I have not eaten crabs or have a decadent seafood meal for quite a while. Fate has it that I will get a chance to savour this delicacy, which I am not particularly crazy about. I am ambivalent about seafood, especially crabs, prawns, abalone, etc because I have a mild allergy to crustaceans. The allergy rears its ugly head as I get older. Maybe my body is getting cranky? So seafood does not feature much in my diet, except fish, although I seriously love prawn noodles and I know I can make a mean one. We eat lots of omega rich fish at home - salmon, sea bass, cod, mackerel...They are pricier than the usual fishes in the market but its very nutritious and delicious. You do not need alot of fancy work to prepare such fishes. A simple grill or pan fry with a squeeze of lemon juice will work.
So off we went to Mellben Seafood at Ang Mo Kio Ave 3 which I heard was famous for its crab bee hoon. Well, my knowledge of good eating places for crabs is limited to the one down the street I live - Eng Seng at Joo Chiat Place, and the ubiqutious No Signboard, Jumbo, Long Beach... Ang Mo Kio is really the boonies for me so I was looking forward to be surprised.
And I was more than surprised. To be honest, it was the best crab meal I have ever had. The crab stock that comes with the bee hoon is milky, robust and so flavourful! Its simply heaven! They serve the bee hoon in a bowl on the side, as well as an extra bowl of crab stock. This is in addition to the main course which is of course a mid size crab in a claypot filled to the brim with the same stuff. I am a Cantonese so when it comes to good soup, I can recognise one right away. And this is AWESOME! I was happily slurping and enjoying each mouthful. But the best has yet to come...
The butter crab is so divine.....silky smooth, creamy buttery sauce much like liquid gold! Its probably similar to a French butter sauce. Everyone at the table was lapping up every single drop with chunks of man tou. If they could lick off the plate, they would!
And the last dish was the perfect finish to a fine meal. Crabs crusted with salted egg yolk. It takes great skill to fry crabs with salted egg yolk as it can burn easily since there is no liquid to create a barrier. But the chef demonstrated such delicate skill - the crab was well coated and the crust was delicious, with a hint of honey to help caramelise and bind the salted egg yolk.
My head and palate were bursting with symphonies throughout the entire meal. Folks, its definitely worth a try. There are 7 of us, - three crab dishes plus four other main dishes comes up to SGD239. Good value for money!
Food is the soul that feeds the spirit!
Colors of green, red, yellow, purple....
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Cast iron casserole
I finally bought my cast iron casserole from Le Creuset. Costs $289 for a 27 cm oval casserole instead of the original $590, because of a 50% discount from Takashimaya. Picked up a stoneware baking dish as well, in the signature orange red that you can spot from miles away in the kitchen of any serious chefs. Anna Olson has at least 8 types sitting in her kitchen in all sorts of colours. Envious!
I was actually toying between a black cast iron casserole, instead of the enameled version. It looks so rustic, the way it should be when soldiers, farmers, wandering gypsies, priests traversed across Europe in the 1500s armed with nothing much except their cast iron pot that pretty much cooks everything, in every way. Fried, stewed, boiled, braised etc. Completely black and with much larger iron pores that will turn into a coat of sheen with heavy usage and over time. The biggest downside is that it will rust easily. So a lot of care is needed. Well, for a busy person like me, that didn't sound right... So I ended up with the nice and pretty enameled version.
Ok I always manage to learn something with every culinary adventure. I didn't know the black phenolic knob at the top of the lid has a temperature limit of 190 degrees celsius. I was wondering why and was getting fairly alarmed, since I only discovered this when I reach home! In my mind, I often imagined a cast iron casserole allows one to cook in the oven for a long period in high temperature. Long period = 8 hrs. Ah yes and no! Yes it allows you to stew or braise for that long, but the magic of a cast iron casserole is that it retains heat and evenly, without raising the temperature of your cooking. It is not designed to cook long over high heat. Rather, its over low and medium heat. I further validated by double checking Julia Child's recipe for beouf bouguignon - 375 degrees farenheit indeed. Phew!
The next step is to read that recipe in detail and assemble my ingredients for a first culinary foray into classic French cooking! I did ask myself, why am I starting with something far more advance. Eh....I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this even though I am still an amateur? Or maybe we are all serious meat lovers?
Haha.
I was actually toying between a black cast iron casserole, instead of the enameled version. It looks so rustic, the way it should be when soldiers, farmers, wandering gypsies, priests traversed across Europe in the 1500s armed with nothing much except their cast iron pot that pretty much cooks everything, in every way. Fried, stewed, boiled, braised etc. Completely black and with much larger iron pores that will turn into a coat of sheen with heavy usage and over time. The biggest downside is that it will rust easily. So a lot of care is needed. Well, for a busy person like me, that didn't sound right... So I ended up with the nice and pretty enameled version.
Ok I always manage to learn something with every culinary adventure. I didn't know the black phenolic knob at the top of the lid has a temperature limit of 190 degrees celsius. I was wondering why and was getting fairly alarmed, since I only discovered this when I reach home! In my mind, I often imagined a cast iron casserole allows one to cook in the oven for a long period in high temperature. Long period = 8 hrs. Ah yes and no! Yes it allows you to stew or braise for that long, but the magic of a cast iron casserole is that it retains heat and evenly, without raising the temperature of your cooking. It is not designed to cook long over high heat. Rather, its over low and medium heat. I further validated by double checking Julia Child's recipe for beouf bouguignon - 375 degrees farenheit indeed. Phew!
The next step is to read that recipe in detail and assemble my ingredients for a first culinary foray into classic French cooking! I did ask myself, why am I starting with something far more advance. Eh....I guess I wanted to prove to myself that I can do this even though I am still an amateur? Or maybe we are all serious meat lovers?
Haha.
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