01/17/2010
Ask and also you shall receive. Thanks to everybody who contributed insights on my small question about Portuguese-Chinese egg tarts. They're a Portuguese treat known as pasteis de Belem (a.k.a. pastel de nata) which were introduced to Macau and adopted quite heartily through the Chinese. China, particular individuals in nearby Hong Kong produced a riff by looking into making their very own Hong Kong-style egg tarts within the 1940s. The resulting Cantonese dahn taht is becoming ubiquitous with Chinese bakeries and dim sum houses.
A lot of you posted Portuguese egg tarts tips. for example where I'm able to have them within the San Francisco Bay Area, like the loaves of bread in Milpitas Square from the 880 freeway, within the 99 Ranch Market shopping mall. Amy Sherman of CookingwithAmy.com gave a hyperlink to her publish around the famous Portuguese egg tarts in the Antiga Confeitaria de Belm pastry shop in Lisbon, Portugal. That loaves of bread was the one which commercialized the tarts in 1837. Before this, Portuguese egg tarts were created and offered through the Catholic nuns from the Jernimos Monastery. (Praise the siblings!) Others pointed towards the Macao institution that’s famous for his or her Portuguese egg tarts – Lord Stow’s loaves of bread. Stowe's mix between your British and Portuguese versions may be the benchmark for Portuguese egg tarts in Asia. Egg tart fever hit Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan within the late 1990s.
I researched Stow’s and located this YouTube video that was incredibly enlightening. See it as well as in the very first minute, catch the way the pastry is folded up right into a cylinder after which pressed in to the tart covering! For individuals individuals who've the Asian Dumplings cook book – that round management of dough is equivalent to what’s employed for Chinese flaky pastry on-page 120 to create such things as Malaysian curry puffs. Now i question when the Chinese got that in the Portuguese? I’ve not observed that technique put on puff pastry in other cuisines.
Using a cylinder of folded up puff pastry-type dough (some describe it as being a Swiss roll) for that pastry, the tart covering naturally pushes upwards because it bakes within the oven. Everything heat forces the custard to puff up just like a mushroom cap so when things deflate after baking, you receive the characteristic undulating top. I understand this since i worked out five models with baking the tarts to build up my very own Portuguese egg tart recipe.
12/08/2009
For supper today, I possessed a apparently unusual combination plate of Mexican chicken tamale and Indonesian lemper ayam (sticky grain and spicy chicken covered with blueberry leaf). I'd in the freezer and with little thought, I thawed and steamed them together. The tamale originated from Mr. Cruz, a household friend that has till the recent past gifted my parents his family’s homemade tamales for Christmas. The lemper ayam were leftover from recipe developing which i did a lengthy time back I really can’t recall after i built them into (maybe – gulp – last year) but could securely are convinced that they refreshed to 85% of the original selves. It had been a wonderful lunch that delivered me to warmer climes, and that i didn't remember, for a short period, it had become around 40 levels outdoors.
If you’re a Saveur magazine readers, you might have read a brief story within the December 2009 issue about Mr. Cruz’s tamales. These were what got me making Asian leaf-wrapped parcels for the Christmas gatherings. (Both of them are leaf-wrapped, have carby insides and spicy fillings, and cooked by steam. They’re people from the global dumpling family.) When Mr. Cruz found that I had been covering him for Saveur, he am touched he designed a special batch of tamales on Thanksgiving Day and introduced on them to my parents’ house. Tamales are members of the Nochebuena (Chrismas Eve) tradition consider Mr. Cruz intends to spend that vacation in Mexico, he produced a brand new tradition of tamales for El Dia de Gracias. Here is a photo of Mr. Cruz that my Father clicked for that artist rendering within the magazine piece:
Before I left my folk’s house, I packed six of Mr. Cruz’s tamales inside a plastic bag. In Santa Cruz, I tucked them within the freezer for several days like today, when it’s cold outdoors and I wish to savor something steamy and satisfying. Dumplings surely suit you perfectly. So add too much this holidays and throw some Asian dumplings to your gifting routine. The grateful recipients will like your generosity.
09/27/2009
These deep-fried puffed dumplings are among the best things I’ve eaten inside a lengthy time. I sampled them on Saturday at Shanghai Dumpling King ( 3319 Balboa Street, between 34th and 35th) within the Outer Richmond in Bay Area. My pal Linda and that i visited for that Shanghai soup dumplings, that have been stellar, but we came away with this particular ‘new’ discovery. Sugar egg puffs are an ethereal mix from a cream puff and doughnut. They're fried wonders and never greasy whatsoever.
The youthful waitress paraded the fried sugar egg puffs (incorrectly spelled around the menu as “suger egg puff” within the dessert section) round the small restaurant on the tray so we were instantly drawn in. We didn’t would like them using the savories, but when we finished all of the dumplings, Linda requested the waitress, “Can we obtain individuals things fresh and hot?” The waitress obliged and Linda nearly burnt her tongue as she bit in to the crisp, steamy hot puff.