now experiencing the fragrant aroma of saigon
The lady on the Honda ordered sweet and sour pork to go. The cook dropped a piece of cooked pork, which lay on the ground for a few minutes. The owner subtly picked up the meat and lay it on top of the evening’s lettuce. That piece went first into the to-go bag, followed by most of the rest of the pork. A couple pieces saved to offer with rice to the gods – better not the one that fell on the ground!
I’ve never been much of a fan of fusion cuisine, but every once in a while I get the urge to use Asian ingredients in a Western-style preparation or vice-versa. The idea today was to make pasta with pork bellies, my current favorite part of the pig – basically a big hunk of bacon before being smoked and/or cured. All around Asia, pork bellies are usually braised in a flavorful broth for several hours until much of the fat is extracted and the meat is tender. I used a mixture of red wine and chicken stock, flavored with garam masala and orange marmalade, let it simmer for a couple of hours, then skimmed off the fat. Meanwhile, I caramelized a finely-diced onion with some of the drippings, then added a can of tomatoes along with the pork bellies and the braising liquid. This sauce went on top of the penne after simmering for another hour or two, then topped with a mixture of yogurt and Sriracha sauce. Success!
The third loaf of sourdough rye was very successful. I discovered the key is patience, allowing at least two hours for the dough to rise and over an hour to bake. I’ve been feeding Nüwa every day for nearly two weeks now, and she’s developed some interesting flavors and aromas.
I haven’t been food shopping for over a week, so I never know what I’ll eat until I have a look through the kitchen and garden. This time it’s a spinach and bacon quiche. I made the crust with a mixture of white and whole-grain flour, butter, a bit of salt and a splash of water. I couldn’t figure out how to roll it out successfully, so I just patted the crust into the pie tin. First a layer of spinach from the garden sautéed with half an onion and a couple cloves of garlic went in. Then a layer of crumbled applewood-smoked bacon. Finally a mixture of four eggs, a cup of milk, and a handful of grated Maasdam cheese, seasoned with a bit of mustard powder, cayenne and white pepper. I baked the quiche for about 40 minutes at around 400º F. Now the cupboards are nearly bare – I may have to venture into the village soon.
Nüwa the Mother Sponge has is on her fourth day now. Each day I feed her sugar water and rye, and within minutes she starts furiously bubbling and boiling. Nüwa is a sourdough starter, created from rye flour mixed with live kefir, live vinegar and live yeast. Tomorrow she will be ready to be made into a sourdough rye bread.
Today, I made both a brioche and a batch of Mexican chocolate cookies. The brioche disappeared in an instant. Fortunately, I can only bake six cookies at a time or they would all be long gone as well. I found two recipes for inspiration: Mexican Chocolate Icebox Cookies and Ibarra Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here’s my final recipe: Mix 1 cup butter and ¾ cup mixed brown and raw sugar until smooth. Beat in two eggs. (I still don’t have any vanilla. If I did, I would have added about 1 tablespoon.) Mix in 4 discs Ibarra chocolate, chopped into little pieces. Then 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, ¼ teaspoon allspice, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a pinch of white pepper. Refrigerate a day. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350º F.
Today’s baked item is muesli cookies. I more-or-less followed my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, substituting unsweetened muesli for the oatmeal and raisins. I skipped the vanilla (only because we ran out), added a pinch of allspice and used a mixture of brown sugar and demerara sugar (a bit less than specified in the recipe). The coarse sugar crystals give the cookies an extra crunchiness, balancing the chewiness of the oat and barley flakes.
Lunch was bacon lettuce & tomato sandwiches. Home baked wholemeal bread, lettuce and tomatoes from the garden, applewood-smoked bacon and Japanese mayonnaise. I could easily make my own mayonnaise, but I have become a hopeless Kewpie-addict. The next logical step would be to make my own bacon. There are no shortage of pork-bellies in Hong Kong, but the process could be problematic since Eric, our landlord, is vegetarian and may not appreciate barrels of pig slurry in the yard nor the wafting aroma of animal-flesh smoke through his flat. Mmmm, bacon!
Granddoctor Alpo also brought us an expired Limburger cheese from Wisconsin. I had never actually eaten Limburger before and found the aroma exactly as expected. The reason the smell is so offensive is that it is fermented with Brevibacterium linens, the same bacterium responsible for body odor. (In fact, studies have shown that mosquitos are unable to differentiate between Limburger cheese and human feet.) Our breakfast was traditional sandwiches of Limburger, sliced onions and spicy mustard on fresh homemade brown bread. Like a durian, the taste was so much better than the smell, and the sandwiches were strangely addictive.
