Turkey Time

The roasted 20lb turkey after over four hours in the oven!

This year I had the task of roasting a 20lb turkey. Usually we wet brine it, a trick I had learned from a chef over 10 years ago while working on a radio show. He said it was the best way to ensure the turkey was moist after roasting in the oven for several hours.

Almost an hour into roasting the turkey

But in recent years dry brine is the way to go and in our case it was a necessity, as the massive bird barely fit into our giant stock pot.

I looked up a few dry brine recipes online and they all basically said the same thing -- use kosher salt, pepper and add a few herbs like rosemary, thyme, orange or lemon zest and be sure to season the cavity too.

For our 20lb turkey, I used five tablespoons of kosher salt, liberal amounts of ground pepper, about half a tablespoon of brown sugar to help the skin turn golden brown, as well as fresh rosemary, thyme and some dry oregano.

We added a bit of oil to the mixture, but it wasn't really necessary -- it helps get some of the moisture out of the turkey, which means more turkey flavour.

After over two hours in the oven it is browning nicely

After 24 hours we put the massive bird into the oven at 375 degrees and checked it every hour. The legs started to turn brown first and then we turned it down again to 350 degrees and kept checking on it.

At around the 3-hour mark we had to flip the turkey around to breast side up, which was a two-person operation, one actually doing the heavy lifting, the other scooting it into place in the roasting container. Phew!

Over four hours later the bird was done and we let it rest for almost an hour. The end result? Very moist, though the skin wasn't particularly crispy. But we were glad it was completely cooked through.

We flipped the turkey with the breast side up, almost done

Meanwhile the cranberry sauce was made from fresh cranberries, very liberal spoonfuls of brown sugar, the last few drops of Tia Maria and a good dash of white Zinfandel, which resulted in a complex flavour! Delicious! Perfect accompaniment to plain yoghurt...

Gravy was also made in advance with carrots and celery and the turkey neck.

So it's a wrap! Hope we remember the turkey recipe for next year...! In the meantime we'll be having lots of turkey leftovers, congee and soup for the next week...

Old School Chiu Chow Cuisine

The decor in Lok Hau Fook hasn't changed in over six decades!

This evening my relatives and I headed to Kowloon City to eat at one of their favourite haunts, Lok Hau Fook, a Chiu Chow restaurant that dates back 65 years. The decor inside has hardly changed, one of the walls features a giant dragon and phoenix, with a double happiness sign in between them for weddings, though probably no one celebrates their nuptials here anymore.

I heard some Hong Kong films have used this restaurant as a setting for scenes involving triads -- who knew they liked to hang out in old school Chiu Chow restaurants?

In front deep-fried crab mousse and shrimp balls in rear

On a Friday night, the restaurant is almost full and we take our seat -- we get cold very fast from the air conditioning and the fans blowing the cold air.

There's a lot of dishes to choose from, and my uncle already has in mind what he'd like to eat. He hasn't been here for many years and reels off some of his favourites to the waiter.

Pretty soon the lo sui duck arrives with some vinegar and it looks overcooked by it's not -- very tender and juicy, and flavourful from the master sauce. Underneath the thin slices of marinated duck are pieces of tofu that are equally delicious.

We also order some seasonal vegetables and choose chun choi, a Chiu Chow vegetable that is a skinny version of choi sum that was cooked in a broth together with chunks of radish and pork rib bits and ginger for flavour.

Super plump baby oysters in a rice soup with pork

Then came some deep-fried items -- a ball that was a combination of shrimp mousse mixed with finely diced water chestnut, and the a rectangular package of crab meat mousse. Both were so lightly deep-fried that their texture was very soft inside, the hot oil obviously fresh.

Probably one of my favourites is the baby oyster congee. The plump oysters are practically poached in the rice soup along with chunks of minced pork, Chinese ham and mushroom. We each had seconds of this giant tureen.

Another interesting Chiu Chow specialty are dumplings where the wrapper is actually made of a very thin fried egg white, and inside the filling is diced chicken, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots, and tied  together by a thin piece of chive topped with shrimp roe. This is such an interesting dish especially in terms of execution; interestingly it tastes of butter, and the bamboo shoots inside are a nice textural highlight.

Dumpling wrappers made of fried egg white are impressive

We were almost full -- but not before we tried some desserts. First up was wok-fried taro covered in sugar -- this is very difficult to execute, as the taro needs to be constantly moving in the hot wok otherwise the sugar on top will burn. Here the slices of taro were practically white with some scallion bits.

Another was a soup of green beans with some translucent jelly cubes. Not a favourite, but a fantastic finish was a taro pudding, again constantly stirred in the wok which is challenging because the grounded taro is so sticky. The end result is a very smooth and sweet hot pudding that's practically screaming to be called comfort food. The small bowl looks deceiving, but really one or two spoonfuls are all you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.

