the proverbial ol' grandmother, ha'

only in my dreams, & from 10am to sold out 11th & alder PDX

Chicken & Rice @ NONG’S KHAO MAN GAI: Need I say more? …

….nope

Lunch

Young Chicken 3 ways: Marinated chicken ends , Hot wings (converted to “lollipops”), seared liver with chipotle sauce

Lets be honest here, on Tuesday I bought a whole chicken to make “sous vide” breasts on Tuesday, confit of hindquarters on Friday, spicy soup Sunday via chicken carcass. So what I was left with for lunch Friday was a liver, some wings, scrap meet & hunger. This had to be quick because starvation was mounting.

I want quick cooking + maximum flavor. Therefore the go to method was a saute/pan-fry. All three cooked at the same time with different results based on timing. First, the “quick” marinated (smoked paprika, etc.) scraps where the first to be taken off for tenderness. The liver was seared with a touch of sugar and came off second after some caramelization. Last to come off was the lollipops which I let go till the skin was perfectly crisp.  To garnish, parsley & feta.

confit of young chicken

Alright, so my first confit trial was crap. Over salted in the curing process, so the confit was a little too salty for my taste, but.. the texture was right. At this point I was in panic, I spent basically two days of prep to make this so there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to save this one folks. So, how to cut the salt? sour cream, sugar, spice, fresh herbs, and  touch of cream.

**Also, the key/trick was to serve the confit cold. Salt is less noticeable when in cold foods because the dispersion of sodium chloride molecules interacting with the tongue is dampened.

Then…

sandwich of salvation

….by sandwiching the confit in an english muffin and garnishing with a fine julienne of fresh english cucumber, the salt was no longer a problem, but rather a welcomed (and now balanced)  necessity.

wala, relatively good save  from an utter failure

sushi making 1 of 1000 (or maybe 3 or 4 of 1000 but lets start @ 1)

According to the “thousand times rule” I have a long sushi road ahead.

Inspired by Chef KG, my 2nd quarter bad ass Japanese instructor, I attempted the infamous sushi roll. Although I will say the flavors of my on the fly off the cuff sushi were unorthodox, haha corn beef hash (because that’s what we had for lunch), it still tasted pretty not bad.

Note: sushi, my friends is apparently the great 2nd quarter rotation of death. All or most despise the garde manger station because of this.

Before proceeding any further, I have to say that I myself am not one to order rolls often, unless an unfamiliar ingredient catches my eye, clearly.

When eating sushi I tend towards a philosophy of respect for an ingredient’s purity, simplicity, and tradition.

So why hash? Simply put, I’m Filipino so using left-over or extra anything, especially canned food, well that’s just commonplace now isn’t it? haha, so ridiculous but true

Production notes:

# 1/1000 = too much filling and therefore incomplete seal

# 2/1000 = good seal, but off centered.

*Self critique omits flavor assessment because I was testing solely technique. The concept is one that respects the purity and soul of an ingredient. In other words, these clumsy, incapable hands would not dare muddle and fumble the flavors of a high-end fish like yellow tail or monk-fish liver without yet knowing how to perfectly seal a roll or cook a perfect sushi rice – It would be like trying to be a Ninja without yet knowing how to walk.

kompai!

(2/1000) horribly off centered corn beef hash * cream cheese * capers * cilantro