Recipe: Cured Salmon

A lot of store bought smoked salmon are not really smoked, even though some think that they have a smokey taste (especially the brand that starts with an F). But no, they do not taste smokey at all because they are not smoked to begin with. (Real smoked salmon has a rich smokey flavour that has sort of a more woody taste, and it tastes like, uh, burnt wood.) Instead, they are cured using a brine. While it is not impossible to make smoked salmon at home, it is easier to get the basics right with curing the fish.

Essentially, the curing process gives the salmon more flavour, changes the texture by firming up the flesh, and gives it a beautiful orange hue. In fact, salmon used in sushi restaurants have been cured too, using a light curing solution. That explains why they always have a distinctive taste that you will never be able to get from the supermarket sushi.

Curing salmon is simple and relatively quick. You just need salt and sugar, and a fresh fillet of sashimi grade salmon. The important thing here is to keep your workstation very clean and hygienic, because the fish will be eaten without cooking. Here are the steps for home cured salmon.

Home cured salmon, much fresher than store bought!

Cured Salmon

Ingredients:

250g of salmon fillet (skinless, pin-boned, sashimi grade)

50g of coarse sea salt

50g of sugar (white, brown, or golden, up to your preference)

1 lemon

Ground nutmeg (optional)

Steps:

1. Mix the salt and sugar together, stir to make sure they are evenly mixed. If you are adding ground nutmeg, add it here as well.

2. Using a fine grater, zest the lemon and mix it in too. Add the juice of half a lemon, and mix. You should have a mixture with the texture of wet sand. 

3. Pat the salmon fillet dry. Coat the whole filet with the salt and sugar mixture, making sure that all of the fillet is covered.

4. Place the salmon in one side of a clean and dry airtight container. Replace the lid and put the whole container in a refrigerator, on the top shelf. Use a clean rug, roll it up and place it under the container, such that the side with the salmon is elevated and the container is tilted. This allows the liquid drawn out by the dry cure to flow away from the fillet, instead of soaking it. 

5. Allow the fish to cure for up to 4 hours. Once done, run the cured fillet under running water to wash off the cure on the surface. Pat dry. 

6. If desired, add a few drops of high quality extra virgin olive oil and rub over the surface of the fish. This will give it some extra flavour and a glossy finish. 

7. Slice thinly (or in thick, chunky slices) and serve cold. It goes very well with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.  

Recipe: Beef Bowl

Beef short ribs and cherry tomato salad, over rice

I truly enjoy a meal that I can get my rice, veg and meat all in one bowl. Everything is perfectly seasoned, and the flavours come together in unison, such that they all taste right being put together in the same bowl. All you need is rice, your favorite cut of meat, and your preferred choice of dietary fiber. 

Here's a recipe to replicate the bowl in the picture above. 

Steak and Rice (Serves 2)

Total Time: 1hr

Ingredients:

400g of ribeye or striploin (1.5 inch thick)

200g of cherry tomatoes (1 small box)

2 packs of prepared rice (pre-cooked, can be found in Cold Storage)

Wafu or Yuzu dressing (store-bought, for convenience)

Black pepper and salt

Wasabi (optional)

Steps:

1. Salt your steak, and set aside for 40min to dry brine. Dry brining allows the salt to work through the whole cut of meat, so the whole piece is tasty and seasoned through.

2. While the steak dry brines, wash and halve the cherry tomatoes. Use your hands, give the halved tomatoes a gentle squeeze. Lightly dress the tomatoes in the dressing, and mix it in with its own juice. Set aside. 

3. Liberally grind the black pepper over the steak. 

4. Set a non-stick frying pan on high heat, till smoking. Add a lug of canola oil (higher smoke point than olive oil), and gently place the steak in the pan. 

5. I flip the steak once, giving 3m 45s per side. Allow the steak to properly sear and brown on each side. 

6. After flipping, heat up the rice for 1m 30s in its pack with lid slightly open. Once done, transfer the hot rice to a bowl.

