Vietnamese New Year (Tet)

‘Tet’ is by far the biggest holiday in our culture. Every year, my family gets together on this day, we travel to temple, make visits to our loved ones, bringing gifts. Afterwards, the party gets started with a feast of food, gambling (yes, Blackjack, etc), and being with each other. It’s a ritual that has taken place since I could remember. Each person has their own definition of the day of Tet. To me, it’s a day to start over again, like a new beginning and maybe an omen for the year to come. When I was younger, I received money from elders (aunts and uncles) in little red envelopes and used to make out like a bandit, a couple hundred dollars. Mind, you, I have a huge family! Now that I am older it is time for me to give back to my little cousins and I find myself lucky to get even a dollar!

It’s been tough since I went to college because I have always been away from my family on this occasion. It’s been refreshing of late being here in LA where half of the family is. But this year was especially strange because all of my aunts and uncles traveled back to Vietnam to celebrate. Hence, the ‘2nd’ generation, my cousins and I, were left by ourselves. We had no clue what do and it did not even dawn on me that we should have held our own ritual all together until it was too late. Afterall, we ARE the next generation, what will happen as we have children, will this tradition pass on? My cousins, Tina, Vanee, and Caroline did the best we could. The night of, New Year’s, I decided to cook for Vanee, Caroline, and some friends a meal, not necessarily representative of what we normally eat but, nevertheless an interesting effort. A menu of 5 courses, I attempted a tribute to the Year of the Pig, which was average and did not compare to the traditional poached chicken, sweet rice, caramelized fish and or/beef, pickled cabbage, ‘pork sausage’ wrapped in banana leaves, roasted pork and of course what we younger generation folk like to call ‘the brick’ rice, mung bean, peppered pork cake (Banh Trung). I apologize but I don’t have a picture, everyone who is not Vietnamese would be interested to see what this cake is like. It’s wrapped in Banana leaves and on top of the leaves there could be a lucky red envelope. We usually eat this cake for days before and after the new year. Although afterwards, we find other variations, a.k.a. frying the darned thing, yes, frying, after all we are Americanized! It’s actually very good tasty fried and I am bummed this year that I have not had my intake.

Moving on, as it strikes midnight on the new, we usually ward off evil spirits with incense throughout the whole house, bless our ancestors (my grandparents, great-grandparents) and Buddha, feed them those delights and give our loved warm wishes. My mom throws rice on our front porch to make sure we are healthy and prosperous for the new year. Some of my cousins feast at midnight as well. This year, I actually served my grandparents some of my food. I hope they enjoyed it because it was the first time they had ever tasted my cooking! The next day, my cousin Tina and I went to temple and tried to gamble and feast on some foods we bought from the Vietnamese store. I have to admit it just wasn’t the same. I really missed my family, my aunts happily cooking away, kids running throughout the house, the loud yammering of my uncles when they won gambling, and most of all, just being together. I think I learned a valuable lesson this new year, cherish your family, friends and the moments, because change is inevitable.

Salad 101

I started with a trip to Trader Joe's. In my opinion, they have the bestbbagged Salad options with reasonable prices. I accidently picked up the Herb Salad mix and did not realize it until I was prepping. I love the herbs, cilantro & parsley, this is what makes it!

Ingredients:

Herb Salad (Trader Joe's - bagged), Fuji apples, hard boiled egg, Tahini dressing with lemon, and Sesame water crackers (Carter's). The crackers give a nice texture but not overwhelming like nuts or croutons. The tahini dressing is good if you like seseame seeds( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahini). FYI, Tahini is an ingredient in Hummus.

To make the dressing:

1 cup Olive Oil**

3 T of Tahini

1 T of Vinegar (any but I prefer Champagne)

1 T of Lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

Add all ingredients but oil and mix, then, slowly whisk in oil until evenly blended.
**I used Olive Oil straight from Italy. Extra Virgin is generally for salads and cold dishes while regular Olive Oil is for actual cooking.

