Macarons - Part 2 (The Ingredients and Perils of the Journey)

In the previous post, I blogged about what equipment is needed to make macarons, what is considered a "perfect" macaron. Here is where I tell you what are the things to look out for and the common problems that can cause a failed batch after a hard day's work.

I have to tell you in advance that this post is quite dry because it's all technical stuff.

Honestly, I am no expert on this. I have only started baking macarons in October this year. If you do a search on the Internet, you will find tons of information and recipes dated as early as 2008. So, whatever I know, I learnt it from those websites.

Now, even if you have the perfect recipe (like Pierre Hermé's), you might not be able to get the same taste and quality as what his shop is selling. Simply because there are just too many variables and factors to consider. Even the ambient temperature and humidity play important roles in making this finicky pastry.

There are only 3 ingredients needed to make a macaron shell. Ground almonds, sugar, egg white. Powdered sugar and granulated sugar are used in most recipes.

Some other ingredients are used to stabilise the meringue such as cream of tartar/pinch of salt/lemon juice and to colour the shells using gel/powdered food colourings. They are not absolutely necessary. The braver bakers would try to flavour the shells with cocoa, dried fruit powders etc. The reason why I say they are brave is because there is always a risk that the macarons can come out as a failure when things are added causing the fine-balance to be toppled. So, if it is your first try, do not add anything extra to the shells, not even colourings.

That's it. Sounds easy peasy. End of story...

Ya, right!

Lets proceed to the more technical/demanding/boring part.

The ground almonds and powdered sugar form what is called the tant pour tant. They are in equal amounts by weight. Please don't use cup measurements. Some recipes do not have equal weight of ground almonds and powdered sugar and they still worked. The almonds must be grounded fine enough, and must not be too wet because moisture creates havoc in the shells. Some recipes insist on pure icing sugar, like I mentioned in the previous post, I don't think that is necessary, in fact, I find the cornstarch useful in a humid country like mine.

Regarding the egg white, some recipes suggest to "age" it first before using. The range can be from one to two days up to one week of aging! Some say leave it outside the fridge and just cover the bowl with paper towel to let evaporation take place. Some say to put the egg white in the fridge for a few days. Pierre Hermé suggested in his book to leave the egg white in the fridge for 5 days and cover the bowl with cling film, but cut a slit on the film with a knife to allow evaporation. I tried aging the egg white occasionally for 1 to 2 days, but I do not see any difference in the result. Maybe because I am using an italian meringue and fresh egg white does not cause any problems. If you are using the french meringue method, try aging your egg white. The main thing is, before using the egg white, bring it to room temperature before whisking.

The egg white and the granulated sugar are used to make a meringue which is later mixed with the dry ingredients. The meringue can be made using the french method or the italian method. French meringue is easier to make but less stable, italian meringue is more troublesome to make, but more stable. Less stable means that you can over-mixed the batter easily when you mix in the dry ingredients resulting in a very fluid batter that you cannot even pipe.

A lot of variations can happen even for the french meringue, some recipes state to whisk the egg white to stiff peaks, some say to medium stiff peaks. Some say to add in sugar the moment you start whisking, some say to add in the sugar slowly after the egg white has turned frothy, some say you dump the whole load of sugar in at one go. Some include the usage of cream of tartar/pinch of salt/lemon juice at the frothy stage to stabilise the meringue.

For the italian meringue, it is even more complicated. Possible variations I have seen include the stage of the egg white (soft peak, firm peak, stiff peak) before adding the boiling sugar, the temperature of the boiling sugar before it is added into the egg white, to what stage is the meringue whisked until (firm peak, medium stiff peak, stiff peak) and what temperature the meringue is (until cooled, body temperature, 40C to 50C) before adding to the dry ingredients. For italian meringue, it is advisable that you use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of the boiling sugar.

As for mixing the meringue with the dry ingredients, there are also many methods. Dump all the dry ingredients in at one go, add them in 3 separate portions, add the meringue to the dry ingredients all at once or add a portion of meringue to the dry ingredients and mix, then add the balance in.

