Innovation--Sou-Vide

Sous-vide (French for "under vacuum") is a low temperature for a long time through the use of heat cooking method, the purpose is to bring out the raw materials (especially meat) for best results. The basic method is to put a plastic bag of food and a vacuum seal, then cook them whole bag into hot water (typically between about 50°C to 80°C), and sometimes even more than 24 hours.

This cooking method is a French Restaurant Troisgros restaurant developed by Georges Pralus in the mid-1970s for. And later, after further research Bruno Goussault temperature connected with a variety of foods, Sous-vide has become well-known among the top chefs of training an important project.

Now all the fine dinning restaurant will basically have a high level of vacuum machine to do sous vide. Especially good steak, foie gras, poultry chest, sheep shelf or something. It's not only tasty and bright color but also save time, moreover, you can make large quantities.

Sou-vide is becoming more and more popular in our life, when we use this technique, the hermetic seal created in a sous vide bag traps flavour that would otherwise be lost, therefore the taste and aroma are improved. In addition, our food can be preserved vitamins and fat contents, also it respects of the product which preserves its tender and juicy texture. Specially, it allows a better planning and management of time in the kitchen.

This technique is pushing me to think more about different ideas when cooking. Also, as a chef, we need to learn and discover different cooking methods which are good for food.

Diets and Dietary Restrictions

A healthy diet is based on absorbing balanced nutrients on a meal, which helps people to maintain good health. So I created my own diet menu to keep healthy.

Daily recipe

Breakfast: 1cup milk, 2%; 2 slice white bread; 1 pan-fry egg

Lunch: 1 cup long grain rice, boiled; stir-fry beef with mushroom, 1/2cup; 1 Gala apple

Dinner: 15 items vegetable and pork dumplings, boiled, 1 orange

Snack: 1 chocolate bar and 1 cup yogurt

I followed this recipe twice a week, and I think my diet is healthy. Due to Chinese cuisine use a lot of soy sauce, so i have to concern about absorbing so much sodium, so i will use salt to instead of soy sauce. Also, I will use the cooking method like steam and boil more than stir-fry, because when cooking with stir-fry, you will use a lot of oil, which is unhealthy.

To sum up, if you want to be healthy, please keep a balanced diet.

HUG A FARMER

I went to a market near Dundas west, which was Sorauren Farmers' Market, there was a maple syrup festival at that day. I tried a new style to taste the maple syrup, which was poured on the clean snow, and then use a stick to roll the syrup into a ball, it tasted so funny and just liked eating maple syrup smoothies. It was a fresh tasting experience during this winter.

After tasting the syrup, I was interested by a store which was selling wild foods. I talked with a food producer for a while, and I knew something about wild foods from him. His job is collecting the wild foods from whole Canada, such as in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia. Moreover, the main products are maple syrup, dried mushroom, jams, and wild rice. Also, if people want something but can't find, they can contact them. He doesn't have a farm, all his product are harvested from the Canadian wilderness by trained pickers who practice sustainable harvesting methods, which is sustainable for that particular plant species, but also sustainable for the pickers, whose livelihood is supported by a thriving source of wild foods, and sustainable for other wildlife. The pickers are usually residents of rural or remote communities who respect the lands that support them. They are Aboriginal people, women, youth, and farmers.

He also said, only the best ingredients and most delicious recipes are used in his wild foods products, and they  don't use foods that grow in parklands, conservation areas, near where people live, work, drive or farm commercially so as to ensure they have had minimal contact with any potential sources of pollution.

I bought a bag of wild mushroom, called Lobster Mushroom, which because of their distinct seafood-like taste and aroma, and it was from the forests in Quebec.

Normally, wild foods have rich flavour and rare. From this experience, I knew there are a lot wild foods in Canada, and we can buy safe wild food in some local market. However, we should be aware of the danger of wild foods, and buy them from certificated places.

Stir-fly frog legs

Some folks think that eating frog leg is unbelievable, however, it is a common dish in some of Asian countries. Frog legs tastes like chicken but more tender than chicken.

In Canada, you can buy frog legs in Chinese supermarket, but it is frozen. To be honestly, my mom cooked this dish were perfect, every time I ate this dish will make me miss my family.  Actually, cooking frog legs is not complicated as you thought, and you can follow the recipe below:

• 5 frogs, heads off and skin off, cut into pieces
• 2 spring green onion, cut into section
• half onion, sliced
• 15 g ginger, sliced 
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2tbsp peanut oil
• To taste, slat
• 1tbsp soy sause 
• corn starch and water to adjust consistency 
• marinate frog legs with corn starch, soy sauce, and peanut oil

Steps:

1. Heat pan with peanut oil, then put green onion, garlic, and ginger, stir-fly it for a while
2. add sliced onion, and continue stir fly
3. when the onion become soft, add frog legs to stir-fly
4. at the end, season with salt and soy sauce, and add the corn starch liquid to adjust consistency.
5. decorating with green onion on the top

One thing I have to mention is, do not over cook the frog legs because it will be very chewy and tough.I hope you can make a yummy dish by following this recipe.

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED FROG MEAT?

As we known, frogs eat pest, so they are the farmers' good friend. Because of my hometown is in the south part of China, therefore, there are a lot of paddy field and plenty of frogs. So frog meat is a normal dish in most of restaurants. For many people, they feel sick when eating frogs, but in my hometown, it will be a palatable dish in a meal.

Normally, people prefer to eat the legs of frogs, because their heads are too small and do not have too much meat, on the other hand, they always jump, and most meat of the legs are tender. Some people like to eat with the skin, but some people not. In many restaurants, when people order this dish, there are only legs, however, if people cook at home, they will keep the body and take the head out of the frogs. Frog is rich in protein, carbohydrates, water and a small amount of fat, and it tastes more tenderer than chicken and more tasty.


Usually, people use some of cooking method to cook the frog meat, such as steam, stir-fry, and hot-pot. If steam the flog meat, people prefer to use dried lotus leaf to wrap the frogs meat with jujube, so the frog meat can absorb the incense of lotus leaf and the sweetness of the jujube. Moreover, about the stir-fry frog meat, cooks will stir-fry it with green pepper and garlic, which taste a little spice and awesome. Also, when in the hot-pot, it will be cook fast and tasty and refreshing.

I bought frog meat in supper market in Canada, which was frozen. Then I stir-fried it after thawing it, but it didn't taste good, and the meat was broke into pieces, so I think the fresh frog meat is better than the frozen one.

If you have never tried frog meat before, I really recommend you to try, and you will love it.