Hawaiian Food

I grew up in Hawaii, so naturally I love Hawaiian food. Any Hawaiian food is delicious but I have to say that Young's Fish Market makes some of the best Lau Lau I ever had. There are other places to get good Lau Lau but if your in the area, you can't go wrong with Young's Fish Market. For Hawaiian food in general Ono Hawaiian Foods is another hot spot, but get there early, the line is out the door.

For those of you that don't live in Hawaii, I will post more about Hawaiian food later, but for now check out the menu and it will give you a general idea. (Yes, Hawaiian food is far beyond kalua pig, pineapples and punch j/K, but serious at the same time).

Young's Fish market

Korean delights- Dol sot bi bim bap

 Me and my brother had this dish recently, and I have to say it is now one of my favorite dishes to eat. Basically you have a bunch of ingredients and rice and you mix it all up with the hot bowl cooking everything. Its fantastic if you like textures because the rice crisps up on the bottom of the pot. It's a mean dish.

Check it out if you go to a Korean restaurant its super delicious. For more info ask waiter/waitress to explain what to do (they will probably mix it for you). Let the rice on the bottom sit a little so it can crisp up, this is my favorite part (if not it would just be kind of like a regular Bip bim bop.  The dish is called, dol sot bi bim bap.

Te Maki- Hand sushi roll

Just recently I went to my Uncle's 60th birthday party. On the menu was a wide range of food covering things from the land and the sea. Everything was extremely delicious, but one particular item stood out the most, the infamous Te-Maki or hand roll (te（手） means hand in Japanese and maki(まき (I forgot the Kanji)) means roll). For those who haven't heard of it before its simply nori, sushi rice and what ever you can think of, wrapped in a cone shape for easy handling and munching.

When ever you get one of these it should be obvious that the rice and ingredients in the te-maki are fresh, but even more importantly, the nori should be very fresh and have a crisp to it. Soggy nori = chewy hand roll. Not to say that this is bad, but the difference between crunchy nori and soggy, chewy nori, is huge.

For those of you who haven't had one before, here are a few must dos when eating your first Te-Maki.

1. Once sushi chef makes it. Eat immediately.
2. Order one at a time so nori doesn't get soggy from sushi rice.
3. Who ever is making them should make them quickly, or shinei! (J/K)

Eat quickly, and respect the sushi.

Fresh Pasta Method

Don't mess with Italian women, they know what they're doing.

Italian Food-Different types of pasta

Real Italian food is hard to comprehend if Italy has not been one of your recent destination, or the area where you live doesn't serve true Italian food. Here is a website that displays all types of pasta dishes. It just goes to show that Italian food is more than tomatoes and meatballs.

Italian recipes at italianeating.eu

Ricotta Gnocchi-Recipe

Haven't tried this one, but it looks promising.

Ricotta Gnocchi Recipe at Allrecipes.com

Peanut Butter powder (to be continued).

I just saw on TV how people make peanut butter powder.

So far all I know its powder sugar and peanut butter (smooth of course). I assume that you add powder sugar first and pulse in peanut butter in a food processor. Will continue research.

Opah with shimegi mushrooms, Choi Sum and Balsamic reduction

I figured that I need a food dish of my own on my blog to give the reader a better idea of my style, and thought process of cooking. The dish pictured in the post is opah, shimegi mushrooms, choi sum (which is a Chinese vegetable), and balsamic reduction. Here is my thought/methods on the dish.

1. Opah is seasoned with salt pepper and cooked only on one side. This creates 4 different textural components to your fish. First you get the crispy bottom, then the well done section and then medium to medium rare. I enjoy cooking Opah this way, but its a little tricky at first.

2. Mushrooms and greens. These add body to the dish and are bitter, but mild in taste. The greens also help cut through the grease from the fish and mushrooms. Its a good garnish to the dish. Mushrooms are cooked with a little butter, garlic and thyme

3. Balsamic reduction. The point of the balsamic reduction is to add some acid and sweetness to counteract the bitterness of the mushrooms and choi-sum. I know that its heavily overused and cliched on the plate, but when something works it works.

Hope you enjoy the picture. Look at the Opah carefully to really see the different degrees of "done-ness."