When you are mixing the meringue and the dry ingredients, remember not to over-mix. It is always better to slightly under-mix than to over-mix the batter. Macaronage is the term used for the mixing. You don't have to be extra gentle when mixing because you are not making an angel food cake. In fact, you need to deflate the batter so that there is not too much air within the shells which might cause a volcanic eruption when they are baked. I am not joking here, the shells can split open and spew out their contents. When you see that happening, it means your hard work has gone down the drain.

At what stage should you stop mixing and get ready to pipe the shells? Some say macaronage should be done until the batter "flows like lava"... What is "flows like lava"?... I have never seen lava flowing in my life. In fact, I have not seen real-life lava before! So I went to Google for help and these are the pictures of flowing lava. Really! I don't think it helps at all.

Some bakers offer better guides. They suggest lifting some of the batter up with the spatula and watch how the batter drops back into the mixing bowl. If it drops down like a thick ribbon, it is most likely to be ready. The batter will also become smooth and shiny. Another confirmation is when the batter drops back into the bowl, look for an area where the "ribbon" has fallen, start counting to 30 seconds. If the "ribbon" fuses back with the main batter, the batter is ready. If the batter flows like water or fuses with the main body within seconds, you have most likely over-mixed. If the batter flows down in clumps and retains its shape after dropping into the bowl, you can continue to mix more.

Batter is too stiff, shells still retaining the peaks. Compare with the batch below.

You can pipe the shells on silicone baking sheets (silpats) or parchment paper. The feet that develop using silpats and parchment paper look different. After piping the shells, you have to rest the shells so that the exterior of the shells form a skin which is no longer sticky when you touch it. This will prevent the shells from bursting when they are in the oven and also helps lift up the shells during baking to form the "feet". (Imagine a hot-air balloon.) Some bakers claimed that there is no need to rest the shells, I believe that is because they are in a very dry environment and the skins form pretty fast while they are piping.

Shells waiting to dry. They will lose the shiny surface once they are dried.

Because of all these variations and permutations, even if you follow one recipe every time, the batch that comes out of the oven might be different from the previous batches or the next batch. So, the best advice I can offer you is to measure your ingredients precisely, grind your almonds as finely as you can possibly do, follow the steps accurately, watch your meringue closely as you whisk it, don't rush through the steps just so that you can throw the piped batter into the oven. The macarons will show you who is boss!

Talking about ovens, the baking temperature suggested in different recipes differs too. The range can be from 125C to 180C. Different ovens perform differently. Some say to use convection ovens to distribute the heat evenly, some say to turn off the fan. The baking temperature is based on your own oven and you may need to do many test batches to see what is the optimal temperature for your oven. 

When I first started, I piped a few shells and tested one temperature, then another batch of shells on a different temperature just to find the right temperature for my oven. If the shells turn brown before they are ready, turn down the heat. If the shells do not form the "feet", it might be because the temperature is too low. If the shells split open on the top, it might be because the temperature is too high or you did not wait for the skins to form.

Also, most ovens allow you to choose which level you want to bake, you have to try and see whether the lower third, the middle or the highest rack is most suitable. Some ovens allow you to bake two trays at the same time. It also depends on whether your oven has top heat, bottom heat or back heat. For those with only top heat, you might need a baking stone at the bottom. If your macarons brown too fast, put the tray in the lower rack. If the shells burst, put it in higher rack if there is strong bottom heat from your oven. You might even have to shield your macarons with foil to prevent them from browning because macarons should not turn brown after baking.

As you can see, it is not that simple.

In summary, the followings are areas that might cause you to have a failed batch of macarons.

1. Almond - not finely grounded, too wet
2. Meringue - not whisked enough or over whisked
3. Batter - over-mixed or under-mixed
4. Shells - not rested enough to form a skin over the exterior
5. Oven temperature - too high or too low

So, watch out for the above and your macarons should be fine. *fingers crossed*

My next post on macarons will be about how I do mine and what recipe I use.

Tiramisu in a cup

My husband loves tiramisu and every time he goes to a restaurant, he never fails to order the tiramisu for dessert. So one day, we decided to try making our own at home. Little did we know that it is such a simple dessert to make!

