Hollandaise sauce

Picanha and oysters with hollandaise and crispy kale

Posted by Gary

Jump to the recipe and skip the introduction. 

Introduction 

Dear Reader, 

I hope you enjoyed good health and eating last week. 

What have I been reading?

I’m close to the end of Gary Taubes’ Good Calories, Bad Calories Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health(1). It is a very long book at 640 pages or 25 hours and 35 minutes of listening time. The basic summary is that calories are not all created equally. As a unit of energy, a calorie is consistent; however, the form of the calorie is critical. A calorie of fat will not stimulate the elaboration of insulin like a calorie of sucrose will. Gary advises we must not agree to the thermodynamic equation for weight loss and obesity management. The message is that simply reducing the calories in and increasing the calories out will not always work. The biological effect of that calorie must be considered. Moreover, calorie restriction without restricting carbohydrates will result in constant hunger and craving. Having listened to CASE FOR KETO: the truth about low-carb, high-fat eating(2), Taubes advocates for low-carbohydrate, healthy fat eating.

I’ve also started reading a new 426-page textbook. I am reading this book rather than listening because it’s unavailable as an audiobook. Ketogenic: the science of therapeutic carbohydrate restriction in human health(3) is for health practitioners, including medical practitioners, nutritionists, and professionals in related fields. I wouldn’t ordinarily read a textbook cover to cover (Apart from Pathologic Basis of Disease(4)), but this is a book I’ll likely read comprehensively.

A new low for me 

One of the unintended consequences of transitioning from the CSIRO TWD to a low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating way of living is a new minimal mass. I do not intend to lose more weight, but this week of low carbohydrate, healthy fat eating has had that effect. This meal will hopefully add some weight.

I know the body mass index (BMI) is an imperfect tool, but in my opinion, while crude, it is useful. I currently sit in the healthy weight range but at the upper limit. When I looked at the numbers, I could remain in a healthy weight range and lose another five kilograms. If I keep losing weight, seeing how it makes me feel will be interesting.

Weight Chart 20230729 This spans 2022 and 2023. The horizontal lines are 1 kg increments.

Glucose monitoring

I’m toying with getting a glucometer and measuring my blood glucose after each meal. I’m curious to compare such measurements with a specimen collected on getting out of bed.

Picanha steak

For the first time, I’ve seen Picanha in the supermarket. Picanha is a cut of beef that is popular in Brazil.

Beef cuts Brazil.svg
From wikipedia

The most well-known proponent of picanha on the internet is probably Guga from Guga Foods and his other channel, Sous Vide Everything.

Here is an old video of Guga discussing what he describes as the Queen of Steak.

Recipe 

Equipment 

  • Air fryer
  • Microwave radiation oven
  • Stick blender

Ingredients 

  • Oysters 
  • Picanha steak
  • Lime juice
  • Iodised salt (flaky)
  • Kale
  • Egg yolks – 3
  • Curry powder – 1 teaspoon
  • Apple cider vinegar – 1 tablespoon
  • 100 mL of melted butter

Instructions 

  1. Dry the surface of the meat with a paper towel and lightly season with salt.
  2. Wash the kale leaves.
  3. Put some wet kale leaves into the base of a baking dish and then place a trivet for the steak over it.
  4. Cook the steak (and kale) in an air fryer for five minutes on each side (of the steak) at 180 °C.
  5. Make a hollandaise sauce with the stick blender.
  6. Lay the crispy kale onto a plate and place the steak on it. Add some oysters in shells.
  7. Season the oysters with lime juice and flaky iodised salt.
  8. Pour the hollandaise sauce into a ramekin and use it as a dipping sauce or spoon some over the steak, oysters, and kale.
  9. Give thanks to the Lord. 
  10. Eat with a steak knife and fork. 

Thoughts on the meal 

I know what you’re thinking. Yes, I could have had more vegetables.

The steak was good, and the oysters were plump, firm, and fresh. It all worked well together.

I have no complaints.

Final thoughts 

  • Would you acquire a glucometer to measure your blood glucose?
  • Have you tried picanha steak? What did you think?
  • Do you like oysters?

