Foodie picture of the day

by TP Big Brother

I wish I had the tenacity to carry my camera everywhere, and the tolerance to put up with the brick in my pocket. Unfortunately I don't have either. But if you can put up with my incredibly horrendous picture quality and photo taking, you might appreciate the following.

So picture this. Morning tea at work. A mushroom on a plate. It looked EXACTLY like a button mushroom - white flesh with a dusted dirt cap and black underside.

When I looked closer, it looked like fake foam mushroom. I picked it up.

The dusted cap was cocoa powder, the black underside was chocolate, and the white button mushroom flesh was a cleverly sculpted meringue.

Strangely, this clever little work of art has made my work-day-on-a-long-weekend a little less painful. Enjoy!


(Again sorry for the picture quality - phone cam was best I could do)

Taste of Shanghai & TP Little bro finally arrives on the scene

by TP Little brother

My recent explorations have indicated that Ashfield is the dumpling capital of Sydney. I, personally, am a big fan of genuine Chinese cuisine in the form of these little pan fried packets of goodness.

Being in the area, I decided to head to Taste of Shanghai Restaurant, a restaurant that always seems to be teeming with people.

Virtually every meal I’ve had in Ashfield has included at least one serving of dumplings. This meal was no exception. Rather than run with the usual dumplings and xiao long bao combo, we ordered a serving of dumplings and whatever looked interesting or appetising.

Being a predominantly Asian suburb, the waiters in Ashfield have the ability to speak English but tend to default to speaking Mandarin. To practice my “pu tong hua”, I decided to immerse myself in the culture and order in Chinese. I began my order by pointing to the nice glossy picture of Pork dumplings and said “Wo yao zhe ge” (I would like this). With the first order done, the next challenge was ordering the Chilli Bamboo chicken and unfortunately there was no glossy picture in the menu. So in my broken Mandarin, I muttered, “Wo yao ji” (I want chicken). The waitress paused, gave me a confused look and replied in English, “Huh?.... Chilli??”.

I took that as a hint and ordered the rest in English.

The first thing that arrived were the pan fried pork dumplings.

Now, an experienced dumplingtier would know, often through the hard way, that the insides of dumplings are generally burning hot upon serving.

So it's always wise to:

a) Wait a few minutes before eating, which admittedly, can be difficult on an empty stomach OR

b) Strategically applying a series of small bites on the dumpling. This serves 2 purposes. To avoid getting burnt and any reducing soup splashback

Big Al, a seasoned dumpling eater, forgot these facts and in a desperate attempt to satisfy his hunger, eagerly bit into the freshly fried dumpling. The result? A burnt lip and later, the dumpling got a second dose of revenge when Big Al took a bite and it squirted soup all over his white shirt.

My experience was much less painful. The dumplings themselves had a nice crisp skin, which is what you want in the pan fried variety. The skin was also slightly thicker and floury than normal. The need for this became apparent after the first bite when more soup than normal poured out.

A common mistake I encounter when ordering dumplings at any venue, particularly fried ones, is undercooked meat. This place had no such issues as the pork was well cooked and coupled with the soup, was pretty tasty.

The next dish was the “Shui mai”. This was much different to the Cantonese version you get at yum cha (with shrimp, pork and mushrooms) and was basically glutinous rice in an open dumpling.

The presentation was interesting which was what initially drew us to the dish.
The taste however, was nice but lacked any other ingredient besides glutinous rice and dumpling wrap. For the same price, I'd prefer to go with another serve of dumplings.

Our last dish, the one I struggled to order in Chinese, was the Chilli Bamboo chicken, served in a bamboo cone with whole chillis, shallots and peanuts, garnished with sprouts.

If you want to be able to cook one good dish, learn how to season well and deep fry.
As expected, the first bite was fantastic. Salty, crispy, deep fried chicken isn’t the most technical dish and pretty hard to mess up. The second,third and forth pieces were nearly as good but by the time I got to the fifth piece, as expected, I started to feel sick. Probably best to share this one between 3 or 4 people to avoid the sick feeling from eating so much oil.

Overall, the food was pretty good. The only unexpected surprise of the meal was at the end. The bill came up to just over $40. Pretty standard for dinner but a touch expensive for a Chinese meal shared between two.

Taste of Shanghai Restaurant
264 Liverpool Road
Ashfield, NSW, 2131

My step into the world of Macarons - part II

by TP Big Brother

Let me begin this post by firstly introducing very quickly, Ms Claire Clark (if you don't already know her that is).


Regarded as one of the top three pastry chefs in the world, Claire was noticed by Thomas Keller and offered her a position at his three michelin starred French Laundry, ranking in at #12 in the best 50 restaurants in the world.

