A chocolate lesson

It’s been so long since I’ve written (this is a recurring introduction for ‘recent’ posts …) that I almost feel like I need to explain why I’ve been absent and reintroduce myself to my own blog. Suffice it to say that I have left Shanghai (tear) and have spent a wonderful past two months not in one place … For a month, I was tasting my way through continental Europe with A; another week was spent visiting the Northwest on a ‘bon voyage’ trip with my sis, and most recently, I completed a crash ‘Pastry & Baking’ course at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), up in the beautiful Napa wine country.

Naturally, all of these experiences have produced enough memories and pictures for a blog ‘novel,’ and perhaps I will be motivated to revisit some of them in future posts … But for now, as a reintroduction back into writing and my first post back in the US, I thought it most fitting that I write about – yes, chocolate. :)

My ‘chocolate lesson,’ if you will, was the last day of the CIA one-week pastry & baking course. I learned a lot (hard not to when your teacher is the former pastry chef of the French Laundry!) and found every day immensely fun (also hard not to be when the subject matter is sweet treats and your classmates are a fun group of folks, united by a common love for food and goal to get our daily recipes out by dinnertime!). But of all days, my favorite was – unsurprisingly – the chocolate day – where we made chocolate ganache tarts, chocolate soufflés, flourless chocolate cakes, and a host of chocolate candies – rochers and lots and lots of truffles …

I have tried my hand at making chocolate confections before – less because I enjoy them (which I do immensely) but more because I love making small packages for friends. And I consistently find that small candies are always a hit, no matter how ‘perfect’ the end result is. Whether slightly melted, deformed, extra sweet or extra bitter, chocolate always finds some way to be good. So based on the wisdom my class imparted on me, I want to share with my fellow home cooks truffle making – a process seemingly complicated (and sometimes is, with high-end boutique chocolatiers making perfect shapes with meticulously imprinted designs) but that is in essence, really quite simple.

Truffle making (for the home cook)

Truffles are no more than a melt-in-your-mouth creamy chocolate center (‘ganache’), which is often but not always surrounded by a more solid chocolate exterior. The flavor and shape are flexible and sometimes more wonderful when completely inventive, which makes truffles virtually impossible to ‘mess up.' Below, I’ve listed not a specific recipe but general principles so that you are incentivized to use your imagination to create any varietal you’d like – because that’s the beauty of chocolate. It’s good with almost everything!

1. Make your ganache center - Mix two ingredients: heavy cream and chocolate. Bring the cream to a boil and pour it into a bowl of chopped chocolate to melt the contents together, mixing to incorporate. Pending what type of chocolate you use, your proportion of cream to chocolate will be different; the rule of thumb is for dark, the ratio is 1:2 while for milk and white, the ratio is 1:3. Cover and chill the ganache in your refrigerator, preferably overnight so you can roll it easily the next day.
   
   Tip 1: Flavorings Your time to experiment and add what you might love. Bits of candied fruit peels? Chili? A favorite liqueur? Just add to ganache mixture to taste until you are content with the flavor. One of my personal favorites is a tea infusion – just steep your tea bag into your hot cream until the flavor has fully permeated the cream.
   
   Tip 2: Efficiency A food processor could speed up the process and help you handle chunks of chocolate that seem too stubborn to melt. Put your chopped chocolate in a food processor, pour the hot cream in it, and turn on the mixer. Your ganache will be done in a couple of minutes.
   
   Tip 3: Texture Note that some recipes call for butter, which gives it an even more rich texture. You can add or exclude it based on your individual taste. Shape into balls (or cut into squares, though this is harder), either by using an ice cream scoop (make sure it is completely dry; water moisture is the end of good chocolate) or a pastry piping bag.
   
   
2. Enrobe in chocolate exterior (optional) –Assuming you want to a hard chocolate shell surrounding your ganache, melt your desired couverture (the chocolate you are using for the shell) completely, saving a solid piece for later. Once melted, remove chocolate from heat and mix the solid piece you just saved into the chocolate to slowly bring the temperature down and instigate recrystallization of the solid chocolate. Once it reaches a working temperature range (Dark: 87-91 F; Milk: 84-87 F; White 81-84 F), the chocolate is ready. Dip your rolled ganache centers into the chocolate (two coatings; one is too thin).
   
