Pork Chops

Is it possible to cook a quick and dirty meal that tastes great and yet is super cheap? The answer is yes, though eating it everyday will probably take a few years off your life.  Pork chops - described by Gordon Ramsay as easy to cook and will send your confidence sky high - can be cooked in minutes and is oh-so-tender and juicy :)

My maiden attempt is Sweet and Sour Pork Chops, based on Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course which, i must say again, is really great for newbies.  Unfortunately, certain ingredients like basil and thyme are harder to find in your NTUC supermarket so i actually skipped the basil and bought a bottle of thyme instead of a getting a fresh sprig.  I guess it could have tasted more awesome-er but overall i was still pretty satisfied with the end product.

What You Will Need
2 pork chops
2 capsicum (referred to by GR as red peppers)
Cooking Oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp wine vinegar
Salt & ground black pepper
Thyme

Fishy Business

Yes, the mortarboard doubles as a chop board too
Pic from tnp

Mention seafood and the first three names that come to mind are salmon, fish leong and sponge bob square pants.  Another name to remember now is Khor Chin Puang, who was recently featured in the New Paper as a degree holder who chose to be a fishmonger.

Though he is only in his late twenties, he already has 5 stalls to his name, with more in the pipeline.  Googled his name and thankfully found a more in-depth article on Youngtalents.sg which highlighted his ideals (to revitalise the fishmongering industry) as well as some of the difficulties he has faced in starting up his own business.

Roast Chicken 101

After trawling youtube, it seems that there are many variations to roasting your chicken.  Numerous way to get the skin crsip, to infuse different flavours and to add various sides.  However, what they all have in common in that the bird is cooked at around 180 degree centigrade for about 1 hour.  And this means at that is the very basic needed in cooking a bird.  For my first attempt, i have gone with the bare bones version and done the very minimum.

Mushrooms

Shitake mushroom with onion and tarragon

This is loosely based on Gordon Ramsay's tutorial for marinated button mushrooms.  However i think mine is closer to a stir fry instead.  What i like about Gordon Ramsey's videos, taken from his Ultimate Cookery Course TV series, is that his explanations are clear and straightforward, and his enthusiasm is pretty infectious - makes you want to try out the dish yourself.  i attempted this last week for supper, since my dinner had not been very fulfilling.  This is a simple dish and the cutting/frying can be done in under 10 minutes if you are quick.

What you need
Shitake Mushrooms (i used dried ones)
Cooking Oil
Salt & Pepper
Onions/shallots
Wine Vinegar
Tarragon

Anthony Bourdain - Medium Raw

Served half-cooked like a soft boiled egg

Bourdain dishes out a follow-up to his best-selling Kitchen Confidential.  As the title suggests, it is half-cooked and I cant really tell the intent of the book because each chapter seems quite unrelated to the next.  In more than one chapter, he rants against the people and corporations he dislikes and if it was anyone else, i would have tuned out quite quickly.  However, since it is Bourdain, it comes across as quite entertaining to learn what is on his mind, and he also does not draw the line at putting his own self down.

What does come across, is his love for food and the industry.  When he attacks his enemies, it is because they go against his vision of what the industry and "good" food should be like, and in one chapter where he describes his favourite foods from across the globe, my stomach ended up growling. 

From Planes to Prawns

Passion is when you take risks, work longer hours and still smile

Just came across this New Paper article featuring Mr Low Keen, who gave up his white-collar $5,000 per month job to sell prawn noodles.  He now works 11-hour days, spending most of his time standing.  Since he only opens for business 5 hours a day, it means 6 hours of prep work and washing.  It's tough, but according to Mr Low, he is happy since he gets more flexibility in his work hours.  He can also apparently spend more time with his kids since he doesnt have to fly around the world as required by his previous job.

Baby Steps - Chopping

My knife is bigger than yours

Before the cooking starts, there is always the prep work and this almost invariably involves the use of a knife.  Knife skills are essential not just for efficiency, but also more importantly, for safety.  Once the safety aspect is established, we can then work on increasing the speed.  After all, slicing off part of one's finger will only cause more delays and being lazy, I just want to get over and done with the chopping so i can get back to lazing in front of the tv instead of going to the hospital.

Being lazy (i cant emphasize this enough) and not very proficient, I am not going to trying to teach anyone how to use a knife.  Rather, i have done my youtube research and my favourite thus far is this one below by Jamie Oliver.  Brief summary is appended below.