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The Japan Times: Curry - it's more 'Japanese' than you think

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Friday, Aug. 26, 2011

FOOD

 

Curry — it's more 'Japanese' than you think

 

By MAKIKO ITOH

Special to The Japan Times

To many people in Japan, summertime is synonymous with hot and spicy food. Spices are believed to cool you down by making you perspire, as well as stimulating an appetite dulled by the sweltering weather. The quintessential spicy dish in Japan is curry, which is so popular that it's regarded, along with ramen, as one of the top two national dishes — ahead of sushi and miso soup.

 

Curry in a hurry: Several brands of instant roux make curry a quick and easy meal for millions around Japan. Meanwhile, eateries from the poshest restaurants to curry chain CoCo Ichibanya take pride in their own special recipes. MAKIKO ITOH PHOTO

 

The spice mix known as curry powder and curried dishes were most likely introduced to Japan via the Anglo-Indian officers of the royal Navy and other stalwarts of the British Empire. They were among the first Westerners the Japanese came into contact with, after Commodore Matthew Perry landed his Black Ships at Kurihama in 1853, opening the country to the world after hundreds of years of isolation. Since this new dish came from the West, as far as these Japanese travelers were concerned, it was classified as yōshoku(Western food).

Nowadays, yōshoku is a distinct type of cooking that encompasses Western-style dishes that have been reinvented to suit Japanese tastes and ingredients. Japanese curry is no exception: Bearing only a passing resemblance to curried dishes from other regions such as India, it has been changed and adapted so much that it now stands on its own as something uniquely Japanese.

In fact, it's a home comfort that many can't bear to be without. Before every Seattle Mariners home game, baseball great Ichiro Suzuki eats the same curry, made by his wife, for lunch (actually breakfast for him, since he "works" into the night). When this was reported on NHK TV in 2009, it caused a short-lived fad for breakfast curry around Japan.

The earliest recipes for raisu karī (literally "rice curry") appeared in Japanese cookbooks in 1872. One of these is very similar to curry recipes that appeared in British cookbooks of the time, such as "Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management." It's a simple meat and vegetable broth thickened with a spoonful of flour rather than roux, and contains chopped apple — as does a Mrs. Beeton recipe for curried veal. It does include yuzu juice as an ingredient, presumably in place of lemon, so adaptations were already being made.

Roux (which is a sauce-thickener in French cuisine) seems to have been adopted by Japanese curry chefs quite early on, possibly because it thickens a sauce more smoothly and reliably without making lumps.

 

Filling snack: Kare pan — doughnuts filled with curry paste — can be found in bakeries all over Japan.

 

Rice curry (initially pronounced as karī, and changed to karēsometime around the turn of the 20th century for unknown reasons) appeared on restaurant menus in Tokyo as early as 1877. At first, it was considered to be quite exotic and expensive, like all Western food. Not only was preparing a proper curry sauce a time-consuming affair requiring the skills of a professional chef, but imported curry powder from Britain — considered to be far superior to the domestic kind — was a luxury only affordable by the rich.

This all changed after the great curry powder scandal of 1931, when unscrupulous dealers were caught selling cheap domestic curry powder as expensive Crosse & Blackwell powder from England. This escalated to an international diplomatic incident, leading to several arrests, but it ironically gave a big boost to domestic curry-powder manufacturers such as S&B Foods, since people discovered that they couldn't really taste the difference.

More and more inexpensive eateries started listing curry dishes on their menus, coming up with inventive items such as karē udon (udon noodles in curry-flavored soup), karē nanban (soba noodles in curry-flavored soup) and karē pan (dough stuffed with curry paste, breaded and deep-fried).

The biggest factor in spreading the popularity of curry nationwide was the introduction of "instant" curry mixes. The forerunners of present-day household names such as House Foods and S&B started to distribute powdered curry mixes on a large scale in the late 1920s. The solid-block type of curry mix that is most popular today was first introduced in 1954; containing roux thickener and various flavor enhancers such as vegetable or meat concentrate, they've been a staple of Japanese home kitchens ever since.

These days, the curry-mix marketplace in Japan is fiercely competitive. Besides the aforementioned big names, several noteworthy yōshoku restaurants produce their own "gourmet" brands.

