Up, up and away!

Today was an awesome day for cooking/baking.

I took the opportunity to bake the cake inspired by the new Pixar movie "Up," from this Serious Eats Cakespy post.

Not a perfect cake by any stretch of the imagination. The cake was much denser than I imagined it would be, especially after I burnt the outsides and bottoms of the cake a little. The frosting was amazing though.

The main alteration I made to the original Cakespy recipe was using lemon zest instead of 2 tsp of lemon extract. Baking can be an expensive habit, so the thought of picking up food coloring *and* lemon extract didn't really seem worth it. Bag of lemons on the other hand? Definitely. So I zested 3 lemons and toss that into the creamed butter and sugar.

Speaking of the butter and sugar: 3 sticks of butter and 3 cups of sugar. The recipe suggested creaming the butter and sugar for 20 minutes. Yes. 20 minutes. Clearly, written by someone who owns a standmixer. Not this girl. My handy-dandy hand-mixer started to smell a little crazy after about 8 minutes, so I shut it down and let it rest a few minutes. I added a bit of extra time in between each of the 5 eggs, hoping to make up some of the remaining 12 minutes.

The original recipe also didn't have a specific number of drops of blue food coloring, so I guessed. I had about 7 or 8, but it turned out not to be quite enough. The yellow of the lemon turned it slightly green. I'd probably use more like 12 or 15 next time around.

Anyway, it looked beautiful once it was frosted. Again, lots more butter involved.

Tons of coconut pressed into the cake, and some bent DumDums pressed into the corner. Beautiful.

Inside view of the balloon cake.

Dreaming? of floating away in an adorable blue and white, coconut house with little candy balloons.

Knife School!

So last night I finally cashed in on my last Christmas gift from Jake: a knife skills course at Culinaerie, a local cooking school downtown.

I trussed and spatchcocked a chicken, then learned how to supreme an orange, and got complimented by the Chef as she walked by and saw my diced carrot (!) - though it was a bit uneven, it was much smaller and finer than the others around me. I also learned I hold my chef's knife a bit like a spaz and learned to get a bit more control on it. Nice -- sure that will come in handy long term!

What I learned most of all, is that I could not survive in a real chef's kitchen, or therefore, culinary school. I cook so much now, I have developed my own style for things, and am used to using my own tools and my own methods. I dice unevenly. This does not bother me. But my pieces, no matter how tiny, are uneven and would probably be trashed on the spot in a "real" kitchen.

The culinary arts intrigue me - especially after having read Julia Child's memoir, but I'm fairly certain that's not a path for me. I hope to continue taking "recreational" courses that focus on one skill or another, like the knife skills course, simply to learn from a real chef and boost my techniques.

A Momofuku spin on tteok

David Chang, owner of the Momofuku restaurants and writer of the cookbook, is Korean American and describes his memories of having tteok bogi as a child. 

Tteok bogi is a big favorite of Jake's, so it was a natural sidedish to go with the ssam I was cooking last night. Chang writes about his grandfather's method of pan roasting the tteok, so I decided to give it a try.

I parboiled the frozen tteok (though, I imagine if you were using fresh, you could skip this), then scraped the burnt pork off the pan and tossed in the tteok with a little oil spray.

The results? Jake and I both decided this kind of tteok isn't always for us - but would definitely be welcome from time to time. The tteok gets crisp on the outside, but are still wonderfully chewy on the inside. The grit from the pan adds a little smoky flavor to the dish.

Pan-roasted tteokbogi, inspired by the Momofuku cookbook. I made the sauce the way I usually do (diverging from Chang's recipe here) in a separate, small saucepan and poured it in at the end of the dish, then allowed it to thicken.  Bring 2c water (use the water you par-boiled the tteok in, to capture any starch that may still be left - it will thicken your sauce nicely), 2-4 TBS gochuchang (Korean red pepper paste), 2 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 TBS sugar to a boil, then reduce to about 1 1/2 c. It should coat the back of a spoon and drip slowly, more of a syrup than a total liquid.

Momofuku inspired ssam

Finally back to the cooking! I finally used a gift card from the end of my last internship and put it toward a big ticket item: the Momofuku cookbook. 

In truth, I've never eaten at a Momofuku restaurant. But after just an initial flip through of the book (which is full of recipes, and also the well-written back story of the chain), I think I'm going to have to make it a destination on my next NYC trip. 

I made ssam tonight - which is the feature of one of Chang's restaurants, and one of the items we made on the grill at mine and Jake's recent trip to Hee Been. Being, as previously discussed, one of the worst Korean's in the world, I couldn't actually explain the differences between bossam and ssamgyapsal - in my eyes, they are both sliced pork belly wrapped in lettuce leaves and served in doengjang or ssamjang and grilled garlic. The term "ssam," as best I know, simply returns to the "wrap" portion of the dish.

