Picture of the Day: Turkey Tails

Turkey tail mushrooms growing on a log

On my walk in the forest I spotted these circular fungi growing on a log, and they are called trametes versicolor, or more commonly known as turkey tails!

The underside should be white, and I have read they are edible, though they are on the tough side and would need to be cooked a bit longer in liquid. They can also be steamed, grilled or roasted. These fungi apparently have a nutty flavour and chewy texture. 

Another way to eat them is by drying them and grounding them into powder or steeped in hot water to make tea!

Attempting to Cook a Hakka Classic

Hakka dish of braised pork belly and preserved mustard greens

In November we made a trip to Meizhou, a county in southern Guangdong province where the vast majority of the population are Hakka. It's where my mother's family is from and we visited their ancestral home on the outskirts of the city centre in a rural area.

During our visit we sampled a classic Hakka dish, braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens and we were shocked at how bad it was! The first restaurant we ate it, the chunks of pork were so dry; the second day we tried it again and while it was more moist, the flavours weren't melded together. In both cases they weren't cooked long enough and in enough liquid.

Stir-frying pork belly and garlic together

Before the trip I listened to a talk on Hakka food given by cookbook author Linda Lau Anusansananan. I bought a copy of her book, The Hakka Cookbook: Chinese Soul Food from around the World and today attempted her recipe for braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens.

I had been warned it was not an easy dish to execute, but looking at the recipe this version looked pretty straight forward.

First I soaked the preserved mustard greens to get rid of the dirt and then chopped them into smaller pieces and squeezed the water out.

Then I heated up the wok, added oil and stir-fried a lot of minced garlic for a few seconds before adding the pork belly chopped into one-inch chunks and stir-frying them until they were light brown.

Mustard greens, soy sauce and wine added

Next I added a lot of Shaoxing wine, the preserved mustard greens, sweet soy sauce and more dark soy sauce and sugar and let it boil and then simmer for one and a half to two hours.

I periodically checked the taste of the sauce and added sugar to tone down the saltiness, and the mustard greens weren't tender enough so I added more water and let it boil and then simmer.

By the end of it the chunks of pork belly were very tender and I scooped them out along with the preserved greens before reducing the sauce a bit.

I took the dish to a family dinner tonight and got a lot of positive reviews! I will attempt it again soon!

Making Hakka Style Stuffed Tofu

Hakka style stuffed tofu we ate in Mui Yuen last month

Last month my mom and her siblings went to Mui Yuen, or Meixian county in Guangdong province, where her side of the family is from.

They last visited in 2008, where they went from Hong Kong to Shenzhen, and from there arranged a van to take them to Mui Yuen, which took about five hours on the road.

Tofu with seasoned ground pork stuffed in them

Seventeen years later we took the high-speed rail from West Kowloon station in Hong Kong to Meixian county in just over two hours, including three stops in between.

For my mom and her siblings it was a great way for them to get together, reminisce and speak Hakka, which I didn't understand...

While we were in their hometown for a few days we of course had to have some Hakka food, but to be honest, what we tried overall was meh.

We had asked our tour guide to take us to the best restaurants, but either she didn't know the best places, or they were and weren't that good.

It's hard to comprehend since over 90 percent of the population there is Hakka, so it's not like a non-Hakka person cooking dishes they didn't grow up eating.

Napa cabbage in the Dutch oven and stir-fried

Nevertheless, one of the better dishes we ate was stuffed tofu, which was stuffed with seasoned ground pork and then pan-fried before it was braised. The tofu was also silky smooth, which required skills to be able to panfry and braise without breaking them.

I hope to eventually be able to make something similar, but in the meantime I was inspired to make another version from A Very Chinese Cookbook by Kevin Pang and his father Jeffrey Pang.

In it Jeffrey explains he is Hakka, and gives his relatively easy recipe of stuffed tofu which I followed and doubled for a big family dinner.

First step is mashing some fresh ginger and spring onion in some water for about 20 minutes until the water turns green.

With chicken stock added, tofu is placed upright

Then the water is strained and added to ground pork, along with soy sauce, oyster sauce, Shaoxing wine, white pepper, and sesame oil. Once that is mixed thoroughly that should be left to marinate for at least an hour (though I didn't do it for that long!).

In the meantime take firm tofu, cut them lengthwise and then into four small squares. Taking a spoon, make a small round scoop in the middle, and then carefully add the pork mixture, leaving a small mound. 

Chop a Napa cabbage in half and then half again lengthwise, and then chop into two-inch pieces and wash. Then heat up a Dutch oven, add oil and the Napa cabbage and stir-fry it for several minutes. Add chicken broth, and then using chopsticks, arrange the cabbage to create a nest before placing the tofu with pork upright.

