Duvel

I think I’d go with a “porchetta” Style stuffing, then SV and do a last minute pan sear before serving (assuming that at ~1 kg that’s without skin). You can prep the sauce to your liking. Leftovers are good on bread as well, though 1 kg for 4 adults is a little on the skimpy side, if I may say so. Kids won’t get full, either. If you do the above suggestion you can easily double the amount and then you should be comfortable. I’d do roast potatoes and creamed spinach/savoy cabbage on the side ...

Hahaha, thanks! I will miss it as well ... and hope to post some entertaining meals as well from Europe 😉

After four years in Hong Kong, I will be transferring back to Germany next month. So, this is my last meal on my last business trip (for now at least) here in Asia. Korean barbecue - pork edition - in Yeosu, Korea ... The usual setup with banchan (all for free with the meat purchased) ... Spicy salad with gochujang and bean sprouts... Extra fatty pork belly ... First grilled on both sides, then snipped into bite-size pieces with scissors... Ready ! Second round - my pick: pork cheek and “secreto”, a cut from the neck ... Assembled ... Enjoyed with LOTS of somek... Spicy fish soup... My request as well: spicy fermented fish intestines (as dip for the grilled rice cakes). You can imagine from the portion size that was meant for our whole table how powerful that stuff is. I had three refills. The shop owner said he neither saw anyone eating that much, norbe ever any foreigner eating it at all ... Afternthe damage done came “the main course”, as my colleagues refer to it. Carbs, here in noodle form ... Good times 🥳

To show compliance, you need to take them out and drink them in front of the security officer ...

Nibbling through Chiang Mai continues ... this time on Wua Lai Street night market: Sausages are always a good start ... this time one with rice (middle left) and one “sour” sausage, made from fermented pork (middle right). The latter was excellent ... Together with a shrimp-based rice roll ... Had to try the fried cheese balls. Came with sweet mayo and parsley flakes. Probably better after some more beers ... The crispy seafood pancake shop. I took the oyster version - it did not disappoint ! At nightfall the market was swamped ... I had my dose of sausage for the day, but this one looked soooo tempting ! From my last visit almost two years ago I still have dreams of this place ... The shop only makes a herbal soup with blood and Khao Soi, the curried egg noodle soup of northern Thailand. It is divine here. A thick coconut-based curry broth, boiled egg noodles, fried noodles on top. All the fixings come separate - pickles, shallots, chili, lime ... Simply divine. For 90 cents ! Getting crowded ... A serene smile on my way back ... And to conclude the night a Speyside highball (or two or so ...)

Yup ... the upper one. So fragrant !

It’s a recipe for marinated “five flower meat” aka the expensive version of pork belly. In goes honey, garlic, gochujiang and “cooking wine”. Marinate and massage for 30 min. Grill for 4 min, then brush with the remaining marinade and grill until done. Serve on a large salad leaf ...

After a half-day dentist appointment at Chiang Mai, Thailand - some nibbbling and browsing, that I’d like to sell you as dinner: To start the night (and take the edge off the local anaesthetics and anxiolytics) I got something from the Duty Free at Hong Kong airport. Very, very smooth ... Stumbled across a local market on my way to the “touristy” center ... who can resist grilled meat ? Pork neck, grilled with soy and bbq honey. Chopped and served in a plastic bag. What’s not to love ? Grilled sausages, one cured, the other one heavily spiced with curry and lemongrass ... Khao Soi: curry-based broth, egg noddles, fried noodles on top, chili, pickles, lime ... Fried chicken with garlic, soy, a bit spicy ... Random nightmarket picture ... At home - in conjunction with a highball based on above Speyside blend - a local Lays’s variety. Pleasant.

On a toast ?!

Hmm ... Pope Benedikt XVI, I presume ?

Nope. Am more of an Osetra person ...

Last week’s hot pot surprise ... Only one way to describe it, once poached: Custardy.

Pork belly, chicken leg and beef brisket. Beef tongue. And pork collar.

Give me a break ... by no means that the ultra-organic, hand-plugged by Bolivian albino orphans at full moon, cleaned with triple distilled deionised water and endorsed by at least three TV doctors on two continents stuff that I would use in my Mirepoix !

Sure. Ever tried to get that fraggin’ Pozole out of your Anova again ..!?

Essentially, you are making sodium acetate. A salt, and it can be obtained as a dry powder. Once hydrated, it dissolves partly and inthat process releases small amounts of acetic acid, which - in conjunction with the other absorbed flavour components - created that vinegar “feeling”. Sodium acetate is the main flavouring for salt & vinegar potato crisps.

@JoNorvelleWalker did as well ...

I gave a cooking class on southern German dishes yesterday for my companies social committee. We prepared: Flammkuchen Saure Zipfel - sausages cooked with onions and carrots in a wine/vinegar based marinade ... Carrot fish to match my t-shirt 😋 Knödel - bread dumplings served with mushroom cream sauce (not pictured) The (mostly) local colleagues were very happy with the dishes. I chose to pair the three courses with individual sake, which gave the whole event a more regional touch and was equally well (or maybe better) received ...

Yup. I carried 2 kg of curing salt (which - in Germany - is not dies pink) in my carry-on once. Lots of questions asked, yet still allowed to fly ...

I don’t feel qualified to judge his character, but I do object to the assessment of “loser nobody”, given his vita ...

Well ... Joe owns and operates some 30 restaurants in the US and abroad. It might be that he has some idea about what he is talking.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, shortly before midnight. After airport express to the hotel it was past 0.30h, and in the area around the hotel no local shops were opened anymore, except for the McDonalds in the train station. My colleagues went to their rooms to enjoy overpriced sandwiches, I headed out to find something to contribute to this thread ... Cempedak is a local fruit, bitnof a mixture of durian and mango. They wanted to close at 1.00h, so only takeout was available ... The rice was palatable, fried chicken freshly made and spicy. Condiments were ok. Corn pie was too sweet. The Cempedak McFlurry was tasty, really tasted more like Mango, with a kind of Durian-esk afterglow. Still it was too much and I could only finish half ...

Somewhere on the side of a road leading towards the north of Kuantan, Malaysia. Business lunch. Some banana leaf with rice & chutneys was presented ... Alongside came curries ... Chicken Goat Fish Shrimp Curry gravy to moisten the rice The cooking liquid / soup from the goat meat, with some lime juice added. Excellent! Lime juice The damage done. A great lunch ... spicy, aromatic, fresh - about 2 USD per head ... Fresh chickens waiting next to the washrooms ...

Malaysian Airlines (domestic) lounge, Kuala Lumpur airport, Malaysia: Laksa ... Nyonya chicken curry ... Both quite nice - I enjoyed. The chef was so happy when I told him 😊

From this weeks visit to the market ... It made me so ulset that I couldn’t buy the “tasting set” that I bought above whale curry to compensate ...