Fried Chicken at Daishō

Daishō

190 University Avenue, 3rd Floor

Toronto, ON M5H 0A3

At last, the highly anticipated wait is now over, Momofuku is in Toronto! The city didn't just get one, but four clearly defined establishments. If you've been to the ones in New York City, you'll recognize that the only overlap is the Noodle Bar. And we don't have any Momofuku Milk Bars here ... yet?

So here's the quick overview: Noodle Bar serves the ramen, Nikai is a bar and lounge, Daishō serves the large format meals, and Shōtō is for the tasting menu.

When we were in New York, Howard and I never had the chance to try the large format meals, so we were very excited for Daishō to open here. This is probably the first of many meals there.

For any of the large format meals, you have to make reservations in advance. This wasn't too difficult with their online reservation system. We managed to book a Saturday for our group of six to have the fried chicken dinner.

Friendly hostesses greeted us and we were led to our seats at the bar. We were a little disappointed we didn't get a table, as the stools don't make for comfortable seating for a family style meal (especially for those of us who are a foot shorter than the guys, it was harder to reach the foot rest). Immediately, we were all given glasses of water (nice!) and two plates of pickled cucumbers to start.

Howard's parents actually make great pickled cucumber, so we had that to compare it with. Because Daishō didn't peel some of the cucumber skin off, there were parts that were really bitter. Overall they were good, we always enjoy cucumbers with sesame oil, vinegar, and red chili flakes, but if I had to choose, I'd pick the ones Howard's parents make.

The fried chicken meal includes two whole fried chickens. I'm telling you, it is quite impressive when they bring it out. The size of the pile of wings and drumsticks is enough to make you start salivating. The skin of the chicken is crispy and nicely seasoned. However, if you want flavour for the meat, you'll need to dip it in the ginger scallion sauce or jalapeño garlic sauce.

We are also given thin scallion pancakes, shaved radishes, herbs, and a jar of pickled vegetables.

Our server had recommended we order some dishes to go with the chicken. His personal favourite were the brussels sprouts, but no one in our party was a fan of them! Instead we decided to order the carrots with birch syrup, malt, and black almond; cabbage with pork, pine nuts, and pok pok vinegar; and the nugget potatoes with fermented black bean, chili, and orange.

Unlike the large portions of chicken, the vegetables came in a smaller portion. The carrots were plated beautifully, everyone got a taste of it since there were so few. The cabbages received split reviews from our table. Some didn't like it, others found it interesting, and I, rather enjoyed the flavour from the charred cabbages. The nugget potatoes were good, but not rave worthy.

Service at Daishō is ... efficient. Our glasses of water were always refilled, plates and cutlery were swiftly collected. Even though we were still working on the pickled cucumbers, they were also suddenly taken away. While we appreciated the fact that they kept the tables tidy and made room for all our dishes and plates, it was disheartening to have unfinished food thrown away.

We ordered two of the three desserts on the menu. While the Sugar Pie sounds amazing, we were warned that it was a big pie. Instead, we tried Apples with cedar, miellat, and cashew (pictured above) and Chocolate with five different textures (pictured below).

The group consensus favoured the chocolate dessert. The chocolate cubes were surprisingly light, cold, and had quite a unique texture. Paired with a spoonful of everything else on the plate, it was delicious.

Would we go back for the fried chicken meal? Probably not. Would we go back to Daishō? Yes, we still want to try the other large format dinners like the bo ssäm, porchetta, beef short rib, and if we save up for it, the beef ribeye.

Looking Back: 2011

Happy New Year! How many of you celebrated all night long and did the countdown? We did. That is why we thought it would be best to have this post scheduled. ;)

We missed doing this in 2010 (we did it for 2008 and 2009), but we're bringing it back. Here's a look back at our favourite posts of 2011.

Howard's Top 3 Favourites:

1. Home Cooking: Sylvia's savory dinner because it's the best savory dinner she's made for me (even though it wasn't exclusively for me). 
2. Lady M Confections and Ladurée and Sucré: NYC in the rain because we made the day fun even though it could have easily been miserable. 
3. Kurt and Diana: KD's wedding because it was our first mass undertaking and we were able to pull it off with success (I hope).

Sylvia's Top 3 Favourites:

1. Lemon Soufflés: An impressive, delicious, and difficult dessert to master? Challenge accepted! I got to learn from my mistakes and gain an understanding to the not-so-secret creation of soufflés.
2. How: Pinwheel Cupcakes: This was something that I wanted to make for awhile, the idea danced in my mind for a couple of months, and they turned out quite nice! Whimsy!
3. Calvin and Hobbes Birthday Cupcakes: Fun. These were so fun to make and blog about.

