Pork and Beef

One the left is shredded port stir-fried with Chinese chive and one the right is black pepper beef steak with onion. Sort of a last minute thing, reminds me of cheap eats restaurants in Hong Kong. The pork is seasoned with salt, sugar, pepper and cornstarch before stir-frying with the chive seasoned with shaoxing liquor, chilly bean paste, sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. The beef is pounded and then seasoned with salt, pepper and cornstarch, pan seared and then crack black pepper and onion are added, put the lid on for a couple minutes and it is done.

Panetone Bread Pudding

My girlfriend wanted bread pudding, so bread pudding it is, even though I have never made it before. Leftover panetone is just perfect for this. I soaked the bread in vanilla milk for half an hour, added a couple of eggs, sugar and maple syrup, baked in a hot oven for 20 minutes and the result isn't bad.

Coconut Curry Beef

I made my own blend of curry but added too much turmeric, the colour is a little off but the taste isn't bad with coconut milk. Very rich and the creaminess of the fully cooked calf (the part of the animal) meat makes for a good dish.

Snow Vegetable and Pork 雪菜肉丝

Snow vegetable is pickled in brine to gain a sour and salty taste and is a flavour in Eastern China. Here is a classic: shredded pork is first lightly seasoned with sugar, salt and cornstarch and then quickly stir-fried with ginger and garlic before snow vegetable, shiitake mushroom, shaoxing liquor, sugar and soy sauce are added. When most of the sauce has been absorbed, add some water or stock and cook slowly under cover for a few minutes. Good with rice or noodle, a great thing to have at home.

One Pot Dinner

Back home and what is better and easier than a one pot meal. This type of dish is common in East Asia, Chinese, Japanese and Korean all have very similar dishes. Here is my version of the moment. The soup is made with dried founder 大地鱼 and dried shrimps. Chicken thigh pieces and tofu are added to the bottom part before fresh shiitake mushroom, Chinese cabbages are put on top. after lightly boiling for 10 or so minutes, soaked fansi noodles 粉丝 and scallion are added. With the lid on for a couple of minutes and the dish has everything you need. I have since used meat balls, fish tofu and any number of things to make this dish.

Oven Christening II

This is the more successful part of the 'Christening'--a basic braised beef short rib, made with onion, carrot, tomato, mix herbs and water. One interesting comment from a dinner guest: "it is immediately clear that its taste is 100% western." I took that as a high compliment.

Christening An Oven... Sort of

My friends have a new oven, and since Chinese don't much use ovens, I was asked to sort of 'Christen' it. I cooked this capon with wild mushroom duxelle stuffed under the skin and roasted with the rotisserie. One thing about Chinese chickens, castrated or not, they are not breed for roasting. Even though the bird was barely done, it was rather tough. Smell very good though.

Five Cup Goose 五杯鹅

This is the star of the home dinner, sent over by the hostess' father who was a chef. The bird is tasty for sure, but the scallions? I am still dreaming about them...

Abalone

My generous hosts in Guangzhou served me this abalone at home. Looks as good as it tasted.

Steamed Water Snake

This is the best 'dry' dish of the night. Water snake meat with the skin still of is steamed with dried red dates, much like a steamed chicken dish. Unlike the chicken dish, this one get even better when cooled. I wasn't able to stop eating it even when I was totally full.

Stir-fry snake skin

After getting the meat to make the stew, there are snake skin left, so we had a stir-fry dish. The skin is quite tough and chewy but it does give the vegetable a nice flavour, so it is not all a loss.

Cobra Chicken Soup

This is the soup that brings me back to the snake restaurant time and again. Really warm you up in a cold day, really warm you up!

Pig's Gut Noodle 猪肠粉

The noodles from post two days ago.

Lotus Stew

Close-up of the lotus stew from the previous picture.

Snake Dinner

This is part of the snake dinner my friends had for me in Guangzhou. Up front is snake stewed with black-eye peas and bean sauce. On the left is snake cooked with pork belly and lotus root. On the left are freshly steamed noodle rolls with small dried shrimps (pig's gut noodles 猪肠粉). For some reason every place I went to in Guangzhou serves these noodles at dinner; not that I am complaining, they are good.

Stir-fried Pigeon

When most people eat pigeon in Hong Kong, they things only of crispy fried or master sauce poached. They are conditioned by lazy chefs to order the easily mass produced and expansively priced items. This stir-fry requires good fundamental skills and to be cooked to order. Luk Yu may not have the newest decor, its chef(s) does have great skills.

Snakehead Roll 生鱼卷

This is one thing Luk Yu does better than almost anywhere else. Snakehead meat is sliced thin and then a julienne of Jinhua ham 金华火腿 is rolled into the fish, seasoned and dusted with cornstarch, poached in warm oil quickly before quickly stir-fried with the vegetable. It is a classic dish so every cook knows the method. The market is filled with mediocre versions, but Luk Yu's demonstrates the meaning of craftmanship.

Stip-fried Fins II

This is the Stir-fried Shark Fin from the venerable culinary institution call Luk Yu Teahouse 陆羽茶室. The is the more common, more modern version when compared with the one at Li Cheng's. The size too is decisively modern--about one-tenth. It is good though.

