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.