Subway Chicken May Be Only 50% Chicken!

I'll admit it, I've had Subway sandwiches before. I've never had their chicken though. I've had their turkey and roast beef in my sandwiches.

But after reading this, I'm beginning to question if I also had been eating only 50% turkey and 50% beef. It seems that a test of the so-called chicken that they put in their sandwiches showed that only roughly 50% of it contains chicken DNA.

Subway's results were such an outlier that the team decided to test them again, biopsying five new oven roasted chicken pieces, and five new orders of chicken strips.

Those results were averaged: the oven roasted chicken scored 53.6 per cent chicken DNA, and the chicken strips were found to have just 42.8 per cent chicken DNA. The majority of the remaining DNA? Soy.

I have nothing against soy. I myself often eat tofu at home. But hey, I paid for chicken, and I want chicken.

So, until this is straightened out, I'm avoiding Subway for now.

Zz.

Trump Likes His Steak Well Done?

... and served with ketchup??!!!

OK, in this age of Fake News, one cannot put too much validity on silly information like this. And I may be guilty of perpetuating and distributing this piece of unverified news to all of you (or all ONE of you who currently reads this blog regularly). But I just find this hilarious.

This is a report from someone who booked a dinner at the BLT Steakhouse inside the new Trump Tower hotel (of course) in Washington DC where Trump will be dining. Since this is a food blog, I'll quote what he said he heard that Trump ordered:

The President ordered a well-done steak. An aged New York strip. He ate it with catsup as he always does. The sides and appetizers on the table were shared. Three jumbo shrimp cocktails were delivered before the meal. At one point, the President looked at his watch and remarked ”They are filming 'Saturday Night Live' right now. Can't wait to see what they are gonna do to me this week.“ It was hard to serve him because he is so funny and relaxed, it makes you laugh.

Look, people should order and eat what they want, even if it is expensive NY strip cooked to cremation. But honestly, the last time I saw someone who ate well-done steak with ketchup was a 15-year old teenage boy.

Go draw your own conclusion.

Zz.

Pho For Lunch

Had one of my most favorite food for lunch this past weekend: Vietnamese pho at House of Pho in Hoffman Estates.

When we used to live in the city (Chicago), we often go to Argyle street, which is the epicenter of Vietnamese neighborhood, and we always have Pho there. Our favorite restaurant was 777.

When we moved out to the 'burbs, it was one of the food that we missed. It is quite a trek to go back to Argyle street to get our Pho fix, so it was quite a joy to discover House of Pho. While their Phos are not as flavorful as 777, they are still quite good and give us what we have been missing.

Zz.

Apple Hand Pies

I made apple hand pies this weekend, and it turned out better than I expected.

I used a pie-crust recipe, which I've used before when I make my beef empanadas and baked in the oven. But this is the first time I'm using the same pie crust to fill it with apple-pie filling.

I made my own filling (I'll post the recipe later), and made the crust. Then the next day, I rolled out the dough and made 8 large hand-held pies. Like I said, they turned out better than I expected, and they were yummy!

I definitely will be making them again soon.

Zz.

Leg of Lamb

Sometime, some of the best food I've had are just something not so complicated.

I often roast a boneless leg of lamb. I rub it with salt, pepper, and rosemary, and then shove it into the oven at 250 F and let it roast for 90 mins to hour and a half, depending on the size, just to get it to medium rare.

Then I serve it with something simple: sliced cucumber, radishes, boiled potatoes, and chimichurri. The chimichurri is quite simple: a handful of flat-leaf parsley, 1/4 of an onion, a clove of garlic, 1/4 cup white or red wine vinegar, 1/2 cup vegetable or olive oil, a tablespoon of oregano, half teaspoon of pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Whiz everything in a food processor. Do not over-process, it is not supposed to be smooth. And voila! You have a delicious "sauce" to accompany the meat.

It is simple but oh-so-satisfying!

Zz.

Thermal Properties of Food

OK, so here's the physicist in my comes in. I found this a couple of weeks ago, and I intend to do something with it in my future posts, but I thought that I should post it here just for future references, and so that I'll know where to find it.

This paper lists the major thermal properties of various types of food ingredients. Thermal properties such as thermal conductivity is actually important because it tells you how fast heat travels through the ingredient material. The heat capacity, for example, explains why it takes so long to cook a 16-lb turkey versus an 8-lb turkey.

