Bananas Foster: A Vietnamese Variation

Created at Brennan's restaurant in New Orleans in 1951, this classic dessert was named after loyal customer, Richard Foster, who served with Owen Edward Brennan on the New Orleans Crime Commission, a civic effort to clean up the French Quarter. Richard Foster, owner of the Foster Awning Company, was a frequent customer of Brennan's and a very good friend of Owen. Little did anyone realize that Bananas Foster would become an international favorite and is the most requested item on the restaurant's menu. Thirty-five thousand pounds of bananas are flamed each year at Brennan's in the preparation of its world-famous dessert.

In the traditional recipe, firm, ripe bananas are sautéed in a rum-infused caramel sauce, then flambéed in front of diners and spooned over vanilla ice cream. For our Vietnamese variation, we'll be pairing the bananas and rum-infused caramel sauce with Toasted Coconut ice cream topped with whipped cream, chopped peanuts, and cubed, Vietnamese Coffee Jelly.

Suggested Pairing:
Moscato d'Asti, Asti Spumante, Late Harvest Riesling, Sherry, Tawny Port, Madeira

Bananas Foster
Serving Size: 4 servings

• ¼ cup (½ stick) butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ cup banana liqueur
• 4 bananas, cut in half lengthwise, then halved
• ¼ cup dark rum
• 4 scoops Toasted Coconut Ice Cream
• Coffee Jelly Cubes
• Chopped Peanuts for topping
• Whipped Cream for topping

Preparation:

1. Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon in a flambé pan or skillet.
2. Place the pan over low heat either on an alcohol burner or on top of the stove, and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.
3. Stir in the banana liqueur, then place the bananas in the pan.
4. When the banana sections soften and begin to brown, carefully add the rum.
5. Continue to cook the sauce until the rum is hot, then tip the pan slightly to ignite the rum (Note: for extra pyrotechnics, throw a pinch of cinnamon onto the sauce as it flames.)
6. When the flames subside, lift the bananas out of the pan and pair two pieces with each portion of ice cream.
7. Generously spoon warm sauce over the top of the ice cream, top with whipped cream, peanuts, and coffee jelly and serve immediately

Toasted Coconut Ice Cream (Kem Nước Cốt Dừa)
Serving Size: 1 pint

• 1 cup dried shredded coconut, preferably unsweetened
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Big pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, or 1 teaspoon rum

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Spread the coconut on a baking sheet and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, stirring it frequently so it toasts evenly. Remove it from the oven when it’s nice and fragrant and golden brown.
2. In a medium saucepan, warm the milk, 1 cup of the heavy cream, sugar, and salt and add the toasted coconut. Use a paring knife and scrape all the vanilla seeds into the warm milk, then add the pod as well. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.
3. Rewarm the coconut-infused mixture. Set a mesh strainer over another medium saucepan and strain the coconut-infused liquid through the strainer into the saucepan. Press down on the coconut very firmly with a flexible rubber spatula to extract as much of the flavor from it as possible. Remove the vanilla bean halves (rinse and reserve them for another use), and discard the coconut.
4. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and set the mesh strainer on top. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm coconut-infused mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.
5. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Mix in the vanilla or rum and stir over an ice bath until cool.
6. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Coffee Jelly (Thạch Cà Phê)
Serving Size: 4 servings

• 2 cups Vietnamese coffee
• 1 tablespoon gelatin powder
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons water
  

Preparation:

1. Mix the gelatin powder and the water in a small cup.
2. Put the coffee, sugar, and the gelatin in a sauce pan.
3. Stir well over low heat until the sugar and gelatin dissolve.
4. Strain the mixture and pour into ice cube trays or a square container (if used for a topping) or serving cups if the jelly will be served directly from the container.
   
5. Cool the jelly in the refrigerator until it is set.
6. Serve by cutting into smaller cubes if used for a topping or directly from the container topped with whipped cream or condensed milk.