In 1963, House Foods introduced a curry mix called Vermont Curry. Containing apple concentrate and honey, it was much milder and sweeter than other mixes, and helped to change the perception that curry was too spicy for children. karē raisu (curry rice) has been a perennial kids' favorite ever since, and has been the most popular dish on the national school lunch menu for at least three decades.

 

 

It's also a versatile dish, resulting in all sorts of variations. Emperor Akihito reportedly enjoys regional curries during his visits around the country; and when famed TV comedian Tamori revealed his own special curry recipe, it became popular in its own right.

Curry is also a staple of the armed forces in Japan. It's a tradition to serve karē raisu for dinner every Friday on Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ships, a carryover from the Imperial Navy days. Each JMSDF ship prides itself on having its own unique curry recipe, some of which are featured on the JMSDF's official website.

Ready-to-eat curry sold in "retort" (pressure-cooked and vacuum-sealed) bags that can be heated in hot water were introduced in 1969, becoming an instant hit. They've been a staple of a hungry student's diet along with cup ramen noodles ever since. Curry packs were even introduced to the NASA space program's menu by Japanese astronaut Mamoru Mohri in 1997. Since they need no refrigeration, they're popular as emergency food rations too. Both Ezaki Glico and House have recently introduced ready-to-eat curries that don't need to be heated up to be tasty, as a response to the increased demand for such items after the March 11 earthquake.

Indian, Thai and other south Asian restaurants have proliferated in recent years, exposing Japan to many other types of curry dishes. Japanese curry still holds a special place in our hearts though. It's what we grew up with.

Makiko Itoh is the author of "The Just Bento Cookbook" (Kodansha International). She writes about bento lunches at www.justbento.comand about Japanese cooking and more at www.justhungry.com.

 

Recipe for beef curry with rice  This recipe goes back to the roots of Japanese curry; it's almost a rich beef stew. Beef symbolized the opening of the country to outside influences in Meiji Era Japan. Leftover curry freezes well, but take out the potatoes or they will turn into mush. Japanese curry mixes are labeled with their level of spice. Amakuchi is quite sweet, chūkara is medium and karakuchi is hot. I usually use a chūkara mix and add some red chili powder at the end if I think it needs more heat. Serves 12 Stewing beef such as chuck (neck/shoulder) cut into 1 cm pieces — 500 g Vegetable oil — 2 tbsp Butter — 2 tbsp Large onions — 5, thinly sliced Ginger — 1 large piece, finely chopped Garlic — 3 cloves, finely chopped Medium carrots — 3, sliced 5 cm thick Medium potatoes — 4, peeled and cut into 1.5 cm pieces Water — 1.5 liters plus ½ cup Dried bay leaves — 2 Commercial curry mix — 240g (1 large packet or 2 small packets) Red chili powder (optional) Plain steamed rice Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a heavy-bottomed pan over high heat and add the beef. Saute until well browned. Take the meat out and set aside. Add the rest of the oil and the butter to the pan; add the onion, garlic and ginger. Saute over medium-low heat until the onion has lightly browned. Turn the heat up to high and add the carrots, potatoes and beef. Saute briefly, then add 1.5 liters of water and the bay leaves. When the pot starts to boil, lower the heat to a gentle simmer. 20 minutes in, remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon or spatula (this prevents the potatoes from disintegrating). Continue simmering the sauce until the meat is falling-apart tender, an hour or more. Remove the pot from the heat. Add ½ cup of water to cool down the sauce, then add the curry mix, broken into small chunks. Stir until the mix has melted completely. Add the cooked potatoes back and reheat the sauce over a medium-low heat — do not let it boil. Add a little red chili powder to taste if needed. Put some hot steamed rice on one half of a shallow bowl; pour the curry on the other half. Serve with fukujinzuke (a chopped vegetable pickle, pictured),rakkyo (pickled shallots), grated cheese or a raw or boiled egg.

 

NY Times: How We Got to Dessert

December 2, 2011

How We Got to Dessert

By DAWN DRZAL

Eel in marzipan and goose-liver macaroons may sound like outtakes from Monty Python’s “Crunchy Frog” skit, but in SWEET INVENTION: A History of Dessert (Chicago Review Press, $24.95), Michael Krondl tells us that the eel was offered at a 16th-century Italian banquet while the cookies, known more elegantly as foie gras macaroons, are the creation of a 21st-century Parisian pastry chef. These two dishes show how the relationship between sweet and savory has come full circle — from medieval and Renaissance Europe, when there was no division between them, to their segregation during the 20th century and back again to the current era, in which cutting-edge chefs delight in toying with our expectations.

