eG Foodblog: rarerollingobject (2011) - Mealtimes at the University of

[annabelle]

What a lovely peak at Oz, Kate! I only know it from "Underbelly" and this is certainly much, much nicer.

[heidih]

So... your ability to give the proportions of the salmon rub ingredients raises the question about how you record such things. Notebooks, software, in your head??? I ask because I have just recently begun to at least handwrite things that work well after kicking myself in the rear numerous times when I was unable to replicate a dish.

[Shalmanese]

Ah, Harris Farm, how I miss thee. Their orange juice is some of the best I've ever tasted, almost indistinguishable from freshly squeezed. Also, they used to have a fantastic house brand olive oil. It was something like $8 for 1L and packed an immense, peppery punch.

Are you planning on going to the Haymarket? That was the other main place I loved to shop.

[Shalmanese]

Also, I'm insanely jealous of the fresh passionfruit. I don't think I've seen a passionfruit since I got to the US .

[rarerollingobject]

Ah, Harris Farm, how I miss thee. Their orange juice is some of the best I've ever tasted, almost indistinguishable from freshly squeezed. Also, they used to have a fantastic house brand olive oil. It was something like $8 for 1L and packed an immense, peppery punch.

Are you planning on going to the Haymarket? That was the other main place I loved to shop.

Sure am. There as we speak (my office is in Haymarket). Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to (re)see, always happy to take a walk.

Also, I'm insanely jealous of the fresh passionfruit. I don't think I've seen a passionfruit since I got to the US .

WHAT?! That really astounds me..passionfruit is common as dirt here. I don't know why I'd assumed you could get them in the US..I suppose they're just one of those things so ubiquitous I've come to take them for granted. Last week alone we went through 18 of them, squeezing them for juice!

Edited July 25, 2011 by rarerollingobject (log)

[rarerollingobject]

What a lovely peak at Oz, Kate! I only know it from "Underbelly" and this is certainly much, much nicer.

Hehe..well I HAVE an underbelly, so it's not totally unrelated! Actually, depending on which series you've seen, a lot of it was set around where I live!

So... your ability to give the proportions of the salmon rub ingredients raises the question about how you record such things. Notebooks, software, in your head??? I ask because I have just recently begun to at least handwrite things that work well after kicking myself in the rear numerous times when I was unable to replicate a dish.

A heady combination of head, vast Google docs spreadsheets and Evernote. I jot things down in Google docs (ideas for meals, flavour combinations, shopping lists, planned meals) so I can access them from my phone, ipad, work laptop or at home. Then if they're a keeper, I tag them into Evernote, which is kind of a universal capture tool, also accessible from anywhere. I keep notes, recipes, web links, photos there..like a shoebox of ideas.

But also, from my head..mind is constantly racing with ideas and curiosity and lying awake thinking about things. This doesn't always work so well though - refer totally forgetting white pepper in the salmon rub.

[annabelle]

I watched the Aussie series last summer. How cool that they shot some of it around your neck of the woods!

[rarerollingobject]

I watched the Aussie series last summer. How cool that they shot some of it around your neck of the woods!

And a new series of Underbelly is about to start - it's also set in Woolloomooloo, and it's about the notorious (real life) feud between warring brothel madams, each of whom headed up violent all-female roaming razor blade gangs in the 1920s and 1930s. Razor blade gang fights were apparently very common, a lot of slashings and throat-cuttings and disfigurements..among the women! You can't make this stuff up.

Edited July 25, 2011 by rarerollingobject (log)

[Ashen]

That salmon looks amazing . It has me craving fresh montreal bagels and good cream cheese.

I loved the tour of the grocery store, I can't imagine any ordinary store around here carrying Callebaut . I love that stuff , my wife just made a white chocolate fresh berry cake yesterday. . 1.5 pounds ( 700 gm ) of white callebaut, golden,black and red raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. It is a once a year indulgence using 30$ worth of white chocolate in one cake like that.

[rarerollingobject]

My work coffee setup. I actually wasn't that much of a coffee drinker before I started this job, but now I have a solid 2-3 a day habit. I work in a ridiculously male-dominated environment (ie. senior executive: 19 men, 3 women including me), which I raised eyebrows at when I first started, but I quickly realised it's not so much a boys' club as a coffee drinkers' club. EVERYTHING, every meeting, every planning session, is done over coffee, the whole organisation runs on it.

But it's quite a nice custom, really. We all run up tabs here and half the time I get down there to pay mine and find someone else has already paid it.