Recipe Sources:
Brennan's New Orleans, by Chef Paul Blangé
The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz
About.com Recipes, by Setsuko Yoshizuka

Additional Resources:

• A Very Different Kind of Coffee Cake, Salon Magazine
  
• High-Tech Vietnamese Coffee, VietWorld Kitchen
• 100 Vietnamese Foods to Try, Wandering Chopsticks
• Vietnamese Recipes, Wandering Chopsticks

Photos from Washoku Club Meeting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnjoh/sets/72157625047427582/

You had me at Zenzai. Washoku dessert: Zensai Parfait.

From the Washoku cookbook by Elizabeth Andoh: "I top a scoop of green tea ice cream with a shower of crunchy corn flakes (trust me on this - it works) and a spoonful of warm, chunky bean jam (think hot fudge sauce), repeat the order, and then top the whole thing off with a dollop of whipped cream and a bright yellow chestnut."

To make the green tea ice cream, we needed matcha powder, but only found bags with a combination of leaves and powder.

So we improvised and used a sifter to get the amount of powder needed.

Boiled some simple syrup and mixed a small amount to the tea powder and then to the entire pot of simple syrup.

Strained the powder + simple syrup mixture into a mixture of milk and cream.
Mixture went into the ice cream maker and voila, home-made green tea ice cream 30 min later. We liked how using the tea leaves and powder combo left some speckles in the ice cream, similar to vanilla bean ice cream.
Starting the red bean jam

After several rinses with fresh water plus boiling/reducing (minimum 3 times) with the addition of brown and white sugar and a dash of light soy sauce, we finally had our puree 2+ hours later. You can tell it's the right consistency when you can draw a line down the middle with a spoon.

The rest was simply assembly: green tea ice cream, red bean jam, cornflakes, repeat, then topped with home-made whipped cream (which we made but didn't take pictures of) with the finaly topping of a sugary glazed chestnut (purchased in a glass jar from a Japanese market).

Overall a tasty, refreshing and light dish with multiple layers of flavor and texture. Would definitely make the green tea ice cream again, but not sure the red bean jam was worth the effort. I'd probably purchase it if making this again. It would cut down the time in the kitchen by more than half!

Washoku Round-Up

TBD _e.t.y

Miso-Marinated Broiled Black Cod & Ling Cod

Miso-Marinated Broiled Black Cod & Ling Cod.

This is one of my favorite Japanese dishes, so I am excited to see that it's on the cooking club menu! Since Andrew and Agnes both made the dish and both questioned the necessity of the cheesecloth, I thought we should try it without the cloth to see whether it made a difference. We bought 2 pieces of black cod and 2 pieces of ling cod.We used the zest of two meyer lemons (a little more than 1/2 T zest), 1/4 cup mirn, and then..... recipe calls for 2-3 cups of sweet, light miso? It's 6:30pm on Friday night and John's parents are coming over, so we are going to work with what we've got. I added our miso paste, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, and mixed into the marinade. About 3 teaspoons and it tasted about right, but we will find out Sunday =)

Lot of learning today:

The recipe calls to broil on shallow alluminum pan or broiler pan. I used a baking sheet and it warped in the oven! Once cooled, it straightened back out, but that was a first.

I forgot to scrape away marinade and just put the pan with marinated fish straight into the broiler. At 2.5 minutes, there was smoke coming from the oven. I went to check on it and noticed the marinade was scorched on the sheet and the fish was browned. I flipped the fish and set the timer for another 3 minutes. Less than 2 minutes into it, our smoke detector let us know that dinner was ready =/

I think if you marinate the fish the 6 hours or more, I would use the cheesecloth to keep the moisture and balance. I am still not sure whether it is necessary for the impatient method, but it can't hurt.

Great dish and potentially easy to make. I am keeping this a a go-to recipe for fish. I love flavor and texture of miso-marinated fish, and love how it works with so many different types of fish.

Salted and Drying out the Fish.

Lemon Zest.

Adding the Lemon Zest to the Marinade.

Broiling the Fish.

Warped Pan.

Broiled Fish.

Plated Miso-Marinated Broiled Fish.

