For the past few months, I have been attending cooking demos at the Maya Kitchen. My main reason for doing so is to learn tips from famous chefs in the Philippines. Plus, I get to sample their creations on the same day and get to have copies of the recipes.
The last cooking demo for 2015 is the one by Chef Sau Del Rosario. He prepared a couple of dishes perfect for Noche Buena. I actually follow Chef Sau Del Rosario in Instagram so I was pretty stoked that I can finally see him cooking in action.
Here is the information shared about Chef Sau in the Maya Kitchen media release:
Chef Sau Del Rosario can credit his culinary talent to his Kapampangan roots. He studied at UP with BS Hotel and Restaurant Administration and obtained culinary education in Paris, France. He worked in Michelin restaurants in Nice, Paris, Shanghai, Bangkok and in Raffles Singapore.
Chef Sau moved back to Manila 8 years ago and he opened restaurants Chelsea, M Cafe and Le Bistro Vert to mention some. Today, Chef Sau is the culinary director for centre for Culinary Arts Manila. He is also a recipient of most outstanding kapampangan awards for culture (MOKA) and a few months ago, he added author to his many accomplishments by publishing his own cookbook, 20 years of love + cooking.
Chef Sau will soon open 2 restaurants, ‘Lola’s boy’ in Angeles City set to welcome diners on December 15 and ’93 North’ along HV dela costa street, Makati City which is set to open on February 2016
As for my impression on Chef Sau when I met him in person, I think he’s an emotional person. While he was introducing himself and sharing his experiences in Paris, Shanghai and Singapore, he was actually teary-eyed. And I also like how he was so honest in sharing all his struggles when he was still a budding chef. It’s good to see that the famous chef is normal just like us. All it takes is really hard work and passion for us to reach success.
Here are the dishes (perfect for noche buena) prepared by Chef Sau during the cooking demo at the Maya Kitchen:
As with my other Maya Kitchen Cooking Demo posts, I included the tips that I learned from the chef.
Tamales
rice flour simmered with coconut, annatto and shrimp stock topped with peanuts, chicken and quail eggs.
- can be eaten anytime of the day.
- cook onions first to not overcook the garlic.
- mix flour with water first (to dilute) and not directly to the pan or else, it will clump together.
- to make annatto oil, simmer annatto seeds in oil then drain.
Chicken Galantina
ground chicken, chorizo, Vienna sausage, capers, raisins, eggs, ham and bacon.
- recipe is from Chef Sau’s lola Nini.
- when deboning chicken, you should not poke through the skin, keep it intact.
- If overnight, marinade chicken with soy sauce & calamansi.
- cut calamansi on edge and not in the middle.
- put bread crumbs in milk to make it moist and easy.
- when using pickled relish, always include the juice (tip from Norma Daza).
- find a baking pan that perfectly fits the chicken with not much space left.
- enclose cavity with toothpick so stuffing won’t come out.
- after baking, cut chicken in the middle.
Salt-baked Salmon
salmon covered then cooked with egg whites and salt served with orange & rosemary beurre blanc sauce.
- use hand to mix egg white and salt.
- Texture should be similar to sand in the beach that just got water.
- cover fish completely with salt & egg mixture (including the tail). Remove only when serving.
- Put some drawing (using spoon) like face and scales after fish is covered.
Brazo de Mais
infused with corn and folded to look like a real corn. It is stuffed with pastry cream and layered with egg whites.
- If egg yolk is small after you crack the egg, it means the egg is still fresh.
- If meringue is standing after you lift the mixer, then it’s good to use already.
When we got to tasting the finished dishes, I put the tamales as my # 1 then the salmon. Oh I wish I can cook like this!
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The Maya Kitchen Culinary Center
8F Liberty Building, 835 A. Arnaiz Avenue (Pasay Road), Makati City, Philippines
+63-2-8921185 / +63-2892-5011 local 108
contactus@themayakitchen.com
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