Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: Burgers Etc. BBQ House    
4091 Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
604-299-8959
http://www.burgers-etc.com

Voted as the “Best Burger” by viewers of CTV news, Burgers Etc.’s burgers indeed live up to its fame. There are only two types of burger on the menu – beef and chicken. Like other burger joints, you are given toppings such as bacon, cheese, sauteed mushrooms, sauteed onions etc. I loaded my beef burger (who would eat chicken burgers where there is beef?) with cheddar, mushrooms, onions, lettuce, onion, tomatoes, mayo and the ULTIMATE topping: a perfectly fried egg. When the server brought the burger to my table, I couldn’t stop being amazed at how huge it is! It was gigantic; it was ONE FOOT in height:

Okay, maybe the burger was not a foot tall, but after multiple greedy attempts, I finally concluded there is no way I am able to take one complete bite out of it. What followed was the classic messy burger-eating experience with juice dripping down my wrist and toppings falling all over the table. But I didn’t mind making a mess as only good burgers could be eaten messy.

Besides burgers, there are also perfectly barbecued pulled pork and beef briskets:

Oh yeah, did I mention the fries? The fries come as a side but we upgraded it to chili fries:

In the past, I have tried other burger joints that claimed to have “the best burgers in town” and every time I was disappointed. Burgers Etc. is an exception and I was lucky enough to learn about it – perhaps not so lucky for the cows though as I plan to go back again and again and drag along just about anyone.

This is for you, L, who has the best taste in burgers and who I dragged to have gigantic burgers twice in 3 days.

Location: My tiny kitchen

About a couple of months ago I made a mango cheesecake and after I posted a picture of it online, many people asked me how it was plated. I remember my reply to everyone was, “it’s easy!”. Although appears fancy, the mango cheesecake was plated with only a few simple tools using a little amount of time.

For those of you who asked me how the plating was done: read the following steps so that you’ll know I’m right about how easy it is

Before you begin, you need to take 3 package of 8 oz cream cheese (24 oz in total) and 3 eggs out of the fridge and leave them at room temperature. Do not begin baking until these ingredients are warmed up to room temperature. Having these ingredients at room temperature is important for creating a smooth cheesecake.

Turn the oven on for 300F.

You will need 4 mangoes. Slice the mangoes in half and discard the middle section containing the pit. Using a spoon, spoon out all the flesh.

Using a hand blender, blend the mango flesh into a puree.

To ensure a smooth texture, pass the mango puree through a sieve.
Mix in 2 tbsp of lemon juice.
Taste the puree to check how sweet it is. If you find the puree too sour, add in sugar a spoonful at a time until you think it is sweet enough.

With the mango puree ready, it’s time to prepare the crust. I go for the lazy way – mix out-of-the-box graham cracker crumbs with butter.

In a bowl, put in 1 and 1/4 cup of graham cracker crumbs. Mix 1/4 cup of melted butter into the crumbs.

Press the crumbs firmly into a 9” springform pan. Push the crumbs 1” up the side of the pan.
Put the pan into the oven and bake the crumbs for 10 mins.
Let the pan cool down after the crumbs are done.

In an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese at medium speed for 3 minutes.
Put in 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to beat for 5 minutes until the cream cheese is fluffy.
Add in eggs one at a time. Add the next egg only when the previous one has been fully incorporated into the cream cheese.
Add in 1 cup of the mango puree. Save the rest for later use.
Add in 2 tbsp of flour.
Add in 1 tbsp of vanilla extract.
Add in 1/4 tsp of salt.

Cover the bottom of the springform pan with aluminum foil. Pour the cheesecake batter into the pan. Run the batter back and forth with a knife to release air bubbles. When running the knife through the batter, be careful not to run the knife too deep into the batter and scrap the crumbs off the bottom of the pan.

Pour an inch of hot water into a huge baking pan. Place the springform pan into the baking pan.

Bake at 300F for 1.5 hour. After 1.5 hour, turn off the heat and leave the cake in the oven for 20 minutes with the oven door ajar. To check if the cake is done, gently shake the springform pan – the cake should be solid on the edge and giggling a little at the centre.

After leaving the cake in the oven with no heat for 20 minutes, take the cake out and place the pan on a wire rack to cool.

Once the cake has been cooled down completely, put the cake in the fridge for 5 hours before cutting it.