After 15 minutes the pork and tofu are cooked

Cover it and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes and the dish is done. The sweetness of the cabbage along with the pork adds flavour to the tofu. I added a pinch of salt in the end.

I've also made an Indonesian version using fish sauce in the seasoning and cutting the tofu into triangles and stuffing the meat in a slit in the middle. 

Cooking the Classic Stir Fried Tomato and Egg

Many Chinese kids learn to cook stir fried egg and tomato

A classic Chinese homestyle dish is stir fried egg and tomato and I'm getting the hang of making it. 

It's one of the first things Chinese kids learn how to cook, but I'm learning how to make it decades older!

Cooking the tomato first in the wok

Nevertheless, it's a dish young and old like -- the savoury-sweetness from the tomatoes combined with the silkiness of the eggs make it kind of saucy so it must be eaten with rice or noodles.  It's a bright colourful dish, and for the elderly it's easy to eat and has a good amount of protein.

A few days ago I walked by a neighbour's house where they have a cardboard box out and put extra veggies in there and this time there were some tomatoes! I picked two and brought them home where they ripened a bit more.

Tonight we made stir fried egg and tomato, first by heating up some water in a pot and then scoring the bottom of the tomato and removing the core. When the water was boiling, we put the tomatoes in for about a minute or two before taking them out, running them under cold water and peeling the skin.

We then sliced up the tomatoes and heated up the wok. We added oil and when it was hot, put the sliced tomatoes in and then chopped them up a bit more with the wok spatula and added a dash of maple syrup (or sugar). 

Picked up some juicy tomatoes!

In the meantime we cracked four eggs and mixed them together, adding a pinch of salt to the mixture. Then we added the eggs to the wok, and used the spatula to stir the mixture periodically to let the eggs cook a bit until it was incorporated with the tomato, but still a bit runny thanks to the tomato liquid.

The end result was fantastic, as the homegrown tomatoes were sweeter than the ones you usually find in the supermarket, and I had a better handle on cooking the eggs.

Delish!

Somewhat Crispy Tofu

Pan-frying tofu slices is a delicious way to get some protein

A dish we have on rotation for dinner is pan-fried tofu. I'm trying to get better at making it crispier, though I haven't resorted to using a mixture of potato flour and cornstarch yet.

We usually strain a medium-firm block of tofu by patting it dry, but I've read it's even better to press it down with weight for a few hours to squeeze out as much water as possible.

Tonight I hand pressed out a decent amount of liquid using paper towels before seasoning the tofu slices with salt and pepper.

In a cast-iron pan, we heated up the oil and then placed the tofu in there to sizzling effect. We let them fry for a few minutes until they turned golden brown and then flipped them to the other side; some might stick to the pan so best to use a combination of chopsticks and spatula to flip them.

If you're feeling ambitious, fry all six sides for a crispier finish. And for a garnish, chop some spring onion and throw them into the pan to cook with the tofu.

Making Hot and Sour Soup

Hot and sour soup has many textures, from crunchy to soft

Hot and sour soup is one of those concoctions that is hearty and comforting. It's choc full of ingredients in every bite, and with a combination of sour and spice, you can't stop eating it. 

While it can be tedious to make with a lot of chopping involved, it's quite satisfying when it all comes together, and tastes like a hug in a bowl.

I watched a few different videos on how to make it, with variations on the step-by-step process, and then cobbled together my own version.

First I sliced up some pork that was then marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, water and cornstarch. Some recipes specify lean pork which in general is a good idea, but slightly fatty pork is fine too.

Some dry ingredients need to be rehydrated, such as black fungus and dried lily flower which I separately rinsed off and and then soaked in their own bowls of hot water.

Lots of ingredients for this soup

Then came the task of chopping. I chopped a few diagonal slices of a thick carrot into thin matchsticks, followed by some mushrooms; most recipes call for shiitake, but they can be any mushrooms you have, including enoki. Also chopped up the rehydrated black fungus and fresh bamboo shoots.

It can be a lot of work removing the thick fibrous leaves to get to the shoots, but it's so worth it in the end, as they give the soup a crunchy texture. Like an artichoke, remove the leaves until you get to the tender yellowish part and then slice into thin strips.

While recipes call for firm tofu to be sliced into thin strips, I only had silky tofu in the refrigerator and sliced it into thick strips to avoid too much breakage. 

Now it was time to make the soup. Unfortunately I didn't buy enough chicken stock (six cups), so I added more water and some chicken powder, and it worked fine in a pinch. Three tablespoons of soy sauce was added to the stock.

