The experiments continue

Sorry about the lack of real cooking this week but rest assured the experiments are still taking place. What I've made here is a Nai Wong Bao (milk egg yolk bun). This ties with the lotus seed sesame balls for my favorite dim sum. The lotus seed ball shares the top place because of history. It's been my favorite dish ever since my first dim sum so it stays. This thing's got condensed milk, coconut milk, and egg yolks hence the name. The filling will be great as is wrapped into a yeast doughnut dough (like a Muchkin) and dipped into chocolate sauce (kinda like a Cadbury Easter egg). I was also thinking of a salty version, with salted duck eggs, like a yolk in the middle of a meat ball or like in the previous post inside a pot sticker.

While making more dough, I started to hate it. I think there might be too much gluten in it so after doing some internet reseach (ie. generously borrowing from Noodle Bar) I've broken down and bought some cake flour ($3.49 for 2 lbs, more than twice as expensive as all-purpose flour!!!). It's a balance between preferences. Rosy apparently hates chewing and I've never met anything I thought was too chewy.

On the business front, things are progressing a bit slower than I anticipated. We got our tax ID and a few things but I can't figure out for the life of me what type of mobile food vendor we'd be at a farmer's market. The farmer's market association isn't returning my calls or email so I think we have to resort to harrassing them at the market this Sunday. Wish us luck!!

I never thought I could be a fanboy, until last Saturday

I'm going off topic with this post, it's not really about the pig.

I generally have pretty low self esteem. Laugh all you want but it's true. Like today, when the barista offered to make a drink for the next person in line, before I could speak, the fat guy in a jersey next to me piped up. I just sulked and waited for the barista to finish. So when Chris Consentino of Incanto threw a bone to us, I giggled. I blushed. I did everything a grown man should not do. I told him how great he was in the San Francisco's episode of No Reservation then I shamelessly asked him for an autograph. Just as I was about to shoot my hand out to shake his, he, perhaps sensing a potential stalker was getting too confident with his prey, turned and talked to my friend. Well, an autograph, some comped appetizers and drinks are way better than nothing.

Suggestions for where to eat in SF from the chef himself. Sorry buddy, while your food is two thumbs up, Humphry Solocombe is NOT better than Bi-Rite Creamery. Jesus Juice is not a superstar.

Are we approachable?

Jerry and I had friends visiting from Laguna Beach this past weekend and two of the five visitors have never really experienced SF as a city. So, we decided to take them to our favorite SF haunts, which of course, include our favorite restaurants, cafes, and the like. We started with my family’s favorite dim sum restaurant in Chinatown-- named Golden Mountain.

The dim sum restaurant was exactly what you would expect from a traditional dim sum house--poor service but deliciously strange and strangely delicious food. In an effort not to scare our poor guests away, we decided not to order chicken feet or pig’s blood (normal fare for my family) but we did order pork buns, egg and lotus seed buns, beef and shrimp rice rolls, sui mai, shanghai dumplings, chive dumplings, sesame-seed balls, and squid with fish balls and pork skin. They did not take to the squid with fish balls, but we explained to them that the dish is normally much more well prepared--there was something a bit off about the curry sauce that day. (Although I’m sure that it wasn’t just the sauce that turned them off.)

As we were having brunch, my opinions about to making dim sum and other similar Chinese foods approachable to non-native eaters were pretty much confirmed. For those who have not had dim sum, it is usually the texture, names, and looks of things that turn them off. For instance, many dim sum items are a bit mushy, chewy, or stringy. And many items come in shapes not known in American food culture--such as the tear-drop shape of some dumplings and buns. Lastly, very few people find something labeled “pickled jelly-fish” appetizing. I think that “crunchy ocean salad” would be more winning as a name.

