Prawncrackers

Hi Alexus Check your batteries Or you have your camera on the wrong setting, maybe it's in Landscape mode? It would have difficulty focusing on near objects if that was the case. I haven't posted on the Dinner thread for weeks! Been busy studying for professional exams so haven't had the time to spare. So here's a catch up. Last time i remember posting some Twice-cooked pork, well here is some more: Twice-cooked pork cooked twice you could say : Prawn and Peppers Tempura, Soba Noodles Confit Duck, Green Bean and Potato Salad Mole Poblano Guinea Fowl, Refried Beans & Avocado Salsa

Scandalous statement! Who do i complain to about this? Let's all laugh at boring English food again No seriously, that poor fella, his family must be devastated. Spare a thought also for the girlfriend's brother who he had the cook-off with. Macho competition gone horribly wrong. I wonder what type of chillis he used, maybe it was the Dorset Naga (possibly hottest in the world.... grown in boring old England no less). But i just can't imagine how chilli could kill a man outright though. Especially a big strapping Yorkshireman. BTW, "proper American food"? I thought Chili was Mexican..... (runs and ducks for cover)

No, never had the pleasure of using it. Though I’ve always wanted to make my own faggots using caul fat, a good local dish that when made right deserves praise. I don’t plan to go to the indoor market this week so can’t advise whether the dozen or so gnarly butchers in there will supply it. In fact if you go before me you can ask around and let me know! The one to go to is in the centre next to Pearce’s Shellfish, I think they’re called Doherty’s (or A&P) and usually have the gnarly-ist stuff on display. They seem to shift the most offal and I’ve had some very good calves liver from there in the past. Have a good look around the market anyway, there’s another shellfish stall G Smiths that is also worthy of a mention and Barlow’s fish will surprise you with their variety. There’s a little gem of a SE Asian grocers too. Caul fat is interesting stuff, what you planning on doing with it? What meaty offally treats have you in mind, nudge, nudge.

Hi Adey, i think pork maw is the actual stomach itself. It's quite common in Chinese cooking, we put it in in soups as one of those textural things. Never cooked it myself but it's one of those old fashioned ingredients my mum used to feed to me when i was a child. Why it's called Pork Maw and not just Pork Tripe i don't know.

Actually, doing a bit more planning for our trip. Do you think we’ll be rushed for time going to Fernando’s all the way down there? Especially on a day trip and our first time. Plus does Fernando’s only do Portuguese food? Because I could go to Portugal for that! Where are the best places to go for local Macanese food?

Splendid, the wife is happy for all the good info.

Thanks HKDave for the latest update. We're back in HK at the end of October and am planning a day trip to Macau as we've never been. So if we absolutely had to choose one place to eat then it would definitely be Fernando's. What about the best Po Tarts and pastry shops in general, if we had to choose one, which would it be and where is it?

Thanks for the review, the foie gras and langoustine combo in particular sounds interesting. Strange how the chef has made a public statement about his Michelin dreams though. As it begs the question about his main motivations; though as you say we can debate this till the cows come home. Just wanted to stir the pot a little. Remember that they are great restaurants with *s and not because they have *s that they are great restaurants.

Why so covetous of a Michelin™ star on behalf this restaurant? Surely if you are happy with the food and service then that should be enough. Tell your family and your friends first. Then tell us here on the forum which you have! Tell us more of the dishes that you had please, what did you like best? Personally I don’t think any restaurants are missing Michelin™ stars, they’re not like toilets or front doors; they can and should operate successfully without them! AA Gill lays it out bare, the folly of those who aspire for starry trinkets, in his Sunday Times restaurant review this week. I’ve never eaten in a 2* or 3* place not because of some inverse working-class snobbery but for the very reasons in that review. I have eaten in a few 1* restaurants and on the whole they have been very enjoyable experiences. (Though not much choice here in Birmingham in that respect, Simpson’s has one and Purnell’s probably deserves one by all unknown criteria that these things are measured by). But it seems to me that more stars means exponentially less enjoyment and more head scratching.

I saw that last night and the same thing happened tonight. As long as you don't curl a fat steaming 2* turd on the floor and run crying away from the restaurant kitchen it doesn't matter. All that counts is the one dish you present to the judges in the studio. As usual with this format, the reality section is simply filler and a little promotion for the restaurants.

I would heartily second this statement. For me the point of buying a whole pig is to butcher it yourself, it's great fun. ← Have you actually killed and butchered a whole hog? Not suckling pig but a 200# market hog?-Dick Butchered, yes. Killed, not yet! My buddy and i have just started butchering our own pork this year. Though i admit we cheat and ask our supplier to halve the pigs for us but we take the rest from there. We've done the equivalent of a whole pig already this year, and in fact we're doing another half this saturday. We tend to get smaller rare-breed pigs like tamworth or berkshire, so a half pig is around 80lb - very manageable in a small domestic kitchen.

Looks like canned corned beef. The most mysterious item is the pale liquid.... Raki over ice?

