chicken noodle soup

This is a chicken noodle soup I've been making for some time.  I don't really have a recipe, it usually changes with what I have.

I'm making an intense chicken broth, a double broth I guess.  I have a frozen stock from a couple weeks ago and I intend to intensify the flavour. 

I also have a lot of chicken thighs I have de-boned and I'm using the bones for stock

I took the bones and seared them along with the mirepoix (onion, celery and carrot), notice the lack of carrot because carrot can make the stock very sweet and mask the essence of the chicken.

After browning I added the old stock I made as well as a little bit of water to cover all the bones and vegetables and a spice bag with thyme, bay leaf and white pepper corns.

I bring the stock to a boil than let it simmer for about 2 hours.  While it simmers I will prepare my chicken.  I take the de-boned chicken thighs and put them in an oven at 400 for about 30-40 minutes to get them as crunchy as I can.

I also make some soba noodles for the soup.  Just add to boiling water for about 5 minutes then shock with ice water.

Once the chicken stock is done strain with a cheese cloth to remove all impurities.

once strained it will be a darker stock, due to the searing of the bones and vegetables.  Now season to taste with salt.

Now just assemble the plate.

Add the noodles to a bowl and cut the chicken into strips than add seasoned soup.

The flavour should be a symphony of chicken.  Crisp crunch from the chicken thigh, chewy soft noodles and an intense chicken flavour from the broth.

My chicken noodle soup

Cold smoke

I've decided to try to "macgyver" a cold smoker with my bbq.  First I need to something to smoke.  I chose to use salmon because cold smoked salmon is absolutely delicious.   I've been using a recipe for gravlax I found by Julia Child for a long time now so I've decided to do a little twist on that.  

http://www.food.com/recipe/julia-childs-traditional-gravlax-119184

Gravlax is quite easy to make.  It's a dry curing process with basically just salt,  sugar and some time.

1 lb salmon fillet,  skin on
1tbsp kosher salt
2tbsp white sugar or brown(basically two parts sugar one part salt) 
1 tsp of mustard powder
1 oz vodka
Fresh dill
Black pepper

Rinse the fish,  make sure all the pin bones are taken out.  Be sure to use a baking pan big and deep enough for the fish, the salt will drain out extra liquid.  Mix the salt and sugar and mustard together with a little black pepper.   Add a small layer of the mixture to the salmon lightly covering the whole fish,  including the skin.  Then add dill,  be sure to cover the fish completely with dill,  then add the rest of the salt, sugar mixture.  And finally add the vodka,  be sure to rub everything into the fish lightly.  Then you want to weigh it down slightly, use a sheet pan with a couple canned goods on top, then refrigerate for about 2 days.   After one day remove weights and taste and flip the fish. There will be a liquid on the bottom of the pan,  do not dump it out.  Cover the fish and refrigerate for another day.   Keep in mind the curing process is completely up to your taste.  After one day if you think its too salty take it out maybe add more sugar,  if not let it cure longer.

After the gravlax is just about done curing, about 3 days,  remove from fridge and rinse the salt and sugar mixture off and dry with paper towel

Right now this is pretty much ready to eat,  but we want to add smoke don't we?  I have set up a hot smoking method in my bbq with indirect heat,  but I don't want to hot smoke it. Thankfully I live in Canada and it is about - 15 outside and to cold smoke means smoking at about 22 degrees Celsius or lower.  I need to control the heat in a way that it doesn't cook the fish but adds that beautiful smoke flavour. So I put snow in the bbq.  In a few cake tins I added snow to try to keep the temperature in the bbq as low as possible 

First you need wood pouches in order to smoke.  So I added apple wood chips in some water and soaked it for about 10 min and using tin foil as the pouch add a small handful of wet and dry wood chips.   I also added left over dill just for some flavour.  

Second I removed one grate from the bbq and add the wood pouches directly on the fire so begin smoking, the fish will go on the side away from the heat 

As the pouches begin to smoke the heat will be rising  

So this is where the snow comes in.  I basically just add as much snow as I can to bring the heat down 

I moved one of the pouches directly under the fish for a more intense smoke. 

For me this process took about an hour and a half constantly changing the wood pouches and the snow, because it would melt.  Once and a while, I tasting the salmon until it achieved the flavour I was looking for. 

After the fish is consumed you will be left with a salty fish skin,  don't throw that out.  If you pan fry it until golden and crispy it's a wonderful treat as well 

Trip to the market

One of my favourite places to go shopping would have to be the tnt grocery store.  You can basically find everything,  from Japanese hairy crab to ducks feet and pigs blood.   

