Ling

Well, I don't think there is a definitive recipe--I had it 4 times in Taiwan from some incredible home cooks (one of them being my fiancé's mom) and I know you first need to get some fatty pork. The cooks told me you couldn't get the same taste using the pork in the US because it isn't flavorful enough. Henry's mom spent 2 hours chopping 2 lbs. of meat, gradually adding ginger juice, water (or chicken stock--you need a lot, to give it that super moist, dissolving texture), scallions, and water chestnuts. (Their housekeeper spent another 2 hours chopping the other 2 lbs. of meat.) Everything is chopped so finely that you can't even pick it out once the product is cooked. We had it the 'hong siao' way every time we ate it over there, with the cabbage on the bottom of the clay pot and egg pockets (like mini egg crepes) filled with pork on top. One version had Chinese broad beans as well.

canucklehead: No, the Bourdain show has already aired a million times down here so I wasn't nervous about that! I just heard some good news about a possible job opportunity that morning that I didn't think I had a shot for, and it gave me butterflies in my stomach. That is funny that a lot of people leave during CNY--the city was pretty crowded when we were there, but we got there a couple days after CNY. I'll start a new thread about the food we ate in Taiwan, but a lot of it was home-cooked. I do have lots of pictures of the markets though.

Yes, it was pretty perfect! I loved the touch of spice as well. aprilmei: The waiter said the crispy brisket was his favourite on the menu, so that's why we got it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Neither of us gained weight on this trip, surprisingly. I think it was because we had to do a lot of walking! sanrensho: The green tea was matcha, unless there is a powdered Chinese green tea that I'm not aware of. They photo on the package of the green tea wife cakes from Wing Wah show the brush used when preparing matcha (along with a cup of matcha) but the ingredients label just says: "green tea powder". I did see matcha desserts sold in Taiwan as well (matcha cheesecake, matcha mochi) so I assume it's popular, at least in the last few years!

We were staying with a friend in Happy Valley which just so happened to be steps away from this little store. We poked our heads in the next morning and were rewarded with this find: (notice the hooves!) Iberico ham, 24 months and 36 months Of course, we had to try some of each! This is the 24 month aged ham. The texture is softer than the 36 month one--this one is just a bit drier than prosciutto. Also, it is not as sweet or nutty. H preferred this one. I much preferred the slightly drier, nuttier 36 month ham. We went back to Leighton Bakery and Fast Food Shop for a char siu pastry. The pastry dough was very sandy, like sable dough, only richer tasting (I'm pretty sure they use lard.) I forget what these are filled with, probably chicken? wife cakes Chinese hams hanging in a store preserved geese and ducks We then dropped off our luggage at the train station so we could explore. I think Bourdain ate suckling pig at this restaurant during Cook's Tour. the markets were certainly cleaner than the ones we saw in Taiwan... ...though the lack of refrigeration would probably freak some people out The other night at Yung Kee, a friend of Henry's had told us that there was a bakery at the bottom of the Escalator Alley that was famous for the their egg tarts, but since she can't read Chinese, she didn't know what it was called. She told us there was a line out the door everyday for these egg tarts, and that a famous Chinese dignitary got one everyday. So I made H follow me around as we poked our heads in bakeries at the bottom of Escalator Alley, and even though there was no line here, I got an egg tart because the pastry looked pretty good. The egg tart was pretty good, and I would definitely recommend it for people who don't like things that are too sweet. The custard was barely sweetened at all. I went back to the suckling pig place and bought a pound of the roast suckling pig, and asked the lady there if she knew where I could find this famous egg tart place. Good thing she knew--we had been walking in the opposite direction! This is the place. I can only read the first two characters so I can't tell you the full name, sorry! There was a line maybe 15 people long when I got there. So here is the famous egg tart! This one is very buttery (the smell of the butter is so intense, it almost smells artificial!) The custard is also a little sweeter than the ones from Leighton and Yu Yan. The crust is not very flaky; it is more like a very rich shortbread dough. big bite! H wanted to try the egg white tart too for comparison. I didn't like it very much, though it was good for what it was. The dough had wheat flour in it too. I also got a wife cake, which I trashed after two bites. It was kind of stale and hard. I wouldn't recommend this. Everyone else in line was only getting egg tarts so I guess that's a sign to avoid everything else! Sorry I forgot to rotate this picture, but here is the roast suckling pig place. I can only read the "dragon" character, and then the last two words are 'restaurant'. Dragon ______ Restaurant. That's all I can do, sorry! a pound of roast suckling pig The skin was perfectly crispy, and the ratio of fat to meat was 50-50. So that concludes our trip. The things I neglected to photograph were the various pineapple cakes (the Kee Wah ones are good--the shortbread-like crust is thick and I can taste some almond extract in it as well), and the wife cakes from Wing Wah (which are delicious, I can see why they are famous!). I haven't opened the package of pineapple cakes from Wing Wah yet, but I'm sure they'll be delicious too. (Now where do I post my Taiwan pictures? I have a bunch of them, but a lot of them are home-cooked food from New Years.)