And as with most meals these days, I began thinking about how to improve the marketing of The Pig’s products. We’ve mostly gotten it right in terms of making the traditional Chinese bun into a pocket to allow for portability but also to mimic the beloved American sandwich, Mediterranean pita, and Mexican/Latin-American taco. Our bun would be a new flavor in a very familiar shape. But how would we also make the fillings approachable? We knew that kalbi beef short-ribs and fried chicken katsu would be a hit but would normal everyday people love or hate something called “pig-belly”? One thing for sure is the fact that lots of women (and men) are wary of eating something so fatty. So after much debate, we decided that braised pork shoulder might be a good exchange.

After all, we weren’t able to present the pig belly in its best form. All of the braising caused the fatty goodness to separate into clumps. It was still delicious, but not as pretty.

We also decided that adding a dessert item to the menu would be a good way to give people an end to their meal. Dessert is one crucial thing missing from dim sum that many non-native eaters crave. After we had cleaned through all of our tiny dishes, our friends asked, “Hey, what’s for dessert?” We had no response. Typically there is no dessert after a Chinese meal. Normally it ends with a slice of fruit and the bill.

Although we’ve not yet begun experimenting with our dessert bun, we’re thinking--mini versions of the buns fried (!) and injected with rich cream cheese and ricotta spiked with lemon zest and a tangy berry dipping sauce. Can’t wait for trials to begin! Stay tuned.

quick update

As you can see we've posted a tentative menu up. Rosy and I agree that the only thing we need on the menu before we're ready is a vegetarian pot sticker. Some things might change though due to the availablility of the ingredient. I've been getting the meatier part of the pork belly from the Ranch 99 dude, essentially cutting 1/3 off the thicker end piece of the slab of belly and he is none too pleased. In most cases I just fein ignorance when he starts protesting. Russell Peters has been my angel telling me to just "do the right tin" but I flick him away annoyingly and demand in english the cut I want. Even though all of this is playing out in my head, I assure you it's completely normal, for me. I suspect that this might not work for getting these bellies in any meanful quantity. So sad to say but I think I'm going to have to experiment with some Boston butts.

So Wednesday was my last day at the office. In order to keep me up on my feet and avoid getting hemorrhoids in the weeks to come, my dumpling skin rolling practice is due to start next week in addition to modifications in my bibimbap pot sticker recipe. The reason for the skin rolling practice is because Rosy and I went to a Shanghainese restaurant two days ago and I realized that store bought pot sticker skins are just not going to cut it. Their skin is light and crunchy, not merely a vessel. And on the tshirt front, I threw the sketch onto Photoshop and this is the result. Let me know what you think.

Eggs, I like you a lot.

So we just had another taste test yesterday. I think overall it was a success. We got a lot of good feedback and I'm working on nailing down the food cost. Meanwhile a visit to the food stalls at Campbell's farmers market (see last post) has given us a bit of lift. I was overwhelmed just thinking about the portable cooking equipment we'd have to work with, but a quick look around gave us confidence. The general setup of these stalls center around a double or triple propane burner, cutting board on the folding table to the right, and coolers full of supply underneath. Nothing complicated at all and the vendors seemed to do fine. But how are we going to transport everything? The pimp mobile (S2000) is too pimpy and the Camry has no trailer hitch, not to mention we have no storage for a trailer. Oi, the work of an aspiring bun mogol is never done. Anyway, now to some actual cooking.

I got to thinking last week about all the dishes I love that involves an egg yolk. What I love about them is that any dish that has an egg yolk sauces itself.

-eggs over easy with a dash of tabasco

-sour dough toast topped with an egg yolk, a dash of tabasco, quickly followed by a forkful of corned beef hash

-bibimbap

-sundubu

Then at the Belmont market I saw the egg man. The duck eggs caught my eye but I went for the quail eggs. I had seen a recipe for a soft egg ravioli online and had something particular in mind. I bought some dumpling skin, mixed up my kalbi marinade with some ground beef, add the quail egg, and viola!

Here's a bunch of them lined up like precious little storm troopers.