We also wanted to start 2012 with a giveaway. We feel that this is the time of year when we all feel the most ambitious. Maybe this year you'll make healthier desserts or cook like a Michelin starred chef?

BabyCakes
Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York's Most Talked-About Bakery
Written by Erin McKenna
For confectionists of all kinds, delicious alternatives lie within: Red Velvet Cupcakes, Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas, Strawberry Shortcake, and BabyCakes NYC’s celebrated frosting (so delicious it has fans tipping back frosting shots!), to name just a few.

Momofuku
Written by David Chang and Peter Meehan
Momofuku is both the story and the recipes behind the cuisine that has changed the modern-day culinary landscape. Chang relays with candor the tale of his unwitting rise to superstardom, which, though wracked with mishaps, happened at light speed. And the dishes shared in this book are coveted by all who've dined - or yearned to - at any Momofuku location (yes, the pork buns are here).


Giveaway Regulations and Conditions: 

• The New Year Giveaway is open from Sunday, January 1, 2012 to Thursday, January 12, 2012. Entries submitted after 12 midnight EST on Thursday, January 12, 2012 will not be considered. 
• There are three ways to enter, you only have to do one:
  1) Post in the comment section below:  I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
  2) Post on A Baked Creation's facebook page: I want to spend my new year reading ______________. (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.)
  3) To enter via twitter, tweet: I want to spend my new year reading ______________ with  @abakedcreation (Fill in the blank with the title you would like to win.) 
• Please leave a way for us to contact you.
• Winners will be randomly chosen and announced here on A Baked Creation. 
• The winners will have 7 days to claim their prize. If we do not get a mailing address, the prize is forfeited.
• This contest is available to residents of Canada and the U.S.A. only! However, if you have friends and family with a Canadian or American mailing address, feel free to enter. There will be four different winners, one for each book.
• Disclaimer: The giveaway copy of BabyCakes and Momofuku were not sent to us by the publisher.
• UPDATE: Winners have been chosen and notified! Congratulations to Rosebud5192 who will be receiving a copy of BabyCakes. Congratulations to Cat who will be receiving a copy of Momofuku.

Best of luck!

Momofuku Milk Bar

Momofuku Milk Bar

Written by Christina Tosi

Foreword by David Chang
ISBN 13: 9780307720498
ISBN 10: 0307720497

Hardcover: 256 pages

Publisher: Clarkson Potter

Momofuku Milk Bar follows a similar look as the Momofuku book, making it an obvious companion. It is a book that appears clear, simple, and effortless. Momofuku only featured the fried apple pie, which Christina Tosi explains was the main dessert she first wanted to finalize when they started out. Now, Tosi shares the much loved cereal milk, cookies, cakes, pies, fillings, liquid cheesecake (yes, you read that correctly), brittle, panna cotta, croissants, and the mother of all dough.

Some of the ingredients required for the recipes were unusual for me. I don't normally see citric acid, freeze-dried corn, feuilletine, milk powder, grapeseed oil, gelatin sheets, or glucose in my cupcake recipes (did you know, Momofuku had a short-lived cupcake program when they first started out)! But, when in doubt on where to purchase the materials, Tosi turns you towards Amazon.com.

The first recipe was for Cereal Milk. It is comically easy to make. Have you ever had cereal and ended up with leftover milk at the bottom of your bowl? Then you have made cereal milk before. While it can be viewed as laughable that Tosi steeps the cereal in milk for the sugary flavour, it is the simplicity of it all that astonishes us. Tosi turns that addictive Cereal Milk flavour into panna cotta, ice cream, and pie.

Moving on to one of the loves in my life - cake. Because their cakes are not frosted on the side or decorated, you would think they were a no-fuss kind of deal. You would be wrong as Tosi is strict on measuring everything by the gram and constructing every layer perfectly. The sides are still smooth and perfectly aligned. Why do we frost the side of cakes anyways?

Most of the photos in the book are small and not every photo gets a full page spread. They don't do a lot of step-by-step photos (in the style of James Peterson's books), in fact, there are sometimes photos of equipment, staff members, and ingredients.

Not all the photos are styled, you get a very raw vibe, a very what-you-see-is-what-there-is. The end papers showcase all the different crumbs, the half title page - crack pie, the title page - a busy Christina Tosi crossing a slushy New York street, the table of contents - a chef assembling a cake. That photo in the table of contents caught my eye. It is clearly the arm of a chef. There are what looks like burn marks or injuries - this is not a model's hand. I like that is shows that working in a kitchen isn't easy, you need to be a "hardbody." I'm mentioning the photos because I know most people (like myself) love beautiful food photos for each recipe (we want to see how the final product looks), but this isn't one of those cookbooks, so be prepared.

