Just Desserts

Got a comment from my one and only follower of this blog asking me how to make Tiramisu and so I spent the night rummaging through my recipes and made a few adjustments here and there. Hope you're gonna love it Nickole..

Easy Tiramisu

A good Tiramisu makes a heavenly dessert but it is undoubtedly very rich and indulgent. For this quick, lighter version, Single cream replaces the eggs, though you can use double cream for a richer texture.

150ml Single cream

4 tbsp Icing sugar

250gm Mascarpone Cheese

1 tsp Vanilla extract

3 tbsp Khalua ( or brandy or Tia Maria)

200ml Strong coffee or expresso, cooled t room temperature

20-24 Sponge fingers (savoiardi)

Cocoa powder, to dust

Whip the cream with 3 tbsp of icing sugar until even blended, then beat in the mascarpone, vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of khalua.

Sweeten the coffee with the remaining 1 tbsp icing sugar, stir to dissolve then add the rest of the khalua.

Dip 4 sponge fingers in the coffee mixture and use them to line the base of four serving glasses (breaking them into shorter lengths if necessary to fit the glasses). Spoon or pipe over a layer of the marscarpone mixture. Repeat layering the dipped sponged fingers and mascarpone mix until you reach the top of the glasses.

Spoon any remaining coffee mixture over the top and dust with sifted cocoa powder. Chill for at least 20 minutes. Grated or shaved chocolate are other alternatives.

Just before serving, stick 2 ssponge fingers into each tiramisu.

It's all about Shrooms......

Today I wanna share a very favourite ingredient of mine. Mushrooms. They are highly nutritional and they are a good source of protein for vegetarians or people diagnosed with Gout and cannot take beans which is another protein source. Depending on the variety, most mushrooms tastes earthy and has a meaty texture and having a considerable high natural sugar content, which means they taste rather sweet provided prepared correctly.

When choosing mushrooms be it free-ranged or packaged, the first sign you wanna look out for are smooth, dry caps as it depicts the mushrooms' freshness. Next would be the gills of the mushroom which is located under the cap, it should be clean and has a good dark colour to it. And lastly is the stem, again depending of the variety for example a white button mushroom, the stem shold feel firm and meaty. If you're at a supermarket where the mushrooms are all packed and displayed in opened chillers, best way to check for freshness is ti look out for the one with the least if not no condensation on the plastic rap. As the climate in singapore is hotter and mushrooms had to be kept refridgerated, often condensation will occur ad dampened the mushroom caps so make sure you get a good look before buying.

For the following dishes that I'm about to teach I'll be using mainly White Button mushrooms as it is the most common and basic type of mushroom. So once you think you're ready to be adventorous, be creative and experiment with other different types of mushrooms.

Mushroom Ragout(serves 4)

A very classic italian dish. It's basically a mushroom stew. Kinda like mushroom soup but chunkier, thicker and not blended. Very simple to prepare too.

600gm Fresh Button mushrooms(roughly cut into chunks)

1 no. Large White onion(Chopped)

1 cup White Wine(Preferably Chardonnay...)

1/2 cup Plain Flour

2 cups Chicken or vegetable stock

2 tbsp Chopped Italian Flat-leaf Parsley

50gm Unsalted butter

2 tbsp Heavy cream

1 tbsp Fresh Thyme

Bay Leaves

Salt & cracked black pepper

In a pot, melt half of the butter and keep the other half refridgerated. Add chopped onion and saute till golden and caramelized. throw in the mushrooms and saute them till they are slightly softened, season with salt and pepper. Grab your thyme by the stem and then just run your fingers through it and retrieve the leaves, throw them in without the stem and add in a bay leaf or two. De-glaze the pot wth white wine and dust the mixture with flour. Stir the mushrooms around quickly to prevent the flour from burning. Once flur is dissolve into the misture, add in stock and bring it to boil. Once the mixture is bubbling away, bring it down to low heat and let it simmer away for 20-30 minutes stiring it occasionally. The mixture should reduce to at least 1/3 and should be rather thick after 30 minutes. At this point,season to taste and add in the remainder butter which has been chilled into the mixture and stir until the butter is fully melted. To serve, ladle the Ragout into the bowl, drizzle cream and sprinkle parsley on top. You can eat it on it's own or you can have it with slices or toasted Foccasia bread or with mashed potatoes to make t a complete meal.

