Duvel

Harzer Käse is worthwhile seeking out ... marinated with vinegar and onions it is very tasty.

I live in Hong Kong and am very privileged that I get anything I want. Literally. Sure, I might not want to shell out the money now and then, but you could get everything here. There is just one exception: Mett: raw, spiced minced pork meat to be consumed uncooked. That I can get only in Germany ... By Q4 I will relocate back to my home country and I guess I will feel pretty much like you - and while there is an abundance of Mett most things that I eat here or cook with will be out of reach ...

65% Wheat, 30% spelt and 5% whole grain rye. 70% hydration, overnight fermentation, baked in preheated cast iron for 15 min at 250 oC, then “naked” 30 min at 200 oC. That’s pretty much the best formula I’ve come up with yet and will be our standard bread from now on ...

Left one: Shiro Shoyo (literally white soy sauce): less dark, higher salt content. Middle one: fairly regular koikuchi, if not a bit fancy; from Shodo Island, Shikoku. Right one: Shibanuma premium soy sauce, Ibaraki prefecture. Koikuchi as well. I assume this is the most tasty one ...

I was also wondering about that ... they check your car and you need to pay “import” taxes (between provinces ?) ...

If you don’t post a video it didn’t happen ...

Would you please share some details on that marinade / cooking method ? 🙏

Dinner in Xi’an, China: Biang biang men Rou jia mo Roasted pork ribs (presented in a fancy manner with some dry ice, then shredded off the bone) - these were very tender and moist Steamed shrimp Dumplings as requested by the little one Blood cakes as requested by me never arrived ...

They are really good ... am a bit lazy, so I just give you two articles to explain 😉 https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/tokyo-ramen-street-rokurinsha-tsukemen-noodles.html https://danielfooddiary.com/2013/10/15/rokurinsha/

Business lunch in Tokyo: There is very little to say other than this was most likely the best sushi I have ever had ... and I do not even know the name of the shop. Chef prepared for the four of us, took all in all about one hour. Quality of the fish and the preparation was outstanding ...

Rokurinsha, Haneda airport branch, Tokyo: Tsukemen with extra egg, large portion. Hits the spot every time ...

Sunday. Groundhog dog, but with pizzas (and matching beers for 33% of us) ... (Fennel) salami & mushroom (x2, due to popularity) Shaved asparagus on white Sweet ham & olives Need to get better at stretching ...

For the salmon I’d recommend marinating in miso/mirin/sake. You can check for Nobu’s black cod recipes, which is a good English Ressource for that treatment. After that, simply grill or broil.

Quick lunch with leftovers: Fregula with cream, garlic, smoked salmon & Parmesan, topped with shaved green asparagus.

Soy/sugar/sake/sesame oil or soy/gochujang/sesame oil followed by a short time on the bbq works pretty well ...

Dinner at Ping’An village, near Guilin, China: Bamboo chicken & rice (cooked in bamboo sticks directly in the flames), local charcuterie, egg & tomatoes, fried river fish. Enjoyed with a light beer, followed by Sweet Osmanthus wine ...

When I asked my son what he would like to have for dinner his answer was “Spaghetti with tomato sauce, like we had at Jimin’s place”. Hmm ... not that I like to cook Italian, but simple spaghetti with tomato sauce as experienced in a Korean friends home 🤔 I trusted my instincts, went for a simple tomato sauce from Marcella Hazan and got a nice piece of Gran Padano our of the freezer. Sometimes the simple things are the best, and we enjoyed the pasta a lot. “Best spaghetti ever, papa” ...

Crumb shot, please ...

No knead-style mixed grain bread (50% whole grain spelt, 50% wheat), 80% hydration, 5 days cold fermentation, baked in preheated cast iron ...

Not with ramps (allium tricoccum), but with its very close cousin “Bärlauch” (allium ursinum). Having tasted both I’d say that they taste pretty similar, and I used to use Bärlauch for ramps while living in Germany ...

Sunday night ... Pizza with mushrooms and salami White pizza with shaved green asparagus and Camembert

Thanks, @food mom. I understand the logic dismissing the no-knead approach from a timing perspective. The hydration however is fine from my view, and takes into account that you want to have a properly risen loaf and not the famously dense whole wheat / ancient grain type loaves of the olden days. The durch oven that @trfl employs certainly helps with the load structure and makes best use of the high hydration ... And yet you are looking at a pizza, something with a large surface area compared to volume, so higher hydration is even more your friend and will lead to a more expanded base (especially on the rim), instead of a cracker-type, dry crust. If you are looking at neoneapolitan (e.g. New York style) pizza, you want chewy, foldable base with a defined, expanded rim. One thing that you could try is to balance the moisture content by adding yoghurt, which will add structure and give some chewiness. I do add yoghurt to make whole wheat / rye flour crusts (e.g. for Kassler Speckkuchen), and it works pretty well. So would a poolish, that you could bring to the workshop. If you have more time to research (e.g. for your next workshop, not today’s) please have a look at the technique described for the complete wheat Neapolitan pizza dough (90% hydration, btw) ...

From my viewpoint the @trfl recipe would do make a nice pizza dough. At very high temperatures (and shorter fermenting times, if it’s a workshop), you might want to up the hydration a little bit. Please share what kind of pizza / baking set / temperatures up you are aiming for: the term “American pizza” seems a bit generic, especially if you are fine with thin or thick crust.

Working lunch at Kuerle, Xinjiang province. Kaobaozi (baked meat pies filled with braised fatty lamb with coriander & pepper) & Liang Pi (cold noodles in spicy & vinegary soup with cucumber & wheat gluten).

Soylent Green ... tastes a bit like beans, though.