A Scientist in the Kitchen

I’ve been using lemongrass for a long time. In fact, this herb was my first entry to Weekend Herb Blogging. We usually use it for cooking by tying it into a knot and added to soups. Exposure to people from other Southeast Asian countries however have expanded my repertoire in using lemongrass for cooking. For them, the stalks are used rather than the whole plant. I’ve have it as appetizer, stalks cut crosswise and thinly and served with peanuts and chili. For roasting chicken, I use several stalks to fill the chicken cavity to give flavor. Recently, I joined Taste and Create and chose to cook lemongrass pork barbecue. The recipe called for making a paste out of lemongrass and chilis. It was really delicious! It brought out the flavor lemongrass really well. Encouraged by this success, I decided to roast chicken using this method. I made a paste out of lemongrass, ginger and chilis and marinated the chicken before roasting. Delicious!

–>Is cooking an art or a science?<–

I had a long conversation about this success with my Indonesian friend who is also into cooking. Let’s call her Ms. Indonesia (:)). I think making a paste really made the difference in blending and bringing out the flavors of the herbs. Tagalog cooking does not use lemongrass nor that much chilis. In Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand it is quite common to make a paste out of chilis. No wonder they have such distintive mortar and pestle. While ours are more of the Western type mortar and pestle that is similar to the mortar and pestle we use in the lab for grinding rice leaves. Ms. Indonesia says that in every meal, they have chili pastes to dip their food into. Probably our equivalent of the soy sauce and vinegar dipping sauces. It did lead us to think that the manner of cooking dishes will also characterize the kitchen. Like them making pastes, and they have this distinct mortar and pestle. In anycase, whenever I make lemongrass meat barbecues, I’ll be sure to make a paste.

Now, this post seems to have so many “paste” words, don’t you think? Anyway, this is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging this week, which yours truly is hosting. I look forward to your posts.

Lemongrass Roast chicken

Paste:
2 stalks of lemongrass
1 inch knob of ginger
1 tsp of crushed black pepper
1 pc bird’s eye chili (add more if you want)
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tbsp of fish sauce

1 whole chicken
1 cup salt

2 tbsp soy sauce
juice of two kalamansi or lemon

1. Brine the chicken first. I usually submerge it in enough water then add the salt. Leave for an hour then drain the chicken well.
2. To make the paste, pound the lemongrass, ginger, black pepper and chili in a mortar and pestle (or a food processor). Add the rest of the ingredients and leave for a few minutes. Rub onto the chicken, inside the cavity and underneath the skin. Marinate for at least 30 minutes. Just before roasting, rub chicken skin with soy sauce then with kalamansi or lemon juice.
3. Roast the chicken at 400oF. I used a turbo broiler to do this and the chicken was cooked after an hour.

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Don’t forget, I am also hosting an event to celebrate farmers’ markets everywhere. I’ve postpone the deadline to May 31 so there is plenty of time for your spring/summer harvest.

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Fried chicken skin is one of the common street foods you can find in the Philippines. In almost every street corner you will find a vendor with his cart containing a deep-fryer, frying chicken skin, wrapping them in brown bag with an assortment of dips. You have a choice of spicy vinegar dip or just a plain one. Deep fried chicken skin, crisp and golden, dipped in spicy vinegar. It’s quite delicious once you get past thoughts of cholesterol Perfect as appetizers and with San Miguel Beer.

My own version of this street food is to add a mixture of herbs to the chicken skin. The herbs make the skin rather tasty and removes the oiliness. The skin I fried to chicharon crispness, much like the chicken skin streefood around the corner.

In a bowl, mix salt, herbs and spices (I had basil, rosemary, sage, oregano powder and crushed chili). Mix in chicken skin. Slightly dredge the skin in flour and deep fry until grown. Drain in paper towels and serve with vinegar.

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Ever wondered how food markets look like around the world? Check out To market, to market…, a blogging event featuring the marketplace where we source our food. Share yours, too.

In the Philippines, almost all parts of the chicken is eaten, from the feet (grilled feet is called Adidas in street talk) to the head (also grilled, a common street called called Walkman!).

It’s another week of Weekend Herb Blogging, this time hosted by Claudia of Fool For Food (whew, lots of Fs!). This time, I am presenting the star anise in combination with another chicken part, chicken neck.

As the name implies, this spice is star-shaped and has a similar flavor with the regular anise. They are not related however, as star anise is the seed pod of an evergreen tree (Illicium verum) while anise is herbaceous (Pimpinella anisum).

This recipe I learned from my Mom who took Chinese cooking lessons when my sister and I were young. We used to live in the south of the country where there is still a Chinese community hence our exposure to Chinese cuisine. Star anise is not common in Philippine cooking but it is something our family has come to like. Our pantry will always have a stock of star anise so we could always have it anytime we want. We use any chicken parts and in this case, I used chicken neck which was available.

Chicken neck braised in star anise

500 grams chicken neck (or any other chicken part)
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp freshly crushed peppercorn
2-3 pieces star anise

Mix all ingredients together. Put in a pan and add 2-3 cups water (or just enough to cook the chicken). Bring to a boil and simmer till sauce is halved. Taste and adjust sugar, soy sauce or pepper. It should taste slightly sweetish and peppery.

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Ever wondered how a market looks like in other parts of the world? Check out “To market, to market”. Or you can share yours, too.

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It was my parents’ wedding anniversary two weeks ago. A week or so before that day, we usually ask them what they would want to eat for dinner that day. This time, Dad wanted to cook his spaghetti and some fried chicken too. Dad got his way, and cooked Pinoy-style spaghetti while I got my way to cook the fried chicken as I’d want.

I’ve always wanted to do oven-fried chicken ever since I’ve read about The Amateur Gourmet’s fried chicken which he learned from the Barefoot Contessa. The recipe called for marinating chicken overnight in buttermilk. Since buttermilk is not easily available for me, I settled for having my own marinade but following their cooking method. And since I’m in a fennel high the last few weeks (I’m trying to find different ways to cook the 500 grams of fennel seeds I bought last month, suggestions anyone?), I decided to rub fennel to the chicken pieces and keep them for an hour in the fridge.

Fennel seeds, I’ve found out, are really great with meat dishes. Fennel is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean area. The ancient name of fennel is “marathon”, because the famous battle at Marathon (490 BC) against the Persians was fought on a field of Fennel. Did you know that in Greek mythology, Prometheus used the stalk of a fennel plant to steal fire from the gods?

Oven-fried chicken with fennel seeds

1 whole chicken, cut into serving pieces

To make fennel rub:

2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp black pepper whole
1 tbsp coarse salt

Mix everything together and ground till fennel seeds are bruised. Rub the mixture evenly to the chicken pieces and keep in the fridge for an hour prior to cooking.

Note: The cooking process calls for dredging the chicken in flour then frying in oil only until chicken is browned then it is finished off in the oven.

Dredge chicken in flour (mix with 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper). Fry chicken till brown. Transfer to oven-proof pan and bake till juices are clear (around 20 minutes at 300oF).

The fried chicken was really tender and juicy and really flavorful. No need for gravy. We had leftovers for the next day and the chicken remained juicy. Move over, KFC!

For more herbs and vegetables this week in the food blogsphere, check out Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Anna’s Cool Finds.

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