Salt-crusted whole fish - Certified 100% authentic Thai

The entire piece of skin opens up like a door to moist, succulent meat.

I arranged for a weekend in Bangkok, Thailand just for us to spend time together as a family. Of course, I was also sniffing around for authentic Thai food. I was truly excited to see one of the recipes I've shared in this blog come to life in a floating market.

Here's the salt-crusted whole fish recipe I previously shared. It's become a regular dish for our famly now. Look at this sight - a young Thai woman grilling them and selling them off her boat.

Her supply is easily within arm's reach!

I have my Thai chef in the culinary school to thank for!

Food cooked by students from Culinary Institute of America in Singapore

This was my lunch yesterday cooked by students from the Culinary Institute of America in Singapore. It's tucked in the corner of the Temasek Polytechnic campus, on the eastern part of town. I was delighted at this lunch surprise from a friend in church. In the menu booklet, the Institute invites diners to interact with the students and ask questions about the food - not that I needed that invite. I had 20 questions for every dish served out to me. 

Apologies for bad photography - blame it on the iPhone. 

I chose a cured fish starter - if you've been reading my blog, you know I'm an incurable cure-r, having done home-cured salmon and home-cured pancetta. My dish came with a cured red snapper paired with diced tomatoes, and cured mackerel with mango, served on a biscotti that had gone soft and retoasted, I think. The mackerel smelled and tasted fishy, like otah (fish paste). The red snapper however was lovely to the bite, and tasted very fresh and beautifully cured, just the right taste and texture for me, and I rushed home to research more about cured red snapper - with vodka! (Who's ready for the next private dining seating on this??!)

My main was an interesting composition of lentils wrapped in black crepes in a mixed garlic herb sauce, with honey roasted pumpkins, and topped with fried leeks. Vegan. I'm learning to wake my palate and taste in a deliberate fashion, always conscious of the effect the food and each ingredient has on my tastebud. This dish, I enjoyed, although half a portion would have sufficed for me. The lentils had a Middle Eastern-Moroccan twang, and the leeks were very flavourful. Even the green sauce was palatable to me, and seemed appropriate with St Patrick's Day round the corner.

 I asked our student-waiter what made the crepe black, making it look like a Japanese seaweed. He smiled and said, Today's crepe is darker than it should be! Essentially, it's blackened using 2 ingredients, black bean puree and bamboo charcoal powder. That word again. I had just blogged about it a month ago - see post on Black Bread.

Poor girl had to go into the kitchen to bring this out to show me.
At the rate I'm going, I may be "black"-listed and banned from
coming back to this restaurant!

And here's our trio dessert: 1. Coconut sorbet with dragon fruit cubes and candied parnsips. The parsnip took the limelight from the sorbet.

 2. Yuzu tart with raspberry sauce. It was ok, ok - know what I mean? Like, forgettable.

3. Warm apple cake with a dollop of vanilla ice cream. This was the most humble and heart-warming dessert. In my friend's words and with hand to heart and a peaceful sigh, he said, Eating this just makes me feel so happy. Soul Food. I want my food to have this effect on my diner! 

My curiosity still unsatiated, I asked if I could have a tour of the kitchen. They willingly obliged. (God, that woman!) The student-sous chef brought us round, boasting of their state-of-the-art equipment and a chill room for salad and cake preparatory work to ensure freshness. I unabashedly asked the Executive Chef from the States if she was open to sharing her recipes or if they were trade secrets. For my audacity, I was rewarded with the recipe for the apple cake, her father's recipe from her hometown back in New York. Will post when I get to test it. Overall, well done to the student-chefs and the service crew. I would really like to be back there soon. And this time, with a decent camera. Ciao for now!

Word of the Week: Mezzaluna

This double blade knife rocks!

Meet my first Mezzaluna, bought more than a year ago in an obscure corner of a shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur. Yes, Malaysia Boleh!

Meaning "Half moon" in Italian, the Mezzaluna consists of a rounded blade with 2 handles on each end. Some people call it a herb chopper.

My chef at-Sunrice taught me that a rocking motion is gentle on the herbs, preserving its essence and extends its shelf life.

I've enjoyed the use of this elegant tool since my purchase, although I sometimes wonder if it's an insult to chefs with good knifing skills. It also runs the danger of being in the "useless tools" category since a normal knife can quite do the job if you can just execute a proper chiffonade.

Today, I'm chopping some fresh dill for my salmon gravlax. I can't wait to serve my guests in my second private dining event tomorrow.

For more Word of the Week, click here.

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You have no idea how important this garlic is to me.

We had 'Gordon' all to ourselves all morning. Argh! I googled him and a few chefs' names last night and found out they all have strong credentials, most of them climbed up the hard way through sheer determination, perseverance and an ability to park their egos aside for a few years to make way for an insatiable appetite to learn. They all learned from world renowned chefs from mostly Europe and despite their own obvious language handicap, managed to overcome communications and cultural barriers to experience a meaningful and long lasting exchange that would change the course of their lives and careers. In this journey to attain success, many have suffered abuses and harrassments of many forms but are now enjoying the fruits of those years of hard labour.

I did some basic research on general chef salaries - they are not very high for the hours they put in and the skills required. The justification always seems to be this - You have to be in this because you're passionate about culinary. Nobody is here for the money. Doesn't quite fully explain...

How are chefs perceived?
I asked them about the general perception of chefs in the fraternity and in the community and heard some interesting anecdotes ranging from a prospective mother-in-law who disapproved of their relationship thinking a chef could not properly provide for her daughter to dignitaries who are so wowed by the food they eat that they ask to see and speak with the chef personally and go on to hire them as their personal private chefs. Some private chefs command full influence on what the household should be eating and are highly regarded and respected for their skills and knowledge. The ones who have made a name for themselves are hand-picked to open kitchens of top resorts in the world and they live this nomadic life of always being in the hottest spots to cook for the rich and famous, and the line between the kitchen and dining room blurr as they also earn a seat at the table with the top honchos of the world.

'Gordon' went on for hours about his own journey. I was beginning to suspect perhaps he was the creator of talkcock.com, as the army puts it. I got a little bored and started writing on my notepad the many recipes I still want to try but haven't gotten to them...cinnamon rolls, strawberry cake, walnut butter cream, savoury muffins, ...

What is important in your profession and your cause?
Suddenly Gordon said something that caught my attention. "You have no idea how important that garlic is to me!" I thought that was a pretty impressive line for Gordon. I could relate to it. As a communications professional for the past 20 years, you have no idea how important that one word is to me!

To a struggling student, you have no idea how important one passing mark is.
To a desperate couple, you have no idea how important one good embryo is.
To a 100-metre sprinter, you have no idea how important that one second is.
To the Somalians, you have no idea how sweet one water drop tastes.

What is important in your profession and your cause?