Salmon & Hamachi Nigira Sushi

Salmon & Hamachi Nigiri Sushi

We made the sushi rice by adding in salt, sugar, and vinegar. We halved the recipe, but we still yielded 22 pieces of nigiri sushi, 8 pieces of hamachi and 14 pieces of salmon. We picked up the sushi-grade fish from Nijiya in San Mateo. On the packages, the hamachi said, "Previously Frozen," while the salmon said, "Fresh." At the time of purchase, we didn't know how different this would be. The "Frozen" one is a bit cheaper. As we were cutting the fish, we noticed the hamachi tasted a little fishy, whereas the salmon was very good. We're not sure if this had anything to do with the "Frozen" vs "Fresh" packaging, since we had two different types of fish. But, next time, we'd opt for the "Fresh."

We placed the cut fish on top of the balled up rice with a dab of Japanese mustard (we didn't have wasabi on hand) in between. When eating the hamachi with the sushi rice, you don't notice the fishy taste as much. One thing we noticed was that we used too much rice per fish cut. A fish pieces could easily make you full. We learned how important the rice to fish ratio is. Next time we'll monitor the ratio to get a better balance. Also, for presentation, a good rule-of-thumb is to have the fish slightly larger than the rice so that is drapes over a bit. Also, in slicing the fish, cut on a diagonal to yield lengthier cuts to get a more rectangle shape.

Overall, the nigiri tasted good, and it was easy to prepare and assemble. The key is to have fresh fish, make good sushi rice, and to balance out the ratio between the two.

Sushi Rice Dressing: Vinegar, Sea Salt, Sugar.

Rice with Kombu.

Fish.

Slicing the Hamachi.

Assembling the Hamchi Nigiri.

Plated Hamachi Nigiri Sushi.

Cutting the Salmon.

Assembling the Salmon Nigiri.

Plated Salmon Nigiri Sushi.

Pureed Corn Soup

Pureed Corn Soup.

Our corn soup was inspired by our dinner at Wakuriya. Making the soup was a relatively easy task, especially if you already have dashi. For each batch of dashi, we always make primary and secondary since it is sooo good! We use the secondary dashi as a soup base the following day. This recipe only called for one ear of corn, so the corn flavor was very subtle, almost too subtle. Upon finishing it, it tasted like a miso soup with a hint of corn. This wasn't what we were anticipating. The Wakuriya dish had more corn presence. Since K + E already have miso soup on the menu, and this wasn't what we had thought it was, we are going to modify this recipe to get a more intense and creamy corn flavor.

Stripping Kernels off the Cob.

Processing the Corn.

Moving the Corn Pulp to a Strainer.

Straining the Corn Pulp.

Miso.

Heating up Dashi.

Softening the Miso with some Dashi.

Cutting Tofu.

Cooking with Mustard and Miso.

Adding Tofu.

Pureed Corn Soup, ready to eat!

Miso Salmon

We also used the "impatient marinade" here and used white miso paste with the lemon zest along with a cheesecloth.

Miso + Mirin + Lemon Zest (the marinade)

We had a little helper in the kitchen :)


Tasting the marinade to make sure it's just right


Adding salt to the salmon

Letting the salmon sweat for 5 minutes before taking off excess moisture

Put marinade on the bottom, then cheesecloth, then salmon, then layered cheesecloth over salmon and placed more marinade on top. Covered with plastic wrap. Let marinade for an hour

We broiled ours for 5 min on each side. Thanks to Andrew's tip we made sure to watch the skin from burning too much.

Voila! Miso Salmon with picked ginger, lemon, steamed vegetables and rice.

We thought this dish was simple and subtly flavored. But also wondered (as per Andrew's post) why not put the marinade directly on top? I think the cloth makes a difference in managing from too much flavor overload if you marinade for 1-3 days as suggested, but with the impatient marinade, I don't see the point. Also, why does the recipe call for so much marinade for just 1 1/2 lbs of fish?? We had tons of marinade left over that we just threw out. I thought it was a waste of the miso paste--we used a whole container.

One thing I would do differently next time is to baste the fish with the extra marinade while in the oven on both sides, at least once. Maybe that would have added more flavor to the "impatient marinade" method. Overall it was a nice simple dish and the flavor did hold up better the next day when we ate leftovers.