Wineshark Recipe - 54. Ragout de Porc

Ingredients:

• Pork chop - 2 lb 8 oz (to divide into 8 pcs)
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Black pepper finely - 1 tsp
• Plain flour - 2 oz
• Tomato paste - 2 oz
• Rosemary - 1 tsp
• Bay leaves - 2
• Stock - 10 oz
• Dry red wine - 2 oz
• Carrot wedges - 6 oz
• Onion wedges - 6 oz
• Turnips wedges - 6 oz
• Penne - 1 lb 4 oz

First marinate the pork chop, then coated with flour and pan fry till golden brown.

Stir fry the wedges with oil, then add tomato paste, stock, rosemary and red wine. Add the pork chop later on.

Cook the penne and serve with the pork and sauce on top.

Wineshark Recipe - 53. Crispy Potato Fritters

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 2
• Bacon finely - 2 stripes
• Self-raising flour - 1 tbsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• White pepper powder - dashes
• Cooking oil - 2 tbsp

First peel off the potato skin and cut into thin stripes. Soak in water to remove the powdery substance, then dry up the potato stripes.

Add the bacon finely, self-raising flour and other seasonings.

Pre-heat the frying pan with oil, and put the potato so both sides turn golden.

Wineshark Weekly - 1 July 2012

Half of 2012 is now behind us, and there are many things going to happen in the remaining half. Many will be big for me and I am looking forward to those. Changes have to come, especially when you know it is furtile to hang on to some unrealistic things. I believe in one thing, your destiny is in your own hands...

This week I spent my time in HK, and I am happy as I finally got the time to do things I could not for a long while. The restaurant I visited this week was Luk Yu Tea House in Central. It was crowded as expected, but we got a table quite easily.

The decoration was old style, and giving you a feel of going back to the 60s. From the uniform of the waiters, the chairs and lighting, to the tea cup all have been designed to bring the atmosphere to the old days.

We ordered several dishes, including the signature Almond and Pig Lungs Soup, Sweet and Sour Pork with Young Ginger, Roasted Pigeon and Fish Roll with Green. The soup is delicious, and for someone who don't know, it is very tedious and time-consuming to clean the pig lungs properly. I normally won't have that in any restaurant unless I have full confidence on the cleaniness. One of the only places in HK I will have the soup and also eat the lungs is here. As usual, it doesn't let me down.

The sweet and sour pork is nice, keeping to the standards. Again, this time I tried something new as I normally won't eat young ginger. But for this dish I ordered that instead of pineapple. The ginger is tender and some were quite spicy. Tasty, and certainly another good dish I recommend.

The fish roll is a dish requiring good skills from the chef. A slide of fish meat, which must be thin, is prepared, and then wrapping in it is a strip of Chinese ham. It is stir fry with tender kailan. This is a surprise to me on the day, as the dish is not something I had before and made to good quality.

We also ordered the roasted pigeon, and in fact this was the least I like. The pigeon is crispy, though I think it was slightly over-roasted. The meat was fortunately not dried up, and overall still an above average dish. But maybe because I was already high on my expectation so I got a bit disappointed.

Another good thing to praise was the good customer service. As I am not a frequent visitor, I was still received and greeted in warm welcome, and during the ordering, the servicing of the meal, and other details I was very happy on the attention and sincerity. One may expect that for such a famous restaurant the waiters can also be a bit aloof, but in this case it is certainly not so. Overall it cost HK$720 for two, not exactly cheap but still quite making me wanting to go back again soon.

The typhoon hit HK on Friday night, and unfortunately because of that we cancelled a birthday dinner with some old colleagues. Instead I went to hotpot with Ivy, and had the 'Bread Crab'. This was the second one in a week, and for a person who don't normally eat crab, I found it delicious and craving for more.

This week I had been able to catch up a bit on my wine tasting:

Trimbach Pinot Blanc 2007 (Alsace, France)

The Trimbach family had been in the Alsace wine industry for almost four centuries, with the vineyards all surrounding Ribeauville, where the soils are mainly limestone. They have several labels highlighting different brand, grape and quality level. This one is their classic wine with citrus notes, hints of pepper, oak and the developed characters of farmyard. Fairly light-bodied with a zesty acidity, the palate is reasonably intense with lemon, pear and cream notes, finishing with a fairly short length. Overall of acceptable quality, should drink now and not intend for further ageing.

