Tales from the Fragrant Harbour

Duvel · July 29, 2017

I did not manage to compile the pictures from the dried goods market ... something being left for tomorrow

In the meantime: Dinner. Comfort food. Pizza night is usually on Sunday, but hey - we are all flexible ...

Mushroom & salami

Black olives & goat cheese

The obligatory crumb shot

Very nice "Weissburgunder" ...

rotuts · July 29, 2017

@Duvel

you made that pizza @ home ?

impressive !

never though of salami and mushroom as a combo.

notes have been made !

KennethT · July 29, 2017

Have you been to Motorino in HK?

Anna N · July 29, 2017

@Duvel

You know there are rules on this forum. Very strict rules. You cannot possibly show us such a fabulous looking crust and not give us a clue as to the recipe!

liuzhou · July 29, 2017

7 hours ago, Duvel said:

The only dish I know for the toads is baked ice with toad legs. Let me investigate further

I call them frogs, but never mind that.

They are used the same as any other meat. I've had them in soups, stir fries and even frog congee (recommended).

One popular name (the most common here) is 田鸡 (Trad Chinese 田雞) tián jī which literally means 'field chicken' which may say something about the taste. The more technical expression is 青蛙 qīng wā.

I like them and have them in restaurants fairly often, but have never cooked them. Strangely, I can only find one picture and half of that dish has been eaten.

Bullfrog with tick-trefoil (a medicinal herb)

I was toild that this dish is recommended for increasing men's er, um, ... vigour!

**Shelby** · July 29, 2017

2 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I call them frogs, but never mind that.

They are used the same as any other meat. I've had them in soups, stir fries and even frog congee (recommended).

One popular name (the most common here) is 田鸡 (Trad Chinese 田雞) tián jī which literally means 'field chicken' which may say something about the taste. The more technical expression is 青蛙 qīng wā.

I like them and have them in restaurants fairly often, but have never cooked them. Strangely, I can only find one picture and half of that dish has been eaten.

Bullfrog with tick-trefoil (a medicinal herb)

I was toild that this dish is recommended for increasing men's er, um, ... vigour!

Gotta love increased vigor

So, were the above mentioned toads actually bullfrogs? They look so very different from the bullfrogs here (we used to hunt them all the time...midnight, flashlights....there may have been a lot of beer involved--twas fun when I was younger...not so much now lol).

liuzhou · July 29, 2017

5 minutes ago, Shelby said:

So, were the above mentioned toads actually bullfrogs?

No. Just regular frogs. We get many different kinds.

That said, the American bullfrog (Lithobates catesbeiana) is a different species from the Chinese ( Hoplobatrachus rugulosus). I like them all!

Some frogs from my local market/ supermarket.

gfweb · July 29, 2017

Those meats and fish look awfully warm, @Duvel

KennethT · July 29, 2017

In Western cultures, as far as I am aware, only the legs are eaten... but in China, I can't imagine them wasting the rest of the frog like that. Do you know if they eat the whole thing, or just the legs? And if the whole thing, what does the body taste like?

liuzhou · July 29, 2017

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

In Western cultures, as far as I am aware, only the legs are eaten... but in China, I can't imagine them wasting the rest of the frog like that. Do you know if they eat the whole thing, or just the legs? And if the whole thing, what does the body taste like?

Yes, the whole thing. However, most of the meat is in the legs. The body has very little meat but what it has tastes the same as the legs.

KennethT · July 29, 2017

@gfweb I've seen this same thing in wet markets all across SE Asia - even recently in Hoi An where it was 100degF in the shade. It doesn't seem like people there are dropping like flies.... but, at one time, I was told that the reason why it's ok that the meat sits out like that with norefrigeration is that it was just recently slaughtered - probably just a few hours before, and will probably be cooked shortly after it is purchased - so it's very different than in the West where the meat has to survive long transit times, and sitting around days in the case before being purchased. Also, most preparations I've seen THROROUGHLY cook the meat - even beef... I don't think I've ever seen rare beef (or any other meat) anywhere in Asia.

Duvel · July 29, 2017

7 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Duvel

you made that pizza @ home ?

impressive !

never though of salami and mushroom as a combo.

notes have been made !

Thanks ... that's my standard "quick" pizza. Details see below

Funny you have never considered this pizza. I always thought that mushroom & salami is one of the quintessential basic combinations. It is at least the most popular one in Germany, sometimes with added sweet ham. My son loves it ...

liuzhou · July 29, 2017

4 minutes ago, Duvel said:

I always thought that mushroom & salami is one of the quintessential basic combinations.

Me too. I've eaten it all over Europe, including Italy. Very common.

Duvel · July 29, 2017

3 hours ago, KennethT said:

Have you been to Motorino in HK?

Oh yes, both locations. The pizza is excellent, albeit a tiny bit less charred than in NYC (my first Motorino experience was there). Rare treat though, as the pizza is priced at just below 200 HKD (25 USD). They do a have a lunch option at 150 HKD with a soft drink. Maybe I should visit again ...