Photographs 

Air fryer picanha with oysters and hollandaise sauce on a bed of crispy kale
Picanha (I discarded the chimichurri sauce).
Picanha and kale
Pacific Ocean oysters and hollandaise sauce
Pacific Ocean oysters and hollandaise sauce
Air fryer picanha with oysters and hollandaise sauce on a bed of crispy kale

Bibliography 

  1. Taubes G. 2008. Good calories, bad calories: fats, carbs, and the controversial science of diet and health. Anchor, New York.
  2. TAUBES G. 2022. CASE FOR KETO: the truth about low-carb, high-fat eating. GRANTA BOOKS, S.l.
  3. Noakes T. 2023. Ketogenic: the science of therapeutic carbohydrate restriction in human health. Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier, London.
  4. 2021. Robbins & Cotran pathologic basis of disease Tenth edition. Elsevier, Philadelphia, PA.

Sous vide pepper steak and scallops with hollandaise sauce

Posted by Gary

So, it’s another week and another non-recipe post. This post is more like a status update of what I cooked on Saturday night.

Sous vide pepper eye fillet steak with scallops and roe with broccolini and hollandaise sauce

My weight loss motivation has got a bit stagnant, so trying new things has also suffered a little.

I wanted a moderate dinner, but still something special for a Saturday night. I went with eye fillet steak again because it cooks without a lot of fuss, and if you treat it well, it will be tender and moist.

I wanted something with a little kick too so I tied up the meat and pressed in some freshly ground black whole peppercorns, iodised salt, and garlic powder. As always, I pulverise my spices and salt together in a heavy mortar with a nicely weighted pestle. 

Salt and Pepper Eye fillet steak

Because the temperature of the water bath would never exceed 55 °C, there was no chance of the pepper burning, so I was happy to coat the steak in pepper before cooking.

I’m not sure if you’ve ever burnt pepper, but it has an unpleasant, acrid odour and you never want to sear a pepper-coated steak for too long.

Salt and Pepper Eye fillet steak

While I was shopping, I saw there was scallop meat in the delicatessen display. The scallop meat with roe and the alimentary tract was $29 per kilogram while the scallop meat sans roe and the alimentary tract was $34 per kilogram. The roe adds a lovely coral colour to the dish, so I went with the cheaper option. For those readers who don’t know me, I never remove the alimentary canal from an invertebrate, and I wasn’t going to start. Life’s too short for that palaver.

I’ve described how to make hollandaise sauce elsewhere. It’s hard to go past a hollandaise sauce with steak and scallops. Rather than pour or spoon the sauce over the steak and scallops, I decided to serve it in a small bowl and use it as a dipping sauce. The dipping sauce approach was fantastic. As I loaded my fork with a little sweet broccolini, scallop, and steak, I dipped that meaty lollipop into the hollandaise sauce and got a good coating over everything the tines of my fork had penetrated.

Vacuum packed Salt and Pepper Eye fillet steak

The scallops were just seared in the skillet as I was caramelising the surface of the steak after it had finished cooking in the water bath (55 °C for 2 hours). The heat barely licked the scallops.

The broccolini was dead easy. After washing the broccolini in a large mixing bowl, I let the broccolini drain and then doused the green vegetables with some olive oil. I then added a squirt of golden syrup and ground over some iodised salt. With my hands, I massaged the sweet, salty, oiliness into the heads of the broccolini being gentle with the broccolini heads so as not to be too rough with the delicate end.

Precision cooker and water bath

I then arranged the broccolini on a lined baking sheet and put them into a hot oven for 15 minutes. 

Plating up was dead easy, after allowing the steak to rest I cut off the bindings and then with a sharp knife (I used a cooking knife my middle daughter gave me as a father’s day gift last year) I sliced into the soft tender moist flesh to reveal blushing joy. There’s nothing like a nicely cooked piece of muscle meat, red, moist but not running with its juices.

Sous vide pepper steak

Sous vide pepper eye fillet steak with scallops and roe with broccolini and hollandaise sauce

I put the steak onto a dinner plate which I had warmed on top of the water bath and then arranged the scallops. I poured the freshly made hollandaise sauce into a small bowl and put it onto the plate. The last thing to be added was the oven-cooked broccolini. The heads looked limp rather than the tumescence they once had, but I knew those flowery heads would taste sweet and salty, and when coated with the creaminess of the hollandaise, the taste would be unique and so delicious. 

Sous vide pepper eye fillet steak with scallops and roe with broccolini and hollandaise sauce
Sous vide pepper eye fillet steak with scallops and roe with broccolini and hollandaise sauce

New profile pic

Me in my Spam Hawaii shirt holding a tin of Bacon Spam
Me in my Spam Hawaii shirt holding a tin of Bacon Spam with Acacia pycnantha (Wattle) in the background.

Sous vide salmon, spicy hollandaise sauce, and kale sprouts

Posted by Gary

Look, two posts in one week.