Henry and his friend Jonty had a few drinks at the Peak while I went shopping in the Soho area. Here are some pictures they took: Before dinner, Jonty took us to Rat Alley (is this also known as Snake Alley?) for drinks. I forget what I drank--a Mojito and something else. Henry got some sort of daiquiri, I think. This was the meal I've been waiting for! Yung Kee is has been around since the 1940s and they are famous for their roast goose. housemade thousand year old eggs--the center was quite thick and runny, and the taste was stronger than the eggs I've had in the past. Absolutely delicious. They served it with pickled ginger. The famous roast goose! The meat was much gamier than duck. One of our friends confessed he didn't really enjoy it, but H and I loved it! The fish maw soup was excellent, though one of our friends stopped eating hers when I told her what it was. fried rice pea shoots with garlic deliciously fatty char siu the menu said the restaurant won some sort of big award for this dish...it's pig's trotters made into a terrine (heavy on the five spice), and jellyfish fried free range chicken with deep-fried quail's eggs grouper with yellow chives...this was one of my favourites as well prawns in XO sauce We ended the night at another bar called "Lei Do" (translation: "Here").

I mentioned that I had gone looking for Chinese pastries during this trip, and found some the next morning that looked good at a rather run-down looking bakery in Causeway Bay called Leighton Bakery. The egg tarts looked especially good and were hot out of the oven. I subsequently sought out a few other bakeries but these egg tarts turned out to be the best on the trip. Very flaky, and the custard was not too sweet (though sweeter than one other bakery I checked out that I'll post about later.) We went to the large mall in the area (I forget the name, but it's not SOHO and it's not Island Beverly) and it just so happened that there were a bunch of photographers and press waiting for the lion dance to start. So we grabbed a seat upstairs (and drank some truly horrible coffee from what I believe is a Singaporean chain--Pacific Coffee Co.?) and took in the show. See the dancers balancing on the poles? The poles are about 8 feet high, at least. They were jumping around and doing stunts on them. Great show! They also brought out a dragon. Dim sum today was at Victoria City. We agreed this was some of the best dim sum we've ever eaten! a little dish of fried fish on the table I practically had this whole pot to myself, since neither H nor our friend really enjoyed it. Tripe and tendon! we got a "safe" dish of noodles for our friend in case he didn't like anything I ordered, but thankfully he liked the vast majority of the items fish maw with eggs, bean sprouts, and dried scallop on top. DELICIOUS! This is the first time I've had fish maw outside of soup. excellent plate of fried rice noodles, also with dried scallop on top Henry always needs to get his daikon cake We got two plates of the roast suckling pig (yes, yes, the waiters probably thought we were pigs ourselves) crab dumplings with lots of soup inside...H thought these were just OK, I liked them a lot I don't usually order these at dim sum because I've had some bad ones (really heavy, leaden pastry), but these were FANTASTIC! They are filled with char siu. We got two plates! this was my mistake--this is a dish of black moss, tongue, and dried oyster. I thought the three ingredients would be somehow blended into a dumpling filling or something but they arrived like this and it wasn't bad, but not something I'd order again fatty slices of crispy (fried) brisket! Oh joy! Came with a sweetish soy sauce on the bottom of the plate. We all loved this dish as well. egg tarts were mediocre