   
3. Coat with final layer – Dip your truffle (with or without the chocolate exterior) into any other desired toppings (e.g. dried coconut, chopped nuts, cocoa powder, etc). Rest on parchment paper to set.

That’s it! Enjoy on the spot or put them in small cupcake wrappers or bakers ‘chinese takeout boxes,’ tie with a small ribbon and send to your friends. Be warned though that since it contains fresh cream and homemade (meaning no additional added preservatives or stabilizers), they’ll keep for about a week before they go bad. So enjoy quickly!

A tribute to Chinese food

It’s been forever since I’ve written. My easy excuse is that it’s been tiresome to post with the restrictions on blogspot in China. The real reason is that I’ve just been lazy and done more eating and traveling than blogging. But given that I’m in my last week here in Shanghai (how time flies), I am growing nostalgic and thinking about all the things I’ll miss … people, places, pace of life, and interestingly … even the food.

In my 15 months in China, I have probably complained more about the excess use of oil and MSG in the local dining scene than lauded its merits. However, my stay here has convinced me that Chinese cuisine is one of the finest in the world, with an expansive use of ingredients made more complex once one delves into tastes and techniques of different regions. I firmly believe that with the application of some Western philosophies (e.g. less is more) and presentation techniques (coursed dining), ‘modern’ Chinese can be just as exquisite in both taste and presentation as French or Japanese …

But for now, a pictorial tribute to some favorite food memories in China – from local street food to meticulously prepared gourmet dishes ...

***

Fried soup dumpling / bun
生煎包 (sheng jian bao)
Even though eating this consistently will probably give you a heart attack, it is one of my (and the rest of the city’s) favorite street foods. A pork dumpling made juicy from the melted lard of the meat and wrapped in a thin wrapper and deep fried at the bottom for a crunchy finish.

Meat steamed bun
肉包子 (rou bao zi)
Another street food and consistent breakfast food of mine (though I usually opt for the vegetarian). It is incredibly comforting and satisfying when it comes right out of the big bamboo steamers. The bun is incredibly fluffy, and there are multiple types of fillings – both savory and sweet – to suit your fancy.

Fried dumplings
锅贴 (guo tie)
One last street food picture. Deep fried dumplings – another popular snack for Shanghai locals (although this picture was taken in Nanjing). I include it both because it’s tasty and because the picture is demonstrative of how street food is cooked –lots of oil (a similar frying technique for the fried soup dumpling / bun).

Yang zhou fried rice
扬州炒饭 (yang zhou chao fan)
Fried rice is the most basic when it comes to Chinese cuisine and perceived as the ‘cheap oily stuff’ that comes in takeout Chinatown boxes. It wasn’t until I went to Yang zhou, home of the fried rice we see in the rest of the world, that I learned that truly good fried rice is probably as hard (if not harder) to make as any gourmet Chinese dish. A well made fried rice (Yangzhou style) will have the rice moist from being freshly cooked but dry enough so that each kernel is separate from each other. Each kernel should also be ‘glistening gold’ from each having received a touch of seasoning and coating of egg. (Of course, to each his own. A loves his fried rice with a rich sauce and completely devoid of any of the above principles.)

Grilled snake
A testament to the variety of animals (and animal parts) that Chinese cuisine uses. Local Chinese like the exotic (e.g. turtles, shark’s fin, bird’s nest, blowfish) and more tender, rich-tasting areas of meat (dark meat on chicken for example or fatty pork / pork knuckle, to name a few)

Hand-made bean thread noodles with sliced cucumber in a soy-sesame sauce
Not a particularly special dish by Chinese standards but one that I appreciate for its presentation. A simple dish of bean thread noodles in a light soy-sesame sauce, made far more appetizing with a wrapping of extremely finely sliced cucumbers and topping of slices of rolled egg and roe. Vibrancy in color and excellence in knife skills.

A 'Chinese take' on a mille-feuille
There are many Chinese desserts to celebrate but I decided on an East-West combination from one of my favorite cake shops. A Chinese take on a puff pastry dessert … a girl friend calls it ‘diet cake’ since the local taste is less sweet and rich than Western counterparts. Both are delicious.

