>more herb mousses

It is no mystery that I am drawn to herb mousse.

Because mousse also means moss. If you've ever admired a beautiful moss-covered rock or tree bark on a rainy day you know what I mean.

My friend Ivy used to recite passages from Nancy Drew's Moss-Covered Mansion. I didn't really get Nancy Drew. I was into Sherlock Holmes.

Because the word mushroom also comes from mousse - a rationalization of sorts for the mostly inexplicable allure of both mushroom and mousse.

And because it's green. It can be red, too. Sorry I didn't strictly limit the list to herbs. Happy belated Christmas, everyone.

***

-Skewers of scallops and Spanish ham with parsley mousse, zucchini, and passion vinaigrette - Sol e Luna Restaurant, Grand Case, St. Martin
-Grilled lamb fillet with savory herb marinade, habichuela blanca mousse - Casa Havana, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands
-Mild smoked salmon served with salad, horseradish mousse and deep-fried sage - Parkhotel Gunten, Switzerland
-Artichoke puree, fingerling potatoes, braised shallots, spinach, red pepper mousse - The Gables at Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
-Sformati di Bietole (swiss chard mousse charlotte, grated parmesan) - Rustico, Sausalito, California

>herb mousse

We had one of those sweet mom and daughter dinners I love so much at Mansion on Turtle Creek, one of the most beautiful restaurants in the country. Mom admired the basil mousse that came with our amuse bouche.

When the main course arrived, she sheepishly stared at her "burned" steak.

"Mom, that's NOT burned. That's how they do it in Dallas."
Embarrassed silence.
Mom is so polite, she hates sending dishes back to the kitchen. So she started carving. One thing she hates more than sending dishes back is charred steak that is still rare inside. I would have eaten it myself (yum!) but it's against my principle to pay so much for a piece of steak. She apologized and sent it back. They comped it! So nice of them.

***
I looked up the herb mousse action happening around the world. For some reason, I've found the "mousse" on English menus denser than the more airy "foam". Foam is getting tired, mousse has a good chance, I guess.

Tuna carpaccio with beluga caviar, fennel mousse and salad - Restaurant l'Europe, St. Petersburg, Russia
Sea bass with a scallop and lemon balm mousse - The President's Restaurant, Mallow, County Cork, Ireland
Chocolate and lavender mousse - KN Restaurant, Tallinn, Estonia
Chicken breast stuffed with rabbit and tarragon mousse - Antibo restaurant, Sheffield, England
Roasted breast of cornfed chicken stuffed with oregano mousse on sweetcorn - Temple Sowerby House, Penrith, Cumbria, England
Tomato salad with buffalo milk mozzarella and basil mousse - Hotel Zum Storchen, Zurich, Switzerland

>milk caramel and dulce de leche

You can overthink dulce de leche.

Like any other sweet treats, it can be presented in many different ways, and there are differences in the quality of ingredients used, but I don't understand the perceived mystery behind this rather mundane caramel.

Of course, it is tastier than plain caramel since the amino acids in milk cause Maillard reactions and result in more complex flavors.

Insistence on having to cook a can of sweet condensed milk unopened, for instance. What the? For convenience? If it is excitement you are after, I suggest you get it somewhere else.

Let's say you are craving dulce de leche right now, and you happen to have a can of sweet condensed milk. You can make it in a few minutes.

1) Use a cast iron frying pan.
2) Mix about half a cup of water with half a can (7 oz) of condensed milk.
3) Stir as you cook this mixture, and control the heat so it doesn't bubble over.
4) When it turns tan or brown, turn the heat off a little before it reaches your desired shade of color.

Water initially prevents the mixture from burning and gives the flavor a chance to develop. Caramelization generates extra heat, so it is important to turn the heat off before you think it's done. Milk is remarkably stable when heated to high temperatures, so you don't have to worry about much at all, except not to burn the whole thing.

When done, spoon it into a little pyrex cup or a ramekin. If it cools and hardens, you can microwave it for about 10 seconds to soften it.

>sugar vs. fruit sugar

I saw a packet of fructose being sold in the supermarket, and I had to stop myself.

Since

1) fructose is easy to process into crystals or syrups and
2) it is the sweetest of all the sugars and relatively cheap,

...why don't I see more of it?

(1 glucose molecule + 1 fructose molecule = 1 sucrose molecule, so 1 common sugar molecule is twice as big as a fructose molecule.)

Fructose is the sugar in fruits and honey, and processed fruit drinks also have plenty of it. It would actually be handy to have at home to make cold drinks like lemonades. Compared to table sugar, it dissolves much more easily, and only half would be needed (half the calories!) to sweeten the same amount. It however loses a lot of sweetness at high temperatures.