In the end our bill came to just under HK$1,000 for four. We will surely be back again as my uncle already began thinking about what to order next time...

Stir-fried slices of taro covered in sugar is difficult to make

Lok Hau Fook
1-3 Hau Wong Road
Kowloon City
2382 7408

Breakfast at The Pen

Scrambled eggs in between thick slices of bread for breakfast at The Peninsula

Ah breakfast. The essential meal to start of the day.

What better place to indulge in breakfast than the Lobby of the Peninsula Hong Kong.

A relative was staying at the Sheraton and I suggested we meet across the street at the iconic hotel with 90 years of history.

The breakfast menu has a lot of choice, but can be expensive, with a full breakfast costing over HK$300! You could also have congee with pork spare ribs and preserved vegetables, granola, instant noodles with meats -- a kind of glorified cha chaan teng dish.

French toast using brioche bread was on the menu -- I should try that next time!

In the end I settled for New Zealand scrambled eggs sandwich. It arrived, with the crusts cut -- please don't! -- and very yellow eggs in between the white bread that had butter slathered on them.

The egg sandwich also came with three slices of cucumber and two of tomato...

This was definitely an indulging egg sandwich -- how many eggs were used to make it?! Nevertheless the bread was soft and buttery, the eggs quite fluffy too. Needless to say with a cup of latte it was a nice breakfast to catch up and enjoy the moment.

However, when we walked outside, it was pouring rain! Luckily I had a small umbrella and escorted my relative across the street to her hotel and then went on my way.

Picture of the Day: Congee Comfort Food

My lunch today -- thinly sliced fish congee with a plate of Chinese cabbage

One of the best places in Hong Kong to have congee is Sang Kee in Sheung Wan.

It's only open Monday to Saturday and there's often a line to get in. It has one main shop that is actually two giant rooms, and then down an alley is the original congee shop, where there is a giant vat where they make the rice porridge everyday.

I was in the area today around noon and decided to hit Sang Kee for lunch and managed to walk in for a seat by the window.

At first I was going to order beef brisket and noodles in a clear broth, but then changed my mind -- I'm trying to eat less meat -- so I asked for a small bowl of the sliced fish congee and a plate of poached Chinese cabbage.

The congee here really is comfort food -- it's creamy having been simmering for hours, and it arrives piping hot. The fish slices had no bones in them, very thin and the congee had lots of thinly sliced ginger in it.

It also comes with a small bowl of soy sauce with more ginger and spring onions. I dunked the ginger and spring onions in the soy sauce and put some in the congee to add a bit more flavouring as it's quite plain.

So good! There were lots of fish slices in there that were tender and combined with the creamy congee and spiced up with a bit of ginger was a great combination. If you are a fish expert, the fish head congee is a favourite.

A small bowl of congee was HK$32 and the plate of vegetables with oyster sauce was HK$19. When I was leaving, there was a line of hungry diners at the door.

Sang Kee

G/F, 10 Hillier Street

Sheung Wan
2541 1099

Take Out Guangzhou Style

Late lunch feast of fish, chicken, tofu, vegetables and rice. All the food groups

These last few days in Guangzhou we've been eating a lot of take-out food. It's not the fast-food variety but somewhat nutritious and definitely Chinese.

My colleague loves ordering take-out whenever he's in Guangdong because it's much cheaper and more varieties than in Hong Kong.

On Wednesday night we finished our work late so we ordered take out as soon as we arrived back at the hotel.

I had fish and pork congee with some choi sum in soy sauce and that came to around 22 yuan. The congee was very good, lots of flavour and almost creamy in texture.

Late dinner of mixed vegetables with rice noodles in soup

The next day we had a late lunch and again ordered several dishes, including Hakka ones, like salt-baked chicken and braised tofu stuffed with minced pork. There was also delicious fish slices in a spicy preserved vegetable broth, braised pig trotters, wood ear fungus with chillis (very spicy!), string beans with eggplant, and soup and rice. For four people it was less than 300 yuan.

We also had a late dinner, and mine consisted of noodles with vegetables like mushrooms, tomato, cabbage and even a quail egg. The noodles were packaged separate from the broth to avoid over cooking them, and the soup didn't have MSG. Only 29 yuan.

Fantastic choices if you have the app and can read Chinese... and have mobile payment! Will be making sure my China assignments are with this foodie...

Super Healthy Breakfast at abcV

A soft by otherwise delicious dosa with yoghurt and greens

When in New York, there's not only sightseeing and show watching, but also lots of dining.