Chris's Spaghetti Al Funghi(serves 4)

One my personal favourites. A classic pasta dish with a twist. I came up with this dish when I was in Seattle visiting my relatives. Initially there was a very crucial flaw in this dish because it was a cream-based sauce pasta. As it is cream-based, it's very rich and if not done right it can be very gelate and not very pleasant for the palette. Half the time you see people having problem finishing the whole plate due to it's richness. So the key is to cut through the richness of the cream and cleanse the palette on every single bite so that people would be able to finish their plates. My uncle tried it I believed he was blown away by the taste.

1 pkt Spaghetti

6oogm Sliced Button mushroom
1 no. Chopped white onion

1 cup Dry white wine

2 cups Heavy Cream

1 tbsp Freshly chopped mint

Salt and Cracked Black pepper

Olive oil

In a large pot of boiling salted water, throw in pasta and cook for 7-8 minutes till Al Dente. Once that is done, strain the pasta and keep aside for further use. In a large, hot pan, saute onions till translucent with a bit of olive oil. Throw in the mushrooms and continue to saute till lightly softened. Add in the cook pasta and oss it quickly to prevent it from sticking to the pan, deglaze with 1/2 cup of wine and add one cup of cream. Season lightly with salt and pepper let the cream reduce slightly. you'll notice that the pasta will have a very thin coat of cream after it has been reduced. At this point, add in the remainder wine and cream in the same procedure as before and season the pasta again. Stir in freshly chopped mint before serving.

Points to ponder....

For Mushroom Ragout, I mentioned stiring in the remainder chilled butter into it before serving. This is a finishing process called Monte Au Buerre (mon-tay-oh-bur). It simply means to lift with butter. What the butter does is it gives a rich flavour and shiny texture to the sauce or in this case, Mushroom Ragout.

In the case of Al Funghi, there are several key factors to look into when preparing this dish in order to prevent the dish from becoming too gelate and yet not compromising the flavour and tecture to it. Firstly, introducing an acid to cut through the creaminess, in this case it will be a high acidity wine. Citric acid like lemon juice can do too but if you're not carful you can smother the flavour of the cream. Next is to introduce your wine and cream in batches, this gives the pasta time to absorb richness of the cream so that you don't have to drink cream from your plate. Lastly is the mint, by adding mint into the sauce, it will leave a slight refreshing taste in your mouth so that you won't feel that the dish is too gelate.

All about Stocks.....

No I'm not giving out financial advices today, the "Stocks" I'm talking about today are foundation bases for your many soups and sauces. Basically the preparation is the same for all stocks are literally the same. So today we are gonna cover 3 common stocks, Chicken, Beef & Fish.

In order to have good flavourful stocks every single time, you must have at least the following:

Aromatic Vegetable a.k.a Mirepoix(Mi-rer-pua)

It basically consists of carrots, onion and celery. Hard vegetables that gives off aromatic and sweet flavours to your stock. Its can be considered the flavour base for many dishes, well somtimes you don't use them altogether but you realise at least one of these 3 items are always in most of your dishes. you can basically just fry them till they turn translucent or a bit soft, or to really bring the flavours out, you can throw them in a roasting tin, drizzle a bit of olive oil and pop them in a oven to caramelize the sugar in them, making it even sweeter and more flavorful.

Bones and Trimmings...

The most crucial ingredients in any stock. these are the items that really defines what stock you're making. Blood and marrow from the bones gives your stock a really rich texture as well. Plus, they are dirt cheap. They shouldn't cost you more than $2 depending on how much youre making.

Now that you got a slight jizz of the whole topic, we can proceed on with the recipes.

Chicken Stock

500gm Chicken carcasses

300gm Mirepoix(roughly cut)

1-2pcs Bay leaves(optional)

1 tbsp Dried mixed herbs(optional)

