Whole wheat chiffon cake

I am told that baby should eat whole wheat foods but not the white ones. When I planned to make a chiffon cake last weekend, I wondered if I could substitute cake flour with whole wheat flour. One of my cooking buddies warned me that REMEMBER, BAKING CAKE IS A SERIOUS THING, DON’T TRY TO MODIFY THE RECIPE! This made me hesitate for a while, but, then, brave me! See my historic step on the moon, HooHooHoo:

1. Line parchment paper at the bottom of loaf pan.

2. Separate egg white and yolk of three eggs. Keep egg white in the freezer.

3. Whisk 40 ml milk and 2 tsp sugar to have sugar completely dissolved; whisk into 2 tbsp vegetable oil; sift into 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder; add yolks and blend to smooth batter.

4. Beat egg whites until foamy; add several drops of lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.Well beaten egg white won't drop when its container is turned up side down.

5. Adjust the rack in the oven to the low position and preheat oven to 325 F.

6. With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 beaten egg white with batter obtained in step 3 until smooth; then pour the smooth batter back into the remaining 3/4 beaten egg white, fold batter very gently but quickly -- try to finish this step in no more than two minutes otherwise, batter will be deflated. There should be no egg-white lumps in it.

7. Pour batter into loaf pan; give the pan three gentle raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles and smooth the top with spatula.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the cake is golden.

9. Immediately remove the cake from the oven, invert the pan and stand it on the rack. Let the cake cool completely.

10. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the pan, then remove the cake from the pan.

Voilà, here comes the cake! The texture is good, the taste is good… my little girl likes it… we love it… why not try? Happy ending :-)

Baked pork hock

It is not possible to break the bone of pork hock with my kitchen knife. For the long pork hock, I often stew it.

I was so surprised to find cut pork hock, which are quite convenient to bake or braise.

Before baked, the pork hock pieces were marinated by the mixture of sugar, salt and dark soy sauce overnight in the fridge. Then they were wrapped in foil bags. I placed some white part of green onion beneath the pork hocks for more aroma and to benefit the flux of steam. They were baked under 400F for half an hour and then under 375 F for another 30 minutes.After cooled a little bit, bone the pork hocks and dice.

Pour the sauce left in the foil bag over dices before serving.

I love to have the sauce mixed with my white rice, it tastes fantastic.

Baked chicken thigh with crispy skin

　

I like baked chicken with crispy skin and juicy meat. Recently, I learned this recipe and it works so perfect.

(1) Rinse chicken thighs and dry with paper towel;

(2) Marinate thighs with salt and white pepper powder;

(3) In a big flat-bottomed container, line some sticks at the bottom and then put thighs on the sticks (so that they don't touch the bottom), loosely cover the container and let sit in the fridge overnight;

(4) Rinse thighs to remove excess salt and pepper, dry with paper towel;

(5) Mix barbecue sauce and dark soy sauce, brush on the thighs;

(6) Let wire rack sit on a plate, place thighs on, and keep them uncovered in the fridge for another one to two hours;

(7) Preheat oven to 350 F;

(8) Put thighs on the rack with drip trap, bake for one hour or until the instant temperature reaches 150 F.

Yummo, yummo.

Stand up, and bake.

My rotisserie convection oven is quite amazing. Just insert the rotisserie through marinated chicken legs and let them stand in the oven, bake under 350 F for 75 minutes. Done! Look at the beautiful color -- Easy and yummy!

Baked pork rib

This is a mouth watering baked pork rib, isn't it?

I learned this recipe from a Chinese lady named "CuiHua". This recipe makes baking pork rib easy, all my friends would like to make this dish in dinner party. But, you see, everyone wanna make their own recipe, so we modify and modify... You can see this similar main dish on different tables, sure, the tastes are all unique. In my recipe, I changed something too, the quantity of seasoning, and adding green onion.

Firstly, prepare the main raw material, that is pork rib. Soak pork rib in cold water for 30 minutes, grab it to squeeze the fresh blood out, wash with running tap water to fully remove the blood, dry with paper towel. This step is very important in preparing pork, which can remove the bad smell in pork.

In a bowl, blend 7 tbsp brown sugar, 3 tbsp chilli powder, 1/2 tbsp salt to make seasoning. Well massage pork rib with seasoning, and let it sit overnight in the fridge.

Place one aluminium foil (larger than the size of pork rib) on the working counter, put two or three white part of green onion in the centre, then transfer pork rib on the onion. Cover pork rib with another large aluminium foil. Seal three sides and leave one side open, which is like a foil bag.

The dry seasoning left in the container now looks like wet marinade, mix it with 7 tbsp dark soy sauce and pour it carefully into the foil bag, in the end, seal the fourth side.

I forgot to take the photo of how to seal the bag, but I later shoot one right after I took them out of the oven -- see, very well sealed bag, no leak of marinade, full of steam inside, so the bag looks like a balloon:

Preheat oven to 375 F and bake pork rib for 1 hour. The marinade will almost be absorbed by the rib, and due to the green onion, it smells perfect.

Take the bag out of the oven, as I mentions above, this is a bag with hot steam, don't tear the bag with bare hand. Pink the bag with fork to release steam, then open the bag.

There might be a little bit sauce in the bag, drizzle the sauce over pork rib.

Well, it is time to enjoy!

Bon appétit!