In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby ttommy » Mon Jan 17, 2011 9:39 am

"...for the yolk i will give you is easy, and my albumin is light. come to me, and i will give you eggs."

:rofl: I haven't laughed so hard in a while, Kuya Buboy. Thanks, but I'm having a hard time explaining this joke to Y :rofl:

Thanks, Philip, Keith and Ding, my pleasure. Ding, sent you my number. Let's chat tonight. Jack, you made my envious, Keller is the undisputed king of sous-vide, we have his cookbooks but his recipes are sometimes too intricate (e.g. sous-vide lobster but instead of in a plastic bag, filling the tank up with butter).

Another cookbook that supposedly is the end-all of sous-vide cooking is Nathan Mhyrvold's Modernist Cuisine:

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This is the long awaited labor of love that started from that famous discussion thread in eGullet.org. Myrhvold was previously the CTO of Microsoft Corporation but had started his own VC firm, Intellectual Ventures. When he's not doing tech, he's pushing the envelope in the cooking arts. Modernist Cuisine is supposedly to modern cooking what Escoffier's Ma Cuisine was to haute cuisine. The downside? The cookbook costs over $500 :doh:
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby JackD201 » Mon Jan 17, 2011 11:42 am

Bro we almost keeled over when we tried his butter poached lobster. Huwaw! We picked up his books at the restaurant. It turns out his right hand person for his business side is a Filipina. Cool right?

Time to hit the net for that book. Thanks man!
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby Jon Agner » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:05 pm

Just in time for lunch :D :D :D now I'm starving :D :D :D
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby keith » Mon Jan 17, 2011 12:27 pm

kabubi wrote:worry not, Chef Tommy for it is written:

"...for the yolk i will give you is easy, and my albumin is light. come to me, and i will give you eggs."


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby ttommy » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:32 am

Lucky you, Jack, eating at FL is a privilege very few can enjoy but I do believe you get your $$ worth dining there.

Well, the latest on our end is that last Saturday my best friend Jesse and his wife Cathy came by for dinner. We hadn't seen each other for a few months and I'd promised a meat-heavy feast. Part of the plan was also to teach Jesse how to cook some of these dishes, in short, to sulsul :lol: First thing we did was to show them the menu for dinner in our make-believe restaurant :D

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YeTi avec Platypus is the name of our pretension, YeTi being the concatenation of Yelena and Tito, and just in case our customers ask for a dish of "yeti," we'll tell them it comes with a side of egg-laying mammal :D We've also adopted that "Radio Flyer" tricycle with a steering handle as a logo because in our little restaurant, you might think you're the one driving/cooking but there's always someone backseating and trying to steer besides you :^)

Our Spanish-Italian appetizer course, below, was simply a mix of hot Sopressata sausage, homemade garlic bread, and a "Bacalao" dish. I enclose Bacalao in quotes because instead of thicker codfish, I used thin slices of salt-preserved Pollack bought from our nearby supermarket. I put Jesse to work peeling the potatos, cooking them in boiling water for ~10 minutes then setting them aside. We also boiled the Bacalao to remove the saltiness (quick shortcut rather than soaking thicker cuts of codfish overnight), lightly coated it with flour then pan fried and set aside. Then I had Jesse cook the "sofrito" or base for the dish. This was simply a sautee of onions in olive oil with some diced tomatoes and roasted pimientos. Finally, we combine the sausage, potatos and bacalao, you could mix up everything on your plate, top it on a piece of bread, et voila!--

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The difficulty for our dining guests was that they had to try to "stagger" their eating. For the appetizer, I told them to fill up just a fourth of their tank as we had a long way to go. I had estimated the whole gorge-fest would take 5 hours and, indeed it took that long. For our next couse, we went exclusively Korean with about 2 lbs of pork belly bulgogi, barbequed on a tabletop grill complemented by another 3 lbs of 72 hour sous-vide'd galbi chim spare ribs which was then deep fried for 1 minute. Shown below is my preferred way of eating it-- instead of using lettuce to wrap the spare-rib, why not use the pork-belly bulgogi? :geek: By now our guests were supposed to be 1/2 full.

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But unfortunately, our guests weren't following our ground rules :lol: So we had to put off making the curry potatos and decided the "lemon-stuffed" Turbo Chicken below was gonna be "pabaon." I included Turbo chicken in the menu because at one time during the early '90s, Jesse and I used to love this dish whenever we visited our barkada (Erik Lacson) and his mom used to make this on weekends. Turboing isn't as popular here in the US and my intent here was to bring back those memories.

