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So! After 6 trials for original croissant and 1 tryout on chocolate croissant, I am still here! Trying the colorful, rainbow croissants this time! I baked this new batch of rainbow croissants with more precision such as desired dough temperature (24-26C), croissant shape measurements(4.5mm x 10cm x 25cm), proofing temperature (26-28C), listening to croissants etc. with tricks from the LONGER and more detailed croissant baking videos I watched.
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Every now and then, I will crave for chicken feet, especially when I want to grind my teeth like a cat (which is why I rarely de-bone it ahead of time, I like to pick out bones by myself! That’s the best part) :). It is also a great snack for watching shows! Eating chicken feet, snuggling in the warm, comfy blanket and enjoying a good show, what a life!! Chicken Feet can either be called chicken feet 鷄爪 or phoenix feet 鳳爪 in menu, as phoenix is regarded as a precious animal and “higher” class than chicken 😀
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First time I had Gamjatang was when my friend bought me to a Gamjatang specialty restaurant in Los Angeles. Since then, this tasty dish has been in my mind. The soft potatoes, easily-separated pork neck bones, the flavorful spices in this Korean dish, all linger long in my head. I love it so much that I enjoy this dish alone near the 2019 Christmas when I was in Philly’s Chinatown. Sitting by the restaurant window, sipping the hot, steamy soup in the cold, chilly winter, I sweat my finals’ stress away and got to enjoy the precious time eating alone.
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After 6 trials on baking original croissants, I want to get my hands on the “prettier” and slightly “fancier” croissants — colored and flavored ones. This time I am making the chocolate croissants. The chocolate sheet was drier than planned, resulting in some croissant not fully covered in chocolate sheet, and the chocolate layer was a bit too crispy. As usual, as my lab notebook, I have recorded mistakes and takeaway in details here.
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The leftover half duck from previous post “Shiso braised Duck” was made into Cantonese Five-Flavor Duck. Five flavors are: fragrant, spicy, sweet, sour, umami 香、辣、甜、酸、鮮. Five-flavor duck recipe is very straightforward — mix sauce, stir fry duck till skin becomes golden, cook for long time over low heat.
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I got a whole raw duck the first time and dissected it the first time. First duck recipe to share is Cantonese Shiso braised duck 粵菜 紫蘇燜鴨. In this dish, shiso leaves help get rid of the strong taste of duck and brings in extra flavor. Shiso leaves are also commonly used in stir-fry with snails, another common Cantonese street food appearing in alleyways in the snail season of late Summer and Fall.
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Popcorn chicken is a classic street food in Taiwan, and absolutely exists in almost 90% boba shops’ menus. However, my love for popcorn chicken constantly fights with the fact that these yummy pieces have been deep-fried in hot oil…! I have tried popcorn chicken using both oven and air-fryer. Now I am sharing my modified recipe to make “healthy”, easy, juicy, yummy popcorn chicken using air-fryer and the reasons for the use of milk in spice mix, the use of baking powder, baking soda, mochiko, tapioca flour in flour mix.
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Found this recent trend — Youtiao with Sesame Mochi, getting its fame from Jiangxi Province 江西小吃 to the rest of China. It is easy to make, IF you have Youtiao (I got mine from Asian grocery) or are patient to make ones or are innovative enough to substitute with donuts. The combination of sweet, crunchy sesame, peanut mix, on top of hot, soft mochi, wrapped by fresh, crispy Youtiao, is quite amazing and unexpected!!
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Happy New Year 2021!! Finally got ube halaya from Asian market and was determined to bake something with it, thus chose ube sesame cake over ube chocolate cake. As a matter of fact, ube chocolate could have been a better combination as both ube and sesame are strong flavors and could play central role in cake. Separating them is not a bad idea.