Claire's debut book, Indulge: 100 Perfect Desserts, is my current favourite dessert recipe book. I used her brownies as my first test when judging the book, and they were described as "the best brownies I've ever tasted" by several critics, including a brownie "specialist". The more I read the book, the more I fall in love with it.

Anyway, after my tragic first attempt at making macarons (round 1), I sought Claire's advice. The initial signs of round two, in the battle of producing something with any sort of semblence to a macaron, looked promising.

Changes from the last failed attempt at the macaron

1. Added a pinch of creme of tartar as the egg whites were foaming during the beating process, as per Claire Clark's recipe
2. Folded the dry mix into the egg whites (rather than the other way around - was suggested by the Macaron Caramel Fleur de Sel recipe I experimented with from Chubby Hubby - great post and great recipe!)
3. Beat the egg whites into a stiff peak rather than a medium peak. Again as mentioned by Claire
4. Piping not using a plastic bag!

Half time verdict
Round 1
Medium peak eggs













Round 2
Stiff peak eggs

I had a good feeling about this round. I was already visibly seeing signs of improvement, and I was very happy with the promising prospect of strong macarons with delicate feet. I could sniff success.

The final verdict
It was a long 12 minute wait

Round 1














Round 2














With much built up anticipation and expectation, I was quite disappointed. My new batch of macarons were going nowhere - while there was an improvement, unfortunately for the second time, the macarons were feetless, and look nothing like a macaron.

In my bitter disappointment, I asked myself the million dollar question - "Why don't my macarons have feet?". "What am I doing differently from Pierre Hermé, Ladurée, Veronica from kitchenmusing, or Duncan from Syrupandtang? As I pondered, I ate one macaron.

Time went by. As I finished pondering, I realised I ate the entire quantity of macarons. I quickly calculated that I ate 225g+25g sugar from the batter, and 100g from the caramel. That is 350g of sugar, or 70 teaspoons of pure sugar!! I didn't know whether to throw up and hit the gym or pat myself on the back and bask in the achievement. I was slowly sacrificing myself and getting sucked into the cause of the perfect macaron.

TP research and hypothesis - Why macarons have no feet
Apparently the secret lies in stirring the batter to the correct consistency, which the general consensus appears to follow the "flows like magma" description.

Overfolding appears to be a common error which causes little or no feet, and a cracked and tough texture.

Other say underfolding reaps feet which are too big or no feet at all, but I think next time I will be underfolding and seeing how big these feet really are.

The "perfect" texture should also be shiny and glossy. The "peak" on the top of the macaron can also be used as a test. If the peak quickly dissolves, then it is the correct texture. If it stands tall, more folding is required.

It appears the drying process also plays a part in feet development, along with oven temperature, and over beating eggwhites.

It looks like from the above, you have to get every step in the whole recipe right! Any advice/suggestions/corrections most welcome.

Hopefully third time lucky. The saga continues...

Dinner parties

by TP Big Brother
I've been back from overseas for about a month now, and have since hosted 4 dinner parties. I find them quite labour intensive, but I love the moment when everything is done, and I can breathe a sigh of relief, savour a glass of wine and bask in great company over the fruits of my labour. It's what I really enjoy the most - having people around a table, sharing good food, stories and a few good laughs.

I must admit, being a perfectionist, I do get a little anxious trying to plan a great menu. At chef school, we had a workshop on it, and there are a few basic ground rules.


Basic dinner party menu planning ground rules:
- Avoid using the same ingredients over courses (e.g smoked salmon canapes, followed by a salmon steak main)
- Avoid crossing continents between courses (e.g malay satay starter with new york ribs and tiramisu dessert)
- tailor the courses to your audience (e.g more food for a football team, consider gender mix, wary of allergies)
- vary the components on the plate (e.g colours, textures, flavours). Heston Blumenthal even varies the senses, as seen in his "Sound of the sea" fish pie dish. Heston explains the theory behind it very simply - "We ate an oyster while listening to the sea and it tasted stronger and saltier". Great photos also here.

