HKDave

The point of the wrap is to be able to infuse flavours into the egg (the duck fat on the wrap, the truffle oil etc), and also to be able get an egg that's poached, but at the same time very evenly shaped for presentation. The "eggs in the shell, without boiling them" method works, and also has the benefit of eliminating that blue-green line that can appear in over-boiled eggs between the yolk and the white. But I suggest starting eggs in cold water and bringing to the boil, then immediately turning off the heat and letting them stand covered. This prevents any chance of the shell cracking from thermal shock. Make sure there's lots of water. Julia Child says let them rest 17 minutes, but I find less will do the job. You should cold shock the eggs afterward to stop the cooking.

Well, I'm a non-photographer, so here's a verbal 'demo': - cut a roughly 8" square of cling film. Smear all but the edges with duck fat (and/or whatever seasonings you are using). Use the film to line a flared teacup, fat side up. - crack an egg into the cling-film lined teacup. I think Arzak adds some truffle oil at this point. Gather the edges of the cling film and tie them off with a bit of string at the top. So now you have an egg wrapped in duck-fat coated cling film. I keep this in the fridge overnight for the flavours to infuse. Poach as usual - and that means with the water shimmering rather than boiling - until the whites set but the yolk is still liquid. Remove film and serve. I usually use these on salads, but they're classy for breakfasts as well. Edit: sloppy grammer...

For holding cooked meat (BBQ or otherwise) you've got a narrow temperature window. You've got to keep it above 60c / 140f or your health inspector will be unhappy, but if you go much higher you'll continue to cook the meat further. Even at 60c, the meat will keep cooking, albeit very slowly. So you need something with very even low temperature control, that also won't dry the meat out. There is relatively specialized piece of equipment called a holding cabinet that does exactly this, usually by having heating elements in all sides of the cabinet, and no fan. One of the better known brands is Alto-Shamm, see here: http://www.alto-shaam.com/product.asp?category=3 Another approach, if you've already got an oven that will hold steady at 60c (some combi ovens will do this pretty well), is to wrap the cooked bbq in cling film and hold it in that oven. Obviously, check your holding temperatures regularly.

I've made variations of 'Eggs Arzak' many times with regular cling film without problems. Vacuum sealer bags are too stiff and the wrong shape, you need plain cling film. Given that you should be poaching well below the boiling point, I doubt there's much risk of the film breaking down or leaching chemmies. Egg whites coagulate at about 60-65C, so you don't need the water to be much hotter than that. If you are concerned, maybe use film labelled 'microwave safe' as these supposedly better withstand higher temperatures. But again, you should be poaching eggs well below microwave steam temperatures. One trick - if you prep the wrapped eggs the night before you cook them, the eggs absorb the (duck fat, truffle, whatever) flavour much better.

Do you mean krachai? The brownish, slightly ginger-like root? The main place krachai is used is in Thai cooking, and even there it's not used that often. If you Google 'krachai recipe' you'll get a bunch of recipes. It's not really a taste to build a dish around, more of an earthy background flavour.

Correction: Mexi Cali is neither very good, nor is it Mexican, and unless by southwest you mean south of Broadway and West of Granville, you are again sorely mistaken. The meat is dry and overseasoned and the tortilla is store bought and crumbly. But at 5 dollars, I agree, it'll do in a pinch. ← If anything, I'd be even less kind. I had a disgusting lunch there once, not improved by the place being full of staggeringly rude private school teenagers.

I live a couple blocks from Chunking Mansions. I eat at restaurants in there. I shop at the spice shop on the main floor. I take visitors there to eat, and they often later return on their own. I take a short cut through there whenever I need to get from Nathan Road to Minden Row. Friends of mine have stayed in the (rather grotty, and not recommended) hostels there. Chunking Mansions is not pretty, but I've never had a problem in there. I've never heard of anyone I know having a problem. You are more likely to be pickpocketed in the tourist streets or malls of TST or Causeway Bay. Hong Kong is a very safe city. Kitchens in Chunking Mansions aren't any dirtier (or cleaner) than other similar price restaurants anywhere in HK. I haven't gotten sick from eating there over the years, but that's not statistically significant one way or the other. Chunking Mansions is not especially dangerous or 'exciting' to visit. The usual common sense is all that's required.

