Cleaning break notes:
- Soaking the stovetop for 6 hours using the all-purpose cleanser had no effect at all.
Prelab:
We're in a hurry to cook breakfast today because we're going to visit mes grand parents a la province. Since there's plenty of rice from last night, I decided to do some sinangag.
Date Performed: Nov. 30, 2009
Ingredients:
2-3 cups cooked white rice
3 garlic cloves
green peas
parsley leaves
3 eggs
Preparation:
Fry some scrambled eggs over the pan. Set aside.
Mash the white rice using ample water.
Sautee garlic in oil. Add white rice in pan and stir continuously. (*If you want some crusts to form, stir occasionally.)
When the color turns light brown, add a pinch of green peas. Season with a dash of salt, pepper, and parsley leaves. Add a slice of butter (*about 1 tbsp).
After about 15 minutes, it should be done. Add the sliced scrambled eggs together with the dish and serve.
Post-lab:
I should've added more garlic to create more aroma.
Stirring it continuously was quite tiring... especially for me who doesn't have that much strength to keep the rice from crusting. I have yet to learn how mon pere does the sinangag.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Break #1: Cleaning
Chore? Chores!
As usual, I need to clean the fridge once a week, and the best time to clean it is when it's near empty! Maybe tomorrow morning before cooking breakfast, sometime before dawn.
And the stove, the stove! Though I wipe it clean every day (usually at night) with soap and water to avoid the cooking oil build-up, it still needs some serious cleaning due to the serious build-up on the surfaces of the bronze burner and on the metal surrounding it. But besides the liquid dishwashing soap that is apparently ineffective on the black spots, what else could I use?
Some options:
1- try mild zonrox (maybe I'll soak it?)
2- scrubbing it hard with the metal scrubber (*nah! I don't have that much energy)
3- never mind, I'm too tired
4- I'm tired but I'll do it when I feel like it (*once in a blue moon)
5- scrub a little every night with the dishwashing soap so that the build-up lessens (not a real solution though; it's for maintenance, but might work)
6- try some cleansing powder
If I get a chance to work and actually develop a household product in the chemical industry, I think I'd want a cleaning product to work on. Let's see... something biochemically safe and chemically effective!
How I wish they taught us in class how to apply theoretical chemistry in practical situations like cleaning! But then again, I guess it would be some kind of adventure to discover exactly what works on what. It sure would save me a lot of time and would help improve my attitude in cooking. I want the stove to look pretty clean, pretty good, and pretty new. (I've avoided all the baking recipes so far as well, 'coz I'm not in the mood to clean the oven yet. If it looked dirty, who else would have to clean it?! So... nevermind the oven!)
As usual, I need to clean the fridge once a week, and the best time to clean it is when it's near empty! Maybe tomorrow morning before cooking breakfast, sometime before dawn.
And the stove, the stove! Though I wipe it clean every day (usually at night) with soap and water to avoid the cooking oil build-up, it still needs some serious cleaning due to the serious build-up on the surfaces of the bronze burner and on the metal surrounding it. But besides the liquid dishwashing soap that is apparently ineffective on the black spots, what else could I use?
Some options:
1- try mild zonrox (maybe I'll soak it?)
2- scrubbing it hard with the metal scrubber (*nah! I don't have that much energy)
3- never mind, I'm too tired
4- I'm tired but I'll do it when I feel like it (*once in a blue moon)
5- scrub a little every night with the dishwashing soap so that the build-up lessens (not a real solution though; it's for maintenance, but might work)
6- try some cleansing powder
If I get a chance to work and actually develop a household product in the chemical industry, I think I'd want a cleaning product to work on. Let's see... something biochemically safe and chemically effective!
How I wish they taught us in class how to apply theoretical chemistry in practical situations like cleaning! But then again, I guess it would be some kind of adventure to discover exactly what works on what. It sure would save me a lot of time and would help improve my attitude in cooking. I want the stove to look pretty clean, pretty good, and pretty new. (I've avoided all the baking recipes so far as well, 'coz I'm not in the mood to clean the oven yet. If it looked dirty, who else would have to clean it?! So... nevermind the oven!)
Experiment 9: Tricky Caldereta
Prelab:
Seeing that we only had chicken in the fridge and had run out of vegetables, there wasn't much of an option for cooking supper. Originally, I planned to try cooking adobo for the first time, but then I recalled that there were 2 recipes for this, grand mere R's recipe, and ma mere's recipe (which was supposedly her "mother's recipe" but for some reason wasn't the same at all). It would be tricky to do an often criticized dish in the household, so I decided not to do it yet.
Meanwhile, ma soeur said that she wanted caldereta because we hadn't had that for a long time, hence I decided to try that instead.