Sucrose is most versatile in the kitchen since we need to use it in hot drinks, candies, cakes and cookies.

Too much sugar, any sugar, is never a good idea, but it's always good to have an option.

>fruit vinegar egg scramble

One of the most pronounced trends in the world's best restaurants has been the movement toward lighter, herbier sauces using more fruit and vegetable reductions, in place of heavy meat and cream based sauces.

It is interesting to ponder if similar trends are invading the breakfast territory. ("cream-based vs. fruit-based"...)

Whatever the case may be, consider the following delicious surprise. This is absolutely the creamiest scrambled eggs you've ever had. The astonishing fact is that it has no cream in it.

For all we know, they have been cooking eggs with vinegar for probably thousands of years in the Middle East.

Ingredients:

Eggs (5-6)
Fruit vinegar (1 tbs)
Water (3 tbs)
Salt (a pinch)
A little bit of nut oil/gingelly oil/butter/olive oil or none at all
Black pepper

Beat the eggs with salt, vinegar and water, just until well blended.
Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Pour the egg mixture and cook it -p-a-t-i-e-n-t-l-y- in low heat.
Scrape the pan gently and often to cook the mixture evenly.
Remove it from heat still underdone as it will continue to set.

Sprinkle pepper and try it.

What do you think?

>tea rub vs. oil rub

Pioneering chef Daniel Patterson is currently in love with tea, and he puts it to good use in a number of appealing dishes. Ming Tsai is the original fan of tea rub.

A word of caution on tea rub:
While tea is an exciting flavoring agent for meat smoking and marinating, it makes less than ideal coating when subject to direct heat.

Tea leaves tend to burn quickly so it's only suitable for quick searing. Unless you are prepared for some post-grill scraping, try instead oil-rich ground sesame seed, pistachio, poppy seed or flaxseed when preparing a dry rub. The flavors of cracked spices you add to the rub dissolve in the oil and withstand the heat longer, and an appropriate amount of salt in the rub helps the meat surface to retain moisture.

A dry rub which stays on provides an insulation buffer for direct heat, and prevents the meat itself from drying out. In addition, the seeds mentioned above turn into crispy crust, adding a crunchy, edible, texture element to accompany the tender meat inside.

>popcorn vs. popamaranth

Why do we pop corn?

Because popcorn is crunchy.
Because we can eat it for hours and don't fill up.
Because we can.

Yes, because we can.

Can we pop other seeds?

We can, and we do. Protein-rich pearl millet is an even better choice for popping. So is amaranth. Popped kernel size is smaller, but if we didn't have such a corn glut situation in this country, perhaps coming to a theater near you could be buttered popmillet and popamaranth.

>wine jelly vs. vodka jelly

Can you gel wine?

Port wine jelly, pinot noir wine jelly, viognier wine jelly. Yummy sounding, but what you find most often in stores are wine-flavored non-alcoholic jellies.

Kiddie-friendly spreads are not the kinds we are really interested in, are they.

Wine jellies should be relatively simple to make. Why non-alcoholic?

A misconception:
Alcohol keeps the wine from gelling. Not true. This is not about freezing the alcohol. Ever tried vodka jelly? We know that alcohol actually increases gel strength.

Wine is an alcohol, yes, a relatively weak one, and it's an acidic drink, a good candidate for a pectin jelly, if it weren't so watery.

In an attempt to create a more dense mixture by evaporating the water (aren't we going up to over 200F), unfortunately the alcohol is boiled away first (about 173F under standard atmospheric conditions).

Darn it.

>umeboshi vs. hua mei

Today I read parts of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking - The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. This clear, comprehensive book answers so many questions I have.

It is so comprehensive, in fact, that it's going to influence the way I blog. Before I do an entry, I'll check this book to see what I am about to say is not already mentioned in a similar way...

...which will be a formidable challenge. To me, the allure of something seems to be the unknown, and it's no fun blogging about something already mentioned by a book.

So today's entry involves questions about something I couldn't get a satisfactory explanation for. Intense tartness or sourness enjoyed by some people.

The Asian apricot (Prunus mume) is preserved dry in China and called huamei. It is pickled in Japan and called umeboshi. Both kinds are heavily salted and enjoyed for their extreme sour quality. So sour in fact, that just the thought of eating them makes you salivate.

So widely consumed, I thought it might be included on the pickled vegetables and fruits table. It wasn't, so here's my small contribution.