After walking around Kowloon and gawking at all the jewelry stores, we took the ferry back over. all the malls were decorated for Chinese New Year Sunday night in Causeway Bay. I loved the vibe in this city. You guys were right--the street food in HK couldn't even begin to compare to what we saw in Taiwan, but it was still better than anything I've seen in Vancouver or Seattle. So we took the subway back to Kowloon around 9pm and the restaurant Henry chose for dinner was closing, so we grabbed a quick dinner at a hole-in-the-wall. roast duck on rice roast pork on rice

So two hours later, of course my stomach had settled and I got my appetite back. We just happened to be walking by the Peninsula Hotel at 2:03pm and Henry mentioned that afternoon tea started at 2pm, so we decided to check it out. I guess the trick is to get there BEFORE 2pm. We only had to wait for half an hour or so, which wasn't too bad. light raisin scones, served with cream and strawberry jam...I had two. puff pastry stick with a crisp meringue sheet baked on top We split the savories down the middle, but they weren't too interesting. The sandwiches were smoked salmon+cream cheese and cucumber. The mini quiche tasted like pizza (seriously, it was cheese and tomato sauce), and there was salmon Wellington. The sweets tier were a disappointment. Actually, Henry liked the two cakes since they were chiffon cakes with cream and fruit (which are pretty much the polar opposite of what I like in a dessert--rich, fudgy, and chocolate), and the cheesecake was unbelievably bad (very dense and eggy.) The truffles were fine but too sweet for my tastes (the dark one had white chocolate on the inside.) This arrived on the side, and was much better. It was a green tea tiramisu with hazelnut croquant. They had a lovely tree with red packs on display upstairs. All in all, it was a really fun experience and I would recommend it, but the food shouldn't be your primary reason for going.

Yes, sorry we ate at Yung Kee! That was a fabulous meal. Henry getting in touch with his feminine side in the Hello Kitty lounge at the Taipei airport, en route to HK. OK so back to Day 1, which actually was just a midnight dinner in Causeway Bay at Red Ant. peking duck "pizza" (the dough was green onion pancake)--surprisingly tasty! Henry got the soft shell crab claypot rice. The crab wasn't very crispy due to the steam coming off the rice, but the rice itself was pretty tasty. I got the seafood laksa, which I got mainly because I love those shiroyaki(sp?) noodles. I grew up eating them--I know they're pretty popular in America now as well. The broth was forgettable, but there was plenty of seafood. The next morning, we got up early to take the subway into Kowloon. We had read that Fook Lam Moon opened at 11am, so we got there at 10:55pm because I didn't want to risk braving the crowds. We were the first ones in the restaurant. Let me preface the upcoming stream of pictures by saying we didn't order much (for us) because I had just received some really exciting news that morning, and completely lost my appetite because I was feeling really nervous. Still, it was so funny when the waitress kept trying to take the menu away from me, protesting that I was ordering way too much for two people already! This happened to us several times in Hong Kong. I think our western appetites scared them a bit. the lovely menu, conveniently in English (I can only speak Cantonese, and not very well at that!) The service at Fook Lam Moon was certainly the best I've ever had in a Chinese restaurant. We got the warm hand towels as soon as we sat down, and kept using them because they kept bringing them (this is before the food arrived.) I just thought they wanted us to clean our hands repeatedly. Finally, Henry clued in and said they must replenish them whenever we use them...oops. Here are the steamed shrimp dumplings. This was Henry's least favourite, and my favourite. The flavours were very light and subtle so he probably thought it was a boring dish. The shrimp was fresh, the dumpling skin nice and chewy, and there were water chestnuts in the filling as well. baked char siu bao Oohh...these are always one of my favourite items at dim sum! ham siu gook? It's fried sticky rice flour dumpling with a rich pork/shitake filling these were also excellent--fried tofu skin "spring rolls" crab roe siu mai...I didn't particularly care for these shark fin dumpling in superior broth (serng tong?) pan-fried daikon cakes egg tarts

