Prawncrackers

Thanks Ce'nedra, i didn't catch your post before i'd put mine on. Yeah a few of those dumplings burst and as i'd used quite a fatty piece of pork there was a lot of juice left in the pan. I poured it all onto the plate anyway, thought they'd be ruined but they were actually really good. Just different to the usual potstickers i do.

Looks like it’s just you and I cooking at the moment Bruce!! Come on guys I know you’ve all been cooking and eating lovely Chinese meals – we need to see them. I had put this Father’s Day meal for my in-laws on the Dinner! thread last night but didn’t have time to add much of a description. Chicken Rice – I simmer for 20mins then submerge for 40mins before taking out. My wife is put off that whole pink bone thing you get in HK so this way the bone is just cooked through. Steamed Leopard Grouper (thanks Adam Balic for the id) with Pork and Mushrooms – my mum cooked this last week and I was so impressed with it I had to try for myself. Not as good though as I used frozen instead of fresh (it was a Sunday after all) Braised Nyonya Pork – a favourite from Cradle of Flavour. Stir Fried Choi Sum – with oyster Sauce and a little of the chicken stock. Picked in the morning from my mum’s garden, delicious but on reflection I didn’t cook enough. The balance of the meal i felt was a little off due to this. Lobster in Spicy Tomato Sauce – they always spring a surprise ingredient on me. Luckily I hadn’t defrosted the big king prawns I was going to cook so this was an inspired substitution, they should come round more often!

Where's the rest of the meal andanand?! Makes me hungry looking at it.... No seriously, looks very nice but could do with either a bigger portion or a much smaller plate. Father's day in the UK, here's the meal i cooked - Poached Chicken, Steamed Grouper, Braised Pork, Stir Fried Lobster and Choi Sum:

Urgh send it back, tell the chef it's inedible!! no, seriously David that dish looks wonderful - glad you're back

Yup, milt sounds a little more appetising than sperm. It can also be called soft roe which is just a downright misleading euphemism.... whatever it's called it's tasty!

Same here Hiroyuki i'm loving this thread, can't wait for the next instalment. BTW cod sperm sac can also be called cod milt. I've never tried it raw but have all sorts of fish milt lightly steamed and it is delicious.

Capons are castrated male chickens, traditional xmas bird around these parts. Looks delicious.

That's why it's top of the fantasy list Peter. I suppose I should've added a little description. Ortolans are wild buntings, tiny migratory birds similar to sparrows. When they are in season, traps are set to catch them. In captivity they are kept in darkness which triggers their feeding instincts and so they gorge themselves on grain. After a few weeks they are very fat and the their livers are massive in comparison to their bodies - like foie ducks and geese. When they are ready to be consumed, they're drowned in armagnac so with their last breath they draw in some of the liquor. They are plucked, head removed and fried/roasted very simply and eaten whole in a one or two mouthfuls. The bones are tiny and crisp, the meat gamey, the liver is fat and rich, all with the rounded deepness of the liquor. Well that's I imagine it to eat like. Oh and it's absolutely banned in the EU to serve this dish in any restaurant. Though there are ways to get round it I think I will carry on dreaming about this!!!

Good topic Peter, off the top of my head three on the list would be: 1. Ortolans 2. Mishima Beef from Japan 3. Shark's head - as seen on Bourdain's No Reservations Singapore episode Probably in that order actually. I think only the Shark's head i would ever have the opportunity to eat. Though this may not be a bad thing as the reality rarely lives up to the fantasy. It's always the least expected that is the most surprising and hence most exciting and memorable.

Thanks Adam, had a feeling you'd know what this is. Have you tried another one since post #199? They are really good eating like all groupers mild in flavour but fantastic flesh. Can't believe you cooked it the same way as my mother though but please note this is a traditional Hong Kong way of cooking it. Gives mild fish extra taste. I could've eaten this all on it's own, actually i could've eaten two!

My mother cooked this beautiful fish tonight, it's a type of grouper but i have no idea what kind. Any ideas? Pre and post steaming with salted pork and shitake musrooms, deeelish!