7. Remove the steak, rest for at least 7m,

8. Give the cherry tomatoes a good mix again, and scoop them over the rice. Leave about half the surface for the steak. Save the juices.

9. Slice the beef after has rested, slice it into thick slices (its more enjoyable this way!) Lay the slices of beef to fill up the other half of the bowl. 

10. Mix the juices from the beef with those from the tomatoes. Drizzle it over the top of both the beef and tomatoes, and crack some black pepper over them to finish. 

11. Serve warm, with wasabi on the side. 

You can substitute the beef with your favorite protein, and the tomatoes with your favorite veg. It's a simple bowl to put together, and definitely enjoyable. 

3 Tips for Cooking in College

Out of the 8 semesters in NUS, I spent 7 staying on campus. Among the indispensible items in my room, you'll find a heavy frying pan and tongs, and two knives. If you are someone who loves food, enjoys cooking a meal, and finds the food in the dining hall a tad unappealing sometimes, do read on! Preparing your own lunches can help you to save money (depending on how much you spend on the ingredients, and how lavishly you want your lunches to be), and very likely be healthier as well. Here are three tips that I thought will come in handy when you need/want to fix a meal in college.

Beef Bowl: recipe for this in the next post!

1. Get the right equipment (from IKEA!)

The pantries in the residential colleges are the only places that you can cook in, and they only have one induction cooker per pantry. So, that means you will need pots and pans that allow you to cook using induction heating. Depending on what you prefer to eat, choose either a sauce pan or a frying pan. The pans and pots from IKEA are affordable, and the frying pan has lasted me for a good long while and is still going strong, better than the more expensive Tefal pans that I have used before. Yes, they are heavy, but they really do allow for more even cooking, especially if you are looking into preparing steaks and chops in college.

For the frying pan, I used this: http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/50292100/
And the sauce pan. I recommend this: http://www.ikea.com/sg/en/catalog/products/30256749/

Besides the pots and pans, a good all purpose knife (Santoku or 6-inch Chef's Knife) and a sturdy chopping board will make all the prep work much easier. For the board, the plastic IKEA ones work well. For the knives, check out KAI at the major departmental stores. KAI is a manufacturer for the professional knives used in commercial kitchen. They have very good steel and can retain sharpness for a long time. Highly recommended!

Want something more fancy? If you are not lazy to go the extra mile to make perfectly cooked meals, and if you can afford it, a sous vide circulator will take up little space in the already small room that you have. I am using the Anova, which is retailing for US$199. On top of that, I use a 20l food grade plastic tank, which was sold for about SGD25 from Temple Street in Chinatown. But, this is on top of the knives, pots and pans mentioned above. So, it's something additional and I'd only recommend it if you can see yourself using it at least once every two weeks, and continue using it after graduation. It costs a lot, so weigh it out carefully.  

2. Invest in a small fridge
Almost always, you'll only have time to shop for groceries over the weekend. Besides, the common fridge in the pantry usually smells, and you run the risk of having your items stolen by other residents. To prevent all those, spend a couple of hundred dollars for a fridge to put in your room. The one time cost is high, but think of spreading it over 4 years. It's actually not a lot to pay, and you can have the convenience of storing properly packed meats, vegs, juices and milk right in your room. 

3. Simple recipes can taste great too
One of the easiest things to cook with the limited resources in college is (trust me) steak and mash. You do not need much, but a good cut of meat, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a frying pan. But you get my point, you do not have to go all out to prepare complex dishes that requires baking (you can't bake in college!), too many ingredients and too many steps. Remember, the simpler the recipe, the faster you can prep and enjoy your food. Thus, some of the most convenient and easiest thing to prepare is a portion protein (fish, chicken, pork or beef), salad, and carbs (instant mash is easy, or instant rice that you can just heat up in the microwave oven). 