When it started simmering, I added the bamboo shoots, mushrooms, rehydrated lily flower and the black fungus. 

Before adding the pork, I mixed it in its own marinade and then carefully added it into the soup in small clumps and used chopsticks to make sure they didn't stick together. 

After a minute or two I gingerly added the tofu, trying not to break them. Afterwards I avoided stirring the soup vigorously.

I let the soup cook for a few more minutes and then added a small spoonful of chilli oil (add more if you prefer it to be more spicy), some pepper, and a slurry of 3 tablespoons of cornstarch, 3 tablespoons of water and 5 tablespoons of vinegar to thicken the soup.

The final step is taking the soup off the heat and adding a beaten egg to create "ribbons" in the soup. I watched one video that suggested placing the beaten egg into a ladle and then slightly submerging it in the middle of the pot and swirling it around to spread the egg mixture around the surface of the soup. It worked quite well in the end. Good tip!

It turned out to be a delicious soup that could use a bit more vinegar, which I'll add tomorrow when we finish the rest of the soup!

Review: Menus-Plaisirs -- Les Troisgros

Michel (left) discusses a dish tasting with son Cesar (right) 

In February 2019 chef Michel Troisgros came to Hong Kong to cook at Epure restaurant in Harbour City. He brought his younger son Leo, who at the time together with his brother Cesar looked after their restaurant, Le Bois Sans Feuilles (The Forest without Leaves) in Ouches, in Loire, France.

The family is famous, with four generations of chefs starting with Jean-Baptiste Troisgros in 1930 in Roanne, and in 2017 his grandson Michel moved the restaurant to the countryside in Ouches where they also have a boutique hotel on the property.

The restaurant, which has changed names several times, received its first Michelin star in 1956, and has three stars every year since 1968. This is quite the feat for any restaurant, let alone a family.

Michel and Leo (left) in Hong Kong in 2019

Michel and Leo cooked a delightful lunch for Hong Kong media, and we marvelled at how simple the dishes looked, but were full of flavour and elegance. 

So when the documentary Menus-Plaisirs -- Les Troisgros came out, I had to watch it -- even though it was four hours long!

Director Frederick Wiseman has created a gem of a film, capturing the sights and sounds (though sadly not the smells) of how this three Michelin-starred restaurant runs. There is no narration or captions to explain anything -- we are a fly on the wall and get translated subtitles.

Structurally the documentary starts off with buying ingredients in the market and receiving goods from suppliers. The chefs take them into the kitchen and break them down, from ribs and filleting turbot, to tempering chocolate and preparing the numerous garnishes that need to be used while plating dishes.

Michel goes over the menus with his sons. Cesar looks after Le Bois Sans Feuilles, while Leo has moved to La Colline du Colombier, a more casual place. 

From there we watch the wait staff get a quick rundown of the menu and the guests with their preferences, while it is interesting to see the restaurant wants to address any kind of harassment of any staff working there, though nothing more is reported.

Cooking crayfish before shelling them

But it looks like everything is moving smoothly, the dishes are quickly prepared and carried out, and we watch the guests marvel at the food and wine. It is fascinating to see how the French appreciate the art around them, from the culinary arts to the interior decor and art on the walls. A male guest remarks to Michel's wife Marie-Pierre about how she had made the place lived in with the decoration she chose.

Then there are visits to a cow farm to understand how they are raised, and learn when goats begin lactating to make cheese, there's a visit to a fromager or cheesemaker, but at this point I began to nod off, as his voice was monotone and they were looking at endless wheels of cheese!

While there is no visit to a winery, we watch a wine tasting take place, and a beekeeper checking up on the industrious insects making honey.

We also visit Leo at La Colline du Colombier, which is a much tighter operation, where several people help with wrapping dumplings and plating desserts, but when it comes to service, it's only a handful of people cooking the dishes. He also has a food truck making gourmet sandwiches and panna cotta that draws a long queue.

Two pastry chefs preparing the desserts

Most interesting was watching Michel in the kitchen, teaching the staff with a firm hand. One cook prepares veal's brains incorrectly. He doesn't severely scold him, but tries to teach him through his mistakes -- which means reading the recipe very carefully before going ahead. In other words, drain the blood first before poaching them otherwise it coagulates...

Michel also tries a new dish by Cesar that has Sriracha in it, along with passion fruit. After a bite, Michel says it has too much Sriracha in it, and takes another bite, adding his tongue is burning. But he doesn't stop eating. Cesar and another chef think it's fine, but Michel says that's because you're just having a bite, which is funny, because the father continues eating the dish even though he claims his mouth is on fire, but loves that the passion fruit flavour comes through.

