Ultimate Burger Part 3: Truffled stuffed with bone marrow

The feedback for the marrowed hand chopped burger has been pretty good so far with only a few who obviously didn't like it too much but were ashamed to say so. How can some people not like a juicy hand-chopped burger from aged tenderloin and stuffed with bone marrow? Because they are used to eating a well-done burger. So now, I have to discriminate who to offer it to and inform them in advanced that the burger cannot (and will not) be cooked above medium. It would be pointless to cook the Chef's Burger (thats what its called in the restaurant) above medium because it will melt the bone marrow into oblivion.

The truffle sauce with the marrow in the burger was an excellent combination but when served with tomatoes, gruyere and bernaise as such in the first burger post, the flavor of the truffle gets lost. Thats the reason why the previous truffled version (see post) was not served on a bun as the mushroom sauce will make the nice bread too soggy and it can't be eaten with the hands (the proper way of eating a burger).

After eating Lusso's foie gras burger with slices of white truffle (see post), I simply got inspired again to do this version: a truffled marrow burger with caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms with a blue cheese sauce. Cheese and truffle always work well and this combination was magical. After the second try, I believe i have come up with the final version of the ultimate burger. The first try lacked something which I could not figure out, the second try, i took out the mushrooms and used a better cheese for the sauce, a Fourme d' ambert, which was the only blue cheese I could find at Santi's. The result: Wow! The rolling of the eyes from the orgasmic mouth watering umami sensation of the combination of truffle and bone marrow and now with the blue cheese sauce happened again. I also realized the mushrooms intruded a bit with the texture of the burger, because its softness took away from the crustiness of the outer part of the pattie and it became confusing with the softness of the inner part of the medium rare cooked burger. The sweetness of the caramelized onion also played a part in the overall flavor of the burger.

Is this really the final version of the ultimate burger? I've got some foie gras in the freezer.

Arroz Con Pollo Picante

Arroz Con Pollo (Chicken with Rice) is a traditional Spanish dish which is very popular in Latin America where most countries were colonized by Spain. I still wonder why this very simple and comforting dish never took off in the Philippines. The Spanish version is very simple and consists of basically just chicken and rice cooked in chicken stock and usually flavored with saffron. Most Latin American versions consist of other ingredients such as chorizo, cheese and chili and other spices and in some caribbean versions, fried plantains.

The following recipe was adapted from the cookbook The Border Cookbook by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison.

4 chicken legs and thighs or 1 whole chicken cut into pieces

1 tsp cumin (toasted and ground)

1 tbsp ground ancho chili or chili powder

1/2 tbsp spanish paprika

cayenne pepper

dried oregano

2 pieces good chorizo (i get mine from Alba's)

3 cups white rice (calrose or japanese) washed and drained

4 to 5 cups of chicken stock (some people prefer the rice to be very soft and sticky)

1 large red onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 small tomatoes, chopped

sliced black olives

frozen peas

a few threads of saffron

chopped flat leaf parsley

olive oil

salt

Marinate the chicken pieces in the cumin, chili, paprika, cayenne pepper, oregano and olive oil for at least an hour. Add some saffron threads to 1/4 cup hot stock.

Right before you Sauteé the chicken pieces, add some salt and then sauteé in a large pan or wok till lightly brown and set aside.

In a dutch oven or any oven proof pot, sauteé the onions and garlic until soft and translucent.

Add the uncooked rice and stir until the rice absorbs the oil.

Arrange the chicken pieces on top and then add the chopped tomatoes.

Add the stock (it is better to add a little bit more salt as the rice will absorb much of the saltiness of the stock) and saffron.Bake in the oven at F350 degrees for one hour. While the pot is baking, slice the chorizo and fry til cooked. After one hour, remove from the oven and add the chorizo, peas and olives into the rice. Make sure the chorizo is equally distributed because its flavor will give a wonderful kick to the rice. Cover and leave out of the oven for 30 minutes.

Arrange the chicken places on a serving plate or you could also individually plate. Garnish with chopped flat leaf parsley.