Sous Vide: Spiced Lamb Tenderloin

Once in a long while, I make the bold move to conceptualize some ideas in my mind and bring them to fruition. The long festive weekend gave me a chance to try out two ideas. First, the lamb. About a week back, I chanced upon lamb tenderloin at my favourite butcher, and bought it without exactly knowing how I would prepare it. And that kicked off some planning to think of flavours in my mind and carefully consider how I would combine various elements together to create a beautiful and tasty dish.

Spiced lamb tenderloin, serve with lemon and mint yoghurt sauce

Spiced Lamb Tenderloin
I have never tried cooking anything Moroccan style before, even though I roughly know the flavours and have eaten it before.

For the spice rub:
1. A handful each of cumin seeds and coriander seeds
2. Black peppercorns
3. Nutmeg
4. Cinnamon
5. Coarse salt

For the lamb:
1. 400g of lamb tenderloin, trimmed
2. Fresh thyme
3. Salt and pepper
4. Olive oil

For the sauce:
1. 150g Greek yoghurt
2. 1 Lemon
3. Fresh mint leaves
4. Salt and pepper

Steps:
1. Set the water bath to 55degC. Pull out your food saver bags, or ziploc freezer bags. Place 3 strips of tenderloin in each bag, add a dash of salt and pepper, a sprig of fresh thyme, and a lug of olive oil. Seal, and place in preheated water bath for 1 hour.
2. Heat up a dry pan over medium heat. Put in all the dry spices, except for the nutmeg, and toast till fragrant. Combine the toasted spices, nutmeg, and coarse salt and grind it using a food processor or pestle and mortar. You want a medium-fine coarseness. Set aside.
3. Combine the yoghurt and lemon juice together. Add a handful of chopped up mint leaves and lemon zest of 1 lemon. Salt and pepper to taste. Chill.
4. When the lamb tenderloin is done, place the bags in an ice bath to quickly cool it down for 5min. Remove the lamb from the bags, pat dry and coat with the spice rub.
5. Heat up a frying pan and add a good amount of cooking oil. It would be fantastic if you have beef tallow! Add the lamb, and do a quick sear till the sides lightly brown.  
6. Slice the tenderloin into neat equal-sized portions. Serve warm with the chilled yoghurt sauce.

清汤牛腩 (Beef brisket in clear broth)

One of my best memories from my trip to Hong Kong last year was the 清汤牛腩. It has left me curious on how can a clear broth look so deceptively bland, but bursts with complex flavours of a beef stock mixed with a few sweet spices. I've been dreaming about waking up to a bowl of hot soup in the morning before going off to work, or coming back to it after a long day out. It's something that I can't really find in Singapore, so I have to think of ways to cook it myself.

With access to a crock pot or slow cooker on campus, I realize that I had just the right tools needed to execute this dish. It's actually not that difficult because you do not really have to check the pot, unless you're incredibly impatient. The beef brisket should turn out tender but not dry, and the tendons should be gelatinous and soft.

Beef brisket in clear broth for breakfast.
A warm and hearty soup to start the day.

Prep time: 30min
Cooking time: 8h

Ingredients:
1 slab of beef brisket (700g)
1 pack of beef tendon (500g)
1 daikon
1l of chicken broth
5 whole star anise
1 stick of Cassia cinnamon (the ones used in a Chinese braise)
1 thumb of old ginger
5 cloves of garlic

Steps:
1. Bring a pot of water to boil, lightly salt it. Put the whole slab of beef brisket in, along with the tendons, depending on how big your pot is. Boil for about 3min, drain and run the beef and tendons under cold water. Wash the ingredients properly to get rid of scum.

2. Clean up the pot, and put it on high heat. Add a lug of oil and fry the ginger, star anise, cinnamon and garlic till fragrant. Put the beef back into the pot to brown it. Add the tendons, and fill up with chicken stock. Make sure that the beef is fully covered in liquid. If it is not, add water. Note: If you are using a crock pot, you might want to do the frying in a frying pan, then transfer the ingredients to the pot.

3. Set the slow cooker on low, and let it sleep away for the next few hours while you busy yourself at work, or sleep the night away.