Krondl’s book attempts to chronicle the evolution of the sweet course by visiting six regions that roughly reflect sugarcane’s spread across the world: India, the Middle East, Italy, France, Austria and the United States. After all, at the heart of dessert is sugar, “the prime mover,” ­Krondl thoughtfully points out, “of the trans-Atlantic traffic in human beings.” As the author of “The Taste of Conquest: The Rise and Fall of the Three Great Cities of Spice,” he is qualified to tell the shameful story of sugar as spice.

Although science has established that our love of sweet things is rooted in evolution, ­Krondl posits that “dessert is a purely cultural phenomenon.” Thus the Sacher torte, “an edible manifestation of an urban, cosmopolitan Vienna, as smooth and fitted as a little black cocktail dress,” embodies Austria’s tradition of skilled artisanal pastry cooks. Contrast this with America’s “rural and profoundly unaristocratic” apple pie, an expression of our nation’s “almost religious attitude about home baking.”

Unfortunately, Krondl’s fascinating cultural account is embedded deep within another, far less digestible one. Somehow he fails to draw the crucial distinction between a history of dessert, certainly an ambitious enough subject, and a history of individual desserts. After a seemingly endless trudge through the “thousand and one sweet layers” of Middle Eastern cooking, I reached what Krondl calls the “smoking gun” — that kasutera or “castela cake” was introduced into Japan by the Portuguese in the 16th century — and my first thought was, “Hand it to me, quick.”

“The French noun dessert,” Krondl explains, “originates with the verb desservir, or un-serve, that is, to remove what has been served. In other words, le dessert was set out once the table had been cleared of the dishes that made up the main part of the meal.” Although the term appears a couple of times in the late 14th century, it would not attain its current meaning until roughly 1900.

Medieval European cooks added a lot of sugar to their savory dishes, and at that Italian meal in 1529 featuring the eel in marzipan, Krondl reports, “anchovy salad was served alongside ­sugar-dusted cream pies.” By the mid-17th century, however, when La Varenne wrote “Le Cuisinier François,” a weak “Maginot line” had been established between sweet and savory. Sugar was banned from salty dishes, but sweet foods were still served concurrently with meats and fish. Yet the breach had been opened and would be widened further by the gradual replacement, 150 years later, of “service à la française, the custom of serving numerous dishes simultaneously, . . . by service à la russe, where one dish followed another.” A century of Russian service ultimately resulted in dessert as we know it.

Today we have the surreal experiments of a generation of young “molecular gastronomists” inspired by Ferran Adrià of the legendary — and, lamentably, recently closed — restaurant in Catalonia, El Bulli. At one such meal, “oysters come with a gin and tonic foam, barnacles sit atop cubes of watermelon, seared foie gras is served with cherries and octopus.” Mmm. Just like Grandma used to make.

NY Times: The Lost Art of Buying From A Butcher

November 1, 2011

The Lost Art of Buying From a Butcher

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

PATRICK MARTINS summed it up in a single slab: pork belly. “That’s the cut that people ask for the most,” he said. “Evidently they can’t find it in their supermarkets.”

No, they cannot. And that is just one reason why Mr. Martins opened a real butcher shop on the Lower East Side last month.

He’s not the only one. Butcher shops, once a vestige, are opening in many New York neighborhoods where buying meat has often been reduced to staring down a sea of plastic-wrapped foam trays. These new stores offer much more. To make the most of them, though, a basic understanding of the butcher’s craft is essential.

Buying some pork or most other meats is not as simple or as cheap as picking out an apple. Do not tweet your friends for advice; consult the butcher.

“Here, you can have a conversation with a human being, and I can tell you that every transaction is different,” said Brent Young, one of the butchers at the Meat Hook in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This no-frills workroom in the shadowy rumble of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway goes a long way to dispel the notion that a dedicated butcher shop is an elitist venue for those times you want a prime T-bone to impress the in-laws.

How you plan to cook the meat determines the cut. And the quantity for a serving will be based on how it will be trimmed, and what else you are serving. If the meat you think you want is not available or too expensive, the butcher can offer alternatives.