One place we were very curious to try was abcV, a vegetarian restaurant opened by celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten.

I met him in Hong Kong a few months ago and when I asked him about abcV, he told me about the menu, and boasted the restaurant had "the best congee in New York City".

The restaurant's interior is sparse yet very modern

When a gweilo chef claims he has the best congee in town you have to check it out, right?

My New York-based friend made a reservation for July 4 for breakfast -- and we were told the only time available was 9.30am sharp, even though breakfast is served until 10.30am.

So we arrived a bit earlier than the appointed time -- no traffic because of the public holiday -- and hardly anyone in the restaurant either. We could have come at 10am... or did the staff forget it's a public holiday?

The decor is quite sparse -- a white modern room with a mish mash of chandeliers suspended from the ceiling, a bakery at the front, and kitchen at the back.

We noticed the pieces of cutlery were all different -- a kind of eclectic hipsterish feel that's kind of artsy, which is what the crowd was mostly made of, except for us.

Poached eggs and mushrooms underneath

The menu lists dishes that sound super good for you. Coincidentally the New York Times had tried the restaurant and the review came out just before we went, but I didn't read it until afterwards.

We agree with the assessment that the atmosphere is quite pretentious, but the reviewer showed the menu to a dietician, who proclaimed the dishes really were healthy -- though the portions were on the delicate side.

One of the first dishes we shared was the dosa with yoghurt, avocado and sprouts (US$14). It arrived in a beautiful presentation, but we have to say the dosa was hardly crunchy, but thinner than a pita bread texture. We liked the combination of yoghurt and avocado.

A winner was the wild mushrooms with poached farm eggs, shallots and herbs (US$15). How can you go wrong with runny yolks that explode onto the meaty mushrooms like a comfort sauce?

Testing out the congee dish with six condiments to choose

So the congee, or as listed on the menu: forbidden rice and millet congee with savoury condiments (US$10) that included pickled mushrooms, ginger, ponzu sauce, finely sliced nori, chilli sauce and spring onions.

The congee itself wasn't white, but more pinky brown thanks to the black rice, though it was more savoury than sweet. We threw in a bit of each of the condiments and they certainly perked up the congee. It was also quite a shallow bowl, so we savoured each bite (and more dosa), and sides like kale and potatoes.

In the end we were full, but not overwhelmingly so, which is probably the point -- portions are everything and just feeling sated is probably healthiest too.

Would we come back? Probably for lunch, not dinner.

abcV

38 East 19th Street

New York
(212) 475 5829

www.abchome.com/eat/abcv/

Sweet and Savoury Breakfast

Oh so good, but definitely calorific -- the signature duck and waffle dish

Duck and Waffle is a well-known restaurant in London -- for its views from the 40th floor of Heron Tower which make it the tallest dining spot in the city, and for its food -- indulgent dishes that are available 24 hours a day.

That's right. Any time of day.

It's been open for four years and its fame has spread to Hong Kong, where a number of foodies have made the pilgrimage to the restaurant and enjoyed the many dishes there including the signature duck and waffle.

It entails a buttermilk waffle as the base, a duck leg confit on top, followed by a fried sunny-side up duck egg. It comes with Canadian maple syrup (hurrah!), seasoned with spices and mustard seeds.

A dramatic skyline that brightened up later in the morning

The combination of savoury and sweet works so well, the tenderness of the duck contrasts with the crunchiness of the waffle that has that comfort food taste, combined with texture from the whole mustard seeds and of course the yolk oozing from the egg that binds everything together.

The dish is so popular in London  that the restaurant serves 300 to 400 plates of duck and waffle per day. That's a lot of duck legs...

Duck and Waffle just wrapped up a week-long residency today at Ozone in the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong; it seemed appropriate that the restaurant be situated in the tallest one in the city.

The main crew were flown over here, including group executive chef Daniel Doherty and executive chef Tom Cenci, and Ozone, which usually has a Star Wars futuristic kind of vibe was different, with proper wooden tables and chairs set up and staff wearing Duck and Waffle T-shirts with dark jeans. They must have appreciated looking casual for the week.

Duck egg en cocotte with Gruyere cheese and truffle shavings

Their biggest logistical challenge was recreating the 24-hour service of the London one by having Ozone open from noon on Saturday all the way to Sunday until 5pm.

A few foodie friends and I were worried it would be very full in the evening so we thought we'd go early in the morning for breakfast. At first they suggested 7am which seemed to too early and then settled for an hour later.

I don't normally wake up that early, but this was something not to miss -- particularly since I don't think I'll be going to London anytime soon.

