Archives of TECHNIQUE

Eclairs mirabelle

Eclairs On My Mind

Everybody loves choux these days. At first I wasn’t a fan. Not until I tried choux with the modern, crunchy craquelin, which transformed choux buns and eclairs from soft and neutral to crumbly, textured and sweet. And when you see artists like Cedric Grolet work their magic creating a hazelnut loaded Paris Brest who wouldn’t want one? […]
10 years ago

Technique: How to clean a squid

I cleaned two buckets of squid at the restaurant, got squirted in the eye with its black ink, and to remember it all, drew a little step-by-step to show the process. I hope you find it useful!
12 years ago

Technique: How To Cut An Artichoke

How to Cut an Artichoke, the Roman way. Early in the morning at Campo de Fiori, aside from arranging the fresh produce, the vendors are busy trimming the seasonal favourite of Italians: the artichoke. While both small and large artichokes are available whole, the trimmed artichokes, ready to cook, are also on offer. This is […]
14 years ago

Technique: How to make mascarpone cheese

Last week was a fun week filled with lots of experiments in the kitchen. I had the strongest craving to replicate the Tiramisu that I ate on my first evening in Verona. That Tiramisu changed my life (more on that in the Tiramisu post).  Tiramisu is generally about assembling ingredients: readymade mascarpone, and store bought […]
15 years ago

Technique: Candied Orange Peel

Ever since my friend sent me candied orange segments from one of Madrid’s oldest sweet shops, I’ve been on a wild goose chase to find that flavour. I tried candying segments, but that didn’t work as I imagined. I ended up with sticky yet delicious syrup that I could add to drinks, but had to toss […]
15 years ago

Technique: How to make Vanilla Bean Sugar

Remember the time I told you about sticking in the used pods of vanillas into a jar of sugar to get sweet smelling vanilla sugar? Now, what if I told you that I’ve got you something even better? Something that smells more potent, something that comes with the gorgeous specs of vanilla caviar, and something […]
16 years ago

Technique: Hazelnut Extract

If you’ve hung around here a while, you’ll know that I’m pretty obsessed with hazelnuts (hazelnut cheesecake, hazelnut truffles, hazelnut cake, Nutella cookies, Nutella cupcakes, being some of my favourites). And to think that a hazelnut fanatic like me can’t find some quality hazelnut extract around here is a total shame. After reading up on […]
16 years ago

Technique: Grow your own lemongrass

I love the smell of lemongrass: fresh, clean and zesty. My favourite way to use it up is in this lemongrass drink that I learned from one of my favorite local restaurants. Back then, lemongrass was a hard-to-find ingredient and since I’d never tried it in a drink, it was difficult for me to figure what the […]
16 years ago
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