My latest Guinness stew

The picture is my latest "interpretation" of Guinness stew.

I wanted to make this rustic dish a bit posh. :p

I guess I can call this Guinness carbonade. I tend to use beurre monte instead of beurre manie or roux these days.

I think I could make a nice color. The taste was also alright. Dense enough.

But I cannot see potential in this dish, Guinness stew. Whenever I make Bouef Bourguignon or Coq au vin, I can see what I need to improve. The dishes you can never fail with are probably not interesting dishes. The dishes you always somehow fail have potential, room for improvement. I can of course, use different beers. Fortunately, I have drunk many different kinds of beer, so I'll experiment with whatever I think is appropriate.

Still, Guinness stew is a nice comfort food of all time.

Guide Interpreter Cerification Exam

I will know if I passed the written exam or not on the 13th. I don't think I passed it especially because I prepared for it only for 5 minutes, 10 minutes maximum.

If I pass, I'll have an interview on the 29th. No need to mention this. No need. (Because I won't make it.)

If I pass this, I will be able to work to show tourists around Japan, which is a good thing because I'll be able to go to different places and eat and drink different things. :)

I really think I should start to learn about Japanese sake. However, for that, I know I need to invest a lot. It is always the case. If you want to learn about one category of liquor, you need to spend a considerable amount on it. It is a lot of fun, though!

Chicken stock for coq au vin

I made chicken stock this evening. Armed with this fresh chicken stock, I'll make coq au vin again for the youth group meeting on this Saturday. I hope it will turn out alright because my coq au vin is still on its experimental stage. This time, I'll use an oven instead of a stove. Simmering gently may make a difference.

I got chicken legs today, the most flavorful part of chicken, right? With the bones, I expect deeper flavor.

My question is how can one give nicer color to the sauce. I usually simmer for two hours or so, and then I strain the sauce and reduce it, etc. It is still purplish. When I use beef, i.e. boeuf Bourguignon, the color gets more like brown and nice. I want that color to coq au vin too. Will using an oven helps? Maybe I should take more time to simmer it? But chicken will be cooked in one hour, right? If I put tomatoes, fond de veax or demi-glace, the color will probably be better, but what about the taste? The taste is acceptable by my standard already as long as I do not use non-stick pan. I just want to improve the color. Difficult....

Wish me luck!

Boeuf Bourguignon Recipe

You need:

beer, onion, carrot, garlic, salt, pepper, mushroom, bacon, butter, flour, stock, and red wine (pinot noir or something similar, not too tannic, not too sour, not too bitter).

1) Lightly brown onion and carrot. Remove them from the pan.
2) In the same pan, sear the beef.
3) In a deep pan, make roux with butter and flour.
4) Add some wine and allow it to reduce.
5) Deglaze the pan you sauteed vegetables and meat with some wine. Mix the liquid in.
6) Put the sauteed vegetables and seared meat in.
7) Add some stock, thyme and a bay leaf.
8) Simmer for 2-3 hours at least. (The lid on.)
9) Remove the meat. Strain the sauce. Say bye to the vegetables.
10) In a frying pan, saute mushroom, onion (pearl onions if you have them), pancetta/bacon. While doing so, reduce the sauce.
11) Add these in the sauce with meat.
12) when it's ready, whisk in some butter for shiny look and texture.

The ratio of wine to stock was, in my attempt, roughly 2:1. Using, in addition, parsley and celery should make it better.

My Recent Attempt to Make a Pizza

Ah! It's difficult. It is difficult to bake the crust and melt cheese at the same time! My stupid oven seems to melt cheese before the crust is baked. If I wait till the crust to be ready, the cheese gets scorched. The first photo is a good example. Look at the rim of the the pizza. It is damn white. I love cherry tomatoes, by the way.

The pizza in the second photo is my latest attempt. It looks alright, doesn't it? I changed the proportion of flour, temperature of the oven, the thickness of the crust.

Don't you wanna have a pizza party? With beer as usual?

Lunch at SaKaMi--Long Live Sakami!

I had lunch at Sakami (See "Links") with two of my priest friends on Sunday.

Amuse-Bouche: Jamon Iberico with Balsamic Vinegar
Entree: Confit de Saumon with bonito-based soup with a hint of thyme? (Sorry, Chef, if I'm wrong.)
Soupe: Soupe de Potiron
Plat Principal: Confit de Canard Challandais (avec Saint Cosme)
Dessert: Difficult to explain...but with a taste of bananas and, although I don' remember, mint? Something refreshing
And Coffee.

Confit de Saumon is my favorite there. I think that is one of the signature dishes of the chef. He uses a particular oil to make confit and, I think, he smokes it. Escalope was also nice. And kumoko, I don't know what they are called in English.

Pumpkin soup was DELICIOUS. My sister told me that they used onion too. It had a wonderful texture that coats your tongue. Mouthful of flavors. It was served at just the right temperature.

Confit de Canard...so tender and rich in flavor. It was a leg. The skin at the end of the leg was cut off and made a nice presentation. It was really nice. As I love the bloody part (that gray-colored part of meat), it was great because there were lots of gray parts. But my memory is fuzzy with all the absinthe and stuff. I can assure you that it is spoon tender.

Dessert was refreshing. Why did they use bananas? Is it because I went there with two Filipinos? Well, it was very appropriate, wasn't it?

Although I ENJOYED lunch there, why do I feel I enjoyed dinner even more? Because of the ambiance? Especially, I reckon I enjoyed their confit de saumon better at night. Ah, maybe my body wanted salmon for dinner. (Salmon is my favorite fish. It is oily and rich in flavor and very eater-friendly!)

Thanks you, Chef and others!!!

Tomorrow I'll ask B'z and a few other people if they want to go there for lunch this Sunday.

New Links

I added two links. One is the official website of the restaurant my sister works for; the other is their blog.

I LOVE their food (The photo is my cooking; see the next paragraph.) even though I have been there only once. I don't know about food much, but I found everything cooked perfectly. Of course, no under-cooking nor over-cooking, spot-on seasoning. Nice atmosphere of the restaurant. I may go there this weekend, i.e. tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. I think I'll go to Le Bouchon for tomorrow lunch because it is close to the cathedral where I partake Mass and Maitre d' is a nice person. Actually, I want to go to SaKaMi instead, but when the Mass finishes, it would be 1pm and too late to go to Kitayama from 3-jo.... I will probably urge Fr. Elmer to go there with me on Monday.

The photo above is chicken escalope with tomato mozzarella sauce. The recipe is by Gordon Ramsay. I'm saying this myself, but it tasted good. Maybe I felt it tasted good because I cooked it? It took less than 20 mins to cook for sure.

What the hell am I doing? Tomorrow is the deadline of my ...(secret)...!