That being said, I haven't followed all the rules. I'm not yet a Michelin starred chef, so I'm not really interested in complying within a bounds. I'm more concerned I'm giving my guests a good meal and good environment to catchup and socialise. So, without further ado, I present a documented play by play of my last 4 dinner parties in the last month. Enjoy

-----------------------------Menu 1-----------------------------
Starter: Parmesan, crispy bacon and black pepper pastry bread

Main: Vinegar chicken risotto

Dessert: Frozen dark chocolate tart

-----------------------------Menu 2-----------------------------
Starter: Parmesan, crispy bacon and black pepper pastry bread

Main: Organic stuffed English roast chicken, with potatoes en papillote, fondant carrots and asparagus

Dessert: Dark chocolate roulade with hazelnut praline and vanilla bean icecream



-----------------------------Menu 3-----------------------------
Starter: Rocket, parmesan and pomegranate salad with balsamic and crostini

Main: Pork Penang cury (kaeng penang moo) with coconut rice

Dessert: Berry, apple and pear crumble with creme anglaise and homemade vanilla icecream




-----------------------------Menu 4-----------------------------

Starter: Balsamic parmesan cheese twists

Main: Slow roasted lamb shank in cranberry and red wine sauce, with fondant potatoes, carrots and asaparagus

Dessert: Swiss chocolate pecan brownie with home made caramel icecream

My step into the world of macarons - part I

by TP Big Brother

I think its my turn. I’m starting to develop an unhealthy obsession to the beautiful delicate macaron


After a transcendental experience of a box of Laduree macarons in Lausanne, there has always been a faint pleasant lingering of it in the back of my mouth. Like blood to a vampire.

When I left Switzerland to London, I went to Harrods on a whim, to see if there was any ounce of truth in their bold motto “Omnia, omnibus, ubique – Everything for everyone, everywhere”. After spending £10 on lemon pistachios and cheddar cashews, then £15 on small pieces of every flavour of fudge in the food halls, I realized I hadn’t even started looking for the mighty macarons. That’s when I looked up and saw the pearly white “no photos allowed” gates of Laduree macaron heaven.

“Good ole Mr Al Fayed”, I thought. “Just like France”

£20 later I was in pain, but blissfully buzzing on my sugar high.

“Such a fine delicate little thing of goodness”, I thought. “A true artist piece of work”, as I rotated the macaron into the light, between my fingers like a piece of diamond. I scanned the beautiful feet and basked in the perfectly balanced flavour and texture. It was a beautiful moment

*******************

I have since thought back to that moment many times, and the time finally came when I manned up to pop my macaron making cherry. Last week I gathered my very own blank canvas of ingredients to create a vanilla macaron with salted caramel masterpiece.


The final verdict
The taste was a wonderful sweetness on the bite, with a salty hit that crept up in the end. Other than taste though, the French would have crucified me. What a disaster! My “macaron” barely resembled food let alone art. It was more like salted caramel sandwiched between two thin white Anzac biscuits.

Jokes and laughs aside, I assume this is probably the worst it can get. After a bit of research, and help from Claire Clark, I'm hoping round 2 should be a greatly improved win! To be continued...

Rustic macarons otherwise known as failed feetless crunchy biscuits

8 hours in a kitchen

By TP Big Brother

Yesterday I spent 8 hours in the kitchen. On a weeknight.

Nothing surprising to those who work in hospitality. I know. But I don't work in hospitality. I am a desk jockey spending the good part of my week working the corporate spanner.

After the day job, I banged out 4 dishes last night for no one in particular. A needy white stock, a vegetarian lentil dish to hit my one a week vegetarian quota, poor feetless macarons and a version of Mary Berry's thai beetroot soup.

I do wonder how I spent that long in a kitchen, but thats me really. Food just takes me on a timeless journey down a path of another world. I have worked the hobs in the London battlefields, where I have been the one shouting "push geezer", but at home, I am within the confines of my very own food hut sanctuary. I guess I'm just suffering from the come down from holidays, which I opted to spend a month at culinary school and work kitchens, as opposed to cruising the Galapogas Islands on a 5 star Catamaran. Food just continues to invade my personal space, and I am beginning to stop resisting.

Yet, I am just another average joe who loves his food, blindly throwing money into the pleasures of all things culinary, then wanting to re-live it with a few taps on the keyboard. But, I hope this blog isn't just another food blog. I don't have the commendable structured-goal-format of cooking every recipe from the Gourmet Cookbook. And my photos certainly are not on par with the likes of the myfoodtrail blog. It's just going to be about simple me and my expanding food world (along with the other Twin Palate galaxy). Fortunately or unfortunately, I have developed a disease which causes me to want to serve, eat, buy and learn about good food. I hope this blog encaptulates that. Enjoy!

Welcome

From the same egg, two palates were born.

Side by side, two palates, ate the same, dressed the same and were educated the same.

Until one day the two palates were separated.

TP Big Brother stayed in Melbourne, and TP Little Brother sought the greener pastures in Sydney.

We wish to give you the unique insight into our world of Twin Palates. You will get to join our journey on a palate in Sydney and a palate in Melbourne, and on the lucky occasion, Twin Palates will combine and cover both angles on the same meal. Its going to be fun and exciting to share this with you.

Welcome to the world of Twin Palates.