Pork Belly in Shanghai 上海辣肉絲麵館的醬汁大肉

I read online a very well written Chinese article -- [陋巷美食], which meant “Gourmet Food in an Alley” -- about a noodle shop in Shanghai and its signature pork belly.  The author’s description of the pork belly was a killer: “that piece of layered fat and lean meat was truly delicious; the fat soft but not greasy, the meat tender and not dried out; it melts in your mouth, filling it with a sweet fragrant soya flavor. 那肉真是好吃，肥瘦相間，柔而不膩，酥糯而不粉粑，帶點鮮甜的醬香，入口即化。”  I urged a friend living in that city to check it out..  (To read the article [陋巷美食] by 鄭培凱, follow this link: http://barry1.cityu.edu.hk/han3/7/6/9/0/0/0/1/www.cciv.cityu.edu.hk/website/?redirect=/cheng_literature/cn/A155.php.)

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Since the article mentioned only the district where the shop was located (老西門) and some description of it, but not the name or address, it took some detective work on the internet to identify the place as the “Spicy Hot Shred Pork Noodle Shop辣肉絲麵館” (what a generic name).  My friend went with his wife, ate there and reported back with some photos. 

The noodle place was on a narrow one-way street in an old Shanghai neighborhood.   Its size was about that of a parking space for a single automobile, with stoves on one side and just enough room for kitchen work.  Customers ate outside at a few tables on the sidewalk.  

My friends arrived before the lunch crowd.  The shop owner immediately recognized them as visitors and said that he would decide for them what to eat – one bowl of yellow crocker noodle soup (黄魚麵), one bowl of pork liver noodle (猪肝麵) and an order of the signature pork belly in brown sauce (醬汁大肉). 

Yellow crocker was a favorite fish in the Shanghai area.  With demand outstripping supply, large yellow crocker became scarce and expensive.  This shop stir fried lightly battered filets of fresh small crockers for the noodle soup.  It was so good that my friend’s wife finished the whole bowl by herself.  The pork liver noodle was good too.  Pork liver was sliced not too thick, and stir fried with diced bamboo shoot.  The white noodle had a slightly chewy texture as good noodle should.

The star of the meal was the pork belly.  The large piece draped across a medium sized plate.  The sauce was slightly sweet which was typical of Shanghaiese cooking.  The belly was cooked perfectly -- the fat just melted in the mouth without feeling greasy; the lean meat of the belly absorbed the fat during the cooking, and was tender and flavorful.   My friends could not stop eating until the whole piece was gone.  That was pretty amazing for two people who usually watched their diet. 

It was a big lunch.  My friends finished all three dishes.  The delicious meal came to RMB$64, which was about US$10.  They were so happy with the food that they went back for a reprise.  On their second visit, they paced themselves and packed most of the pork belly home.

Yellow crocker noodle 黄魚麵

Pork liver noodle 猪肝麵

Pork belly 醬汁大肉

Noodle shop 辣肉絲麵館

       

    

Bamboo Shoot and Fatty Pork

I was browsing a Chinese painting treatise by Jin Noon (金農, 1687-1763 A.D.), a member of the famed “Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou” (揚州八怪), and came across this picture of a bamboo shoot painting.  What caught my eyes was not the painted object but Jin’s unique style of calligraphy (every paint stroke had a uniform width, with points at the beginning and end) and the inscribed poem about “bamboo shoots sprouted all over the hills the morning after the first Spring thunder, and the artist bought a bundle to ask an old monk to braise them with fatty pork for him.” 

Mr. Jin used bamboo shoots that were dug up that morning because those were most tender and delicate.  Japanese prize them too, calling them asahori takenoko (朝掘筍), and use them for special dishes.  Bamboo shoots and fatty pork pair well.  To Chinese, fatty pork (花豬肉) usually means pork belly.  To Japanese, it is referred to as ton-toro, or pig jowl.  

