Not Quite No Knead bread (Updated with Video)

With updated instructions

It's been two and a half months since my original post. During this time I've kept mucking (enhancing) with the recipe (my Chemistry/Software/Engineering background - don't know when it's good enough to stop) The core instructions are still from SeriousEats' Kenji; the interpretations are updated. Here's the final product (look! it has horns!)

Original instructions

During this quarantine time, I found this to be a soul satisfying undertaking. Fun with chemistry!😉

You will need: bread flour (preferable), salt, water. For the starter, you can use a mixture of different flours. I found that raw rye flour gives the best rise, it also darkens the bread a little. I’ve been staying with unbleached bread flour to continue feeding the starter.

It takes patience; start with growing the sourdough starter, using the instructions from SeriousEats. https://slice.seriouseats.com/2010/11/how-to-make-sourdough-starter-day-0.html

Starter is ready after close to 7 days, when it has lots of bubbles at the top and on the side.

Comments:         Make sure the starter in the container is not concave, (center is lower than side) - that means the microbes in the starter has depleted their food. Feed it some more before using it.

Use a scale, weigh out:
              100 gm  starter
                50  gm flour
                25   gm water

              

- OR - if you prefer English:

                4 oz starter (consistency like cake batter)

                2 oz bread flour
                1 oz water

NOTE: the metric measures give a total weight of 175 gm autolysed flour, which is a hair less than the 180 gm that the recipe calls for, but will suffice. The English measures give a total weight of 7 oz, or 198 gm autolysed flour, which is slightly more than the 180 gm called for, so adjust accordingly.

Mix well, cover, and refrigerate for 6  hours to overnight to autolyse.

When ready, it does not need to be doubled. It is now half the volume as shown in photo from my previous post.

After autolyse (in 28 oz bowl)

Mix together:  

                                435 grams bread flour,

                                6 grams salt

                                      Stir so the salt isn’t sitting at one spot,

                                180 grams autolysed starter from previous step

                                300 grams water

Stir well. Dough will be wet. Let it rest for about 10 minutes. 

Dough mixed, and before stretch and fold

Stretch and fold about 12 times, or until the dough is smoother (doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth and silky). Instead of using my hand, I have been using the spatula, but the technique is the same. Try not to add more flour. More flour = small holes in the final product.

Move the dough into a bigger bowl  for it to rise.

After stretch and fold (in 95 oz bowl)

Cover loosely and stick it in the fridge for 3 days per Kenji.

Remove it from the fridge. Let it rest 5-10 minutes or immediately if you can handle the cold dough.

Jelly Rolling shows how to generate good surface tension to avoid pancake bread. I believe the cold dough prevents it from getting sticky. If you repeat the jelly-rolling, it gets stickier, either because the dough has warmed up, but more probably because the gluten structure of the dough is affected adversely. By about the third time, it gets way too sticky (ask me how I know that!) By doing the jelly roll just once,it leads to large holes in the bread. See Wild Crumb vs Even Crumb by Joy Ride Coffee on Youtube.

Load the dough into the boule. Cover loosely and stick it into the fridge overnight. The loose covering dries out the dough a bit and also allows for cleaner slashing before baking.

 When ready to bake, put a cast iron pot with top or Dutch oven in the oven and set the oven temperature to 450 to 475 degrees F.  Allow it to heat for 20-30 minutes after oven temperature is reached.  (Note: I forgot to load the pot into the oven while preheating, and remedied that by heating the pot and lid(if possible) on the stove top to get it up to temperature)

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. It will have risen about 30%, i.e. not doubled in volume. It is easier to score because it has dried up a bit in the fridge. Score at an angle of 30 degrees and about 1/2 inch deep to  generate "horns" after baking. Score the dough assertively. Because it looked dry when scoring I spritzed it with water (about 12 inches above and across the scored dough, not directly onto the dough itself), don't know if it is necessary, but it didn't hurt the final product.

Lift the parchment paper carefully to remove the dough from the boule, and put it into the (screaming hot!) cast iron pot cover. If you're using a Dutch oven, put it into the pot itself. Handle it gently (and don't burn yourself) so as not to deflate the loaf.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is very dark.