We adapted the recipe from here. This version of tiramisu has the eggs cooked which is safer for consumption. The original recipe calls for a loaf pan to assemble the tiramisu. We used that initially but find that using small cups is easier and more convenient (one cup for myself, two cups for my husband, heehee). You just have to break up the ladyfingers into smaller pieces to fit into the cups.

We altered some of the amount of the liquids, mascarpone cheese and sugar because we want the tiramisu to be creamier and also less sweet. You can do your own modification.

Cream Filling:
150 ml milk, divided 100ml, 50ml
100 grams granulated white sugar, divided 50g, 50g
35 grams all purpose flour
6 large egg yolks
60 ml Kahlua
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
57 grams unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
500 grams mascarpone cheese

Ladyfingers

Coffee Soaking Syrup:
100 ml very strong brewed coffee or espresso (4 tbsp)
60 ml Kahlua

Topping:
cocoa powder for garnishing
bittersweet chocolate, grated or chopped


Method:
2 day before you need the dessert, put 100 ml milk and 50 grams sugar in a saucepan. Place over medium heat, and bring this mixture just to boiling, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl, whisk together the remaining milk, sugar, flour, and egg yolks.

When the milk comes to a boil, gradually whisk it into the egg yolk mixture. You must continue to whisk as you pour to prevent the egg yolks from curdling.

Transfer this mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it comes to a boil. When it boils, continue to stir until it thickens.

Remove from heat and strain into a large bowl. This will remove any lumps that may have formed.

Whisk in the Kahlua, vanilla extract, and butter.

Cover the surface of the custard with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming. Leave it in the fridge overnight to cool.

The next day or once the custard has cooled sufficiently, remove from the refrigerator.

In a mixer with paddle attachment, beat the mascarpone cheese at low speed until it is soft and smooth. Gently beat the cold custard into the mascarpone until smooth.

Custard done, ready to incorporate with the mascarpone cheese

In a large bowl combine the coffee (espresso) and Kahlua.

Place a layer of cream filling at the bottom of the cup. We use a large ice-cream scoop to make sure that the amount in each cup is about the same.

Break the ladyfingers into 3 or 4 parts. Soak each part individually for a few seconds and place it gently onto the layer of cream filling. Do not soak in the coffee syrup for too long or the ladyfinger will disintegrate in your hands.

Ensure that the ladyfingers are in a flat layer. If after soaking the ladyfingers for all the cups and you still have some coffee syrup left, you can brush the leftover syrup on the ladyfingers directly. Again, do not overload the ladyfingers with the coffee syrup or you will get a soggy mess.

One layer of cream filling with a layer of ladyfingers

To have the cup look nicer when you see it from the side, sift a layer of cocoa powder onto the ladyfingers. This is form a dark line in the middle of the cream fillings.

A layer of cocoa powder after the ladyfingers

Put another scoop of cream filling onto the ladyfingers. If you have a taller cup, you can put another layer of ladyfingers and topped it with another layer of cream filling. This is the final scoop for my case. After that, gently shake the cups to even out the top layer.

Final layer of cream filling

You can keep this in the fridge until you need it. We leave it in the fridge for one more night to let the coffee syrup in the ladyfingers and the cream fillings mixed together for better flavour.

Before serving, sift another layer of cocoa powder and grate some bittersweet chocolate on the surface. Do not do it too early or the cocoa powder will absorb the moisture from the cream filling and it will look dark and clumpy.

Roast Turkey with Gravy, Cranberries & Passion Fruit sauce, Bacon Jam

Having a turkey for Christmas dinner is not something we do normally. Usually, we will be celebrating Christmas overseas. However, this year, we decided to celebrate Christmas at home. We prepared a turkey for a small house gathering at my sister's place.

Bacon jam, cranberries & passion fruit sauce, parma ham wrapped stuffing, turkey gravy with the main dish

For the recipe, I searched on the Internet for some ideas and decided to use various ideas and methods to form my own recipe.

First step is to find a suitable turkey and one that is small enough to fit my oven. I settled for one that is around 5kg.

The chosen one

I defrosted the turkey in the fridge for 3 days before taking it out of the package to clean it. For every 2.2kg, 24 hours is needed to thaw the bird.