We're back from Hong Kong and thanks to you, had some of the best Cantonese food I've ever tasted! We had only 2 full days in Hong Kong, but managed to pack in quite a few places. Here are the places we visited: Red Ant (we got into town late, and after a drink with some of H's friends, it was around midnight before we ventured out for food, and ate at the first place that seemed busy.) Fook Lam Moon Peninsula Hotel for afternoon tea some mediocre hole-in-the-wall not worth mentioning, as the restaurant H wanted to try was closed Victoria City a couple of drinking spots in Rat Alley Yuen Kee Fentone Gourmet (we stumbled upon the 24 month old Iberico ham and the 36 month old, so we had to get 50g of each to try...and yes, these had the hooves still on them) a bunch of random bakeries for an egg tart comparison a place that Bourdain visited for roast suckling pig Also, I bought a bunch of things from Kee Wah and Wing Kee bakeries--different flavours of pineapple cakes (like honeydew, pineapple with walnut, etc.), green tea wife cakes, red bean wife cakes, etc. I also found a great bakery called Leighton something...Leighton Bakery and ?? Anyway, it is right near Happy Valley by Causeway Bay. The place looks like a hole-in-the-wall but I looked at what a bunch of the chain bakeries like Aroma and Maxim's were selling before buying a few items from Leighton, because the pastry dough looked so much better. And indeed, I thought the char siu pastry and the egg tarts were excellent here. The three best things I ate in Taiwan: -stinky tofu with pickled cabbage and three sauces at the Yong He night market (our friend's friend, who acted as guide, told us that Yong He's stinky tofu is better than the stuff at the other night markets.) -the $100 chicken soup with bamboo fungus from Seasons Restaurant...impossible to get around Chinese New Year, but H's mom's friend knows the owner and got one for us (and no, the $100 chicken soup is not even near the most expensive version they serve!) -siao bing you tiao (fried Chinese donut wrapped in pan-fried dough) in a REAL hole-in-the-wall The three best things I ate in HK: -crispy brisket at Victoria City -roast goose at Yuen Kee -housemade thousand year old eggs at Yuen Kee pictures coming soon!

Thanks so much! I'll get my fill of street food in Taiwan. I'll be back in a couple of weeks with photos!

Hi everyone! We're going to be in Taiwan next week, followed by a short 3 day trip to HK. I was wondering if anyone had any recs for dim sum in HK. (We're covered in Taiwan as my fiancé's aunt is a food-lovin' local and will show us some great spots, I'm sure.) In addition to dim sum, I plan on eating a lot of street food and maybe hitting up a seafood restaurant one night. Also, I love HK style pastries/buns...which bakeries are your favourites? TIA

Teardrop is one of the most impressive cocktail bars I've visited. Can't say much since I wrote about it for an article, but they are up to 10 housemade bitters now, make their own tepache, Meyer lemon sake gastrique, and other cool mix-ins. ETA: Credit for finding Teardrop goes to Cat Lancaster, who suggested we go after dinner! The next time I go to Portland, I'll be on a K&Z/Apizza Scholls/Toro Bravo/Teardrop bender.

Incredible. Thank-you so much!