>transparent cooked egg

When we cook the clear egg white, we all know what happens. Can you imagine a transparent cooked egg white? Apparently it's all about the pH and temperature.

In a nutshell, in an eggshell in this case, the recipe is this. Chefs would marinate the eggs in a special alkaline solution made with salt and wood ash for 8 days. Then it's cooked in very low heat (160F/70C) for 10 minutes. The eggs set to a golden yolk and transparent, colorless white.

Abracadabra.

>macadamia nut vs. candlenut

When I see children tethered to their parents' car, I cannot help but feel lucky for the relative freedom I enjoyed as a kid in Singapore, being allowed to navigate my way around the city on my own. The question "is it safe?" would have raised eyebrows. Safe from what?

I absolutely believe that exposing children to the stimulating city life gives them more. More of anything and everything.

It was certainly nice to get a ride home from school in mom's car (she drove a Mercedes-Benz...), but I liked the option of walking and public transportation, especially when visiting friends.

Snacking on the street wasn't exactly encouraged, but the occasional satay tasted so good!

One of the ingredients which makes satay extra good, in addition to peanuts, is candlenuts which look a bit like macadamia nuts. These creamy nuts are not eaten raw, but ground and cooked. There are some wild legends about this nut all over Polynesia, and it is Hawaii's state tree, kukui.

If you happen to be lost in the wilderness with these nuts, it'd be a snap to start a fire. Something to remember when you go camping.

>sesame oil vs. gingelly oil

Mystery of the golden oil - solved.

This is another story from Singapore. I would play badminton and swim with friends at a private club near Yaohan.

There was a food stall where a Tamil man would pour his oil ceremoniously onto his mutton pan, the thin stream of honey-colored oil looking momentarily, mesmerisingly, solid. On the bottle was written "sesame oil" and I thought it didn't look anything like the sesame oil we had at home.

It is the fragrant gingelly oil, made from unroasted sesame seeds. It's used for making fruit pickles, murukku cookies, and in religious ritualistic oil baths - just a few drops.

>chilli ginger sauce

Our amah in Singapore was a sweet, gentle woman, not a particularly memorable cook. Because she was from Hainan, I would try to ask her about Hainan chicken rice back home, which was, I heard, different from Singaporean Hainanese chicken rice. I remember her smiling and continuing on with her chores. I never learned her language.

The Hainan, or Hainanese, chicken rice is one of my favorite dishes. The one I remember most fondly, the most delicate chicken dish you'll ever encounter, was from a hawker stall in Marine Parade.
The recipe sounds deceptively simple, although the best one I know involves plunging the bird in ice bath in between steeping sessions.It also requires the perfect chili ginger sauce. Small red chilies, sometimes called cili padi (not "silly putty" - in Malaysian, c is pronounced ch), garlic, ginger, vinegar, sugar and salt.

>wild goose egg

The city of Oakland suffers a big headache when it comes to Canadians. They enter the country and refuse to leave.

Canada geese, that is. Having forgotten that they are migrating fowls, they live all-year-round on Lake Merritt. What's the big deal? The answer is um, privy.

Here is such a sensible idea I am not sure Oakland has tried it yet. When in doubt, do what the Eskimos do. Hunt the eggs down.

Let children loose around the park on Easter (or whenever the egg laying season is) and offer some serious prize for the yummy eggs, before they hatch into super adorable goslings.

I don't recall trying goose eggs, but I am told they are very tasty indeed. As for the numerous birds themselves? I live in Berkeley, so I cannot contemplate what a kid at an Austin County Fair suggests we do.

>wagyu vs. fatback

Status food.

If we order something precisely because it is more expensive, it fits in this category. The current ultimate expense account lunch, well-marbled wagyu (gaigyu??) is most definitely overrated, and most certainly a status food.

Because we tend to deprive ourselves of fatty cuts at home, premium fatty meat tastes even better at restaurants, so we gratefully pay through the nose for the chance to indulge. Granted, wagyu certainly tastes good, but so does a Shake Shack burger.

Since we'd have to be unafraid of saturated fat eating wagyu, let's go all out and feast on premium quality pork fat which seldom sees the restaurant light of day in this country.

If you can't stomach anything called pork fat on the menu, the restaurant will happily disguise it for you. Speck, slanina, salo. Lardon?

>Age of Irony -> Age of Soupçon

I apologize to my friends at Cornell's Hotel School (a.k.a. "Cornell High") now that I've succumbed to being a frivolous glutton myself. You weren't entirely wrong.

We Artsies thought what you did was completely irrelevant. Now look at me.