Sous vide salmon with spicy homemade hollandaise sauce and crispy kale sprouts

The last couple of weeks I’ve been buying two pieces of salmon with the skin on from Coles. I’ve been eating salmon on Sunday and Monday evenings and I’ve been cooking them under vacuum (sous vide).

As much as I like a quick cook on a cast-iron skillet and getting a really crispy skin, the texture of sous vide salmon is sublime. The flesh just flakes with the slightest pressure. The cooking time is relatively short and the temperature is very gentle. I usually set my precision cooker for 50 °C for 40 minutes.

Brining salmon. Salmon and iodised salt.

A feature of sous vide salmon is wet brining the salmon. This is an optional step but if you don’t brine, it will mean you will have a film of coagulated albumin over the surface of the salmon when it’s cooked.

Wet brining the salmon is dead easy. A few hours before cooking, put the pieces of salmon into a container. Add a handful of iodised salt and then add the iced water. Put the lid on the container and then refrigerate it for a few hours.

Brining salmon. Salmon and iodised salt with ice water.

After removing the salmon from the refrigerator and removing the lid you’ll see a wispy slimy film over the salmon. This needs to be washed off using tap water. Once the albumin has been removed, dry the salmon gently with a towel or kitchen paper.

Put the salmon into a vacuum bag or a ziplock bag. If you have a vacuum extractor use the vacuum bag. If you prefer the water displacement method, use the ziplock bag.

Salmon post-brining

Your salmon is now ready for cooking in the water bath. I always set up my water bath fresh for each cook so I fill it with cold tap water and attach the precision cooker. If you don’t know what a precision cooker is, it’s a water heater and circulator. It keeps the water at a set temperature and I know some people who will keep it running for many hours and in some situations, days depending on what they’re trying to cook.

Salmon is delicate, so as I wrote in a preceding paragraph, I set the precision cooker for 50 °C for 40 minutes.

Salmon vacuum packed

Once the salmon is cooked, I will put one piece in the refrigerator for tomorrow night and I’ll keep the other piece warm sitting on the water bath while I go about finishing off the other elements of the meal.

At this point, I remove the salmon from the vacuum bag and carefully dry the skin. I then peel the skin off and put it on a lined baking tray. I cover the salmon flesh with aluminium foil and put the plate on top of the water bath to keep it warm. The aluminium foil is to keep the flesh moist and preventing it from drying out. No one likes dry fish flesh.

Sous vide salmon with spicy homemade hollandaise sauce and crispy kale sprouts

At about this time I toss some kale sprouts into a large mixing bowl and squirt in some Queensland nut oil plus some freshly ground iodised salt and black whole peppercorns (I do this in a mortar with a pestle). With my hands, I toss the kale sprouts in the bowl and try to get good coverage of the leaves with the oil, salt, and pepper.

I then spread the seasoned and oiled kale sprouts onto a lined baking sheet (next to the salmon skin) and put the tray into a hot oven which has been set to about 180 °C for about 15 minutes. The aim is to get the leaves of the kale sprouts crispy like chips without burning.

While the kale sprouts are in the oven I get out of the refrigerator three eggs, some butter, and some dijon mustard and hot sauce. I also get a lime and some hot sauce plus a red onion and a fennel bulb.

With a mandolin, I shred into fine pieces the red onion and fennel. These raw aromatic vegetables will give the hollandaise some added bite and kick.

Safety glove
Safety glove for mandolin use

I melt the butter, about 125 grams will do, using microwave radiation. I then separate the yolks of three eggs and out them into the bottom of a tall plastic cup. After squeezing the juice from the lime I mix it with a teaspoon of the dijon mustard plus a teaspoon of hot sauce.

It’s now a matter of getting everything together because making hollandaise sauce requires some focus and dexterity. I use a stick blender because I have spindly arms and thin wrists with poor muscle power for a whisk. Begin blending the egg yolks and then add the mixture of dijon mustard, lime juice, and hot sauce. While still blending, slowly pour in the melted heavenly goodness which is melted butter. As you pour in the butter which has been enhanced with microwave radiation, marvel at how it forms a thick unctuous sauce.

Once the hollandaise sauce is made, add in the bits of red onion and fennel. At this stage, you could wonder why you didn’t crispy up some streaky bacon bits and add them too. Stir through the red onion and fennel knowing the flavours and mouthfeel will be amazing with the salmon.

By now the kale sprouts and salmon skin should be done and it’s time to make a plate of food.

Uncover the moist and tender salmon flesh and gently transfer it to a dinner plate. You need to be careful because it will easily flake and fall apart. If it does, then one option would be to create rough flakes with a fork and mix the flakes into the hollandaise sauce you’ve made.

