Month: November 2022

Custom 3D Printed Pasta Roller Attachment

With a bit of 3D design iterations I was able to convert my manual hand cranked pasta roller into an automatic Kitchen Aid attachment. This was specifically made with Siraya Tech Blu-Tough Resin which is one of the best 3D printing resins for functional parts. I had to take a few measurements but this project ended up working quite well. One of the unforeseen challenges was once completed I was seeing some grinding between the plastics that was making it into the pasta. To solve this I took the easy way out and added some Teflon tape which was actually very effective at reducing wear.

Campfire Cooking

Though modern cooking techniques have provided almost unimaginable amounts of control there is something primal about cooking over a campfire. Though a bit messy with the amount of left over soot it was effective at boiling water and general cooking.

Easy Duck Confit at Home

Though traditionally made by slow cooking duck in its own fat to preserve it, the traditional method is a bit cumbersome at home. A simple workaround is using a sous vide and duck fat which allows you to replicate the process in a much controlled and easier way.

For this recipe I use a duck leg as they handle the process much better and then salt pepper and rosemary. There were all place in a vacume sealed alongs a couple table spoons of duckfat so that the duck leg was completely covered in it s own fat. This was then slow cooked for 12 hours and finished in the oven to get perfectly crispy skin. 10/10 classic dish.

Braised Short Rib and Polenta

I recently had this at a restaurant with asparagus as a side but felt that I might be able to do better with Brussels sprouts. Everything was done typically but the major bonus of this dish is drizzling the brazing liquid over the polenta and allowing it to soak it all up 10/10 dish.

Mis en Place

Brussels Sprout

I was at the farmers market looking for Brussels sprout for a recipe and was able to find an entire stalk worth of sprouts. The most shocking thing about them is that the largest ones were fist sized at which point I would call them mini cabbages rather than Brussels sprouts.

Macaroon

The best thing about making food yourself is that you can make it any way you would like. I won’t pretend to be a french pastry expert but I was able to make mini and large macaroon. The mini ones were smaller than a quarter and made pretty good bite sized snacks while the large ones were almost the size of my hand and though were not the easiest to eat were interesting at the very least. I had them in the oven for just a bit too long so they did start to brown a bit but taste was not affected.

Eggy in a Basket

Pulling once again from a particularly favourite movie of mine a breakfast favourite of mine is eggy in a basket which is a fried egg and toast 2 in 1. Its easy to make quite literally only requiring bread and an egg but requires some practice to ensure that bread is toasted and egg is cooked. My trick for this is frying up the bread for ~1min before cracking the egg in so that everything cooks at the same time.

Home Made Ramen

I feel like ramen is a min/max dish where either it takes 2 minutes or 2 days. I recently got my hands on some miso paste and decided to take a crack and homemade ramen.

I started of with making a dashi which I can only explain as an umami bomb using bonito flakes and kombu. The broth I made from chicken bones and vegetable scraps (typical broth). I also trialled soy soaked eggs which I soft boiled to the exact point where the yolks were still perfectly runny (I clearly could have let them soak for a bit longer) and added some shiitake mushrooms. As can be seen in the picture I also added a lot of green onions (and may have overdone it) which is a personal favourite of mine and you can never have enough.

Creamy Chanterelle Pasta

I have a particular love for chanterelle mushrooms but unfortunately they are very hard to come by here in Canada. Not much to note but they make a phenomenal cream of mushroom sauce and a few slices of parmigiano reggiano as garnish tie it all together.

Katsu Kare

I was initially introduced to this dish while working at Toyota where this was available once a week for lunch and quickly fell in love with it. It is a very filling, tasty and balanced dish that is one of the great comfort foods. It is not a typical curry with a much sweeter flavour (not to say that it is sweet) and the potatoes and carrots are also a unique addition but this truly is an amazing dish.