Okay, so it's my first time to do it (this hassle-dish that requires quite an effort) and to actually follow a recipe to the letter! Sadly I don't remember how it's supposed to look like, so I had no idea how to vary and modify this dish.
Date Performed: Nov. 29, 2009
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 tomato sauce (Net wt. 220 g)
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 carrot, diced
4 cups water
Preparation:
Clean the chicken.
Marinate chicken with vinegar, salt, and pepper for 15 minutes. Drain the marinate.
Brown the chicken in a saucepan. Remove and set aside when done.
In the same pan, sautee garlic and onion. Return the chicken afterwards. Sautee for 3 minutes, and then add the tomato sauce. Stir occasionally until 5 minutes is up.
Add 4 cups water, let it simmer in low fire for 20 minutes.
Add the carrots and let it simmer in low fire for 10 minutes.
Add 1/2 tsp salt and a dash of pepper.
Serve hot.
Post-lab:
"I give you 95% for the effort," says mon pere. This means that I literally failed the dish. There was too much water. Of course they still ate it, but I can see the complaint in their eyes that it almost ended up in the trash even though I didn't burn anything to a crisp. Perhaps the dish-being-cooked-on-the-process was all right until I added the water. Ma mere says I should only add 1 cup of water or less, depending on the amount of chicken (which in this case would always be small), and on the chicken itself (because the chicken that you can buy here are all H20-injected, and you'll expect the chicken to release its water later). I suppose that recipe I found was from an overseas worker or probably lives abroad where the chickens are huge. In the end, they tell me not to follow a recipe to the letter.
OKAY! So when I actually follow a recipe seriously, this is what happens. But when I modify someone's recipe to incorporate major changes, I still fail. This means that in cooking, it's not as simple a lab experiment after all as I initially thought. Experience matters alot.
When I think about it, I probably should me more considerate about the people for whom I'm cooking, considering that they're also gracious to me whenever I make mistakes. Still, like I said before, I am really really really not fond of cooking. Cooking serves as an escape for doing the dishes though. (Well I don't like doing the dishes because my hands get that wet and I always need to use some lotion afterwards. What a hassle.)
In cooking, I learned that I should be flexible and that I should also be consistent as well (or else I can't repeat whatever I did in the past). But then again, the ingredients aren't always of the same amount, unless I weigh them all. Imagine weighing them all just as you often find in the TV shows! Weighing the garlic, the onions, and all the other vegetables would be too time consuming!
Seeing that we only had chicken in the fridge and had run out of vegetables, there wasn't much of an option for cooking supper. Originally, I planned to try cooking adobo for the first time, but then I recalled that there were 2 recipes for this, grand mere R's recipe, and ma mere's recipe (which was supposedly her "mother's recipe" but for some reason wasn't the same at all). It would be tricky to do an often criticized dish in the household, so I decided not to do it yet.
Meanwhile, ma soeur said that she wanted caldereta because we hadn't had that for a long time, hence I decided to try that instead.
Okay, so it's my first time to do it (this hassle-dish that requires quite an effort) and to actually follow a recipe to the letter! Sadly I don't remember how it's supposed to look like, so I had no idea how to vary and modify this dish.
Date Performed: Nov. 29, 2009
Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 tomato sauce (Net wt. 220 g)
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 carrot, diced
4 cups water
Preparation:
Clean the chicken.
Marinate chicken with vinegar, salt, and pepper for 15 minutes. Drain the marinate.
Brown the chicken in a saucepan. Remove and set aside when done.
In the same pan, sautee garlic and onion. Return the chicken afterwards. Sautee for 3 minutes, and then add the tomato sauce. Stir occasionally until 5 minutes is up.
Add 4 cups water, let it simmer in low fire for 20 minutes.
Add the carrots and let it simmer in low fire for 10 minutes.
Add 1/2 tsp salt and a dash of pepper.
Serve hot.
Post-lab:
"I give you 95% for the effort," says mon pere. This means that I literally failed the dish. There was too much water. Of course they still ate it, but I can see the complaint in their eyes that it almost ended up in the trash even though I didn't burn anything to a crisp. Perhaps the dish-being-cooked-on-the-process was all right until I added the water. Ma mere says I should only add 1 cup of water or less, depending on the amount of chicken (which in this case would always be small), and on the chicken itself (because the chicken that you can buy here are all H20-injected, and you'll expect the chicken to release its water later). I suppose that recipe I found was from an overseas worker or probably lives abroad where the chickens are huge. In the end, they tell me not to follow a recipe to the letter.
OKAY! So when I actually follow a recipe seriously, this is what happens. But when I modify someone's recipe to incorporate major changes, I still fail. This means that in cooking, it's not as simple a lab experiment after all as I initially thought. Experience matters alot.