If you can keep the salmon altogether, put it on the dinner plate and then spoon over the hollandaise sauce with the bitey red onion and fennel in it.

If the salmon skin hasn’t burnt to a crisp, place it atop the salmon in some artistic fashion.

Place the kale sprouts next to the salmon and then with a teaspoon you might like to dribble a little hollandaise sauce on the kale sprouts.

Alternatively, put the remaining hollandaise sauce in a ramekin and use it as a dipping sauce for the crispy kale sprouts.

This meal is indulgent and decadent. You will have consumed more butter than you should. You’ll be impressed with the texture and mouthfeel of the sous vide salmon. You’ll love the crispy kale sprouts. Most of all, the tangy spicy hollandaise sauce will draw everything together.

I hope you enjoyed this. If you decide to make this for yourself, I’d love to hear from you and hear how it went.

Sous vide salmon with spicy homemade hollandaise sauce and crispy kale sprouts

Have a good week and stay safe from COVID-19. If you’re one of those conspiracy people who don’t believe SARS-COV-2 exists, then out of respect for others, please keep your views to yourself and don’t go out in public and please don’t share your nonsense on-line. That’s just as annoying as the way I’ve prattled on about this recipe.

The Courtney burger

Posted by Gary

Last week I posted about The Courtney, aka a chicken schnitzel with Hollandaise sauce. Tonight I made The Courtney burger! This delicious burger is simply a chicken thigh schnitzel fried in butter and served with Hollandaise sauce on a hamburger bread roll. I’ve added some raw onion and iceberg lettuce for crunch. The bread roll has also been lightly toasted to add a crunchy mouth feel.

The Courtney burger
Recipe Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Australian
Author: Gary Lum
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 1
Ingredients
  • Chicken thigh schnitzel
  • Hollandaise sauce
  • Burger bread roll
  • Tasty Coon cheese slices
  • Iceberg lettuce
  • White onion
  • Pepper
  • Butter
  • Tomato
Instructions
  1. Cook the chicken thigh schnitzel in grapeseed oil and butter
  2. Toast the bread roll
  3. Slice the tomato
  4. Slice a white onion
  5. Break off some iceberg lettuce leaves
  6. Build the burger
  7. Some butter
  8. Some cheese
  9. Some onion
  10. Some lettuce
  11. Tomato
  12. The schnitzel
  13. The Hollandaise sauce
  14. Shoot some photographs
  15. Eat The Courtney Burger
  16. Wash the dishes
  17. Write the recipes
  18. Blog (verb)

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Earlier in the day I enjoyed a smoked salmon and cream cheese poppy seed bagel.

Smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill and capers on a poppyseed bagel for lunch
Smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill and capers on a poppyseed bagel for lunch

Smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill and capers on a poppyseed bagel for lunch
Smoked salmon, cream cheese, dill and capers on a poppyseed bagel for lunch

Would you make a Courtney burger?

The Courtney

Posted by Gary

***Check out the update below***

I have a very good friend at work who likes a chicken schnitzel. I love chicken schnitzel. This friend also likes Hollandaise sauce. I love Hollandaise sauce. He told me one of his daughters has a friend named Courtney who likes chicken schnitzel and Hollandaise sauce together. My good friend from work feels this is anathema, an abomination. I on the other hand believe this Courtney is brilliant. She is a genius. In my mind The Courtney is perfect.

I present The Courtney

This one is from the Canberra Southern Cross Club Jamison.

"The Courtney" Chicken schnitzel with Hollandaise sauce
“The Courtney” Chicken schnitzel with Hollandaise sauce

This week we read in the NT News (the greatest newspaper in the universe) about some Darwin lads who anonymously rate chicken parmigiana in and around Darwin. They even have a Facebook page dedicated to their quest for the perfect chook parmy.

I suggested to my friend we could do this with chook schnitty in Canberra. I reckon this would be very cool and it would see me approaching my record weight from days gone by. Perhaps not a great idea after all. I’ll reconsider the idea I think. I really need to lose some weight. Today I enjoyed my fifth episode of birthday cake. Today I was at the hospital and my doctor friends took me to afternoon tea and spoilt me with cake.

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How do you feel about The Courtney?

 

A Courtney update

So today (Tuesday 2015-05-19) my friend (from above) from work went to The Tradies at Woden with a couple of friends and I had another Courtney. This was was pretty good.

The Courtney from The Tradies, Woden
The Courtney from The Tradies, Woden