Lasang Pinoy Sundays: ♥y

puso ng saging

lechon kawali kare-kare

Hearty is the theme for this week's Lasang Pinoy, Sundays and I'm thinking more of hearty stews than the greeting card company's holiday. Banana blossom, puso ng saging (heart of banana) in Tagalog because of its shape is one of the must have vegetables when making the hearty ox tail stew Kare-Kare. The unusual version here with crispy pork belly confit is also good but not as yummy as ox tail.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays, a gallery of food photography, Filipino style, is hosted by SpiCes.

Food Friday: Puto Pao

are they puto or siopao?, they're both, sort of

  

Check out Maiylah's blog for more FoodFriday

Puto Pao

puto
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
¾ cup sugar  
2 tablespoons baking powder
1½ cups milk
7 egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
8 tablespoons sugar

filling
2 cups flaked or finely chopped char siu (Chinese roast pork)
2 tablespoons hoi sin sauce


topping
grated cheese
thinly sliced salted duck eggs, optional

• Grease puto molds or cups with vegetable oil or spray.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder. Slowly stir in milk and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until smooth. Set aside. 
• In a stand mixer with the balloon whisk attached, beat on low speed the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy. Slowly add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat on high until stiff but not dry. 
• Fold in the flour mixture into the beaten egg whites. 
• Mix flaked char siu and hoi sin sauce.
• Fill molds half full with batter, spoon 2 tablespoons pork filling, top with a little more puto mixture to just cover the filling. Sprinkle with cheese and add a slice of egg on top.
• Steam in rapidly boiling water for 20 minutes. Remove from molds and serve while hot.

Whole Wheat Bread: BBAC#41

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge #41: Whole Wheat Bread

I thought no bread will ever replace 100% Sourdough Rye in its ranking at the bottom of my list as the worst bread in this challenge but Whole Wheat Bread came along and promptly took its place, actually they share the position. This bread in my experience and honest opinion is a total FAIL. And to add to the failure, I couldn't get some decent photos because it was snowing and the sky overcast and therefore no natural lighting resulting in out of focus photos with ugly unnaturally gray colored slices.

I used KAF hard red and a small amount of hard white whole wheat flour, coarse whole rye flour for the soaker, milk for the poolish, vegetable oil as suggested, and didn't change anything from the recipe. I don't know what went wrong because the procedure went smoothly, the dough grew during fermentation and in the oven but the bread was disappointing. It's too bitter, dry and crumbly, no hint of sweetness whatsoever, and all I can taste was bran, bran, bran, and more bran. I hated it. I love whole wheat breads specially those with added whole grains but I refuse to eat more than a few bites of this one. A small amount of bread flour might have improved the bread both in texture and flavor, but I'm no expert so I don't know.  
 
Rating:
flavor 0
texture 0
visual appeal 1
ease of preparation 2.5
performance 1
worth 0
Total: 4.5
Average: 0.75

I got frustrated because I was looking forward to making whole wheat bread sandwiches. The next day I baked another batch using a very simple recipe without a poolish and soaker, the whole baking process took less than 4 hours from start to finish. The recipe from one of my cookbooks has 2¼ cups each of whole wheat and all-purpose flour, ¼ cup powdered milk, and has the same amount of honey but has 1 tablespoon more vegetable oil than Peter's. I increased the whole wheat flour, all hard white, to 3 cups and replaced the remaining flour with 1 cup bread flour and ½ cup very fine whole rye flour. The bread rose ever so tall, the slices are soft and not dry at all and most important the bread is very tasty with a smoky nutty flavor. There is hardly any bitterness and it's just sweet enough, it's almost unbelievable that it has a lot of whole wheat flour.

I am liking the hard white whole wheat flour for its light color and it produces whole wheat breads that are lighter in texture and milder flavor plus you get all the same healthy benefits that are in hard red whole wheat flour.

 it looks almost like enriched white bread

Pork Loaf With Mushrooms And Pistachios

This pork sausage cooked in a water bath has ingredients similar to country pate but is not spreadable. It's very good at room temperature with crusty bread or as a filling for sandwiches. The seasoned coarsely ground pork is mixed with dried mushrooms and pistachios with a layer of chicken livers and strips of ham in the middle of the loaf. Really yummy.

Pork Loaf With Mushrooms And Pistachios
1½ pounds ground lean pork
½ pound pork fat, cut into small cubes
½ tablespoon kosher salt 
1/8 teaspoon pink salt
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon garlic powder

1 shallot, finely minced

½ cup white wine
¼ cup brandy
½ cup small pieces dried wild mushrooms, rinsed well
½ cup pistachios
chicken livers
strips of ham

• In a medium bowl, mix well all the ingredients except livers and ham. Fry a teaspoon of the pork mixture, taste, and adjust seasoning. Transfer the mixture into a covered container and leave overnight in the refrigerator. 
• The next day, line a loaf pan with plastic film with a 4-inch overhang on both long sides. Spoon half of the meat mixture, tamp down with a spoon. Arrange the strips of ham right down the middle, leaving space in between. Fill the spaces with chicken livers. Spoon and press the rest of the meat on top. Cover with the film overhang. Cover the top of the pan tightly with aluminum foil. 
• Place the loaf pan in a Dutch oven, fill with hot tap water up to half an inch below the pan. Turn heat to low, cover, and cook slowly for 2 hours. (You may also bake it in a bain marie in a 300°F oven for 2½ hours. Do not line loaf pan with plastic film.)
• Remove pan from water bath and let cool for 1 to 2 hours. Remove the pork sausage from pan, slice and enjoy with plenty of crusty bread.