I'll do some simple analysis in future posts using the information in this document. But for now, let's all just sit back and marvel at all those numbers! :)

Zz.

Izakaya Sankyu

There is a popular local PBS TV show here in the Chicago area called Check Please. Each week, 3 people from the area each select a restaurant they recommend, and the other 2 will go and check it out. They then get on the show and give their reviews. This show has been going on for many years and has quite a following around here.

2 weeks ago, our favorite neighborhood Japanese restaurant, Sankyu, was one of the featured restaurants. It was recommended by a Japanese artist who was originally from Kyoto, Japan.

I'm not surprised by this, because on any given day, the predominant clienteles at this restaurant are Japanese, which attest to the authenticity and quality of the food they serve. It is why this is our most favorite Japanese restaurant.

As the name suggested, this is an Izakaya. While they serve the standard sushi, bento boxes, etc., what they really specialize in are these small plates and grilled appetizers. Think of it as the Japanese version of Tapas. You have the ability to order several of these small plates, and then share them with others if you wish (or not). This type of Japanese restaurant is rather uncommon around here, and people expecting it to be the ordinary Japanese sushi restaurant might have a bit of an adventure to wade through the menu.

We were at Sankyu last week, which was the first time we went there after the Check Please episode aired. Even though it was Friday and normally a busy day of the week for most restaurants, the restaurant was extra busy even for early in the evening after they opened. Certainly the review on Check Please may have contributed to the number of crowds there, which I'm sure is good for them.

On this last visit, I decided to scan their menu.

Already from the menu, you can tell that there are large sections of items that are not commonly found in your typical Japanese restaurants. They definitely have the standard sushi and noodles, but their "appetizers", which are the small plates, are the ones that make them distinct from others, and something that shouldn't be missed.

On this visit, our group ordered several items. This first item is Kushi Yaki Mori. It is skewers of parts of chicken including the gizzards, skin, cartilage, and butt. Don't knock it. It is delicious. And I think this was one item that one of the reviewers on Check Please ordered.

 This next one is grilled squid in ginger. Again, delicious!

This next items is the Mexican Maki. It is also not on the menu. It was on the menu when we first went there a few years ago, but even after it went away, we could still order it. Of course, this is an American invention, but it does not diminish the fact that this is our most favorite sushi roll. It has tuna, avocado, cilantro, lettuce, and jalapeno. Yum!

This is another good one, Saikoro steak. It is often cooked to perfection.

This is Shiso Maki Kushi. Again, another favorite of our group.

This is Ikura Cha. It is rice bowl, with broth poured over it, and then topped with seaweed and salmon roe. It is a small bowl, so you can eat this as you munch on the other small plates items.

Besides having their specials written on a white board (there are version written in Japanese and English), one can sometime find extra items printed on paper and posted on the restaurant walls and doors. Their special hot pots are often found this way. On they day that we visited, they had several hot pots, including Sukiyaki, which if you had followed this blog, something that we had at home just a few weeks ago. Someone at our table ordered this hot pot, and unfortunately, since it is not a menu item, I can't tell you want it is since I never checked into it. But by the end of the meal, this pot was empty, so that should tell you something.

I'm glad that they will probably get even more business after this appearance on Check Please. Still, I will miss the easy-going, neighborhood atmosphere that it had before. It will not stop us from going back, but maybe now, we may have to make reservations just to be sure! :)

Zz.

Molinillo

I love kitchen gadgets. But what I love more are kitchen gadgets that have some cultural connection, something that has been used in certain ethnic cuisine or food.

These are Molinillos. Just by themselves, they are amazing craft work. It appears that they were carved out of a single piece of wood, and the wood rings were carved right in place (there's nothing to indicate that they were slipped in after the main shaft were carved). They are amazing work of art by themselves. As you can see, I have two of these. I've used one of them, but they look way too nice to use. So right now, I have them as a kitchen decor. I use a regular whisk instead to froth my chocolate drinks.

But what they are really used for is to froth chocolate drinks in a traditional Mexican household. Frothing a chocolate drink not only cools it down so that you can drink it, but also add air/oxygen to the drink and gives it more aromatic flavor when it is drank. The presence of this froth is a sign of a good chocolate drink.

This video shows how it is done.