Truffled Bone Marrow Quenelles

From Wikipedia: A quenelle is mixture of creamed fish, chicken, or meat, sometimes combined with breadcrumbs, with a light egg binding It is usually poached.

I’ve had a recipe for bone marrow dumplings in a cookbook, The Beef Edition of Time/Life's the good cook series, which are added as a garnish on top of fresh corned beef. I’ve had this cookbook for years and when I finally decided to do the recipe, the dumplings had trouble keeping its shape when poached. Further research on the Internet, I found a recipe and several attempts and adjustments, I finally came up with my own version.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I discovered the heavenly combination of truffle and bone marrow at Pepato where the whole bone is served with garnish on the side sea salt and truffle sauce. I also found this post by Market Manila very useful wherein the sliced bone marrow is soaked in a brine solution (water and sea salt) for 24 hours. In my past usage of bone marrow, I had a few instances wherein the blood would give a slight ‘langsa’ and a bit of an aftertaste. This brine solution process removes the blood and the impurities of the bone marrow giving it a cleaner taste.

This quenelle is added to beef consommé giving an added dimension to an otherwise plain clear soup. I then garnish the consommé with some fine chives. One time, I had some leftover quenelles and coated them with egg white and breadcrumbs then deep-fried them. The result: crunchy texture on the outside and divine soft fatty orgasmic goodness inside.

100 grams beef bone marrow

1 tbsp unsalted butter

½ cup dry white bread crumbs

1 tbsp cornstarch

½ tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

2 egg yolks

1 tsp truffle sauce (salsa tartufata)

sea salt and pepper

In a mixing bowl, crumble and break apart the marrow and butter.

Mix in all the other ingredients until it becomes a dough.

Using two spoons, shape them into oval balls around an inch in width. Place the quenelles in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes.

Poach the quenelles in lightly salted boiling water. As the quenelles rise up to the surface, continue poaching for 2 more minutes.

Drain and set aside.

Chariya's Thai Kitchen

People's Palace in Greenbelt is easily one of the best restaurants in the country. Its fine way of cooking with the freshest and imported ingredients is very evident in the fine taste of their food. The fresh green peppercorns on the green curry is magical. It is a bit pricey too compared to other Thai restaurants but the difference is in the taste and you get what you pay for. In past years, we had flavors and spices and sukothai, two wonderful Thai restaurants that are gone.

In recent years, many people are raving about a small little thai noodle house near Rockwell, non-airconditioned and cheap. Honestly I disagree with most people's take on the noodle house (and how it made it to this year's Miele Guide I don't know). The food is cheap and it tastes cheap. The food lacks taste. I once ordered a noodle soup dish with pork for take out, when i got home which is around 200 meters away, the soup turned red. How does a soup turn red? When the supposedly cured pork was colored with red food coloring! Sometimes we get fooled with the novelty of the restuarant and we want to think it tastes good when it reality, it does not.

Next time you make a trip to this small noodle house, you may want to drive (or walk) a little bit further to N.Garcia street (formerly Reposo street) and try another Thai place that is similar but is much more authentic and tastes much better.

I first heard about Chariya's Thai Kitchen reading Reggie Aspiras column in PDI. Chariya Thaikupt is a Thai cook who apparently used to cater and give cooking lessons and now has her own restaurant. Chariya's is an open air restaurant but very clean. One wall shows pictures of the King of Thailand showing some real authenticity. The menu is small and very simple and I've gone through most of the items already.

The Tom Yung is of good quality. You could taste the flavors of lemongrass and galangal, not too spicy and very savory. Far from what you would get at People's Palace or Thai at Silk in Serendra but still better than what you would get at that overrated place near rockwell. A few cilantro leaves would have made this dish much better.

The red curry is not too heavy and is a bit on the sweet side. I had to add some thai patis to balance out the sweetness since thai (and asian) food is all about balancing our basic flavor senses (sweet, sour, salty). Just a few drops of the patis, the dish became perfect.

The chicken/seafood in thai hot basil is excellent. It was very savory and bursting with flavors from the lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, shrimp paste and basil. This item reminded me of Sukhothai's and this dish is just a notch below People's Palace's and even better than Bengarong's in Dusit Manila. Funny thing was that it tasted better the last time i ate it compared to the first time. This is also the case with the Pad Thai. The first time I had it, it was devoid of much flavor and very dry, the last time, the Pad Thai tasted better.

