Dr. X's Lab: Braising

Braised Short Ribs with Sumac, Pomegranate & Goose Fat Jus. Photo by Equalizer

Hello apprentices !! Welcome to my food lab, where you can learn all sorts of cooking techniques. There is no creativity here its all yours once the principles of cooking techniques are mastered. Cooking might be an art, but it is also science. Certain techniques have been mastered over the ages of trial an error, but once we dig deep into the makeup of certain food ingredients, you will be able to find new innovative appraoches to cooking. First, you must understand what happens to food in certain cooking techniques. We will start this time with the technique of braising.

Braising is simply browning meats in fat then cooking it in very little liquid, over low heat for a long period of time. What happens is that it allows foods especially meat to become extraordinarily tender by cooking in its own juices. Add more liquid and it will start to stew. Stewing usually makes meats a bit tough and dry. The fattier the cut of meat the better tasting and tenderness.

For todays experiment we will be using Beef short ribs, which is a fatty cut of meat that can only be consumed when braised for long hours, otherwise its tough as rubber! Dont be put off by the fact that it is fatty, the taste is like nothing you will ever taste beleive me.

Braised Short Ribs with Sumac, Pomegranate & Goose Fat Jus

1 kg Beef Short Ribs
1 tbs sumac
2 tsp fresh black pepper
1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
1.5 cup water
2 tbs Goose Fat
3 shallots chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tbs brown sugar

Method:

Coats short ribs with sumac, black pepper and salt. Brown short ribs in goose fat and place in oven tray. Heat oven to 140 degrees celcius. In the same frying pan add onions and brown. Add pomegranate molasses, salt, water, lemon juice and brown sugar and simmer for 5 minutes. Add to meat in tray and coat well. Seal the tray with foil paper and place in the oven for 5 hours.

Best served with goose fat fries. (next post)

The Last Weekend

Thai Noodle Salad. Photo by Equalizer

Kuwaiti summers are usually very hot and unpleasant, but just at the beggining and ends we get periods of climatic bliss. Just perfect. A period where everything is just right. You can swim endlessly without having to suffer in a soup temperature conditions halting you to a complete dizzying stop. Perfect water temperatures, lots of sunshine, and cool starry nights. That is how I like my weekends. Having sad that, it is better to realize that it is short lived and that in a few weeks, you wont be able to swim. That is where it hits you that you have to wait another 9 months. Hello summer blues.
The best thing to do is to try to make the best of it. I just had to cook, just to get it out of my system. I needed good food quick. Being time-pressed, I came u with two completely different dishes that had no logic to the combination. I was looking for a flavor kick. I made Thai Noodle Salad (above) and Smoked Duck Fresh Pasta Di Campagna (Below).

Thai Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

1 package rice vermicilli noodle
3 bunchs cilantro
1 large white onion thinly sliced halves
3 thai red chillis thinly sliced
1/2 cup chopped white nuts (peanuts, cashews, almonds)
3 tbs sesame seeds

Dressing:

1/4 cup roasted sesame oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbs fish sauce
3 tbs light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Method:

Soak noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain and cool. Tear cilantro bunch into quarter. Discard lower stems. Mix dressing together. Combine all ingredients together in a salad bowl and serve. Sprinkle more nuts and sesame for presentation.

Fresh Pasta di Campagna with Smoked Duck & Cherry Tomatoes. Photo by Equalizer

Fresh Pasta di Campagna with Smoked Duck & Cherry Tomatoes

Pasta Dough:

1 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Water
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt

Method: Mix well and knead until soft. Let to rest in damp area for 1 hour. Cut dough in 4 peices. Flaten peices with hand and cut long 1 cm thick strips. Roll strips with hand to round the edges. Cut strips again to make 4 cm long pecies. Hold peice with 3 fingers, press down and pull towards you. The peice will curl, creating the pasta shape. dust with flour to keep seperate and keep aside.