Resurrecting an old thread here... I recently did the 5 week intensive program at RTSCA (www.gourmetthailand.com). The school as presented on their website, and in my correspondence with them, is rather different than the reality. This was a good school at one time. Before I signed up, I talked to an Exec Chef who had attended RTSCA as a student several years ago, and he recommended it. But now the school appears to be falling apart, both literally and figuratively. The restaurant at the school is empty most of the time. The school itself (which is just the kitchen of the restaurant - there's no classroom) is just hanging on, and has a long list of problems I don't want to detail here. I was the only student when I was there, and I met the immediate previous student, who was also the only student when he was there. Both of us had attended professional culinary schools overseas, and both of us had worked in the industry. And we agreed that if we had visited RTSCA first, we wouldn't have signed up, and further that we couldn't recommend this place to anyone. If you're thinking about attending, I suggest you visit and take a look at a class before you send any money; and if you decide to go, insist on paying week-by-week.

Hunger Hut is an East End located, chef-run, probably unlicenced restaurant-inside-a-house. Formerly in Winnipeg, it moved to Vancouver a few years ago. Some friends of mine from California have been there a few times, said good things, but didn't have the contact info. Anyone know anything? PS - HKDave will be back in Vancouver late next week, staying for 2 months or so. I'm looking forward to seeing the usual suspects again.

This industry headhunter is based in Vancouver: Chef Thomas Deitzel tdietzel@chefsemployment.com His website is http://www.chefsemployment.com/

Dry aged Prime whole striploin? Just roast it whole and let it speak for itself. This is a beautiful piece of meat, and you want your guests to taste all the difference. You could cut it into steaks and grill, but if you've got a whole striploin's worth of guests coming and you're grilling to order, you'll be at the grill for a while. It's easier to carve a roast. Smoking is great, but I wouldn't do it to dry aged Prime. Ditto for fancy rubs and marinades etc - save those for cheaper grades. Here all you want is salt, and maybe pepper.

Green wood can be used for hot-smoking, as long as you're not counting on the green wood alone to be the heat source. Once when I was cooking for friend's party with all the wrong equipment, I hot-smoked a turkey in a covered gas bbq using very low/indirect heat, with thin applewood suckers (cut from a tree just seconds before use) thrown right on the lava rock. Because they were so green, the suckers didn't flare up, just slowly charred and gave off a lot of smoke in the process. The resulting applewood smoked turkey was glorious. I've never tried green wood for cold-smoking, and I think it would be too unpredictable for that application.

Tojo's, omakase.

AWESOME NEWS!!! Does that mean Plymouth Martinis at the Hammy??? ← Absolutely! I'll be subletting in the West End again, walking distance to all my previous haunts....

Re the Serious Foodie Advanced class in May, has anyone in addition to Arne and Deborah signed up? I'll see you there... I'm back in Van. from mid-April until June, and I'll be one of Chef Tony's assistant instructors for that class. It should be an excellent course. The material that will be covered consists of what was, IMHO, the highlights of the school's 3.5 month Professional Culinary program. For the next 2 months or so I'm back in culinary school, this time at the Royal Thai culinary school in Bang Saen, Thailand. I look forward to seeing everyone again in Vancouver in April!

Thanks for the info. Unless it has been changed recently, in Hong Kong THERE IS NO SALES TAX!!! LOL. How about that?? Most places typically charge a "customary" 10% gratuity though. ← There's still no sales tax in HK. There's usually a 10% 'service charge' on restaurant bills, which goes direct to the house, not the staff. Staff get whatever gratuity you leave in addition to that. Great post, Lee. Makes me feel guilty about not posting more about HK. I'll have to borrow a camera and get busy...

So the breadth of food in HK is much higher - simply a function of higher demand therfore more niche markets. HK people are very very food oriented - so they are always looking for new things to eat. This sometimes results in odd food (like the HK Style Western food thing). But what we do have in Vancouver is of a suprising high standard. ← As a former Vancouver resident living in HK for the last decade or so, I'd rather eat in Vancouver, even for Cantonese food. Hong Kong restaurants are dominated by their insane rental costs, so to keep prices down they have to compromise on everything else - like what's on your plate. And the quality of fresh meat, seafood and produce here is no match for what you can get in North America, unless you're buying flown-in imported stuff at 3x North American prices. There's nothing surprising about the high standard of food in Vancouver. Good cooks from all over the world (including Hong Kong), great ingredients, not-too-insane restaurant rents, and a large, discerning, diverse foodie community. I can't wait for my next visit.