When 25-30 minutes are up, turn off oven.  Let the bread cool before cutting.

Look at them holes!

Original

Allow it to cool if you can restrain yourself. Crust should be crackly. The perfect loaf should have larger holes in the center, smaller around the sides, and “horns” where the top has been scored. I haven’t achieved the holes and the horns yet – still trying  GOT IT!!   See perfect loaf as described in SeriousEats.

Comment: If you want to keep the starter going, add 100 grams flour and 100 grams water, stir and let it sit at room temperature to start over again. Otherwise cover and put it in the fridge, it will keep until you take it out, and feed it for the next loaf.

After a while your starter jar will be overflowing if you didn’t discard part of the starter. Pour out all but ½ cup of the starter and start building it up again (100 grams flour, 100 grams water). For the discard, I pour it into an oiled pan, and fry it up to make a savory pancake, adding green onions, salt, pepper and whatever herbs available at hand.

Comment: I have been doing a lot of research re:sourdough and its chemistry. Interesting references below.

1. Sourdough Postmortem:

   https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/troubleshoot-bad-bread-messed-up-loaf.html

2. Talk about mistakes to avoid:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M

3. Kenji Lopez’s regular (not sourdough) bread recipe that I got ideas from:

   https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/06/better-no-knead-bread-recipe.html

4. Discussion on Surface Tension:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww78_SfGyQE

5. Netflix

   The Chef Show, Episode 2 (I think) where Jon Favreau baked a sourdough bread

BBQ Pork (义焼)

I haven't made BBQ Pork at home for 40 years because of the easy access to good quality BBQ stores in the city. I used to make it in the 70's with my mom's recipe before the immigration wave from Hong Kong in the 80's brought along with it Hong Kong quality barbeque meats. Now with COVID19, it seems the right time to revive an old recipe with the addition of some ready made sauces.  The ready made sauces are optional, especially for those of you not living in areas with easy access to Chinese grocery stores.  It can taste just as good without them - the key is the type of pork you purchase.

I use "lean" pork butt. The pork butt cut is in itself marbled so just pick the leanest piece you can find. Some people like their BBQ pork with a bit more fat, in which case, pick a fattier piece.  But even the leanest piece of pork butt would have sufficient fat in it to give it just the right texture.

Cut the butt piece lengthwise into strips no more than 2 inches in diameter. Rub the pieces with minced garlic. Create a marinade using 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 3 tbsp rose cooking wine, 1 tbsp mustard and 1 tbsp corn starch (this is for about 2 pounds of meat).  The corn starch is to make the sauce thicker so it will stick to the meat.  Now if you have access to a Chinese grocery, you can add a couple of tablespoons of BBQ Pork sauce and Hoisin suace to enhance the flavour.  You will notice that these sauces have been thickened also so that they can stick to the meat. I prefer less sugar in my meats but if you like your meat sweeter, the original recipe called for 3 tbsp sugar, adjust the amount according to your taste; use brown sugar if possible. Marinade overnight in the fridge.

When ready to cook, brush with honey.  Put on a rack in the baking tray and bake at 300 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes depending on the size of your pieces. Brush with sesame oil when done. Cut into slices for serving. I cooked mine in a steamer oven using the Bake Steam option, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. The steaming kept the meat moist and the baking browned it nicely. This can also be cooked on the barbeque grill on moderate heat. If you've added sugar, watch out in case it burns. 

The cooked bbq pork (unsliced) freezes well. Leftovers are great for lunch!

Ginger Honey Chicken

I love ginger and use it in practically all my recipes. This is a particular favourite because I can put in as much ginger as I like.  The honey is to balance out the flavour.  It is easy and quick and only one pot to wash up at the end.

I used bone in chicken thighs with skin on but skinless and boneless should be fine, just reduce the cooking time by at least 5 - 10 minutes depending on amount.  Marinate 6 chicken thighs for a few hours with cooking wine, soy or Maggi sauce, fresh ground pepper and dash of balsamic vinegar.  Just before cooking, thinly coat with corn starch.  Slice a chunk of fresh organic ginger into slivers (at least 1 tablespoon or more if you prefer a stronger ginger taste).  Have ready ginger powder, cumin powder, and 1 tablespoon honey - note that ginger powder does not replace fresh ginger as it tastes completely different.