These little suckers took me forever! My intial fascination with these things quickly wore off as the broken yolks spilled everywhere. I had started to dream, rather prematurely now it seems, about being lead through town on a stud as trumpets herald the success of my little invention and now it all came squirting onto my hand. This is the first real dish I've thought up and it sucked spectacularly. I'd start to pinch these potstickers with the care of a bomb squad tech, my mind focused so much that I've reached Shangri La (good weather, nice people, but there were speed cameras everywhere), then my vision starts to fad and POP! Alas some were made with yolk intact but Rosy and I found that there just wasn't enough yolk. It was getting lost in the middle of everything, but when you do get a taste of the yolk it was pretty good. One good thing that's come of this is that I think the kalbi style filling is good enough on its own in the dumpling that we're going to include it in our menu.

PS. Just a quick shout out to Alexis for her bomb-digga-di apple pie, Maighna and Vince for the delicious reds, and Sarah I hope your lips are ok.

PPS. I just thought of another idea to rescue this idea. Stay tuned!

Researching: markets, festivals, and competitiors--oh my!

Since our plan is to begin small--at local farmer's markets, we thought it might be a good idea to check out the local markets near Foster City. Apparently, there are markets in every neighboring town--including Millbrae, Burlingame, San Mateo, Belmont, San Carlos, Redwood City, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Campbell. Last weekend, we went to Belmont and San Jose (Santana Row).

Unfortunately, however, the one in Belmont was much too small (held in a tiny parking lot) and the only people there were there to shop for groceries--no eaters or snackers. The one in Santana Row was a bit larger but no one was eating there either.

The next day, I returned to work and was told by my co-worker that the farmer's market in Cambpell was our best bet because of the heavy foot traffic. So Sunday morning we got up bright and early at 10:30 a.m. (ha, ha) to hit up the farmer's market in Cambpell. When we showed up, the parking lot was nearly full (good sign #1). After we found a space we headed towards Cambpell avenue and were confronted with hordes of people and tons of vendors hawking their goods (good sign #2). Nearly every vendor had customers (good sign #3) even if there were multiple vendors selling the same thing (i.e. fruits and veggies). Best of all, there were only a handful of hot food vendors, including a taco tent, falafel wraps, indian wraps, vietnamese food, and take-home pizza (I guess this doesn't really count since its not cooked and you can't enjoy it there).

We quickly sized up our competition and realized that the taco tent was our closest competitor. We grabbed two taco plates for a tasting. The tacos themselves were well seasoned and passable but nothing special. The rice and beans, flavorless. "Yesss, we got this!" we both thought.

And so, we've mostly decided that Campbell is our number one choice as far as where we'll begin with The Pig. This past weekend during our second tasting, we were given another tip--the farmer's market in downtown Oakland. One of our lovely tasters said that the market is not only busy but very ethnic! A score for our multi-ethnic buns (and postickers..read next blog!). So next weekend, we'll be visiting the Oakland farmer's market and we'll keep ya'll posted on where we finally decide to hawk our buns.

Lastly, during the last two weeks, we've also attended a few food festivals, including the SF food festival--which was waaay too crowded and overpriced. $8 for a freakin' hotdog?? Sorry Jaime, I loved you on Top Chef and I love Absinthe as well but I did not love your hotdog nor did I love its price.

The one great thing about the festival was the fact that it reconfirmed that street food is hot! All the SF hipsters were there in full force for succulent meat on sticks, yummy fried dough, and delicious things in buns. And as much as I dislike hipsters (and the fact that they all wear skinny jeans and funky fedoras and other interesting hats), we need the hipsters as much as they need our food. Also, although Jerry swears that I look nothing like a hipster, more than one of my friends has pointed out that I own more than one pair of skinny jeans and also wear a variety of colorful head decorations. So, am I self-hatin'? Possibly.

To sum it all up, to all you hipsters and non-hipsters alike, we welcome you to bun bar very soon. Please make the trek to Campbell or Oakland or wherever else we may be!