The small ones can be a pain to clean, I've found grit (and bugs) inside even after careful soaking and rinsing. If I get a very dirty batch, I often cut them in half lengthwise, which makes them much easier to clean and reduces cooking time. I'll then usually braise them cut side down. No recipe, just a bit of chix stock, maybe a shot of soy, some sliced shallot and ginger, lid on until cooked. If you plate them cut side down, nap a little of the braising liquid on top, it all looks pretty. Or brush w/oil if you really want them to glisten.

Thanks to all for the responses. Sounds like an IB will do the job... now I'm off to the shops to see which models are available here in HK. Prices here are usually more than in the US. I've already fired an e-mail off to Bamix asking if they have a local agent...

Our Phillips food processor just died, so I need a replacement. But I'm thinking... I used it mainly for two specific tasks: pureeing soups, and making hummous. And I have a storage-challenged life. Could I get by with an immersion blender (hereinafter refered to as an IB)? I've heard that IBs won't get a puree as smooth as a processor - true or not? I know neither will get it as smooth as a blender, I can live with that. And I've never heard of anyone using an IB for hummous. Anyone do this?

Khyber Pass is not radically better than other Chungking Mansions (sorry about the earlier spelling, 'Chungking' is correct) dives, but I've eaten there many times and it's cheap by HK standards, reliable and has some veggie dishes. If you don't look like a tourist, ask them for the '10% discount you gave me last time'! They also deliver in the neighbourhood. More HK veggie places here: http://members.tripod.com/hkveg/ - weird interface. And here: http://www.ivu.org/hkvegan/gb/hkrest.html A place in TST both mention is Branto. I haven't tried it, but have heard good things. A few more Indian places I've tried, all veg-friendly: Ashoka, in Central: upscale. Gaylord, on Lock Rd in TST: classy, popular with the upscale Indian family crowd, but the cooking doesn't impress. Koh-i-noor, locations in TST and Central: relatively cheap, an option if with someone who is too frightened to go into Chungking Mansions.

The place for cheap Indian eats in HK is Chunking Mansions, a warren of run-down apartments on Nathan Road beside the Holiday Inn. There are restaurants scattered throughout the buildings. Previous post on Chunking Mansions here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=758047 For something much more upscale, but still Indian and veggie-friendly, there's Veda: http://www.veda.com.hk An Indian veggie friend of mine considers this his favorite restaurant in HK. There's a menu with prices on the website.

A couple of other packaged things I suggest to bring home from Bali: Terasi Udang - shrimp paste. I like the Bonang brand. Whole spices - Whole nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamon and star anise. Even in 'expensive' supermarkets a small bag of each costs less than US$1, and the quality is excellent.

Fernando's is still good. One of my favorite things to do in Macau is waste a long weekday afternoon with a few friends and endless bottles of wine there, occasionally ordering another dish when we get peckish. It's a big, non-aircon semi-outdoor Portuguese (mostly) and Macanese home cooking kind of place, not a white tablecloth restaurant, so don't expect anything fancy. And it's jammed and doesn't take reservations on weekends, when the HK crowds come to Macau. You can wait for hours for a table on weekends. But come on a weekday, especially at lunch, and it's all locals, they take reservations even though you won't need them, and it is a much more relaxed place. No credit cards, and no English menu (it's in Portuguese or Chinese) Must try dish: their clams, which I've been trying to copy for years. Any bus going to 'Hac Sa' ends its route right in front of the restaurant. Tel 882 864 A similar menu can be found at the tiny O Manel, on Taipa, run by a former Fernando chef. Reservations needed - and they take reservations on weekends, unlike Fernandos. Tel 827 571 A slightly more upscale (and aircon) option is A Lorcha, opposite and up the street from the Maritime Museum. Must try: feijoada. Tel 313 193

Bin 941/2 are solid late night, but after midnight I'm fully into Fresgo style. Burger and poutine and a beer.