Salt & pepper to taste

Cold water

Cooking Oil

Preheat your oven to the highest temperature, cut up your carcasses into big chunks, lay them on a roasting tray, drizzle a bit of oil over them and put them in the oven for about 5 minutes. By roasting them, it forces out more flavour to contribute to your stock, not to mention giving it a nice brown colour to it. You can also throw in your mirepoix if you wish as well. After they are done in the oven, fry you mirepoix in a pot until they become soft and tranlucent. Add in your roasted chicken carcasses, at this time you can throw in your mixed herbs and bay leaves if you have those as well to bring out their fragrance. Once those are in, pour in cold water until 3/4 full. The reason to use cold water is because when the blood in the chicken carcasses is cooked, it gives off impurities a.k.s scum and makes your stock cloudy, remember that you want a stock which has a good clean golden brown colour and not one that is cloudy and you can residues in it. So cold water help to draw out all these impurities more effectively. Bring the stock to boil, skim off any visible scum along the way with a ladle or a very,very fine sift and simmer it for about an hour or so. After about an hour the stock is reduced to almost half a pot, season very lightly with salt and pepper. You don't want to over season it because in future when you wanna use the stock and it's over seasoned, your soup or sace will be too salty. So if it's too salty just add a bit more water. Once that is done, remove from heat, Strain your stock into another pot using a sift or a very fine colander. Once your stock is cooled, pour it onto air-tight jars or containers and keep it chilled for future use.

Beef stock

The preperation and ingredients used for beef stock is the same. Except you might find it easier to get beef trimmings rather than bones in the market. trimmings are mainly very very tough cuts of meat, If you go to the butcher and buy some certain cuts of beef and ask him to trim it for you, tell him you want to keep the trimmings and he'll be more than glad to do it.( If you're lucky he won't charge you for it...). So cut the trimmings into chunks and instead of roasting them in an oven, just brown them in a really hot pan. You don't have to cook them through, just make sure they get some colour on the surface and remove them until they're ready for the stock pot. Do note that there will be some bits of meat stuck on the pan, don't throw them away, those are what i like to call "flavour bombs". Those bits and pieces stuck there are packed with loads of beefy goodness so it'll be a waste if you just chuck it away. Just turn the heat back up, when it's really hot, add a bit of water or better yet some red wine into the pan. After that you use a wooden spoon or spatula and start scraping those bits of goodness off the bottom of the pan. This process is called de-glazing. Once that is done, pour the liquid back into the stock pot that has your fried mirepoix and trimmings in it and carry on the same procedure onwards like chicken stock.

Fish stock

Again, fish stock is just the same as chicken or beef stock but with a slight twist to it as well. Firstly, it not encouraged to store fish stock as it might turn bad rather quickly compared to it's beef and chicken counterparts. Secondly, it does not take a very long time to make because compared to chicken bones or beef trimmings, fish bones are more brittle and can't withstand long simmering. This is because if you simmer for too long the bones will break apart and make your stock very cloudy, so 30 minutes tops will do just fine. And lastly, it's so bloody cheap you might even get it for free!!!

Points to take note....

Although I've stated quantities in my recipe for stocks but actually as much bones and mirepoix as you like as long as you have a pot big enough to hold them. And simmering time is also up to you as well, I just state and hour as the minimum time required. The longer you simmer your stock, the more concentrated and flavourful it gets, but this also means it'll reduce even further. So basically just reduce it to your ideal amount but for at least an hr and you'll have rich, flavourful stock every single time!!

I'm feeling soupy today.......

Been havig problems deciding wad to post since yesterday cos it's not easy trying to explain to you guys how all the dishes are made using words only and I don't have pictures to follow up...but don't worry, I'll try my best to find pictures to support my explanation for my dishes..Thanks

Pappa Al Pomodoro

As far as translation goes, it basically "Bread & Tomato" soup. this is a very classic italian dish which is actually quite easy as long as you the steps I give you. Also because there are chunks of bread in it, it's quite wholesome and you can eat it alone for lunch.

2 cans Whole plum tomatoes

1 tbsp Salt

1 tbsp Crushed black pepper

2 tbsp Minced garlic

1 tbsp Mixed herbs

1 or 2 pcs Dried Bay Leaves( fresh ones can do as well)

200gm Grated Parmesan Cheese

20gm Fresh basil leaves

50-80gm Stale Bread( cut into chunks)

4 tbsp Good Olive Oil

500ml Chicken stock.

(Serves 4 people, 3 if you're greedy....)