“We can offer cuts you never see in a supermarket,” Mr. Young said. “Cheap cuts. Customers on a budget come in asking for ideas, they want other options.” To make the most of the animals, the Meat Hook’s butchers went to France for two weeks last spring to learn how butchering is done there, and discovered little portions of succulence that could be ferreted out of parts of a steer, like the merlot steak and the oyster steak. (Remember that it was the French who popularized the hanger steak, which now is sometimes sold in better supermarkets.)

For those whose appetites stray beyond steak, a culinary adventure in the way of oxtails, marrow bones, kidneys, pig’s ears and trotters starts with the butcher, usually after a phone call in advance. You also need a butcher for some less exotic items like brisket that is fattier and juicier than the more easily found lean first cut.

“Our restaurant features nose-to-tail dining so we break down whole animals,” said Christian Pappanicholas, an owner of Cannibal, the new butcher attached to Resto, a meat-centric restaurant in Murray Hill, in Manhattan. “And if a customer wants to buy certain cuts they’ve had here to cook at home, like lamb neck, we can sell it.”

It’s a major turnaround in the way meat has been bought and sold. Some 40 or so years ago, beef was shipped to New York’s meatpacking district in the form of whole carcasses, or “rail beef.” Then the big Midwestern packing houses started shipping what was called “boxed beef,” primal cuts packed in Cryovac. Now, butchers like those at Cannibal are carving whole animals again, and not just for beef.

Joshua and Jessica Applestone founded Fleisher’s in Kingston, N.Y., and even taught butchering to chefs and customers. They just opened a branch in Park Slope, Brooklyn, for their growing roster of New York City customers.

There are others: Dickson’s Farmstand Meats, previously available only online, with a shop in the Chelsea Market; Marlow & Daughters, a spin-off of the Marlow & Sons restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn; Tiberio Custom Meats, which has a shop at Sauce, a new restaurant on the Lower East Side, and plans to open in Brooklyn; and Japan Premium Beef on Bond Street in NoHo, specializing in ultra-tender wagyu, cut for Asian recipes.

This phenomenon is not limited to New York City. In other cities, butchers are also opening, including Barbara Lynch’s Butcher Shop in Boston, the Local Butcher Shop in Berkeley, Calif., Smoking Goose Meatery in Indianapolis, and Chop Butchery and Charcuterie in Portland, Ore.

DeBragga, once strictly a wholesaler in the meatpacking district, now has a retail store online as well as a new service feature, a telephone hot line for customers so they can discuss the meat before they click the mouse. There are also butchers at some Greenmarkets now, selling meat and poultry from farms in the region.

And it’s not just for the fresh pork belly, suddenly in demand thanks to cookbooks, chefs and television. It is also for other cuts of meat like crown roasts of lamb, whole veal shanks, pork cheeks, cross-rib roasts, lamb riblets, beef ribs for the barbecue, sweetbreads, lamb tongues, pork livers and even goat or rabbit that tempt home cooks but are too specialized or unusual for supermarkets.

There’s a fresh-meat counter at Eataly, where an order for a whole boned pig for porchetta or a proper Florentine tagliata steak is not an impossible request.

At his new Heritage Meat Shop, Mr. Martins can sell pork belly because his company, Heritage Foods USA, buys whole animals and uses everything. “We’re about nose-to-tail,” he said. “We buy 200 pigs each week and we sell a lot of it to chefs, but there are cuts they don’t particularly buy so we have to make the most of them. Smoked porterhouse pork chops is one of them.” Cue the choucroute recipe.

Heritage Meat Shop is one of several latter-day butchers that seek out breeds of cattle or hogs other than those favored by industrial meat packers. Berkshire pork, for instance, has more fat but more flavor, and the butcher will also have fatback to sell you to line a rich terrine, or skin to fry for cracklings to whet appetites with the margaritas.

These days, veal that is rosy, not ivory, because it comes from pastured animals and not young calves chained in a box is increasingly appreciated. The DeBragga Web site describes where and how the veal was raised.

“We’ve just started selling veal,” said Jake Dickson of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats. “Ethics and quality were the issues. Our veal is more like young beef than old-fashioned veal.”

Once you accept humanely raised veal, it’s time to consider a number of options that have been largely off some tables for many years. If a solid veal rump roast is going to break the budget, consider a plump, well-trimmed veal neck roast. Or a handsome whole veal shank, a succulent joint of meat that’s usually sliced up for osso buco but makes for a presentation worthy of Henry VIII. Try veal “oxtails” or brisket, which are more tender and cook faster than beef.