Turkey that has been cleaned

After cleaning out the bird, I soak the turkey in 600ml of butter milk and seasoning (coarse salt, pepper, garlic, paprika, fresh thyme, sage and rosemary) for one day in the fridge.

Preparing a butter milk bath/spa with seasoning for the turkey

Turkey in butter milk bath. I also want such a good life!

The following day, the turkey is washed again to remove all the butter milk and pat dry. The bird is then dried by hanging it up or left in the fridge uncovered.

Hanging the bird up to dry after the butter milk bath!

After that, I followed part of what Gordon Ramsay did in his YouTube video.

Season the cavity of the bird with some salt and pepper, stuff in one onion (cut into half), one lemon and bay leaves.

In a mixing bowl, put in some butter (room temperature), salt, pepper, olive oil, zest of 2 lemons and their juice, 3 cloves of garlic (pureed) and chopped parsley. Stir to mix.

Use your fingers to loosen the skin from the meat on the thighs and breast. Insert some butter mixture into the areas where you have separated the skin from the meat. Massage the rest of the butter mixture onto the breast, legs and wings of the bird. Sprinkle some olive oil on to those areas.

Coated with seasoning

Put the seasoned turkey into the preheated oven at 220C for 10 mins. After 10 mins, take the turkey out of the oven and baste. Then cover the breast with streaky bacon. Then baste the bacon before putting it back in the oven at 180C. The wings are wrapped in foil to prevent charring before the turkey is cooked.

Bacon wraps to prevent the breast from charring

We take out the turkey to baste and rotate for even browning every 30 to 45 minutes. Cooking time is estimated to be 30 minutes for every kg of turkey. So for my turkey, it took 2 1/2 hours to complete. To see if the turkey is done, check the temperature at 3 places - the breast, the outer thigh, and the inner thigh. They must be at least 74C in these 3 places. If any of them is under 74C, put the bird back in the oven for another 15 to 20 minutes. To prevent the breast from overcooking, shield it with foil. We removed the bacon earlier because they were going to be charred. Use the bacon for making the gravy.

After the turkey is done, rest it for the same amount of time you take to roast it. For my case, I rested it for 2 1/2 hours. Keep the juice from the roasting tray for making the gravy later.

Nice and golden brown

For the gravy, chopped up the streaky bacon, onion and lemon (from the cavity of the turkey) and put them into a pan. Heat up the pan with some of the oil from the roasting tray first. Add in a few sprig of rosemary, 3 chopped tomatoes as well. To have more turkey flavour in the gravy, cut off the wings and backside of the turkey and put them in the pan too. Pour in the juices collected.

In Gordon's recipe, he used apple cider which we don't have, so we added 50ml of red wine instead. When the fluid is reduced by half, mashed up the solids in the pan to extract more flavours. Pour in some chicken stock and reduce again. Once reduced, sift the gravy. Your turkey gravy is now ready.

We also modified our bacon jam by adding in 50ml of red wine, one bay leave and a few sprigs of thyme. Simmer the bacon jam until it is the consistency you want.

Modifying the bacon jam for special occasion

For the cranberries & passion fruit sauce, we bring 340g of cranberries (fresh), 224g of sugar, 120g passion fruit pulp and 180ml of water to a boil over medium high heat.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the cranberries have broken down and the sauce is thick. Cool it before serving.

We had the turkey at the gathering and the meat is tender even for the breast. Definitely a recipe to keep.

Enjoy!

Beef Wellington

Beef Wellington

This is a brief post on the Beef Wellington we prepared during Christmas Eve. You can always make one during special occasions or when there's a craving for it.

I modified Gordon Ramsay's YouTube video recipe.

The first step is to season the tenderloin (we bought about 700g) with some salt and black pepper before searing it in a hot frying pain. I used a tablespoon of ghee instead of butter because ghee has a higher smoking point. Be sure to sear all around the beef but don't over-cook it.

Pan-seared tenderloin

Let the beef cool down and pat dry with paper towels before brushing a layer of Dijon mustard on it.

Tenderloin brushed with Dijon mustard

While resting the beef, prepare the duxelles. Mince the mushrooms (400g) with a clove of garlic, season with salt and pepper. Add in chestnuts (handful) to blend as well. I used the frying pan I seared the beef with, since there's still the ghee in it, to stir-fry the duxelles. I added a chopped onion to the hot ghee first and once the onion is softened, I added in the blended mixture.