Heat olive oil in a skillet on medium high, add ginger, then brown chicken on both sides. By the time chicken is brown, some of the chicken oil would have come out onto the pan.  Drain off oil.  Return to heat, add marinade, enough chicken stock or water to half cover the chicken pieces, add ginger powder and cumin (sprinkle to taste), add honey to the sauce, cover and turn heat down to a simmer.  Flip chicken pieces after 5 minutes and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.  Check to see if chicken is done after about 20 - 25 minutes from the start of cooking (it varies with the size of the chicken thighs).

When chicken is done, remove from skillet.  Turn up heat to reduce sauce if it is too watery.  The thickness of the sauce is key to keeping the chicken pieces coated for flavour.  Flavour intensifies in leftovers!

Chicken in red wine (Instant Pot or Le Creuset)

Isolation has allowed me more time to revive some timeless recipes in new formats.  This has always been my favourite dish both as a child when my mom or dad were cooking (yes, they both cooked!), when I had a family of five to feed, or now, when I am cooking for myself.

As in the curried chicken, I used air-chilled skinless, boneless, chicken thighs (8 pieces) but bone-in chicken parts would do just as well although I've found that because of the different textures and thickness of the different parts, cooking may be uneven. For example, the breast may get overcooked while the thigh was just right.  So I've found it easiest to stick to chicken thighs which is not as easy to overcook.

The other key ingredient for flavour is dried shitake mushrooms. Fresh shitake doesn't have the same intense flavour as the dried so I wouldn't substitute - I'll cook another dish if I don't have dried shitake at home.  Red wine of course is needed and if you believe the star chefs, you only put the best in (if you can afford to). I just use what I have handy and it was never an issue.  Two onions each cut into 8 pieces.

Remove the stems from the dried shitake and soak thoroughly, overnight or for about 5 hours. Remove from water, dry, marinate with pepper, sprinkle of sugar and sesame oil.  
Cut the chicken thighs into two inch pieces, marinate for a few hours with cooking wine, soy sauce or Maggi sauce, and fresh ground pepper. When ready to cook, add corn starch and mix thoroughly.  In a non-stick pan over medium high heat, brown the chicken on both sides with a few slices of ginger.  Add a cup or more of red wine and some soy sauce to taste when the chicken is browned.

Meanwhile, in the Instant Pot or Le Creuset pot, sauté the onions and the shitake mushrooms.  When slightly browned, add the browned chicken with the red wine.  
For the Instant Pot, turn off sauté, put the lid on, seal, and turn on high pressure cook for 10 minutes. Quick release at the end of the 10 minutes. If the sauce is not thick enough, remove the chicken to prevent overcooking, turn off pressure cook and sauté until it is thick and able to coat the chicken.  This is important because this sauce coating is essential to the flavour of the dish.  If it is too watery, it won't work.
For the Le Creuset pot, put the lid on and stick in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Remove from oven. Sauce is usually just right, if not, reduce on the stovetop after removing the chicken so as not to overcook.  The sauce should be just thick enough to coat the chicken. This is essential to the flavour of the dish. If it is too watery, it won't work.

Serve with rice.  Also flavour intensifies overnight. Leftover sauce is also super good on ramen or other white noodles.

Curried chicken (Instant Pot or Le Creuset)

There are as many types of curried chicken as there are ethnic groups in Asia. My dad used to make this curry and I had stuck to it for the longest time, until I tried my Indian cousin's curry which had a particularly piquant taste to it. The secret ingredient was tomatoes - not always visible but always there.

I use boneless skinless chicken thighs but bone-in chopped up chicken pieces are even better. Preparation is still the same. Cut up chicken (7-8 pieces of thigh meat), marinate for a few hours with wine, soy or Maggi sauce, fresh ground pepper. When ready to cook, add corn starch to coat the chicken.  

Prepare other ingredients:  3 medium-sized potatoes cut into wedges; 3 small onions, cut into wedges; 2 medium tomatoes, diced; 2 slices of ginger, 8 oz of coconut milk,

Heat up a non-stick pan, add oil then potatoes.  Remove potatoes when brown. 
Add oil to pan, leave heat on high, add 3 heaping teaspoons of Indian curry powder (more if you like it hot), add chicken, stir to make sure chicken is coated with curry.  