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And the reason we didn't touch the Turbo chicken was because of one dish that's even more memorable for us. Back in the late '80s through the early '90s, I used to frequent this shack beside Bob and Joe's at the corner of Jupiter St and Makati Ave. Hossein's kebabs became a nightly staple for me coming home from school in ACTC and eventually I took all my friends there and it had become a hangout. We patronized Hossein until he moved into his first location in Makati Avenue and when I first moved to the US and came back for vacation, his restaurant was the first I'd visit. At one point I told him that I'd been around a lot of places in the US and his kebabs were the best! (He took me to his kitchen then and told me to repeat the same to his chefs.)

Fast forward several years, one of my closest friends (and common friend with rtsyrtsy), Robby V had told he and his wife had reverse-engineered Hossein's kebabs and he told me the "secret marinade" for beef tenderloin. But as I'd seen with Hossein from those early years, a charcoal grill was needed, so I didn't make an attempt. A couple months ago, however, I'd been thinking about it again and attempted to do it with our electric grill, oven and broiler... but always failed, the meat got too tough. Then I thought of using another method and putting my Iwatani torch to use. Basically, the idea is to torch the outside of the meat to sear it, then finish on the broiler for 3 to 3.5 minutes per "side".

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This, my friends, was close enough to the original and I'm happy to achieve this considering the constraints of our kitchen. Add in a simple green chutney-- cilantro, mint, jalapeno, sugar, salt and lemon juice, basmati rice and, boy o boy, this part of the meal transported us back to Makati Ave. I cooked over 5 lbs of kebabs and this was definitely the highlight of the dinner.

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As for dessert, our guests begged off the Lemon tart which the missus had planned and so we settled with some Lemon ice cream and coffee while we were wrapping the pabaon, menu attached ;)

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Kitchen shot, please click below for a larger picture. Yeti avec Platypus now closed for the night.

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Thanks for reading!
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby dimfer » Mon Feb 07, 2011 11:44 am

interesting read as always..
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby JackD201 » Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:06 pm

Pork wrapped in pork.......YOU"RE MY KINDA CHEF MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby kabubi » Mon Feb 07, 2011 4:55 pm

ttommy wrote:Back in the late '80s through the early '90s, I used to frequent this shack beside Bob and Joe's at the corner of Jupiter St and Makati Ave.


baka naman sa Bob and Joes ka talaga pumupunta nung time na yun, brother?
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby audiostar » Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:01 pm

Tito never fails to whet my appetite :) Nakakagutom :)
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby rtsyrtsy » Tue Feb 08, 2011 12:18 am

ttommy wrote:Our Spanish-Italian appetizer course, below, was simply a mix of hot Sopressata sausage, homemade garlic bread, and a "Bacalao" dish.


Italian salami, garlic, bacalao--what's not to like? :inlove:

ttommy wrote:instead of using lettuce to wrap the spare-rib, why not use the pork-belly bulgogi? :geek: By now our guests were supposed to be 1/2 full.


Galbi chim is beef ribs, right? So its tadyang na binalot sa liempo?

ttommy wrote:At one point I told him that I'd been around a lot of places in the US and his kebabs were the best! (He took me to his kitchen then and told me to repeat the same to his chefs.)


I told him something similar to this when I had dinner with him and his wife last time I was in Manila. I told him that I have been in many places in the Arab world and I have tried several fabulous kebabs but his is something that I still go home for. Good to know that RobbyV's recipe works!

Keep the posts coming! *burp*
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby ttommy » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:37 am

Thanks, Ding and Val. And Jack sorry but Russell got it right--

Galbi chim is beef ribs, right? So its tadyang na binalot sa liempo?


Yes indeed. I've yet to email Robby but I'll say it's 80-90% "plakado" :lol: Oh, and kuya Buboy, budget estudyante tayo nu'ng panahon na 'yun ;)
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby JackD201 » Tue Feb 08, 2011 7:57 am

Even better! :D :D :D :D
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby dimfer » Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:43 pm

In behalf of my wife (and our happy tummy), heartfelt thanks to Tito and Yelena for the worderful meals and for being such wonderful hosts...


our almost 12 hour adventure started with familiarization of the NY transit system, a trip to Chinatown topped with a visit to Joe's Shanghai for their famous soup dumpling and crispy jumbo prawns and to Coney Island.
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highlight of the day is the trip to their apartment for a first hand experience of what we have been reading about. Our gastronomic assault started with their fresh home made bruschetta (when I say fresh, I mean an ingredient was harvested from a plant box in the kitchen), followed by a requested dish (for my wife who is a pasta person), carbonara dish using home made pasta from some exotic flour and specially prepared exotic bird (no engadered species here fellas). the distinct taste of game bird complemented so well with the pasta and the sauce.

final meal of the night was Tito & Yelena's version of Husseins kebab, served with basmati rice and two home made sauces... truly amazing experience, as most of the food were prepared as we were chatting away, they both did food preparation so effortlessly.