Menus-Plaisirs -- Les Troisgros unfortunately doesn't give more context, and we as viewers have to hang on what Michel tells his guests to get snippets of the restaurant, how his sons are taking over, but that is he still has the final say, and that the dishes on the menu are constantly evolving.

Nevertheless, it's a fascinating look at what makes a three Michelin-starred restaurant and probably for most people, a greater appreciation for what goes into making your meal a divine experience.

Menus Plaisirs -- Les Troisgros

Directed by Frederick Wiseman

240 minutes

Relatively Easy to Make Snowflake Crisps

Our first attempt at snowflake crisps!

My mom heard about a recipe to make snowflake crisps, though they aren't related to Christmas per se. She learned about this sweet Taiwanese snack from a friend and I Googled it to find the recipe, which is very similar to Rice Krispies squares. The snowflake part of the name refers to milk powder that is sprinkled in it and on top at the end.

A very basic recipe uses five ingredients: unsalted butter, mini marshmallows (to melt faster), Ritz Crackers, milk powder, and dried cranberries. When we attempted ours today, we added chopped pecans.

Several recipes warned not to crush the Ritz Crackers too small, so I just broke them in half, or at most thirds. They give the snack some structure, and a hint of savoury flavour. If Rice Krispies were used, I would imagine it would taste sweeter and less complex.

Once the butter melted and the marshmallows too, the addition of the milk powder immediately made the gooey mixture more solid which in turn made it harder to combine the rest of the ingredients -- the crackers, cranberries and nuts.

We had a heck of a time trying to integrate them all together and tried to mix them by hand even, but not much luck. In the end we put the giant clump in a parchment paper-lined baking tray and tried to pack it together as densely as possible. It did not look as easy as the one in the YouTube video!

Nevertheless, it really did taste different from Rice Krispies, which are more chewy, while this snowflake crisp is more solid thanks to the crackers and pecans. Hopefully we can nail down the mixing better next time, probably need to work a bit faster incorporating all the ingredients while the melted marshmallow mixture is still warm!

Over 1,000 Fines on Vancouver Lawn Lovers

Watering lawns was prohibited from August to October

Metro Vancouver has a lot of homeowners who love their lawns more than letting them go yellow even when there are threats of fines.

From August to October, residents in Metro Vancouver who didn't abide by the water restrictions in a bid to conserve water were slapped with fines worth CA$166,000.

Over 1,000 fines ranging from CA$100 to CA$500 were issued on those who continued to use sprinklers to water their lawns and not leave them dry, and didn't hand water trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetable and fruit patches.

Hand water vegetable patches, flowers and shrubs

This summer there was an unprecedented drought, and the water restrictions were meant to conserve water for essential needs.

"As climate change continues to affect our region's water supply, using water wisely year-round is just the right thing to do, irrespective of a potential monetary penalty," said Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie who is also chair of Metro Vancouver's water committee in a statement.

The City of Vancouver had the most fines at 168, followed by Coquitlam with 154 and North Vancouver with 109 offenders.

These fines probably came after neighbours snitched on them... otherwise how would the respective city authorities know? Other municipalities didn't record any fines because they lacked the manpower to check out possible offenders, or only issued warnings.

But in general residents in Metro Vancouver use too much water at about 270 litres per day. If commercial uses are considered then it jumps to 400 litres per day.

This summer there was unprecedented drought

In the summer water usage dramatically increases in the summer, with nearly 40 percent used for residential and non-residential lawn watering.

"Lawn watering restrictions are an effective way to reduce water consumption for esthetic outdoor uses and ensure that we have enough water for essential needs, such as drinking, cooking and cleaning," said Brodie."

But at least greater awareness of water usage has led to a drop per capita, from an average of 474 litres per day in 2013 to 387 litres last year, below the performance objective of 402 litres.

Nevertheless, the less water we all use in general the better, not just for cities but the planet as well. 

Picture of the Day: Mushroom Soup

Mushroom soup is very hearty and comforting

Last week I sampled some cream of mushroom soup at the annual Circle Craft Fair  and bought the packet to make at home.

The company is called Untamed Feast, where they forage wild mushrooms in British Columbia and Alberta, and then package them into various products. I not only bought the mushroom soup packet, but also one of large morels, and another with dried sliced porcini mushrooms too, and mushroom risotto.

The package from Untamed Feast

What caught everyone's interest was the thick soup was choc full of finely diced tubers and that it was really simple to make.

You just saute half a diced onion, and a garlic clove with either butter or olive oil. After a few minutes, add one-quarter cup of white wine, then add the packet of mushroom soup mix which is powder and dehydrated mushrooms. 