Following the direction from the Momofuku book, I prepared the sliced pork belly with salt and sugar. I gave it a few cracks of pepper for good measure.

Pork belly acts a bit like giant slices of bacon. It gets crackly and delicious when tossed on a screaming hot grill pan. The pork belly I bought came with the skin still on. I sliced it off, and threw it into the freezer with my many "for stock" odds and ends.

Most Korean restaurants serve thinly sliced raw garlic with their barbecue dishes. It can be a little intense, so it's common at table-top grilling places for people to throw the garlic on the griddle, like I did here. The garlic grills in the excess fat from the pork, and turns brown and sweet.

Ssam pork, grilled garlic, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste) and lettuce for wrapping. Layer everything inside the lettuce and pop it into your mouth! 

Dreaming? of my future meal-to-be at one of the Momofuku restaurants. 

PS - if anyone can actually explain the difference between bossam and ssamgyapsal, PLEASE do so in the comments! I'm dying to hear the truth on this! 

Late night hunger, conquered by quinoa

I've had a small bag of quinoa sitting in my pantry for a few months now, and being hungry and not having grocery shopped since coming back from Disney, I decided late last night was the time to use some of it up. 

People have really differing opinions on how to cook quinoa. Mine's from the raw food bins at Whole Foods, so I rinse mine really well before using it. And since I'm usually not making much more than 1 cup at a time, I usually cook it stove-top with about 1.5 to 1 water to grain ratio. 

I seasoned this with some red chili flakes, season salt and paprika, brought it all to a boil and let it cook on med-high with a lid for 10-15 minutes until all the water is absorbed. I stir mine frequently throughout, to make sure the seasoning is evenly distributed and to check on the kernels to see if they've popped yet. 

I also sliced some string cheese into the quinoa and threw in a handful of cashews. YUM. The salty mozzarella brought out the seasonings, and the cashews complimented the nuttiness of the grains. I plan to make a larger batch of this tomorrow with some spinach and bake it so I can take it for breakfast next week!  

Red Quinoa dish:

1 c quinoa

1.5 c water or broth (or half/half - I used about 1/2 c homemade stock)

season to taste with paprika, season salt, chili flakes or other herbs of your choosing

1-2 string cheeses sliced, or about 1/3 c shredded cheese of your choosing

1/4 c toasted cashews (you could probably use any nut you had on hand for this)

Bring grains, water and spices to a boil. Cover and continue gently boiling 10-15 mins until all water has been soaked up, stirring occasionally. Layer cheese, quinoa, cheese, quinoa to help the cheese melt, then stir in nuts. 

Optional: mix in 3/4 c chopped dry spinach, and bake at 325 up to 10 mins.

Welcome Home Gifts!

So, there hasn't been much to report, as I didn't do much cooking in Disney World over the weekend.

But, I came home to 2 marvelous surprises.

First, former Washington Post intern classmate Morgan dropped in this week and gifted me a beautiful handmade apron. It's made out of oil cloth, so it'll wipe clean, no matter what I spill or drop on it!

Next, Jake surprised me with the adorable panda dip bowl I tweeted about earlier. Naturally, I loaded it up with pineapple fried rice and went to town.

The other KFC!

After seeing some really great looking recipes from DC Tasting Table, I decided to embark on my own adventure to try to master the sweet, sticky and spicy. It was also a good way for me to use my wok for the Serious Eats Weekend Cook and Tell.

Some pre-Superbowl reading led me to attempt steaming the wings first for super juicy chicken. 

I used a batter recipe from Viet World Kitchen. I haven't had too much success with battering and frying before, but this seemed to work out pretty well!

Big wok-ful of oil on medium high. Carefully sliding the steamed and battered chicken into the oil, turning after a few minutes to crisp the other side.

The sauce has a gochuchang base, then mixed with honey, garlic, ginger, rice vinegar and a little hot water. Arrange the chicken in a pie pan or 9x13 pan and brush the sauce. Bake at 350 while the others are frying. Turn after 5-7 mins, paint the other side with the sauce.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and sliced scallions. 

Then say, NOM! :) Korean sweet, sticky, spicy goodness. The steaming was perfect - the chicken was tender and juicy, and the wok was a perfect place to fry up crispy outsides that soaked up the sauce perfectly. 

Dreaming? of my weekend off from cooking at Disney!

Carbonara and popcorn

After that last post, I was feeling a little nostalgic about cooking, so for dinner Monday I made carbonara. 

When I moved out of the dorms after my freshman year, I had my very own kitchen for the first time. I was just getting into cooking, and suddenly I had my own little workshop. Carbonara was one of the first dishes I learned to make. I had never had it before, but read about it in an interview with Rachael Ray.