Stir-fry the mixture with a sprig of thyme. After a while, you will notice that the mixture releases a lot of fluids (mainly from the mushrooms), continue stirring until the mixture is dry. Then add 50ml of red wine and 2 teaspoon of dark soya sauce and continue cooking until the mixture is dry again. Remove from the pan and let it cool down. Remove the thyme from the mixture.

Making duxelles - mixture of minced mushrooms, chestnuts and seasoning

Once the beef and the duxelles are cooled, place a few layers of cling film on the table, then put 1 to 2 pieces of filo dough on the cling film. It is useful to absorb the juices that are released from the beef and prevents the puff pastry from being soggy. Next, layer a few pieces of parma ham (we used 8 pieces). The width of the parma ham layer is slightly wider than the width of the tenderloin by 2 to 3 cm on both sides.

Preparing to wrap the cooled ingredients. Layer of filo dough and parma ham arranged on a cling film for easy rolling

Spread the duxelles onto the parma ham. There's no need to put too much, around 1 cm thickness is more than enough.

Layer of duxelles spread onto the parma ham

Place the beef on the lower third of the layers and roll it up with the help of the cling film.

Tenderloin placed on top of the duxelles

Twist and tighten the sides of the cling film to compact the roll. Leave it in the fridge to firm up before wrapping it with the puff pastry.

Rolled into a sausage-like structure, tightened by the cling film

I use ready-made puff pastry that is made with butter and not margarine.

Using ready-made butter puff pastry

Once the roll is firm, remove the cling film and wrap the puff pastry over the filo dough using the same method as above (with the help of a cling film and tighten the structure). You can then put it back in the fridge again until you are ready to cook it. Before baking, egg wash the puff pastry and use the back of a knife to draw some patterns on the pastry, be careful not to cut through it.

Puff pastry is wrapped over the filo dough, remember to remove the cling film first

In your free time, you can do up some decorations using the leftover puff pastry. :)

Extra puff pastry used for decoration

I roast the Beef Wellington in a convection over at 220C for 10mins, then rotate it and lower the temperature to 200C for another 30 mins. Your mileage may vary.

Beef Wellington done, and decoration in place

Sliced open to reveal medium rare tenderloin

Note:
Beef registers 48.8C to 54.4C on an instant-read thermometer for rare, 54.4C to 57.2C for medium rare.
Cover pastry with foil if it gets too brown while cooking.
You can spread a layer of foie gras or liver pate on the duxelles.

Macarons - Part 1 (The Start of a Long Journey)

Macarons were said to be the next craze in the food scene a few years ago, and were predicted to overtake cupcakes in terms of popularity.

The first time I saw macarons was on TV. It was a magic show in which the magician, Liu Chien, was changing the colours of the macarons with every turn of his hands. That was fascinating. I wasn't sure how they are going to taste especially after he handled them so much. LOL. Thinking back, I think those were just props and not real macarons because they are delicate little things, I don't think they can survive the manhandling. The only impression I had of them then was that they come in so many colours.

I might have come across them a few times while having buffets in hotels previously. They are usually in the dessert section. But I am on diet, so I don't usually eat the desserts. :p

I first tasted macarons during an Europe tour end of December 2012. While in Paris, Jason, our fantastic tour manager, told us that we must try the macarons and we should at least get them from two famous brands, namely Ladurée and Pierre Hermé. Jason went to buy a box of macarons from Ladurée and gave it to the whole tour group to try. I was very impressed by his dedication. It wasn't part of his job to do so. Esther and I took one each of different flavours to try. We didn't know how popular Ladurée was then. I am very surprised that people would actually pose with the macarons from Ladurée and take photos with them (check out blogs, you will find them). To be honest, after trying out the two macarons, the only impression I had was that they were VERY sweet! Subsequently, we bought a few more from Ladurée while shopping in Paris, same conclusions. So I really don't understand the fascination with them. Flavour-wise, I cannot even remember which ones we tried. That's how deep an impression they left us.

