Christmas Goose

It's my first time to cook this kind of bird. I heard good things about Geese and its glorious fat content. A lot of skin means a lot of FAT! :) For Christmas, I cooked my 10 pound goose based on Gordon Ramsay's recipe. His recipe is really simple. All you need is some Chinese five spice, some lemons and an orange. The citrus helps cut through the fat and the Chinese five spice creates this holiday aroma that will make your house smell like Christmas.

Here's the video:

Here's the recipe from Gordon Ramsay. I added some thyme to boost the flavor. Also, don't forget to take out those pinion feathers. Use tweezers to take them out.

Ingredients:

10lb goose
2 tbsp. chinese five spice
1 tbsp. salt
zest of two large lemons and 1 orange
1 tbsp. of chopped thyme and a few sprigs to stuff the bird

1. Zest the lemons and orange. Using the mortar and pestle, mix in the zest, Chinese five spice, salt and thyme.
2. Check the inside of the bird and remove any giblets or pads of fat. Using the tip of a sharp knife, lightly score the breast and leg skin in a criss-cross pattern. This helps the fat to render down more quickly during roasting.
3. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird. Cut the the lemons and oranges in half and put them inside the cavity. Add a few sprigs of thyme inside. Let it marinate overnight.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F

4. Put the bird in a shallow roasting pan. Roast for 15 minutes to brown the skin.
5. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees F.
6. Roast for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. (Estimated time for roasting is 10 minutes per pound). Since this bird is about 10 pounds, Total roasting  time after browning is 1 hour and 45 minutes. Check the internal temperature of the goose and it should register at 140 degrees at this point.
7. Drizzle about 1 cup of honey all over the bird. Roast for another 30 minutes. Internal temperature of the bird should read about 160-165 degrees.
8. Take the goose out of the oven and let it rest for 30 minutes covered in foil before carving.
9. Strain all the goose fat collected and store it on an airtight container. You can use it to cook your potatoes, veggies, etc.

Now I can say that I've cooked and eaten my first goose this Christmas. I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's like duck but better and more fatty. The skin is the best part. I'm looking forward to the next goose roast!

FallFest 2011

I'm back!! Due to technical difficulties aka my computer sucks, I haven't been blogging, posting pics, etc. but it didn't stop me from eating and exploring SF. I went to some memorable food events for the past month and I'll make sure to get back to business for the following days! :)

Setting up

This event actually happened last October 9 but I have to admit I can still taste all the amazing food I ate. FallFest is a food event brought to you by San Francisco Magazine to benefit Meals on Wheels. It's a grand tasting event that features SF's tastiest restaurants, talented mixologists and serious winemakers. There were chef demos, a cocktail competition (think like Top chef's quick fire challenge), live music and silent auctions. It's definitely one of the best food events I've been to this year not only because of the food but also because of the whole event's execution. No long lines waiting for food which means a stress free food tasting unlike some events were some restaurants actually run out of food to serve. There were also a lot of activities, including a chef demo from Martin Yan of M.Y. China opening at the Westfield mall early spring of 2012.

cooking demo tent

with Chef Martin Yan

For this event, I worked with meals on wheels. I was helping out with the cocktail competition which means access to booze. It was definitely the best seat in the house. Don Julio sponsored the competition and with that I get to taste the 1942 tequila which was really smooth. That was probably the best tequila I've tasted.

cocktail competition tent

Don Julio

bartender kit

ladies of Don Julio

back view of the action

Alicia Walton and Allison Webber

the bartenders celebrating!

Here are the pics to recap the amazing food at the event:

From Sens restaurant

Fig, house cured duck, blue cheese and smoked honey from Tiburon Grill

Compressed watermelon and tofu from Nombe Izakaya

Beet chips from Spruce

Serrano ham with tuna conserva from A16

Fig tart from Plant cafe

Apple butter cinnamon cream from Masa's

Pork and shrimp wontons from Slanted Door

Pork rillette and delicata squash panna cotta from Trace

Perbacco's dish

Lafitte's dish

From Murray circle

Frozen popcorn Blini from Eve

From Lakehouse at Calistoga Ranch

Sardines from Coco500

Muffaletta from The Boxing Room

Armenian cucumber gazpacho from Fifth floor

lamb sausage with beans from salt house

From the international culinary center - brioche with truffle cream

bay scallop and charred corn salad from The Moss room

Tuna cones from the Italian Colors Ristorante

spiced cured pork belly with stonefruit from Pizza Antica - I LOVE this.. I think I ate 5 of these.

