octopus stew, bacon ice cream, and other adventures

Some recent adventures:


I made Chinese BBQ pork again, this time using pork butt instead of tenderloin. This is now absolutely perfect: the little bit of fat in between the meat was giving the perfect texture.



Octopus stew: I followed a Greek recipe (thanks to a book from "K"). The octopus was stewed in onions, tomatoes, vinegar, and red wine. At the end it was a bit too sour for my taste, but adding a little bit of sugar made it much better. I cooked everything in a slow cooker for 8 hours, and the octopus is definitely tender.


The star of the show: bacon maple syrup ice cream. This was somewhat inspired by Blumenthal's idea of bacon ice cream, though it is definitely not the way he would prepare it (e.g. I made the custard the normal way without intentionally overcooking it). The bacon was roasted in an oven with maple syrup, and the resulting bacon bits was mixed into a maple syrup ice cream. It was certainly very successful. When it hits your mouth, you first get the maple syrup taste (which is very good by itself). Then the smokiness and slight saltiness of the candied bacon bits come through. The combination was more successful than I would have imagined. Certainly one of the flavors that I would make again. Maybe I should serve it with french toast.


For the meal, I also purchased a frozen durian. I have not had durian for a long time (maybe for 20 years...), and even though it is frozen it is definitely strong. It actually tasted a lot
better than I thought. Having said that, the smell is really something and there was no way we were going to eat the whole thing.

Chinese BBQ pork, water chestnut cake

I made a couple of Chinese dishes:



First I made the Chinese BBQ pork (char siu). The taste worked out just like the restaurant stuff, but I have chosen to use pork tenderloin instead. Since it is actually warm outside these are made on a real BBQ: that means good caramelization on the outside too. The pork is tender but very lean. The traditional BBQ pork has some fat in it. The next time I try this I will have to use the right kind of meat. As usual, plenty of red food coloring is added.





For dessert is a steamed and then pan-fried water chestnut cake. It is actually relatively simple to make because I just used water chestnut flour. After steaming and cooled, the cake is sliced and then pan-fried. Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

I also attempted to make shrimp dumplings, but the dumpling skin was really hard for me to deal with and it was a bit of a disaster. My skin was either way too thick or it was too thin and the dumplings broke. I am too ashamed to show any pictures. I guess making shrimp dumpling is not that easy after all. Maybe I will try again some other time.