(Yet another) Foodie

Now that is why my last attempt to bake Focaccia on butter paper (what wax paper is called around here) was such a disaster. I need to find if parchment paper is found in Indian stores.

The main difference between waxed paper and parchment paper is their respective coatings. Parchment paper is coated with silicone to give it a nonstick, heat-resistant surface, whereas waxed paper is coated with a wax such as soybean or paraffin.

Waxed paper is not meant for use in the oven—the wax coating on it will melt if the paper is exposed to direct heat.

Link: chow.com

My last experience with Kobe's at Garuda mall was not good at all. I never visited it again for five years while Sikandar, next to it at the mall has been a regular stop whenever we were at the mall.

Tonight, on our weekend eat out dinner, we decided to try out Kobe's new outlet at koramangala. Was packed by 9pm when we reached. I tried the chicken satellite (photo above) . It wasn't bad but I have had better at Tangerine, Indiranagar.

We liked it enough to come back again.

Cafe Max at Max Mueller bhavan, cmh road has some really interesting European food.

In the picture, Italian chicken escalope in the foreground and chicken salad at the back.

I have always dreamt of making mayonnaise at home, but got put off by the almost clinical requirements to make one. Blend yolk, drizzle oil drop-by-drop, let it settle, whisk-and-pause, etc. etc.

So I was pleasantly surprised to find this video on youtube which dispensed with all those requirements and make mayo using the most unconventional method possble. He just puts all the ingredients in a certain order in what looks like a small glass and blends to magically create the mayo.

Thanks to bookofjoe, I have a reference to show for this tip in the latest edition of Cook's Illustrated, one of the best returns for one's money if you have an interest in food. Read the full post at bookofjoe for the entire experiment done by the magazine to verify this. They take a lot of care to see that their recommendations are not old wive's tales. However, the summary is:

In sum: Don't pull grapes from their stems before refrigeration. Simply discard any that show signs of rotting and hold off on rinsing until just before serving.

[Photo by: Zhao Shouren]

I had been making eggs on non-stick pans for as long as I remember, but regardless of how much care I put into it, the final taste could never be as good as the eggs Ma used to make, in her aluminium kadai.

I figured that one reason this could be is because of the unique burning that happens to food surface when cooked in aluminium cookware, which explicitly is prevented in non-stick surfaces.

So today, I fished out an old anodized pan that I had bought years back, and decided, of all the things, to make an omlette in it.

It was a disaster. Once the initial mix had settled in, there was no way I could make it move. Attempts to do so kept breaking it up, till out of exasperation, I broke it all up and made a mess of scrambled eggs instead. I obviously hid my failure by telling wife that that was what I wanted to make in the first place. :)

So what went wrong? It obviously was the seasoning of the pan. I didn't remember how to season such a pan, and so I had just rubbed oil all over and left it on the stove for a few minutes and then dropped the eggs in.

Cooking for engineers says that I need to keep the oiled pan in an oven for two hours. That is seriously never going to happen. For one, electricity is not taken for granted in India. Secondly, it is more suited for countries where using hours on electrics ovens is an accepted way of cooking. I don't think that is acceptable in any country right now.

The stovetop method in this really nice article on seasoning seems to be the way out. To try it, I need to first rescue my pan which is soaking in water to get rid of all the gunk sticking at the bottom. Apparently, that is not a nice way to treat a pan.

I will try this out and update this post with my findings. The ultimate aim is to be able to cook eggs (apparently the toughest to cook properly on such surfaces).

BTW, all the seasoning articles agree on never washing the pans after cooking. Only wiping them is recommended. I am not sure if I can live with cooking meat based stuff on pans and then not washing off with soap. Apparently, I need to season it everytime before cooking in that case. Sigh! 

 

Our Sunday dinner at Treat, Indiranagar was a huge disappointment.

After our recent move to HSR Layout, we hardly get to go to our previously regular Indiranagar hangouts. For a long time, Treat was a place where you would get consistently good punjabi non-veg food. The service was pathetic, and the owner was a grumpy man who doesn't flinch for abusing his own customers if the need arises. But the mostly authentic food made up for it. I have on occasions been ravaged by mosquitoes in the restaurant, but still stayed on to finish the food.

But yesterday it felt that something has changed for the worse. The food prices have gone up. While some old faces have disappeared, some new waiters were unusually polite. The Gilafi Kabab we ordered was masked by the chilli covering it. But the most disappointing was the mutton biryani, which had been one of our favorites over our last five years in Bangalore.

The basmati in the biryani was replaced by ordinary rice which was broken during cooking. The curry used in the biryani has not just changed colors but also taste. Overall a very average biryani. When I pointed the change to an old time waiter, he still tried to claim that nothing has changed.

I disagree. Perhaps it is time to move on.

Really really love the Choco muffin at Costa. (drool)

The new Mc Donalds Mc Spicy is an interesting challenge to the un-inspiring KFC Zinger. While the rest of Mc Donalds burgers consist of patties which have been grinded beyond recognition or any texture, Mc Spicy is a piece of boneless chicken leg where, for once, you do make out that the meat your are having is chicken. The rest of the burger is pathetic though - a splattering of mayo and infuriating iceberg lettuce. Why the heck so all fast food joints in India insist on this tasteless variety of lettuce escapes me.

We went to the Cha bar at Leela after a long time. After months of making masala tea at home with fresh ginger and cardamom, the masala chai at Cha bar tasted terribly synthetic. The least a specialty tea joint can do is to use fresh ingredients and not some stock masala tea mix. Infinitea does a much better job and is a far better value for money - they give a pot for two instead of the cute but tiny street style glass they give at Cha bar.
I ordered pakodas for the first time here while I was waiting for Dipika to finish her shopping. The pakodas were oily and a tad spicy, the spices were quite unusual. Wouldn't order again.

On second thoughts wouldn't be visiting here again. For the prices these outlets charge, Infinitea is a far better option.