From Tacolicious

Pumpkin marshmallows from the Ritz Carlton

Pumpkin tart - Ritz Carlton

Apple confit - Ritz Carlton

From E&O trading

Roasted apples, burnt caramel ice cream from the Wente Vineyards

Duck Rillettes from Cafe Des Amis

Going to these events really inspire me. I don't just go, take pics and show off what I eat. I go because I want to eat good food, well not just good but outrageously great food. I want to taste something different. I'm looking for that bite that I will remember for years. I'm looking for fresh ideas, perfect combinations and creative dishes. I believe this event did that.

Flavors of Japan by S+S Gastro Grub

This was S+S Gastro Grub's very first Pop-up dinner. It was a sold out dinner event with about 40+ guests in attendance. Dinner was held at Cosecha in Oakland and that place was filled with fresh seafood, lamb, nori, yuzu, matcha and many more during that night for their Japanese inspired menu.

S+S with Dominica Rice, owner of Cosecha

Sebastian and Simone = S+S Gastro Grub. I met these guys at the BTC bingo brunch over a month ago and I have to say they really have some serious passion for food. Both of them work full time and when they are not working, they either eat, cook, roast pigs, sous vide eggs or have dinner parties. They were really an inspiration for me since they are both self taught culinary enthusiasts.

Snacks

Table set up

I'm glad they invited me to their pop-up to help out, meet new people, eat and enjoy their Japanese infused dishes.

Here are the pics of their 5 course "Flavors of Japan"

1st course - Hamachi Belly, yuzu lemon cloud, dill flower

2nd course - Japanese salad - baby bok choy, compressed sake Asian pears, pickled burdock, Japanese cucumbers topped with crispy salmon skin and nori

3rd course

Uni, fennel potato puree, orange anise, shiso

My favorite dish of the night

4th course - Ohitashi (marinated spinach), shoyu, sesame seed oil, shiro goma

This was a challenge rolling into those cute "sushi" bites but it pays off!

leg of lamb being sous vide for about 45 minutes.

Still part of the 4th course - leg of lamb, miso Gorgonzola sauce, kuro goma and chives

Kabocha on a home made teriyaki sauce

5th course - Matcha financier topped with a 12 hour toasted coconut cream

This was amazing!

After the event, I asked a few questions to S+S about the event and how they came up with their dishes..

Fer: What was your inspiration for your menu and why Japanese?
S+S: Japanese food is one of our favorite foods. We wouldn't attempt to make sushi even though we love  sushi rice a lot. The inspiration of our dishes are from our constant eating out. LOL! We love molecular gastronomy, food arts... so from thinking of the current seasonal ingredients, Indian summer/early fall food... we wanted to do something light and refreshing, ie. hamachi, uni, etc into something warm and fuzzy, ie. lamb but since we wanted it "Japanese", We were wondering how we can make the lamb "Japanese"; therefore the miso Gorgonzola sauce. Salmon skin hand roll is one of our almost must-order dish whenever we go out for sushi. we are very picky with our salmon skin hand rolls but we weren't about to make that as one of the courses. We also wanted to highlight the delicious seasonal Asian pears, therefore, the deconstructed salmon skin salad. I love coconut and wanted to have a warm and comforting toasted coconut cream to end the cool Indian summer night with.

Fer: What was your favorite dish that night?
S+S: I love the Uni dish a lot but I also love my toasted coconut cream a LOT as well so it's kinda hard to pick! :)

Fer: What did you guys learned from your first pop-up?
S+S: What we learned was that we must get good people to help prep so that we can concentrate more on the cooking.

Fer: What's next for S+S Gastro Grub?
S+S: We have a few catering gigs coming up within the next couple of holiday months but we would like to do more pop-ups if possible, maybe once/twice a month. If the catering and the pop-ups are going well, maybe we can both quit our day jobs and concentrate more on the food business. Right now, we are only getting business from word of mouth and once in a while from clients googling/yelping, etc. Hopefully, we can do more pop-ups and special events and get our name out

Prepping the Hamachi 

Team work

Beer and smiles

After some hard work it's time to reward themselves

It was definitely a great experience. The food was delicious. I still can't stop thinking about the Uni and  potato puree dish. It was definitely the star of the night for me. Everything was flavorful and people were having a great time. I can't wait to see what's next and to taste more food from these talented couple. Til the next event!

Kanpai!!