Matcha Souffé

 

Above: Matcha Souffé

Above: Matcha Souffé innards

Macaron, I.C., and Panna Cotta

My first plated dessert!

Top Left: Chocolate Macaron filled with Chocolate Ganache

Top Right: Tahitian Vanilla Panna Cotta

Bottom: Coconut Ice Cream on a bed of crushed almonds

Ispahan Macaron

The split second I succumbed to my constant need to concoct new macarons, I let my obsession with the Parisian treat consume me as I face the challenge of making an Ispahan macaron for the first time. I attempted, and eventually failed, at using the Italian Meringue Method to further stabilize my egg whites because a candy thermometer does not simply appear out of thin air during finals week.

Above: Macaron filled with a rose-water buttercream with a raspberry pâté de fruit and fresh lychees in the center

My macaron, as it turns out, did not need anything other than the classic French Meringue (although the Italian Method would have given me better feet and shinier shells).

Vanilla Macaron with Mascarpone filling

Above: Vanilla Mascarpone Filling

Above: Piping filling onto macaron shells

Above: Vanilla macarons with vanilla mascarpone filling

Matcha and Chocolate Macarons

J'ai gagnée!

Top: Chocolate macarons with chocolate buttercream

Bottom: Matcha macarons with matcha buttercream

Just in time for Lunar New Year...only thirteen attempts too late. In light of my new success, I vow to never contemplate on depriving my macaron recipe of even the slightest grain (or two grams, cough*) of sugar.

Above: Chocolate macarons

 Since it's my first successful batch, I decided that the macarons deserve no less than some embellishments of brush-strokes that I meticulously hand-painted. All of my hopes that my artwork would become the next Picasso came to an end once my sister insisted that I subconsciously drew cannabis on my matcha macarons, while my guests laughed nervously and brushed them off as merely palm trees. I was shooting for an abstract concept that elicits some pensive mood, but instead, I got illegal substance and Caribbean plant.

Fat

The French force-feed (gavage) their goose to add buttery texture to its liver (foie gras). The Japanese massage their Wagyu cow whilst feasting it with warm sake and soothing music to improve its appetite and peace of mind, thus produce more tender beef (Matsusaka). Both technique comes down to the ultimate purpose - to fatten.

Who says the Asian people are more ruthless?

And I write this while dreaming of the endearing embrace of Otoro around my palette.


Fat in its purest, most beautiful form.

Thao's Guide to Tasting Cheese

"Age is something that is of no importance, unless you are a cheese"

- Billie Burke

Location: Le Beaulieu, Sofitel Metropole Hanoi

This is a rudimentary photographic guide to tasting cheese. Cheese should be tasted at room temperature, from centre to rind, tasting starts from mild to strong, soft to hard - within the same category.

Sniff your cheese:

The nose is the best detector of flavor. Different types of cheese provide a variety of aroma that contributes mainly to how the cheese tastes like. Smell can evoke visualization of flavor from grassy to earthy.

Heat things up:

Take the cheese and rub it between your thumb and index finger to warm the cheese and release its aroma. This is also to evaluate the moisture of the cheese from semi-soft, semi-hard to hard.

Peruse the texture

Appearance is also an indicator of the cheese condition. Hard cheese should have a smooth interior with occasional holes but mold-free. Soft cheese is at its peak when it's sagging and ripened.

Taste

Pick a small dollop and put it on the tip of your tongue. Don't chew, taste! Listen to the cheese and savor, work the cheese throughout your taste buds. Press the cheese against the roof of your mouth and exhale through the nose to bring the scent through your nasal passages

Enjoy.

Thao Bach, C. M*

* cheese monster