MANILA, Philippines - To make a good dish, use good quality ingredients, and use the correct pan for cooking,” says chef Portia Baluyut of Rustic Mornings at Isabelo, and Lifestyle Network’s popular cooking show, A Pinch of Portia.
The poolside of Bellevue’s B Hotel on Scout Rallos in Quezon City was the venue for the “Summer Cooking” event, which featured three renowned chefs and culinary ambassadors of Tefal. Chef Portia, together with chef Miko Aspiras of Le Petit Souffle, Freezer Burn and Scout’s Honor, and Tefal resident chef Deejay Santos, took turns in sharing their original recipes and demonstrated how these can best be prepared using the newest Tefal Titanium Cookware range, which includes Tefal Titanium Pleasure Cookware, Tefal Titanium Character Cookware, and Tefal Titanium Expertise Cookware.
“Tefal Titanium Cookware’s main feature is its durability,” says Tefal Cookware and Kitchenware brand manager Mags Mabao. Tefal Titanium Pleasure Cookware is reinforced with Titanium Force coating — a multi-layer, non-stick, strengthening and anti-abrasion coating that fortifies a hard titanium base layer for extra strength and durability — while Tefal Titanium Character Cookware is crafted with Titanium Pro coating — high-quality aluminum reinforced with mineral and titanium particles, giving it double durability.
Tefal Titanium Expertise Cookware features Tefal’s longest lasting coating: Titanium Excellence, with its patented fusion technology — a new top coat reinforced with Titanium particles, built to endure extreme heat and intensive use.
Chef Deejay Santos prepared two appetizers. For his version of the Vietnamese beef and veggie wrap, he used angel hair pasta instead of vermicelli. In his second appetizer, a Mexican-inspired mole poblano quesadilla, he added chocolate to the spicy mixture. For both dishes, he used the same pan, a Tefal Titanium Pleasure wok.
Chef Deejay noted Tefal’s Thermo-Spot technology, which is a key feature in all Tefal Titanium Cookware. The red dot on the pan serves as a heat indicator as it turns from light to bright and solid red when it reaches the ideal cooking temperature. But even as the pan gets hot, its handle never does, since it is made of phenolic, a special material that is not a conductor of heat.
For the main course, chef Portia prepared prawn and chorizo rosini, using Tefal Titanium Character Cookware. “I like the generous capacity of the pans, and you can pop it inside the oven,” she remarked. “The best part is that you are not afraid to use a metal spatula, since Tefal Titanium pots and pans are scratch-proof.” Its special anti-abrasion coating makes cooking with Tefal Titanium cookware easy and worry free. Its ultra-resistant non-stick interior also makes it easy to clean. Tefal is the world leader in non-stick cookware.
Dessert chef Miko Aspiras, who is well known for his unique creations, demonstrated two original recipes — chocolate crepes, cream cheese and summer berry compote; and faux carbonara.
He used Tefal Titanium Expertise Cookware, the most durable in the range. It has a 12-year lifespan. While it is heavy duty, the cookware was also masterfully designed “to take on even the most delicate of dishes.”
“I’m so happy to have this Tefal crepe pan,” chef Miko said. “Most people think that crepes are difficult to make, but really, it’s easier to make than pancakes.” For the compote, he used frozen raspberries. “The Tefal sauce pan is a good staple in the kitchen for sauces and fruit preserves,” he said. “It’s big enough. It has lots of room; that makes cooking easy.”
The faux carbonara was a triumph of the imagination. Composed of a graham walnut crumble, and an apple, mango and maple fruit cobbler, it was the carbonara sauce that drew wide smiles from the crowd. Directions: 1) in a large Tefal Expertise stew pot, melt the salted butter; 2) stir in the marshmallows —loads of marshmallows, the large kind — until melted. Use immediately.
“Carbonara has to have an egg,” chef Miko noted. For this, he used an egg yolk cured in maple syrup and rum, kept inside the chiller overnight or at least for eight hours. Even though it started to drizzle outside on that May afternoon, the desserts brought a little sunshine to our plates.