A taste of Japan ... in China

I love Japanese food. Anyone who has eaten with me is acutely aware of this fact, as I have probably dragged him or her to my ‘go-to’ place to eat my ‘go-to meal.’ (In SF, this was the wasabi edamame potato salad at Delica in the Ferry Building.) Fortunately for my friends here in China, my compulsive ‘eating Japanese food’ behavior is less pronounced, given that my options for decently-priced yet clean sushi is far scarcer. It means though that when I do find a restaurant I like, I am supremely … blissfully happy.

The restaurant that has recently elicited this emotion is 满腹满足 (Man fu man zhu), a small, completely unassuming Japanese eatery on a street which I often frequent. If it weren’t for a colleague’s recommendation, I would have never noticed it. It has no English name, no windows, and there is little to boast about the interior – clean, classic, but otherwise ordinary wooden tables. The food though is remarkably delicious and for someone who loves Japanese food, I found myself smitten by my meal, sighing with satisfaction at every bite.

The owner is Shanghainese but had apparently spent a good deal of time in Japan, developing not only fluency in the language but a love for the food – and it was quite apparent. He recommended we eat the dinner set because he could pair the best seasonal foods in an appropriately balanced manner for us. He looked earnest and almost animated, so A and I decided to give it a shot. We chose the 200 RMB per person set, which little did we know was a 9-course menu (Yes, it is an incredible deal).

That meal, from start to finish included …

(1) A cold vegetable salad assortment – green sprouts, bonito-covered bamboo, and pickled seaweed

(2) Tempura-battered “unagi-roll” – with soba noodles instead of rice, sitting in a mild fish broth (This dish was one of my favorites)

(3) 3-piece sashimi selection

(4) Oven-baked miso cod with a side of pickled carrots/radishes

(5) Tempura assortment with a salt rather than a sweet broth dip

(6) Lotus root stuffed with a shrimp-pork filling topped with grated daikon and sprouts

(7) Japanese version of a ‘lion head meatball’ in a daikon soup

(8) Sesame and plum onigiri ball

(9) Caramel flan

It sounds like a lot of food, and it was, although rest assured that each portion was quite small. I loved the meal. The taste was incredible – the food fresh and cooked perfectly. Moreover, several of the dishes surprised me in their unique construction such as the “unagi roll,” which replaced the rice with noodles before it was deep-fried. In other visits, I’ve eaten a potato croquette battered in flakes of tofu skin rather than tempura batter. Most of all though, the restaurant reminds me of why I love Japanese food. The cuisine celebrates the original taste of the ingredient, relying on freshness rather than heavy sauces or extreme preparation to mask flavors. It also pays attention to minute details, with garnishes that balance flavor, colors that liven up presentation, and dishware that seems individually customized to the particular food that is presented in front of you.

In that meal, everything just seemed ‘right’ and ‘in balance’ – a beautiful, delicious, healthy, and leisurely meal that delights your eyes, your taste buds, your health, your mood, and at this price … your wallet!

满腹满足 (Man fu man zhu)
395 Da gu lu (大沽路395号, 近石门一路)
+86 21 6327 0605

'Cooking for Mr. Latte'

I’m writing this aboard my flight back to Shanghai, inspired after just having read a book entitled ‘Cooking for Mr. Latte’ by New York Times food writer Amanda Hessner. I don’t usually read books … those who know me well can attest to that fact. The fine print causes my eyes to glaze over, and the often painstaking descriptions make me skim pages impatiently, as if looking for picture inserts that never exist. But this book is different. As a girl who spends her free time reading recipes and cookbooks, I view a book that integrates food, friendship, and love as far from ordinary. So instead of following my regime of watching terrible in-flight movies until I fall asleep, I have been pouring over each delicious adjective in Hessner’s recounting of her love affair with food and ‘Mr. Latte’.

The book, contrary to what the title may suggest, is not only about meals Hessner may cook for Mr. Latte but is a diary or memoir of her experiences during the love affair from attending a home-cooked meal by Mr. Latte’s mom to 6-hour dinners with Vogue food critic (and Iron chef judge) Jeffrey Steingarten. It’s entertaining, practical (with over 100 recipes from the short stories she recounts), and incredibly heart-warming …

There’s something special about the integration of food and love – the delight of each builds on each other to form supremely sensual combinations. This is why I enjoy watching Ina Garten thoughtfully prepare a meal for her Jeffrey on the Food Network … why I smile almost gleefully when I hear of romances starting in the kitchen … and why I find an ordinary meal is made extraordinary if it is A who is accompanying me.

