Last weekend, I traveled 800km, deep into Isaan, to the border city of Nakhon Phanom, to spend 8 hours spread over 2 days, in the kitchen of David Okamoto, founder of David's Soft Cookies.
This is a journey not many people will be interested to take, but for me, it was one of the most exciting trips ever, because not only was I able to share precious time with a good friend, I could also be personally involved in coming up with an all-new cookie flavour in collaboration with the cookie master himself.
More importantly, I got to see for myself how passionate and dedicated David is over his craft, and understood that my faith in him over the years is well-placed.
Stranger in Bangkok doing his part.
I was very excited when David pitched the idea of working on a cookie flavour together. I love conceptualizing new dishes and flavours, even at home while cooking for my family. We eventually settled on coming up with a lemon white chocolate cookie, so here goes....
We need some green lime and yellow lemons of course.
Unfortunately, the local green lime zest tasted too unforgiving, so we could only use the yellow lemon zest.
Blanch multiple times to get rid of the bitterness.
No time to confit multiple times, so once will do for this trial batch.
The way David manipulated the dough, I think he can shape the cookies blindfolded with hands behind his back.
Into the oven!
Voila!
3 versions of the same flavour, all excelling in its own way.
I have always known that baking is a science, but this exercise convinced me that in baking, aside of talent, discipline and precision is everything. A slight tweak in the recipe (even 1 additional egg yolk for a batch of 12 cookies) will give a completely different result.
I was also shocked to note that a traditional chewy soft cookie has almost twice the amount of sugar a normal David's cookie has, though it does not taste doubly sweet at all.
In conclusion, our lemon white chocolate cookie was a major success. Everyone who tried it (albeit a small sample size) had good things to say. Then again, some fine-tuning is required, to further enhance the flavour profile as well as the outlook of the cookie.
Release the lemon cookie please?
I do not know whether David will eventually release the cookie. I only know that when he does (if he does), I will be a really really proud man, and do make sure you readers support me by ordering and telling me how you like it!
Michelle is the 7th chef in my "Follow the Chef" series. Somehow, this edition feels different. It pulls many more heartstrings.
Firstly, in my 10 years in Bangkok, I've only known 1 other Kuching native who works and lives here, that's Michelle. It's a miracle simply to find her in this crowded city, let alone realize what a talent she is. Secondly, she's 24, a whopping 13 years younger than me. I watch her capabilities in amazement sometimes. What was I even doing when I was 24?
Michelle Goh: The feisty pastry chef from Kuching.
Before I digress too much, let's move the focus back to Michelle, to her time in our native Kuching (in Sarawak, East Malaysia), the endearing little city with less than a million inhabitants, where she grew up as an opinionated lady who always felt oppressed in a traditional all-girl's Catholic school. By the age of 15, she was making and selling out 700 cupcakes a day. She quickly knew where her interests lay, and by the age of 18, became the youngest student of her time at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts Institute in Sydney, winning awards for best academic studies on her way to both cuisine and pastry certificates.
She subsequently trained at Shangri-la Sydney under Anna Polyviou, at the 3-hatted Rockpool, now known as Eleven Bridge under Neil Perry (one of the only Australian chefs I know), at Pollen in Singapore under Jason Atherton, before embarking on her Bangkok adventure.
Michelle exuding a different air (of icy-cool calm encasing a ball of fire) while working.
Michelle joined Suhring as pastry chef exactly a year before they got their first Michelin star. By the time Suhring got their second star just last month, Michelle was already running the pastry team and creating new recipes for the menu. One of my major gripes with the fine dining scene in Bangkok is that desserts mostly feel like an after-thought by the chefs, which irritates me to no end. Suhring though, was one of the places which never failed to impress with their sweet courses, a testament to Michelle's capabilities.
I would hereby like to thank Uncle Peter and Auntie Nancy, for seeing the spark in Michelle and making a decision that me, as a father, might not have had the courage to make. For supporting her in her pursuit of a future that cannot be considered 'promising' in our conservative traditions. For allowing her the possibility to put Kuching on the culinary map in the near future. For giving me a sense of pride, to be waving the Kuching flag in Bangkok.
As for Michelle, her stint at Suhring has just ended.
What next?
I guess we will have to Follow the Chef to find out.
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"Follow the Chef" is a new blog series where I sit down face to face with chefs and help them tell you what they want to say, in their perspective. My inspiration for this series stems from the fast-changing dining landscape in Bangkok, which is both exciting yet confusing for consumers like us. Do we follow the restaurants, or follow the chefs? I hope I can help you make a better decision.