Overall, if you enjoyed Momofuku, chances are you'll like Momofuku Milk Bar. The desserts are manageable to create, and once you have the basic crunch and crumbs made, the cookbook builds upon these recipes. You'll have fun and you'll surprise yourself with how sweet simplicity can taste.

Disclaimer: Thank you to Lindsey Reeder from Random House of Canada for sending us a review copy of Momofuku Milk Bar. No incentives were used to produce a positive review of this book.

Now, would you like to see me make my first crunch?

Above: Look at the cornflakes before they were crushed with all my strength. No seriously, my arm was a bit sore after all those crushes.

Below: Now look. The cornflakes are in smaller bits.

Cornflake Crunch

Recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar

(Makes about 4 cups)

5 cups of cornflakes

1/2 cup of milk powder

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

9 tablespoons of melted butter

1. Heat the oven to 275°F (135°C).
2. Pour the cornflakes into a bowl and crush them to one-quarter of their original size.
3. Add the milk powder, sugar, and salt. Toss to mix.
4. Add the butter and toss to coat. The butter will act as a glue and bind the dry ingredients into small clusters.
5. Spread the clusters on a parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pan and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Cool the cornflake crunch before storing or using in a recipe.

You add butter to bind the cornflakes, milk powder, sugar, and kosher salt together. Thus, creating small clusters.

We're not done yet, we needed that crunch to make...

Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow Cookies

Recipe from Momofuku Milk Bar

(Makes 15-20 cookies)

2 sticks of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 cups of sugar

2/3 cups of light brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons of kosher salt

3 cups of Cornflake Crunch

2/3 cups of mini chocolate chips

1 1/4 cups of mini marshmallows

1. Combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream together on medium-high for 2-3 minutes.
2. Scrape the sides and add the egg and vanilla. Beat for 7-8 minutes on high. The mixture should look puffy and voluminous, with soft peaks.
3. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until the dough comes together on low, no longer than 1 minute!
4. Scrape the sides and add the cornflake crunch and chocolate chips. Mix on low for less than 30 seconds. Mix in the marshmallows on low until incorporated.
5. Plastic wrap the bowl and refrigerate for at least an hour, or up to one week. Do not bake the cookies from room temperature - they will not hold their shape.
6. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
7. Using a 2 3/4-ounce ice cream scoop, arrange the cookie dough on parchment- or Silpat-lined sheet pans, at least 4 inches apart. Bake for 18 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle, and spread.
8. At the 18 minute mark, the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown toward the center.
9. Cool the cookies on the sheet pans before transferring to a plate or to an airtight container for storage. At room temperature, the cookies will keep fresh for 5 days; in the freezer, they will keep for 1 month.

Okay, so how were the Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow Cookies? They smelled good, they looked browner than they should have, and the texture was rock solid. So they didn't turn out the way we imagined, but I think I can troubleshoot for next time:

I know we didn't over mix, we timed everything with an alarm and was paranoid enough to mix everything by hand starting with the fourth step. Because we were eager to eat them, we picked the minimum fridge time of one hour - probably not long enough. I would leave them overnight next time (not a week, who can wait a week??). Finally, my oven was too hot. Lower the temperature and keep an eye on the cookies at the 12-15 minute mark. Mine were definitely over baked. So much for recreating this photo.

What I found amusing about the whole ordeal was that Tosi created this cookie because someone over toasted the cornflake crunch for the cereal milk panna cotta. Refusing to let it go to waste, the Cornflake-Chocolate-Chip-Marshmallow Cookies were born. So I wonder, what would they create with over baked cookies?

So our first batch of cookies were not perfect, but they were still edible and quite tasty. My baking partner in crime, Julia, recommended dipping these cookies in hot milk. We did. And it was amazing.

One final thing before this post gets too long, Howard and I visited two Momofuku Milk Bar locations during our trip to New York in September:

Momofuku Milk Bar

15 West 56th Street

New York, NY 10019

This was the first Milk Bar we visited! It is on street level, so we passed by it before going for lunch at Má Pêche downstairs.

My prix-fixe meal at Má Pêche came with a Momofuku Milk Bar cookie. Our server recommended the corn cookie, but I really wanted to try the compost cookie. I enjoyed the compost cookie, but after reading the cookbook, I'm kicking myself for not also getting the corn one.

Momofuku Milk Bar

251 East 13th Street

New York, NY 10003

This location was across from Momofuku Ssäm Bar. After lunch, we ran across (in the pouring rain) to try the famous crack pie.

