Duck Noodle Soup

Ingredients

For the Broth

• 1tsp finely diced ginger
• 5 cloves
• 1/2 onion finely diced
• 1tsp whole black pepper
• 1tbsp spring onions sliced
• 2 tsp. fish sauce
• canola oil
• 1/2 red chilli sliced
• 2 litres chicken stock
• 200ml water
• 4 cloves crushed garlic
• 50 ml soy sauce

For the Bak Choi

• 3 bundles bak choi
• fish sauce to taste
• 1/2 red chilli finely diced
• 2 tsp ginger finely diced
• soy sauce to taste
• 3 cloves crushed garlic

Other Ingredients

• 135g ramen noodles
• 4 spring onions sliced
• 1 whole duck
• 4 eggs

Method

1.      Remove the breasts, wings, and legs of the duck. Cut the carcass into smaller pieces and place in a roasting tray in the oven at 200^oC until well browned. Place onion, garlic spring onions, ginger and chilli in a large saucepan and sauté with oil for 5-10 minutes. Take duck carcass out of the oven and place in the saucepan with the sautéed vegetables and the roasting juices of the duck. Add the stock, half the water, peppercorns and cloves. Boil for 10-20 minutes. Sieve broth and add fish sauce and soy sauce.
2.      Place duck wings and legs in a deep tray pour broth over them to cover. Cover with a lid and place in the oven at 180^oC for 2 hours. Take out of the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. Remove skin off wings and legs and tear meat into small pieces. Sieve broth. Add remaining water to the broth. Sieve broth and set aside. 
3.      Bring a small saucepan of water to the boil. Place the eggs in the pan and cook for 5 - 6 minutes. Take the egg out and place in a cold water. Allow to cool and then peel off the shell.
4.      For the Bak Choi, place the ginger, garlic, and chilli in a skillet at medium heat with oil, sauté for 5-10 minutes. Add bak choi and cook for 10 - 15 minutes or until just wilted. While cooking add fish sauce and sauce sauce to taste.
5.      Salt the duck breasts to your taste. Score the skin of the duck breast. Place the duck breasts in a cold pan skin down. Bring to a medium to high heat and cook until the skin is crispy then lower the heat and the duck breast and cook for another 10 minutes. Allow to rest for 5 minutes.
6.      To serve, cook noodles in boiling water for 2 minutes and then strain. Place noodles in bowl, top with braised duck leg and duck wing meat, top with bak choi and sliced duck breast. Add the egg and pour over the broth.

Duck Noodle Soup

 

 

recipe by Tim Craig

 

Guilty Foods

 We all have guilty food lusts or desires. Wether it is late night nachos or a chocolate enriched dessert. The point is we all have these desires. A good example of this is the Hot Brown.

PBS- Mind of a Chef- The Hot Brown

 

If you were wondering "Wild Turkey" is a brand of whisky. The point is even thought this dish was a health hazzard. That might cause diabeties if you eat it more than once a day. Also it was full of crappy turkey meat. As mentioned by David Chang. It was still some how delicous! As it was covered in lucious cheese and all those other bad things we love to eat, but know we should not.

 

David Chang's Hot Brown

 

As you can quite plainly see chef David Chang has taken this classic recipe and given it a modern lighter spin. This has given me the inspiration to make my own gunk food related recipe. In this case i am going to work with a movie theater classic and that is... you guessed it popcorn! For me what makes popcorn great is pleanty of salt and butter. Not good for the arteries... I know. However i still plan to use this ingredient in a dessert. Althought it can still be used in a savory dish as well.

Daniel Clifford's Wining Chicken Dish on Great British Menu

 

As you can see in the "cannoli" there is some truffled popcorn. Popcorn is a natural ingredient made from corn kernals. So don't judge a book by its cover. For my next post/recipe I plan to make a Goat's Milk Panna Cotta and serve it with a Rhubarb Jam, Caramel Popcorn and an Apple Cider Granita. So before you say I would never eat or cook with that ingredient take the time to think about it and just because it is considered "junk food" don't let that limit your thinking. Take inspiration from the chef in the video below.