Campbell City Farmer's Market on Cambpell Avenue.















Our (future) competitor... muah ha ha!















SF Street Food Festival on Folsom Street.















Jamie's famous bun is all hype! :(

Working as a team

While Jerry and I were shopping for ingredients for our tasting at our local Ranch 99, we began discussing ideas about getting The Pig off the ground. We'd always planned to bring our products to local farmer's markets before branching off into to catering and ultimately, a storefront, but how would we ever get there?

The equipment needed for making buns in bulk was very expensive--commercial steamers were several thousand dollars and other portable electronic devices needed for on-site cooking such as a deep fryer and grill were several thousand more. That's not to mention packaging supplies, licensing fees, etc. So I thought that asking local restaurants and restaurant supply stores for their retired kitchen wares would be a good idea. Based on my own experiences growing up in my mom's restaurant, I knew that when kitchen gadgets and appliances became worn out or outdated, they would often be placed into into storage "just in case" the new ones broke, but were often left to collect dust.

And so, I asked Jerry if he thought it was a good idea to seek out local businesses for their old appliances.

"Hey what do you think about asking restaurants to donate their old stuff to us?"

"Eh, I don't want to ask people for stuff. I'd rather do it myself," he replied.

"Ok, but we have like no money. This stuff is gonna be super expensive and if other people have it and don't need it, then why not?" I asked

"I just don't like asking people for stuff like that," he replied again.

"Well," I said, "if you're gonna work in the restaurant business you really can't be too proud to do certain things 'cause everyone has to start somewhere" I sniped.

He looked irritated.

"Look, I'm not too proud to do anything. I'm OK with doing all that stuff, I just don't want to ask for free stuff."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't look at it that way then. Maybe you should look at it like people wanting to be a part of something that reminds them of their past. I know that if 20 years later a young couple came to us for help, I would genuinely want to do something for them, if only because it's a little like reaching back into time and doing something for myself that I couldn't do then."

Suddenly, I too became irritated.

"You know, you don't listen to my ideas. You totally just shoot them down without even considering them. And who made YOU boss anyway?"

I realize now that I was having an argument about a fictitious company that had not yet even sold its first bun, which is silly yes, but so what? This was something that I'd always wanted to do and I'd be damned if someone else was gonna hijack it.

By now, we had paid for our groceries were walking home in silence.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked.

"Yes. You get so mad about this stuff and I don't know why. And I DO listen to your ideas!" he exclaimed.

"Ok, look I've wanted to do this for a really long time and aside from that, I just don't want to end up like my parents. I want this to be a real partnership and if I feel like you're not listening to me, then it's not a partnership."

He seemed exasperated now.

"But this is nothing. I mean, we have NOTHING. Why don't we just cross that bridge when we get there?" he asked.

"Well, by the time we get there, we'll be too far gone. We'll be completely set in our ways and THIS (I motioned at the space between us) will be normal." I replied.

"Ok," he finally reasoned, "I understand, but we won't be like that. We'll work together. I mean, doesn't the fact that we're talking about this now show that we'll never become that way? Our parents never would have talked about this."

I became silent.

"Yeah, you're right," I finally replied. "I'm sorry."

And so, dear reader, the moral of the story is that yes, I can be a bit neurotic and Jerry can be a bit stubborn but also, finding the perfect business partner is oftentimes not the same as finding the perfect life partner. A lot of the time, the qualities that you once loved about the other person become some of the hardest things to deal with when running the business as a team. Another issue is the fact that there simply isn't the same sense of professionalism when dealing with your boyfriend/girlfriend/fiance. I mean, how can you act professionally when you've seen the other person eat cheerios from the box in their underpants or dress in drag for Halloween? But I think that in the end, if you really decide that you want things to work out, then it will. Nuff said.

p.s. I'm still the boss of him.

