Palacia de Orienta - Tune in olive oil

Purchased Feb 2010

Impressions:  Colour was nice - somewhat orange-yellow .   Meat was loosely packed - not in a solid hunk.   Texture and flavour seemed mildly better than typical North American canned tuna.  If anything, it may be more to do with what I suspect to be a better quality olive oil and probably better attention to salting and temperature control during the cooking process - than with just plain better tuna selection.   I’d buy it over North American brands, but I wouldn’t rave over it.

Clams in salt water

Purchased Feb 2010

White Tuna in Olive Oil - no salt added.

Purchased Feb 2010

Northern Tuna in Olive Oil

Purchased in Feb 2010.

This was recommended from another food website.

Not opened yet.

On Sunday, a lot of the tourist sights close early and some shops are not open at all.   And Monday too, lots of businesses are not open.

The people are very nice.  Traffic is surprising civilized.  Not like Paris or Rome at all, drivers don’t honk their horns, they actually stop at pedestrian crossing areas but is not a traffic light area.  I don’t have to fear for my life crossing the street like in other parts of the world, like in Thailand or Beijing.  Drivers seem fairly competent compared to other cities.

It’s easy to get some cheap breakfast.  Just some coffee, espresso, pastries, and spanish ham sandwich (similar to prosciutto) are easy to get anywhere.

Went to the oldest restaurant in the world, the Sobrino de Botin .

Ordered the baby squid with squid ink see picture.  It looked totally nasty, but was incredibly delicious.   Restaurant is very touristy but  food was good.  Also had garlic soup with egg.  That was a little different.  Had some stereotypical people come in the restaurant like this asian guy who came in the restaurant and immediately took a video of the restaurant, a bunch of New York women arguing very loudly about some trivial issue, and the quietest group in the whole restaurant was my group - the quiet well mannered Canadians. 

Botin Restaurant, Madrid, Spain

Calle Cuchilleros, 17
Madrid
Tel. 913664217
Metro: La Latina

Price:  $15 cdn, around 10 Euros .

Purchased in Madrid, Spain , Feb 2010 .

In very light olive oil.   No additives according to the box.  Did not taste any strong salted flavour.  Light coloured tuna.  Clean looking strips of tuna, ie no roughly cut strips of tuna

Serving it on a tomato, red bell pepper, spanish olive salad.  Good match with salad.  Overall salad was a good way to serve the tuna.    The tuna was very light and had a delicate flavour.  The olive oil helps give the tuna a nice smooth moist texture.  Definitely better than your typical North American can of tuna but is it worth $15?  Only if you dress up a dish like the mentioned salad and make a really good presentation out of it.  This tuna is something you use to show off like smoked salmon or foie gras although the tuna lacks the flavour dominance of either.  The high quality tuna is more of a pleasant surprise because it’s not the dry tasteless tuna we’re used to eating.

Apparently, one of the things Spain is known for are their canned seafood.   The following are some brands and products that we’ve procured.   When we open it and taste them, we’ll give a review.

The first is Albo Calamari in squid ink sauce.

So I’ve caught nearly my legal limit of perch fish…  awesome…   however perch fish is practically impossible to eat without constantly picking out the tiny bones, so how about a recipe that can make the bones edible without being a threat to one’s esophagus.    Here’s one possible use for perch…   pickled fish!   In theory,  the acidic vinegar will soften the bones and any scales you’ve missed.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Pickled-Fish-Make-It-Yourself&id=366314

A northern has a lot of y-bones and if they are removed, quite a lot of flesh is lost in the process. By pickling the smaller ones the bones are nothing to worry about. The vinegar softens all those tiny y-bones. To pickle northern first of all you have to catch the fish. I tell everyone that asks me, that is the first step. There is no need to scale them for pickling because the skin becomes rubbery. I fillet them, remove the back bone and cut them into 1-2-inch pieces.

Next I place the pieces into a crock or large glass jar. I generously salt each single layer with pickling salt, making sure each piece is salted. Do not pack them tightly. When the jar is full pour vinegar to cover the fish. Place in the refrigerator for 1-week. Stir the fish every day. After 1-week empty the jar, discard the vinegar solution and rinse the fish in clean water and drain.

Measure 5-cups sugar and 5-cups vinegar into kettle and bring to a boil. Boil 5-minutes and let cool to room temperature. Next I slice onions and alternate them with the fish pieces in my jars. I add 1-2-tablespoons mixed pickling spice to each quart jar. Then I measure 2-cups of the vinegar solution and 1-cup of dry white wine together, making sure they are room temperature and pour that mixture over the fish and spices in the jars. Be sure to completely cover the fish.