It may sound strange that Mr. Jin asked a monk to cook his bamboo shoot and fatty pork.  Legend says that an old monk in a famous temple near his home was known for the dish and he would cook it only for special people such as Mr. Jin the artist.  

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I could not find fresh bamboo shoots in the market (it was not in season), but that did not stop me from braising pork belly.  I bought a nice piece that was tied up into a roll, and braised it in a Le Creuset enameled cast iron pot.  

Here's my cooking method: 

(1)    I prepare the braising liquid with an equal amount of Japanese soy sauce and junmai sake (純米酒, the kind not brewed with distilled alcohol).  I heat it up and dissolve some rock sugar in it.  I do not use mirin (味醂) because I cannot find naturally fermented hon-mirin; otherwise I would.  (Note: the key is to use high quality naturally fermented soy sauce that is rich and flavorful instead of salty.) 

(2)    Bring the braising liquid in the Le Creuset pot to a boil on the stove.  Add the pork belly roll and cover the pot.  There should be enough liquid to cover half way up the roll.  Add hot water if necessary. 

(3)    Put it in a convection oven at low heat (300°F) for 30 minutes.  Check the color of the rind.  It should have acquired a nice reddish brown color.  Turn the roll over.  Braise it a bit longer for the rind of the other side to pick up color.  The pork belly will be tender and the rind soft. 

(4)    For crispy skin, broil it skin side up.

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Bamboo shoot is also good by itself.  Japanese calls it takenoko (竹の子), the young of bamboo.  When it is in season, from winter to spring depending on location, people dig up young bamboo shoots that are still below the ground surface and ship them to markets and restaurants.  Usually they are boiled with rice bran (komenuka) to get rid of their bitterness.  But asahori takenoko (朝掘筍) from premier growing areas can be served raw as takenoko sashimi, and the thin slices are tender, crispy and sweet.  Other Japanese ways to eat takenoko include tempura and takenoko gohan (seasoned bamboo shoot rice). 

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Chinese also harvests bamboo shoots in winter and spring.  

The most memorable Chinese bamboo shoot dish I have eaten was an old-fashioned 炒雙冬 – a stir fry of winter bamboo shoots and Chinese black mushrooms in a Shanghai-style rich brown sauce.  Only the tips of the bamboo shoot were used, and they were cut into thin sections about two inches long.  Biting into these tender and crunchy pieces, my taste buds experienced the rich sauce at first.  After the sauce was gone, delicate flavor of bamboo shoot filled my mouth.  If I closed my eyes, I could visualize being alone in a spring bamboo grove.  The almost Zen experience was counter-balanced by the earthy texture and flavor of meaty black mushrooms between pieces of bamboo shoot.  When a vegetable dish is so well made, who needs fatty pork to go with it?

Peruvian Food - Causas, Cuy, Rocoto relleno, Ponderaciones

I cannot complete my Peruvian gastronomic adventure without showing you these very Peruvian dishes.  The causa, seen below in two different guises but recognizably the same ingredients - the yellow layers of mashed potatoes with lemon sauce stuffed with fish or chicken salad.  It's a delicious first course, especially combined with avocado in some instances.  Lots of recipes on the web, check out this one for the causa rellena. 

Causa rellena - layered potato and tuna salad (from the Inka Grill in Cusco) 

 

Rocoto relleno or "fire in your mouth" - stuffed chilli peppers, a traditional Andean dish from Arequipa.  I have lifted the cheese to show the stuffing,  a combination of beef and vegetables

Rocoto relleno

Cuy - guinea pig roasted

With apologies to my pet-loving friends and family, I have to at least briefly mention and show a small photo of the "cuy" (guinea pig), a Peruvian delicacy.  During pre-Columbian Incan times, it was food only for the nobility.  It is now raised commercially and is considered a staple of Andean cuisine.    We tried this roasted version in a restaurant near the Plaza de Armas in Cusco.  I would say the taste was "interesting", a little gamey, definitely would need lots of herbs in the cooking process.  Texture was very much like pork, but a bit more chewy.  There was not a lot of meat but enough for two as you get tired of the rather intense flavour after a few pieces.   Worth a try.