Zz.

Chap Chye

OK, this is one of those unsung dishes where it is typically served only at home (if you lived in a South East Asian household), and it probably has a million different variations for each household. I don't even know if this is the correct name, where it originated, or if this was the result of people simply adding things together and then calling it a dish.

I found a similar dish online, where it is called a Nyonya vegetable stew or Chap Chye. "Nyonya" is a word used in SE Asia that indicates a Chinese woman or mother, and Nyonya dishes are typically Chinese dishes that may have undergone a few local additions.

The version that I'm familiar with is not exactly this, but it is close enough. Interestingly enough, I think I've only made it, at most, 4 or 5 times in my life. And each time I made it, I didn't go by any recipe. I simply put things together from memory, and then adjusted the flavors until I think it match what I remember, or at least, as close as I could remember. It isn't that it is difficult to make, since you simply dump everything into a pot. It is just that there are a lot of ingredients, and most of the ingredients are not what you would normally find in a typical American supermarket, to say the least.

I'm not going to list a recipe (you can look it up on that link). Rather, I'll show the ingredients that I used to make this dish this past weekend.

This is cellophane noodles. This might be easier to find since I've seen them in regular supermarkets. Here, it is soaking to soften it before I add it to the stew.

There are two ingredients in the picture below, both are soaking in water. The first one towards the left of the picture is dried tofu skins. The second one, the thinner strands, are dried lily flowers. Both need to be soaked for about an hour before adding them to the stew.

These are dried wood ear fungus or mushrooms. They also will be soaked for an hour before cutting them up into bite size pieces and adding them to the soup. Interestingly enough, the flavor of these mushrooms is quite subtle. What I like the most is the texture. They become soft but crunch. If you have had seaweed salad, you'll find the texture to be similar.

Fish balls. I happen to have this brand, but any fishballs will do. I was making a large pot of stew, so I used the entire bag.

These are dried Shiitake mushroom. Also need to be soaked for about an hour, and then sliced.

This is one of the flavor base. This is fermented, salted soy bean. I used about 2-3 tablespoons of this. I mash it lightly and then added to the broth. The broth is just water and light soy sauce, with salt and pepper to taste.

I first make the broth. Once I get a rolling boil and after adding all the seasonings, I first add the wood ear fungus. I let this boil for about 10 to 15 minutes, then I add all the rest of the ingredients at once. Cook this again for another 10 minutes and then add green onions. It is then ready to serve. The stew should be a bit more soupy than a regular stew.

This is what it looks like when it is done. 

I serve this with rice. In fact, I've often ladle this into a bowl of rice and turn it into a rice soup or stew. You can also break a raw egg into the boiling stew and poach it. Serve a poach egg with the rest of the stew for each guest.

It is a very satisfying soup or stew during the cold months, which is interesting because I grew up eating this in the tropics where the weather is always hot and humid.

Zz.

BBQ Burnt Ends

I've been to a few BBQ joints in the Chicagoland area. Most are OK. But I like 2 in particular, and have returned to these two several times.

The first is a BBQ shack in Westmont called Uncle Bub's. The place itself is a hoot, with old-time country, rustic decor. And the food is consistently good. I usually get either the brisket (my stand-by favorite) or the broasted chicken. The food is plentiful and you have no excuse for leaving the place hungry.

But I have a new favorite place, and it is called Q-BBQ. There are, I think, 4 Q-BBQ in the Chicagoland area, but the one that I've been to several times is in downtown LaGrange. Other than the difficult parking during lunchtime, I really like coming here because of one very important thing - they have brisket burnt ends! I haven't seen any other BBQ joints around the area serving this. I love the burnt ends because you something can get the crispy, burnt edges that are full of smokey flavor. Yum!

The burnt edges come without sauce. It was cooked (or smoked) with a dry rub. The platter comes with hush puppies and 2 sides of your choice.

However, on each table, you have the option of 3 different sauces to add to the meat. 

I will admit of mixing the Texas spicy with the Memphis sweet sauces. Heck, I've even mixed all 3 of them together. Still, having the sauce separately gives diners the option of having the meal their way.

The burnt ends themselves are delicious, and has enough smokey flavor that one looks for in a good BBQ. I tell ya, for a BBQ joint in the middle of the upper Midwest, this is not a bad place at all!

Zz.