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Mentaiko spaghetti !

There are two aspects: 1) The real salt concentration (how much is dissolved) 2) The perceived saltiness While we talk mostly about the former, we usually mean the latter. This is why sugar/starches (e.g. from potatoes)/gelatine/low ambient pressure works to make oversalted things more palatable. It's merely a perception thing, but has little to do with the salt concentration. Contrary to the quote there are methods to lower the salt concentration: Osmosis (semipermable membrane, lower salt concentration on the other side), thus stewing unseasoned meat or root vegetables in the liquid can (marginally) reduce the concentration. Reduction/crystallization (works only on defatted and non-gelatinous liquids) and ion exchange (not for houshold use) ...

Incidentally, I bought this yesterday in Seoul. It's Gochujang mixed with roasted beef drippings (to intensify the flavor in other dishes). Could be an idea as well: Render of high heat (maybe with garlic?), add some soju and regular Gochujang, strain and reduce to your desired consistency ...

Maybe salt it, run it through a fine mesh grinder and then to the sv treatment or just render over low flame. Strain and mix with unsalted butter and black pepper/herbs to make "dry aged compound butter" ...

Last day of business trip to Germany. Did not find time to have my favorite food, so just before heading to the airport at 6.30h on the parking lot in front of the butchers shop in the cold ... Mettbrötchen: wholegrain-rye roll, ripped apart with my bare hands (no cutlery available in the parking lot), stuffed with 200 g of spiced raw minced pork (spread out with my ... I think you get the idea) and topped with raw onion (that the lovely butchers wife packed in for free). Heaven !!!

I strongly recommend The River Cottage Meat Cookbook. It has a cradle to table approach, describing how animals are properly reared, how to select good sources and how to treat the meat (and hence the animal) with respect. Coming from a former vegetarian background I think it would make a very wholesome entry into meat cooking and enjoying ... It contains recipes for most animals (incl. game) and a diverse selection of cuts (not completely, but almost nose to tail). I do like the book very much.

It's St. Martin's day ("Martinstag") and to honor the saint there will be bonfires, children parading in the dark with lanterns, singing and reciting poems. And there will be goose ("Martinsgans"), stemming from the legend of St. Martin and the geese, where, depending on traditional belief in your region, the geese either betrayed St. Martin while hiding or sustained him during his time hiding. In both versions, he and the flock are remembered by eating contemporary members of the latter ...

Excellent ... I will give it a try. No Tenderquick available here but I'll figure out the Nitrite concentration and work it out from there ! Thanks !

Wow. Three weeks curing time ... How did you come up with that time ?

Thanks, Steve !

I had to prepare some mini calzones for a potluck. For some reason I chose to put a mutton keema filling with peas, which led to some surprises at the potluck ... Of course there was a lot of dough left (seemed almost by design ...) so Pizza night. Hawaii and Olives/Enoki. Together with a G&T a complete meal.

Nice lunch at Kikusan, a Japanese fusion restaurant in the Landmark building in Central. I opted for cold tofu with avocado, miso-marinated cod and a sushi sampler. Oolong tea. Will go there again ...

Well done!

Strange. I think the combination works pretty well, especially with medium-rare burgers. Think "pave d'onglet avec sauce Roquefort" as a classic bistro dish, and now in a burger bun ...

Blue cheese burger with fries. Happy hour pints of Asahi. Hard to say no, even if you firmly intend to do diet (then maybe start tomorrow) ...

Leek dumplings and suan la tang (sour spicy soup) at a nice Taiwanese joint under the IFC. They have delicious soy milk, too ...

Thanks ... the key for these kind of dinners is portion control. If you convince all the other to exercise portion control, there is always enough of the really good stuff for you. I have not been to the Cannery yet, though from the look at it I might include that in one of the next trips (at least to see you boards and find out, what a "west cost vibe" is ...).

Epilogue: As tradition dictates, after the dinner a smaller group went for "second place". We drove about 45 min across Pudong to reach a street where all the hip bars are supposed to be. I am not sure about that, but we found a decent place and after a couple of Old Fashioneds some if us (o.k. mostly me) were hungry again. They had oysters - who can say no to nice fresh oysters and another Old Fashioned? (there was a "third place" as well that involved driving for another hour somewhere in search for a fried chicken place, finally ending up in another bar having some sort of mediocre pizza and a final beer - however, pictures and memories are too blurry to post here).

After a very long day of discussions and negotiations there is always my favourite part of a business trip – the dinner. Together with our JV partners in a supposedly well-known Shanghai institution, located in a colonial type building with a fitting sino-colonial interior. We had … Jellyfish with sesame oil and vinegar Filled braised lotus root Greens with garlic and walnuts. This was surprisingly nice with a sharp dressing. Drunken chicken. Braised beef shin with Sichuan pepper and chili (a variety of “husband-and-wife” lung slices). Very good. Pomelo with onions and honey. A little bit weird. Red-braised spare ribs. Filled devil’s horn (kind of water nuts) Deep fried river fish. A local Shanghainese speciality. Two types of shrimp Braised beef short rib Spicy chicken legs Steamed abalone with garlic. Very tender and very good. Beijing duck Steamed bamboo with ham Steamed nibbles. Surprisingly popular. Sweet and sour clams with veggies Stir-fried crab with garlic on cellophane noodles. Excellent. Deep-fried lotus root filled with pork and ginger. Also excellent. Three types of steamed pumpkins Steamed carp Dong Po Rou. I love this ! Clear soup with five-spice fish balls Stir-fried water vegetable “Good fortune” noodle soup Green onion pancake.Very light and flaky. I ate three. After that several different fruits, but I was too full to make more pictures. And very happy ...

Sunday night, heading out for a business trip to Shanghai. Food in the Cathay Lounge at HK airport is predictable, but good: Pumpkin risotto with scallops, followed by sea bass on buttered peas. Not pictured are two flutes of M&C (cause it's a Sunday night that I can't be at home, so you need to reward yourself) and a very well prepared G&T ...

Two fish fingers, slightly beyond their expiry date ?

Autumn has arrived - only 23 oC today. Homemade chicken soup with macaroni, carrots and peas. I started to add tiny mounts of white miso to my chicken soyps - not noticeable as miso, but just the little umami-boost needed for a plain soup ...

Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut - the breakfast for Champions. Moe sure is a lucky guy ...

Dis-gus-ting ! Do you know how all bread from Subway tasted like this "Rosmary-in-wet-sock-microwaved" ... just like that. And its supposed to taste like Basil ?!

There are two types of Sushi places in HK: the "Japanese"-style ones, usually good to excellent with more traditional offerings, high quality and high prices (RRO's lunch would fit right in there). And then there are the "localized" ones, good to lousy, with more creative offers, medium to budget prices and quality that you either know or you are desperate. Todays lunch fell in the very last category. I had to run errands in the Fuk Wing street in the heart of Kowloon, known for all sorts of party decorations and cheap toys. Being done at around 13.00h with a toddler sleeping in the stroller is not a good prerequisite for a satisfying lunch. Everything popular (the beef intestine noodle soup shops, curry fishball joints, Sichuan hot-pot places) was crammed with queues, which means no stroller parking with a sleeping kid. Finally, on a corner an unknown Kaiten sushi place - and after some haggeling we were allowed to park the little one in the corner. As I was starved I filled up on the very decent plates from the conveyor belt and then ordered a la carte for some fresher sushis. Note the size of the side-order soup, which was actually a bone-marrow based Ramen. All in all quite ok and for 240 HKD a steal. Would not dare to bring friends here but for an emergency Saturday lunch I'd return any time.