On to something tamer - the ponderaciones is a Peruvian pastry - sounded exotic and looked good, but not the best dessert we've tasted.

Ponderaciones

This pear poached in red wine, however, was outstanding - the best dessert on the trip (also at the Inka Grill)

Finally, we can't leave Peru without tasting its famous chocolate!  We got this chocolate basket by fluke.  I was unable to get room service at the Lima Sheraton to understand my Spanglish request for a kettle. After 4 or 5 phone calls, I finally got one but it didn't work.  I went and talked to Guest Services.  They were apologetic and the same guy who brought me the kettle brought me this spectacle on a tray. The chocolate was deep, dark and intense!  What luck!

This wraps up my Peruvian food adventure.  It has been quite a trip!  To see the actual travel, please visit http://www.travelswithrarecat.blogspot.ca.   Thanks for coming along.

Peruvian Feast - Beef hearts, roast pig, patacones

On the way to Cusco, we stopped by the Wayra Ranch for a lunch and horse show.   We ate outdoors, right beside the oven.  The very Peruvian barbequed beef hearts were delicious - I love chicken hearts but have never had beef hearts before.  The high point for us was the discovery of the crispy skin of the roast pork hidden among the other roasted meats.  Most of us were quite full by that time and no one at our table even noticed it or touched it.  We decided to risk indigestion and indulged ourselves with the melt-in-your mouth skin and moist pork pieces.  What a treat!

The roasted meats were served with patacones, deep-fried plantain that is very common in Latin America. There was abundant chicha morada, the very popular Peruvian corn beverage - mildly sweet, a little like grape juice.  It was a memorable feast in a very beautiful setting.

Roasted chicken and potatoes in the open oven

Mini empanadas and salad with chicha morada

Corn - the "food of kings" in Inca times

Trout - moist and tasty 

Beef hearts and tamales

The tamales were very similar to the Chinese ones

Crispy skin of roast pork

Patacones in syrup

Have to end with fruit plate just for relief!   Note the local passion fruit - sweetest ever.

Stunning art glass in the entrance lobby

Peruvian Food 3 - avocado, beef, causitas

Causitas is a popular Peruvian finger food made with mashed potatoes and lime juice with a touch of yellow chili pepper sauce.  It was delicious and was yet another variation of the many foods made with potatoes in the country.   I had this as an appetizer with local avocado and guacomole - an outstanding combination of flavours.   The alpaca confit appetizer, however, was a far cry from the alpaca loin I had as a main at the Aranwa - it tasted a little like beef jerky.

As expected, the beef tenderloin was excellent, as with all the beef we'd tried in Peru.  It was served with chimichurri, a delicious parsley sauce that is very popular in all the South American countries.  It's not uniquely Peruvian but I was glad I had an opportunity to try it.  Apparently it's used like a pesto sauce down there.

We had a variety of desserts over our two nights at the Inkaterra hotel in Machu Picchu - the best was the ricotta cheese cake, better than the chocolate cake or the creme caramel.  Creme caramel seemed to be a very popular dessert in Peru - it's everywhere, even at the supermarket dessert counter in Lima (you can buy it by weight) - but too starchy for my liking.  Both cheese and chocolate are Peruvian - both excellent!   

Avocado with causitas, guacamole and yellow chilli pepper sauce

Alpaca confit 

Beef tenderloin on mashed potatoes with chimichurri and Marsala sauce

Creme caramel - no surprises

La "Bete noire" - exotic name for chocolate cake made with Peruvian chocolate

Ricotta cheesecake - the winner!