Not much time to get out around Chinatown today but did stop in for sushi from a sushi train next door. The quality here is good, and the turnover/freshness is high. That's a huge aquarium that runs the back wall..the awkward irony of looking at fish looking at you eating fish.

In a hurry, so grabbed octopus, bonito, tuna and a soft shell crab roll.

Still peckish on the way back, I stopped in at the Thai grocery next to my office (there are 4 in a 1 block radius!) to browse all their amazing pre prepared meals and snacks and sweets. I often buy their zhoong.

Came away with a tub of mango and a little sachet of chilli salt to dip the sweet mango slices into. Hot and sweet and salty..that should shut me up for awhile.

[Hayley Casarotto]

So excited you are blogging this week, RRO! Everything so far looks amazing. I'm surprised how much cheaper things seem to be in Sydney compared to Perth - I'd be very chuffed to pay the prices I see in your photos! Looking forwards to the rest of the week!

PS The Maggie Beer fig and burnt honeycomb icecream is the best thing in the world.

[Dakki]

Really looking forward to seeing what you cook up this week. Intensely jealous of all the beautiful seafood.

Just one question: You live in Not Safe for Work?

[ScottyBoy]

My GOD that fish market!!!!

[rarerollingobject]

Really looking forward to seeing what you cook up this week. Intensely jealous of all the beautiful seafood.

Just one question: You live in Not Safe for Work?

No, Shining Wit! (just going with the acronyms, or thinking of spoonerisms... )

But you're right, I should have clarified that my mention of NSW refers to the state I live in, New South Wales. Famous for...err..hm. Rugby league?

[rarerollingobject]

A word about lunches. Personally, I DO eat lunch out most days, and you'll see that clearly this week. This is partly because the food around me is so varied and delicious, but also because my workplace is pretty intense and stressful, with a fair bit of conflict, so some decompressing socialising over lunch is one of the few ways we form/repair bonds. On the occasions I need a break and to not see any of these guys for an hour or so lest I rip their spleens out, I might pretend I've brought my lunch in, but that's usually a ruse they see right through.

Incidentally, they're all very intrigued and mystified as to why I'm taking photos of my food and coffee, and are mooting all kinds of theories, from sudden onset OCD to something for a reality show application..hehe. I'm gonna keep the b*%tards guessing for awhile!

[FrogPrincesse]

Kate,

Amazing food so far! I really like your use of fresh ingredients in your cooking, so this week should be a lot of fun.

I am also in awe with all the beautiful seafood. This uni lardo on toast is something I've been dreaming about since I saw Anthony Bourdain having this dish at Marea in No Reservations. Well done!

Any chance we might get to see the final version of the beet-root cured salmon?very interesting combination, beets, salmon and vodka! You go girl!!!

Yes indeed, in an hour or two from now, it'll be breakfast! I cure salmon a lot actually, I've posted this before, but other variations I've tried for the cure flavourings:

Chineseish - flavourings of sugar, salt, Sichuan pepper, a little five spice, shaohsing wine, scallions and ginger

Vietnameseish - sugar in the form of both sugar and caramel sauce, salt, fish sauce, cassia/cinnamon, star anise, black pepper and chilli. Added a splash of Vietnamese moonshine.

Thaiish - palm sugar, salt, lemongrass, galangal, red chilli, tamarind, crushed coriander roots and leaves, and garlic. Didn't use alcohol here and it was fine, slightly different texture.

Japaneseish - yuzu koushou, Okinawan black sugar, soy sauce and a mirin/sake combo

Frenchish - sugar, fleur de sel, herbes de Provence, lavendar petals, and some Pernod. I used fresh thyme too but it was too overpowering by the end of the cure so would omit that next time.

I love cured salmon but have been sticking with a traditional gravlax recipe (juniper berries, coriander, allspice, pepper, lemon zest, salt, sugar, mint, and gin or vodka). Your use of beet looks great, and the other cures that you mentioned are really inspirational.

One question - you say that you only cure the fish for one day; is that because you are curing a relatively small piece of fish? My go-to recipe, which is for a whole fillet, calls for a curing period of 4 to 5 days.

This is going to be awesome....my brain stopped working at the sight of uni-on-toast. That is just shameless, and this is from a guy waiting for someone to invent biscuits and foie gras gravy, .

Well, actually, the two Dudes at Animal in LA already thought of that! Two nights ago I had their seared foie gras, biscuit, and maple sausage gravy, and I can confirm that it's a pretty amazing combination!

[rarerollingobject]

I love cured salmon but have been sticking with a traditional gravlax recipe (juniper berries, coriander, allspice, pepper, lemon zest, salt, sugar, mint, and gin or vodka). Your use of beet looks great, and the other cures that you mentioned are really inspirational.