When I think about it, I probably should me more considerate about the people for whom I'm cooking, considering that they're also gracious to me whenever I make mistakes. Still, like I said before, I am really really really not fond of cooking. Cooking serves as an escape for doing the dishes though. (Well I don't like doing the dishes because my hands get that wet and I always need to use some lotion afterwards. What a hassle.)
In cooking, I learned that I should be flexible and that I should also be consistent as well (or else I can't repeat whatever I did in the past). But then again, the ingredients aren't always of the same amount, unless I weigh them all. Imagine weighing them all just as you often find in the TV shows! Weighing the garlic, the onions, and all the other vegetables would be too time consuming!
Experiment 8: Boiled Okra
Prelab:
It is a must to always have vegetables in the menu, something raw or something cooked. Cook the vegetables. Then eat fresh fruits. If I prepared salad, then it'd be fine even if I didn't eat some fruit.
I thought I'd try out boiling. But I didn't know how long I should cook it, so I overcooked it. It was just normal to me, but for people who are used to eating it half-cooked or even raw, it wasn't good. I should've asked the time it took to cook those, but I guess I was preoccupied in doing the other menu, the main dish.
Date Performed: Nov. 29, 2009
Ingredients:
1 small bundle of small okras
water
Preparation:
Heat in a pot half-filled with water for 10 minutes.
Post-lab:
Ma mere says I should heat it for 3-5 minutes instead.
It is a must to always have vegetables in the menu, something raw or something cooked. Cook the vegetables. Then eat fresh fruits. If I prepared salad, then it'd be fine even if I didn't eat some fruit.
I thought I'd try out boiling. But I didn't know how long I should cook it, so I overcooked it. It was just normal to me, but for people who are used to eating it half-cooked or even raw, it wasn't good. I should've asked the time it took to cook those, but I guess I was preoccupied in doing the other menu, the main dish.
Date Performed: Nov. 29, 2009
Ingredients:
1 small bundle of small okras
water
Preparation:
Heat in a pot half-filled with water for 10 minutes.
Post-lab:
Ma mere says I should heat it for 3-5 minutes instead.
Revisiting Expt. 4
Post-lab:
Since today's a Sunday and I kind'a woke up late for church (it was early enough if I didn't have to cook breakfast), ma mere went to help me out. Actually, ma mere had been awake for awhile now, seeing that she was busy chatting along and not cooking breakfast even though she's recovered. Ma mere went on to peel and cook the sweet potatoes, and helped me with the garlic, onions, and stuff.
Hmm... I thought I wanted to repeat the previous dish I made, supposedly, with the exception that this time I had to fry the eggplants myself, and that I'd put some sliced red apples around for decor. Ma mere added some butter while I fried the eggplants since I misjudged the amount of oil needed, and that was nice. However, ma mere interrupted somewhere in the middle and later added who knows how much water that was, intending to boil the corned beef. I know these were good intentions, but for some reason I was annoyed. I didn't want the meat to lose the taste (I think she wanted it to lose some taste because that's what she's accustomed to and that it'd be healthier).
So how do you salvage a dish like that? I thought I'd let the water evaporate to some extent, and when most of it were gone, I added 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and stirred it until it was done.
Now, it tasted fairly salty for mon pere, because he's used to ma mere's bland style of cooking. If I had my grand mere et grand pere taste it, it would definitely pass, for it was just right for people who liked it that way. Anyway, I failed to consider their health with that salvage act, so I didn't pass. But then, what's done is done.
Date Performed: Nov. 29, 2009
Since today's a Sunday and I kind'a woke up late for church (it was early enough if I didn't have to cook breakfast), ma mere went to help me out. Actually, ma mere had been awake for awhile now, seeing that she was busy chatting along and not cooking breakfast even though she's recovered. Ma mere went on to peel and cook the sweet potatoes, and helped me with the garlic, onions, and stuff.
Hmm... I thought I wanted to repeat the previous dish I made, supposedly, with the exception that this time I had to fry the eggplants myself, and that I'd put some sliced red apples around for decor. Ma mere added some butter while I fried the eggplants since I misjudged the amount of oil needed, and that was nice. However, ma mere interrupted somewhere in the middle and later added who knows how much water that was, intending to boil the corned beef. I know these were good intentions, but for some reason I was annoyed. I didn't want the meat to lose the taste (I think she wanted it to lose some taste because that's what she's accustomed to and that it'd be healthier).
So how do you salvage a dish like that? I thought I'd let the water evaporate to some extent, and when most of it were gone, I added 1 tbsp of oyster sauce and 1 tbsp of soy sauce, and stirred it until it was done.