In a soup pot, saute garlic, mixed herbs and bay leaves till fragrant with olive oil, be carful not to burn the garlic and herbs.Add in the tomatoes and start mashing them up roughly with a wooden spoon.Add in stock, season and bring it up to boil and then simmer it for around 30 mins, stiring it occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning. The soup should have reduced a bit. Throw in the chunks of bread and stir, you start to notice that the soup becomes much thicker and chunkier. The bread acts as a thickening agent to the soup because there is very little moisture in the stale bread and once it's in contact with the liquid it will start sucking up all that flavourful goodness of the tomatoes.

To serve, ladle the soup in a bowl, drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top and pluck a few pieces of basil or you can pluck the leaves, stack them together, roll them up and slice them really fine and just drop it on top of the soup.

Points to take note....

What type of bread to use?? definitely not those Gardenia loafs. You want something that has a soft and airy inside and a crusty outside. Like maybe a baguette for example, it's has a good crust on the outside and it it soft on the inside. Basically crusty, light bread is the ideal option. To make it turn stale, just basically cut it up and leave it in the open for a while. In Chinese we call it "Lao Hong", but to achieve ultimate results, lay out the chunks on a tray and toast it in an oven for 2-3 minutes on a 180 degrees oven. The heat from the oven will take out the moisture in the bread in no time.

As for stock, you can also use fish or vegetable stock to make it a vegetarian dish. You can choose to buy them off the shelves or make it at home. I'll teach you guys how to make it on my next post. In the meantime if u find buing ready made stock is too expensive, just add water, and maybe throw in half a cube of chicken or veggie concentrate if you have those on hand.

Cajun spice rub and Warm Garden Salad

On the previous post i mentioned getting ready made spice rub for your steaks yeah? Well today I'll teach you how to concoct your own batch of cajun spice mix.

Cajun Spice Mix

This one of those things that you would want to have stocked in your kitchen pantry at all times. Not only does it goes well with steaks, it also goes well with chicken, pork, shrimp and the list can go on... It's basically a dry rub but it can also become a wet marinade as well, with some fresh ingredients like garlic and olive oil, it's one of the very versatile condiments you can find on this world....(I think...)

500gm Paprika
200gm Chili Powder
200gm Brown Sugar

150gm Mixed Dry Herbs
100gm Coarse Salt
80gm Crushed black Peppercorn

50gm Onion Powder
50gm Garlic Powder
50gm Chicken Seasoning

Preparing this is so simple I can do this with my eyes closed and one hand tied behind my back. All you have to do is mix everything in a dry bowl, pour it into an air-tight jar and store it in a cool dry area. Easy-peasy

The reason to use coarse salt is because as a dry rub, it has to be abrasive so that the spices can penetrate into whatever meat you intend to apply it on. Proportion wise it's basically a guideline, ultimately just adjust it until it taste salty, and a tint of smoky spicyness.

Warm Garden Salad (serves 4)

Well I don't think that you guys will be satisfied with just a simple spice rub right? Ok I'll throw in another just to make you guys happy... =)

600gm Arugula
480gm Fresh Chorizo Sausages
40gm Cherry Tomatoes(halved)
30gm Roasted Walnut Meat
3 tbsp Olive Oil
5 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp Mixed Herbs
Salt & Crushed black pepper

Make sure you get fresh and not smoked sausages cause you need to render out the fat of the sausages to contribute to your vinaigrette. So take your sausages and fry them in a hot pan. Once done remove and set aside. Retain the fat rendered from the sausages in the pan and add a bit more olive oil. Heat up the oil and throw in mixed herbs and fry till fragrant. Whisk in balsamic vinegar. At this point all your vegies and nuts should already been washed, prepared and sitting in a salad bowl waiting to be tossed. Pour in the vinaigrette and tossed it thoughroughly. Lay the salad on a plate and placed a sausage on top.

Points to ponder....
I gotta admit, the sausages are kinda pricey so for a cheaper alternative and to keep to the italian style, since most of the ingredients are italian based, use canned cannelli beans. They are white, broad beans from italy, kinda like kidney beans but white. So if you cant find them kidney beans can do too.

Because Arugula is quite if not very bitter eaten raw, you need a very strong flavoured vinaigrette to balance out the bitterness. So using balsamic vinegar seems like an option but, if you don't have a good quality balsamic vinegar it can be really tart so the only option is to heat it up. Why? Cause balsamic vinegar actually has a very high sugar content but the sweetness of it can only be brought out if you heat it up. Thus, warm balsamic vinaigrette.

It's Valentine's Day...