My first bite of the pork salad, I thought it wasn't good. The pork lacked tenderness and there was something off about the mix of flavors, but then I found myself devouring the whole salad. What was a bad mix in the beginning grew on my taste buds and it a nice balance of sourness, saltiness and a bit of sweetness with the bite of the raw red onions was a great medley of flavors that is addicting.

The saté at Chariya's had huge pieces of chicken. This was far from the best sate i've had. I thought it was a bit dry and the sauce could use some more peanuts but again, I found myself finishing the ten sticks all by myself. I'm beginning to think that Chariya adds a secret ingredient that makes her food addicting.

Chariya's Thai Kitchen

1776 N. Garcia St. (formerly Reposo)

corner Milagros St.

Makati City

Philippines

Tel: +63 2 3821616

The (not so) Secret Hunan Restaurant

Don't you just love discovering great hole-in-the-wall restaurants through word of mouth? This article from the Sunday Inquirer Magazine kinda spoiled the fun but thank you Ms. Salcedo for writing about it otherwise I would have never known about its existence.

The Menu

This restaurant has no sign and its menu is all in chinese characters, thank God there are two waitresses who can speak tagalog and a menu that consists of pictures with english subtitles. Without these two waitresses and the photo menu, you'd think you are transported to somewhere in China. The restaurant is actually a converted small apartment and it adds so much to the character and allure of the place.

The restaurant specializes in Hunan Cuisine. Hunan province is beside Szechuan province, hence the similarities in the cuisines. While both cuisines use chili peppers and spices liberally, Szechuan is know to be more bolder using more pungent flavors.

The Hot-Pot Duck was just extraordinary! The way it was cooked and its flavor was not ordinary (at least for me). The dish was very bold. The pieces of duck was swimming around lots of pieces of dried chili, bay leaves, garlic and ginger. At the end, i was going trough the pot with my chopsticks looking for more duck goodness. The pig's intestines and the cold pig's ears were so soft and flavorful. The kangkong and the Mapo Tofu was slightly oily but I assume this is the way its cooked using lots of chili oil. Mapo Tufu is one of my favorite dishes and this Hunan version (the dish is Szechuan in origin) was different with that chili oil adding another kick. The twice cooked pork with tofu is another excellent dish. Nice firm pieces of tofu that had a texture that is similar to fishcake (I wonder where I can find that). The fried noodles, which is not on the menu, was also bursting with flavor but oily. There is something strange in the oil, I don't get that greasy feeling which you get from oily fast food. Maybe its the kind of oil or maybe it is not lard but vegetable oil. Either way, no dizziness or headaches from the food.

Beneath all that spice, there was a subtle and/or complex flavor in all the dishes. To use a music analogy, the food is very much like 'Psychocandy' by the Jesus and Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine's 'Loveless', using sweet melodies (subtle flavor) amidst noisy feedback (spice).

Fried Intestines before and after

The Hot Pot Duck before and after

Mapo Tofu

Gang-Bao Chicken

Cold Pig's Ears

Fried Kangkong

This restaurant experience is really an adventure; finding it and eating the food. Going through the pieces of chili, the sensations of the chili and the chili oil exploding in your mouth, eating something unexpected, going through the unknown, yes, it's a real adventure and if you are not adventurous and don't like spicy food (BORING!), don't even think about coming here. One great thing about this adventure is that it is not expensive.

As we were about to finish our meal, the restaurant was full and a Filipino couple arrived and they had to wait for a table. The word of mouth is spreading fast. Somehow I want to keep this place secret and not tell anyone about it. Keeping it secret will contribute to the allure and having too many non-Chinese customers might just ruin it. At the same time, how can i keep something so good so secret? Let's just hope the success will not ruin the quality and here's hoping a similar restaurant serving authentic cuisine opens soon.

The Hunan Restaurant With No Name

6404 Camia Street,

Makati City

Philippines

Tel: +63 915 425 2972