Now, it tasted fairly salty for mon pere, because he's used to ma mere's bland style of cooking. If I had my grand mere et grand pere taste it, it would definitely pass, for it was just right for people who liked it that way. Anyway, I failed to consider their health with that salvage act, so I didn't pass. But then, what's done is done.
Date Performed: Nov. 29, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Experiment 7b: Tuna Brine
Prelab:
Like I said earlier, I wasn't feeling well and would rather stay in bed because of the pain, but still I decided to cook lunch. To keep it simple, after supposedly making hard-boiled eggs and chopping 2 small tomatoes to add to ma mere's unserved dish earlier this morning (1/3 kgs ginisang giniling), I thought I'd do something easy with those canned tunas in the pantry, like just boil them in the brine!
Date Prepared: Nov. 28, 2009
Ingredients:
2 small canned tuna flakes in brine
1/2 cup upo (Eng. bottle gourd), chopped
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
Preparation:
In a frying pan, heat a minimal amount oil. Sautee garlic until golden brown. Add the tuna (that is, you drain the tuna flakes and set aside the brine from which it was previously immersed) and mix it with the garlic. After mixing the tuna for about 30 seconds, pour the brine solution from which the tuna was immersed. Add some upo. Cover the pan and occassionally mix until the bottle gourd is cooked (approx. 15 minutes).
Post-lab:
Mon pere says it's okay. Considering that we had lots of LO (leftovers) from ma mere's tinola for breakfast and some of her boiled talbos ng kamote leaves, and that I served the ginisang giniling with tomatoes and eggs and this tuna dish, it's a feast for the 3 of us. I was thinking that ma soeur was going to eat lunch... that's why I made the meat dishes! I knew she disliked vegetables to a great extent, and I expected that she wouldn't touch the tinola, but I didn't expect that she'd skip lunch again and hurry to school. What's the rush?
Like I said earlier, I wasn't feeling well and would rather stay in bed because of the pain, but still I decided to cook lunch. To keep it simple, after supposedly making hard-boiled eggs and chopping 2 small tomatoes to add to ma mere's unserved dish earlier this morning (1/3 kgs ginisang giniling), I thought I'd do something easy with those canned tunas in the pantry, like just boil them in the brine!
Date Prepared: Nov. 28, 2009
Ingredients:
2 small canned tuna flakes in brine
1/2 cup upo (Eng. bottle gourd), chopped
2 small cloves of garlic, minced
Preparation:
In a frying pan, heat a minimal amount oil. Sautee garlic until golden brown. Add the tuna (that is, you drain the tuna flakes and set aside the brine from which it was previously immersed) and mix it with the garlic. After mixing the tuna for about 30 seconds, pour the brine solution from which the tuna was immersed. Add some upo. Cover the pan and occassionally mix until the bottle gourd is cooked (approx. 15 minutes).
Post-lab:
Mon pere says it's okay. Considering that we had lots of LO (leftovers) from ma mere's tinola for breakfast and some of her boiled talbos ng kamote leaves, and that I served the ginisang giniling with tomatoes and eggs and this tuna dish, it's a feast for the 3 of us. I was thinking that ma soeur was going to eat lunch... that's why I made the meat dishes! I knew she disliked vegetables to a great extent, and I expected that she wouldn't touch the tinola, but I didn't expect that she'd skip lunch again and hurry to school. What's the rush?
Experiment 7a: Boiled Eggs
Prelab:
I'm not in the mood to cook something difficult because it's that time of the month, but nevertheless I still did. Anyway, I did cook 3 eggs. Honestly, I had no idea on how to boil eggs except for the time and was too lazy to read on it. I wanted to make some hard-boiled eggs (ma mere says it takes 5 mins.) and so I tried it. To my surprise, I cooked some perfectly soft-boiled eggs.
Date Performed: Nov. 28, 2009
Ingredients:
3 eggs
water
* Preparation 1: (This is what I did but shouldn't have done)
Fill the cooking pot with some water. Set the water to a boil. When simmering, add the eggs carefully. Set the timer to 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the eggs from the water, rinse with tap water, and then immerse in tap water. Remove the shell from the eggs.
Preparation 2: (What I should've done accdg. to ma mere)
Fill the cooking pot with some water, and place the eggs. Set the water to a boil. When it boils, begin to take note of the time.
- If you want some soft-boiled eggs, remove eggs from the water after 3 minutes. Rinse with tap water and set aside.
- If you want some hard-boiled eggs, remove eggs from the water after 5 minutes, or just turn off the flame and leave it there.
Post-lab:
If you do exactly what I did, the eggshells will crack, but it still tastes good. Of course the eggshells would crack due to the difference in temperatures! Why in the world did I forget? I was probably too distracted of the pain in my body.