Domaine Confuron-Cotetidot Nuits-Saint-Georges 2007 (Nuits-St-Georges, France)

This domaine is located in Vosne-Romanee, with around 11ha of vineyards scattered in different villages. One of the special features is their maceration of must, skin and stem for more than one week, providing enhanced fruit and tannin, though also getting some criticism from traditionalist. This Nuits-St-Georges village wine has a very good complexity on the nose, with baked red fruit, some dark cherries and other development characters, though also showing some unripeness and stem, probably coming from the long maceration mentioned. The palate is weaker comparatively, without much intensity and complexity, and finishing with a reasonable length affecting the overall quality from reaching a higher level.

Domaine Drouhin-Laroze Chapelle Chambertin Grand Cru 2003 (Gevrey-Chambertin, France)

This domaine in Gevrey-Chambertin was started in 1850 by Jean-Baptiste Laroze, and later his descendent Suzanne Laroze married Alexandre Drouhin, who owned vineyards in Chambolle Musigny, and the estate was henceforth called Drouhin-Laroze. With 46% of their production coming from Grand Cru, this bottle is one of them, coming from Chapelle-Chambertin, one of the lesser known grand cru. The wine is concentrated, with strong tannin for a Pinot Noir, and fairly full bodied and also got a warming alcohol. Good complexity on the nose, accompanying by a sweet palate mainly fruit driven with reasonable length.

Enough for the week, I will be in Manila for a few days and in the meantime please take care and see you here next week!

Wineshark Recipe - 52. Pork Chop with Mustard Sauce

Ingredients:

• Pork chop - 2 pieces (cut into 4 slides)
• Salt - 1/4 tsp
• Black pepper finely - dashes
• Dry white wine - 2 oz
• Green pepper corn - 1/2 tsp
• Whipping cream - 2 oz
• French mustard - 1 tsp

Marinate the pork chop and then pan fry both sides till it turns golden brown. Sparkle with white wine to bring up aromas.

Cook the sauce by pressing the green pepper corn on a pan, add mustard and cream. Then pour on top of the pork chop.

Wineshark Recipe - 51. Bacon on top potatoes

Ingredients:

• Medium potatoes - 2
• Cooking oil - 1/2 tbsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Bacon finely - 2 strips
• Onion finely - 2 oz
• Capsicum finely - 2 oz
• Spring onion - 1
• Mozzarella - 2 oz
• Grated Parmesan - 1 tbsp
• Parsley finely - 1/2 tbsp

First clean the potatoes and use the fork to pop holes into the skin, and coat with oil and salt to give the potato skin flavor.

Put into oven and bake for about 1 hr, at 220 deg C.

Stir fry onion and bacon, then add capsicum and spring onion.

Cut the baked potatoes into halves, then put the onion and bacon on top. Place the mozzarella, parmesan cheese and parsley on top and put back into oven to bake till golden.

Wineshark Recipe - 50. Tuna and Corn Bisque

Ingredients:

• Butter - 1.5 oz
• Onion finely - 4 oz
• Curry powder - 1 tsp
• Paprika - 1 tsp
• Plain flour - 1.5 oz
• Chicken stock - 1 lb 8 oz
• Milk - 4 oz
• Whipping cream - 2 oz
• Lemon rind - 1 tsp
• Sweet corn - 10 oz
• Tuna fish - 5 oz
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Cheddar cheese - 1 oz

• Parsley finely - 1 tbsp

First stir fry onion with butter, then add curry powder, paprika and flour.

Then add chicken stock, milk, cream and lemon rind to cook for about 5 min, and finally put corn and tuna into the soup, plus seasoning.

Upon serving add cheddar cheese and parsley finely.

Wineshark Weekly - 24 June 2012

Last week I did not write this blog and you may wonder why. Actually in the last two weeks it was a very difficult period for me in this company. Having to talk to your whole organization and giving them the bad news is certainly not easy, but dealing with the emotions of the people, both internal and external, and thinking about the brand equity and all the consumers we are giving up, it is also painful. I know it is just a job but somehow attaching too much is a problem. I need to look at it positively and think about the future...

Let's talk things on the lighter mood. Having spent basically two whole weeks in Manila, people are asking me the food I had. Of course I tried different things, but if there is a Filippino dish to recommend, I have no doubt it would be Bicol Express. It is basically pork belly cooked with coconut sauce, red and green chili, with some leek. If done properly, the pork belly would be soft and melting, and the chili gives the spicy kick to make it very appetitizing. A very good dish to come with rice, if you can find it, try it in HK.