Have I cooked for A? Yes, a couple of times … and it is every-bit as nerve-racking as Hessner’s first experience cooking for Mr. Latte. There is the laying on your bed at night unable to fall asleep because you’re pondering over your menu, the next-day doubt over whether your recipe selections are adequately simple, unassuming yet delicious, the day-before concern over working with your availability of ingredients and kitchen appliances, and of course the day-of anxiousness in execution, result, and of course, reaction.

The first time I made a full meal for A, I had decided to experiment with new recipes, settling on a hearty vegetable soup topped with aged cheddar cheese … followed by a simple seared salmon on top of a bed of risotto-style potatoes and corn … and ending with a winter-friendly, warm cinnamon rice pudding with a dark chocolate center. The food was only average, but A’s reaction was naturally positive – effusively (and embarrassingly) so. Just as love makes the cook put extra care and attention in preparing the meal, it also makes the taster enjoy it as much as if he were sampling the most grand of tasting menus at a 3-star Michelin restaurant.

It’s amazing to me the combination of food and love … and how each enhances the other to deliver an escalated level of delight. And this is why after 12 hours of sitting on a cramped economy seat having just finished a quite-unsavory airline meal, I am still smiling – just reading about it has quite a strong effect!

Sweet dreaming

I had a most interesting conversation yesterday with food writer Crystyl Mo. Those in Shanghai may recognize her name as the dining columnist for the popular City Weekend magazine. But as I found out in our coffee chat, she’s not only a writer extraordinaire but the wife of an ex-chef / now Shanghai restaurateur (who coincidentally opened one of the restaurants featured here in my blog – Hamilton House.) It was our first encounter, but as two food enthusiasts, we were far from at want of an interesting conversation topic, talking excitedly about everything from favorite Shanghai restaurants to real food sustainability … and even touching upon love stores in the kitchen!

I left the conversation on a high, feeling sublimely refreshed, excited, and inspired. Here is a woman who pursued her passion for food in a region for which she had an intense curiosity but in which she had no prior experience. And in her adventures, she has gained expertise in her personal passion, fluency in a new language, and what I, of course, consider best of all, her partner in crime and love of her life …

Reflecting on my own life, I certainly have no regrets and rather can’t imagine feeling more content or appreciative about my present situation … But the encounter got me thinking … dreaming really … Wouldn’t it be fun to enroll in the Cordon Bleu Paris and learn how to make a perfect macaron, supplementing my education with daily tastings of Pierre Herme’s own creations? Wouldn’t it be satisfying to join the real food movement and expand artisanal farmers markets from select California communities to the rest of the country? Wouldn’t it be thrilling (and utterly indulgent) to spend next summer as a budding brand manager for a gourmet chocolatier, brainstorming new campaigns while sampling the sublime taste that is a rich dark chocolate ganache in a freshly made truffle?

It’s fun … exciting to dream … to devise how I can indulge in my utter obsession with food. But to take a lesson from Crystyl’s life, there’s no rush to figure it out. Enjoy life, appreciate the sweet moments, and trust that with passion and love, you will take the right turns, open (and close) the right doors, and choose the right person to share in your adventures with you.

And on that note, I’ll end with one of my favorite pictures … one that I find fitting for this entry in multiple ways … it’s a carefully designed, wonderfully executed sweet ending in a beautiful wedding of one of the most inspirational couples I know.

Happy Chinese New Year

I always heard that spending Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) actually in China would be an experience, but I didn’t realize how overwhelming the celebrations would be. I watched Shanghai ring in the new year with five straight days of incredible (and deafening) fireworks, interesting/superstitious customs, and of course endless amounts of eating.

I had a couple of quite epic meals, thanks to the generosity of both A’s family and other local Shanghainese friends. My NY Eve meal, for instance, consisted of a series of 10 or so cold appetizers and 11 or so hot entrees, including some old favorites such as braised fatty pork thigh and steamed king crab … And accompanied by some new eats including grilled garden snake (for any who are wondering, it tasted like a slightly more dry, chewier version of chicken. Then again, that’s how anyone describes any mystery meat without any particularly pungent flavor.)