When we got to Ozone we were surprised to find hardly anyone was there, but then again 8am was quite early. It's also interesting to note that the bar and restaurant isn't usually open that early either -- the brunch usually starts at noon.

Dark clouds threatened to rain, but somehow they decided to disperse and we had blue skies to enjoy.

The service staff had just changed shifts, though some chefs had worked all night but were game to keep going for another few hours.

The gorgeous English cherries waffles with yoghurt ice cream

The menu for "brunch" was tempting and hard to decide what we wanted to eat, but in the end we ordered several items to try, some to share.

First up the bacon-wrapped dates (HK$45 each) were so good. Again the play on savoury and sweet was a perfect combination here -- if you didn't read the menu you wouldn't have known you were biting in to a large date, which wasn't saccharine sweet, just a bit, and quite filling.

I then had the duck egg en cocotte (HK$165), a mini cast iron frying pan with very meaty wild mushroom slices with creamy Gryuere cheese topped with tiny truffle shavings and of course the duck egg that wasn't completely baked through so some of the yolk oozed out. It was great with the slice of sourdough rye toast.

An intriguing dish was the duck congee (HK$195) that we thought was a new one for Hong Kong, but we were told it's always been on the menu. It features plain congee, quite thick in a shallow plate and decorated with shredded confit duck, julienne of ginger, crushed hazelnuts, pink pickled pearl onions, spring onions and hot sauce.

We were surprised to see gweilos had successfully elevated congee to a gourmet dish! The congee was very thick, not quite creamy, but almost there, and the dish was so colourful it made me wonder why the Chinese ones look so plain.

Other egg dishes we ordered were the shakshuka (HK$160), an exotic named dish featuring eggs again in the cast iron frying pan spiced up with harissa yoghurt and mint, and Columbian eggs (HK$1450, which was basically scrambled eggs with avocado, grilled chorizo on sourdough rye toast.

Of course we had the signature duck and waffle (HK$220), and it was as billed, sinfully delicious. We can't get over how the combination of these ingredients work so well together. Match made in heaven.

For dessert, we were enticed to try all three Belgian waffle creations. Banana brulee (HK$125) featured the waffle decorated with bananas that were sliced lengthwise and had sugar sprinkled on them to have a caramelized and crunchy surface, with homemade "nutella" and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The signature waffle is the "full Elvis" (HK$195), a decadent dessert the King would have approved of -- waffles with peanut butter, the aforementioned caramelized bananas, chantilly cream and crushed nuts, chocolate sprinkles. The only healthy parts were the decoration of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.

But in particular we all enjoyed the English cherries (HK$125), with the yoghurt ice cream topped white chocolate crumble and even yellow flower petals! Slightly tart and refreshing, a lighter option to finish the meal.

Some friends thought some of the dishes were even better than the ones they tasted in London. Quite the feat considering they are working in a tiny kitchen that is not too familiar and working overnight too.

We don't know when we'll get to Duck and Waffle in London, but when we do, we'll know what to order...

Eating Shabu Shabu in Taipei

Interior of Bellavita that is home to many luxury fashion brands and restaurants

It's only our first day in Taipei and we are eating very well here!

Not only did we dine at Silks Palace at the National Palace Museum, but also at a Japanese shabu shabu place in an upscale shopping mall called Bellavita.

The sleek table setting at Shabu complete with induction heat

It describes itself as "one of the most fantastic bespoke Luxury (sic) mall in Taipei, Taiwan". 

The developer apparently bought the land over 20 years ago and at the time it was very expensive. And then the story goes that his daughter wanted to open a coffee shop and it sprouted into this luxury mall...

Joel Robuchon has a restaurant there, and Van Cleef & Arpels have set up shop there too. On the fourth floor is Shabu and it's a sleek modern restaurant where guests sit in semi private booths. The hot pot is heated by induction while the fresh ingredients are artfully placed on the plate, particularly the vegetables like a bouquet.

The beautifully presented plate of vegetables

We got to choose a starter, such as uni, tomato or smoked duck salad, and then we launched into cooking our dinner. The beef was sliced a bit thicker than most places and highly marbled, while it was interesting to add items like pumpkin, snow fungus and cubes of taro in the broth.

At the end we didn't drink the broth but a bowl of rice was added instead to make congee. It simmered in there for a while as we digested the meal and when it was almost done, the waiter added a beaten egg, scallions and thin strips of seaweed. It was delicious.

A delicious bowl of congee made from the soup broth

Then for dessert a fruit platter of pear and honeydew along with almond custard presented in a small cute glass bottle.

Shabu

A refreshing dessert of almond custard in a bottle

4/F, Bellavita

No. 28-4, Songren Road

Xinyi District, Taipei
02 2723 9222

www.hostshabu.com.tw