If you have an Instant Pot, turn on sauté, add a tablespoon of oil to pot, when pot is hot, add onions and brown.  Add tomatoes, then chicken and potatoes, coconut milk and a dash of soy sauce. Turn off sauté. Put lid on pot, cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Release pressure at the end of 5 minutes in order not to overcook chicken.   Sauce should be just about right but if it's not thick enough, remove all the solid ingredients, turn off pressure cook and turn on sauté to reduce sauce. Pour sauce on chicken and it's done!

If you are not using an Instant Pot, sauté onions till brown in a heavy pot, preferably cast iron enamel (e.g., Le Creuset), add all the ingredients as above. Cover and turn heat to a simmer on stove, stirring occasionally or put the covered pot in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and it's ready to serve.

Note: In the stove top or oven method, it's possible that the potatoes are not always cooked the same time as the chicken. You may need to remove the chicken and just simmer the potatoes for 5-10 minutes more in the sauce.  The good thing with the Instant Pot method is both chicken and potatoes are ready in the 5 minutes of high pressure cooking.

Not Quite No Knead Sourdough (Updated)

It's been two and a half months since my original post. During this time I've kept mucking (enhancing) with the recipe (my Chemistry/Software/Engineering background - don't know when it's good enough to stop) The core instructions are still from SeriousEats' Kenji; the interpretations are updated. Here's the final product (look! it has horns!)

With updated instructions

Original instructions

During this quarantine time, I found this to be a soul satisfying undertaking. Fun with chemistry!😉

You will need: bread flour (preferable), salt, water. For the starter, you can use a mixture of different flours. I found that raw rye flour gives the best rise, it also darkens the bread a little. I’ve been staying with unbleached bread flour to continue feeding the starter.

It takes patience; start with growing the sourdough starter, using the instructions from SeriousEats. https://slice.seriouseats.com/2010/11/how-to-make-sourdough-starter-day-0.html

Starter is ready after close to 7 days, when it has lots of bubbles at the top and on the side.

Comments:         Make sure the starter in the container is not concave, (center is lower than side) - that means the microbes in the starter has depleted their food. Feed it some more before using it.

Use a scale, weigh out:

                4 oz starter (consistency like cake batter)

                2 oz bread flour

                1 oz water

Mix well, cover and let sit at room temperature overnight,  cover, and refrigerate for 6  hours to overnight to autolyse.

When ready, it does not need to be doubled. It is now half the volume as shown in photo below.

Check in the morning, ideally it should have doubled at least, and not concave.

After autolyse (in 28 oz bowl)

Mix together:  

                                435 grams bread flour,

                                6 grams salt

                                      Stir so the salt isn’t sitting at one spot,

                                180 grams starter (should be all that was autolysed in previous step)

                                300 grams water

Stir well. Dough will be wet. Let it rest for about 10 minutes. 

Dough mixed, and before stretch and fold

Stretch and fold about 12 times, or until the dough is smoother (doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth and silky). Move the dough into a bigger bowl  for it to rise.

After stretch and fold (in 95 oz bowl)

Cover loosely and stick it in the fridge for 3 days per Kenji.  and let it rise overnight. 

In the morning, it should have risen quite a bit; stick the whole thing with the cover on into the fridge.

After 2 days (Kenji Lopez said 3 days, but I find that the dough starts to concave – I think over-proofed with the sugar being exhausted) take it out of the fridge.

After refrigeration, it is now half the volume of the original photo below.

After refrigeration (slightly smoother)

 Let it rest 5-10 minutes or immediately if you can handle the cold dough.

Jelly Rolling shows how to generate good surface tension to avoid pancake bread. I believe the cold dough prevents it from getting sticky. If you repeat the jelly-rolling, it gets stickier, either because the dough has warmed up, but more probably because the gluten structure of the dough is affected adversely. By about the third time, it gets way too sticky (ask me how I know that!) By doing the jelly roll just once,it leads to large holes in the bread. See Wild Crumb vs Even Crumb by Joy Ride Coffee on Youtube.