This is it everyone, the big V-day. What've y'all have instored for your love ones?? Chocolates? Candy? Roses? Maybe a romantic candlelight dinner for 2 at a posh restaurant if you have the dough? I guess I had my own fair share of ways to celebrate today, although I cant remember what i did with my ex last yr though...(If you saw this, I'm really really sorry....) But I do remember I've pulled some neat tricks outta my sleeves back in the days and if you boys and girls stil havent decide what to do later in the afternoon, maybe you could try this. Have a BBQ picnic in the park, and you don't even have to book a pit. And of course I'll teach you wad to make for dinner.

Having a BBQ for 2 at the park is actually quite cost effective compared to dinner at a restaurant. It's not very tdious where you have to make some crazy marinate and let it sit for like overnight or make some classy condiment to go with the main item. Its very easy when you realise whatever you need is just within your fingertips. Oh and did i tell you them you can even do a 3-course dinner for 2 as well if you wanted to? All you need is some imagination...

Before I get to the dish which is like bloody easy yeah? We look at what we have for inventory first. You will need:

1 styrofoam box( it's your picnic basket and cooler box for beverages.

1 instant bbq grill( those that already have charcoal in it so you don't need to get a whole bag.)

2 medium tongs(1 for the food and charcoal for the other.)

Disposal cutlery and plates for 2(cups as well)

1 bag of ice( get that when you reach your destination

1 large trash bag

1 butter brush

1 disposable table cloth.

Note that all your inventory are disposable items, which mean at the end of dinner, you 2 love birds can then take a long quiet stroll without lugging all your stuff around.=)

Now the food... we'll just concentrate on just doing one dish ok? So you won't start to panic.

Cajun Sirloin with Asparagus & Portobello Mushroom served with Sliced Baguette

Back then I made my own cajun spice rub but i think it's too tedious to make them fresh at this point of time, had a batch already in my kitchen cabinet so it saved me loads of time. But don't worry those bought off the shelves are just as good and they don't really cost much. I teach y'all how to make my Cajun spice rub in my next post along with other stuff that will be essential for cooking.

2x180 Sirloin(you can get the people at the deli to trim it for you..)

120gm Baby Asparagus

1 pkt Portobello mushroom

1 btl Cajun Spice( Some call it "Creol Spice" I think

1 Lemon

2 tbsp Olive oil

125gm Butter(It's like half a stick, sounds alot but you don't have to use 'em all.)

Salt & crushed black pepper

1 Baguette(Sliced)

1 clove Garlic

Lay your steaks in a plate, sprinkle salt and pepper and cajun spice on both sides evenly. Using your fingers, rub all that goodness into the meat. By doind so, you're forcing the flavour into the meat and because the rub is abrasive, it will break down the connective tissues in the meat making it tender so you don't have to pound it with a meat hammer into a ugly mess. Once that is done, throw them into a zip-lock bag and dump them in the fridge. It's very easy to prepare the asparagus, after you've washed it, break off like an inch of the end because it can be very stringy and bitter. dump them all in a rectangular tupperware, add salt, pepper and squeeze half a lemon juice and sprinkle the olive oil. After that just cover the lid and shake it. Yep it's that simple, after that just dump it in the fridge. The mushroom? Nothing. Do nothing to it, eat it in it's own natural juices. Just slop some butter on top of it when it's on the grill. As for the baguette, just wrap them up in aluminium foil.

OK so everything is done, you're ready to go. Pack all your stuff, meet your sweetheart or get him or her to meet you there so you can give them a surprise. Grab beverages and ice on your way there and once you're at your picnic ground, set up everything, you can start cooking at this point or wait and cook together with you loved one. The only tough cookie are the steaks. Firstly cook the fat-side first. Next is browning the sides, remember ONLY FLIP THE STEAKS ONCE. Flipping it too many times will not allow the meat to cok evenly so let it sit one the grill for a few minutes and then flip. Next is the doneness, once you've flipped the steak you'll only need to concentrate on the doneness. There's a little trick to it, just take your thumb andlet it touch the rest of your fingers, touch will do, no pressing. And when you touch one finger, use your other hand to feel the mold of flesh that is under the "touching" thumb, as you touch each finger you'll feel the flesh getting tighter and tighter.Index=medium rare, middle=medium,fourth=medium well, pinky=well done. I'll post some pictures so you'll get the picture. When the steak is done, just spoon a small knob of butter on top and it will become your sauce.