One question - you say that you only cure the fish for one day; is that because you are curing a relatively small piece of fish? My go-to recipe, which is for a whole fillet, calls for a curing period of 4 to 5 days.

Thanks for your kind words! I only cure the fish a short while because I'm usually doing a small piece, yes. But also because I don't like the texture salmon can take on when you cure it longer..a little firmer, less fatty and unctuous.

It's probably more like a semi cure, enough to impart flavour and so on.

[rarerollingobject]

Right, a very brief walk around Chinatown, my favourite Chinese supermarket and dinner.

As I got out of work and night was falling, I took a few quick photos of some of my favourite places around Chinatown. None of these photos are particularly thrilling, so will take more comprehensive pics later, but:

Dim sum shop, selling take home frozen yum cha items:

My favourite Vietnamese pho place, comfortingly named 'Pasteur':

Sol Levy, Tobacconist Extraordinaire (I just like the name):

Chinese herbalist:

Chinese BBQ buffet. Notable for not being Korean BBQ. A goodly range of offal here:

Do you need a Roman centurion helmet? You're in luck:

Really great but tiny Japanese place:

And the hugest Chinese supermarket, my heaven:

Oyster sauces:

Woks and strainers and other good things:

Claypots:

Big range of tofu and soy products:

Korean chilli and soybean pastes:

Noodles and dumpling wrappers:

Jerkies and lup cheong sausages:

Spices and so on:

Cooking wines and vinegars:

Every single kind of Chinese sauce you can imagine:

Flavoured oils (inc ginger, abalone, sichuan pepper oils):

Baked goods, lotus seed bun type things:

Freezer full of dumplings and pancakes and wonderful things:

Preserved, salted, century duck and chicken (and quail) eggs:

Yet more dumplings:

[rarerollingobject]

I ended up just buying some gai lan (Chinese broccoli), noodles and flowering chives to make dinner of:

*Prawn, Crab and Crab-fat braised E-Fu noodles

*Gai lan in ginger sauce

*Cucumber quick pickle

Here's the prep. First, the quick pickle; chopped cucumber, salt, sugar, rice vinegar and sesame seeds:

Then the gailan:

Melted some duck fat, softened some shredded ginger, added washed gai lan and stirred to coat in the fat, added a sauce of Shaohsing wine, chicken stock, more ginger and a little sugar and stirred in some cornflour slurry at the end to thicken:

Finished:

Then the prawn and crab noodles:

Say hello to my little friend:

Blue swimmer crabs are incredibly sweet..steamed it slightly for 5 minutes, and then picked the meat:

Picked meat, deveined and shelled prawns, chopped flowering chives, minced shallots and sliced garlic. Also a little dried red chilli:

Softened the chives, garlic, shallots and chilli in a little butter, added the prawns and deglazed with Shaohsing:

And let me introduce you to one of my favourite ingredients on earth: crab fat. It's a Filipino product called taba ng telangka, and it's basically the crab roe/fat/tomalley whatnot..it's sooooo unbelievably tasty, totally rich and decadent and crabby:

Added that to the saute pan and meanwhile, softened some e-fu noodles. E-fu noodles are the noodles you get under braised crab or lobster in Cantonese seafood restaurants:

Drained and added to the pan, crab meat gently stirred through and seasoned with fish sauce and the flowering chive tops:

A delicious meal, if a bit culturally confused..Chinese noodles, Filipino crab paste, Vietnamese fish sauce, Japanese pickle..hehe.

ETA: Boy, am I glad I'm not doing the washing up!

Edited July 25, 2011 by rarerollingobject (log)

[Trev]

What a ride! This is great, RRO.

[rarerollingobject]

What a ride! This is great, RRO.

Thanks so much for reading!

[Blether]

I ended up just buying some gai lan (Chinese broccoli), noodles and flowering chives...

Beautiful from start to finish.

[weinoo]

Say hello to my little friend:

Nice reference... . Nice dish.

[rarerollingobject]

I ended up just buying some gai lan (Chinese broccoli), noodles and flowering chives...

Beautiful from start to finish.

Thanks, Blether! That means a lot, coming from you, as you create some rather beautiful dishes yourself.

Say hello to my little friend:

Nice reference... . Nice dish.

Heh, thanks. Oh, and weinoo: I saw this and thought of you, so took a picture. See?? He's everywhere!

[weinoo]

Oy. What's he shilling there - pots and pans or some edible food product?