Sunday, February 6, 2011

Tony Bourdain, Mercedes and Nutella

Today's Food Diary
Breakfast: Rolled oats with raisins, toasted coconut, sunflower seeds and linseeds
Lunch: Leftover liver eggplant in spicy tomato sauce with bread
Dinner: Braised pork and rice, crackling
Baking/sweets: Bread 

Braising is one of my favourite ways of preparing pork. The flavourful and tender melt in the mouth pork is irresistible. Braising is a very forgiving way of cooking, it is difficult to go wrong unless you do something really really wrong. And since the cheapest cuts of meat are ideal for braising, it is economical. I like using cuts of meat such as knuckle or shanks. The muscle fibers are more developed and it is loaded with collagen. When the meat is cooked long and slow the collagen breaks down into gelatin. Gelatin almost has the consistency of fat, but it is healthy. I think Tony Bourdain referred to collagen as the next fat in one of the ‘no reservations’ episodes.

Today's Favourite Photo
Source: 6 Bittersweets 
Frozen Brazo de Mercedes Cake - a Filipino Dessert (nothing to do with Mercedes Vehicles)



Today's Favourite Blog
I don’t think I have ever tried Nutella. I have tried Nöt-Créme, the Swedish version. I have been avoiding Nutella because of the hazelnut content. With just 13% hazelnut it is not really hazelnut spread, it is more like hazelnut flavoured spread! One Perfect Bite has a homemade version that looks really good, and it has only four ingredients. The main actor in One Perfect Bite’s recipe is hazelnut not sugar and other unidentified elements. This is how it is supposed to be, I think.

3 comments:

  1. I adore braised meat as well. When it becomes pull-apart tender...oh that gives me chills.

    thanks so much for featuring my photo in your last post!

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  2. Thank you so much for including me in your post today. I'm really pleased and grateful. You made my day. I hope you've had a wonderful weekend. Blessings...Mary

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  3. Wow thats the best brazo de mercedes that I had seen usually it is baked in a roulade fashion.

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