Plop the dough onto floured parchment paper (I use unbleached parchment paper). Flatten and fold it like an envelope, turn and repeat a few times. Turn dough over. 

Pull the dough away on both sides and tuck under, stretching the surface to create surface tension – this prevents it from spreading flat on rising and allows it to be scored easily. Rotate and do this several times until the dough becomes smooth and round. I just found an alternative method which is similar to the stretch and fold method. See Surface Tension link below, which says that you need to do it quite a few times, which I'll try the next time.

Load the dough into the boule. Cover loosely and stick it into the fridge overnight. The loose covering dries out the dough a bit and also allows for cleaner slashing before baking.

I lift the parchment paper with the dough ball and gently put it into a boule, or a bowl with similar shape, and let it rise. In a pinch you can let it rise on a cookie sheet, making sure that you have done enough stretching so it doesn’t flatten into a pancake when it rises.

Before final rise

When double in size, (5-6 hours), When ready to bake, put a cast iron pot with top or Dutch oven in the oven and set the oven temperature to 450 to 475 degrees F.  Allow it to heat for 20-30 minutes after oven temperature is reached.  (Note: I forgot to load the pot into the oven while preheating, and remedied that by heating the pot and lid(if possible) on the stove top to get it up to temperature)

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. It will have risen about 30%, i.e. not doubled in volume. It is easier to score because it has dried up a bit in the fridge. Score at an angle of 30 degrees and about 1/2 inch deep to  generate "horns" after baking. Score the dough assertively. Because it looked dry when scoring I spritzed it with water (about 12 inches above and across the scored dough, not directly onto the dough itself), don't know if it is necessary, but it didn't hurt the final product.  – I had problems with this for the longest time,  because I did not do the surface tension stretch and would deflate the dough when I scored it, even with a lame. Now I just use a thin knife, t

Lift the parchment paper carefully to remove the dough from the boule, and put it into the (screaming hot!) cast iron pot cover. If you're using a Dutch oven, put it into the pot itself. Handle it gently (and don't burn yourself) so as not to deflate the loaf.  Cover and bake for 30 minutes, uncover and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is very dark.

When 25-30 minutes are up, turn off oven, prop the oven door open about an inch for 20 minutes. This is to caramelize the top, something I saw on Youtube.  Let the bread cool before cutting.

Look at them holes!

Original

Allow it to cool if you can restrain yourself. Crust should be crackly. The perfect loaf should have larger holes in the center, smaller around the sides, and “horns” where the top has been scored. I haven’t achieved the holes and the horns yet – still trying  GOT IT!!   See perfect loaf as described in SeriousEats.

Comment: If you want to keep the starter going, add 100 grams flour and 100 grams water, stir and let it sit at room temperature to start over again. Otherwise cover and put it in the fridge, it will keep until you take it out, and feed it for the next loaf.

After a while your starter jar will be overflowing if you didn’t discard part of the starter. Pour out all but ½ cup of the starter and start building it up again (100 grams flour, 100 grams water). For the discard, I pour it into an oiled pan, and fry it up to make a savory pancake, adding green onions, salt, pepper and whatever herbs available at hand.

Comment: I have been doing a lot of research re:sourdough and its chemistry. Interesting references below.

1. Sourdough Postmortem:

   https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/troubleshoot-bad-bread-messed-up-loaf.html

2. Talk about mistakes to avoid:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJEHsvW2J6M

3. Kenji Lopez’s regular (not sourdough) bread recipe that I got ideas from:

   https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/06/better-no-knead-bread-recipe.html

4. Discussion on Surface Tension:

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ww78_SfGyQE

5. Netflix

   The Chef Show, Episode 2 (I think) where Jon Favreau baked a sourdough bread

White cut chicken with Instant Pot

Cantonese White-cut chicken was the most popular post on this blog in the last six years. I have been following the recipe diligently with some minor modifications.  A few months ago, I was persuaded to purchase an Instant Pot by a dear friend and has since discovered this to be the best equipment for the best ever white-cut chicken.  You will see why once I have shared with you the recipe.

I suggest you review the earlier recipe before you start on this one because many of the explanations still apply.  Rather than repeat myself, I will just start with the Instant Pot recipe here. 