Marcel Vigneron's Dragon Breath Popcorn

 

Article by Richard Craig



Lime Creme Brulee

Lime Creme Brulee with a Mango Sorbet and Rose Meringue

Ingredients

For the Lime Creme Brulee

• 6 limes, juice and zest
• 400ml cream
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar

For the Mango Sorbet

• 200ml fresh mango juice
• 60g sugar
• 60ml water

For the Rose Meringue

• tbsp. rose water
• 30g egg white
• 60g sugar
• pinch cream of tartar
 

To Serve

• small mint tips
• 4 tbsp. sugar
 
 

Method 

For the Lime Brulee

Preheat the oven to 130 degrees celcius. Make a lime syrup by taking the lime juice, zest and sugar and bring to the boil to dissolve the sugar. Reduce by half and allow to cool to room tempature. Meanwhile bring the cream to a simmer. Whisk the syrup into the egg yolks and then slowly whisk in the cream. Place a layer of paper towels on large deep baking dish. Place 4 ramekins in the tray and pour boiling water three quarters of the way up. Pour the lime custard into the ramekins. Place a layer of tin foil on top leaving a gap for some steam to escape. Place in the oven for 1 hour to an hour and 15 minutes or until firm with a slight wobble. Take out of the oven, remove the cling film and allow to cool to rome tempature before putting in the fridge for at least 6 hours to set.

 

 For the Mango Sorbet

Make a sugar syrup by bringing to the boil the sugar and water. Add your mango juice and allow to cool to room tempature. Set in an ice cream machine and place in the freezer til ready to use.

 

For the Rose Meringues

Prehaet the oven to 110 degrees celcius. Make a swiss meringue by bringing a medium saucepan one quarter full with water to a simmer. Combine egg whites, sugar, rose water and cream of tartar in a heatproff bowl and place over the saucepan. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 3 and 1/2 minutes. Test by rubbing between fingers. Transfer to an electric mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, and whip, starting on a low speed, gradually increasing the speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile take a flat tray lined with a silpat sheet and pipe the small meringues. Place in the oven for 1 hour or until completly cripy. Allow to cool and store in a air tight container.

 

To Serve

Place a tbsp. of sugar on each custard and caramelize with a blowtorch. Plate with a quenelle of sorbet on a spoon, meringues and mint tips.

 

 

 

 

Presentation

Cafe Custard Tart



Fine Dining Custard Tart
 

Sorry to quote a cliche, but "we eat with our eyes first". How it is presented can alter the context your food is served in and overall enjoyment of your recipe. When presenting a dish it is important to know what context you are serving it in. Lets say you are serving a custard tart. If serving in a cafe you would expect a simple generous slice of the tart with perhaps a dollop of cream and berry coulis. However if serving it in a fine dining situation it should be smaller and be presented with interesting garnishes to wow and delight the diners. The reason why the presentation needs to be a certain way is because of their customers. As different customers expect different products. A customer going to a fine dining restaurant expects something exciting in presentation because that is what he or she is paying for and vice versa for a cafe.

In restaurants presentation can range from very traditonal to natural to precise. How you plate a dish can show your intentions and what your restaurant is about. An example would be Murgaritz and their natural style of cuisine. Anougher example would be Michel Roux Jnr. and his traditonal precise french cuisine, which they both reflect through their presentation.

So as you can see presentation is vital in describing and giving your food that something extra to help you stand out as an individual.



Murgaritz Food

Michel Roux Jnr. Food




References for Pictures: http://laissezfare.wordpress.com/2011/05/

http://www.wickedfood.co.za/blog/custard-tart-with-garibaldi-biscuits.html

http://www.weareprivate.net/blog/?p=22956

http://food.uk.msn.com/blog/i-love-my-grub-blogpost.aspx?post=fec15972-a2af-4e41-87c9-63ea475f8309

 

Article by Richard Craig