduce the liquid for a glaze-like topping. I, however, do not agree with all thise humbug now that I've made this dish. I think the ribs are absolutely delicious straight out of the braising liquid. The glaze makes the ribs salty and over flavored. It was surprising to iChrissy too as they looked and smelled outrageous. In any event, my second attempt (whenever that may be) will have the braised ribs accompanied by a different sauce.

Rating: 2 out of 5 cupcakes of approval


Recipe: http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/asian_style_braised_short_ribs.html