Now the fun begins. To plate the cake, you will need the following:

- Raspberry sauce filled in a squeeze bottle.
- 1 chopstick
- A spoon
- The mango puree which you saved earlier
- A plate (of course!); preferably square in shape

Put 2 tbsp of mango puree in the middle of the dish. Draw a yellow circle on the dish using the bottom of the spoon.
Using the squeeze bottle, draw an inner and an outer circle on the dish.

And a secret is now revealed (drum rolling): to make the “spider” pattern, use a chopstick and make one swift and steady stroke from the centre of the yellow circle to the outside. I usually make 4 long strokes by ending the chopstick outside the yellow circle. Then I make 4 short strokes by ending the chopstick right at the edge of the yellow circle.

To add the finishing touch, I place a dot of raspberry sauce at the end of each stroke.
Put a slice of the mango cheesecake on the pattern and there you have it:

Location: My tiny kitchen

In addition to the crab cakes, these almond panna cotta take a good amount of time and effort to prepare. Like a regular panna cotta, these almond panna cotta are creamy cakes made with milk and almond puree. To create a very fine texture, the almond puree are first passed through a sieve and then squeezed out of cheesecloth. What I like most about this dessert is it could be eaten as cakes, or drunk as a traditional Chinese sweet almond soup.

This is for you J, who is the absolute lover of sweet almond soup and who gave me the key to making this dessert

Picking the right type of almond is one of the tricks in making this dish. I used the big, fat almonds imported from Turkey the first time I made this dish. The Turkish almonds were very good in quality but they didn’t give me good results. The dessert had a grainy texture and you can hardly smell the almond fragrance. After doing some research, I discovered that the Chinese Southern almonds are usually used. In particular, the Chinese Southern King Almonds give the best result.

Note: Do NOT use the Chinese Northern almonds for this recipe. The Chinese Northern almonds have a slight poison to them.

This recipe makes 4 cups of sweet almond soup, or 4 cups of almond panna cotta.

In a glass bowl, soak 2 cups of Chinese Southern almonds and 1/2 cup of rice in water. Soak the ingredients for at least 24 hours.

Once the almonds and rice are ready, pour out the water and rinse the almonds and rice under cold water. After rinsing, pour the almonds and rice into a quart pan. Fill the pan with 6 cups of water. Using a hand blender, puree the almonds and rice until they turn smooth.

You can also do this using a blender by pouring the almonds, rice and water into the blender and puree until smooth.

Bring the almond, rice and water mixture to a boil. The mixture overflows very easily once it comes to a boil. It takes about 9 minutes for me to bring the mixture to a boil using a gas stove over high heat. I usually stand next to the stove after 7 or 8 minutes. As soon as the mixture starts to boil, I immediately turn the heat down to low. Let the mixture simmer over low heat for 1/2 hour or until the mixture turns thick.

Once the mixture turns into the consistency of a thick sauce, turn off the heat.

Pour the mixture through a sieve, stirring the mixture with a wooden spoon will help the liquid to pass through the sieve.

This is how the liquid looks like. Let the liquid cool down to room temperature.

Once the liquid has completely cooled down, pour the liquid into 2 layers of cheese cloth. Squeeze the liquid out of the cheese cloth. Be careful not to let any almond or rice piece to drop into the liquid.

Pour the liquid back into a clean quart pan. Pour into the mixture:

- 1 and 1/3 cup of evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1 tsp of almond extract

Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat as soon as the mixture boils.

This is the first version of the dessert – Chinese sweet almond soup. This soup is best drunk hot. It is smooth, creamy and full of almond flavour. I like my soup a little thicker and the rice did the trick of creating a slightly thick consistency.

Not satisfied with drinking just soup? Let’s make some panna cotta out of this soup! By now you should have 4 cups of almond soup. To turn the soup into solid, you will need 2 tbsp of gelatin powder. I’m using the Knox gelatin powder and it claims that 2 packets of Knox gelatin powder is equivalent to 2 tbsp of gelatin powder:

Stir the gelatin powder with a few tbsp of water. Stir the gelatin liquid into the almond soup while the soup is hot. Pour the soup into a container. Once the soup has cooled down to room temperature, refrigerate the soup in the fridge for a few hours or until it turns solid.

I just cannot resist the temptation of using my heart cookie cutter to make some heart shape panna cotta

I also couldn’t resist asking my family and friends to give me their preference between the soup and the panna cotta. Most people say the soup is creamy and rich, while the cakes are refreshing. Whether served as a soup or cakes, I just love this dessert.