Use the best chicken you can buy (around 3 pounds), either free-range chicken, organic or antibiotic-free chicken would do. It is best fresh and not frozen but if you only have frozen chicken, make sure it is properly and completely defrosted.  You can't defrost the chicken in the cooking process - you may end up with a half-cooked chicken, which is not recommended.

Fill the Instant Pot up to the 2/3 mark with hot water, turn on sauté and bring water to a boil.  Cut a stalk of green onions into two inch pieces and add to the water with half teaspoon sea salt, 3 slices of ginger, and 1 heaping tablespoon of Zedoary 沙薑粉 (see Cantonese White-cut chicken if you don't know what this is).
 
After you have cleaned the chicken with salt, use a chopstick to go under the skin near each of the thighs and pierce the thickest part of the meat near the joint several times.  I learned this technique watching the video on Peter's Chicken. Master Bill also massaged the chicken legs several times. Following his method, hold the chicken by its neck and immerse it into the hot water three times, letting the water drain out each time.  This brings the inside and outside of the chicken to the same temperature for even cooking.

Immerse the chicken breast side down into the pot and bring the water to a simmer with the sauté function. Then turn off the sauté, put the lid on the pot, lock it and turn on the Keep Warm function for 30 minutes.  

At the end of the 30 minutes, prepare a large pot of cold water. Remove the chicken from the Instant Pot and immerse the chicken into the cold water.  Add ice cubes to the water to keep it cold.  Leave the chicken in the cold water for about 20 minutes to half an hour so that it is completely cooled down. This is to crisp the skin. Remove the chicken from the water, drain,and dry with paper towel.  Apply sesame oil to the skin with a brush. Cut up the chicken. Serve with ginger and onion dip. 

The Instant Pot keeps the water hot without overcooking the chicken.  There is no need to use any pressure at all because this is a poached chicken, it just needs to be maintained at a hot enough temperature to cook it.  This method is less fussy than the stove top method because you don't have to worry about keeping the pot hot, it is built into the Keep Warm function of the Instant Pot.

Below is a video showing how to cut up the chicken into bite-sized pieces with scissors without using a chopping board.  

Drunken Chicken roll

I love "drunken chicken", especially the ones that came with the wine. Unfortunately the one restaurant here that used to make it to perfection, served in a wine jar, is no longer around. What's left is another restaurant that makes drunken chicken roll which I consider a compromise. However, at a recent potluck I came across an item that appeared in the guise of "cold cut" - it was actually drunken chicken roll!  That was a nice surprise and I grabbed the chef who gave me the recipe verbally. I thought it prudent to write it down here in case anyone wants to try it - it makes a good appetizer.

The most suitable kind of meat is boneless chicken thigh with skin on. Clean and remove any excess fat. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper on both sides, rub with anise and ginger (optional). Roll up the meat then wrap aluminum foil around it so it retains its shape.

Let the chicken marinate for a few hours or even overnight. Then put the wrapped rolls in a pan and steam over high heat for about 15 minutes or longer if you have more than 3 chicken legs. Remove from heat and let it cool down before unwrapping the foil. The chicken is now in roll form.  Immerse the rolls in a pan and cover with Chinese rice wine 紹興花雕洒  Shao xing huai diao jiu.  (I use the Taiwanese version which I really like for its fragrance.) Add half tablespoon of sugar to the wine and any liquid left in the steaming dish. Keep in fridge for 24 hours. Tip: using a deep narrow dish will mean you need less wine to keep all the pieces fully immersed. If they are not fully immersed, then flip after 12 hours.

The chicken roll is ready for serving at the end of 24 hours. Remove from the wine and cut into quarter inch slices. Drizzle some of the wine (it may have turned partly into jelly) onto the pieces before serving.

The chef subsequently told me he got the recipe off the internet but couldn't find it again. I managed to find the source and here it is, for those of you who read Chinese. Note that water is added to the wine in this case. I thought the taste of the chicken in undiluted wine in my modified version is just right. Your choice.