Peruvian Food 2 - Quinoa, corn, alpaca

Urubamba in the Sacred Valley is where many tourists come to acclimatize to the high altitude.  It's a few thousand feet below Cuzco and only an hour away.  And since we were supposed to take it easy the first day of arrival at high altitude, we didn't do much other than eat that day - perfectly fine with me.  We had a buffet lunch outdoors in a gazebo in a very nice restaurant with its own llamas, alpacas and some very colourful macaws.  Dinner was at an even nicer restaurant in the Aranwa Sacred Valley hotel.  Here are some of the very Peruvian food we ate.

Quinoa is an important Peruvian staple.  Here it is served cold in a mold with peas, carrots and peppers mixed in.  Delicious!

This looks and tastes like spinach pastry

We were supposed to eat light the first day - this is all I allowed myself for lunch.  You can see the large roasted corn kernels and the sweet potato (almost at every meal).  Avocado is in abundance and in many combinations.  Here (on the right) it is served with tuna between mashed potatoes, in a traditional dish called causa - very tasty.  (I didn't take pictures of the desserts)

Outdoor restaurant

The one in front is the alpaca

Dinner is at the Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel

This is the "cream of the day" and unfailingly pumpkin (for the rest of the trip)!   Quite a contrast from "Grandma's pumpkin soup" we had in Lima, with a much more delicate flavour.

This is a Napoleon "crunchy ham tartar alpaca" with avocado and cilantro.  Our guide assured us that it is not raw so I had alpaca for both first and main.  You can't really taste the alpaca in this Napoleon but it was an interesting combination of textures.

And here is my first (and best) alpaca, loin done medium - my favourite Peruvian food.   For me, the texture and taste is a cross between beef and pork tenderloin.  

Peruvian Food 1 - Lima

For a total change in tastes, we head to the cooking of Peru.  I just returned from a 10 day trip to the country and enjoyed a plethora of Peruvian food, with varying degrees of quality but always interesting.  

It started with breakfast at the Swissotel in Lima the morning of our arrival.  We were surprised at the selection of local food made available for breakfast - this included things like tamales, Chinese porridge, Peruvian braised pork, sweet potatoes, potatoes and more potatoes - that is the national staple.  We were subsequently told that there were 3000 types of potatoes in Peru!  Granted, the Swissotel was hardly the place for the real thing, but it gave us a first taste of at least Peruvian style cooking and as I've read in travel guides, the heavy influence of Chinese cooking.

We had our first dinner in Lima at a restaurant called Tanta, within walking distance of our hotel and recommended by our guide - the main reason for our choice.  I found out just now that this is one of several restaurants run by celebrity chef Gaston Acurio.  There were certainly no celebrity presence when we were there, it seemed like a very casual restaurant although as the evening wore on, some serious looking cars pulled up in front.  It was at a chic location.

For firsts, we decided to try Grandma's pumpkin cream soup and an empanada as they seemed freshly made on the counter .  The empanada was very good, but Grandma's soup was likely true to its name - it was very salty, probably right in vogue when Grandma was around! 

I ordered the tuna from the main menu but was disappointed that it was cooked although maybe it was just as well since we were warned not to eat anything uncooked at least for the first few days.  My dinner companion ordered an interesting stuffed fish with Chinese fried rice with asparagus and scallions.  An excellent choice.  The dessert, an ice cream with fruit including lucama, was good but I started to worry as I ate - again because of food warnings.   I was lucky.   We preserved ourselves for another week of Peruvian gastronomic experience.  You can go to my travel blog to read about the rest of my Peruvian travel experience.

Chicken empanada was excellent

Grandma's pumpkin cream soup

The rice tasted as good as it looked, as was the stuffed fish with a crunchy batter

This is the tuna, believe it or not.  I could barely finish one piece, had a taste of the ample mashed potatoes and left the salad in tact.

This speaks for itself - I had half and didn't get sick.

This was the best part - two artistic dudes gave the place a homey touch.