If you want to try this dish, but don' t have Opah, salmon works well. (see salmon blog).

Dim Sum - Chinese dumplings, and other alacarte items

To the locals in Hawaii and the Chinese in the mainland, dim sum is a house hold word, but to my surprise for many its a mystery. When I was in Seattle majority of my cook friends haven't had the opportunity to try dim sum, so I figured it would be a good idea to post something about it (we eventually ate it by the way and they loved it).

To the outsider dim sum may seem intimidating because everyone is pushy and customer service, at least the last time I checked, is not the same as European/American customer service. Waiters in dim sum houses get straight to the point, or they tend to ignore you if your not assertive. To give you a better idea what its like here is a vid of Bourdain at a dim sum house in Hong Kong.

If you don't feel comfortable with the whole idea of dim sum, my best advice is to go with a friend that knows what to order and how to order it. If all of your friends don't know what is going on, stick with the basics, cha sui bow (steamed buns with pork) and pork shumai (pork dumplings), is a safe bet. You can never go wrong with these.

Seattle has a dim sum place I really liked, but at times it can be super crowded. It's called Jade Garden and located in Seattle's Chinatown, (aka International District).  As always, don't order things that you don't think look fresh or good. Ask the cart people what they have, they will show you and pick what you want, don't worry about telling them "no thank you" (they get a little pushy at times). I always liked the dumplings stuffed with shrimp or scallops, their cha sui bows, rice steamed in lotus leaves, shumai and chinese brocolli with oyster sauce.  Watch when things come out of the kitchen door, that's when items are at their peak of freshness.

If your adventure some, try the chicken feet, its super delicious. Don't eat the bones, just gnaw around them, it basically taste like chicken fat stewed in five spice and some kind of hosin/beancurd sauce. I know that it sounds bizzare, but if you like chewy bacon, you'll love this. 

Happy eating!

Jade garden in Seattle

Farmer's Market- Where Can I Find One?

I love farmers markets for their fresh, local, and delicious produce. Be wary of produce that is not grown local to your region because the whole reason for going to a farmers market is to see what your farmers around you are growing. Check out this website and type in a zip code/state to find one near you.


http://www.localharvest.org/organic-farms/

Creme Fraiche-Revisited

 I found out that a friend of mine was interested in making creme fraiche. I decided to revisit the topic because of her interest in the subject. After  making creme fraiche a couple of times, it dawned on me that there are a couple of things to aide in creme fraiche success.

1. I would recommend to start making it around 10 o'clock am, because by the time it hits the late afternoon, temperatures should be warmer and therefore aide in the "souring" of the creme. If you make it late at night the temperatures might drop too cold and stop the culturing process.

2. Check every 8 hours. If there is no visible change in viscosity after 8 hours, (if it hasn't thickened at all),  that means that your culture is either dead, or the temperature in the room is too low. After 8 hours if the creme did not change at all, I would repeat the process by bringing it up to 110 degrees and adding more butter milk (basically the same amount you added initially). Wait another 8 hours and the creme should be thicker. Many say that it can take up to 24 hours to thicken, but if it hasn't changed at all after the first 8 hours, I like to make adjustments. (Caution, it doesn't get super thick! It should be noticably thicker Watch older post to see what I mean.)

hope that was helpful. Once you get the hang of it the possibilities are endless! It will put you above the competition when you can say that you made it by yourself. :)

Once you've made it. here is a simple yet fun recipe for a cheese sauce.

Things you will nee:

1. 1 cup creme friache
2. 1 cup cheddar ( I like english white cheddar or a sharp cheddar cheese).
3. 1 clove garlic smashed and cut up.

Directions

1. Add creme fraiche and garlic together in small sauce pot and reduce on medium low heat until thick.

2. Add cheddar cheese and stir until incorporated/melted.

3. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Bon Appetite!

Salmon-Please Scale your Fish- :)

Often times people discard the salmon skin because they don't know what else to do with it or they think its disgusting. I would agree that salmon skin with scales and undercooked is gross, but if used properly it can be the tastiest accent to your pan roasted/seared fish. Here are the rules;

1. Always buy and cook with fresh Salmon. If it smells sour or like ammonia, to the garbage can! Bin IT! (put it in the garbage).