^I didn't care so much for the Italian chocolate almond torte, although one lady there came up to me and said that was her favourite on the table, and her friend's favourite as well. Neil also liked the torte--he said it was light, but rich (with the nuts and chocolate). He said it was better than "the other sponge" in the book (I am not sure which recipe he was referring to, maybe the almond cake you're talking about? I haven't made that recipe yet so I don't know what it tastes like.) I definitely didn't think the torte was brownie-like (at least, not like the brownies I make.) I mentioned earlier that the torte was from a list of desserts from the book that Alice suggested we make for the party so I'm guessing it's one of her favourites. From the party, I thought the best recipes were: -spicy Linzer tart (I did use 3/4 cup of raspberry jam instead of the 2/3 cup she specified to cover the bottom of the tart, and I would also use a low-sugar one next time. This was a favourite on the table.) -lemon bars (also a favourite that went very quickly) -sour cream ice-cream (Neil says this is one he'll definitely make again) I didn't care too much for the "New Bittersweet brownies". I like more chocolate in my brownies. The pecan polvorones were quite tasty, but I did have to use a bit of extra melted butter (about 2.5 tbsp) because they wouldn't hold together with the amount of butter Alice specifies. (I checked online and her recipe has about half the amount of butter compared to other recipes for those type of cookies.) Neil also adjusted the amount of saffron/cardamom in the panna cotta, and Dana said she made her recipes with no adjustments.

Oh I am so sorry to hear this blog will be ending soon! It has been one of my favourites. Can we not persuade you to stay a little longer...? The tripe and trotter dish had me salivating, as did the risotto and the sweetbreads with the lovely olive oil/cepe mashed potatoes. I think I will have to make a version of those potatoes very soon! That restaurant looks like a gem. I do hope I'll have the chance to visit someday!

Yes, all the desserts were from Pure Desserts.

The Alice Medrich event was a lot of fun. There was a food writer there for the Seattle PI and a photographer, so I think the article will be in Friday's paper. Alice was really sweet and very friendly. She even took us all out for late night food at Café Presse after the event! About an hour after the event started, Kim Ricketts introduced us and we were supposed to talk about each of the desserts we made. When I was describing my desserts to the people there, I mentioned that you could adapt the Linzer tart to your tastes and use spices such as white pepper and/or cardamom in addition to (or instead of) the cinnamon and cloves the recipe calls for and Alice loved that idea! She said she is going to try it at home. Here's Dana, Alice, me, and Neil cutting the Linzer tart Neil's saffron cardamom panna cotta Neil's chestnut walnut meringue Neil also made the tiniest, cutest ice-cream cones using the tropical lace tuiles and the sour cream ice-cream. I am so sorry I didn't get a picture of that! They were one of my favourite items. Dana's citrus chocolate tart with jasmine cream Dana also made the "New Bittersweet brownies", the lemon bars (also one of my favourites), the gingersnaps, and the twice-baked shortbread seen here: Here are some of the items on the buffet table (some of the items were in the kitchen and extras were covered and held on the back porch because there was not enough room!)

Devlin: I don't think mine turned out like brownies (although I haven't tasted it yet.) I didn't even have cream of tartar at home, but I think I usually do a pretty good job of minimally deflating the egg whites. In fact, the cake rose so high in the oven, it collapsed a little bit after it cooled. You can't tell from the picture, but the edges are about .5" higher than the center of the cake. Did yours turn out like that? I hope it's good...guess I'll find out tonight! Lior: did you find the same recipe? I can paraphrase it for you if you didn't find the same one. This one has 7 egg whites and 7 oz. of unsweetened chocolate. Here are the pecan polvorones. Kind of rustic-looking, but I guess that's the point?

Wow! The level of skill has definitely gone up in the past year or so! Everything on this page looks gorgeous, and those are some very creative flavours, gfron! I am so excited and honoured to be baking for Alice Medrich (and the ticket holders at her event tomorrow.) I am in charge of three desserts. My co-bakers are Pastry Chef Dana Cree and Pastry Chef Neil Robertson (nightscotsman!) who are each doing three desserts as well. Here's the spicy linzer tart from her book, Pure Dessert. I haven't had a chance to taste it yet, obviously, but the dough scraps were dee-lish! Here's the Italian chocolate almond torte. Very simple--just egg whites, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, and ground almonds. I'll dust it with cocoa tomorrow before serving.

