Skip to main content

Cooking up a Dishy

Cooking Beef Caldereta (Beef Stew), slow food style, really slow since it's been 2 hours already and i am sitting right next to it, in my Aunt's dining table so i can stir it every now and then. Nope, don't want to use a pressure cooker, i am good.

If after 4 hours and this thing has not tenderized yet, then i will start to sweat, i think i used too much black pepper, not that i don't mind but i know what she's going through. Going through chemo your taste buds are super sensitive to anything you lay on it, cold water, too spicy foods, salty, etc., Granting you can swallow the foods at all, soft foods that are easily digestible is a gift, so i made her some vegetable soup, just whatever i have scoured from her pantry, the soffrito, garbanzos, canned beans, a can of clam chowder and potatoes etc., I added a pinch of turmeric and she like it, the color and the flavor as well, not too much though, or it will ruin the soup base.

Okay, there is a lingering heat in my tongue, i hope the potatoes will absorb some of it, should i add a bit of sugar? Oh, by the way, the soup will be paired with the flaxmeal pita bread i made using just a skillet and would you believe it, i kneaded this dough myself. First ever. Turned out pretty good and delicious!

Last night, i went around checking food blogs for the first time, that's what happens when you are not busy, in my case since i am just visiting my Aunt who is going through chemotherapy for the third time. It was fun, saw this site in Israel that features food tours www.israelfoodtours.com, would love to see the olive press, go on a bread hunt of sort etc.,

This morning though it was different, i typed "top dark chocolates" in my search engine. Don't ask me why i gain weight the next time you see me.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

3rd Class Flour, What's It All About

For starters i cannot make this Hard Monay if i did not bring any 3rd class flour or soft weak flour to New York. Once i ran out of 3rd class and tried Cake Flour, it turned bad, do not even think of using All Purpose, it will be soft but not chewy as this one made with yes, 3rd class indeed. So third class is hard to find here in the US if you will use that term. You have to say or look for soft wheat flour, that's it, not hard wheat flour, not cake or All purpose but something in between these two. It is easy to find in the Phil., just ask your local bakery suppliers and they know it is Tercera. Tercera is not for bread, bakers use it basically for cookies, cakes and other pastries, but we bakers know how to create bread recipes using part of this flour with the bread flour or hard wheat flour. It makes a softer version of any of your fave breads, with a cheaper price tag. Plus if i own a bakery, i get to use the third class for my cakes and cookies, lowering my food cos

Cutting Pandesal, Baston Style

So how do we really do the Baston style "singkit" cut? First start with a slightly stiff dough, if your dough does not have eggs or eggyolks, a hydration of around 55% is ideal. I have seen bakers use less water, but that will make your Pandesal too dry and dense after 1 day or so so try to keep it slightly on the soft side, but not too sticky. Why? If you use a sticky dough for the Baston style cut, the dough will spread and will have a flat look rather than a rounded shape we are all familiar with. In Tagalog, "lalapad" ang dough so medyo flat ung Pandesal. So after you mix the dough, divide it into 2 to 4 portions if you are mixing  kilogram. Experienced bakers divide their dough into 500 gram portions, i do mine the same way. Flatten the dough, focusing more on the length and not on the height. The height of the dough should be around 2 to 3 inches only. Next, fold the dough while pinching the edges making sure the dough surface

Kape at Pandesal

When someone emailed me about Kape at Pandesal, i suddenly felt home sick. Just these two words. Dipping Pandesal in coffee. Who got this phenomenon or practice started? We all know the colonial Spanish era and Gregorio Zaide mentioned our fondness for idling around in the history books (Juan Tamad and siesta), but for breakfast? Who wants to jump up and down when you wake up? This is the answer. Dunking the warm, crispy Pandesal into hot, steaming coffee. How did this thing start? Who invented it? What made the Pinoys dunk their Pandesal? Maybe the Pandesal in those days are rock hard, or maybe it is one way to sweeten the bread. Baka may alamat dito. Is it because the Pandesal is salty in those days? After all, sal means salt right? The Italians love to dunk their Biscotti in coffee, but the Biscotti deserves it. Seriously, Biscottis if not dunked in coffee can give you a free tooth extraction. But the Pandesal? Okay to some, it cools down the coffee. Don't tell me they