For the asparagus, just drop them on the grill until just toss them around until you get some charr marks. For the mushrooms, slap them on the grill, brush some butter on the camp and on the underside of the cap. ypu can tell its done when it turns darker and a bit tender. As for the bread, rub the surface of the bread t=with the garlic just once, you might think it's not enough but trust me, a little goes a long way. besides it V-day, you don't want to smell of garlic later in the night do ya? Toast the bread on the grill and spread some butter before serving.

Points to note....

So let's say you can't find any portobellos, buttons and cremini can do as well as they are all in the same family among the many different types of mushrooms. If you're worried about wad drinks to get wine wise, i suggest if you're new to wine, go for a Aussie merlot. It's mild, fruity, goes pretty well with all those strong meaty flavours. Very suitable for people who are new to wine.

Spaghetti Pangrattato

Didn't do much today just lazing around, browsing through my notes and recipes trying to decide what recipe i should post today. So I found this pasta dish that I used to make when I'm alone at home on a Sunday afternoon.

Spaghetti Pangrattato
For this dish it doesn't have to be only spaghetti but u can use other long pastas like linguine or fettucine, just to name a few. You might be wondering : "Why only long pasta?? Can't short pasta like penne do the job??" Well I wouldn''t say that using short pasta is a big no-no, but you gotta know and understand what type of pasta is suitable for which cooking method or sauce. Short pasta like penne, rigatone or fusilli are hollow or have deep grooves that can hold chunky sauces like bolognese. While long pasta tends to be suitable for thinner sauces for example cream-based sauces like carbonara or simply Aglio olio. So if u ever feel that today is pasta day, decide on the sauce then choose your pasta. this way you'll know you won't go wrong.

1pkt Spaghetti
1/2 tbsp Dried chili flakes
10pcs Anchovy Fillets
800gm Breacrumbs
150gm Fresh thyme
3 cloves Thinly sliced garlic
1/2clove Whole garlic
6 tbsp Olive oil
2tbsp Salt
Lemon juice

Ok, in a hot pan, drizzle 4 tablespoons of olive oil and throw in the whole garlic. Heat up the garlic till its aroma starts to come through. Add the breadcrumbs and run your hands through the stem of those thyme and the leaves will come out, throw those in as well and fry them over medium heat. The breadcrumbs will start to toast, the thyme might start popping but no worries ok? Continue to stir until the crumbs are crispy. Once that is done, pour it out on a plate lined with kitchen towel to soak up the excess oil and cool down for later

Boil up a pot of salted water, add in the spaghetti and cook it for 7-8 minutes(2-3 minutes if it's fresh), stirring it around occasionally to prevent it ffrom sticking to each other and the bottom of the pot. Once it's 'Al Dente'( I'll explain later..), strain and shock it in cold water to stop the pasta from cooking any further.

Finally, in a large saute pan, heat up the remaining olive oil and add in the sliced garlic and chili flakes. Stir them around till fragrant, be careful not to burn them or else the whole dish will have s slight bitter taste. At that point, add in the anchovies and stir them around gently. You'll notice that the anchovies will start to "melt" or "disintergrate", no worries though, it only means that the anchovies have infused into the oil with the garlic and chili. Once anchovies are dissolved, add in the pasta and turn off the heat, this will prevent the pasta from sticking to the pan and overcooking. Toss the pasta in the oil and squeeze a bit of lemon juice into the pasta to cut the oiliness.

To serve, pour the pasta onto individual plates and spoon the breadcrumbs over the pasta.

Points to take note...
'Al Dente' means 'Good enough to bite' or 'To the teeth'. To me it just means that you'll feel a slight resistance from the pasta when u bite into it. A lot of singaporeans have a misconception of the term and tends to over cook the pasta until its so soft it mashes up when you just gently pinch it. And when i tried cooking pasta for my friends and family they tend to say its a bit hard or undercooked and I ave to explain to them over and over again that that is the true 'Al Dente'. How do you know it's 'Al Dente'?? Well following the cooking time is one way, another is to basically take a bite. Firstly is the texture, you should feel the slight crunch and when u look into the pasta, there should be a small white spot in the middle. Once you've observe all of the above, you get Al Denta pasta every single time.