Dressing the salad is vital and many restaurants forget this;

Salt and pepper the greens, then add dressing sparilingly, not so that the dressing clings to the greens weighing it down. The greens should be able to stand up by itself, piling up on a plate, almost individually. Yep, perfection!

The Art of Roasting a Chicken

How many of you have had those pre-made roasted chicken from the grocery store or from a Rotisserie Chicken restaurant? Ever wonder why some are better than others, skin is crispier, meat is moister? The rhyme or reason comes from the technique and care of the chicken before cooking. I decided to do a little experiment and followed 2 different recipes from two renowned restaurants in the States. Bouchon in Napa Valley vs. Café Zuni in San Francisco. Some background info on both places: Bouchon is owned by Thomas Keller, who also happens to be the best chef in the States (in my opinion) and also runs the French Laundry (Napa) and Per Se (NY). I have eaten at the French Laundry and it is one of the best meals I have ever had, 9 courses of pure grace and beauty (www.frenchlaundry.com/index.html). Café Zuni is run by Judy Rodgers who helped with the organic and fresh approach to California cuisine. The restaurant is really known for their Brick Oven Roasted Chicken and made to order Caesar Salads. My dining experience there was pleasant but unfortunately, I did not order the chicken.

My experiment was with 4 chickens, I named them all. Piggy and Mo would be participating in the Bouchon experiment and Henry and Mabel would be volunteering for the Café Zuni recipe (www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9123872/). Two of the chickens were Kosher and the other two, All Natural, Free range. For the best tasting chicken, you should get 2- 3 lb birds. These are most likely in the category of Fryer chickens and are young, only a couple of months old. The Bouchon experiment recommends that the birds sit in a brine solution 24 hours beforehand. Understandably so, the brine is made up of salt, sugar, water, and herbs and will help with moisture as the birds cook the next day. There is an incredible science behind it, reverse osmosis, which I will not bore you with. The recipe recommends, trussing (tying) the birds which is an ordeal but pretty cool if you can master it. The Café Zuni project allows Henry and Mabel to marinate in simplicity with generous amounts of salt, pepper, and herbs for at least 24 hours. They also want the duo to cook freely with ‘no strings attached’. The salt has a way of massaging the birds and helps in keeping the meat tender after cooking.

After the birds marinate and enjoy the last few hours, the instructions are to pat them dry and place them in a medium warm plate/skillet to prevent sticking to the pan. The next step is the most important, make sure your oven is at a temperature of 450 degrees F or higher. This allows for that yummy, crispy skin. As for the recipes concerned, the cooking process coincides with each other, cooking the birds at 450 degrees F for 20 minutes, flipping over, lowering the temperature to 375 degrees F and cooking for another 20-30 minutes. Bouchon does call for basting the bird and turning it every 15 minutes allowing consistency of color and cooking.

Once the birds are done, please wait until it cools down for at least 10 minutes before cutting into it. We chefs like to call it ‘resting’ and I am sure the birds don’t mind it either. So, what should you do with the jus from the birds? Both recipes have different approaches. I like to skim the fat, baste the meat and then prepare a sauce from it. Now you are thinking which technique tastes better? Well, that’s where I say, I’m just here for information and facts, not opinions, at least not on this occasion!

The first 5K in 2007

You would think a 5K is easy and yes, it is, especially when you run 3 miles every other day but for some reason I knew this one would be difficult. This is the first out of my 5 5K’s in 2007 (see ‘my resolutions). I prepared for it, getting enough sleep the night before, not going out, and waking up extra EARLY on a Sunday (god’s day, if you will). I woke up to the sounds of pounding rain and darkness, and easily could have fallen back asleep but remembered I signed up, paid and of course, made that darned resolution. So I literally rolled out bed onto the floor and dressed myself in the usual garb with the exception of my new free Chipotle t-shirt (that says, “I’d do anything for a burrito", pretty fitting, I know...my dorky co-workers and stood hours in line for!) and off to downtown LA I went.

