Chicken Sliders

Recently, sliders have been getting plenty of attention. Pick up a fod magazine, and theres bound to be a few slider recipes in there. Restaurants are picking up on the trend as well. This rise in popularity may be because sliders seem to hit several spots simultaneously. In terms of variety for example, I would imagine a slider main course to be a trio of sliders served with some thin cut fries. Each slider being different from another, say, burger trio; lamb, chicken and beef burger all with different complimentary flavours. If a restaurant wants to kick it up a notch, foie gras slider with brioche, wagyu beef on a mini kaiser. ENDLESS IDEAS. So to partake in this trend, I created my own.



Smoked chicken slider. Nothing fancy. I wanted it to be approachable, non pretentious. What's interesting is that the chicken wasn't actually smoked. Instead, I added a char smoke powder flavour. Also some carrageenan to keep the patty juicy and hold it together without using eggs. It's smoky, crispy and oh so juicy. Another wonderful attribute of carrageenan is that it is able to hold the juices inside, helping to keep the patty crispy. I'm not a fan of soggy sandwiches. I wanted the smoky flavour te be the main attraction here, so I didn't go crazy with the extras. Just fresh tomatoes, spinach and onion sprouts.

I can just imagine, summer back porch party food.

Da Vittorio, Bergamo, Italy (3 Michelin stars)

Man was this place to die for! That was some sublime seafood. I ordered the seafood tasting which had some of the best, freshest seafood I have ever tasted. Everything was cooked perfectly. See, the difficulty in cooking seafood is getting it at the perfect temperature. Too rare, and the flavours don't come out. Too cooked, and it becomes tough, rubbery and dry. This place had their seafood cooking perfected all around. Unfortunately, some of the photos did not turn out very well. I did not want to use the flash since it might disturb people who are eating, it lights up the entire room. We all know how annoying that is, when you just want to enjoy a meal and have lights flashing all around.

This is the restaurant. Quite elegant, almost French.


The next two photos are images of the Amuse Bouche. The one below is a parmeggiano regiano ball. It's deep fried, with a creamy, semi liquid centre. The 2nd image is a slice of banana topped with a cinammon ice cream. There was also a crispy component to it that tasted like bruleed sugar.




This dish was a bit of a mystery to me because of the texture. It's scampi, and it's damn good scampi too. Served with a cream sauce and a variety of caviars. See, the texture of the scampi was almost raw, but the flavour of it was very present. It was seemed like the perfect middle between raw and cooked. But wasn't just cooked medium, it was also too cooked to be rare. My guess is this had to be cooked sous vide to get these results. Very low temperature to avoid overcooking, just enough to bring out the flavour, not too high to actually "cook" it.


Another extremely interesting dish. Cod espuma, cod broth and bits of cod. See, the bits weren't the flesh of the fish. They were the best parts, which are mostly found in the face. Parts like the cheek, lips and other bits that have that tender, melt-in-your-mouth OH SO GOOD texture.


Aahhh, main course. Variety of deep fried seafood. To a Torontonian whos been to many chinese restaurants, this somewhat looks like Cantonese chow mein. At least, that was the first impression I got. Obviously the flavours are completely different. Each seafood was allowed to shine, the flavour of each piece was exquisite and unique. It wasn't just jumbled up flavours that has that generic seafood taste. No, the langoustine tasted like wonderful langoustine, the calamari was distinctly calamari, and so on. I believe this dish is a great example of how a dish does not have to undergo complicated processes to be delicious. Just simple, but perfect technique. As Thomas Keller would say, "It's all about finesse".


On to desert. Tiers of various cookies. The first photo makes me wish I was better versed in the realm of baking. Soon! Needless to say, they were amazing. On the 2nd photo, the one that really caught me is that green semi circle. It's pistachio cream, but extremely light. It had a butter tart on the bottom and a crispy component as well, most likely candied pistachios. Very delicious.




I have to say, the presentation and general feel of the restaurant, from the ambience to the food seemed French. However, when you taste the flavours, it was undeniably Italian. I'd love to go back.

Raspberry and Bacon

This time, I started with basic flavours first, and then the form after. I'm a big fan of polvoron, a filipino pastry that originated (I think) from Spain. It is a crumbly pastry that somewhat resembles shortcake. Its flavour is quite delicious with nutty tones from the roasted flour. It is made with roasted flour, butter, milk powder and sugar. In my case, I decided to use rendered bacon fat instead of butter, and added bacon bits. The raspberry took the form of a sorbet. These should provide great contrast. You have the acidity and freshness from the raspberry sorbet and a delicous, nutty, BACONY taste from the polvoron. It's quite a treat.

Back to Basics - Molecular Gastronomy vs Comfort

When I started my job, my initial understanding of molecular gastronomy was that it is a method of cooking that involves all these high tech equipment only available to food technicians. Things like a refractometer, PH meters, vaporizers and of course, liquid nitrogen. As my knowledge grew, and took more knowledge from chefs who practice molecular gastronomy, my understanding of it evolved. I would like to say that molecular gastronomy is really just the study of food and knowing exactly what happens when you cook.

In reality, chefs have been practicing molecular gastronomy for ages! The act of cooking meat, in and of itself, is already a complicated process. Proteins denature, moisture evaporates from the meat, carmelization of the meat's surface, breaking down of collagen, and so many more physical and chemical occurances. My current interpretation of molecular gastronomy is, in a nutshell, a very basic but exact understanding of the scientific occurances in food. It is simply the pursuit of knowledge as well as using this knowledge in the kitchen. With this, chefs can manipulate, improvise, or perfect current dishes.

Molecular gastronomy is also not limited to the fancy 3 Michelin star restaurants and Iron Chefs. As I stated, it is simply knowledge. It can be part of your very own home cooking. Take this duck for example:



Defintely not as fancy in appearance if compared to dishes from Alinea and Elbulli (and I am also not at their caliber, not yet). Yet, its preparation does share some similar methods. Molecular gastronomy highly popularised sous vide cooking - to cook food in a vacuum bag, immersed in water at a low temperature. In this specific example, I placed the duck in a ziploc bag filled with some foie gras fat, thyme and shallots. I also squeezed out as much air as i could. I then immersed the bag in water at 130 degrees F for 40 minutes. This is a temperature that makes it impossible for the duck to overcook. At the end, simply sear it at high heat for carmelization.

It is simply a new tool with which cooks can use to heighten the food they create. In little ways, we can all incorporate a little bit more knowledge into our cooking. It requires no fancy gadgets or exotic ingredients, just a better understanding of the food you make.


Sous vide tenderloin with foie gras, red wine and balsamic reduction with currants. Served with crispy thin cut fries.

Liquids! Lots of em (Shooters)

Quite a colourful collection of purees, consommes and extracts. Purees of butternut squash, sweat peas, carrot, strawberry consomme, and the darker green is a cucumber extract. Any of these can be combined to make a soup. Butternut squash would be a great hearty soup served warm for the colder weather. The carrot and sweat pea purees are to die for when served cold on a hot summer's day.

Here's a shot of the cold soup shooter. Carrot puree with nutmeg, sweat pea with mint.

Strawberry Terrine

Classic pairiing of strawberries, blueberries and cream.


Devon cream is just so luxurious to have. Unfortunately something that cannot be enjoyed often due to its insane fat content, but once in a while, INDULGE. Mint cream sauce just to give it a refreshing component. The terrine is made with fresh strawberries and gelled strawberry consomme.

Food Plating

So today, I had some extra ingredients left from my previous experiments - a flank steak in the freezer, as well as some garnishes. So I decided to have fun with plating some of the flank steak.



And heres something inspired by the colours of the Italian flag.