Put the lids on the jars and refrigerate for 6-weeks to 2-months before eating. The longer they sit in the jars the better they are. Delicious.

The Cake Bible (Hardcover) by Rose L Beranbaum (Author)

Some of the best udon noodles I’ve ever had was in Paris, on a street just nearby from the Louvre . I don’t remember the price, as it was almost ten years ago, but the price I remember to be exceptionally good. Googling the area still brings up the restaurants. I think it was called Higuma, on 32, Rue Ste Anne . Map is attached below. Do a street view to get an idea of how it looks.

Update:  As of August 2009, the restaurant is still there and the quality is still great.   Try to get there before 6pm, as by 7pm, there’s a huge lineup.  The average price you’re looking at is around $10 cdn (probably $9 US) -  around 7 Euros.

Bush Brothers & Company (voice: 865/509-2361)
Four digits
Position 1: Month
Position 2 and 3: Day
Position 4: Year
Example: 2061 (February 6, 2001)Chiquita Processed Foods (voice: 800/872-1110)
Ten digits (only 6-8 are pertinent to consumers)
Position 6: Year (A=1999, B=2000, C=2001, etc.)
Position 7 and 8: Julian Date
Example: A195 (July 14, 1999-July 14 is the 195th day of the year)

Furman Foods (voice: 877/877-6032)
Second line, first four digits
Position 1: Year
Position 2, 3 and 4: Julian Date
Example: 9045 (February 14, 1999)Hirzel Canning (voice: 800/837-1631)
First line, four digits
Position 1: Year
Position 2, 3 and 4: Julian Date
Example: 0195 (July 14, 2000- July 14th is the 195th day of the year)

keywords:  calcium chloride and sodium alginate

Inniskillin - reserve series - 2006 - red wine

 ”Meritage” - VQA

In vintage section.

 http://www.inniskillin.com/contentmanager/ViewObject.aspx?sys-Portal=55&sys-Class=Wine&sys-ID=267

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090228.wxstkates28/BNStory/lifeFoodWine/home/

Inspired by the Blumenthal show,  I’m going to look into whether I can replicate the perfect steak. Sources:  “Handbook of Food Science, technology”Muscle tissue consists of 75% water.   Of that,  1% is permanently bound within protein molecules.   10 to 15% of that is ”immobilized” and is located close to the 1% of the bound water .   The other 59% is free water between the extracellular space and is easily lost.A decrease in pH (more acidic), decreases the amount of water binding groups in the muscle tissue, and thus decreases it’s ability to hold water.Muscle tissue contains mostly actin and myosin.From the BBC website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/tv_and_radio/perfection/experimental_kitchen_low.shtml), it looks like 55 deg C is the temperature at which myosin shrinks and causes it to lose water.   This seems to be unavoidable, unless you want to eat raw meat.   The other temperature is at the 60-65 deg C range, where collagen begins to break down.   This seems to be the key point as collagen is the tough material that’s apparently holding the muscle tissues together and making it chewy.  So from the Blumenthal show, and the various other sources,  bringing temperatures up quickly will cause water to be expelled (inevitable), but will not give enough time for collagen to break down.   Focusing on the temperatures between 55-60 deg C and giving the meat a long time in that temperature range will allow for enough collagen to break down to give a more tender taste.Update : ok, so I got myself a 12 oz piece of “well aged” steak from St. Lawrence Market.   Cut out the excess fat, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper,  and placed it into a plastic oven bag (along with the cut out fat - for the fatty flavour), and cooked it inside a toaster oven at an average temperature between 60-65 deg C .   Two bimetal spring type oven thermometers were used at the same time to ensure some form of accuracy.  In hindsight, the 2nd thermometer should’ve been a digital thermometer.    This was cooked for around 4.5 hours.   At the end of that time, quite a lot of liquid seemed to have exited the steak and a test cut showed that the steak was thoroughly cooked to a pinkish colour.   The steak was then finished by quickly searing it for 30 seconds on each side, and rested for around 4 minutes.   Texture was ok…  not mouth meltingly good (I’m comparing this to steak served at the Harbour 60 in Toronto) .   The flavour of the steak was ok, most likely due to the aged nature of the beef rather than the cooking method.Overall, I’d say this was a failure.   In hindsight, I might try for 2 hours instead.