After that four cups of water are added, then wait for it to boil before turning down the heat and adding a cup of either cream or milk (or skip this step completely), and let it simmer for about 10 minutes and then the soup's ready to be eaten.

I used milk instead of cream and the soup still had a slight creaminess in flavour. The finely chopped mushrooms rehydrated and the combination of the various mushrooms made it delicious in flavour and texture.

Each packet is good for four people, and each bite is like snuggling up in a warm blanket.

VIFF Review: The Pot au Feu

Most of the film is centered in this kitchen

One of the closing films of the Vancouver International Film Festival was The Pot au Feu, also known as The Taste of Things or The Passion of Dodin Bouffant by director Tran Anh-Hung. It's interesting to note that exactly 30 years ago he became an international star with his film The Scent of Green Papaya.

In The Pot au Feu, Tran makes viewers hungry, watching actors Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel cooking numerous dishes using 19th century cooking equipment. One of the earlier scenes in the film is the French version of Eat Drink Man Woman, spending a lot of time watching mostly Binoche's character prepare a roast loin of veal, a whole turbot poached in a milk bath, a vol au vent, which is a puff pastry where the inside is hollowed out and creamy vegetables spooned in, and a Baked Alaska -- yes it existed in the 1830s.

Dodin cooks a romantic meal for Eugenie 

Magimel is Dodin, who seems to be wealthy enough not to "work", and instead has an estate with a large garden to grow vegetables, acquire fine wines and entertain his male friends who are serious gourmets, while Binoche is Eugenie, his loyal cook for over 20 years who intuitively knows exactly what Dodin wants. 

Oh and they are lovers too; he has asked her many times to marry him, and she politely refuses, saying the arrangement they have now is fine.

There isn't much of a plot in The Pot au Feu: an Eurasian prince comes calling and wants to impress Dodin and his friends with a terribly lavish meal that lasts eight hours. The chef is none other than Pierre Gagnaire himself who in one scene reads out the outlandish menu.

Chef Gagnaire plays... a chef in the film

The other storyline is Eugenie who has fainting spells and the doctors don't know what is wrong with her; When she convalesces, Dodin uses the opportunity to finally cook for her and presents a romantic meal for one that includes oysters topped with caviar, a chicken with slices of black truffle stuffed under the skin and the cooked in a broth that is used for consomme, then the meat is the main course. 

Then there is a precocious girl Pauline, who helps out in the kitchen and Eugenie and Dodin immediately see she has the potential to become a great cook.

Director Tran uses a lot of mise en scene, long lingering shots of the food being prepared from scratch, and how they cook things methodically but with a lot of love and care through how they handle the ingredients. He also uses a lot of natural light, while the lighting at night, particularly the dinner for Eugenie is dimly lit.

Tran (left) directing Magimel in the kitchen

The dialogue is relatively sparse, as the food seems to speak for itself, while viewers can sense the sexual tension between Eugenie and Dodin -- Binoche and Magimel were together for five years and have a daughter together, so they are very comfortable with each other on screen.

Sadly there isn't much character development in the film, but the real star of The Pot au Feu is the food. I had been forewarned not to watch the film on an empty stomach and it's true. Clocking in at 134 minutes, it's a long film about cooking and eating food. However, it surely has inspired some audience members to try their hand in the kitchen, and are probably relieved they have modern cooking appliances and not have to tend to a fire to heat the stove...

The Pot au Feu

Directed by Tran Anh-Hung

Stars Juliette Binoche, Benoit Magimel

134 minutes

Picture of the Day: Oatmeal Cookies

These oatmeal cookies are vegan and only use four ingredients

One thing I couldn't do in Hong Kong was baking so now it's nice to have access to a large oven and make something from scratch.

Scrolling through Instagram I'm seeing more short cooking videos and they post the recipe too. 

The one I saw the other day was for oatmeal cookies -- using just four ingredients: oatmeal, chocolate chips, peanut butter and bananas.

After buying a bag of chocolate chips, I tried out this recipe.

Just before putting the cookie dough into oven

It's simple enough -- mashing up two bananas (the more ripe the better), and adding a quarter-cup of peanut butter, a quarter-cup of dark chocolate chips, and one and a half cups of oatmeal.

After I mixed them thoroughly together, I scooped the dough onto the baking sheet, making 12 cookies. I flattened them a bit and then baked them for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

When my timer went off, the cookies seemed very soft and baked them for another five minutes, but they hadn't changed much in terms of firmness and turned off the heat and left them there.

They were still soft, but they were already golden brown so they should be done.

Nevertheless they taste delicious. You can taste all the ingredients, and not one overpowers the other.