Duvel

Good morning everyone from ... Tokyo. First of all, congratulations to @Kerry Beal for putting adding another win to your track record! Also congratulations to @Smithy: You were right, the pictures were to easy I'd like to take you all for a week with me and explain some "Tales from the Fragrant Harbour", but we'll start tomorrow night here in Tokyo before heading back - hopefully without typhoon - to Hong Kong ... Until then, enjoy the teaser pictures (from the Tiger Head on Lantau Island #1, Shrimps from Temple Street Night Market #2, Incense from any of the myriads of little temples scattered around #3 and the evening view of "my" little beach at Discovery Bay #4, where I live). More to come ...

Quick and satisfying - Yakisoba with pork belly & fried egg ...

"Business lunch" in Xinjiang province, China. The (very friendly) secretary assumes that every lunch has to have a western element, at least when I come around. That is why - next to the excellent Kabaozi (or Samsa), e.g. Lamb-meat filled and baked dough pockets - I was offered the ever so popular Pizza Hut "Spicy Mayo Crayfish" pizza. Took one slice and ate four Kabaozi. And made sure she saw my preference

China Southern business class from Chengdu to Urumqi: Actually very nice assortment of Sichuan style dishes. Braised beef shin in chili oil, hot & numbing chicken, dumpling in chili oil, steamed pumpkin, chicken and sweet corn soup. I liked it ...

I liked them. A lot of very diverse characters portrayed... And a lot of personal background info you wouldn't just get otherwise. They are really little bio pics.

I think you want to refer to hydrogen sulfide (H2S), which paralyzes the olfactory nerves at low concentrations.

You have asked for food grade SO2. Maybe you explain what you have in mind / your target application.. ?

It's a (toxic) gas; you should be able to get it in pressurized cylinders ("lecture bottles") at one of the major suppliers (e.g. Sigma Aldrich), provided you have the required legal qualification (depending on the county where you live).

Chervil with a hint of mustard ?

Semi off-topic: I worked in an R&D lab handling very toxic (or even uncategorized) chemicals on a day to day basis. We used all the appropriate gloves (4 different kinds). One of the technicians however decided that in order to better protect him he wanted to wear an extra set of nitrile gloves on top of his protection gloves all the time - and always the same set. He went so far as to touch non-lab installations (door handles) with it, because with gloves everything was "safe" (for him, of course). He got three warnings by the end of the week and I had him transferred to a different lab by the next month. Gloves may provide protection for the individual, but not to the environment that individual is working in. Same for the gloves in the kitchen.

Same here. Given the high prices for imported meat, chuck eye "steaks" (her usually termed "roll") are one of the more affordable options (lower row, next to the oxtail). Of course, most of the local population will try to to cook it like a steak and then bit a bit disappointed with the shoe sole-type texture.

Do the 78 oC refer to the bath or the milk temperature in your SV set-up ? Depending on the size of your SV bath and the starting temperature of your milk, with probably no agitation other than convection inside your milk, it might not have reached an even 70 oC ...

Weekend trip to Hangzhou, China. Just arrived and headed out to explore the vicinity of our note. Found a place specializing in crawfish. Had lots of it with lots of garlic in a spicy and super rich sauce ... Life is good

Where are you heading ? Da Nang, Hue, Hoi An ? Enjoy your trip and looking forward to some great food !

"Betsy" - allegedly the first beer specifically brewed for being consumed during air travel. I had this some weeks ago in the Cathay lounge in Hong Kong and found it a bit flat. This time I ordered it as my pre-lunch drink on the flight from FRA back to HKG. At the reduced pressure in the cabin the carbonation was just right. It was kind of fruity, with a pronounced bitterness. Reminded me of a cross-over between a pale ale and a lambic. Overall a quite nice beer ...

When it comes to left-overs, nothing beats the humble "Breznknödel". Here together with cured pork neck and some Riesling. I do love left-overs (even when they were produced on purpose ) ...

"Kassler Kamm": Pork neck, dry-cured for two days, rubbed with a little gin & liquid smoke, then SV for 20h @ 60 oC. Will make terrific sandwiches, but most of it was char-grilled today. Yummy

"Laugenbrötchen", essentially little pretzl rolls. To be consumed during this years first BBQ (yes, I know I am late ...).

This was meant to be a small afternoon snack. In a bout of home sickness my wife requested Churros with heavy dipping chocolate - technically Catalan breakfast. I whipped up a (pretty large) batch and there were no leftovers... And no dinner

I didn't think of the hot & open faced version: that one would always come with a fried egg (sunny side up) on top and cornichons & home fries on the side ... "Strammer Max"

Sunday night is pizza night. Definitely a crowd-pleaser, especially when you have some 3-5 year old kids over that can put their favorite ingredients on "their" pizza. Amongst the usual "sweet corn & pork belly" and the "a lot of sweet corn & mortadella" pizzas, we also had the more grown up versions "Mushroom & spicy Salami", "grilled Eggplant & Olives" and "Surprise (aka leftovers) Calzone". Good times ...

Today is the big Dragon boat race in Central, Hong Kong. And for some reason I support the Japanese team (as my one does not compete in this race). Got up veeeeeery early to make miniature brezel bread rolls, followed by assembling them into sandwiches with cured pork belly with caraway, onion marmelade (with honey & mustard) and greens. It was well received ...

To be honest: I haven't tried either. It was just a triangulation - it works with drumettes, it works with lamb shanks, so it should work with thighs too.

For the "meatball" size/shape: could it be that they simply make an incision around the lower joint part of the thigh, severing all muscle and tendons. Then during cooking the meat would contract and for a type of ball with the bone sticking out (like a lollipop) ?

Have physically returned from Japan, but not mentally. Today Okonomiyaki, cold tofu w/ shogayaki-style beef, quick-pickled seafood and miso soup. Quick and satisfying lunch ...