You know Klary i've only been posting on the Dinner! thread for a little over a year, and you've made a lot of delicious looking food. But i truly think that this dish is up there with the most delicious i've seen by anyone! It's fantastic, could we have a little more detail; what kind of cheese, ham, did you blind bake the shortcrust first, etc...? If this thread had an annual awards ceremony i would nominate this dish In fact it might be an idea.... I've gone all Italian past couple of days, yesterday was Prawn, Pea & Pancetta Risotto and today was Pizza Pie (just like my mama used to make - er not):

Did anyone see this program on BBC4 last night? First of a four parter, here's a <linkety link> to the bbc website. You can catch the first episode again on iplayer. As the title suggests this is a behind the scenes of the West Lake restaurant in Hunan province, China. Really fascinating fast paced-documentary. I particularly liked the Stephen Chow-esque cooking challenge that showed live snakes being prepared and the amazing fried live fish dish. Just jaw-dropping stuff. And that poor duck!!!! I have never seen anything like that before. You have been warned if you are in anyway unsure whether you are really a carnivore then do not watch this part of the show. Please someone say they watched this show too.

Nice knives Peter, i too bought some knives from Tsuikiji - Nenohi & Masamoto parers. Like i need any more! But how can you resist? I bought some steel moribashi from Kappabashi too. But that was the only thing i bought in Kappabashi. I intended to stuff my suitcase full of those plastic food models but they're actually quite expensive. Did you find that too Peter? I thought they'd be cheap but was surprised by some of the prices, especially on the really life-like ones. I remember picking up a miniature matchbox size sushi set priced at 1500Yen but as i took it to the till i realised the price was in fact 15000Yen!!! The cashier could literally hear my gasp as i gingerly replaced it and slid out the door.

Capers in salsa verde, wonderful with any fatty meat or oily fish. Capers, parsley, cornichons, anchovy, lemon juice, wine vinegar, mustard, evoo, sugar, s & p.

You still have a couple years left to make your pilgrimage Prometheus (need to unchain yourself first though ). My guide said that there's not much sentiment amongst the Tsukiji workers as they are all looking forward to the extra space afforded by the move. Also, there are political pressures as the governor of Tokyo is apparently looking to bring the Olympics back to Tokyo and has earmarked the current location as a media centre. It will be a shame to lose all that history. It's also a shame for us tourists as it's in such a convenient location - a brisk 20 min walk from the heart of the Ginza, it's impressive department stores and sumptuous food halls.

Lovely meals everyone as usual. After coming back from holiday this week i've not had time to post any dinners so time for a catch up. Started on some easy cook comfort food and on somewhat of an asparagus binge, Pork Chop & Confit Duck Leg: Went a little experimental with Razorclams in a mild coconutty thai-style red curry sauce. This was really nice, i used some massive prawn heads to make the sauce so couldn't fail! Then ultimate comfort food again with Hainan Chicken Rice:

Bravo Rona, fantastically detailed report. That candy apple looks delightful. Maybe one to add to list for when we're next in Tokyo, planning ahead already!

Not posted on here for ages but tonight i spent ages making Gau Ji from scratch, i only made 24 but it took over 2 hours! How fast can you guys do them? It was a bit of bravado by me thinking i could throw these out quickly as a light dinner but it was past 9pm when they were done. They were really tasty but felt like a PITA near the end!!!

Haven't contributed to the Egg Porn thread for a while so here are a couple from this weekend: Poached Duck Egg, Asparagus, Pancetta & Crouton Lamb Kidneys & Sweetbreads, Fried Eggs on Toast

priceless

No, your fried slice has to be in the bacon fat. Cheaper the bread the better i reckon too. I agree with the milky tea, have to have a nice brew. Personally I would struggle to finish a full english without copius amounts of tommy k. Though that is a partisan issue, wars may have been started over this issue.

I don't mind telling, there are no state secrets here after all: Ten-Ichi - Each Hana set was 8,300Yen (relative feeling of value 7/10) L'Atelier - Each Printemps menu was ~15,000Yen (5/10) Iwasa Sushi - My Omakase set was 3,000Yen, her Nigiri set was 1,800Yen (9/10) Local Soba Place - Curry Rice & Soba was 630Yen, the tonkatsu was 530Yen (9.5/10) Kozue - My Fuji meal was 10,000Yen and the wife Kozue bento meal was 5,000Yen (9.5/10) So with the exception of the meal at L'Atelier, I was pretty pleased with the value of what we ate. Especially the last two, which goes to show that there's great eating to be had at any price. In fact, compared to L'Atelier, Kozue is a bargain!