Able to chat with a good friend just couple of days ago, and confirming him to be back in HK in Aug. Really looking forward to his return and the chance to again have some good time together.

Last night I went to the hotpot restaurant in Sham Tseng, the first time after their renovation. It is still good as always, and I tried their 'Bread Crab'. I am not a crab fanatics because I am lazy in eating, but the crab is so good and meaty then Ivy and myself finished the whole (plus a lot of other things). Delicious, pairing well with the tomato soup base, unfortunately I forgot to take a picture...

Also planning my wine study and tasting, been falling behind quite substantially given my work commitment. I am organizing tasting every week now whenever I am in HK, and my classmate is kind enough to offer his shop to host the tasting. Here let me share the wines we have tasted:

Louis Latour Beaujolais Villages 2010

Louis Latour is a negociant with history dated back to the 17^th century. They have the largest grand cru property in Cote d’Or. They produce Beaujolais wines from 35 selected towns in the area, with granite soils dominating, and ideally suitable for the Gamay grapes. This wine is of acceptable quality with typical Gamay characteristics of red fruit, low tannin and light-bodied, showing clear carbonic maceration style of bubble gum. Not a complex and intense wine but still interesting and enjoyable.

Allegrini Valpolicella 2010

Valpolicella is one of the most prestigious wine-making regions in Italy, with calcareous soils, mild and moderate climate, with the Allegrini family having a leading role in the local wine industry since the 16^th century. With the main variety being Corvina, and blended with Rondinella and Molinara, the wine has a red fruit characters strong in cherry and floral, with some medicinal and gamey notes. Typical of its style, the Valpolicella exhibits low tannin and light-bodied, but with a fairly intense ruby colour. The 2010 has a fair concentration on nose and palate though rather short in length.

Greenhough Pinot Noir 2009

Greenhough is located in Nelson, the top of New Zealand’s South Island. The climate is cool and maritime, which is suitable for Pinot Noir and other Burgundian varieties. This 2009 has a reasonably intense nose of red fruit characters, with also a good deal of oak more on the butterscotch style. On the palate, a juicy and ripe cherry flavor dominates, with a high alcohol level, further illustrating the ripeness of the grapes. Overall in balance, with the acidity providing the structure though the length is a bit short.

Chapel Hill Unwooded Chardonnay 2010

Chapel Hill owns 44ha of vineyards and also purchases fruit from selected group of growers in McLaren Vale and Adelaide Hills. This unoaked Chardonnay was the last vintage the producer made before switching to oak-ageing in 2011. This wine had a good nose of various characters, and balancing with zesty acidity making it enjoyable. The palate is weaker, with less intense and complex flavors, but still having reasonable length and ready to drink now.

Next week finally getting to spend the time in HK, so will be able to resume my weekly restaurant tour and enjoy some more wine. Stay tuned!

Wineshark Weekly - 10 June 2012

Last week I went to a traditional style Cantonese restaurant for dinner, the famous Lin Heung Tea House in Central. One of the few remaining one in HK, it is serving some traditional dim sum which most restaurants already are not selling. However, I went there for dinner so did not get to try the dim sum but mainly for the dishes.

When one first walked up the stairs, you will see the same decoration that is so common for such restaurant in the 70s, with some bird cages hanging on the ceiling. Even the tables and chairs got you immediately thinking about that, and bringing quite a lot of memories of how we went to such restaurants when we were young, with our parents...

On the night we ordered a Skewered Pork and Chicken Liver, Bitter Melon with Spare Ribs, and Stewed Fish Belly. The first is something I have not eaten for a long while, which essentially is a piece of BBQ pork, sandwiched with a layer of pig fat and a small piece of chicken liver. Very fatty for most people, and in fact Ivy did not eat the piece of fat, but it was delicious and truly something you should try, though not good to eat a lot.

The spare ribs and fish belly were both nice, though not I would say anything exceptional. But overall still a good restaurant to visit and enjoy the good old times! Next time should also try the dim sum. Overall it cost $265 for three persons. But remember to book or go earlier as the restaurant easily got full.

I went to Korea last week to meet my supply chain manager there, who had resigned and having the last week in office. Apart from the handover with his replacement and other support activities, I also took the chance to take a one-day leave to go with him around in their Memorial public holiday, to relax and get to know the country and culture better. Even after going there for more than 20 times I simply know nothing except the hotel and airport.