When Ladurée set up branches in Singapore, my colleague bought a few for us to try. Same conclusion as above, not too impressed. The only regret now is that I did not bother to try out Pierre Hermé while I was in Paris. After all the research I did on macarons, I believe his version would have been better and more impressive. He worked in Ladurée previously and from what I heard, he also created the flavours there before setting up his own shop and created even more unique and exotic flavours. I am so looking forward to my Hong Kong trip in January because I can get to try it out!

Back to the present... so what made me interested in making macarons then? Well, Esther is on a kueh lapis baking spree, so much so that the fridge is over-flowing with egg whites. There is always a danger of being covered and drown by the egg whites whenever we open the fridge door. Kueh lapis uses mainly egg yolks (20 to 30 of them per cake!) and it is too wasteful to throw away the unwanted and neglected egg whites. Other than making egg white omelette to eat, what else can we make? Soufflé - checked, white cake - checked, angel food cake - checked, checked and triple checked...

So, I went to research again... What to do with egg whites?... Macarons... hmm... their smooth shiny shells with dainty little feet begin to attract my attention. I saw its relative - macaroons (double 'o'). You know what is beauty and the beast? O.o"

Then I checked out some recipes on the internet. Wow! They are little devils! So difficult to master, so finicky‎, so demanding, everything needs to be precisely measured and prepared, every step must be carried out with care... But they are also little angels! So smooth and shiny shells, so dainty little feet, so tasty fillings and sooooo many variations (I like that, can experiment on flavours)...

And I am hooked! Not to eating them, but to baking them.

The first time I tried making the little devils, I over-mixed the batter, resulting in a cake-like mixture and I could not even pipe it out. And so, I made a cake out of it. LOL. I was using the french meringue method which is easier to do, but more prone to failures. Of course, I didn't know that then.

I didn't give up and continue researching. Then I found the italian meringue method which involves boiling a sugar syrup to a certain temperature (>110C) and then adding that hot bubbling sugar syrup into a mixer that is whisking the egg white continuously. This highly dangerous manoeuvre (boiling sugar syrup burns like hell!) creates an italian meringue and is more stable compared to a french meringue. So, because it is more stable, it is less prone to over-mixing. I don't want to make another almond-meringue cake. In this case, I am making use of an italian meringue to make a french pastry. :)

Making the meringue is one part of the equation to baking a successful batch of macarons. The other part of the equation is to have finely grounded almonds. If the almonds are not grounded finely enough, they will be too heavy for the meringue to support and the shells will also be very rough.

The ground almonds sold in Singapore are not fine enough to be used directly. Maybe I am a perfectionist but I have to (my wife does it for me when I'm at work. :p) further process the ground almonds by grinding them together with the powdered sugar. The presence of cornstarch in the powdered sugar absorbs the oil and moisture released by the almonds preventing them from clumping together. Some recipes insist on using pure icing sugar without cornstarch in it. Well, I don't think there is any difference with or without the cornstarch. Trying to find a packet of pure icing sugar here is more difficult than baking a batch of macarons.

And just because we have to grind the almonds finer, we ended up buying 3 blenders! Actually the truth is Esther over-heated our one-and-only blender earlier on while making some curry mixture. The first machine we bought is alright, but it is a multi-purpose food processor. So, I thought maybe a nut grinder might be better, so we bought another machine. This one comes with a smaller container for nut grinding and a bigger container for processing other type of food. I found the second blender too small and we had to grind the almonds in small separate batches although the almonds are finer now... Too troublesome and tedious for Esther because she actually grinds the almonds twice!

After much researching, I settle on the brand Vitamix. It is supposedly a very powerful blender. With great power, it comes with a huge price tag... of SGD $1+k.

"hmm... Just for grinding almonds so that you can make some macarons? You must be crazy!", my wife said to me.

"No, no. You can use it to blend other things as well. We don't need any other blenders when we have the Vitamix!", was my response. I sounded like a salesman.

So... I bought it quickly before there is another objection raised. ;)

Vita-Prep 3, the ultimate blender

My new blenders

Bought another container to specially grind dry ingredients

Now that I have the meringue part settled by making an italian meringue and I can finally ground almonds finely with the Vita-Prep 3, what else do I need to make macarons?

