Wednesday, January 19, 2011

catalyst

Salam.

Have you ever participated in cooking in 'bulk'? I mean in a large quantity like preparing foods for wedding receptions. ('kampung' style we used to cook in 'gotong-royong' instead of calling for catering)

I did learnt new things from these people especially things that we used to get it theoretically in classes but seldom having the opportunity to experience it in hand.

Just to share with you my personal experience when I was involved with my local community.

At one time (during the last Ramadhan),I was sweating myself cooking at my 'Qariah masjid' for the iftar which later,the foods will be distributed to the local community.

I do have some skills in the kitchen,but preparing foods in the large quantities really different and quite difficult.It wasn't an easy job to estimates the quantities of each ingredients e.g. salt,'santan' and even water for the rice which to be cooked in the 'jumbo rice cooker'.

Alhamdulillah all the 'mak cik-mak cik and pak cik-pak cik' helped me a lot.They were not mean to guide and teach.

There was a time when I was stirring the 'gulai daging' using the 'paddle' and suddenly I found a spoon inside it. I pulled it out and obviously thought I was the savior for finding the 'unnecessary thing' inside the 'gulai kawah'.

Suddenly one mak cik shouted and asked me to put the spoon back inside the 'gulai'.After been explained,the spoon immersing again in the 'gulai'.


This wasn't 'berlakon'.I was stirring the 'lauk' while been supervised by these pak cik-pak cik.Credits to my bro for this pic.



That mak cik told me that the spoon is acting as a catalyst.It helps to increase the heat so that the meat inside the 'gulai' will easily soften. It increases the rate for the meat to be soften per time.

It was actually a new thing for me.( but I'm curious a bit.I'm a afraid there is other chemical reaction between the stainless steel spoon and the heat.Is there any harmful reaction emitted from it?)

Wallahu'alam.

*Never underestimates 'orang-orang kampung'. Although they didn't learnt it in class,the have numerous experiences in hand which we couldn't find them in classes.

Question: If you are about to wash 5 sacks of 10kg 'beras', how would you do then?Initially,I thought it is by transferring the 'beras' into smaller pots and start washing it.However it consumes lot of times as it requires few cycles to wash the whole 5 sacks.

Answer: A pak cik (during the 'cooking event')taught me by 'stabbing' few small holes at the sacks using a small thing like a pen. As the 'kampit beras' is plastic's made, it is easy to make holes. Then,pour water inside the sacks and it will wash the whole 'beras' and automatically the water will flow out from the holes.Repeat it for few times until the 'beras' is totally washed.-The 'beras' is ready to be cooked!

6 comments:

AA said...

Salam
using spoon to soften the meat is a usual thing..i did that too in my house..my aunt taught me so..i was reluctant too at first, but decided to let it be after so many times.
But if i cook the meat myself, if it is just a small portion, i wont use spoon. let the heat do its part.

I used to cook for 200 participants in previous KMK..I was being assigned to cook the rice..because it was my 1st time, i washed it in a basin and do it several times until it was clean and safe to be eaten. but then, there was this one uncle saw me...and he said, i was wasting my time doing such things. and he suggested the same technique like what u had with the old folks.

Nabil MJ said...

@atiqah:

Oh really?seems like you are 'advanced' than me.I have no experience before i.e cooking in a large quantity.Hence the 'spoon technique' was just came to my knowledge.

Looks like the old folks 'around the world' are having the same idea in washing the rice.

Syed Ahmad Fathi said...

Menarik menarik.Leh la g kampung anta nnt senior NJ masak gulai :)

Nabil MJ said...

@Fathi:

u're most welcome.Ana mmg org kampung.Tapi kalau gulai ana tak cukup garam,terlebih pedas jagan tak makan pulak.hehe

LuQMaN M.J said...

my brother is a very good cook =)

Nabil MJ said...

@Luqman MJ

Absolutely!! (hehe)