I'm not in the mood to cook something difficult because it's that time of the month, but nevertheless I still did. Anyway, I did cook 3 eggs. Honestly, I had no idea on how to boil eggs except for the time and was too lazy to read on it. I wanted to make some hard-boiled eggs (ma mere says it takes 5 mins.) and so I tried it. To my surprise, I cooked some perfectly soft-boiled eggs.
Date Performed: Nov. 28, 2009
Ingredients:
3 eggs
water
* Preparation 1: (This is what I did but shouldn't have done)
Fill the cooking pot with some water. Set the water to a boil. When simmering, add the eggs carefully. Set the timer to 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, remove the eggs from the water, rinse with tap water, and then immerse in tap water. Remove the shell from the eggs.
Preparation 2: (What I should've done accdg. to ma mere)
Fill the cooking pot with some water, and place the eggs. Set the water to a boil. When it boils, begin to take note of the time.
- If you want some soft-boiled eggs, remove eggs from the water after 3 minutes. Rinse with tap water and set aside.
- If you want some hard-boiled eggs, remove eggs from the water after 5 minutes, or just turn off the flame and leave it there.
Post-lab:
If you do exactly what I did, the eggshells will crack, but it still tastes good. Of course the eggshells would crack due to the difference in temperatures! Why in the world did I forget? I was probably too distracted of the pain in my body.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Experiment 6: Not-Even-Hot Chick
Prelab:
I wanted to make some hot chilli ground chicken, but the ground chicken inside the fridge wasn't enough for 4. Instead, I used one small whole chicken.
Date Performed: Nov. 27, 2009
Ingredients:
1 whole small chicken
200g tomato sauce with chicken liver spread sachet
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 small potato, chopped
1 small sayote (Eng. chayote, or vegetable pear), chopped
1 small onion
2-3 small cloves of garlic
Preparation:
Heat a small amount of oil in a pot. Sautee onion and garlic. Cook chicken until the skin turns light brown. In a separate bowl, mix the tomato sauce and hot sauce. Pour onto the chicken. Add potato (approx. 8 mins. cooking time) and then add sayote later (approx. 3 mins. cooking time). Serve hot.
Post-lab:
Because I didn't add some patis (Fil. fish sauce) when I was initially cooking the chicken, the taste didn't go inside. (Well, I was debating over whether I should've added or shouldn't have had, and because I didn't, the taste was only outside chicken like a typical sauce.) It wasn't in the least bit chilli hot because there wasn't enough hot sauce and the spicy taste was cancelled by the tomato sauce. Next time I'll use tabasco instead, and perhaps in a greater amount.
I wanted to make some hot chilli ground chicken, but the ground chicken inside the fridge wasn't enough for 4. Instead, I used one small whole chicken.
Date Performed: Nov. 27, 2009
Ingredients:
1 whole small chicken
200g tomato sauce with chicken liver spread sachet
1 tbsp hot sauce
1 small potato, chopped
1 small sayote (Eng. chayote, or vegetable pear), chopped
1 small onion
2-3 small cloves of garlic
Preparation:
Heat a small amount of oil in a pot. Sautee onion and garlic. Cook chicken until the skin turns light brown. In a separate bowl, mix the tomato sauce and hot sauce. Pour onto the chicken. Add potato (approx. 8 mins. cooking time) and then add sayote later (approx. 3 mins. cooking time). Serve hot.
Post-lab:
Because I didn't add some patis (Fil. fish sauce) when I was initially cooking the chicken, the taste didn't go inside. (Well, I was debating over whether I should've added or shouldn't have had, and because I didn't, the taste was only outside chicken like a typical sauce.) It wasn't in the least bit chilli hot because there wasn't enough hot sauce and the spicy taste was cancelled by the tomato sauce. Next time I'll use tabasco instead, and perhaps in a greater amount.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Experiment 5: Canton Frenzy
Prelab:
For breakfast, I thought I wanted to do something fairly simple. BUT THEN things aren't always as simple as they seem. The original one says you're supposed to use ramen in an egg foo yung, but since we only had typical instant canton, I used those instead. Supposedly I was going to try doing a semi-fried effect for the canton's image after quickly boiling it for about 2 minutes (as the original instruction said), but considering the slight sogginess, I say I should have gone for 1 minute and then used the remaining 1 minute for draining water and cooling it with tap water. I also didn't want a patty to go along with the noodles, so I mixed them as though I were making fried rice.
Date Performed: Nov. 26, '09
Ingredients:
3 packs of instant noodles with their seasonings
1 onion, chopped
3 eggs
1 tbsp sesame oil
*leftover from crowned beef dish (see previous entry)
Preparation:
Quickly cook the instant noodles in water, and drain accordingly. Set aside.
Whisk eggs along with the seasonings. Add 1/2 tbsp sesame oil.
