Ensaymada Bread #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

A soft texture bread with creamy taste topped with melted butter, grated cheese and white refined sugar. You can create your own toppings of your choice.


Ensaymada Bread #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Ingredients:

1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup warm water
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt
8 egg yolks
4 cups all-purpose flour
Melted butter for brushing
grated cheese

Procedures:

1) Dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Add the yeast and let stand until softened.

2) Add flour gradually until well blended. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and set aside in warm place for 30 minutes.

3) Meanwhile, cream butter and sugar thoroughly; add salt and egg yolks, beating well after each addition. Add all-purpose flour gradually, blending well. Add this mixture to the sponge yeast. Mix well.

4) Put dough in slightly greased bowl and cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.

5) Punch down. Divide dough into desired size of rolls. Roll out thinly.

6) Spread surface with melted butter and sprinkle with grated cheese. Roll as in jelly roll, starting from the lower left hand corner.

7) Place in greased ensaymada molds. Let rise for 2 hours.

8) Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees F for from 10 to 15 minutes.

9) After taking out from oven, brush with butter and sprinkle with grated cheese and sugar. Yield: 2 dozens.

Spanish Callos #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Callos had originated from Spain and it is one of the loved dishes in the Philippines, it a slow cooked stew that is made out of beef tripe; cooked with chick peas, tomatoes, paprika and Chorizo. This version uses a mix of tripe, chorizo and pork leg meat.



Spanish Callos #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Ingredients:

400g Ox Tripe, cleaned and cut into 1.5 x .5 in strips
400g Pork Leg meat, cubed
2 pcs chorizo, sliced
1 whole garlic, minced
1 whole red onion, chopped
1 tsp ground pepper
3 pcs bay leaf
1 1/2 cups chick peas, cooked
2 red capsicums, cubed
1/2 cup Tomato Paste
4 pcs tomatoes, diced
5 cups of beef stock
3 tbsp soy sauce
fish sauce
fried garlic
olive oil

Procedures:

1. In a pot sauté garlic and onions in olive oil, cook until garlic is golden brown.

2. Add tomatoes, tripe and stir fry then add 4 cups of beef stock. Bring to a boil and slowly simmer for 1.5 hrs. add more beef stock if necessary.

3. Add the pork, chorizo, tomato paste, bay leaf, chickpeas, soy sauce and simmer for 45 more minutes.

4. Finally add capsicums and flavour with fish sauce and simmer for 25 minutes.

5. Serve and top with fried garlic.

Chinese Dumplings: Jiaozi #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Chinese dumplings (Jiaozi) are very popular during the Chinese New Year season. A very flavorful food that goes with a dipping sauce of your choice.



Chinese Dumplings: Jiaozi #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Ingredients:

Jiaozi dough:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• up to 1 1/4 cups cold water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1 cup ground pork or beef
• 1 TB soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 TB Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper, or to taste
• 3 TB sesame oil
• 1/2 green onion, finely minced
• 1 1/2 cups finely shredded Napa cabbage
• 4 tablespoons shredded bamboo shoots
• 2 slices fresh ginger, finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and finely minced

Procedures:

1) Stir the salt into the flour. Slowly stir in the cold water, adding as much as is necessary to form smooth dough. Don't add more water than is necessary. Knead the dough into a smooth ball. Cover the dough and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

2) While the dough is resting, prepare the filling ingredients. Add the soy sauce, salt, rice wine and white pepper to the meat, stirring in only one direction. Add the remaining ingredients, stirring in the same direction, and mix well.

3) To make the dumpling dough: knead the dough until it forms a smooth ball. Divide the dough into 60 pieces. Roll each piece out into a circle about 3-inches in diameter.

4) Place a small portion (about 1 level tablespoon) of the filling into the middle of each wrapper. Wet the edges of the dumpling with water. Fold the dough over the filling into a half moon shape and pinch the edges to seal. Continue with the remainder of the dumplings.

5) To cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add half the dumplings, giving them a gentle stir so they don't stick together. Bring the water to a boil, and add 1/2 cup of cold water. Cover and repeat. When the dumplings come to a boil for a third time, they are ready. Drain and remove. If desired, they can be pan-fried at this point.

Which Logo is Tastier? KFC VS. McDonald's #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Which Logo is Tastier? KFC VS. McDonald's #PhilippineRestaurantMenu


It is not the advertising, but logos that helps mostly to recognize the fast food chains.

Kentucky Fried Chicken was established by Colonel Harland Sanders in 1952. It is him who one can see on the logo already for 50 years. There were five changes of the KFC’s logo during half of the decade. The last logo that was appeared in year 2006 can be voted as the best among previous four.

Sanders looks even friendlier and younger. His white suit was changed for a red cook’s apron, the colors are bolder and the background is red and matches with Colonel’s rep apron. It is interesting to mention that the logo has its own symbolism. It symbolizes the “home-style culinary heritage” of the brand and remind customers that KFC chicken is prepared by hand, just like Colonel Sanders prepared it 50 years ago. Graham Allan, president of Yum’s international restaurant division, said many people don’t realize that Sanders existed and started the company on his own. Considering the fact that now Sanders is in an apron, Gregg Dedrick, president of KFC’s U.S. division says: “This change gives us a chance not only to make sure we stay relevant but also communicates to customers the realness of Colonel Sanders and the fact that he was a chef.”

