Pork Snout Poached in Chinese Marinade

On the last day of the lunar year my friend Christina gave me the idea of making braised pork knuckles and tongues in Chinese marinade (called 鹵水 louh’-sui’) for diner.  I thought it was an exciting dish to make to celebrate the arrival of the year of the horse so off I went to buy the ingredients.  However, when I arrived at the wet market - at about 2pm - my pork butcher was about to close down his stall.  I could not help but think of my 1^st Chinese New Year in Hong Kong when I could not find any vegetables after 4pm!  I learnt after this incident not to wait for the last day to buy food needed for the first 3 days of the Lunar New Year.

Pork Cheeks in Red Wine Sauce

Pigs have only 2 cheeks each and I wonder how much a catty (or ~ 600gr) of cheeks would cost if this low cut meat was more popular. 

So far I have tasted beef, pork and fish cheeks.  Yes, fish cheeks I learned to eat them here in Hong Kong and believe me: it’s tasty and refined. It is considered to be the best part of the fish and you are privileged if cheeks are offered to you.  The head of steamed groupers (or garoupas – 石斑魚) are indeed a delicacy (but this could be developed in another post).  If you have never tried it I recommend that you do.

Crème de Marrons - Sweetened Chestnuts Purée

I have planned to add my auntie’s recipe on this blog for almost 2 months now and finally here it is!

 



Making mooncakes at iBakery 愛烘焙麵包工房 - 2013

 

 

I was kindly invited to help iBakery 愛烘焙麵包工房 to make their large production of mooncakes for the forthcoming mid-autumn festival. What I mean by “large” is over 600 pieces per day for 3 consecutive weeks. Yes, 3 weeks of mooncake-making! Hahha! I, myself, did not help for 3 weeks but only 6 days.  

Here are a few photos I'd like to share with you to show you the main steps in mooncake making.

No-knead Bread

My family and friends know that I regularly bake an easy to make bread that I enjoy each morning with my coffee.

I recently met people interested in my bread and asked about my recipe. I suddenly realized that although I had mentioned it on this blog I never posted the recipe. So, here it is:

 

Making Rolls With Fresh Yeast

(As you might already know) I like to eat toasts in the morning particularly with my own bread. I usually use the recipe and method of Mark Pittman that I saw on YouTube which calls for dried instant yeast.

 

Pot-au-feu – French beef stew – recipe

Pot-au-feu is a typical country-style comfort food.  It is made with not expensive cuts of beef and lots of vegetables (mainly roots). It is commonly prepared in winter. However, I have had the pleasure of eating this classic dish last week as the weather was quite cold in France (yes, only 6⁰C in the morning!)