Uninspired

Picked this up at the Hong Kong Airport Duty Free store about a year ago, just finished drink it. It has taken me a long time because, well, I didn't like it at all.  Sounds interesting, doesn't it, 1851 inspiration?  It isn't much of that.  The bottle is bubbly and that's interesting, but the liquid inside is mundane at best.  It is neither rich nor full nor even flavourful.  If this is what people were drinking back then, Macallan certainly has improved quite a lot in the century and a half since.

20-Year Old Shaoxing Wine 二十年花雕酒

I have had this for a few years now but the cork and everything holds up well.  The wine though is a little disappointing.  Usually it get richer as it ages but this one tastes a little thiner than some 10 or 15-year I have had.  Maybe it is the style but I prefer the 15 from the same maker.  I still have a bottle of 30-year, will fine out how it is.  I like the bottle though.

Local Sake

Masa Shiroki make sake on Granville Island in Vancouver.  He is unique in that he handmakes a small number of sake in unusual style.  He like his sake full and flavourful, quite a different style than the typical clean and crisp style of premium Japan sakes.  This nama sake is quite that way, the mouth feel is full and the fruitiness is also full and upfront.  It is complex but not a lot of subtleties.  Come to think of it, it goes better with our international cuisines here than most from Japan.

Leaky Port

Cristiano Van Zeller, the maker of this wine, promised me that if the leaking cork effected the wine, he would replace it with a different vintage (because he is completely out of this one).  I decided that it is not worth the trouble.  It is not so ruined just slightly oxidized, more like a Late Bottled Vintage, nowhere like a Madeira.  The fruit is a little muted but the wine is still lively.  The fine structure of the vintage holds up very well.  It is not like the unleaked ones but still quite a good drink, like a super fine LBV.

Battered and Fried Oyster

I haven't battered and fried oyster for many many years, it is about time to fry a few now.  My batter is simple, just flour, cornstarch (equal amount), salt, baking powder, egg and water.  I remembered some really great ones I had when I was little at Lei Yue  Mun 鯉魚門, Hong Kong that was fried with scallion in the batter, so I added that too.  The oysters are first parboiled for a minute then dried.  Dusted with flour, they are then dipped into the thick pancake batter-like batter and then fried in very hot oil till golden brown.  Not bad at all.

Best Potato

I like potato but I don't like most preparations of potato.  Baked is often dry and require lots of fat to slide down the throat.  Boil is boring unless massive amount of butter is tossed in.  Fried is, well, lingering, let's say.  Mashed is lots of work and more a carrier of butter and cream than potato.  Au gratin is, well, more a carrier of butter and cream and cheese.  My favourite is this--roasted in wedges.  Just a little olive oil, salt, pepper and whatever herbs or spices at hand, or not and in the very hot over it goes.  Crispy like fried, sweet like boil, creamy inside almost like mash and overall tasted like a good potato.

Purple Yam--Nature's Pre-wrapped Dessert

These little things got to be one of the most wondrous things grown.  The colour is unnatural and the taste, well, it is just like lotus paste or marzipan--sweet, fragrant and smooth.  All that  come without any work on my part, just buy and bake.  It is healthy too, but I don't care.  

Simple dinner

This is a pretty typical meal at home in a Cantonese household.  The beans are simply sautéed with garlic.  The tofu is first browned  and then cooked with left over roast pig pieces seasoned with a little ginger, garlic, scallion, shaoxing wine, sugar, salt, soy sauce and sesame oil.  The oysters are parboiled for a minute first then lots of ginger and garlic are first sautéed before the dried oysters are added to the very hot pot, add a little shaoxing wine and then a sauce of oyster sauce, sugar, soy sauce and cornstarch is added.  The oysters are usually quick fried in oil when you have this dish in a restaurant and that brings out the nice fragrant of the dish; this way though has the advantage of health as well as the creamy tenderness of the oyster fully intact (provided you don't overcook it).

Roast Butterflied Chicken

I find butterflied chicken has quite a few advantage over whole chicken when it comes to roasting.  It cooks quickly and evenly so you can use much higher temperature without drying out the meat.  Here I roasted this bird at 400℉ convected to 170℉ internal temperature.  It took only 35 minutes or so.  I seasoned it with salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, chili powder, lime juice and olive oil.  Even the breast meat is juice and tender although I didn't brine it as many do these days. 