Swag shop

Rosy and I were doing some brainstorming for an idea to promote The Pig (hmm, kinda obnoxious and self important but sounds legit. I like it). So I doodled something on my pad and came up with this idea for a t-shirt. What do you think? Unfortunately, a litter of piglets (think Charlotte) were ruthlessly strangled so I that I could make this drawing look realistic, but look what I've accomplished! (Don't feel too bad, hakuna matata, circle of life, yadda, yadda, ok?)

I'm not comparing my drawing to the seven wonders of the world but hey. In any case, my drawing is better because everything you know about the seven wonders has been based mostly on hearsay, but my drawing is real life. (For all you know, the Hanging Gardens of Bablyon could have been an upside down tomato planter from Sky Mall.)

So, what do you think of our new t-shirt design? Yay or nay?

Compiling a menu and taste testing

We're also testing sodas to sell with our buns. Today we had: Coco Rico (coconut soda) and Apple Sidra (an apple soda). Both were pretty tasty although the apple soda doesn't beat the Latin version.



The bun with a little "Seoul"


The "Tokyo" bun


The "Original"


Compiling a menu and taste testing

Now that we've gotten the bun recipe down pat, we've begun to compile a menu. We've decided that this specialized menu consisting only of buns will be called the "Bun Bar" with buns from various parts of the Asian world.

A sampling if you please:

The original "Commie"
A delicious bun that reminds you of your Chinese grandma, filled with slowly braised pork belly in a special blend of Asian spices until tender and flavorful and served with crisp, fresh cucumber slices, spicy diced scallions, and a tangy and sweet Asian barbeque sauce.

(Note: Jerry tells me that using "commie" is not PC, but isn't the best part of being Asian the fact that you can make fun of yourself and your communist heritage? Oops, did I just imply that I'm a communist?)

The bun with a little "Seoul"
A meat eater's bun filled with savory marinated kalbi short ribs, topped with finely sliced spicy pickled Kimchi cucumbers that have been marinated in garlic, chili, and onion.

The "Tokyo" bun
A delicate bun filled with chicken katsu that has been marinated in garlic salt until moist and deep-fried in a crunchy panko batter, topped with a creamy and spicy Asian slaw consisting of crunchy jicama, lush purple cabbage, and sliced carrots.

Hungry yet?? Well there will be many more buns to come and they'll all be available in real life soon! We'll be working soon on an Indian and American inspired bun. Perhaps even a Cali-bun with some avocado! Mmmm...

If I may say so myself, the taste testers seemed quite happy with their sampling. General consensus: all of the buns are delicious and don't need any additional ingredients, but the kalbi beef needs to be further tenderized, the chicken fillets should be pounded thinner, and you should use one, not two pieces of kimchi cucumber so that the beef is not over powered.

Thanks to Roberto, Keenan, and Gwen for lending us their taste buds for the night.

-Rosy

Let there be buns!! And then there were buns.

If genius is as they say one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, then I must be a freaking genius! My feet hurt, beads of sweat are rolling down my overgrown side burns, and my glasses are sliding off my nose, but in the end it was all worth it. The art of bun making, three trials in all (32 total), is not so much an art as it is a form of water boarding (which by the way, we invented. Chinese water torture anyone?). From my prior experience as a voracious bun eater, I think there are three parameters to a good bun: white, fluffy, and melt in your mouth. Tastes great, less filling. Who wants to fill up on a bun when there's tasty pork to be had? It's like the mayo to the roast beef, gravy to the turkey, the magic carpet to Aladdin's tush, or my hand on your ass, oh wait, delete, delete, delete. Anywho, the picture above speaks for itself. I think I've finally gotten something I'm halfway proud of. The only problem now is getting consistent steaming action without the condensation causing blisters on the bun (yellow wrinkles on the surface).

Here are some tips:

1. Use canola oil because it's flavorless. White steamed buns should be mildly sweet. Period.

2. When the directions say to let the dough rise in a draft free environment (i.e. cupboard, oven, whatever), do it. If your kitchen is a bit cold put a bowl of hot water next to the dough. It helps alot.