4. About an hour before the intended serving time, skin and slice the daikon into large chunks. Add all the daikon into the soup and let it sit for the hour, till ready to serve.

5. If you fancy, serve the soup with some blanched rice noodles, and some sliced beef.

6. Enjoy!

Secondary Cut: Flank Steak

Flank steak and egg.

This is probably my second time venturing into the area of secondary cuts, with the first being boneless short ribs. The flank cut, though cheap, has left me very satisfied. In between, I've been enjoying thick cuts of primary cuts when I have more time to travel out to a wholesaler to get them at very reasonable prices. The flank steak this time was a result of wanting to reward myself a little, yet lazy to travel and spend a lot on a little piece of meat.

Secondary cuts such as the flank and skirt are muscles that have worked a lot while the cattle was still alive. As a result, they tend to be a lot tougher (if not well prepared) but more flavourful. And because expensive steaks are prized for their tenderness, secondary cuts are usually a lot more affordable. If done well, it can satisfy your cravings and not burn a hole in your pocket.

For this particular piece that I bought, it was only 200g and the shape was odd. The side cut against the grain was the long side. I wanted my meat to cook properly and evenly, so I divided the chunk of beef into two equal portions, right down along the grain. To add, it was not a thick piece of meat.

After dividing into two pieces, it was just simple salt and pepper and into a hot pan. I was lazy enough to not time the cooking duration, but I am guessing it's about 2.5 minutes per side. The key here is to watch the browning of the meat carefully, making sure that it does not burn. You're aiming for a nice brown crust. Remove from the pan, and let it rest before slicing thinly.

I was pretty amazed how well things turned out, and the way the meat has remained moist, even without sous vide. It's something worth trying, and relatively cheaper than a top quality strip.

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia (Spaghetti with squid ink)

This one is a little more special than the usual home cooked pasta dish. Apart from sourcing the key ingredient, squid ink, preparation and final assembly is straightforward.  Squid ink is fairly hard to find here in Singapore because most people do not use it in their cooking. You can actually find them in small sachets at the gourmet foods stores at Dempsey, going for about a dollar a sachet. You'll need one sachet for one serving to get the dark glossy colour. Otherwise, you can harvest them yourself when you buy a fresh cuttlefish!

Pan sear some scallops, prawns or squid if desired.

Spaghetti with squid ink, served with pan-seared scallops

Here are the steps for the basics of my version of squid ink spaghetti. It's a variant of the cacio e pepe recipe I posted quite early on.

Ingredients (for one, scale up proportionally for more servings):
1 handful of Barilla Spaghetti or Spaghettini
1 sachet of squid ink
Good freshly grated Pecorino Romano (you can use Parmesan as a substitute)
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper, freshly ground

Steps:
1. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil, gently salt it. Add the pasta to the boiling water, and keep the heat up. Do not cover and stir every now and then to prevent clumping. Cook till al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat up a pan over medium heat. Dry toast the whole black peppercorns for three minutes and pour them into a mortar and grind it up with a pestle. Aim for a medium-fine grind. Return the ground pepper into the hot pan and add a splash of olive oil.
3. Add a ladle of the cooking liquid to the oil and pepper mix.
4. Cut open the sachet of squid ink and add everything into the pan. Loosen the ink and give it a good stir. Add more water if necessary, you want a sauce that is just sufficient to coat the amount of pasta you have.
5. Drain the spaghetti and put it right into the pan. Turn off the heat and give it a good toss, make sure that all the spaghetti is coated with the glossy black sauce.
6. Add in a handful of the grated cheese and stir it in.
7. Serve the pasta on a warmed dish. Grate a bit more cheese on top for garnish.

If serving with seared seafood:
1. Sear the seafood after toasting the black peppercorns.
2. Deglaze the pan with some whisky or other liquor after the seafood is seared. It will add a different flavour dimension to the seafood and the whole dish.
3. Continue with the pepper and oil mix after removing the seafood from the pan
4. Serve the seared seafood on top of the black pasta