Thanks to Paul, we went to Yang Yang province (northeastern part of Korea, more than 200km from Seoul) and to some of the beautiful places like the lighthouse, Seoraksan national park, the beach, and also able to have a good BBQ dinner in his resort house, with real log fire to make our own charcoal. The weather and everything was simply fantastic and I enjoyed very much. This provided me the energy and got myself prepared to face the challenges in work that I have to deal with...

After returning to HK I was able to join a wine-tasting and dinner with the theme on Pinot Noir, organized by Altaya. The wines were more the everyday type, not something exceptional, and the overall Masterclass gave me more a feeling of marketing promotion than serious educational purpose.

But I did enjoy the dinner in W Hotel, with the good food and also able to interact with Mandy Weaver, the owner of Churton winery in Marlborough NZ. Their wine was one of the best of the day and I particularly like their dedication on biodynamics and details in the winemaking process. I strongly believe that they will do very well, especially for drinkers who like a true representation of the terroir from their NZ wine.

Finally, sharing the wines I tasted for this week:

Deux Montille Auxey-Duresses 2005 (Auxey-Duresses, France)

Deux Montille is the negociant business run by Etienne de Montille with his sister Alix. The Auxey-Duresses is a village wine that is good value for money, offering drinkers the glimpse of the Cote de Beaune Chardonnay without paying too high a price. This 2005 got a nice palate though the nose is weak. Still able to grasp a bit of complexity, this is a good refreshing wine to enjoy on a summer day.

Maison Leroy Bourgogne 2001 (Burgundy, France)

Leroy is obviously a famous name for Burgundy, and their negociant business Maison Leroy produces good value wine in general. This generic Bourgogne is a disappointment though, with the first impression not good from the moldy and soaky cork upon opening the bottle. The wine is rather weak on palate, without much fruit remaining and fairly light in intensity. Also a bit too sour, though the nose is still enjoyable with a fair complexity. This wine should be drunk immediately and not to keep further.

Need to plan my wine study again, and also the tasting piece to ensure I did cover all the more simple ones before the final exam in Jan 2013. Looks still got a while, but I found that I need to organize tasting every week from now on to be able to taste all the styles, let alone to cover all the regions... So made up my mind to organize that starting next week. Stay tuned for more information.

Until next week, wish you all a happy week, and wish myself the best of luck on what I have to do....

Wineshark Weekly - 3 June 2012

Getting restless nowadays, and it requires a lot of self-control to remain sane on my job. Really think the company should give me a lot more to compensate for what I am doing... Not just handling two jobs together, but to deliver a lot of extra needs also. I have to adjust myself from now on...

 I could not write this weekly blog for the last couple of weeks, simply because there are too many things to do. But I promise myself not to give in the excuse anymore. So here we are. This week we went to a nondescript noodle restaurant in TST, called Wei Yi Noodle.

Ivy got some hesitation before we went in, claiming that she heard it was not particularly clean. Once we sat down I agreed totally with her. It was not providing me a lot of comfort and I hoped the food would be good.

We ordered a Stir-fry Shanghai Thick Noodle, a pan-fried dumpling, Beijing dumpling in soup and a soy milk. The noodle was not very good, quite of bland which is a surprise considering the Shanghai cuisine is famous for its strong taste.

The two dumplings are acceptable, but personally I don't like the dough being too thick and you can understand my quality standards are very high since I got Wanchai Ferry in my company's product portfolio. The stuffing was fairly juicy though.

The soy milk was nice, but seeing how the waitress got that out of a bucket lying on the floor did not help to increase my appetite. Overall it cost $70 so very cheap but given all the worries on hygiene and not particularly great food quality, I won't return to this restaurant.

This week I went to Philippines for business (as usual) and did take a picture of my office scenary. This job really did not allow me the time to enjoy and understand better the local culture. So I have decided to make an effort to do something about it.

I went to Palawan (a famous resort island in Philippines) in the latter part of the week, to conduct some business meetings. Maybe I got too much expectation but it turned out not very attractive to me. Yes, I did not go to the Underground River (a new 7 wonder in the world) but going to the resorts and beach to take a look, it was nothing compared with other places like Phuket or Bali. But one of the resorts was very nice.

My sales team persuaded me to try one of the local delicacy, a tree worm called tamilok. The worm is very long and slimy, and the local said it tasted like oyster. I braved myself to try one. Not something I fancy and the taste was nothing like oyster either. But maybe good to show off your courage to someone.