As one can see the main color of KFC logo is red – it appears both as on the font of the logo and on the Sanders' apron. It is well known that the red color evokes hunger, that is one of the main reasons why one chooses KFC as the place to satisfy hunger.

As for McDonald’s the interesting fact about their logo is that the first one that appeared on the restaurant established in 1937, in Southern California, didn’t have any connection with well-known arches. It had more likely the idea of KFC’s logo – the chef character named “Speedy” was portrayed on it. And only in the year 1953 the arches were introduced.

Since then not many changes appeared on the McDonald’s logo presenting – two yellow arches with the red font were usual for more than fifty years. In 2007, Tired of being held up as an example of corporate evil and greed, the fast food chain has been striking out at critics with a series of environmental and social initiatives designed to prove that it cares and has decided to change the usual red font for the green one. Many people did not like this change saying that now McDonald's looks better, but still the food is junk. But despite this, after McDonald’s went greener, the sales in Europe and US raised dramatically.

Space doesn’t need fast food, people do.

It can be said that KFC positioned itself as fast-food for everyone, friendly for business people and for the younger generations. In 2006 KFC launched Global ReImage an 87,500 Square-Foot KFC logo in Area 51, in Nevada which can be seen from space.

The question stands, what was the point of this sort of advertising campaign, if usual customers will not ever see it or even know about it. It can be assumed that maybe KFC wanted to have customers among aliens, because it is evident that such campaign will not probably increase the amount of customers among people who don’t fly into space every day.




In contrast to KFC, McDonald’s works hard for the target audience. Over the years, McDonalds added tiny details to the logo to communicate with different social classes and nationalities. The variant of ‘M’ where the edges are sharper focuses on a more solid, business-like and corporate character.

The arches are wider, have the brighter yellow color and the imitation of drawing and express all the elements that contribute to the attempted young-spirited vision. Also, the wider arches used in when advertising McDonald’s on the road as a street/road sign, drivers could see it more easily. Moreover the color also "pays attention" to the audience because this color symbolizes warmth and happiness.

McDonald’s tries to please the eyes of customers from different countries. For example, the ‘M’ has a maple leaf in the middle and the slogan “I’m lovin’ it” and is translated in Canadian French.

In the German variant, the arches are more sharp probably because of Germans’ orientation towards professionalism, stability and perfectionism.

Since its establishment, every restaurant tried to adapt to the particularities and cultural differences across the world and now following the society and market trends the logo got its green font.

“Historic values” can’t be the main values in the market business.

McDonald’s was always working and still works for target audience and market trends. In contrast KFC is more passionate about the history, or to be more precise, the ‘father’ of the chain, so that they show Colonel Sanders even from space, but this strategy will never raise their sales. In-turn, McDonald's is the world's first fast-food and beverage brand in more than 120 countries around the world and more than 30,000 branches worldwide. According to the annual report of the year 2010, the average number of customers served every day McDonald's is 64 million, that's twice the number when compared to KFC. Maybe if KFC begins to think more about their target audience and pays less attention to keeping ‘family values’ it could become as desirable as McDonalds.



Source: Alexandra Muravyeva. http://www.linkedin.com/pub/alexandra-muravyeva/46/549/a99 and Published-Articles.com

Hearty Dinner Braised Lamb Shanks #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

This slow-braised lamb shanks recipe produces incredibly flavorful, succulent, fork-tender meat. Lamb shanks make a great hearty dinner, and reheat beautifully.



Hearty Dinner Braised Lamb Shanks #PhilippineRestaurantMenu

Makes 6 Braised Lamb Shanks


Ingredients:

• 6 lamb shanks, about 5 1/2 pounds
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 rib celery, diced
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup drinkable red wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup water
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary leaves

Procedures:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

2. Place the shanks in a deep, 15 x 10 inch baking dish, or similar sized roasting pan, large enough to fit the shanks in one layer. Rub with the olive oil, dried rosemary and thyme. Season generously with salt and pepper on both sides. Roast for 30 minutes to brown the lamb.

3. While the lamb is browning, place a saucepan on medium-high heat, and add the butter. When the butter foams, add the onion, celery, and carrot. Cook for about 6-7 minutes, or until the vegetables soften and the edges start to brown and caramelize.

4. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in the wine. When the wine comes to a boil, add the chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, water, and cinnamon. Bring back to a boil, turn off and reserve.

5. When the lamb has finished browning, remove, and turn the oven down to 325 degrees F. Pour over the sauce mixture, and distribute evenly. Cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping the edges to form a tight seal. Roast for 1 hour, lift the foil, turn over the shanks, rewrap and cook for 1 more hour, or until fork tender. Remove the lamb shanks to a large bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.

6. Pour the braising liquid into a saucepan and boil on high heat for 10 minutes, or until reduced by half and slight thickened. As the sauce reduces the fat will pool up in the center of the pan and should be skimmed off with a ladle. Add the fresh rosemary, taste and adjust for seasoning. Transfer the lamb shanks to a serving platter, and serve topped with the sauce.