How to pan-fry the perfect duck breast

Pan-fried Duck Breast with Tomato Galette

With its crispy skin and rich gamey flavor, the duck breast is just about the most delicious cut of meat there is.

Unfortunately, a lot of people find it difficult to get it right, so I would like to offer my two-cents on this subject.

Posted on 23rd Aug 2010 in Meat, Old School, Recipes | 5 comments

King’s Beef Noodles in Seremban

The cuisine section in the Wikipedia entry for Seremban states that the other great Seremban dish to sample is the Braised Beef Noodles or Ngau Nam Meen. While that particular entry reads like an advertising spiel (unverified even), it is no less true about being one of the unique Serembanite dishes.

And Jeff have been talking about King’s Beef Noodles despite the fact that in the past 3 years, he’s only been there like thrice. That’s because the man running King’s Beef Noodles sources his own beef from a particular farm in Seremban and would not open if he is unable to obtain beef of sufficient quality.

Intriguing no?

Posted on 18th Apr 2010 in Chinese, Food and Drink, Makankaki, Malaysia, Meat | Post a comment

Ootoya Teishoku-Ya at Orchard Central

Two bloggers at ~~work~~ ~~playing~~ in action. Tripod optional.

I was tired, no, I was bone-weary and thought of going for an invigorating foot reflex-thingy but while that would sooth my body, it would still leave a hole at the core of my being. What was really needed is nourishment for the soul.

A quick SMS confirmed dinner at Duo Le before I collapsed into bed.

Fast-forward 3 hours, I was sitting at Tully’s sipping ice tea and suggesting dinner at Ootoya instead simply because I walked past the restaurant and it felt good. And the Korean BBQ didn’t feature an All-You-Can-Eat option.

Posted on 8th Feb 2010 in Food and Drink, Japanese, Meat | 4 comments

And I made claypot beef rice

This is so easy that it doesn’t deserve to be written like a full fledged recipe and also I’m too lazy to write it out now.

Basically, you take thin-sliced beef (sirloin, flank, whatever) and marinade for about an hour in the standard stir-fry mix of Shaoxing Huatiao wine, sesame oil, dark and light soyu, white pepper and oyster sauce. I went heavy on the sesame oil and wine.

Cook the rice in a claypot. 5 minutes before the rice is done, poke holes in the rice with a chopstick and spread the beef flat out on top of the rice. 2-3 minutes before serving, make a hole in the mass of beef and crack and egg or two on top. Garnish with spring onions and serve.

Easy no?

Notes:

For the beef marinade, adding fresh ginger juice works wonders too.
The rice should be dry like a good pilau or biryani. Some like it crispy.
The egg yolk should still be pretty liquid (to provide some eggy goodness).
Give the claypot contents a good stir before digging in to spread the eggy goodness.

Posted on 22nd Jan 2010 in Chinese, Food and Drink, Meat, Recipes | 1 comment

Feed 2009

Photo Credit: Catherine Ling

There are some people who are born to par-tay and there are some who hide out in the kitchen. This blog belongs firmly in the category of people busy cooking for the party, wondering what those people are doing in the kitchen.

Year-end 2009 was a great time where I accidentally invited a lot of people into my home to eat. “Accidentally” because while I tend to restrict the number of guests to about 6 because I have a small apartment but such things, as they often do, take a life on its own. Anyway, here’s a collection of notes, comments and whatnot, mainly for my future reference but it might interest you somewhat.

It all started when I ordered 5.6kg worth of dry-aged beef…

Posted on 8th Jan 2010 in Dinner Book, Food and Drink, Makankaki, Meat | 7 comments

In the absence of any standard steak “doneness” chart

Different people have different ideas about steak doneness, i.e. one man’s medium-rare is another man’s well-done. So, for your consideration, I would like to propose using this as a benchmark.

There’s also a doneness for steaks that’s not readily found in Singapore. It’s known as “Pittsburgh Rare” in the US or “Bleu” in France. Basically, if you have very good beef from a trusted source, this level of doneness gives you the best of both worlds: browned outside with a nice crust and full beef flavor inside.

Posted on 26th Nov 2009 in Dead Cow Society, Food and Drink, Meat, Recipes | Post a comment

The Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Cambridge

Aberdeen Angus Burger with Blue Cheese Dressing

I probably shouldn’t be writing this as I still cannot put a finger on my heavy sense of dissatisfaction with the Gourmet Burger Kitchen in Cambridge, UK. However, the food was great and you should go find out for yourself if it’s true.

Posted on 23rd Nov 2009 in English, Food and Drink, Meat, Modern European | 3 comments