Or use the breast, and make sure you ask the butcher to bone it for you. Some new customers who have never bought meat where that kind of service is included in the (typically higher) price can discover other benefits. They can arrange to bring in their own herbed bread crumb and garlic mixture, and the butcher will stuff, roll and tie the roast. How many home cooks can handle a length of butcher’s string as deftly, quickly and neatly as the person behind the meat counter?

Getting to know a bona-fide butcher at a bigger food market like Eataly or Fairway may wind up saving you money. Not only can you explore cheaper but worthwhile cuts, you will get just the amount of meat you need, trimmed just so, instead of settling for some packaged quantity with the attractive pieces layered on top.

Even at Lobel’s, a carriage trade butcher that has been on Madison Avenue on the Upper East Side for 60 years, customer tastes are changing. “With the struggling economy, people want different options,” said Evan Lobel, the fifth-generation butcher who now runs the company. “They want more braising cuts like lamb breast, veal breast and lamb riblets.”

A butcher like Lobel’s, which prides itself on customer service, will ask how you want your short ribs. There are several options: in chunks across the bone as for flanken, or with longer bones, English-style, which are also good for Texas barbecue and some Korean recipes.

Boning short ribs for stew is a tricky job that you can leave to the butcher, who would also be able to slice some beef for Korean bulgogi, paper-thin. For the Argentine stuffed steak, matambre, you need a pocket cut in a whole flank steak. Will your knives and skills take you that far?

When you deal with a butcher, asking for center cut, a particular thickness in something as simple as filet mignon, the amount of fat on a steak, lamb chops to be Frenched and taking home the trimmings to use in some recipe is routine. And unless you happen to own a bandsaw, so is slicing off the chine bone, part of the backbone that’s attached to the ribs.

Perhaps you would like some of the silver skin peeled off that leg of lamb or whole filet or beef, or your rib roast or rack of veal boned but tied back onto the bones for flavor. A butcher will comply but also advise if you are in doubt. Take in your recipe and go over it with the butcher — just not at 5 p.m. on a Friday when there’s a line out the door.

While the best way to buy fish is to see what looks good in the market that day, it pays to call the butcher at least a day ahead to find out whether a particular cut is available, to ask what else might be suitable and perhaps to place an order.

“We’re finding that one of the things we have to do is retrain the customer on how to shop,” Mr. Fox said. Merely setting foot in a store like Fleisher’s as you provision for dinner is a first step.

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Know Your Cuts

A new wave of butcher shops offers cuts of meat rarely seen at supermarkets. Below are six of those cuts, with suggested recipes.

LAMB NECKS

Good for stews or braises, lamb necks can also stand in for lamb shanks or bone-in lamb in other dishes.
Recipes: Lamb Necks Braised in Wine With Peppers, Lamb's-Neck Rillettes, Lamb Stock

PORK BELLY

Suddenly in demand thanks to cookbooks, chefs and television, pork belly is best slow-roasted, fried, grilled or stewed. There's no real substitute for it, though unsmoked slab bacon can be used. 
Recipes: Grilled Pork Belly With Soy-Mirin Glaze,Pork Belly Cracklings, Brined-and-Braised Pork Belly With Caraway

PORK FLANK STEAKS

Sear pork flank steaks in a pan or grill. You can use them in recipes for pork or veal scaloppine. 
Recipes: Roman Veal With Tomatoes, Olives and Lemon, Wiener Schnitzel, Pork Katsu With Pickled Cucumbers and Shiso, Veal Scaloppine With Hazelnuts and Balsamic Vinegar, Scaloppine With Sage and Walnut Oil

PORK BRISKET

Best braised, pork brisket can replace veal brisket or breast in recipes. 
Recipes: Braised Spiced Veal Brisket, Stuffed Veal Breast

FILET MIGNON ON THE BONE

Roast or grill filet mignon on the bone. It can stand in for boned filet mignon (filet steak) or bone-in strip loin. 
Recipes: Pan-Roasted Rib-Eye, Grilled Rib-Eye Steak With Savory Crust, Really Old-Fashioned Marinated Rib-Eye

 

VEAL SHANK

If a solid veal rump roast is going to break the budget, consider braising a whole veal shank. Called jarret de veau in French and stinco di vitello in Italian, it is a succulent joint of meat that's usually sliced up for osso buco. 
Recipe: Veal Shank With Shallots and Chanterelles