I did have some good seafood in Palawan, in a relatively remote part of the town (I rode a tricycle there!). Walking all the way to the seafront, located right inside a forest of mangrove trees in the wetland, I could see very clear water down under. We ordered grilled prawns, sizzling squid, steamed lapu-lapu and a mixed vegetable. With 9 bottles of beer to share among the three of us, overall only costing PHP2,000. A fantastic meal and good atmosphere!

Returning home yesterday I cooked two dishes: Vegetable Potato Kugel and Fillet of Pork Mozzarella. Detailed recipe is available on my blog. The pork is good and the sauce is also nice to go with sphagetti. Since I made more sauce the extra was preserved.

I also got my WSET level 4 sparkling wine exam result. Can't believe I failed the theory part! Even though my tasting got a distinction the overall is just a Pass. I am thinking whether to appeal and check the papers. It really hurt my confidence... I should need to work doubly hard and drink more also!

I just opened a bottle this week:

Albert Bichot Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Bougros 2006

Appearance

Bright and clear, medium intensity gold colour, with watery rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, medium (+) intensity and developing aromas of lemon, pear, apple, honey, hazelnut, butter and lees.

Palate

Dry, with medium (+) and lively acidity, medium in alcohol level. This wine has a medium (-) body with medium intensity flavors of lime, pear, grapefruit, brioche and stony. Medium in length.

Conclusion

Very good quality Chablis with the intensity pinpointing its grand cru level. Intense nose of good complexity, the wine is well balanced and having a firm structure, with lively acidity and reasonably complex on palate. Even though less rich in flavors, it finishes with a reasonable length, and is high enjoyable. Ready to drink now though it would benefit from further ageing of 4-6 years.

Next week I will go to Seoul, and going to miss out a lot of fun as I cannot attend the birthday party for some of my best friends. Here let me wish them happy birthday, healthy and crazy as always!

Wineshark Recipe - 49. Fillet of Pork Mozzarella

Ingredients:

• Fillet of pork - 1 lb (to divide into 4 pcs)
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• White pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
• Plain flour - 2 oz
• Egg - 1
• Bread crumbs - 2 oz
• Concassee - 8 oz
• Mozzarella cheese - 2 oz

First slide the fillet into four pieces, and marinate with salt and white pepper powder.

Then we prepare the Concassee sauce:

Ingredients (this is good for 20 people):

• Garlic finely - 1.5 oz
• Onion finely - 1 lb
• Oregano - 1 tbsp
• Marjoram - 1 tbsp
• Tin tomato peeled - 2 lb
• Diced peeled tomato - 3 lb
• Tomato juice - 1 lb 8 oz
• Tomato paste - 2.5 oz
• Vegetable oil - 3 oz
• Sugar - 1.25 oz
• Salt - 0.5 oz
• White pepper powder - 1 tsp

First stir fry the onion and garlic with oil, and after it smells good add the herbs, tomato paste and diced tomato.

Finally add tin peeled tomato, tomato juice and other seasonings. Slowly cook for about 20min.

Then deep fry the fillet in hot oil, and put the nearly cooked fillet on a baking tray, cover them with Concassee sauce, and coat with Mozarella cheese.

Ready to serve when the cheese got melted and turns yellow.

Wineshark Recipe - 48. Vegetable Potato Kugel

Ingredients (this is good for 6 people):

• Potatoes - 1 lb 4 oz
• Carrot shredded - 8 oz
• Onion shredded - 6 oz
• Garlic finely - 1/2 tsp
• Egg - 1
• Cooking oil - 1 tbsp
• Parsley finely - 2 tbsp
• Bread crumbs - 2 tbsp
• Parmesan cheese - 2 oz
• Butter - 1 oz
• Plain yoghurt - 1/2 cup
• Spring onion diced - 2 stems

First clean the potato, and put in a pot with water. Add a bit of salt and cook. Continue to cook for 10min after the water boils, and then turn off the stove. Continue to immerse the potato in the hot water for 5min (remember to cover the pot).

Remove the water and let the potatoes cool down, then remove the skin and shred. Add the carrot and onion shredded onto a baking tray, and mix well with egg, cooking oil, parsley, garlic, bread crumbs and butter. Press to the shape of the tray.

Bake for about 20min, and then sparkle with Parmesan cheese. Continue to bake for about 10min. Before eating add the spring onion and yoghurt.