No chickens were harmed in the making of this movie part 2

This time, the rolling boil was for 50 seconds, and the stand time in hot water was 11 minutes. I also covered the pot in the last 3 minutes to stop the water going below 74C.

Result. The yolk is custardy and lovely - what I was looking for. Unfortunately, the white broke apart on peeling (it went well at first, then in the last half of the peel, it started coming apart).

Next iteration for this is : 60-65 second rolling boil and 11 minute stand time. This assumes that the heat has not properly conducted into the yolk and the rolling boil affects mainly the whites.

No chickens were harmed in the making of this movie part 1

I love eggs, so I regard this as a long term investment.

I wanted to make a hard boiled egg that is firm on the outside, but very moist on the inside - almost oozing. Also, I want it to be easy to peel.

All eggs are 60g and past the age of consent.

Experiment 1.

1. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil at high heat. The water should just cover the egg.
2. Carefully deposit egg in pot and keep the fire going.
3. At the 45 second mark, turn off the fire. (the theory is that the initial phase will firm up the egg white on the outside).
4. With lid off, just keep the pot on the stove with fire off for 12 minutes.
5. At the 12 minute mark, lift egg out and shock in ice water for several minutes.
6. Take egg out and put it on a grate. Then carefully, using a blow torch, keep playing flame over the egg shell all over (not staying in any one spot for more than a split second) until shell turns brittle (there is a small color change). This step is from modernist cuisine.
7. Peel the egg.

 Results below.

Next things to try.

1. Boil egg same as above, but hold egg in fridge several hours or overnight. Crack egg all over and wash in a little cold water before peeling. No blow torch used.
2. At step 5 above, hold egg only for 11 minutes. Then repeat all else.

Almost there. Only a small corner peeled off.

Almost there as well. There is some watery white internally (ok), the outer shell is firm (ok), but the yolk is slightly too dry (I want it to be glistening moist).

Lovely egg dish for supper

As far as I know, this is my own concoction.

This is just barely hard boiled egg with several drops of balsamic vinegar, pinch of salt, pepper, and a few tiny pieces of truffle/mushroom essence.

My one problem is that the egg shells were very hard to peel with the inside being so soft/barely set.

Second try loh ark

Decent try. However, with good loh ark being available in many places and my Father-in-law being a specialist in this, not sure if worth the effort.

Meat is nice and tender. My carving skills have improved too. Loh is undersalted (that was deliberate but not kosher) and the oomph is not there (FIL actually said too much dark soya sauce? I did not use light soya sauce at all - maybe that would have gapped the difference in balance and saltiness).

Here's the revised  recipe (taking into account the improvements I intend to try the next time).

1. 1 tbspn salt, 1 tbspn five spice powder, 4 tbspn dark soya sauce. Mix well and then rub very well into duck, including internal cavity. Refridgerate overnight.
2. In dutch oven, put some oil and fry ginger (about 100g galangal and 100g ginger in thick slices) with 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 star anise until fragrant. Then put in 4 tbspn sugar and fry until sugar turns brown.
3. Put in half a cup of dark soya sauce and stir a bit. 
4. Put in duck and baste.
5. Put in 1/2 to 1 cup of light soya sauce, 1 bulb of garlic (broken apart into cloves), and enough water to just cover duck.
6. Bring briefly to boil, cover, and then insert into oven (at about 80 degree C).
7. Cook in oven overnight for at least 8-10 hours at this low temp.
8. Remove duck from dutch oven, skim off oil. Check tenderness - if necessary return duck legs and thighs to dutch oven for a further 1-2 hours (and turn up heat a little). Check seasoning and reduce liquid if necessary (after all meat is cooked).
9. Now braise eggs, tau kwa etc in the liquid. Reserve the meat in fridge. When serving, warm up in braising fluid then cut.

Useful kitchen equipment

Got new toys.

Background is a large container with a tight lid. I can use it for brining or marinating large items (such as the duck in this picture) or to put bread dough for proving.

Foreground is a plain stainless steel tray (slightly larger than A4 size in my case). I can use it to hold all my prep vegetables, spices, etc food. Or, as in this case, use it as a tray so that I can rub marinate into the duck.

In place of the container, I used to use large sized freezer bags. A waste of plastic and also messy to insert wet stuff in. In place of the tray, I used to use multiple bowls/plates to hold food prep. Also it provides a surface for me to do stuff that I used to use the chopping board (which has no lip for liquids) or large plate for.

Roast pork porridge

Not too bad.

Here's what you can do with leftover roast pork.

(for 2 persons) : put 3 slices of ginger, one star anise, half a finely (fine enough to "melt" into the porridge) chopped leek, several drops of sesame oil, 2 garlic cloves, and a bit of salt with rice, water and rough cut pieces of roast pork.

When cooked, season to taste with dark soya sauce.

Nice cold vegetable dish technique

Used this link as a inspiration for this dish.

My sesame sauce is a little darker, but still nice. Besides the toasted sesame seeds, I also added some toasted pine nuts. Also a good pinch of salt.

Quite a nice dish and it is very transportable and able to make well before hand as it is a cold dish. Should be able to adapt some other vegetable (such as brocolli) to it.

1. Blanch vegetable in boiling water until tender but not mushy (al dente in other words).
2. Immediately cool down vegetables in cold, icy water.
3. Take out vegetables and dry them in vegetable spinner.
4. Add sesame sauce, seeds, other nuts, and salt to taste.