I was cruising a market aisle the other day, weighing the merits of sauvignon blanc vinegar and riesling vinegar, (still not many fruit vinegars...) when I was struck by my sincerity in wanting to attend a good vinegar tasting session.

I am just happy with a whiff of musk, a dash of zest, a hint of bouquet. I am truly hopeful for the coming Global Age, and for some serious tapas.

>smoke

Salt and pepper tasting menu at the Ritz-Carlton San Francisco last evening somewhat assuaged my fear that San Francisco is headed downhill in the fine dining department, lagging behind the scenes in London, Paris, New York. Well, behind Sydney, Los Angeles, Barcelona...

As it stands, there are only a handful of true fine dining category restaurants in the area. Among these, my current favorites are The French Laundry, Fifth Floor, Gary Danko, Coi, Michael Mina. I'll include mom's favorite Fleur de Lys, and my sister's favorite La Folie.

I cannot include Boulevard ("fine dining" place without fine food), Chez Panisse (food has become boring, and no fine dining attitude), Scott Howard (excellent food, perhaps slightly informal), Ame (savory food and elegant decor, yet it is somehow not all that fine, yet).

At the Ritz-Carlton dining room, the "ingredient" I found the most interesting, yet the least successful aesthetically, was... hickory smoke. One of the amuse bouche offerings, it -yes, the smoke- came in a cup, sealed with plastic wrap. A little hole is covered up with a little spoon, and flavorful smoke is released when you lift the spoon. Doubtful how much it helps the taste of osetra caviar and a quail egg which sit atop. If you want theatrics, perhaps you should opt for dry ice smoke...

The hickory smoke did cast a spell, though - I found the rest of the dinner bewitchingly palatable.

My wine choice : Chateau Prieure Lichine, Margaux

>real vs. fake food

There are fraudulent fakes, and there are unfeigned fakes. The latter, people come across often and consume willingly. The reasons? Cost. Calorie intake. Convenience. Consider;

-maple syrup vs. sugar syrup
-chocolate vs. fake chocolate made with vegetable fat and no cocoa butter
-crab meat vs. pollock surimi, a.k.a. imitation crab meat
-cheese vs. low-protein imitation cheese slices
-ice cream made with real cream vs. ice cream made with hydrogenated vegetable oil
-sugar vs. sugar substitute
-fruit juice vs. fruit juice substitute
-wasabi vs. horseradish with green food coloring, a.k.a. the green glop you find in most Japanese restaurants
-naturally fermented or brewed soy sauce vs. synthetic soy sauce made with acid hydrolysis method, possibly carcinogenic (*note to Muslims - synthetic soy sauce is halal, but natural soy sauce may be haram due to minimal alcohol content, or at least mushbooh.)

>shark's fat

Turns out, it is not the fins people should be after. Poor sharks. Who knew - one of the most omega-3-rich fishes happens to be a creature called spiny dogfish, a shark.

Once ignored by fishermen, apparently it makes appearances all over the place now, including in your fish and chips. As long as people are careful not to overfish them (they seem relatively abundant in the Atlantic Ocean), apparently we are welcome to eat them.

Well, not having tasted this fish (knowingly), I can't say for sure, but I tend to find fish high in omega-3 generally tastier than the rest. Are you kidding? Otoro, tuna's fatty belly, laden with omega-3, is just about the most delicious thing anywhere, and fatty salmon! Even the fishy mackerel can be good grilled.

>fragrant pear vs. more fragrant pear

The fruit with the catchiest name du jour is "fragrant pear", also known as Korla, Koerle, Korle with o-umlaut, Kurla or Kurle pear - after the western Chinese region the fruit hails from.

They somewhat resemble ya pears from the eastern regions of China, but they are tastier, and it is nice to be able to find them now in the markets. (99 Ranch Market, Berkeley Bowl)

The fragrance, crispness or juiciness of this novelty fruit, however, does not measure up to the good old nashi varieties of pear, a familiar sight in most stores.

Update (Dec. 18, 2006)
Check out Harold McGee's detailed blog.

>almond flour

Beyond marzipan, beyond pound cake and cheesecake.

Almond flour, or almond meal, should be used like flour in your main course or side dishes.

Fleur de Sel restaurant in New York serves almond flour crusted soft shell crab meuniere. Fish is always good rolled in almond flour and fried in butter, served with lemon juice and chopped parsley. Almond crusted calamari makes a good appetizer. Alfredo of Rome in New York serves zucchini rolled with ricotta cheese, raisins, almond flour.

Added bonus - just ask low-carb nuts about almond's health benefits.

