Asian Pear Tatin

Weather in Sacramento this week, due to the full moon, has been quite 'welcomingly' cool.  It also means that my kitchen is cool enough at 79'F for me to handle 1 lb of butter block for the Puff Pastry!  Yes! The last time I prepared the Puff Pastry was in the early June.  Practicing what I learned in the class to make the beautiful and wonderful, amazing Puff Pastry - Tarte Tatin, Almond-Apple Diamond, Fruit Strips, and Palmiers.  All so wonderful, but the hot kitchen is not what butter block likes.  Finally, today, I made Fresh Pineapple Tatin as a test and Asian Pear Tatin.  Pineapple Tatin is one pastry that I remember and savour the taste since I was child.  There is only one place in Japan, back then, bakes them - Fujiya Bakery at Tachikawa.  I never saw the pastry made anywhere else that I've been to.  Even in the State, I have never came across once like the ones I had.  But today, I made both Pineapple Tatin and Asian Pear Tatin.  Haven't decided what to do with the rest of the puff pastry dough, yet.

I am very happy to share this photo journal as the butter block cooperated quite well throughout the process.  So, here it is my photo journal of Asian Pear Tatin.

THAI TEA TESTING & HOW TO MAKE ICED THAI TEA

A couple of weekends ago, I craved dearly for the THAI Tea I had at one of the restaurant. I observed carefully the color, the aroma, and taste of the Thai Tea served at local Thai restaurant. I did some web search on the Thai tea. Most of the tea listed were imported from Thailand. Some are in the form of instant Thai tea powder; also there is tea leaves form of the Thai Tea being sold with Thai tea making kit. Regardless, after first three tries with various tea listed on the web, my search for the better Thai tea took me to an interesting journey. I found three different brands Thai Tea on the market where I live. At first I purchased some Oolong Tea from Taiwan, Instant Tea from Thailand (pre-mixed), and both disqualified to come close to the taste I am looking for. The instant tea tasted good, but I had my concern with the artificial color yellow #6 that it contains. But it explains the reason why the tea served at the restaurant comes out so gorgeous when served.
So, the next quest for the right Thai Tea was solved at the Koreana Plaza, local Korean market located at Olson drive, Rancho Cordova close to my office. I purchased three different tea brands and flavors. Thai Tea by Sunlee has vanilin flavour, and FD&C Yellow #6. Then, the "THAI Tea" with Anise (Thailand), and Black Tea (China).
The control of the test is to brew the tea with hot water at the same temperatures and with the same number of bags of tea. The challenge is to measure the color. So, the color fused through the glass and camera is the only mechanism I have to measure the strength of the tea. Each group of tea is steeped three times. At the end of the test, the winner of the Thai Tea is the Black Tea.  If I am not so sensitive to the food color, probably I don't mind enjoy a cup of Sunlee brand Thai tea.
To make Iced Thai Tea, after steeping the tea bags--4 tea bags to 12 oz of hot water- make it strong as it will get diluted when added to the glass of ice, add a drop of Vanilla extract. Depending on your preference, you can add pre-sweetened coffee creamery; condensed milk; then top it with half and half, or evaporated milk.  Enjoy!

 

 

Update on 11/7/2020.  This store sales organic Thai Tea.  The best part is no artificial color.  https://www.arborteas.com/organic-thai-iced-tea.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8PGo-b3x7AIVFR6tBh3rEgNzEAEYAiAAEgIONPD_BwE

Your traditional blend Thai tea to make the Thai Iced Tea should be of strong black tea,  and contain vanilla bean, cardamom and anise.  So you could blend them at home the same ingredients and see if it will produce the same taste.  Have fun testing.  

 

MUFFIN TOPS

I baked some Almond Muffin Tops last week. The recipe is from my friend's Aunt. The ingredients are fairly simple. It was not until I found a set of reasonably priced Muffin Tops molds from Amazon.com that I tried it, though. Had to adjust the recipe a bit after the first two tries. Added 1/4 cup more liquid (milk), and made sure the packed flour is sifted to measure 2-1/2 Cups. Adding extra white sugar mixed with Cinnamon added a touch more to the topping taste. Cardammon and vanilla paste and a tablespoon of Lime Juice also added to its moist texture to the Almond Muffin Tops with Cranberries and Raisins.