Many other things! I need food colourings, a reliable oven, a thermometer to measure the sugar temperature, a mixer, a sifter, a spatula and a kitchen scale. I also need silicone baking sheets/silpats (not need, but want. *grin*).

The equipment needed

Candy thermometers

About the food colourings... you can't use liquid colours because of the water content in them. You need either gel or powdered type of food colourings. Finicky little devils! I had to buy all that just to make some macarons. Crazy? Maybe a little... (A lot, if you asked my wife)

Gel and powdered colourings

After getting all that equipment, what is the next step? Can you start baking now? Yes, but you must have reliable recipes... They are all over the internet. There are good ones, there are bad ones... I have included a list of blogs containing good recipes with trouble-shooting guides below.

And these are the "bestest" ones. Yes, crazy me went online to order these two books and have them shipped over to Singapore. :p

Battle of the Titans

What is a "perfect" macaron?

1. Smooth, slightly domed shells without cracks
2. Ruffled edge at the bottom of the shells (feet) and do not extend outwards too much
3. Slight crisp in the outer shell when you bite into it
4. Slight chewiness internally
5. Not too soggy and does not crumble in your hands
6. No hollow shells - empty space between top of the shell and the content of the shell

The first two criteria are the most important of all. Personally, I find french pastry is 50% look, 50% taste. The third and fourth criteria defer from people to people. Some prefer a melt-in-your-mouth texture, while others prefer slight chewiness. Making macarons using french meringue and italian meringue produces different texture in the macarons. The fifth criteria depends on how wet the fillings are and how fresh the macarons are.

The sixth criteria is a killer for a lot of bakers. I am still trying hard to find the source of the problem for myself. It happens occasionally in batches I bake, even though everything stays the same. It happens more frequently with the italian meringue method from what I read. I don't think anyone has singled out a cause for this phenomenon. It can be due to the sugar temperature, it can be due to the stiffness of the meringue, it can be due to the ground almonds, it can be due to the macaronage, it can be due to the oven temperature as well. There are simply too many variables to account for.

Oh and they say there is such a thing as macaron god who will determine if the batch you have in your oven is going to be successful or not.

Before you jump into making macarons, let me show you some of my macaWrongs. I have more failures than what are shown below. Sometimes, I am just too upset to take photos of the failed ones. :(

Porous shells, no feet

Wavy domes, not smooth

Wrinkle, wrinkle, weaker shell

Batter too stiff, under-mixed.

Cracks and wrinkles on domes

Cracks on shells, peaks seen on high domes

If you are still determined to make your own after this, Bravo! Another encouraging news. I heard that even the best pâtisserie will have 10% to 20% rejects per batch of macarons. So, maybe that is why macarons are so expensive.

Websites you can refer to for more information on macarons.
Not So Humble Pie's new recipe and trouble-shooting guide
Syrup and Tang
Bake It Off's Tips, Tricks and How to Macaronnage
Eat. Live. Travel. Write's video tutorials
BraveTart's Ten Commandments, Mythbusters and Macarons are for eating
Natalie's Tips and Tricks
Just for laugh, read this as well.

Don't worry, this is only part 1 of the whole story. There will be a sequel to this with nicer looking macarons.

Nicer looking macarons - Red Velvet with Cream Cheese filling

These 8 macarons are from Ladurée and they ain't perfect

Savory Bacon Jam

I was introduced to bacon jam by a colleague one day. Being a lover of unhealthy food (tasty food is usually unhealthy, haha!), I went to a local cafe (Jewel Café+Bar) that serves homemade bacon jam to try it out for breakfast the very next morning with my significant half, Esther.

Bacon jam doesn't taste like the typical fruit jam at all. It tasted like a fusion of bacon, bak kwa (a type of Chinese BBQ pork jerky) and caramelised char siew (a type of Cantonese BBQ pork). Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the taste of it. It is oily (bacon fat, duh!), sweet, salty, spicy and has a tinge of sourness with an underlying coffee aroma. In the cafe we went to, it was served with chunky slices of baguette (the dish is called Fat Soldiers, haha!). I think bacon jam goes well with everything, but that's just me...