Brussel sprouts & guanciale @Motorino Wan Chai...

However, normally if we go out as a family to Central at night we head for something Asian - all three of us are very partial to sushi and there is great sushi to be had at much lower cost. Pizza is pretty much something "homey" for us and the preparation is part of the fun ...

My little helper ...

**Shelby** · July 29, 2017

He is ADORABLE.

Duvel · July 29, 2017

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

@Duvel

You know there are rules on this forum. Very strict rules. You cannot possibly show us such a fabulous looking crust and not give us a clue as to the recipe!

My bad :shock:

Normally, I prepare the dough ahead and let it ferment in the fridge for 24-48h. If I need to make a crust "spontaneously", I started to add yoghurt to the liquids. It adds tartness, complexity and the dairy helps to form a more stable gluten matrix much faster.

So, in this case:

400g (Korean) bread flour

110g (French) yogurt - on the liquid side

170g water (combined with yoghurt about 70% hydration)

4/5 of a "Dr. Oetker" instant yeast satchet

8g salt

2g sugar

Combine, knead for 5 min and let rise. Three fold & stretch cycles in about 1h. Divide intwo, roll out thinly and place on a sheet of baking paper.

Sauce is crushed tomatoes, balsamico vinegar, salt, some mixed herbs.

I put the pizza base with the sauce and whatever items need to be cooked in a preheated oven at 250 oC, full whack heating & circulation. Directly on the bottom of the oven, no metal sheet. The baking paper will brown significantly. After about 5 min I remover the nicely expanded base, add the other ingredients (e.g. olives, ham etc.) and the cheeses and return in the oven for about two minutes - done.

Duvel · July 29, 2017

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

I was toild that this dish is recommended for increasing men's er, um, ... vigour!

Damn it ... they were on offer. Should have stocked up

Duvel · July 29, 2017

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Those meats and fish look awfully warm, @Duvel

Fish in general is not an issue. Most of it is placed on ice, but more often than not is still alive when you select it.

Meat yes - but these are very freshly killed animals and usually rather large chunks (less surface area) and most treatments here consist of marinating and cooking to a more done result. That being said I usually by my meats that go for SV frozen from imported sources

Duvel · July 29, 2017

56 minutes ago, KennethT said:

In Western cultures, as far as I am aware, only the legs are eaten... but in China, I can't imagine them wasting the rest of the frog like that. Do you know if they eat the whole thing, or just the legs? And if the whole thing, what does the body taste like?

Like @liuzhou said: I had only the entire toad/frog once in a dish of baked rice with some other additions. The skin had "melted" into the dish and the most meaty part you could separate were the legs. I am not sure how to prep a toad/frog if I had to cook one. But now after knowing the secret benefits of a frog-heavy diet I might need to aquire that skill ...

Anna N · July 29, 2017

25 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Me too. I've eaten it all over Europe, including Italy. Very common.

Not me. Now mushroom and pepperoni --that is big here. So big I got sick of it years ago.

Duvel · July 29, 2017

56 minutes ago, KennethT said:

@gfweb I've seen this same thing in wet markets all across SE Asia - even recently in Hoi An where it was 100degF in the shade. It doesn't seem like people there are dropping like flies.... but, at one time, I was told that the reason why it's ok that the meat sits out like that with norefrigeration is that it was just recently slaughtered - probably just a few hours before, and will probably be cooked shortly after it is purchased - so it's very different than in the West where the meat has to survive long transit times, and sitting around days in the case before being purchased. Also, most preparations I've seen THROROUGHLY cook the meat - even beef... I don't think I've ever seen rare beef (or any other meat) anywhere in Asia.

True.

However, I had rare beef served in Pho in Vietnam. And of course in Japan (sashimi, Yakiniku, Shabu Shabu), Korea (Yukhe) and China (hot pot). I all cases the degree of doneness depends on the diner, but you could have undercooked meat in these instances. And for chickens, even here slightly undercooked (e.g. pink or bloody around the bones) is common. But then again, those chickebn went from being killed to being cooked in a matter of minutes ...

Duvel · July 29, 2017

2 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Not me. Now mushroom and pepperoni --that is big here. So big I got sick of it years ago.

I see. Pepperoni would of course fall also into the salami category in continental Europe

Anna N · July 29, 2017

Just now, Duvel said:

I see. Pepperoni would of course fall also into the salami category in continental Europe

I guessed it would but no one that I know of would dream of ordering salami on a pizza!

lindag · July 29, 2017

If this was mentioned earlier here I missed it...why is it called a 'wet' market?

Duvel · July 30, 2017

So ...

Before starting the day, I need to get you the promised pictures from the dried goods market. I always find it funny that in a climate that is semitropical and humid to boot, drying goods is a popular choice of preservation. But it is, and the local cuisine relies heavily on dried sea food, while the traditional Chinese medicine is probably the other pillar that's spawned the development of gazillions of different dried delicacies ...

Street scene in Sai Yin Pun ...