Ce'nedra

FATS. While I think the whole fad diet and health craze is to last for quite awhile, I believe there will be a desire to return to traditional, hearty fare where it's not so much about appearance and style but FLAVOUR...which is where fats come in to replace oil in a lot of dishes.

Ahahha glad to see people are enjoying that Paula video Btw, I know I'm late (very) but I just watched the ep of Iron Chef America where Flay was competing against Ming Tsai and wow! Such professionalism from Tsai! I have to say, I have a renewed respect for him. So now I'll have to list Tsai as one of my fav food celebs.

Speaking of restaurant cookbooks, which ones do you recommend? Is the Tetsuya one any good? It's certainly out of my range though.

Yeah, it's a pretty cookbook. Nice to look at and all that, but I haven't cooked from it. $19 is a great price, but if you didn't buy it, I don't think you'd be missing out on too much. It's not a bad book, but I just think there are other restaurant cookbooks that are better. ← I bought it today yay! It is indeed a nice looking book and yes, the recipes don't appear to be the sort I'd use for everyday but they're sure inspiring and surprisingly, quite a few of them are of decent difficulty (not too hard) -at least that's what I gather from the ingredients and instructions. Most are the sort you'd make to impress your friends for a dinner party

Does anyone own the 'Bather's Pavilion Recipes and Menus' cookbook? Recommended? I saw it for $19 today (originally $65 I think) and was hugging it to my chest the whole time but didn't buy it at the last minute and now...I regret it! There's only 2 left so I better make a run for it tomorrow.

http://www.atablefortwo.com.au/ Stunning photography (really) coupled with well written Sydney dining reviews and interesting, lip-smacking recipes (international although many are focused on Malaysian/Chinese). There's also a crazy recipe on Vegemite Cheesecake!

That looks goood! Did your mother flavour the fish with soy sauce or anything? Or was it simply topped with the salted pork and shiitake? My mum also tends to steam fish in similar ways.

I don't know about the difference in flesh taste but recently, I had baked sea mullet with its roe still intact and my goooodness, it was delishhhious. Especially because sea mullet (in my experience) can be quite fatty and when baked with honey, the roe was tinged with the golden goodness -sweetness from the honey, creaminess from the fats.

I've suggested this before in another thread I think but rice vermicelli goes great with almost everything. A dash of sauce (whatever it may be) will liven it up.

heidih and jo-mel: Thanks for your insight Rice noodles it is then! I'll be using sea mullet. The extra sauce was exactly what I was thinking so it's confirmed now. Finally Since the fish will be baked on a large tray (served separately), I'm thinking of serving it in the typical Chinese style (i.e. individual bowl of rice/noodles with shared plates of food).

Actually, I'm a fan too. I probably don't rank it as high as Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations but I think the show succeeds in what it aims to do -pure entertainment! I don't have to think too much (always embraced) and it just gets me all giddy and excited heh. There's always something about 'weird'/'disgusting' food that causes my eyes to light up. Bizarre Foods really feeds my curiosity of the 'unknown foods'. And besides that, Andrew features a lot of de-li-ciousss goodies as well so I ain't complaining. I do wish he had been more respectful/sensitive of peoples' feelings in a few episodes though. I recall him offending a man in Indonesia (or was it Malaysia?) over durian. Tsk tsk. It happens though.

So there are various versions of baked/grilled fish but I'm searching for a recipe of this particular version: http://beverlys.net/photos/2009/food/YuWengTanKaoYu04.jpg http://images1.fantong.com/cate/40001205/1231402386920_3.jpg http://bbs.98536.net/photo/20060601xijie05.jpg With lashings of sauce over the fish, it's served on a tray with flames lit underneath. I'm not sure what kind of sauce it is but there seems to be an emphasis on vegetables (duh...from what the naked eye can gather) and is likely to be spicy. Any bits of information would be much appreciated Edit: the 2nd picture seems to be different oops. It's much simpler and isn't sauce-y; reminds me a lot of a version I do at home oh well. Check out the 1st and 3rd.

Thanks liuzhou! Will read it now

Ok decision decision decision. Should I have fish with rice vermicelli or plain wheat (no eggs!) noodles?

Well any thoughts would be great actually so thanks Basically, I meant which noodles are best coupled with which meats and/or sauce. I guess I should have been clearer ha. I probably should have also mentioned that I wanted to couple the fish with something that allowed the flavours of the fish (note: which would be sweetened with honey) to remain clean and clear. The sauce I'm thinking of using is a mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil.

Along the lines of noodles, I came across a site featuring which PASTA goes with which sauce. Very interesting, check it out. http://www.chow.com/stories/11099

I was originally going to specifically ask "which noodles go with fish" but decided hell, why not make it a broader topic! So what's your thoughts, guys? I was thinking of teaming one of my favourite family dishes (honey baked mullet) with noodles and thought perhaps it'll be best suited with vermicelli noodles since vermicelli is bland and I didn't want anything to overpower the mild taste of fish. What do you think?

Okay I've never had a problem with Paula Deen really since I hardly get to see her show anyway but after seeing this ...I think I might!

It's a rock to keep the soup hot. See this blog post. ← So the rock is in fact...a rock! Thanks for filling me in. It's really fascinating that someone could think of such an idea to seal in the heat of the ramen. I wonder why it must be thrown in when you're almost done with the ramen? And what kind of rock is it?

Does anyone know what in the world is that 'rock' thing in this tsukemen video? It starts to sizzle/bubble when it comes into contact with the soup!

Just found a really good Filipino blog (quite a lot of recipes and nice, clear photography) http://www.iskandals.com/edx/recipes/

Well this is perhaps not what you're looking for but when I heard beef shin, I thought pho! That coupled with gravy beef would make an excellent stock.

My mum makes this! Although it seems she's forgotten or something of that sort since she doesn't make it anymore I remember it so fondly...sigh.

Aha thanks for letting me know snowangel. Now I HAVE to try that recipe. Sounds good and hearty for upcoming autumn. Did you serve it with rice or noodles? I'm not sure how everybody else serves their congee at home but our family has it with chicken feet in black bean sauce, yau ja gwai (which is common with most people of course) and pickled daikon radish (not essential but nice at times). The congee was pork & century egg style.

Shelby your sushi looks fine I can't even vinegar the rice properly (they keep telling me I have to do it evenly haha). Kim: I hear you about needing to lose some weight although I don't have the self controllll. Ok don't even ask me how old this photo is...'twas a lovely meal though. Cantonese-style congee served with chicken feet (yum) in black bean sauce and pickled daikon radish. Absolutely delightful. Edit: Forgot to mention the yau ja gwai (Chinese fried dough sticks) doh. Oh yes, and the congee had pork and century egg in it.