Heat oil in frying pan and sautee onion. Add the noodles. Pour the whisked egg mixture into pan. Mix. Add pepper. Add garnish and 1/2 tbsp sesame oil. Serve hot.
(The leftover from my previous dish was added on top of the dish.)
Post-lab:
Taste-wise, I think it's okay. But of course the slight sogginess won't pass for ma soeur. Ma mere however, preferred dishes without oil as much as possible, and was fine with the dish that had a boiled image instead of the semi-fried image that I originally intended. Mon pere was probably too hungry to taste it properly. Maybe no comment is good.
To improve this dish, it would help to throw in more garnish for color and tidbits of meat.
For breakfast, I thought I wanted to do something fairly simple. BUT THEN things aren't always as simple as they seem. The original one says you're supposed to use ramen in an egg foo yung, but since we only had typical instant canton, I used those instead. Supposedly I was going to try doing a semi-fried effect for the canton's image after quickly boiling it for about 2 minutes (as the original instruction said), but considering the slight sogginess, I say I should have gone for 1 minute and then used the remaining 1 minute for draining water and cooling it with tap water. I also didn't want a patty to go along with the noodles, so I mixed them as though I were making fried rice.
Date Performed: Nov. 26, '09
Ingredients:
3 packs of instant noodles with their seasonings
1 onion, chopped
3 eggs
1 tbsp sesame oil
*leftover from crowned beef dish (see previous entry)
Preparation:
Quickly cook the instant noodles in water, and drain accordingly. Set aside.
Whisk eggs along with the seasonings. Add 1/2 tbsp sesame oil.
Heat oil in frying pan and sautee onion. Add the noodles. Pour the whisked egg mixture into pan. Mix. Add pepper. Add garnish and 1/2 tbsp sesame oil. Serve hot.
(The leftover from my previous dish was added on top of the dish.)
Post-lab:
Taste-wise, I think it's okay. But of course the slight sogginess won't pass for ma soeur. Ma mere however, preferred dishes without oil as much as possible, and was fine with the dish that had a boiled image instead of the semi-fried image that I originally intended. Mon pere was probably too hungry to taste it properly. Maybe no comment is good.
To improve this dish, it would help to throw in more garnish for color and tidbits of meat.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Experiment 4: Crowned Beef
Prelab:
I thought we were having lunch at around 12:30pm, but then it turned out we were having lunch at 11:30am, that's why cooking at 11am should be fairly early. I had to settle for something quick like corned beef for lunch. As usual, ma mere tells me to simply boil the corn beef with potatoes and be done with it. But of course I didn't. As a result, ma mere hurried over to the doctor without having lunch.
Earlier, I was browsing around and found a dish wherein corned beef was cooked in cabbage rolls and milk. However, we didn't have any cabbage or milk, so I decided to try something else, something easier.
Date Performed: Nov. 25, 2009
Ingredients:
1 can of corned beef (*net wt. = 210 g)
1 carrot, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
3 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
2 eggs
* leftover cooked potatoes (from adobo, previously immersed and rinsed with water to remove taste)
* leftover fried eggplant (from mon pere's breakfast dish)
Preparation:
Heat a minimal amount of oil in pan. Sautee garlic, onion, and tomatoes together. Add corned beef and carrot. When cooked, add diced potatoes and set aside.
In a separate pan, fry beaten eggs into one piece, making it follow the round shape of the pan. When done, pour cooked corned beef over it. Add fried eggplants as a garnish.
Post-lab:
Mon pere enjoyed it. It looked kind'a special to him.
I thought we were having lunch at around 12:30pm, but then it turned out we were having lunch at 11:30am, that's why cooking at 11am should be fairly early. I had to settle for something quick like corned beef for lunch. As usual, ma mere tells me to simply boil the corn beef with potatoes and be done with it. But of course I didn't. As a result, ma mere hurried over to the doctor without having lunch.
Earlier, I was browsing around and found a dish wherein corned beef was cooked in cabbage rolls and milk. However, we didn't have any cabbage or milk, so I decided to try something else, something easier.
Date Performed: Nov. 25, 2009
Ingredients:
1 can of corned beef (*net wt. = 210 g)
1 carrot, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
3 small cloves of garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
2 eggs
* leftover cooked potatoes (from adobo, previously immersed and rinsed with water to remove taste)
* leftover fried eggplant (from mon pere's breakfast dish)
Preparation:
Heat a minimal amount of oil in pan. Sautee garlic, onion, and tomatoes together. Add corned beef and carrot. When cooked, add diced potatoes and set aside.
In a separate pan, fry beaten eggs into one piece, making it follow the round shape of the pan. When done, pour cooked corned beef over it. Add fried eggplants as a garnish.
