all about the chicken. . .

Today I made a roast chicken for dinner. Wanted to practice cooking it to perfection level like a properly cooked meat without the pink, properly tied and the perfect taste and the perfect gravy to match it.

Asked the help to buy a whole chicken and string. I was a bit nervous waiting for the chicken to come. Thoughts have been racing through my mind like what will be the outcome? will it be perfect like what others do? I can be paranoid sometimes but I see that as a positive thing. Call me crazy! LOL. . 

So I started prepping the bed of veggies I needed for roasting, got some onions, garlic and carrots. Just the stuff available in our house. There are lots of carrots here due to the fact that I drink carrot juice every morning for health reasons. Back to topic, I sliced the onions in half, crushed the garlic cloves and just roughly chopped the carrots and then added some olive oil in it.

After doing the initial prepping, I cleaned the roasting dish that will be used and got the nutmeg, black pepper and salt ready so when the chicken comes, I can Immediately start cleaning it and tying it and stuff.

*warning: emotional content for just one paragraph. . might want to skip this if you're allergic to emotional blabbing.

While waiting (don't even know why it took long ) I was just talking with my parents and stuff about how cooking is my passion but it seems to be hating me. I have this attitude where I fail at a dish, I tend to think if this is really for me or something. In terms of cooking I can be bipolar and I say this from the bottom of my heart. When I cook, I get to a state that I will be so happy and overwhelmed with emotions that even I thought I never had. Then when I finish, I see the finished product with all these negative things and end up being depressed. So that was it, next paragraph.

So the chicken arrived, the first thing I did wash the chicken properly then inserted two lemons. I poked the lemons with the knife, never sliced it. Then tied the chicken the way I remembered it. It's just hard to describe it in writing, as you can see i'm not really that good in writing. Anyways, I mixed the salt, black pepper, cayenne and nutmeg then rubbed olive oil in the chicken and then the seasoning. I don't know what got into me but I added nutmeg, just like the flavor that it gives.

After rubbing and stuff, I placed the chicken on top of the bed of veggies and popped it inside the oven for 220 degrees celsius for about one hour and twenty minutes. That was it. Just went back online to facebook while waiting for the chicken to cook properly.

When the time came, I took the chicken out, placed it in another plate just to sit for 15 minutes or so. Gives me time to deglaze the roasting dish and make the gravy.

so this is the finished product, with the bed of veggies. I teared the skin on the thigh due to rough handling. think I can do better next time on the presentation. <3

That was the whole chicken story. I got some positive feedback which made me happy and wanting to make some more of it. Just to modify the recipe and amaze them on how I can be the chicken roasting king! HAHA

Ingredients:

• whole chicken
• nutmeg
• black pepper
• salt
• olive oil
• carrots
• onions
• garlic

That's just it, no proper measurements really, just cooked with my eyes and instincts. Hope this can help you out. cheers!

Trial and Error. .

The other day, me and my "daughter" made some cupcakes just for fun. I also intended to bake them to give a friend of my father who happened to help us when I was hospitalized. I was really grateful, so I decided to do something in return and the only thing I know what to do is bake, or at least that's what i think.

So we made the same chocolate cupcakes which I myself liked making and also eating. The only thing that made it different from the first one I made was the frosting. I decided to make a honey butter cream frosting because I wanted it to be sweet and a bit healthier because it has butter, so if I added more sugar, it would be too much and besides, honey contains lots of vitamins and minerals and it's also considered as the healthiest food. I know the recipe I used for the butter cream frosting requires caster sugar but it's not that sweet, it taste a bit bland. I think it's because of the butter or something, so by adding honey in to it, it will make it sweet and a little something more to the flavor to it. 

When I made the frosting, I like the creaminess that made it and I also never imagined how it made the mixture stiff without adding more sugar. Before I kept adding caster sugar aside from the 1/4 cup sugar that the recipe needed just to stiffen the frosting. I wanted it to be stiff so it will hold the shape of the tip. Just wanted to practice on making some designs for the frosting and the only thing I can think of was using a pastry bag and different shapes. Gonna practice making fondant later on when I perfect putting frosting on it.

I never really thought honey can do that. Haven't done enough research on how it made the mixture stiff, thinking that the caster sugar made the mixture dry and made it stiff. I'm still in awe about what happened. The next time i'm planning on making cinnamon butter cream. I just love cinnamon.. HAHA. cheers!

French Macarons

Today, I made some French Macarons along with my sister and her friend and my friend, both from high school. It even struck me that the aura in our home was like reminiscing the past or something.

Was planning to make some cupcakes with my friend, trying to improve the ones I made from the last post but out of nowhere my sister or was it me, thought of making French Macarons. I remembered making some when I was doing my on-the-job training at Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa and I also made some during my dish development course in our school. The recipe was a bit the same, basic recipe but it was different in just a small detail. The secret to it was the rose water, which smelled like a perfume meant for old people but i do love it though.