She talked about carbonara being the dish that her husband fell in love with her over. I think, at the time, I had hoped this dish could have a similar effect for me. It might or might not have, but Jake is definitely another huge reason I cook - so we can enjoy some really fun meals. (Though I strongly suspect if asked, he'd say tteok-bogi is like carbonara for us)

I still follow RR's recipe, almost exactly to a T (I add an extra egg yolk and about 1/3 c boiling water to temper the eggs), and love it every time. 

My other recent food adventure was trying to pop my own popcorn. For this, I followed Michael Ruhlman's recipe and technique.  I had mixed results - my first pan was far too large, and so didn't heat properly, and half the popcorn burned. I used a smaller pot the second time, and had beautiful, buttery salt delight in no time.

Dreaming? Of my "spring break" trip this weekend - I'm headed down to Disney World to visit a friend from high school for a long weekend! Excited to spend 2 full days outside, walking and being WARM!

Why I cook

A great blogger/food author I follow on Twitter, Michael Ruhlman, has inspired a flurry of posts about why folks cook, so here's mine.

Why do I cook? (thought it's really more, why am I learning to cook - have only been at it 5 or 6 years, really 2 or 3 seriously)

• First and foremost, I absolutely love food. I love delicious food, spicy food, savoury food, and sweets. 
• Not to knock my parents, but they have a much milder palate than I do. By 14 or 15, I was craving full-bodied flavors that went beyond the normal repertoire in our house.
• After spending a summer in Korea and working part-time in the kitchen of an unwed birth mothers' home, I now frequently cook Korean food. I'm adopted - so there aren't a lot of aspects of my life that are "legit" Korean, but I consider food to be one of them. Cooking, and learning to cook Korean (which, oddly has mostly taken place via the Internet -- there are fantastic Korean cooking video blogs out there), is a way for me to stay connected with a heritage I might not otherwise have. 
• My parents were never big "processed foods" types. I didn't experience Mac and Cheese out of a box until I was probably 10 or 11. I didn't even know mashed potaotes CAME in a box until a year or two after that. This continues to be the case - I make my own pasta sauce, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, taco seasoning - among other things. I try to rely on fresh foods and more importantly, real foods. 
• I'm poor. Cooking at home means I can pack a lunch 5 days a week -- without relying on PBJ sandwiches and potato chips (which, I'm not really a huge fan of anyway, much less than every day!). In high school, I worked a lot over the dinner hour and quickly tired of relying on drive through BK or a Subway run, so started getting creative with the leftovers in my parents' house. 
• Cooking is also very social. I think some people have this horrendous, out-of-date image of housewives slaving away in the kitchen -- ALONE. For me, cooking is about sharing food with the people you love, and learning and exploring new meals together. 

So, when I look back over the past two years or so, there have been really dramatic changes in the way I eat, because of the way I cook. My cooking style ranges week to week - sometimes I'll try something that approaches the level of gourmet and fancy, other times we eat fajitas and bulgogi most of the week. I like to make dishes that are unexpected - like red velvet cupcakes, carbonara or a Korean dish -- and share them with friends who might not have otherwise tried them. And I am SO thankful for the Internet for providing me with the resources to learn to cook.

My kitchen wishlist

One month later, I'm all moved into a great new place, my new kitchen is set up, and I've been cooking like mad.

I haven't been spending as much time perusing the websites of William Sonoma or Crate and Barrel, because, well, I'm pretty much set! (sidenote: this was NOT necessarily the case during #snomageddon when I was literally running out of things to do)

But, the past week or so, I've noticed there *are* a few things I could do with.

So, here it is, my new Kitchen Wishlist:

• apron -- I keep cooking in old T shirts, all of which are now stained or oil splattered. It's becoming a nuisance, and wish I had an apron or two for clothing protection. Needs to be of durable material, so stains won't soak throw, and dark colors, so it doesn't get ruined the first time I use it. 
• Large, wide bowls. With the amount of mul naeng myun, and now pho, I eat at home, I need to stop eating of my mixing bowls (which, is too narrow, and I end up making a huge mess). I had some great ones (OK, they were plastic, but at least the correct shape) at my last place, from the dollar store, but I think they got thrown out. 
• Kitchen timer - I bought a $7 one at Target, and surprise surprise, it broke after about a week. Because my oven isn't that accurate, I just keep a close watch on things anyway, but it would be nice to know HOW LONG things have been cooking for.
• Sugar bowl - I love the tupperware set I have for storing flours, sugar and salt, but there is something that says to me "this is a home" when sugar can be stored in a beautiful little jar or bowl. My mother has a very distinct one, my grandmother has a very distinct one -- it's just something that feels important. And would be convenient. :) 
• Tiles - I recently saw a post about using simple tiles as a pizza stone and to moderate heat in your oven. My oven is notoriously bad for having even heating (as proved Sunday with burnt outsides and wobbly insides on my first attempt at pound cake). The concept of having an accurate and evenly heated oven sounds wonderful.