Post-lab:
Mon pere enjoyed it. It looked kind'a special to him.
Experiment 3: Midsummer Fish
Prelab:
I wanted to use fish and squash together in a dish for lunch, but seeing that a few pieces of smooth-tailed trevally (salay-salay) won't be enough for 3 people, I decided to throw in a lot of vegetables. I found a foregin recipe in the internet that uses lemon, olive oil, zucchini, squash, fish fillets, mint leaves, and red wine vinegar. You're supposed to roast them in an oven (ma mere loves oven-baked dishes since these are tasty even with minimal oil), but I was too lazy to clean the oven afterwards that I decided to do some major changes.
Date Performed: Nov. 24, 2009
Ingredients:
5 long strips of string beans
1 cup of sliced squash (*about 200g)
1 cup of sliced ampalaya
5 small pieces of calamansi
8 small pieces of salay-salay
parsley leaves
2 small onions
3-4 small cloves of garlic
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp brown sugar dissolved in 8 oz water (*about 250 ml)
Preparation:
It can be divided into 3 parts.
1) Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in pan. Sautee 1 minced onion and garlic. Add thinly sliced squash and strips of string beans that were equally cut to 4 or 5 parts. Stir occasionally until half-cooked. Add ampalaya. Stir occasionally. Separate vegetables when cooked.
2) Fry salay-salay.
3) Place vegetables on top of fish. Add 1 minced onion. Pour apple cider vinegar solution. Sprinkle some parseley leaves. Bring to a boil.Serve hot.
Post-lab:
I never knew that mes parents aren't fond of anything with sugar. The apple cider label stated that I should add honey if I were to use it in cooking, but since we had no honey, I added sugar instead. I'm certain I tasted it and it was fine before I added it, but it wasn't to their liking. It's too sweet for them. Maybe if I settled for the super sour taste of apple cider vinegar, it would've been better.
- Apple cider vinegar has a far too different taste than red wine. Too bad we don't have red wine or any other wine for cooking. *shrugs* I only used apple cider vinegar since ma mere said I could use it as a substitute for red wine, but I guess that doesn't work.
- I think the ampalaya was another mistake, because the slightly bitter taste doesn't blend in with the apple cider vinegar solution. But then, what could I use to replace zucchini???
- There's too much difference between roasting and frying. Next time I shouldn't be so lazy in the cleanup part.
- Mon pere likes to eat traditional dishes. It became quite obvious after calling my midsummer fish recipe 'weird'. Hmm... old folks like eating old recipes I suppose. He keeps justifying that I should prepare normal dishes for normal people and for guests in the future.
However, normal dishes are fairly easy when you're looking at the typical cookbook. I've been assisting ma mere long enough to know that cooking traditional dishes at home are no different from the usual laboratory exercises I do in the university.
I really really really am not fond of cooking. IF I cook you something, then I probably like you enough to do it.
But since mon pere requests (or rather, nags me everyday to start practicing cooking for my own good) and since ma mere is sick right now, it's not like I could refuse the people I love.
So I found a compromise. I could experiment on the usual recipes and see how far I could edit them. I'm not really afraid to try things out, or to fail people's preferences, for that matter. Besides, if the premise that "all chemists are great cooks" is true, then it follows that I'll be able to invent some interesting dishes in time.
I wanted to use fish and squash together in a dish for lunch, but seeing that a few pieces of smooth-tailed trevally (salay-salay) won't be enough for 3 people, I decided to throw in a lot of vegetables. I found a foregin recipe in the internet that uses lemon, olive oil, zucchini, squash, fish fillets, mint leaves, and red wine vinegar. You're supposed to roast them in an oven (ma mere loves oven-baked dishes since these are tasty even with minimal oil), but I was too lazy to clean the oven afterwards that I decided to do some major changes.
Date Performed: Nov. 24, 2009
Ingredients:
5 long strips of string beans
1 cup of sliced squash (*about 200g)
1 cup of sliced ampalaya
5 small pieces of calamansi
8 small pieces of salay-salay
parsley leaves
2 small onions
3-4 small cloves of garlic
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1 tbsp brown sugar dissolved in 8 oz water (*about 250 ml)
Preparation:
It can be divided into 3 parts.
1) Heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in pan. Sautee 1 minced onion and garlic. Add thinly sliced squash and strips of string beans that were equally cut to 4 or 5 parts. Stir occasionally until half-cooked. Add ampalaya. Stir occasionally. Separate vegetables when cooked.
2) Fry salay-salay.
3) Place vegetables on top of fish. Add 1 minced onion. Pour apple cider vinegar solution. Sprinkle some parseley leaves. Bring to a boil.Serve hot.
Post-lab:
I never knew that mes parents aren't fond of anything with sugar. The apple cider label stated that I should add honey if I were to use it in cooking, but since we had no honey, I added sugar instead. I'm certain I tasted it and it was fine before I added it, but it wasn't to their liking. It's too sweet for them. Maybe if I settled for the super sour taste of apple cider vinegar, it would've been better.
- Apple cider vinegar has a far too different taste than red wine. Too bad we don't have red wine or any other wine for cooking. *shrugs* I only used apple cider vinegar since ma mere said I could use it as a substitute for red wine, but I guess that doesn't work.
- I think the ampalaya was another mistake, because the slightly bitter taste doesn't blend in with the apple cider vinegar solution. But then, what could I use to replace zucchini???
- There's too much difference between roasting and frying. Next time I shouldn't be so lazy in the cleanup part.
- Mon pere likes to eat traditional dishes. It became quite obvious after calling my midsummer fish recipe 'weird'. Hmm... old folks like eating old recipes I suppose. He keeps justifying that I should prepare normal dishes for normal people and for guests in the future.
However, normal dishes are fairly easy when you're looking at the typical cookbook. I've been assisting ma mere long enough to know that cooking traditional dishes at home are no different from the usual laboratory exercises I do in the university.
I really really really am not fond of cooking. IF I cook you something, then I probably like you enough to do it.
But since mon pere requests (or rather, nags me everyday to start practicing cooking for my own good) and since ma mere is sick right now, it's not like I could refuse the people I love.
So I found a compromise. I could experiment on the usual recipes and see how far I could edit them. I'm not really afraid to try things out, or to fail people's preferences, for that matter. Besides, if the premise that "all chemists are great cooks" is true, then it follows that I'll be able to invent some interesting dishes in time.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Experiment 2: Tuna Flakes
Prelab:
Ma mere's been sick for awhile now. In order to help, I cooked breakfast (wherein we had hotdogs as leftovers) yesterday. Before making some breakfast today, I found an interesting dish in ma mere's cookbook using tuna steak cuts. But where in the world am I gonna get tuna if the wet market doesn't sell those? So, I used the canned, hot and spicy tuna flakes in oil instead and decided to do it the normal way.
Date Performed: Nov. 24, 2009
Ingredients:
2 small cans of tuna flakes in oil
3 eggs
2-3 small cloves of garlic
2 small tomatoes
3 pieces of boiled hotdogs
Preparation:
Heat a minimal amount of oil in pan. Sautee garlic. Add tuna flakes and the oil in which it was immersed in the pan. Pour beaten eggs into the pan. Let the beaten eggs cook for a bit before stirring together with the tuna flakes. Add small pieces of chopped tomatoes and chopped hotdogs. Stir together. Serve hot.
Post-lab:
Mon pere and ma soeur enjoyed it. Ma mere isn't fond of oily dishes, but I guess it was fine for her taste.
Experiment 1: Grounded
Prelab:
If it were just me, I wouldn't have cooked lunch. I would've grabbed a sandwhich or so and would've eaten in peace. But out of necessity, I decided I should cook for ma soeur as ma mere instructed. I was supposed to cook ground chicken in the usual way, that is, simply fry over a pan with onion, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. But I was bored, so I changed it a bit.
Date Performed: Nov. 20, 2009
Ingredients:
1/3 kgs ground chicken
1 egg
3-4 small cloves of garlic
2 small onions
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
Preparation:
Heat a minimal amount of oil in a pan. Sautee minced onion and minced garlic. Add ground chicken and stir occasionally until brown. Add oyster sauce and sesame oil. Stir. Add beaten egg into mixture. Stir. Serve hot.
Post-lab:
Mes parents loved it.
- Maybe I should've added more eggs. It wasn't so obvious.
- The oyster sauce and sesame oil did the trick. I guess it's true that oyster sauce enhances most meat dishes.
If it were just me, I wouldn't have cooked lunch. I would've grabbed a sandwhich or so and would've eaten in peace. But out of necessity, I decided I should cook for ma soeur as ma mere instructed. I was supposed to cook ground chicken in the usual way, that is, simply fry over a pan with onion, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. But I was bored, so I changed it a bit.
Date Performed: Nov. 20, 2009
Ingredients:
1/3 kgs ground chicken
1 egg
3-4 small cloves of garlic
2 small onions
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
Preparation:
Heat a minimal amount of oil in a pan. Sautee minced onion and minced garlic. Add ground chicken and stir occasionally until brown. Add oyster sauce and sesame oil. Stir. Add beaten egg into mixture. Stir. Serve hot.
Post-lab:
Mes parents loved it.
- Maybe I should've added more eggs. It wasn't so obvious.
- The oyster sauce and sesame oil did the trick. I guess it's true that oyster sauce enhances most meat dishes.
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