"Fat Soldiers" from Jewel Café+Bar

On the way back from the cafe, I was already googling for recipes of bacon jam. I didn't know that it is so popular yet very simple to make as well. And as a bonus, there can be many variations to it. You need something sweet (sugar/maple syrup/honey), something salty (comes with the bacon), something sour (apple cider vinegar/balsamic vinegar/Worcestershire sauce), something spicy (mustard/hot sauce/paprika/chili powder/pepper) to give some heat and coffee. Most recipes include aromatics as well such as garlic, shallots and onions. You can add whatever ingredient you want as long as you stick to the above criteria. Some recipes even add a touch of alcohol like bourbon.

Being the experimental me, I looked for the most appealing recipe, and added extra ingredients from other recipes to round up the taste. The only "difficult" part of making bacon jam is the simmering and stirring to reduce the mass into semi-solid sludge. You can use a slow cooker for the simmering stage.

Without further delays, I present to you, our experimental bacon jam...

Ingredients
2kg bacon, (we used 1kg bacon back and 1kg streaky bacon)
3 big white onions (sweet variety), peeled and roughly sliced
7 to 10 shallot, peeled and roughly sliced
5 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
250ml pure maple syrup
60ml balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
100g brown sugar
freshly ground black pepper to taste
salt to taste (you can use the drained liquid obtained while cooking the bacon, see below)

120ml strong brewed coffee (how strong you want it to be is up to you, I actually used 2 tbsp of instant espresso)

Water if the jam is too dry during simmering
Alcohol (optional, maybe during festive seasons)

You have to cut the bacon into thin slices and cooked them over medium high heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon bits are brown and crisp. Do not over-cook them at this stage or you will get very tough bits.

Half-way through, there will be a lot of liquid released by the bacon. Drain it out to reduce the saltiness. You can always add some of the fluid back later on. If there is a lot of oil released when the bacon is crisp, you can drain it into a separate bowl as well in case you want to add back some at a later stage. Because we used half bacon back and half streaky bacon, it wasn't that oily.

Sliced bacon in frying pan

Once the bacon is crisp and you can add in the aromatics (garlic, shallot and onion). Cook using medium heat until the aromatics are softened. During this time, you can mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, vinegar, Dijon mustard and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl and stir to mix.

Cooking the bacon with the aromatics

We had to transfer the contents into a HappyCall pot since it is bigger than our frying pan and is non-sticky as well.

Once the aromatics are softened, pour in the prepared sauce and mix.

Add in black pepper and the salty liquid collected previously. Adjust according to your taste and preference.

Pour in the coffee once you are satisfied. Bring the whole mixture to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer. Cover the pot with a lid to prevent it from drying up too fast. Stir occasionally. You can use a slow cooker at this stage. If the mixture is too dry, don't add any more of the salty liquid or you might end up making it too salty. You can add some water and continue simmering. We simmered ours for about 4 hours. During that time, we were making macarons, so it wasn't that boring. ;)

Once that is done, off the heat and let it cool down before using a blender to blend it. Before blending, if you find the bacon jam not oily enough, you can add in the oil you collected previously when you were frying the bacon.

You can decide on the consistency of the bacon jam. We prefer ours to have some bits and pieces in it so we only blended it slightly instead of blending it into a paste. If you like to drink it like a milkshake, then by all means, blend it at full speed for a few minutes. :p

Bacon jam with garnishing

I think our version looks nicer and tastes better than the cafe's version. But I may be bias.  :) 

The bigger bacon bits were added in just for the photo shoot. But you can actually fry up extra bacon bits and add them after the bacon jam has been blended. There is no hard and fast rules to this recipe.

Bacon jam to complement Eggs Benedict or is it the other way round? :)

Esther cooked up something just for the bacon jam photo shoot. I noticed the Eggs Benedict tasted even better with the bacon jam! She dressed it up so well that she managed to trick her sister into thinking that this photo came from a cafe. LOL!

During the festive seasons, instead of adding water to simmer, try using red wine. We will be doing that and will post how it taste after that.

PS. All things (good or bad) must come in moderation. Please don't eat this everyday and end up with a heart attack!