Bought a packet today at Trader Joe's. Going to try it on trout tonight, perhaps with forbidden rice risotto.

>alligator & crocodile

At the cheap Chinese restaurant we frequent in downtown Oakland, they speak minimal English, and it is always packed. They do manage to explain, for instance, "chicken, wif ginseng". It comes in a tall individual cup, and the aroma released when you tear the paper seal is a delight.

Recently we asked what the special soup of the day was. "Um, don't know how to say it." "Meat or Vegetable?" "Meat." "Pork? Beef? Lamb?" "no, no, no..." This is a moment to reflect on the narrow range of choices we normally face. How did pigs and cows and sheep get to be the center of all this unwelcome attention? "Veal? Venison?" "??" "Chicken? Duck? Fish?" got a firm "No." Frog, rabbit, I was already running out of options.

Well, I had to know what it was.

"Long tail." Okay, let's play 20 questions. More like Charades. "Big teeth." (Horse?) "It lives in water." (Water snake?)" "Scary. Big mouth. Long face. Tail kill people."

"Crocodile???" "Yes!"

Bring it on. I'd rather eat cold-blooded reptiles and not think about warm cuddly piglets, calves and baby lambs. I know they sell alligator meat in the U.S. and crocodile meat is imported from places like Australia. In any case, it is fine-tasting meat, especially the tail, and don't let anyone tell you it tastes like chicken.

>hachiya vs. fuyu

There is a persimmon tree on a street where I take occasional walks. There is still plenty of ripe fruit remaining on the reachable branches.

???

1) People in this neighborhood wouldn't think of taking someone else's fruit, even when it belongs to the city, or

2) Many people must still be oblivious to this one of the tastiest fruits on this planet, or

3) People are very knowledgeable indeed - they know this is hachiya, on the left, a pointy shaped, soft-ripening persimmon, which can be extremely bitter when not completely ripe.

...as opposed to flat-shaped fuyu, on the right, which ripens firm, and almost always tasty.

This versatile, universally liked sweet fruit is also my favorite. Some people even call it Sharon fruit!

>turgoose?

Years ago, Grocery Trekker mail-ordered the freaky poultry creation, turducken, a couple of times, from New Orleans.

It tasted, I have to admit, at least as good as one of its three individual parts.

The thought did cross my mind - that I should try to make it myself this Thanksgiving.

However... I don't feel ambitious enough even for a turduck or turken. Turgoose might be another story? Nah.

>yuba vs. pappardelle

Vacation last week with parents in the Yuba River region (Tahoe National Forest) now reminds me of an ingredient that is soy's equivalent of milk skin. It is, of course, yuba, a.k.a. tofu skin. The protein-rich yuba is a clever substitute for pasta. And so tasty.

Coi in San Francisco does a pappardelle version with chanterelles, coconut milk and kaffir lime, their best dish.

JFC International Inc. sells "edamame yuba sticks". Hodo Soy Beanery has the best fresh yuba.

Try making yuba lasagna, yuba and cheese, yuba primavera.

>orecchiette

Dinner at Ama in New York was decidedly boring. Perhaps I am incapable of appreciating the nuances of the Pugliese cuisine. I expected rustic. It wasn't. I expected interesting ingredients. They were, how shall I put it, the usual.

The highlight of the meal was playing with a plate of orecchiette, expertly prepared by an imaginary Italian grandmother.

>soy gelee

Saturday night's dinner at Bouley didn't have many surprises. Why does it seem hard to find something new at restaurants these days?

Its entry, a wallful of apples, was intensely fragrant. Lovely interior.

What made the biggest impression? Soy gelee cubes only slightly bigger than the size of pin-heads. A tuna sashimi dish was sprinkled with these dark, salty miniature jelly cubes. There were white mystery jelly cubes, too. Yuzu cubes?

>Indian jujube

I was at the ZEV symposium with dad today. A beautiful day in Sacramento. I was happy to see the Farmers market nearby, in Cesar Chavez park. Bought $2 worth of Indian jujubes (Chinese dates? Ziziphus mauritiana) which resemble miniature apples. They taste like them, too. A perfect snack - crunchy and sweet, and not too sweet. No sticky mess.

They dry well when sliced thin, and make excellent Turkish-style fruit tea.

>mangosteen

Mangosteen, mangosteen.
My mom's favorite fruit. Nowhere to be found in California.

Once I did find it in a market (was it Vancouver?) but the shriveled sad fruit didn't measure up to the juicy ones I took for granted in the tropics. So abundant, I could even make mangosteenade.

Update: I found freeze-dried mangosteen. Sadly, a disappointment.