Hmm, you had Char Siu & Foie Gras baguettes Bruce but no pictures?! Hope your guest was happy that they've deprived us gullleters of this visual treat. Make some more right away, you can't tease us like this!

I would heartily second this statement. For me the point of buying a whole pig is to butcher it yourself, it's great fun.

My mum uses the crushed yellow bean sauce that comes in cans. Still wondering about that taro duck dish though... hmmm

Thanks Dr J, was it the Tea Smoked Duck with the sesame soy dressing in this post here <click>? Glad you liked it because i loved it and should get round to cooking it again now you've reminded me. Keep up the good work, fish looks lovely and interesting use of fruit in your meals this week

I think i may have seen that on the original Iron Chef shows, or was it a virgin poached in foie gras fat... God i loved those shows. The mystery ingredients were always something incredibly rare/exotic/expensive/alloftheabove, and just to make sure they would use that 1lb of foie gras or white truffles for garnish. It was always surprising and splendidly extravagant! I don't think the show would work here though, too many people still near the bottom of the learning curve to be viable. As evinced by some of the "Professionals" on Masterchef. Though I still have hope that in the end they find a worthy winner.

These three tonight were a complete shower. When Roux Jnr questioned whether that plonker actually thought about taking up a job that doesn't involve cooking, that was priceless. Magical put-down, fantastic stuff. Fair play though, he took it! The standard tonight was a little embarrassing, where do they find these people?!

You may cease your dribbling now Ce'nedra! Recipe for Kau Yuk is here, straight from an old Hakka lady i.e. my mother: - Blanch a thick square of skin-on pork belly in gingerised salted water for approx 15 mins, just to set the meat slightly. Remove from the pot then scrape and poke the skin all over with a spiked stamp (or jaccard - wonderful piece of kit). Cool a little, pat dry then smear the pork all over with dark soy. This should make the skin more tender and give a nice colour. - Peel and cut the taro into thick half moons. They should be as big as you're going to cut the pork as you are going to layer them. So you will need equal numbers of pork and taro.. Shallow or deep fry the taro pieces to give them a little colour and set aside. In the same oil give the pork a little colour (less then 5 mins) too. Cut the pork into similar sized pieces when cooled a little. - In a large deep bowl mix together the sauce: meen see (yellow beans), nam yue (fermented red beans - now we're talking Hakka!), light soy, five spice, shaosing, sugar, sesame oil, scallion white, garlic & ginger. Needless to say, my mum doesn't do quantities - just a little of this and that. She did say you only need one lump of nam yue and that the sauce is quite thick like a paste. - Mix well with the pork and taro and arrange them in the bowl in layers so that you can pick out pairs of taro and pork with your chopsticks. Steam covered for at least two hours. - If you can resist it, cook this the day before as the flavour and tenderness will be vastly improved. Just reheat it when you want to eat it. That's it, it's such a lovely dish to eat as you bite into the pork and taro together. The pork so tender coupled with the earthiness of the taro, the flavour is so savoury sweet with the meen see and nam yue. Can't wait to eat it again.

Now, you see i always thought that "seen" (鮮 ?) translated to that umami flavour. That extra special taste. Mind you it's mostly used in conjunction "seen teem" - umami sweetness, or "sun (新) seen" - fresh umami taste. So what do you folks think, how would you describe "seen"?

You're right, the ones i used to buy range from semi-liquid to waxy hard. But if you salt them yourself you can control that. Plus it's cheaper. I too would love to know the recipe for this dish. The last time i had it was at my wedding banquet and i remember it was one of the food highlights. The Western contingents were all amazed at dish and not with the lobster, suckling pig, shark fin etc - go figure!? Anyway, i've never seen this dish since and would love to learn to cook this. Keeping with the taro theme, i posted this meal on the Dinner! thread but it really deserves to be here: Kau Yuk, Fried Bream & Green Beans: The main Hakka dish of Kau Yuk was actually leftovers made by my mum and was one i've not had for ages. Forgot how good it was, i will post the recipe as soon as i get the chance to interrogate her!

Here's a another Chinese comfort dinner tonight that should get the seal of approval from my fellow Chinese gulleteers: Kau Yuk, Fried Bream and Green Beans: Kau Yuk is a home-style Hakka dish of tender pork belly layered with taro that is steamed for a long time - one of my wife's favourite ever dishes. Still going through that pig - that's four pork dishes posted in a row. I've just noticed that it's four different parts too: loin, neck, leg and now belly. Just goes to show how versatile the meat is. Now, i still have the ears in the freezer somewhere!!

Time to bump this topic up again! Another beautiful fish from my mother's kitchen yesterday. Some kind of reddish snapper i think, anyone have a definite ID on this one? That's the only problem when my mum goes to the wholesale market, nothing is marked up and she's not really bothered to ask whether it's this fish or that. She only cares about how fresh it is. Which i suppose is the best way about it! Wonderfully tasty liver with this fish too:

yawn

I thought Slaphead looked oh so civilised the other day eating that macaron with a fork.... snigger.