Red Bean Soup

This is not a surprise that should have been. The only reason for the lack of surprise is that I was forewarned. Most meals out in a Cantonese cuisine restaurant end with this dessert. It takes time can care to make a good one; and this is a great one. I had three bowls after the huge meal. My friend Allan had four. Well, it was his connection, he deserved it.

Sweet Rice

This is perhaps the least boring way to deal with a boring course. There has to be starch in a meal, sweet rice with sausages and mushroom is quite a step forward from dull fried rice. This is an honest to goodness version of a classic.

Chicken with Young Ginger

This is the surprise of surprises of the night. Simple enough, it is an old fashion almost rustic dish. Sometimes it is this kind of things that best showcase the skill of a chef. There is nowhere to hide with this simplicity. The ginger is sourced well and then marinated for a long time. When combined with the chicken, the flavour merged into something greater than their sum. Against all the great dishes of the night, the ginger in this plate was the most bitterly fought over.

Abalone and Goose Feet

This is one major surprise of the night. It goes without saying that with a great old chef, the goose feet were cooked perfectly. The surprise was the abalone. My family are good cooks and eaters of abalone. We all thought this was remarkably large dried abalone with its full and rich flavour. The shock came when it was revealed that this was in fact very large, top quality canned abalone. The abalone was cooked for hours and hours, just like it were dried ones. The result is just sublime. You learn new tricks, particularly when you eat at the home of a great chef.

Steamed Grouper

This is a well steamed fish, finished with a little bit of Jinghua ham, an old fashioned touch. It is not a great surprise like the other dishes, it is still top class.

The definitive Snake Soup

The omnipresent snake soup is name after the the great gourmet for whom our chef's late uncle worked. Not surprisingly this is the best tasting I have ever had (and I have had a lot). The richness and harmony of this is difficult to describe. He doesn't skim on the ingredients either, the fish mow for example are of the finest quality and first rate thickness. The last bit was bitterly fought over. Friendship? I have no friends!

Pig Stomach

Another old-time favourites done classically--stir-fry pig stomach 炒肚尖. The only good part for this on the stomach is the very tip of it, so it take a lot to put together a plate. It is a lovely combination of soft and crunch when cook perfectly but rubbery when overcooked, which very very easy happen. Again to stir-fry this much evenly is quite a thing. White chives, cilantro, carrots and olive nuts (rarely seen these days because they are not the easiest to handle) finish the dish. A real pleasure to have great ingredients cooked by expert hands.

Stir-fry Sharkfin

This is one demanding dish for the chef and ours is renown for it. This version is decidedly old fashion where the skill rather than the fins is highlighted. The first impression is the detail and precise knife work, everything is cut to the exact size of the fins. I was told there are 13 different things in the dish, but I wasn't told which 13. To cook this giant plate of stir-fry is difficult for a big, strong, young cook, but it is almost ridiculous for a frail 92-year old. And it comes out perfectly, every strand is just right, just that alone is amazing. It may be not as delicate as the simplified versions sold in the best restaurants in HK, but none of those chef displays this level of skill and perfect complexity.

The Kitchen of a Legend

This is the kitchen of one of Hong Kong's most famous chefs. The gentleman Li Cheng 李成, in white tee shirt over the stove, is 92 years old, the nephew and student of the last chef of the legendary gourmet 江太史. According to his daughter, he cooks with coal because he doesn't know how to control gas stoves. He is still cooking because he likes to, not because he has to. He has one table in his private home where only people he knows and approves can book a table when the master feels like cooking. Fortunately my dear old friend Allan is one such person. After some serious negotiating (because we had to eliminate quite a few people to fit), we had 13 people going in for a meal to remember.

Local Local Local

I realized how backward the HK restaurant scene is when I read the menus of the top western restaurants there and every fish is shipped in from Europe. If Hong Kong is located in the middle of a desert, then perhaps. But HK started with a fishing village with world famous seafood! Here I used local ingredients to make a European dish to make a point. The fish is from a giant grouper 龍躉. Chinese truffle slices are laid on top and then it is wrapped in jambon de bayonne (okay, ham travels well) and then sautéed in olive oil. The side is winter squash stewed with dried wild mushroom from Yunnan. A seared local scallop finished the dish. Everybody loved it, and the fresh grouper beat any fish anyone may ship in from Europe.

Dessert Cart

The whole dessert cart at Robuchon a Galera.

Dessert III

Robuchon a Galera, Dessert

A Napoleon of sort, a berry mousse torte with a dark chocolate crust and a strawberry and pistachio torte.

Dessert II

Robuchon a Galera. Dessert

A sorbet over dry ice and a caramel crisp, sprinkle of nuts.

Dessert

Robuchon a Galera, Dessert

Chocolate mousse and caramelized pinapple

Le dos de cabillaud gratiné d’une polenta acidulée et accompagné d’une vierge

Robuchon a Galera, Fish Course

This is perhaps the best fish course on the executive lunch menu, the cream fish, the slightly crispy palenta and the bright sauce makes a good flavour and texture combination. The potato though ruined the nice presentation.