This is a special race in celebration of the Chinese New year – the year of the pig in which the race well represented. When I arrived, it was a constant downpour and surprisely, tons of excited runners ready to rock and roll. The festivites started off with a traditional dragon dance while 1,000 firecrackers were lit warding off evil spirits for the race and the new year. At this point, my body was only 25% wet, the gun fired and we were off. As I ran, listening to Enya on my i-pod, my shoes got heavier, my pants and shirt stuck to me and rain all over my face, I still kept on smiling. That is until I approached the hills surrounding Dodger stadium which were endless. I kept thinking, never stop, never stop running you wimp, finally… it was not until people started dropping off and I passed a few elderly people, I felt gratified. We circled Elisyan Park, crossed the 110 and back again to the beat of Chinese drums when I saw the end near, hills that went down and the finish line! I was soaked by the end and all I wanted was a hot shower, but no, alas beer in site, canned bud lights! This was the best race EVER but I refrained, settling for water, afterall it was 9 AM and I had to drive!

Overall, it was a wonderful and extremely satisfying run of my life. You see, my grandfather used to take me to watch the dragon dancers perform and the lighting of lanterns before the new year. I didn’t understand at the time and was freightened by the performance but now I can appreciate it. I thought about him and knew he was watching down on me, helping me get up those crazy hills, making sure I wouldn’t slip in the rain, and smiling with me at me in the rain. It wouldn’t have been the same without it, probably boring, at least for my first race on my 5 K adventure. Next one, I’d like to share with one of my friends…until then….keep moving…, keep running, it’s good for you.

The Kitchen, the house, the guests….

Being a chef that wanders into random people’s homes and cooks 4 to 5 course meals can be quite a crazy. The main challenge is not knowing what ‘tools’ they have, if the oven is calibrated and most importantly if they have appropriate amounts and types of dishware and utensils. At this last dinner party, I was lucky enough to cook for Dylan (a stockbroker/foodie/chef/experimenter extraordinaire). There was nothing to worry about with his kitchen. Highlights include: an industrial stove top and convection oven, a fridge stocked with condiments galore, an ice cream machine (not a suzy homemaker one), professional deep fryer, food mill, and most of all a Vita-blender/mixer!!! Holy smokes! Oh, wait, an Expresso machine too that created the scents and smells of Italy all over.

The scene in the dining room was equisite, out of a movie. Dinner was served in the ‘rotunda’, which was surrounded by stain glass windows, enclosed by a cathedral-esque painted dome and accompanied by a grandeur chandelier hanging from above. Before dinner, Dylan displayed a movie from his projector which set the scene for a laid back, fun evening. Dylan was kind enough to open a French bottle of wine from 1978. It was not the best tasting bottle and tasted a little like the earth, more graphically like soil (Sorry Dylan). However, it was an honor, knowing I was drinking wine from the same year I was born. We opened a few other bottles from Italy and California. There were six guests including myself, Dylan, Caroline, Annabel, Brad, and Nathan our resident bartender. He made us two aromatic and colorful drinks, Vodka with Tangerine (freshly squeezed) and a Cucumber concotion we conjured up over dinner. As far as the food, not my best, but hopefully tasty. We started off with French style Gnocchi, Butternut Squash and Mushrooms, then Red, White, and Blue Winter Salad consisting of red wine poached pears, white truffled fused crabmeat, and Maytag blue cheese over field greens. I experimented with 2 types of fish: Ono and Wahoo Invotini with Tomato Olive Sauce stuffed and rolled with capers, olives, crispy breadcrumbs and a medley of roasted winter vegetables. Dessert made by Dylan, crispy beignets with blueberry compote and ice cream.

It was a fun night with great people who really knew how to enjoy the beauties of life: food, wine, and NEW FRIENDS!