Not only do they have an amazing sea food and meat selection,  they also have a selection of fruits from all over the world. 

I decided to pick up a couple fruits that I have never had before,  a cactus pear,  or prickly pear,  and rambutan.  

This is the cactus pear

One of the most interesting things about the prickly pear is that it makes you itchy.   If you do not clean it properly it will leave tiny little quills on your hands and irritate your skin.   

This fruit is part of the cactus family and are abundant in the Americans; California and Mexico but can also be found in various places around the world such as Australia due to colonists transporting the fruit. 

This is the rambutan 

This fruit is native to Malaysia and is closely related to other tropical fruits such as lychee. 

This is what these fruits look like on the inside. 

The rambutan is very much like lychee,  I would use it in desert or a cocktail. 

The prickly pear is a lot like dragon fruit.   Almost like bubble gum,  very mild and not very sweet for a fruit so intensely vibrant.   It stains your fingers and could be used as a good colour agent,  but does not carry a lot of flavour.  The texture is soft and mild.  

Geoduck

So I was at the grocery store the other day and saw there was Geoduck for sale,  I've never tasted one before so I decided to get one

So basically this thing is just a giant clam, and since it is still alive I want to taste it raw first before I do anything to it.  

First I need to open it,  so I just separated the shell from the clam

Then I separate the intestines from the meat.  There is a layer of skin that needs to be removed from the syphon.  This is done by blanching the syphon in salt water for a few seconds to remove the skin. 

I sliced the syphon thin and tasted it,  it was very sweet, crunchy and salty like the sea. Tastes much like most clams but once you get to the thicker part of the syphon and to the back of the clam it tastes of an oyster.  A lot stronger more flavour,  and less texture almost like soft abalone. 

I decided I could make a simple ceviche with the raw syphon meat

It has avocado,  red onion, red pepper, lemon zest and a little juice some pepper and just a little bit of salt.

I found the avocado brought nice richness to the sweet, salty and crunchy syphon meat and the lemon zest gives it good flavour.  I didn't not want to add too much lemon juice because I want the geoduck to be as raw as possible.  

I chopped up the mantle part into bigger chunks and decided to just lightly fry it. 

The fried mantle pieces were done with a little eggs wash and flour, and seasoned with pepper and just a little salt,  because the clam is already naturally salty.  I just shallow fried the pieces until crispy and golden.   The taste is a lot like a fried oyster very oceanic. 

I also decided to fry the organs just out of curiosity.  They were maybe the best part,  in my opinion.  Extremely strong in flavour raw, tastes briny, almost creamy alot like sea urchant.  Very soft flesh, like the softest scallop.  When they were fried the flavour was a little softened but still very good,  again resembled oyster but with a more oceanic and umami taste. 

In conclusion it was quite an amazing experience.   I've never butchered an animal like this before, it was a great learning experience.  I also don't think I've experienced an animal with so any different textures and flavours before; crush,  soft,  salty,  sweet.  The textural differences through the animal were very interesting.  I will deffinantly be using this clam again.

Chicken heart adobo

Here is a Filipino style chicken heart adobo. 

Ingredients for 3-4 people are...

1/2 chicken, 

8 oz  chicken hearts

1 onion

3 garlic cloves

2 Bay leaves

1 tsp of black peppercorns 

1-2 potatoes

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tsp vinegar (or to taste)

Start by adding onions and garlic to a sauce pan and cook until just barely translucent.  

Add the chicken and brown in the pan,  than add chicken hearts, soy sauce, vinegar, potatos,  peppercorns and the Bay leaves.

Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.  Then uncover and allow simmer for 15 more minute until chicken is tender and sauce has thickened. 

Serve with steamed rice

Little about me

My name is Emery Lin,  I live in Mississauga Ontario.  I'm currently a culinary student at George Brown collage in Toronto.  I basically knew I wanted to be in the culinary world since I was about 16.  One of my first jobs was in a Chinese food take out restaurant and I loved it.  I ended up deciding to go to school for 3d animation in Toronto,  I really enjoyed the creativity from it.   I spent about 3 years in the animation/ media industry, doing commercials and ads and realized it was not for me.  I currently work at a butcher shop.  I've always been really passionate about food and loved making food for people and seeing their face light up while eating a good meal.  So I got a job catering and decided to go to culinary school.  My main philosophy for food is nose to tail cooking,  I believe if you kill an animal you should use the whole thing and waste nothing.  Im working on honing the skills I have by attending school and sharing my passion with the world. 

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