So back to the one I made, due to the fact that I have a limited memory like a goldfish, I searched for recipes online just to refresh my memory of it. I reviewed the recipe thoroughly just to see if we have all the ingredients ( as if it's really that difficult of a dish ). Then it hit me, almond flour. Kept thinking about what to substitute it knowing that with all our daily cooking, we would never keep any almond flour. So I searched the net on any substitute but none really said anything. Maybe I wasn't searching hard enough.

After some time, my sister called me and said we have raw almonds kept in the chiller. I was relieved to see it but still leaving me with thoughts about how to turn it into a flour. At first I thought I need to grind it then add cornstarch or something but that is a bit unusual as far as my knowledge is concerned. Then I remembered reading somewhere online that any kind of nuts that are ground are actually called flour. So I started grinding them, well my sister and her friend did. They were using the old mortar and pestle, kept on telling them to use the electric coffee mill, sort of but insisted that the mortar and pestle works best. It took them awhile to grind it so I started to chop some of the almonds for the sake of helping them do it much faster. After they've done all the almonds, I carefully reviewed their work ( finally, my turn to be the judge like a boss ). I saw some that aren't really crushed properly so I decided to use the "sort of" coffee mill to do all the work. I noticed, once the crushed almonds turned to powder, the oils were released and it made the whole thing moist. I didn't know what to do because I haven't done anything like this before.

Thinking that there must be something wrong with what I'm doing but i just followed my instincts. Seeing that my "almond flour" is a bit moist, I just added the confectioner's sugar to it hoping to loosen things up and maybe dry it a bit and put it through a sift which is what a normal recipe said.

The other problem that I had to battle is the beating of the egg whites. I've practiced before how to make meringues without an electric mixer and I must say it gives your right or left arm a bit of an exercise. Even making the foam of the egg whites without even reaching some soft peaks yet, huge sweats starts appearing in my face but luckily none of them dropped in the mixture. My sister and her friend tried and for a few minutes they felt their arms starting to burn but at least they had fun. So I continued whisking it until I reached the consistency that I needed, the real battle that I was talking about was the extreme heat and humidity in the kitchen, it wasn't the best condition for making it. The bubbles started popping and it started to lose its foams but I still continued and managed to make the the mixture properly as what the recipe said.

Placed the mixture in a piping bag and started piping them in a baking tray lined with wax paper. That was a bit of a tricky part right there because the mixture was a bit rather liquidy so I may have some drippings. I kept on going until I made 26 small discs that was perfect for the baking tray.

Once finished piping them, turned the oven on which I clearly forgot to preheat but thankfully, in the recipe, it

said that after piping it has to sit for at least 10 minutes before baking which gave me time for the preheating

thing. I was very excited to bake it and eager to see the end result.

After 10 minutes, time for the baking to commence! Then I discovered that the baking tray wouldn't fit in the oven, it has an extra 2 inch that wouldn't fit. I panicked for a while inside my head and on the way to frustration but when I look to my right, i saw some dish cloth, big ones. I used it to cover the 2 inch opening and was a bit relieved but still the thought of not really cooking it well still lingers in my mind for 10 minutes, 10 agonizing minutes. Well, not really. HAHA.

Ten minutes has passed and another ten just to let it sit for a bit, judgement time begins. I noticed that the discs weren't really that hollow and there's no feet or whatever you call it. The texture was a bit moist and it sort of looked like cake discs due to it's foamy like built. We assembled igt by pairing the same size and added strawberry jam to it, viola! The not so perfect French Macarons were made. I'm not really that confident about my work but I'm happy with it. Never felt this happy before. The taste was like almond-ish and has a grainy texture to it which bothered me a bit. I know, I'm a bit hard on myself there but that's just the way it is. I just want to excel in this type of career which I chose and loved. After all, practice do makes perfect.

The discs, fresh out of the oven without "feet" or whatever you call them. Clear sign of an error in the preparation of the mixture or not properly cooked. 

The whole afternoon was tiring and fun at the same time, there's nothing like cooking with friends whom you enjoyed doing it. It's also fun to share some of my knowledge to them and gaining some on the process. Soon I'll practice it more and hopefully, the next time I post about them French Macarons, they'd be perfect.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar or baking soda

that's just the basic, I added some flavoring and coloring to it. The measurements of these just depends on whatever you're planning really, just try to be creative and stuff. Also, the filling depends on you, i used strawberry jam on mine cuz my sister loved it so much.

Cheers!

and there were cupcakes. . .