2. Preferably scale your fish before you cut into it. If its already cut, do the best you can to scale it and watch out for wandering scales, they may land up on your fillet and in the pan.

3. Score your fish (see video).

4.  Pat fish dry

5. Season with salt and pepper and add to hot pan skin side down.

Check out the vid. I know it's Ramsay from Hells Kitchen, but he actually knows what he's talking about. Bon Appetite!

Gordon Ramsay - Crispy Salmon Crushed Potatoes with Crab Meat

Tuna FYI

Ask anyone that knows me and they will tell you how much I love ahi (blue fin tuna), and anything related with it.  Sashimi, maguro, toro, ootoro, or poke, you name it I will list it as my top thing to eat. If I was asked, "What would your last meal on earth be?" with out a doubt in my mind it would include ahi. That is why it's so important that we ensure its survival. With overfishing these days there is almost no hope, but recently they have been trying to farm raise the Tuna. Hurray! Check out the Video and if there is ever a time to support ideas such as these please do so. :) Happy eating.

Aquaculture

Ho Soon Yi-Korean Restaurant Tacoma, WA

This is one of my favorite places to eat in Tacoma, WA. They serve Korean food there and their Soon doo boo (spicy soup filled with seafood, meat, tofu), is one of the best things on the menu. That and the pork bulgogi (spicy pork). If you like Korean food, you'll like this place. And if you never had it before, give it  a try. I promise you won't be disappointed. Just to caution you though, they crack an egg in the soon doo boo (soon-du-bu) table side. DON'T WORRY THE EGG COOKS IN THE CAST IRON POT. Its the best part. Mashta! (delicious!).

Check it out if your in the WA area. And by the way that whole area has good Korean restaurants. I know because I went to culinary school in the area.


View Larger Map

Ho Soon Yi Restaurant‎ 
8501 South Tacoma Way, Tacoma, 
WA 98499-4540
(253) 584-4572

Check out the vid on soondooboo  ‎

Yakitori

I had to share this with anyone that knows anything about Yakitori (grilled chicken on a skewer). If you think, "its just chicken on a stick," you should watch this video. I know Bourdain is referenced a lot, but hey, he describes food so well. :D Check out the vid. My favorite yakitori was the one with chicken and Japanese negi (its like a small leek).

Fast Forward to 4:26. Don't try this at home. The chickens are so fresh that they don't worry about salmonella.

Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations Japan

Soba

Another item that is near and dear to my heart. Always cook till "aldente" and serve with appropriate soba sauce(Called Tsuyu) on side. Garnish with negi, or finely cut green onion. Its absolute simplistic perfection at its best. I will blog more on the subject later. But here is a video of a guy making the stuff, from start to finish. Respect the soba! SOBA Tabemasu! (eat soba!)
(Editor's note: すみませんね。いくら教えても、こいつがうまく日本語喋られないよ。。。）

Soba Making(Video is in Italian)

Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations Japan

Cavatelli-Pasta

Okay this is sooo cool.  I don't understand what they are saying, but the pasta that they are making is known as Cavatelli (kavateh-li). Chow!

Orechiette revisted

Here is close up how to make the pasta. Have fun.

Happy Easter

This is an Olive oil fried Egg with Kalua pork and black eyed peas, garnished with chili pepper water.

I know that its not your traditional Easter Egg, but here is the Egg I had for Easter. Its grown locally in Hawaii. The dish is a bunch of left overs, but conceptually it makes sense.

Sushi - The beginning

I am probably going to post a bunch on this subject, but its everything right and the same time wrong in the world. This paradox can easily be explained by simply stating, there is the junk stuff, and then there is the really, really, really, really, really good stuff. Here is a video to give you a better idea. And surprisingly, they actually ask you to eat the sushi with your hands in the really nice places, but you have to reverse dip, (if they offer shoyu, but usually they put it on for you).  Peace and good sushi eating!

Anthony Bourdain - No Reservations Japan

Iron Chef Sushi Battle

Sushi Dai (Located near the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo)