Sugar, Spice, and Everything nice

Technique: Making Pasta Sauces - Demo: Beef Stroganoff

2011-04-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

For a beginner cook like myself, learning basic principles of cooking can go a long way. New dishes can be created on the fly by changing ingredients and by following basic techniques like stewing, stir frying, braising, and burger making. Tired of chicken stir fry? Switch the meat to pork! Have too much burger meat? Make them into meat balls for pasta! Too much bacon? ಠ_ಠ There is no such thing.

This post will discuss simple rules to make a good pasta sauce. It's not going to match the quality at an upscale restaurant, but it will be damn close.

My sauces usually comprise of

Base spices, which gives the flavors. Garlic, ginger roots, bay leaf, cinnamon, paprika, and curry powder are commonly used. Some spices hit your taste buds immediately, some leaves a subtle after taste, but you will have to figure that out yourself. (or wait for me to explain in future posts)
Some sort of vegetable bits to give the sauce a little texture. Onions, mushrooms, zucchini, leafy herbs(basil, cilantro, parsley) are the usual suspects.
Thickening agent. It's generally a mild tasting paste, such as butter, heavy cream, tomato sauce, coconut milk, milk, just to name a few
A protein source. Chicken, shrimp, meatballs of beef, turkey, pork... you name it!

To start making the sauce, you start by:

Searing the meat or choice of protein source on med-high to high heat to caramelize its surface with a little spice, (not to fully cook the meat)
Set the meat aside,
Add vegetable to deglaze the brown bits of caramelization off the meat pan or pot,
Add in the liquid and thickening agent to make it a sauce,
Add the meat back,
And lastly, simmer the sauce on low to tenderize the protein and homogenize the flavour.

Those are the general guideline to make pasta sauces. It's similar to stewing, but pasta sauces are usually thicker and more heavily flavoured. Do watch out if you are making seafood. As a general rule for seafood like shrimp, crab, shell fish, and scallop, the protein should be cooked separately and added to the warm sauce (not boiling) after the last step. You never want to over cook your seafood because they almost always turn tasteless, rubbery or mushy at high temperatures.

Let's get right into the demonstration recipe, the famous Russian dish, Beef Stroganoff.

"Beef Stroganoff or Beef Stroganov (in Russian: Бефстроганов Befstróganov) is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with smetana or sour cream. From its origins in 19th-century Russia, it has become popular in much of Iran, Europe, North America, Australia, South Africa, Lebanon, Portugal and Brazil, with considerable variation from the original recipe." - Wikipedia

Following the recipe, if you substitute the beef for Italian meatballs, the beef broth for tomato sauces, and the sour cream for butter and cheese, you will produce a tomato and meatball pasta.

Ingredients: (Some are not shown in pictures, oops)

1lb of stewing beef (~$8),
sour cream($3),
fresh chives($1.5),
12~15 muchrooms($3),
3 cloves of Garlic($0.20,almost free),
1/4 of an onion($0.15?)
Beef Stock($3),
200~300ml of white wine($13/bottle),
Pasta (I suggest thick egg noodles or Farfalle)
oil, 1 tbls of flour, salt, pepper.
Total cost: ~$22, serves 3 ~ 4

Steps:(2 hours)

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Step 0: Play this song in the background to make you feel slightly more Russian. (Even though this recipe isn't authentic Russian Stroganoff, and the song is not sang by Russians.)

Step 1: Slice and dice up the garlic, onion and mushrooms

Step 2: Salt and pepper the beef generously. A good rule is 4 more shakes of salt after you think it's enough.

Step 3: Sear the meat on HIGH for around 4 minutes+. For a proper sear, you usually do not want to crowd the pan; however, for this recipe, we want the beef to not only sear, but brown in its own juices. In a crowded pan, the juice from the beef doesn't have enough room to evaporate, so the sweet meat juices seep out and help build a golden caramelization at the bottom of the pan. (Click the pic to see clearly)

Step 4: Once your beef is golden brown on the outside, set it aside on a cold plate.

Step 5: Now we want to deglaze the pan, add in enough butter to cover the pan on MEDIUM. Add in the mushrooms and onions when the melted butter just starts to bubble. (The picture shows butter that's a bit too hot. Don't do this!)

Step 6: Sweat the onions and mushrooms on medium until they are golden. The juices from these two ingredients should deglaze the pan very well.

Step 7: Add in roughly 300ml of beef stock and 150ml of white/red wine and bring it to a slow boil on MED-Hi. The choice of alcohol is up to you, and you don't have to be too accurate. If Sherry cooking wine is used instead of wine, you should use less beef stock to compensate the salt in the Sherry.

Step 8: Add in the beef back in and bring to a boil.

Step 9: Once boiled, turned the element down to LOW. Add in 1/2 tbls of flour and 1 very large scoop of sour cream and mix well. You can also use crème fraiche if you have some handy.

Step 10: Add some chopped chives after mixing and let the sauce simmer on LOW for 45 minutes to 1hr to tenderize the beef.

Step 11: Make your pasta after the Stroganoff has been simmering for ~40 minutes. If your sauce is not thick enough, add more sour cream or flour. (I suggest sour cream :D)

Serve with 2 tbls of sour cream and some fresh chives. By now, your entire house should smell like delicious, buttery beef.


The taste? It was juicy, tender, comfortably creamy, and a little bit sour. Kind of sexy. Actually, kind of like comfy sex. Now go make it!

Get the GameBoid App on your Andriod Phones NOW!

2011-02-26T14:08:00.000-08:00

GameBoid Pokemon demo on HTC Desire

Well I know this isn't exactly a tech blog, but go download GameBoid emulator from Android Market place right now!

A TON of GBA games can be downloaded from DopeROMs.
To play

Download both GameBoid and Rom Gripper
Unzip the .GBA files,
Connect your phone in to your computer,
Make a folder in the root called GBoidRoms,
Copy the .GBAs in there,
Start the GameBoid emulator, select the folder
???
PROFIT!

Credit goes to shibbermetimbers on r/trees on reddit.com

Spider Scalp Massager

2011-02-22T17:53:00.000-08:00

The spider scalp massager is possibly the greatest massaging tool invented by mankind. Yes, it's better than your vibrating rabbit. Mine just arrived in mail today. With it, I felt like my head was having an orgasm... awwww yea... so good

AND IT'S ONLY DOLLAR FIFTY ON EBAY! Go get one now!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/Head-Neck-Scalp-Massage-Massager-Equipment-Stress-Relax-/280631468071?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4156f06027#ht_5036wt_905

Technique: Maillard reaction - Demo: Sticky Lemon Chicken

2011-02-20T21:59:00.000-08:00

In response to popular demand, I used a little bit more bacon in the last few posts, and I will follow up with a few more technique posts in the coming weeks. The technique I am introducing this week is caramelization of meat, also known as "searing" or more correctly as the "Maillard reaction". (I will loosely use caramelization and Maillard reaction interchangeably, but caramelization really only refers to browning of sugar)

What is a Maillard reaction? The Maillard reaction (pronounced may-YAR) is a chemical reaction between anamino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat. It is vitally important in the preparation or presentation of many types of food, and, like caramelization, is a form of non-enzymatic browning. The reaction is named after the chemist Louis-Camille Maillard who first described it in the 1910s while attempting to reproduce biologicalprotein synthesis, although it has been used in practical cooking since prehistoric times. - Wikipedia

Remember this from the Royale with Cheese?

Or the 4lb Chili post?

In plain English, it is the flavour generating reaction that happens between proteins and sugars when they are cooked under high heat. Different combinations of protein and sugars are going to produce different types of flavours. When you bake an apple pie crust, the sugar and starch react with the protein from wheat and butter to produce the toasty, buttery, and smoky taste. When you sear beef on high heat, the glycogen(animal sugar) and the muscle protein reacts to produce that thin brown crust that gives the meat a surprisingly sweet, smoky, and crunchy taste. Different temperatures and cooking time are needed induce different flavours by the Maillard reaction. For example, a T-bone steak needs to be caramelized quickly at very high heat for 30 seconds, while the oh-so-delicious maple-syrup BACON would need to be heated on medium for roughly 10~12 minutes until crispy. The Maillard reaction release the full flavour potentials in many ingredients, and the mastery of the Maillard reaction is essential for any half decent chef.

An example of poorly caramelized scallops due to lack of temperature.
They should be more golden brown at higher heat.

Now, I am only an amateur cook, so I only know some basic principle of Maillard reaction when it comes to meat. In general, Maillard reaction can be achieved by searing the meat on high heat for about 1~2 mins on each side. Beef will take around 30sec to 1.5 min, whereas pork or chicken can take up to 2~2.5 mins on each side. Whether you are going to oven roast the meat, slow stew on the stove, or stir-fry for a quick meal, browning or caramelizing your meats is ALWAYS a good idea. The crust will not only provide extra flavours, but it also helps in sealing the delicious juices in!

In this post, I will be showing a Sticky Lemon Chicken dish from Chef Gordon Ramsay, which is very good for practicing caramelizing chicken. This dish is one of the "safe" dishes to serve your guests because the tastes are mild and familiar. The flavour profile comprise of sweet and tangy quality of South Asian cuisines with a little mix of Italian parsley and fresh thyme. Did I mention it's super affordable? :)

Ingredients: [Serves 4, around $11~15]

Meat: Chicken legs or wings with skin attached [$4~7]
Spices: Lemon[$0.70], Fresh Thyme(dry is OK)[$2], Fresh Parsley[$1.29], salt and pepper
Sauces: Soy Sauce (I only use Kikkoman)[$5], Rice vinegar (or white vinegar)[$4], honey[$5~10]
Oils: Olive oil and butter

Awww yea, club pack chicken for 4 dollars! =DDD

Steps:

Step 1. Separate the back from the drumstick from the joint.
Trim off excess fat. Cut around the base of the drumstick to break off the tendons.

Step 2. [KEY] On HIGH heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and olive oil each

Step 3. [KEY] Place your chicken on the pan skin side DOWN. Let it fry for 2 min.
Check after 2 min. Look for brown caramelization similar to the picture. It can be darker, but NO lighter.
If not enough browning occurred, fry for another 30 seconds.

Step 4. Once they are all browned on the skin side, flip them over.
Add in 2.5 tablespoon of soy sauce, 2 table spoons of vinegar.
Turn the element to Mid-HIGH(8/9). Let it cook for 3 minutes after the sauces.

Step 5. While waiting for the chicken to cook, slice up some lemons

cover them on the chicken like so and cook for another 3 min

Step 6. Loosely chop up the fresh parsley and thyme

Add the herb in after 3 min have past after the lemon, and cook for 2 more min on MEDIUM

Step 7. Lastly, before plating, add in 1 tablespoon of honey. Stir well, salt to taste, and then plate!

The pan should have very little moisture left before you plate it.
If you don't feel it's sticky enough, add more honey and cook on medium for a little while longer

The sweet and tangy chicken matches well with some creamy scallion mushed potatoes,
but it will be just as good served with rice.
Not the best picture ever, I need a brighter kitchen :P

The skin of the lemon tends to be bitter, so make sure to take it out when storing the chicken in the fridge. Next post will be on making mushed potatoes, and ways to tweak the taste of this staple English side dish to match your main course.

Would you guys like to see what kind of kitchen equipment I have? Or maybe a post on what is the matching pot/pan for a certain cooking technique? Let me know in the comments!

Candy Bacon

2011-02-17T21:04:00.000-08:00

You just watched EpicMealTime, and now you are hungrier than ever. Not to worry. Here is a quick and deadly candy bacon recipe, so you can eat like that epic beard Canadian Harley Morenstein.

Ingredients: Brown Sugar and bacon!

Steps:

Step 1. Bacon Strips, & bacon strips, & bacon strips, & bacon strips....
AND bacon strips, & bacon strips
& bacon strips, & bacon strips
& bacon strips, & bacon strips
& bacon strips, & bacon strips
& bacon strips, & bacon strips

Step 2. Cover them in brown sugar. Cover them with A LOT of brown sugar.

Step 3. Pop it in a 300F oven for 15~20 mins

Sprinkle on some pepper (optional)

Step 4. Transfer them on to a plate and let them cool and harden

A 20 min bake will produce crisper bacon candy

Of course, 15 min will give you a softer and more chewy bacon

Since they are relatively dry like beef jerkies, I packaged these bacon candy chips in paper towels and then in wrapping paper as a gift. : )

Mini Pizza

2011-02-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

I apologize for the lack of meat and cheese in this picture

Why order pizzas when you can make them just as fast and at half the cost? Pizza is very easy to make, and it follows these general steps:

1. Grab your bread base (pre-made pizza dough or pitas)
2. Spread a little olive oil on the flat bread
3. Spread a thin layer of tomato or pesto paste
4. Lay on moderate amount of veggy and meat of choice
5. Cover it with cheeses!
6. Bake in the oven at 400 for 13~15 minutes
7. ...nom nom nom

I like a half and half veg and meat spread on my pizza because the veggy really keeps moisture in the pizza. Biting in to a juicy pizza is really a pleasure if you are having a case of cotton mouth from some dank. :P

Ingredients:

A bag of pita or pre-made pizza bread,
Meat (I used bacon b/c I forgot to buy pepperoni)
Vegetables: Tomato, zucchini, mushrooms
Pesto or tomato sauce
Cheese: Mozzarellla, cheddar, parmesan (not in picture)

Steps:

Step 1. Preheat your oven to 400F. Lightly fry your meat.
If you are using chicken breast or ground beef, you definitely want to cook them before hand

Step 2. Cut your vegetable into thin slices

Step 3. Spread a thin layer of sauce on the pita, and then lay on the vegetable. My rule is no more than 8 pieces of vegetable on a 5" pita. Too much veg. will make the pizza mushy.

When applying the sauce, only use a thin layer. You should still be able to see some whites of the bread

Step 4. Sprinkle on the Cheese. You should be using twice as much as you see in this picture.
I also forgot to buy mozzarella, but it will still taste good :)

Step 5. Pop it in the oven pre-heated to 400F for 13~15 minutes, and you are done!

Bacon Wrapped Scallop with Cherry Tomato Herb Salad

2011-02-12T18:35:00.000-08:00

Backed by popular demand, there will be an increasing amount of bacon in this blog.

Here is a recipe that goes PERFECT with the spaghetti dish from the last post. Although this dish has a bit of bacon (not enough bacon), it's still very light and non-greasy. It certainly won't make you feel too bloated for after dinner activities if you are planning to cook this as your special Valentine's day dinner dish. In fact, scallop, garlic, basil, and tomato are all-natural aphrodisiacs! ; )

This is the only picture I took of this dish... It was gone in less than 1 min between me and my friends :P

Scallops are quite expensive, so I would only reserve them for special occasions or company events. On the other hand, the tomato herb salad is definitely something you can have regularly instead of plain salads. Herbs used in this dish, basil and coriander(aka. cilantro), are very high in minerals, vitamins K, vitamin A, vitamin C, and B vitamins. Usually, these herbs are used for seasoning, so the amount of nutrient in take not notable. However, eating them as a salad makes sure you are getting all the goodies in bulk. Plus, herbs are better tasting and more bang for the buck nutrient-wise than common boxed salads.

Ingredients

This fancy dinner for two will cost you around $18 dollars.

Tooth picks, black pepper, 6 large scallops[$7], extra virgin olive oil, lemon[$0.60] and BACON[$4] :D

Cherry tomatoes[$3], pitted whole olives[$1](I bought the non-pitted ones by mistake :S)
pack of basil[$1.40], coriander leafs(cilantro)[$1.70], and lemon.
"Salad is totally optional!"
- Ninja bacon scallop in the background

Steps for the Bacon wrapped Scallops:

Step 1. Soak your tooth picks in water first. This prevents them from browning and burning during th cooking process.

Step 2. Salt and pepper 1 side of the scallop. Don't be afraid to use a little bit more salt.

Step 3. Take 1 strip of bacon and wrap the scallops. [KEY] Make sure your bacon isn't covering the top and bottom surfaces of the scallop. You will want those surface contacting the pan to cook effectively.

Step 4. Heat the pan up to HIGH. Once hot, pour on the olive oil to cover the pan.

Step 5. Place the scallops in a clockwise direction from 12 O'clock with the seasoned side down. If you pan is hot enough, they will take about 1 min on each side. Timing is very important because rubbery over cooked scallop isn't very tasty. My stove element is old, and it took about two minutes on each side.

Step 6. Season the other side when you finished placing them down.

Step 7. With a spoon, check your 12 O'clock scallop. After 1 min, the bottom should be golden brown. If yes, start flipping in the clockwise direction. If not, check back in 30 seconds. Now squeeze some lemon juice over the cooked side, and then give the other side 1 min on the pan as well.

Unfortunately, my stove element just isn't hot enough, so they aren't golden like they should be :(

Step 8. Rest the scallops on a plate with a paper towel to drain some of the fat and juices.
(Forgot to buy paper towels...)

Steps for the Salad:

Step 1. Halve the cherry tomatoes

Step 2. Add some olive oil in the MEDIUM heated pan. If you choose to cook the scallops before hand, just transfer some of the delicious bacon fat, scallop, olive oil mix in to your pan. (omfg getting so hungry while writing this)

Step 3. Since tomatoes takes longer to cook, put them in first

Step 4. Chop up all your basil

and your cilantros.

Step 5. Put the herbs with the tomato. I suggest you use more herbs than in this picture.

Step 6. Optional squeeze of lemon.

Step 7. Lastly, add in 7 or 8 olives. [KEY] If you are just eating the salad alone, make sure to add a few pinches of salt! This salad goes very well with the scallop because the acidity of the tomatoes and the aromatics from the herbs compliment the rich salted flavours of the scallops.

I must give credit to Chef Gorden Ramsay for this particular recipe. If you are still not sure how to prepare scallops, make sure to youtube his scallop cooking tutorials!

Next up: 15 min Pizzas (finally!), Shrimp stir fry (I screwed up my last one :P), and Candied bacon

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino

2011-02-07T22:37:00.000-08:00

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio e Peperoncino (Spaghetti with Garlic, Olive Oil & Chili Peppers) is a traditional Italian pasta dish that can be made cheaply without seasonal or store-bought ingredients, said to originate traditionally from the region of Abruzzo, although it is popular across the country. - Wikipedia

This is the prefect starchy dish for an at-home Valentine's Day Dinner. It is light and delicious, and the strong aroma of garlic and Parmesan is mood-elevating!

Oh yes, if you are a poor college student like me, you are always eating on a budget. (aka saving $ for beer and trees) Fortunately, eating on a budget doesn't mean eating poorly when you do it right. This spaghetti aglio e olio is very easy and cheap to make, and it certainly makes comforting and healthy meal.

Some quick nutrition facts: This dish uses a lot of olive oil, garlic, and parsley. Garlic, as discussed in previous post, is great tasting and nutrient packed. Parsley is extremely high in vitamin C, vitamin K, and folic acid (vitamin B9), and it's a significant source of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and zinc. Folic acid is good stuff, and you can read more on it on Wikipedia. Of course, parsley tastes absolutely delicious with garlic and Parmesan cheese, and you will see this specific trio-combination in many Italian cuisines.

Ingredients:

Pasta [$2]

8~12 cloves of garlic [$1]

Salt [$2?]

Red pepper flakes[$3/bag?]

Extra Virgin Olive oil [$15/bottle]

A hand full of fresh Italian parsley [$1]

(I bought curly parsley b/c it looks nicer, but Italian parsley(flat) has more flavour)

Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese [$11]

(This cheese is quite expensive, but it has great depth and flavour. It will make your pasta, pizza, and burger taste like heaven. It doesn't go bad, and one block will last you at least 4 months.)

Steps: (18 minutes)
It is very important to follow the step exactly, otherwise your timing will be wrong! Don't worry if your first try isn't perfect. Slow cooking the garlic to the correct level of done-ness and adding the right amount of salt will take some practice. I got it right after my 3rd try though. :P

Step 1. Boil a pot of water

Step 2. Peel cloves of garlic

Step 3. Chop them up to ~2mm slices

Yes, all of them :)

Step 4. spread all the garlic slice in a COLD pan, then pour enough olive oil to cover up 80% of the slices

Step 5. At this point, your water should be boiling. Place two servings of spaghetti noodles.
AFTER you dropped the noodles, start heating the garlic on MEDIUM heat.
We want to brown the garlic and release the flavour into the olive oil, which will take roughly 5~6 minutes

Step 6. Now chopped your parsley finely

Once you finished chopping, your garlic should be bubbling

Step 7. Turn the heat down from MEDIUM to LOW-MEDIUM

Step 8. Add in a little bit of parsley and a little red pepper flakes (optional)

Step 9. Your garlic will start to turn brown around the 4th minute

Step 10. [KEY] When your garlic is the same colour of brown in this picture, take the pan off the element and quickly scoop in two LARGE spoon full of hot pasta water into the pan. **Watch out for oil splashes!**
This step stops the browning process of the garlic by cooling down the pan.
It's also super impressive to show off to other people.

Step 11. The pasta will be done just as the pan settles down.
Drain the spaghetti and then dump it in to the pan

Step 12. [KEY] Add 3 pinches or a quarter tablespoon of salt.
Grate LOTS of Parmesan cheese and add in the rest of the fresh parsley.
The salt will bind all the flavours together, and it is very crucial to add just enough salt at this step

Mix this bad boy up :)
If you garlic looks like this, you are doing it right.

Step 13. Plate the pasta, snow on more Parmesan, and finish with sprinkles of red pepper and parsley!

oh nom nom nom nom nom nom.... (I should get a real camera :p)

This spaghetti dish has very few ingredients. Even though there seem to be a lot of steps, it takes maximum of 20 minutes to make. If you take longer than that, you are definitely doing it wrong. :( It's not the easiest dish in the book. With 1 batch of ingredient, you can practice 3~4 times. Then come Valentine's day, your SO will surely be surprised by your perfect Spaghetti Aglio e Olio!

Technique: Stewing - The 4 pound Beef Chili

2011-02-04T17:27:00.000-08:00

Ahhh~ Stewing. Minimum work to make large meals that last for days. The stewing method really only have four steps, and it is very easy to prepare. For beginners, I definitely recommend learning some good stewing recipes. They are a huge time saver!

In general, to make a stew, you...

1. Dice up the vegetables,

2. Sear your meats on HIGH with a little bacon fat/vegetable oil,

3. Put them in a large pot and bring it to a boil on HIGH,

4. Simmer on LOW for 1 to 3 hours,

And then you have yourself 4 to 7 meals worth of food! Great for a family dinner or just an epic bachelor night. Stewing is easy and versatile. You could simply add different ingredients in it to change the flavour and consistency. It's also the easiest way to cook a ridiculous amount of MEAT. (ok ok AND vegetables...)

Ingredients:

Or just get TWO packs of these

Tomato sauce (365ml), Lentils and Kidney beans(540ml). You can also use other bean combinations.
Red and green pepper each, 3x jalapeño peppers, 1x Habanero pepper, 2 tomatos, and 4~5 mushrooms
Lastly, your favourite wine or beer (I used a fruity Inniskillin 2008 Cabernet Franc, cheap, $13.50 CAD)

Spices:(from L to R) oregano, cinnamon, paprika, cumin
cayenne pepper, chili powder, 8 cloves of garlic (not in picture)

Meats: 3lb Sirloin Tip cut(room temperature), 1lb lean ground beef, bacon.

Steps:

Step 0: Play the suggested music track for this recipe : )

Don't Stop Me Now - Queen

1. Dice up all the vegetables and hot peppers. Practice the bell pepper trick!
Throw them in the pot, but don't cook them yet!

2. On MEDIUM HIGH heat, brown the ground beef

3. While the meat is browning, dice your garlic

4. Add the minced garlic into the meat. This step a mild garlic taste for the stew.

This is about how much you need to brown the beef.

6. Transfer the browned the beef into the cold pot.

7. Drain the fat from the ground beef. On MEDIUM, fry up 1~2 strips of bacon.
We will use the bacon fat for later.

8. Grab your thick meat firmly and now show him who is boss ;D

9. Trim off the fat carefully with a sharp knife.
NOTE: Your beef need to be at room temperature before you cook it!

10. Cut them into small steaks

11. This step is crucial! Eat the fried bacon b/c you are probably hungry right now.
Pour 4 table spoons of olive oil into the bacon fat, bring the heat up to HIGH. (8/10 for cast iron pan)
When you see faint smoke from the oil, place the steak pieces in a counterclockwise direction from the outside.
Flip the steaks over in the same order you placed it in after 30~40 seconds.
This step sears the meat, creating barriers to lock the flavours in.

12. Let your seared meat rest for 2~4 minutes. They should be dark brown on both sides

13. Add 2 table spoons of every spice but only 1 spoon of cinnamon

14. Add in the beef and 1/3 bottle of wine or 1 bottle of good beer

15. Add in 1/2 can of tomato sauce, and stir gently.
Use the rest of the sauce only if the stew seems too watery later

16. Bring it to a boil on HIGH. Stir often and skim off the foam with a spoon.
The foam makes the stew taste bad. (I don't know the exact reason. Maybe someone can help in the comments)

17. You should only see large bubble like this on your stew. Let it boil for 5 minutes.
Bring it down to LOW heat to simmer for 1.5~2 hours.
and.... you are done!

18. Grate them cheeses. I prefer aged yellow and white cheddar with bits of Italian Parmesan.

Have a classy night by yourself,

OR invite wonderful Ginger friends over for good foods ; )

I would like to thank all of you for supporting my little blog! Woot, 100+ followers!

What if dogs have eyebrows...?

2011-02-02T22:50:00.000-08:00

Oh man... I saw this on reddit, and I have to share it. I cannot stop smiling =DDDD

He is too adorable.

Trick: Cutting Bell Peppers

2011-01-31T18:12:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of people avoid cooking from scratch because it is very timely to prepare the ingredients, cook it, and then wash the cookwares. I want to change that mind set, so in future "Trick" posts, I will include some easy tips and shortcuts you can use to make cooking less of a chore. (and more of a fun/relaxing activity)

Today we are going to look at how to cut a bell pepper. To properly prepare a bell pepper, you have to clean out the seeds and the white spongy material on the insides. If you just cut directly in half or the top, you will have seeds everywhere. Some people cut from the top side down, which is how I did it before I learned this trick from Food Networks. Here is a quick and fun way to cut a bell pepper!

1. Slice parallel to the length of the pepper, almost like peeling an orange.

2. Now just quickly trim off the bottom and parts of the top

=D Cool, eh?

And remember, don't be newfag. Always triforce your foods.

▲

▲ ▲ As mentioned before, pointy cuts will make your food look much more appetizing!

Coming up: Saute Shrimp, Easy Beef Chili, 15 min Pizza

Royale with Cheese

2011-01-27T19:53:00.000-08:00

AWWWW YEA. Let's get started!

Step 1: Play this track. Make sure to turn your volume and bass to 11.

Step 2. Get 1 pound of lean ground beef, 2 shallot or 1/2 onion, 1 egg,
bread crumbs(store bought or just crumbed toast), and Italian Parmesan
Spice combination of choice is: thyme, rosemary, cayenne pepper, paprika

Step 2. Dry items first. Mix 4 tablespoons of bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon of thyme, 1/2 tablespoon of each rosemary, paprika, and cayenne pepper

Step 3. Mix them up!

Step 4. Chop up 1 shallot as finely as you can

Step 5. Mix the wet items. Mix up 1 egg, grated Parmesan, and shallots.

Step 6. Throw in the beef, dry and wet ingredients

Step 7. Mix them up! Get your hands meaty, or you can use a spoon.

Step 8. Make patties. A pound of beef can be made in to roughly 6 thick patties. They should be slightly larger than your palm and as thick as the tip of your little finger. Freeze the extra ones for later!

Step 9. On HIGH heat, oil up a pan, preferably cast iron, and fry both sides of the meat for 1 min each until crispy. Then, turn the heat down to MEDIUM, and throw 1 chopped shallot or 1/4 onion in. Cook the meat for another 2~3 min on each side. Caution: if you are cooking from frozen, it might take longer.

Step 10. Grab your bread, favourite sauces, optional veggy, and 2 year aged cheddar cheese. For that authentic Paris taste, I chose Kraft's French dressing.

Step 11. ASSEMBLE!

Step 12. ...NOM NOM NOM

Further note: The spices and toppings are not set in stone. You can add w/e you like. The key ingredients that hold the patty together are the egg and the bread crumbs.

The other patties were consumed as a part of a peace pipe ceremony. According to my friend Batgirl13, they were delicious!

Jungle Boogie

2011-01-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

Hope you guys like the new layout. I have been quite busy with school lately, but I will still manage to post more recipes!

I added a small poll under the post for you guys to vote on. Please do vote on them after reading the post. Depend on the trend of the votes, I will adjust the recipes to better fit your preferences. You can also make suggestion in the comments about the blog or foods you want to see, and I will do a post about the simplest way to make them.

Now, to finish up the post and give a little hint on the coming recipe...

Do you know what they call ______ ______ in France?

Salmon Fried Rice

2011-01-23T14:05:00.000-08:00

Mona Diesel does not approve of unhealthy diet

What I am really aiming to convey through this blog is that cooking is not difficult. Even if you are busy, low on budget, or have no experience at all, you can conjure up a healthy meal. I will be updating easy homemade meatball/burger recipes(for the carnivores), 15 minute pizza, and more totally baller Asian dishes. All of them will be doable on a college student budget. So, forget about waiting in line in fast food restaurants, calling Dominos, or ordering Chinese. Why? Do you think Mona Diesel achieved his heavenly physique from eating fast food?!

If you are on a budget, canned foods are your friend. Although canned food are usually really high on sodium, eating canned food can be healthy. Certain canned food, like wild tuna and Pacific salmon, are more "natural" than their raw counter parts. Albeit not as good tasting, they are usually caught, cooked, and packaged on the same day. Most raw seafood you can buy of the counter are commercially farmed, so artificial food and colouring might have been fed to enhance growth or to make the salmon "pinker". Nutrition-wise, canned wild salmon has more omega-3 fatty acids and calcium than farmed salmon because they are not grain-fed, and their bones are included and softened in the can. [source: Wikipedia] Alternatively, you can use salmon belly, the bacon of seafoods, but that's a topic for another post.

Ingredients:

1 can of wild pacific salmon [$3]

1 can of corn [$1]

3 eggs [60cents?]

4 cups of rice [$1?]

2~3 stalks of green onion, finely diced [20 cents]
Olive oil or other vegetable oil

Steps:

1. Make rice. My rice is yellow b/c I added 1 cup of vegetable stock,
half a tablespoon of cumin and curry powder. Plain rice works, too.

2. On medium HIGH heat, fry green onion until the white is transparent

3. Beat the egg slightly and then cook it

4. Add in the corn and turn the heat to MEDIUM.
Save some of the corn juices for later.

5. Add in the salmon with all its juices, break it down, and then add in the rice.
Mix well and cook for another 4~5 minutes on MEDIUM heat.
Taste test. If the rice is too dry or too blend, pour in your sweet corn juice!

For beginners, this fry rice is probably the easiest thing to make, and the ingredients are definitely not set in stone. The general rule is to fry up your spice first, your protein source second, vegetable third, and lastly stir in the rice in medium heat. Most of the time in restaurants, MSG and/or soy sauce is added for better taste. Not that I am against soy sauce, but it is good to find alternate source for flavour. For this fry rice, the salted oil/juices from canned fish and corn are used as excellent and flavourful substitutes.

The portion for this recipe is enough for four to five meals at a cost of less than 6 dollars! Woot, more money for drugs.

Hobo With a Shotgun

2011-01-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

No... this is not a post on how you can cook a hobo or a shotgun or a hobo with a shot gun.

But LOL WUT? Just saw the trailer. This movie looks like a potential epic win. I am definitely watching. ;D

The Avocado

2011-01-21T16:46:00.000-08:00

Avocado has a rich and creamy texture and it goes very well with salads, corn/potato chips, shrimp, lobster, and other crustacean meats. On top of that, it's a super fruit that contains large variety of essential minerals like potassium and magnesium, vitamins like vitamin C, B5, B6, and B9, high dietary fibre, and also lots of monosaturated fat. In fact, the fruit is made up of 15% monosaturated fat, much higher than most other fruits and vegetables. The monosaturated fat in avocado have been proven to lower level of unhealthy cholesterol in blood and to help with weight loss when coupled with exercise. [Yea, eating good fat to lose bad fat :) ]

Now, bacon, hamburgers, fries, T-bone steak tastes good largely thanks to their high fat content. Avocado is 15% fat. If you think avocado is the bacon of fruits, you are correct!

Avocado milkshake, taken from here

Avocado can be enjoyed in many ways. Make a milk shake by blending 1 cup of milk, 1/2 an avocado, 3 tablespoon of honey, and finish with whip cream and chocolate syrup. You can top the avocado strips on the salads. You can mesh them with fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper to dip your cocktail shrimp/lobster. Or if you are like me, who likes to spice things up and go to the extreme, you make guacamole and eat them with BACON. nom nom nom....

Avocado lowers cholesterol. Bacon contains bad cholesterol...
Guys, STOP everything! We are onto something big!

I love making guacamole. It's quick, easy, and delicious. You can combine it with sour cream, eat it with tortilla chips, or spread it on well-toasted bread. And best of all, the ladies love it. (stats. confirmed by 6 females)

Ingredients:

3 Hass avocadoes [they ripen roughly 2 days after purchase when they become soft to pinch]

1 plum tomato or 1/2 large tomato, diced

1/4 of sweet onion, diced [sweet onion for milder taste]

1/2 Red or yellow bell pepper, diced

1 lemon or 25ml of SunnyD

1 Jalapeno pepper, finely diced

optional: freshly minced garlic, sour cream

(Use the left over vegetable in your stir fry beef :D)

Steps:

1. Chop them

2. With a spoon, scrap out the avocado flesh, squeeze entire lemon
The vitamin C, the natural anti-oxidant, prevents the avocado from browning

3. Mash with fork

4. Mix in the fresh vegetable and optionally, refrigerate for 30 minutes

6. Eat with tortilla chips or bread. You can add sour cream at this step.

Guacamole will last 2 days in the fridge. It will turn a little brown, but that is completely natural and does not affect the taste. Avocado is in season from late winter to spring, so more the reason to eat it!

Ending note: let me know if the posts are too long , too short, or just right in the comments! Thank you for visiting. :)

Technique: The Stir Fry

2011-01-19T16:34:00.000-08:00

Stir frying is the first technique I tried to prefect when I started to live by myself 5 years ago. It is fast, it is versatile, and flipping food in my pan makes me feel super Asian.

First time flipping food without spilling it on the stove

You can use the stir fry technique on pork, lamb, chicken, beef, most fishes, shrimp, tofu, rice, noodle with very little variation in the cooking process. And when done correctly, most stir fries takes less than 20 minutes to prepare in total. (A pro Chinese chef can do it in under 4 minutes)

A pro cooks with fire in and under the wok.

The principle behind stir frying is cooking food extremely fast under very high heat. The sick wok work you see Asian chefs do is to ensure the heat diffusion is uniform and to prevent charring under high heat. The general steps of making a stir fry is as followed:

1. Heat vegetable oil on high heat until hot

2. Add in spices first to release the flavor in to the oil [1 min] (green onion, ginger, sugar, hot pepper, basil, garlic, etc)

3. Add in choice of meat, often in small dice or slices, and cook until half done [3~4 min]

4. Add in choice of vegetables, also diced, cook until vegetable and meat are 3/4 cooked [3 min]

5. Add in the sauces and cook for another [1 to 2 min] (soy sauce, sesame seed oil, rice wine, oyster sauce)

Note: the pan is stirred vigrously in all the steps.

The benefit of stir frying is not only its ease and speed, but also the ability to retain a lot of nutrient in your meat and vegetables. So as long as you don't overdose on soy sauce, there really is no down side!

The beef I used.
You can use a cheaper cut, but I suggest sirloin for stir fry.

For today's stir fry, I will be using beef. Regular mid-grade cut beef is the probably the easiest type of meat for starters or inexperience cooks. You don't have to worry about it being undercooked like chicken. Actually, you want the beef to be medium rare most of the time. You don't really have to worry about overcooking as long as you have the right sauces. Most beef dishes can be prepared faster than pork and chicken, so it also saves on time.

Without further ado, the recipe:
Ingredients:
1 pound of beef diced into triangles, [sirloin (top, bottom, mid), tenderloin if you can afford it]
1/2 an onion or 1 small onion, sliced thin, [whether to use a whole onion is up to you]
1 Bell pepper diced into triangles, [red, yellow, orange bell peppers are sweeter, green is cheaper]
3 stalks of green onion, chopped
4~6 table spoons of Soy Sauce [depends if you like salty food]
Vegetable oil (olive, canola, peanut)
Optionals: a pinch of thyme, dried hot pepper, black pepper, garlic, chinese rice wine

Fun fact: A study shows people like the look of pointy foods.
That's why the dish in the recipe book looks nicer than yours,
besides photoshop ofc.

Steps: (Stirring with a spatula at all times. You can do the flip if you want to but it's not required :D)
0. Put rice in pot or rice cooker. Rice will be done just in time for your stir fry.
1. Heat vegetable oil on high heat until hot [when you see faint smoke or when water droplets sizzles]

2. Add in green onion and hot pepper to the hot oil [1 min]

3. Add in the beef triangles, and cook until half done [2~3 min]

4. Add in onion and pepper, cook until vegetable and meat are 3/4 cooked [about 3 min]

5. Add in the sauces and cook for another [1 to 2 min]

6. Get rice, lay it on top, impress wife, friends, roommates, girlfriend, parents

If the beef is still slightly red, you are doing it right :)

[Edit:] Some times when you add too much vegetable, your dish will be come too watery. You can either drain the awesome juices (don't do that...), or add in 0.5~1 tablespoon of flour or corn starch to thicken the delicious sauce. When adding the flour, sprinkle it slowly with 1 hand and stir the pan with the other hand. Alternatively, you can skip the vegetable all together and just have beef with the green onion/spices. That will taste great as well.

Ending note: Thank you all for following. I will try to take more pictures next time. I was on the phone with my mom in one hand and cooking with the other :S

Garlic, roasted!

2011-01-16T16:44:00.000-08:00

We are super food!

Garlic is delicious, has a wide range of flavours, and is packed with nutrients. It contain natural source of antioxident, which catches free radicals and prevents cancer from forming. It is also full of vitamin C, which is essential for numerous enzymatic reaction in our body, and vitamin B6, which helps regulate blood pressure and sugar levels. Some studies have shown that it is also antiviral and can hasten recovery of common cold and flu. Not to mention they taste great on bread, pasta, chinese stir-fry, barbecue meats, sea food dipping sauces, and etc. The list goes on.

Sweet! I should eat as much garlic as possible right? Not quite. Eating too much garlic, ie more than 4 whole bulbs, at once could cause upset stomach and diarrhea, and it shouldn't be taken with certain medicine or insulin. The suggested amount is 10 to 12 cloves a day.

OC: Garlic Boy.
All he wants is fresh breath for everyone :(

Raw garlic has a very strong and pungent flavour, produced after the sulfide chemicals reacts with air. Therefore, the finer you chopped the garlic, the more the garlic contacts air, and the more flavourful it will be. However, when I want to eat a lot of garlic, I don't want to leave my mouth with garlic breath for the entire day. I prefer the milder side of garlic. Oh yes, garlic has a wide range of flavours, and we can bring out the creamy, deliciously nutty taste by making roasted garlic!

Ingredients:
3~6 Full bulbs of garlic
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
Toast, bread, rye bread, or tortilla chips
salt and pepper

Steps:

1. Set your oven to 400F

2. Pill the papery skin off the bulbs, but keep it intact

3. Make small cuts on the top of each clove

4. Line them up in the pan and then drip olive oil to just cover each clove.

5. Cover them up and bake for 30 minutes

6. Once cooled for 2 minutes, you should be able to very easy slide out

the fully roasted garlic cloves with a fork or with your fingers : )

Spread them on bread, eat them as they are, or mash them with a tablespoon
of olive oil, salt, and pepper for dips. It's up to you!

I heated up my non-stick pan, toasted some tomato slices and rye bread,

and then just topped it with roasted garlic, tomato, pesto sauce, and

kraft pizza cheese mix. nom nom nom...

Roasted garlic is simple and easy to make, and spreading it on warm toast makes a healthy and delicious snack. You definitely can make lots and save them for later. Oh and it's vegetarian. : )

Egg in a basket

2011-01-15T13:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it is hard living by yourself. You have to cook, do your own laundry, shower everyday, and clean your room every other week. Sometimes, life is just easier to forget about being neat and tidy, order pizza, and wear the same jeans for 3 weeks. Because really, jeans never gets dirty. The cycle of gaming, drinking, smoking herbs, yup, that's the college life for a lot of us.

Is this you?

That was me about two years ago. I was low-functioning and unorganized with my school and social life. All the laziness really boiled down to a lack of motivation. At one point, I said to myself, "fuck it, you need to stop living like a slob and pull your life together". Then I thought, "where better to start anew than fixing my eating habits?"

After the photo-shoot, Chef Ramsay grilled up some delicious rack of lamb for the studio staff

Lucky for me, since I was 13, I have watched the food network religiously, catching all the episodes of Iron Chef, Iron Chef America, Good Eats, Jamie Oliver, Chef at Large, No Reservations, Hells Kitchen, and anything by Nigella Lawson and Giada De Laurentiis. Why? Delicious food and boobies, that's why.

But enough about me. What I want to do with this blog is to give out simple cooking tips for my fellow bachelor and bachelorettes, so we don't have to look down at our Kraft dinner in disappointment when watching EpicMealTime on Tuesdays.

Egg in a basket

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 slice of Rye bread as thick as the first section of your thumb,

2 slices of regular toast

Butter, or any cooking oil

Seasoning salt and pepper

Cooking it:

1. Heat your non-stick pan on medium high, drop a spoon of butter or oil.

2. Cut a hole about the size of a large spoon in your bread of choice. If you are using two slices of toast, stack them, and cut the hole through both pieces.

3. Put the bread in the pan and crack an egg in the hole you made.

4. Shake the pan after about a 1 minute to avoid sticking

5. Cook each side for about 3 minutes only

6. Eat it straight or with some pickled garlic!

A hard boiled egg becomes well done after 7 minutes in boiling water. Using a little math, we can estimate 3 minutes on each side will give the toast a crisp brown finish on the outside and creamy runny yolk on the inside.

That's it folks. This recipe is easy and should take less than 12 minutes to prepare. Now, when next time Natalie Portman comes over for breakfast, you know what to do!

First Post!

2011-01-09T18:57:00.000-08:00

ohai, my name is JDUB, and this is my blog about powerpuff girls!

Nah, actually, I don't remember too much about the powerpuff girls. I did religiously watch every single episode of that delicious show when I was in elementary school. (and junior high) I just thought the title would be great for a blog for cooking, cannabis, and nostalgia of old school cartoons. I will periodically update simple, healthy and delicious recipes. They would be so simple that you can make it while you are high as a kite! Another thing I would like to do are One Piece discussions and analysis. I will be talking about back-stories and cultural references of the One Piece characters, and also some funny One Piece physics paradoxes.

For those who aren't familiar with One Piece, it's a Japanese manga (comic) about a great pirate era, written and drawn by Eiichiro Oda. The story follows the adventure of the 17 year old pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, his journey in recruiting his crew mates, his ambition to become the Pirate King, and his path to finding the ultimate treasure, "One Piece". One Piece stands out from other manga due to its vibrant characters, exciting plots, and beautifully unique artwork. I highly recommend if you are interested in Japanese manga or just want to read an epic pirate fantasy. (Start reading here!)