Pasta Sauce

Ingredients:

200 grams smoked duck breast slices
2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes
4 cloves chopped garlic
1/2 bunch chopped fresh basil
2 tbs pinenuts
2 tbs olive oil
1 tsp salt

Method:

Heat oil in pan. Add chopped duck slices, pinenuts and garlic. Sautee until duck breast is browned and duck fat released. Add tomatoes and cook on medium heat until soft and water reduced. Add salt and fresh basil and stir for another minute.

Final Prep

Cook fresh pasta in boiling salted water for 8 minutes. Drain without rinsing. Mix with sauce in a seperate bowl. Serve in individual plates. Add shaved parmesan cheese and drizzle with truffle oil.

Market Treasures

Tunisian Old Souk. Photo by Equalizer

The worst thing about shopping today is the "commercial" experience. You lose the human element and interaction and end up with a semi-robotic customer service experience, if there is any. Yes it is sometimes stressfull to bargain, but it has been like that for thousands of years and is part of the market shopping experience. Everything about shopping in traditional markets evokes the senses. The sounds of craftsman working on everything from wood and brass to beautifuly decorated tea glasses. Antique furniture, handicrafts, perfumes, jewlery, hand made items in one alley. Daily baked breads, sweets, spices, honeys and other concoctions and fine foods in another alley. You could easily get lost, but you would be more than glad to take your time to get out, unlike supermarkets. What is better than to walk around, pick your fresh farm vegetables, favorite cut of meat from the butcher, the perfect heap of mixed spices and while you are at it a nice set of dinnerware.

Jamee' El Fna. Photo by Equalizer

So you are in the market, surrounded by various goods, spices and foods, what would you bring back home?

Campo Di Fiori, Rome. Photo by Equalizer


Muhharag, Bahrain. Photo by Equalizer

The Cuisine of Ferran Adria

Photoshop by Equalizer

Starting his gastronomic life as a dishwasher, Ferran Adria didn't plan to be chef superstar. He was catapulted into fame right after he took over the El Bulli restaurant near Barcelona, Spain. His extreme curiousity in the theme of food preparation and not the way it is cooked made his food a bit, risque. Imagine eating pizza, but in fact it is not. Other items are supposed to be flavor bursts rather than food. For example a serving of three kinds of raviolis served on spoons, with such wonderful flavors such as vanilla and corn. To explore more of his creations check www.elbulli.com.

Swanky Bangalore

Leela Palace Hotel. Bangalore. Photos by Equalizer

Many have different ideas of India, mostly of grand palaces and poverty stricken cities. Bangalore, among many revitalised cities across India is changing, fast. Bangalore is the IT and technology hub of India, with outsourcing business reaching astronomical growth. Naturally with such economic growth comes in the money. Big money. Here you can catch a glimpse of how things are changing.

Food Court at the Forum Mall.



Notice Anything?

Forum Mall


Retail Shop @ Leela Galleria

Cha Bar. Tea anyone?


The Garden of Leela Palace



P.S. The Leela Palace Hotel is only 4 years old. Its a brand new building. Contrast that with new buildings in q8 :)

The Genius of Frank Miller

Title by Equalizer

The master adapter of film noir to comic books. Sin City might have been his most highly acclaimed work. I think to produce that amount of work is in itself an artistic acheivement. I would personally love to own some of his originals.

That Yellow Bastard

T Time

Munnar Tea Plantation, India. Photo by Equalizer

Driving through the winding roads upwards towards the misty and surreal tea plantation of munnar is nothing but a breath taking experience. The cool misty breeze and the undescribable greeness of the place makes you think its a dream, a true phantasmagoria. I have always seen and tasted tea in its final form, but never its original fresh form. I am sure that many people as well don't know anything about it.

Chinese mythology associates its discovery with the emperor Sin Nong, who lived in the third millennium BC. In fact the word "Cha" is Chinese for tea, chai or shai in Arabic. Tea later became an important commodity after the start of the East India Company, formed by the Dutch in 1602. At a price of around $100 per pound meant that it was only accessible to the wealthy. For those of you that don't know, it was the Dutch that first added milk to both tea and coffee. So next time you sit in a cafe' enjoying your latte you can think of the early days of the East India Company.