Antico Noe in the tunnel by Vivoli and the English movie theater. Also, the falafel place across the way from Antico Noe. I had 3-4 meals a week at these 2 places when I was a student in Florence. Other favorites for my student budget: La Casalinga Trattoria Za Za Trattoria da Nello the rosticceria on Via Cavour by the Piazza San Marco

I think the Pike Place Market vendor you are thinking of is Sosio's. I generally prefer the quality and prices at Pike Place Market to Whole Foods. ← Yes, the prices are better, especially if you shop there 4 times a week and people know you!

Cocktails: -Sambar (you'll be in Seattle when Jay is working, I believe, and he'll be happy to make you off-menu cocktails if you ask nicely. Some of my favourites have been a Chartreuse VEP/champagne/black pepper/pear brandy concoction, and a tomato/shiso daquiri I had in the summer.) -Zig Zag (Murray is a legend) -Vessel (although I've had nothing but good drinks/service here, one of our mixologist friends felt a server's holier-than-thou attitude was very off-putting.) Tasting menu: -my pick is Mistral, and the chef may be willing to put together something extra creative for you if you call ahead Salumi: -they are closed on weekends, so you would have to get there Friday afternoon. They no longer do dinners, but sometimes you can luck out and book the back room for one of their special lunches at $40/pp. I think they serve 10 people in the back room. They don't do those special lunches everyday, so you would have to ask Gina if it's available that Friday you're in town. Some other thoughts: I like Matt's for lunch, but I think it's over-priced at dinner. The food is good and fresh, but nothing terribly creative here (or what a decent cook can't do at home). At lunch, it's mostly sandwiches, soups, and salads, with a few specials like seared sea scallops. I had a very good meal at Café Juanita recently, which is a N. Italian restaurant in Kirkland (about 25 minutes from downtown Seattle.) The sweetbread dish with parsnips and chantrelles was the best offal I've had this year. My other favourite of the evening was the porcini-stuffed braised rabbit, a Ligurian chickpea crepe stuffed with greens, and the sickest cream/Arneis sauce. Fantastic. The desserts were a bit disappointing, but I don't recall you being a sweets guy anyway. Of the mid-range/upper-casual restaurants here, I like Lark. Veil just started doing brunch on the weekends, and the chef there, Shannon Galusha, trained under TK at FL. His new-ish chef de cuisine, Johnny, is formerly of Alinea and Jean Georges. I also had a good meal at Quinn's recently, though they are apparently modeled after Spotted Pig so you may not want to waste a meal there when you have SP in your city. Other underground restaurants in the city: One Pot (run by Michael Hebb, more of an artsy experience, i.e. food + prose, I've heard) Gypsy (high-end, usually in a mansion somewhere in Seattle, run by Gabriel Claycamp. You've probably seen Gypsy on the Bourdain show. They have guest chefs.) Vagabond (also Gabriel's, but more casual) Kurtwood Farms (you must know someone who's been to get in. It's on Vashon and you'll need to take a ferry. They have guest chefs.) ETA: I've only divulged names seeing that the people doing these dinners have shared their names with a major publication, so I'm sure it's OK to mention their names here.

Yes! I got it at Chef Rubber down in Vegas! prasantrin: Yes, it is a savarin mold. I am kind of a heathen in the way that I don't always bake the traditional cake in the appropriate mold. I kind of followed a brownie recipe for these cakes, but I used a lot more chocolate than the recipe called for. brownie recipe I used fewer eggs, some cocoa (err...maybe I dumped in 1/4 cup?), and more bittersweet chocolate (didn't measure). Also left out the white chocolate. These were baked at 300 degrees for 14 minutes. I halved the recipe. Most of it went into the Pyrex. These 8 minis were made from the leftover batter. Well, the leftover batter I didn't eat.