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your's truly extending a helping hand. I believe Yelena is talking to the NYC Fire Department trying to get them ready, and Tito is standing somewhere nearby, holding a bucket full of water..

on a serious note, we truly enjoyed our day with Tito and Yelena, time fly so fast when you are enjoying it.. hopefully, you can visit us in Edmonton, and cook for us in Edmonton.
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby audiostar » Mon Feb 14, 2011 12:46 pm

Chef na chef ang porma ni Ding :devil: burp...
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby kabubi » Mon Feb 14, 2011 1:31 pm

audiostar wrote:Chef na chef ang porma ni Ding :devil: burp...


arsonist kamo :lol:
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby Jon Agner » Mon Feb 14, 2011 5:10 pm

Tito,

The way you narrated it just made me hungry :worried: :worried: :worried: Oh, now I know what to reason to my wife when she sees me bringing home a portable burner and a torch :D :D :D
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby ttommy » Mon Feb 14, 2011 11:52 pm

Jon Agner wrote:Tito,

The way you narrated it just made me hungry :worried: :worried: :worried: Oh, now I know what to reason to my wife when she sees me bringing home a portable burner and a torch :D :D :D


Hi Jon, that was actually Ding narrating! :hai: Sorry for the delayed reply, Ding, but it was great pleasure to have met you and Tonette at last. I'd been looking forward to our meeting in person for years and had so much fun just hanging out with you both. It says something about our pinagsamahan if during the 10 hours or so we'd been together, we hardly spoke about audio, much less get into a more involved listening session, but it's also possible our gorging got in the way of listening. :$

Too bad I don't have my camera in the office but I'll post some pictures tonight. Basically our timeline yesterday was like--

10:45 AM - met at Hotel New Yorker
11:30 AM - traipsing in Chinatown
12:00 PM - ordered xiao lung bao/soup dumplings and crispy prawns in chili sauce at Joe's Shanghai
2:00 PM - picture taking in Coney Island Beach boardwalk
3:00 PM - bruschetta appetizer with heirloom tomatos, garlic, basil, olive oil
(In the meantime while we were together, Yelena had been preparing green chutney, yogurt/cucumber dip, homemade semolina pasta)
4:30 PM - carbonara with pecorino and parmeggiano romano, pancetta topped with pulled duck confit
6:30 PM - Ding fires up the torch
7:15 PM - Kebab dinner with basmati and chutney, yogurt sauces
8:00 PM - Lemon, Peanut Butter/Chocolate ice cream
8:45 PM - hatid back to the Hotel

We did well I think :)
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby rtsyrtsy » Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:28 am

Where on earth is the "Like" button on this thread?

You guys have said it all very well that the best thing to do is to just "Like" this. ;-)

Joe's Shanghai! That was part of our restaurant hopping, right? I still remember ttommy's how to eat xiao long bao lesson..."just suck it like you would nippl...e he he he, wholesome nga pala WS. :sweat:
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby dimfer » Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:41 am

rtsyrtsy wrote:Where on earth is the "Like" button on this thread?

You guys have said it all very well that the best thing to do is to just "Like" this. ;-)

Joe's Shanghai! That was part of our restaurant hopping, right? I still remember ttommy's how to eat xiao long bao lesson..."just suck it like you would nippl...e he he he, wholesome nga pala WS. :sweat:


I don't remember hearing the word "nipple" yesterday, but yeah he has to show us the "ritual"... first time for us to have dumplings with "sabaw sa loob"..

the day was everything I wished for...good food, good company.. worth the trip already.

Tonette has always been a sprinter ( I would say 100M dash) when it comes to sosyalan, but I can honestly say she enjoyed this full marathon (and more)..

will post more pictures later
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Re: In search of the perfect yolk (and other experiments)

Postby jadis » Tue Feb 15, 2011 6:47 am

kabubi wrote:
audiostar wrote:Chef na chef ang porma ni Ding :devil: burp...


arsonist kamo :lol:


:D when an alien predator jumps in, ding's flame thrower will be ready to zap them off the planet. :D

ding, great to see your family enjoy the now famous 'nyc hospitality' of tito and yelena.
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