3. Do not drip water on the buns while it's cooking or it will blister!!!

Check out our Facebook fan club, there are a lot more pictures there.

Lights out!

-Jerry

The creation of our logo

Research from Google images. Not exactly the type of feeling we're going for.

Uh, what in the???

The fourth and final sheet of writing. The second line was chosen.

The "sprocket." Can you see the numbers in the photo above? If you look closely at our actual logo, they've been replaced with "JC 8-18-09 RL"--our initials and the date of The Pig's inception.

We thought about adding a pair of square black-rimmed eyeglasses to the pig since Jerry sports a similar pair, but eventually decided against it since the pig is in profile and the eyeglasses lose their overall effect. You can see the faint outline of them here.

The Creation of our Logo

Immediately after coming up with the idea of The Mechanical Pig, I had a clear image of the design of our logo--a graphic black profile of a pig with a white gear in its middle.

The pig:

I went straight to Google and began looking for images of cartoon pigs for inspiration. As you can tell from the few that I've posted, there wasn't much inspiration to be had. So my fiance urged me draw the image in my head and then scan and manipulate it in Photoshop. I sketched the happy pig in my 5x8 sketchpad and then snapped a picture. 4 hours later, we had our mascot.

The gear:

When we moved into our first apartment together, nearly three years ago, I was unpacking while my fiance was away in China. I found two bright red metal objects with spiked edges and holes in its middles. I hammered a nail in the wall and hung one up. I hammered another nail and hung the second one up. My fiance came home a month later and I asked, "What are those red metal things with ridges?"

"Uh, does it have holes in it?" he asked.

"Yes, I found them in your boxes. They look cool," I replied.

"Those are the gears for my go-cart. Why?"

"Um, I hung them on the wall," I said.

"Ha, ha, ha. Ok, I'll just buy new ones."

I found out the other day that the gear was called a "sprocket." So I looked it up and created its cartoon version.

The writing:

Perhaps I'm too sentimental, but I feel every logo should have a personal touch. A little bit of human messiness to counter all of the computer generated perfection. And so, I wrote out the name of our little experiment over and over in print.

"Ok, pick one," I said.

"They all look the same. Eh, that one's fine," he said.

-Rosy

The start of something new...

Ta-dah! I'm light, fluffy, and oh-so tasty!



Just before entering the steam bath.

The start of something new...

The Mechanical Pig first came to my fiance and I as a business concept one day when I came home to find him sulking on our couch. He had been handed a layoff notice only a few weeks earlier and the job market was not looking so good for mechanical engineers. Apparently, several other companies, including Boeing, Lockheed, and Nummi were also laying off MEs and there would soon be an influx of MEs and nowhere for them to go. He told me that he was very uncertain about the future and didn't know what to do next.

I asked him, "What would make you happy? I mean, what do you want to do--and I mean REALLY want to do?"

I remembered our previous discussions about opening a cafe or a restaurant. We had a shared passion for cooking and food and also spoke about working in a kitchen together one day. After a moment of pause, an idea came to mind.

I piped, "How about an Asian Fusion restaurant?! I could pull recipes from my childhood, including things I cook at home and other things my mom cooks at her restaurant."

I had grown up in a tiny Chinese take-out restaurant and yearned to return to those days in the kitchen. I knew that someday I would open my own place, but vowed to make it a creative space.

"Nah, I don't really want to do a restaurant like that," he said. "I want to do bbq food. I want to open a roadside bbq place."

"Well then," I replied. "How about we do bbq with an Asian twist?"

He seemed to perk up at the idea.

"Ooh...we can name it The Mechanical Pig!! ," I said. "You know, because you're a mechanical engineer and it'll be all about cooking and eating pork in its tastiest forms--braised, grilled, smoked..."

"YES, that sounds awesome!!!"

And so began The Mechanical Pig and our bbq pork bun trials...