Every day is a cooking day! And for me in particular, every day is an experimental day! Winston gets the brunt of my experimental recipes- called that because I will usually come up with a spontaneous idea for what I want to cook that day, will then browse the internet for recipes, read quite a few of them, and then adapt parts from each to make my own recipe. I don't really record what my recipes are, but if I find that a recipe is successfully eaten with pronouncements of 'Oohs' and 'Ahhs' and 'Can I have some more please?’ I try to write it down in my notebook (old style pen and paper, not on my computer). Don’t get me wrong, some experiments will work, others won’t, but through trial and error, the majority of experiments do! Phew!
There are times when I will follow a particular recipe to the letter, but those times are few and far between, and following a recipe properly does not always guarantee success.
I remember when I was about 13 or 14, that I made Greek lemon chicken for my family. I followed the recipe EXACTLY. Lemon chicken is supposed to look like this:
Instead, it looked worse then this:
The person who cooked this recipe stated that ‘There was way too much watery juice and too much lemon flavour’. I had the same problem, but I thought it could be resolved by boiling. I boiled so much that the chicken fell of the bone and everything actually dissolved into mush! My logic behind that: boiling will boil the excess lemon flavour away. Sadly, my logic didn’t work. I served the pot of lemon chicken mush to my family, and my brother rated it ‘yuk’ after trying it because the lemon taste was too overwhelming. Everyone tried a bit out of respect for my effort, but couldn’t take more then a mouthful. I did my best to promote my dish by taking a few more mouthfuls, but even I couldn’t take it anymore and acknowledged defeat. I think we ended up eating bowls of cornflakes sprinkled liberally with sugar and drenched in cold milk- much more ‘Yum!’
This is where my love of reading saved me. I like reading food encyclopedias and interesting cook books, and I read almost all the contents of the various food associated books my mother owned as I wanted to limit any food mistakes I made in future. I’m a ‘whatever’ cook really, as I use ‘whatever’ I have in the cupboard and throw it together (with a little bit of thought) with some herbs, spices, or/and other condiments into a pot or pan. Although there are six essentials for me that must be in my food cupboard at all times: onions, garlic, ginger, canned chopped tomatoes, eggs, and chicken stock cubes. I always use something from my essential list in my cooking, especially onions!
Recently, I’ve made salted eggs, sisig (a favourite of Winston's) and chilli garlic oil. The salted eggs are a surprise for Winston to be eaten from the 17th Dec, as it takes a month to salt them properly. Luckily, I didn’t have to explain away the disappearance of 8 eggs from the fridge as Winston just assumed I’d used or eaten them from all the cooking I’ve been doing. Fingers crossed they turn out well, as they will be well seasoned with pepper, cooking sherry, star anise, and especially salt!
The sisig recipe was a success, even though it should be pure chopped pork from all parts of the pig used to make it. I used a mixture of pure sirloin steak burgers and pork sausage patties all chopped up, boiled and drained to remove as much fat as possible, and then marinated with a special marinade made from chillis, onions, garlic, ginger, vinegar, lemon juice, pineapple juice, and salt. Erwin obtained the meat from his work place, hence the oddness in meat ingredients, and I obtained the recipe from here: http://www.pinoyrecipe.net/filipino-pork-sisig-recipe/#ixzz1e0ZmZqpm. It tasted so good, and I discovered that Guinness instead of lager or beer pairs very well with it! Try it out if you can!
The chilli garlic oil was the best thing I made, and I am SO going to make more of it in future. I got the recipe from a YouTube video, but adapted it as I prefer more solid matter then oil in my chilli garlic oil!
The recipe is as follows:
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup of any neutral flavoured oil (like canola oil)
Half a cup of dried chilli flakes
Half a bulb of garlic (finely chopped)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
METHOD:
Heat the oil in a high-sided pan on the hob on a low heat for 10 minutes.
Add the half cup of chilli flakes. The oil will froth and rise on the addition, which is why a high-sided pan is needed.
Cook the chilli flakes for about 10 minutes. They should look a bit darker and toasted after that time.
Add the salt and sugar.
Add the chopped garlic. Cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the garlic has browned but not burned.
Pour it into a clean jar. It is best to leave the chilli garlic oil to cool to allow for a stronger flavour, but you can start using it as soon as the mixture is warm.
I think I’m addicted to using it as a condiment now, hehe!
Just so you’re forewarned, Winston and I are moving today and tomorrow. As you know, moving the contents of an apartment can be pretty tiring, and I won’t be able to blog properly from now until the 23rd Nov- basically because the new apartment won’t have an internet connection until the 22nd Nov, and we will also be busy packing, moving, and unpacking boxes.
Any Skyping I do won’t occur until the 23rd Nov.
So you’re rid of me for now. Enjoy the break, hehe!!
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