Ayurvedic Tea. Photo by Equalizer

It wasn't until i grew up, that I was able to enjoy drinking tea. That thing that people call Lipton is far from what good tea really is. Tea should not be that bitter. Moving into different types of tea such as Darjeeling, Assam, Oolong, Jasmine, Sencha etc. makes you appreciate the origins and different flavor profiles of each. Personally I just love tea with milk, actually hot milk with tea. This is what is called Chai Machboos, or in Kerala they would call it Chaya. The
Kuwaiti version usually comes with a few pods of cardamom to give it that aromatic flavor. Masala tea has the added anti-oxidant benefits of cinnamon and ginger.

Masala Tea (my own milder and thicker version)

Water		1 cup
Milk		2 cups
Sugar to taste
Tea leaves		3 tsp.
Black pepper		1
Cloves		1
Green cardamom powder		1/4 tsp.
Brown cardamom powder		1/4 tsp.
Ginger Cinnamon		1/2 inch 3 sticks

Method:

Boil water and add spices and tea and cook for 3 minutes. Add milk and simmer on low heat for 5 minutes. Let stand for 1 minute and pour through seive into tea pot.

Starting Your Own Art Collection

Nja Mahdaoui 1989. Tunis. Equalizer's Collection (click to enlarge)

I have always wanted to start a meaningful art collection. A collection that with time adds both artistic and monetary value to my space, may it be my room, house or shalaih. My taste is very diverse and its very difficult to display a mishmash of paintings ,sculptures, photography etc. without creating a potential clash. I chose arabic calligraphy as my first peice not because I wanted to, but because its one of those moments when you fall in love with something you get it (if you can afford it). Art to me is always an investment.

What would your art collection be like? and what would be your first purchase?

" Mahdaoui studied at the Academy Santa Andrea, Rome, and the Department of Oriental Antiquities, Ecole du Louvre, Paris. His varied work comprises paintings, prints, tapestries, designs for fashion designer Amel Sghir, book covers and book illustrations. In addition, he was selected by Gulf Air to design the external decoration of one of its fleet, 2000, and, in 2005 won a UNESCO Crafts Prize for the Arab States with a stained-glass creation. He has received many awards and has been on the committees for a number of international artistic events. Mahdaoui lives and works in Tunisia while participating in numerous conferences worldwide." The British Museum


www.nja-mahdaoui.com

CandyBar

Graphics by Equalizer

I am not usually fond of candy bars (chocolate bars) but recent arrivals with loads of scrumptious fillings and wonderful flavors makes want to try them all. Some people are addicted to the stuff you get from the supermarket, and in the process I beleive numb their taste for better alternatives. It is the same people that usually have a snickers bar with coke, which really doesn't make sense other than the fact that diabetes is knocking on their doors. However I want to compile a list of interesting candy bars, some might be accessible some not.

• Halloween Kit Kat: I guess you can't go wrong with Kit Kat. The best however when it used to be privately owned under Rowntrees. Kit Kat in the US tastes like nothing. Actually all commerical candy bars are really filled with cheap quality ingredients, its nothing but a sugar fix. The Halloween Kit Kat is mmm well interesting to try.
• Caramel Apple Retro Bar: This has chunks of caramel apple reminiscent of theme parks and carnivals from Chocolate Bar NYC.
• Aero Honeycomb Egg: I love Aero, not for the chocolate, but for the texture. Alot of people downplay texture or would not identify texture as the winning ingredient of any food item and would think it is something else like the quality of the chocolate. Perfect example would be Cadbury's Flake.
  
• Dylan's Candy Bar: Ralph Lauren's daughter has a thing for chocolate bars and decided to open her own candy super store. Looks very funky with very cool selection too. She has her very own creations along with other classics.