Chicken Mushroom Huaishan Stew

I saw a nice stick of huaishan 淮山, also know as shanyao 山藥 in Chinese and nagaimo 長芋 in Japanese, in the market and decided to cook with it for dinner.  I cut up half a chicken, marinated it with sugar, salt, soy sauce, shaoxing liquor, soy sauce and cornstarch for half an hour or so before browning lightly with ginger.  Reconstituted shiitake were added next and then shaoxing liquor, sugar, salt, soy sauce and water.  Simmer for 15 minutes then big chunks for huaishan went in for another 10 minutes, until the huaishan cooked through.  If you overcook the huaishan, it will disintegrate, but if you undercook it, it is rather unpleasant. Keep an eye on it and the result if wonderful.  Huaishan is considered to be one of the best food/medicine in Chinese medicine, tasty too.

Steamed Pork 瑤柱冬菇蒸肉餅

Steam meat 'cake' is perhaps the most common home cooked Cantonese dish.  Here I chopped up some pork and mixed in a couple chopped reconstituted shiitake mushroom and a shredded reconstituted dry scallop, seasoned with grated ginger, sugar, salt, soy sauce, cornstarch and just a touch of sesame oil.   As mundane as can be, but still good.

International Food for Chinese Service

The 'bloody' soup is a beet and kale soup made with onion, carrot, celery, canned tomato, garlic cloves, tomato paste, olive oil, bay leaves, oregano  and chicken stock.  I find sautéing the onion carrot and celery first make the soup richer.  The oxtail is browned first and then added into sautéed onion, carrot and tomato.  Tomato paste and canned tomato are next. Cook for an hour or two until the meat is tender.  The chicken is poached and then shredded.  Shajiang power 沙姜 and salt is cook slightly in warm oil until the fragrant comes out and then the chicken are tossed into for the flavour. 

Stinky Cheese

I walked into Les Amis du Fromage and asked for stinky cheeses and was offered the epoisses on the right.  I also picked up the chèvre on the left.  Both are French and very stinky.  I like very stinky cheese.

Sandpot Rice with Yellow Ear Mushroom and Chicken 黄耳菇滑鸡煲仔饭

Sandpot rice is a good one pot dish.  The trick is the control of heat and timing.  You want to have the rice and the accompaniment on top to cook just right and have a nicely golden crisp crust on the bottom. I bring the rice with water to a boil rapidly and then let it simmer at medium heat until not water is visible then the seasoned stuff--chicken marinated with sugar, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil and cornstarch, plus dry red dates and yellow ear mushroom--are put on top and cover for 15 minutes. 

Yellow Back Ear Mushroom and Tofu 黄背耳炒豆腐

Yellow back ear mushroom is like a wood ear but smoother and more tender.  It is supposed to have plenty of health benefits also, lower lipid and such.  I got these already shredded and dry so all I have to do is soak it for a hour or so before using. Here I stir-fried it with some pork, tofu, and celery, seasoned with garlic, salt, sugar, Shaoxing liquor 绍兴酒, soy sauce, cornstarch and hot bean sauce 禆县豆瓣.  Finished with a little sesame oil and scallion.

Pork Chops with wild mushroom sauce

The chops are salt-and-peppered before searing in a hot pan.  Mushroom and onion are then sautéed in  the pan until soften.  Deglaze with a little white wine, reduce then add some cream and let it thicken.  Put the chop back to warm up and that is it.  Tasty but quite fattening.

Smoked Coho Salmon

Trying something different.  I have smoked king and sockeye salmons and they are typically the type of smoked salmon in the market.  Here I smoked some coho.  Coho is a little less fatty than both king and sockeye but still a very tasty with slightly softer fresh.  I marinated it over night with soy sauce, sugar, salt, maple syrup and water then dried in the fridge overnight then smoked with maple chips for 4 hours.  The result is quite good.

Chicken roasted with wild mushroom

I brined the chicken with salt and sugar for four hours then dried it well.  Browned it all over quickly in a heavy pot before wild mushroom and onion and garlic were added to cook for a few minutes.  Cooked it in a 300℉ oven for 30 or so minutes until the chicken reached 150℉ then remove the lid and turn the oven way up for 10 minutes...







And I had a tender and juicy roast chicken with wild mushroom and sauce directly from the pot.

Disappointment

I picked this up while I was waiting at Narita airport.  Never seen or heard of this make so gave it a try. Well, don't like it at all.  Usually when I think of daiginjo I think of something on the delicate side with pretty nose of fruit and flower.  This does have some fruit and flower but it is also very dry, almost sharp, with a rather powerful alcohol attack.  It is almost like they mix daiginjo with honjozo.

欖仁 Salad

One of my favourite salad is with pine nuts and Stilton. Recently I try a pine nut look-alike we call 欖仁 . I think it is more fragrant then pine nut though less buttery.  I am not sure what it is though,  My guess is that it is either olive nut (as the Chinese name suggest) or Indian Almond (as there is a tree with edible nut with the same name).  If someone out there knows, please let me know.