I was trying to decide how to encapsulate my Spring Festival eating extravaganza, given that each family eats different things to suit individualized tastes; however, there are a few uniting items that typically appear at most dinner tables. Fish – because it’s more of a delicacy and signals that you will have fish to eat for the rest of the year … Rice cakes (‘nian gao’) – savory and/or sweet because the sound of the word ‘gao’ denotes that you’ll be 'happy' for the rest of the year and reach 'higher' goals … But what I find more particular and a source of pride in every home that makes it homemade is the classic Chinese spring roll (‘chun juan’).

I’ve had these ‘spring rolls’ many times before, but they were always the deep fried egg rolls served in your ‘3-dishes for $4.99’ lunch set available at your local Ranch 99 supermarket. Never had I tasted homemade ones nor realized how delicious they could be. The filling so moist it almost borders on a thick soup … and expertly wrapped in an ever-so-thin and crispy bronze skin. When A told me before that he eats upwards of 20 or so each time he visits his aunt, I was shocked but now that I’ve finally tasted them, I know why. If fresh and carefully fried to avoid the excess oil and sogginess that usually accompanies deep-frying processes, the spring roll is more of a crispy, light vegetable delicacy rather than a starchy, oily sweet-and-sour soup accompaniment.

I have also searched online for the ‘recipe’ to this new years treat so that I could post it on this blog for friends and family; however, there are too many variants that there is no ‘one’ I feel that I can recommend. Each region will make its spring roll differently, so it’s impossible to dictate what the best or most ‘accurate’ method of making it is. Moreover, every family I think has their own recipe and notion of what the correct ‘way’ of cooking them is. But if this is any direction at all, A’s response to my request of his family’s recipe was that it’s made of ‘sliced pork, bamboo shoots, yellow chives, napa cabbage, diced carrots … and a whole lot of awesome …’ The rest I guess is up to your own creativity.

Chocolate Obsession

I’m addicted to chocolate. It sounds trite, I know, because who doesn’t? There’s something magical about enjoying a truly luscious piece of chocolate – taking the smallest bite and letting it slowly melt on your tongue as you savor the flavors … a sensual, almost sinful pleasure. Whether it’s a rich ganache steeped with sweet Indian curry or a smooth, glossy bar of the classic dark varietal, good chocolate rarely disappoints.

So in commemoration of the just-passed holiday season and my sister’s recent visit, I write this entry in appreciation of one of the most thoughtful gifts I have received. My sister, the artistic genius of the family (I wish I could post a link here to a page with pictures of her work, but the girl doesn’t even sign her own pieces, let alone display them for others!) had long promised me a personalized piece for myself. I made no requests in regards to medium (I don’t even know the difference between acrylic and oil pastel.) or subject matter. I just wanted it made for me.

This holiday, I returned to find my ‘piece’ completed. Her selected medium: photos (sepia, personally developed in her class’ darkroom) and her subject: chocolate. It was a trio of 8x10 horizontal photos to be matted and framed in black to accent the sepia tone. The pictures themselves were interestingly not of chocolate but of chocolate books – the text, spines, and pictures (apparently she had scoured every corner of the Borders in downtown Chicago for any title that referenced chocolate).

I stared at the series of photos for quite some time, appreciating how my sister had used what I consider one of the simplest art forms to put together a classy, subtle, and intellectual display of one of my finest pleasures in life. Of course, I would be undermining the whole gift package if I didn’t mention that accompanying the photos were a selection of truffles from Chicago and LA’s gourmet, boutique chocolatiers (Vosges, Teuscher, Ethel’s, K’s) and the book ‘Chocolate Obsession,’ written by Michael Recchiuti, maker of my favorite ‘Peanut Butter Puck’ truffle.

Sitting back and typing this entry now, I have a huge smile on my face. Partially because there are still a set of those truffles sitting in my freezer (I saved them to help get me through the gloom of my first cold winter.) … partially because the mere thought of quality chocolate gets me excited and inspires me to try new flavors, chocolatiers, and personal recipes … but more because when I reflect on my holiday chocolate gift, I think of all the thought, time, and love that went into making it. And that’s what will make tasting every one of those winter truffles a truly blissful experience.