Eager as usual, I did what I had to do, made the cupcakes that I've dreamed of making. Found a recipe online about a chocolate cupcake that didn't need eggs which I found online. I know I said that I was eager to make it but a part of me was a bit hesitant. Maybe I was just afraid to fail since a lot of pressure was on me knowing that i went to a culinary school, Story of my life! we'll get to that later on. HAHA!

So there I was, reading the recipe, following each and every measurement. Trying to be precise and due to the heat, it made the difficulty raise a bit higher cuz I sweat a lot! and when I say a lot, I'm not exaggerating. Glad no sweat dripped on my cakes or I'll throw them to the trash with no hesitation.

The first time I tried to make the frosting, it made me mad! I ran out of butter and some other ingredients, so I tried to be creative, this may sound silly but I tried making a meringue to make it light and fluffy. Instead it made the mixture so wet that i needed icing sugar to stiffen it or something but no stock. So i decided to put flour and cooked it on low fire, the end result was disappointing. Did I mention i needed to make a butter-cream frosting??? YUP! for a culinary arts graduate, that was kind of stupid. At least I've learned my lesson there or maybe the one I made had some potential on becoming something and just needed to adjust the procedure and everything that was going on there. HAHA!


So me and my Dad went to the grocery store and bought some icing sugar and more butter. Followed the right recipe and with some luck, I managed to make it. At last! after a tiring whisking, i finally made it.

Made two versions, one was with a coffee flavor to it and the other one was just vanilla. When everyone tasted it, they liked the one with vanilla. That was my accomplishment for today. Made everything worthwhile, made me forget that I was depressed. OH wait! I remembered it again.. well, maybe i should get back to baking. :) Cheers!

So here's the final product, need to practice on my frosting. This is dedicated to my "daughter" since she passed the interview for her visa. 

Baby steps, Baby!

So as what I've said yesterday, me and my mom went to the baking supplies store and picked up a few items. Bought some cupcake tins, baking tray, rubber spatula, cupcake liners, steel spatula (a small one cuz i think it's cute and I've been dying to have one), measuring jugs, etc.

As you guys can see, most of them are for cupcakes. Yes, cupcakes! I've dreamed of making those cupcakes like the ones on TV. Been watching DC cupcakes before and it inspired me, just didn't have the right resources to do it. Now that my parents are enlightened to buy the essential stuff I needed for baking, gonna practice. 

In regards with the ancient oven, my dad made some renovations and cleaned the entire thing so it can be used as soon as possible. When we first opened the oven, there were lots of going on inside it. Rusty stuff and dust all over it. Now it's all cleaned which is safe for baking food and safe for human consumption! :)

Now I'm excited to try the recipe I've found online about a chocolate cupcake with no eggs in it. Haven't tried it before, used to making it with eggs and butter and I'm eager as a pup to try it. Just not sure about how the frosting should go but I feel like It will just come to me on the process. 

I'm so proud of the support that my parents are giving me with all of these, without them, I don't think it's possible for me to bake in our own house. Will post some pics of the cupcakes soon! hope all will go well. Cheers!

Satisfying the hunger

So I'll start by saying that since I graduated my 2 year culinary arts course, I've had some time staying in the house. Been missing the day that I've been cooking in a busy kitchen (even though I'm not that good). Just love the pressure and stuff.

The greatest thing i love about the culinary world was the pastries. There you can enjoy making stuff that goes with your creativity. I'm not the creative type of person like some others that knows how to paint in a canvass, carve on fruits, make butter sculptures but there's a wee bit part of me that believes that maybe someday I may learn how to do all those things.

So again, since I was spending a whole lot of time lately at home, I've never got the chance to make some pastries. It was due to the fact that we don't have much utensils and equipment for baking. We have an ancient oven that was just fixed today which i thought was exciting.  Told my mom that we are gonna buy some stuff so i can start baking some cupcakes. Those were my first goal to bake, here in our own little house.

Before the ancient oven was fixed, I've tried being resourceful and made use of the oven toaster. I've read stuff on the internet about them and used for baking. I was a bit doubtful about it but since i was so desperate to try out a recipe for a simple cupcake, so i just used it. Went to the grocery store and bought some ingredients and head back to the house and got the party started.

I won't go into detail about what happened to my oven toaster cake but the end result was very satisfying. It satisfied me in a way that i can bake in a small oven toaster in which I was unaware of. The only down part was, when the cake rises, it will be close to the lamp thing on top which makes it burn the top easily. 

With all that said, given the fact that we don't have much resources for baking, I'm going to buy some cheap equipment like trays, cupcake tins, rubber spatula and a few more. I'll go for the cheap things because we don't have much money to buy the best quality equipment. After all, this is just to satisfy my wanting to bake. 

After today, when me and my mom can buy everything I need, I will start baking immediately and post everything that will happen. Cheers! :)