Thanks folks your compliments are all very kind. I really wanted to share with you all the fantastic experiences we had and to save them for posterity. Sometimes i feel my descriptions are little clunky so hopefully all the pictures make up for them. As for the whale meat Shelby, i too was a little surprised by their appearance but thinking back it makes sense that is so red and meaty looking. They are mammals after all. As for the taste, it wasn't fishy at all. Very meaty - tastes exactly as it looks. With my brother-in-law's first child being just 8 months old (so cute) we have even more reason to visit Japan often. Hopefully next time we can get to check out Osaka or Hokkaido and see what the eating is like there.

Day Three - Friday 9th May We'd been looking forward to revisiting the Park Hyatt again so it was with great anticipation we caught the subway to Shinjuku. The original plan was to eat at the New York Grill again as we'd done in our previous stay, but as i was making reservations the week beforehand the thought struck me to try one of the the hotel's other restaurants. Didn't fancy the French Girandole so the Japanese Kozue it was: We arrived 12 noon on the dot and aside from us there are two other Japanese couples. The setting, vista and decor are stunning, i would've have taken a wide angle shot of the spacious elegant dining room but didn't want to disturb the tranquillity of the other diners. During our meal, about the same number of diners arrived. So there was a very relaxed atmosphere this 80 seater room. Service was supremely warm and unhurried. We stayed for almost 2 hours and savoured every minute of it. I had the Fuji meal, the wife had the Kozue bento set. I think i may need a little help with the descriptions here as there were so many new elements that i'd never encountered before, we tried our best to ask our fantastic servers and take notes but there was just so much wonderful stuff going on we were in a spin! Our appetisers arrived first and i was delighted to find the hotaru ika/firefly squid (thanks Hiroyuki) again, this time with broad beans, fig and in a sweet/salty liquor. This time the squid were a little larger but not any less delicious and juicy, the broad beans were incredibly sweet almost as if they'd been candied, the fig was so soft yet not sweet all. It was such an exciting dish to eat. The wife appetiser was a double header of bamboo mousse and jelly with poached egg (wonderful textures) and a salmon dumpling in clear soup: I also had a clear soup next, pike eel in a clear broth with an amazingly plant called watershire (sp?). It looks like a large rolled up tea leaf wrapped in tough transparent membrane but the texture is difficult to describe. The membrane itself feels tough and is very slippery but pops very easily. Incredible, has anyone has tried this? The wife's bento box now arrived and she was totally enamoured with it. I have to admit that it looked pretty mouthwatering from where i was sat too: My next course was sashimi of bonito, prawn and a firm white fish i couldn't identify. Wonderful presentation but i thought the dish itself was only really adequate. I expected a little more. The next course was a selection of seasonal delicacies. This for me was the highlight of the meal, every morsel was sensational. Starting from the right as right-handed chopsticks would eat them from top to bottom was (from what i can remember) green peas and carrots in sweet broth, cognac & mustard, bonito mousse and jelly, kelp wrapped in gourd (?), type of long clam similar to razorfish, juiciest sweet tofu top with egg, fried fish with garlic & braised leek and at the far left a bamboo wrapped piece of sushi: There were two little river fish "ai-ou" i thought they were called. Very nice from the still smoking brazier and a green vinegar dipping sauce. Next up was a shabu-shabu of beef, delicious with the japanese pepper (very similar to sichuan pepper). I asked what kind of beef it was and was told "yurizawa", is that a prefecture does it ring any bells with anyone? Anyway the peppers were so aromatic, i had to stop myself from drinking the whole soup up after finishing the beef: To finish was a Kaki age ( ) of scallop and soba noodles: Now the wife's dessert was a cider jelly and to my surprise a sorbet of Japanese pepper. This was a taste sensation, it worked beautifully. I had most of this as she is allergic to alcohol and she had most of my black sesame mousse which was good but not as good as the cider/pepper combination: What can say? I don't consider myself a restaurant gourmet, i've always enjoyed cooking at home more and spending my cash frugally. So i may not have the wealth of experience to judge this meal but in my mind this is has easily set the standards by which all restaurant meals shall henceforth be measured by. Simply astounding and outstanding!! The rest of the afternoon we spent in Shinjuku (just love Isetan's food department) and picked up a load of snacks. Including this pair of interesting seafood items, the one on the left i think were sliced whelk and uni, the right one was a spicy cockles. Now that's what i call a midnight night snack. That's it, that was three solid days of eating. We caught the Shinkansen to Fukuoka first thing Sat Morning. I might have missed the odd pastry out but all in all didn't we do well?