This location was smaller than the midtown one, but has a table by the window. So we ate crack pie by the window and watched the rain storm grow stronger.

The pie was kept in the fridge, so it was chilled when we bit into it. It was very sweet and we weren't blown away by it, but we can see how this can be addictive when you're in the mood for munchies. This officially wrapped up our mini Momofuku tour. =)

Mini Momofuku Tour

Aside from visiting all the dessert shops, Howard and I wanted to do a Momofuku tour. At the time of this post, there are four Momofuku restaurants in New York City: Noodle Bar, Ssäm Bar, Ko, and Má Pêche. In addition, there are Momofuku Milk Bars, but more on that later.

To plan it, we looked at the restaurant hours, checked which ones took reservations, and read through the menus. While we would have loved to eat at all four, we decided to skip Ko because it was out of our dining budget.

Má Pêche
15 West 56th Street
New York, NY 10019

Monday, we made reservations to have lunch at Má Pêche, not knowing how packed it would be. From our experience, not very! We probably could have walked in. To get to Má Pêche, you pass a Momofuku Milk Bar on the main level (which was, I have to admit, a huge distraction for me).

The hostess was friendly and took us downstairs to the dining room. There's a tiny bar to the right of the stairs, the kitchen straight ahead, and the tables arranged in a large "X" shape. The dining room has high ceilings since the main floor doesn't cover it.

Looking around, it looked like most of the other diners were having a business lunch. A few couples and casual groups. Howard and I probably stood out as tourists since we were dressed pretty casually.

Our waitress was nice and helpful, we asked for recommendations and chatted about the menu. She strongly suggested that we also visit Ssäm Bar.

I ended up picking the prix-fixe:

1. summer rolls - pork, lettuce, hoisin sauce, peanut (pictured above)

2. rice noodles - spicy chicken, bok choy, basil, tomatoes

3. compost cookie - from Momofuku Milk Bar

The summer rolls were not different from how we would make them at home. So this appetizer didn't shine, but what we both noted was how fresh it tasted. I'm not sure if freshness is a flavour or just a comment on how natural the ingredients are.

The rice noodle dish surprised me, it wasn't the kind of pasta I had expected from a French-Vietnamese restaurant. Nor was the chicken spicy! For Howard's entrée, he had the brisket with noodles, cabbage, and herbs. That dish had the pho noodles I liked!

Howard and I also shared the crispy pork shank with yogurt, lime, and jicama. While it is listed under large plates, it's not very big. We both probably had three bites each. That dish deserved to be tried, it was well-seasoned and tasty.

Sorry for the lack of photos, but it was dim inside the dining room and we just ate!

Momofuku Noodle Bar
171 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Thursday, we were among the group of people waiting outside for lunch service to begin. We got to sit at the bar this time (click here for our first visit), but not the one facing the kitchen.

We don’t usually get a drink, but the lychee soju slushie (pictured above) sounded fun. It was pretty strong, I could have used more lychee. =P

To start, we got the famous pork buns, filled with hoisin, scallion, and cucumber. How do they get the pork so soft and lush?

I was there to try the kimchi stew with braised kimchi, pork shoulder, and rice cakes... but they were out of rice cakes. So here is my second choice, the spicy chicken ramen with tuscan kale, smoked sesame, and nori.

Howard got the chilled spicy noodles again! The waitress had to ask if he’s had it before because this dish is spicy, so be warned!

Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10003

Friday, in the pouring (and I mean pouring) rain, we made it to Ssäm Bar for their duck dishes! FYI, they have hand dryers in the washroom, it helped me dry off a little bit.

We saw the sign on the door, reminding customers to keep the volume down for the neighbours. We can see how fun and rowdy this place can get during happy hour and into the night. The dark wood furnishing was nice and the open kitchen is always fun to watch.

At that time, there was someone taking photos inside the kitchen... hmm another cookbook project or a reporter?

It was counter service at lunch, so we ordered and took our playing card sign to a table of our choice.

The fried duck dumplings with summer beans and sriracha mayo. The dumplings were nicely fried, not overly oily or greasy. I didn’t care for the dip, but I’m not a fan of mayo.

The spicy fingerling potatoes with chili black bean sauce was appetizing. Howard mentioned that his father also makes a similar flavour (but not with potatoes).

Mmm our main dish! Rotisserie duck over rice with duck scallion, ssäm sauce, and crispy shallot. We went all out and added the lettuce and chive pancake.

Momofuku, we applaud you for making pork and duck taste so good.

We look forward to what Momofuku brings to Toronto next year!