The City Merchant in the Merchant City

What can be a better combination - historic ambiance with fresh seafood and traditional fare done in a contemporary fashion! We had a great dinner at the City Merchant, a restaurant in the midst of Merchant City in downtown Glasgow.  The place was packed when our group of four arrived.  We didn't have a reservation but was told we could wait half an hour for a table for four to be freed up.  But if we split up, there were two tables for two waiting - so we did.


We had their homemade squash soup, the grilled lemon sole and beef medallions with haggis. Of course I have to try haggis while I'm in Scotland. It was just a small piece but just enough to give me a taste - interesting flavour!  Both dishes were done to perfection.  Like everywhere else in Glasgow, the staff were friendly and chatty. It is a welcoming place serving delicious food!
 

Grilled whole lemon sole with baby shrimp and caper butter

Beef medallions served with haggis and mushrooms

We enjoyed the stained glass around us, including the door to the kitchen.

Eating in Iceland

We spent 11 days travelling in Iceland with a tour group in June, 2018. We have already heard from other travellers how expensive food is in Iceland so was mentally prepared for the prices on menus.  Before the tour, we spent a day in Reykjavik and tried lunch and dinner at restaurants. We were surprised at how good the food was, and the prices, while steep, were not outrageous - not much more than what we would have paid at a good downtown restaurant in any North American city.  And because it was good quality, it was worth the price, affordability aside.  

We had an excellent first meal at the Iceland Fish and Chips Restaurant which has a blackboard menu with specials of the day. We get our choice of fish for various prices averaging around 2000 kronas ($20 USD).  A special included a salad and chips.  The cod was fresh and lightly battered - perfectly done. Our bill for two came to around 4600 ISK.

Dinner was at Þrir Frakkar,  run by chef Úlfar Eysteinsson in a residential area near the downtown core, in fact right next to the airbnb apartment we stayed in. The restaurant has excellent reviews and it was a good thing we made a reservation for dinner - the place was packed. The food was excellent! We tried the whale breast, the grilled cod, arctic char and our friends tried the Icelandic specialty hashed fish with black bread.  All the dishes were well-prepared, tasty and fresh. Service was super-friendly.  It was an excellent start to our icelandic food experience.  (Entrees averaged around 4500 - 5500 ISK, meat is more expensive than fish).  We got a discount because we were "neighbours" ;-).

Whale breast - delicious (tastes like roast beef)

Arctic char

Grilled cod

Hashed fish with black bread - Icelandic specialty

All the breakfasts and dinners were included in our tour but we didn't expect much more than cafeteria style buffets at the hotels. It was a pleasant surprise to find the food at our first stop at the Hotel Bifrost  to be an exceptionally serviced buffet with quality smoked and cured salmon as appetizers and perfectly cooked and trimmed salmon and cod for hot dishes.  It turned out to be one of the best meals we have had on the trip.  The rest of the dinners were all served - there were some slight variations in quality but overall the standard was quite high.  We had a great lamb fillet dinner at the Hotel Laugar, where again we saw the wait staff being carefully trained by the executive chef.

A most memorable lunch was at the Narfeyrarstofa restaurant in the seaside town of Stikkisholmur where we had one of the best seafood chowder ever - chock full of fish and two huge scallops that were tasty as ever.  The soup was around 2000 ISK, not bad considering the quality.  We also had terrific appetizers while we were on the boat cruise to see birds - fresh scallops and sea urchins straight out of the shell from the sea.

Scallop just out of the sea (so delicious!)

Scallop roe (yummy!)

Sea urchin (these would have tasted better if rinsed in fresh water)

We had other lunches while on the road, sandwiches were mostly around 1000 ISK; we even had smoked salmon panini in Husavik and that was only 750 ISK, not likely to find this price in Toronto even.  But then it's Iceland and fish is their specialty.  

When we returned to Reykjavik, we had dinners with the group at the Sky Restaurant at the CenterHotel and the Kolabrautin Restaurant at the Harpa Concert hall.  Both excellent dinners - the former memorable for its scallops appetizer and the latter for its tender roast beef.  I think Iceland is definitely the place for scallops!

Six big delicious scallops in this appetizer at the Sky Restaurant

Roast beef medallions at the Kolabrautin Restaurant

Overall, we had a wonderful food experience in Iceland - highly recommended, but be ready to pay!