Wash and clean duck. Remove as much feathers or down as possible and wipe dry. In a large saucepan, cook the glaze ingredients until maltose/honey has dissolved. Keep the glaze boiling while holding the duck by it's neck or with a sturdy 'S' hook over a wok, bath the duck with the glaze - the glaze has to boiling hot. Continue to bath the duck - all over until all the glaze is done. Hang duck to drip dry, then place duck on a rack over a roasting/cake pan and place in the fridge to dry for at least 8 hours or overnight. Roasting: Heat the oven, the highest temperature available - i have a convection roasting function. Place duck on a 'V' roasting rack which is sitting on a roasting pan, pour a full cup of water onto the roasting pan. Put duck to roast for 15 minutes, breast side up, until the breast is beautifully browned. Turn duck over and roast the back. Turn duck over with breast side up and lower the oven to 350f and roast duck for another 15 - 20 minutes. Check for doneness. Cut duck up the chinese way and serve with a pomegrante molasses dipping sauce. Pomegranate Molasses Dipping Sauce: 1/4 cup mild flavored honey 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses 2 tbsp hoisin sauce 1/2 cup chicken stock Combine ingredients in a small sauce pan and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until thick and syrup. Adjust taste with sugar if you do not like the tartness. Serves Read More... Cut the woody ends of the cassava and then cut into 2 inches pieces. Remove the skin and soak the peeled roots in water for at least 1 hour. Drain and put into saucepan with enough water to cover the roots. Add salt and turn on the heat. Bring to the boil and stir to prevent roots sticking to the bottom of saucepan. Check for doneness, roots should be fork tender. Drain and place roots back to the warm saucepan to dry-out. Cooked cassava is ready for consumption. Eat with whatever fancy your palate. The pictures above are with 'sambal shrimp' and 'xo sauce'. Cassava Fritters is a spin-off from these boiled cassava. Read More... Prepare the batter by mixing all the batter ingredients and leave aside. Heat oil until 350f. While oil is getting hot, prepare the cassava balls by mixing all the ingredients together and making into golf size balls. When oil has reached 350f, dip balls into batter and put into hot oil to deep fry. Do not crowd the wok and crank up the heat and removing some hot oil from the wok, at the last stage of frying. Removing some oil will allow the temp. of oil to rise higher and faster and this way, the balls will be not be soggy. When balls are golden brown, remove and drain on an overturn cake rack which is sitting on kitchen towels - the excess oil will drip down and since the balls are not touching the kitchen towels, they will not soak back the oil while cooling. Pour back the removed oil and finished frying the rest of the balls. Note: Noticed the long one? I have left some cooked cassava unmashed and dipped them in batter to fry. Try it this way, it is just as delicious. Serves Read More... Mix the konnyaku powder and sugar together and mix them well. Pour the mixture into the liquid gradually and stir till it comes to the boil and turn off the fire. Keep stirring for 5 minutes till the bubbles disappear. Add citric acid and coloring and stir well. Put pieces of longan in the moulds and fill the moulds with jelly. Chill the jelly in the refrigerator before serving Serves Read More... Marinate pork ribs with salted black beans, garlic, ginger and seasonings. Leave for at least 10 minutes. Add in cornstarch/tapioca starch to bind lightly.(A pinch will do cos pork ribs should be fairly moist with sauce after steaming and too much cornstarch/tapioca tends to dry up the dish) Leave this aside while you cook rice in the rice cooker. Watch out for the rice to loose the big bubbles and just before it finishes cooking and turn to 'warm' function, put in the prepared pork ribs to steam. Alternatively steam prepared pork ribs over rapidly boiling water for 7 - 8 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame oil before serving hot. Read More... To make sugar dough: Place flour, baking powder, powdered sugar in the food processor and pulse a few pulses to mix the ingredients. Add in the cold cubed butter and pulse 2 - 3 times to chop the butter into small pea size. Add in the egg and pulse until combined - dough will be still loose but when a small lump is pressed together, it should be able to clump. Remove from bowl into a large ziploc bag and squeeze dough into a round disk and use immediately or store it in thee refrigerator. Prepare the tart shell: Preheat the oven to 350f(175c). Lightly butter the bottom of a 10-inch fluted tart pan, or you may have trouble unmolding the baked Clafoutis. (i used a removable bottom tart pan although Jaques said that he tries not to use one just in case the tart shell cracks and spills the custard onto the baking sheet - well he is the master) Prepare the sugar dough (if you are using refrigerated dough, you will need to give the cold dough four or five quick raps with a rolling pin to break up the cold butter). Flour each side and roll the dough into a 12-inch circle between 1/4 and 1/8 inch thick. After each roll with the rolling pin, rotate the dough a quarter turn. This will keep it from sticking to the work surface as well as maintain the shape of the circle. Dust the work surface with more flour if needed, but be careful not to overflour, as this will make the dough tough. When you roll the dough, don't press too hard on the rolling pin, or you will cut the dough in half. Work quickly to keep the butter from melting and the dough from becoming too soft; if this happens, place the dough in the refrigerator until it is firm once again, about 15 minutes. Transfer the dough to the pan by rolling i up around the rolling pin. Hold the rolling pin over the pan and unroll the dough into the pan. Use your fingers to gently press the dough into the bottom and sides of the pan. Make sure you press into the edge where the side of the pan meets the bottom. Remove the excess dough by rolling the rolling pin over the top of the pan to make a nice clean cut. Dock the bottom of the tart shell lightly with a fork to allow the steam to escape during baking to keep the shell flat. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. The tart dough takes longer to bake than the custard, and for that reason, the dough is partially baked before the custard is added. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set aside until ready to use. Keep the tart pan on the baking sheet, as this will make it easier to transfer the tart shell back into the oven once it is filled. Prepare the Custard: Place the milk in a 1-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Use a sharp knife to slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Separate the seeds from the skin by scraping the blade of the knife along the inside of the bean. Place the seeds and skin in the heating milk. Adding the vanilla to the heating milk will allow the full flavor of the vanilla to infuse the milk and give the Clafoutis a stronger vanilla flavor. When bubbles begin to form at the edge of the pan, remove from the heat. Place the whole eggs and egg yolks in a large mixing bowl and whisk until well mixed. Whisk in the sugar, flour, and sour cream. When smooth, whisk in the heated milk mixture until well combined. Strained the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup with a spout. Straining the mixture removed the vanilla bean as well as any pieces of cooked egg or lumps of flour. Set the custard aside. To assemble the Clafoutis: Place the grapes in the bottom of the prebaked tart shell. Completely fill the bottom of the tart. Pour the custard into the tart shell to fill the pan. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the custard sets, about 20 minutes. You can tell if the custard is set by gently shaking the tart pan, if the custard trembles slight, it is ready. If it is too loose, it needs to be baked longer. In that case, check it every 5 minutes until it is ready. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and allow the Clafoutis to cool. To unmold the cooled Clafoutis, place tart over an overturned glass and remove sides of tart pan but if you are not using a removable pan do what Jaques does - center a flat plate face down over the tart pan. If you use a plate with raised edges, the tart will break. Flip over the plate and pan at the same time so the tart pan is on top of the plate. Gently lift off the tart pan. Center a second flat plate face down over the unmolded tart. Flip over both plates at the same time so that the Clafoutis is now right side up. Remove the top plate. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar (i always forget) before serving. The baked Clafoutis will keep well wrapped in the refrigerator for up to two days. Serves Read More... Make batter: Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 375°F. Generously grease muffin pans. Microwave butter in a big microwave-safe bowl on high for 1 minute. Whisk in milk, then whisk in whole egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined well. Sieve together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, then add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Fold in blueberries gently but thoroughly and do not overmix. Divide batter among 12 muffin cups, spreading evenly. Rub topping ingredients together with your fingertips until crumbly, then sprinkle evenly over batter in cups. Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick or skewer inserted diagonally into center of a muffin comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool in pans on a rack 15 minutes, then run a knife around edge of each muffin top and carefully remove from cups. Serve warm or at room temperature. Serves Read More... Put pork and cover it with enough water. Bring to a boil and continue to boil until scum has subsided. Remove pork and discard the water - scum and all. Wash the pork under cold water. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and using a metal spoon, remove the seeds. Then cut squash into large pieces. Put pork, squash, tomatoes (cut into quarters if using the bigger tomatoes) and dried scallops into the pressure cooker. Put enough water to cover all ingredients and make sure it does not come up to half way up the pressure cooker. Close the lid and cook on high. As soon as the pressure is build-up - 15 lbs, reduce heat and maintain pressure, cook for 15 minutes. Turn off heat and let the pressure release by itself with time. Remove lid only when there is no more pressure. Adjust taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot. Serves Read More... Line a cardboard box with heavy duty aluminium foil and grease the inside, then line with grease proof/parchment paper, bottom and sides - make the sides 1 1/2 inches higher than the sides. Sprinkle sugar on to the base of box. Arrange oven rack to the middle of oven and preheat oven @ 350f. Sieve flour, green tea powder, salt and sugar together. In a saucepan, one which your mixer bowl will sit and the bottom does not touch the water, heat about 1 inch of water to 110f. Rince mixer howl with tap water as hot as possible to warm, then dry well. Whisk eggs, egg yolks and sugar in the warm bowl sitting over the simmering water. Check the temperature of the mixture, you want to get the mixture between 86 - 90f. Keep whisking and checking the temperature. Put honey and milk in a bowl and place it over the warm water, stir to melt the honey. Remove and leave aside. Place the bowl of warm egg mixture on the mixer with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes only. Turn the speed down to medium(4 in kitchenaid) or just below medium and beat for 10 minutes until the foam is completely cool, thick and shiny. Sift part of the flour mixture on top, avoiding the edges of the bowl and 1 tbsp of honey and milk mixture. Very carefully fold once only by dipping a large spatula into the foam at the 12 o'clock position, dragging it across the bottom. At the 6 o'clock position, lift up some foam and spread it across the top. Sift more of the flour mixture and honey mixture, fold again. Try to incorporate all the flour and honey mixture in about three to five batches and fold carefully to blend. Place oil in a medium mixing bowl and spoon in 1 cup of the batter and fold together. When this is well blended, fold this mixture into the main batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 300f and bake further for 40 minutes. Check for doneness. As soon as the cake is out of the oven, brush the top with the honey-water mixture. When it's cool enough to handle but still warm, lift it out of the pan, paper and all, and put into a plastic bag. Seal the bag and put into the refrigerator, for several hours preferably overnight as this will ensure a moist texture. To serve, use a very sharp serrated knife to make clean cuts. Cut off the sides and make small, neat slices. Enjoy Serves Read More...