NY Times: Snacks of the Great Scribblers

 

Published: July 29, 2011

Sketchbook | Wendy MacNaughton

Snacks of the Great Scribblers

When I sit down to work, I keep a small bowl of garlic croutons on my desk. These are little rewards for good ideas and strong lines, Pavlovian pellets to keep my spirits up. Recently, I began to wonder what fuel writers have relied on, and the answers turned out to be all over the culinary map. Walt Whitman began the day with oysters and meat, while Gustave Flaubert started off with what passed for a light breakfast in his day: eggs, vegetables, cheese or fruit, and a cup of cold chocolate. The novelist Vendela Vida told me she swears by pistachios, and Mark Kurlansky, the author of “Salt” and “Cod,” likes to write under the influence of espresso, “as black as possible.” For some writers, less is more. Lord Byron, a pioneer in fad diets as well as poetry, sipped vinegar to keep his weight down. Julia Scheeres, the author of the memoir “Jesus Land,” aims for more temporary deprivation. “When in the thick of writing I minimize food intake as much as possible,” she told me. “I find I work better when I’m a little starved.”

WSJ: With Ice, Size Matters

FOOD & DRINK
APRIL 23, 2011

With Ice, Size Matters

From shards to spheres, using the right shape can turn great drinks into extraordinary ones

By KIMBERLY CHOU

Trying to up your cocktail game? If you're no longer looking for a new rhum Agricole or some artisanal bitters to set your shelves apart, maybe it's time to turn an eye to your freezer. The difference between a good drink and a great drink isn't just about the booze—it's about the ice.

 

FREEZE FRAME: Perfect cubes are ideal for a highball glass.

The recent resurgence of classic cocktails has spawned a concurrent trend of ice appreciation. High-end cocktail bars are shaking, stirring and serving their $18 drinks with dense, extra-large cubes, hand-cut shards and spheres. And there's no reason your at-home ice should lag behind.

"Quality ice has become standard equipment for any respectable cocktail bar," said Charles Joly, head bartender at the Drawing Room in Chicago. "Ice and what it produces in a cocktail—temperature and dilution—are really important factors that are never listed in a recipe."

When it comes to ice, size does matter, not to mention shape, density and clarity. If you prefer your Scotch on the rocks, beware: Small, brittle ice will quickly dilute years of cask aging. No one wants a Bruichladdich slushie.

But large cubes or spheres of ice will melt more slowly, bringing your drink closer to the temperature of the ice without over-diluting it. Larger pieces, such as spears the length of a glass, are ideal for keeping tall, carbonated beverages chilled. And there's a place for pebbled and crushed ice, too: mint juleps, swizzles and many tiki drinks wouldn't be possible without them.

Where do these ice shapes come from? The Kold-Draft ice machine—which freezes clear, 1¼-inch square cubes by pumping water up into a refrigerated copper tray called an evaporator—has become the industry standard. The circulating water essentially freezes from the top and sides as it hits the tray, with heavy impurities flushed out through holes at the bottom. Bartenders at Weather Up in New York carve from 300-pound blocks harvested from an in-house Clinebell ice-maker. Boston's Drink and Philadelphia's Franklin Mortgage also use large blocks that more often serve ice sculptors. And many bars, including Chicago's Sable and New York's PDT, use a Japanese metal press to produce spherical ice.

For the home bartender, start with distilled water and a cleaned-out freezer so the ice doesn't absorb stray aromas. For super-clear ice, some people advocate boiling the water, letting it come to room temperature, then boiling it again before freezing. You can also cover the not-yet-frozen trays with plastic wrap to further protect ice from absorbing outside smells. But if you don't want to go through these steps, use filtered water rather than ordinary tap. Once they freeze, throw your cubes (or whatever shape they may be) into Ziploc bags.

"Ice acts like your liquid oven, stove or essentially, cold 'cooking' device where, through a change in temperature and dilution, individual spirits and modifying elements are melded into a delicious whole," said Ryan Magarian of the Portland, Ore., drinks consulting firm Liquid Relations. "Simply put, the better the ice, the better the drinks."

For the industrious, here's how to do it at home, from cubes to crushed, spheres to spears.

F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal, Styling by Brett Kurzweil

ICE GUIDE: From left: spears; crushed ice; perfect cubes; spheres; big block.

Spears

Big columns of ice are ideal for keeping drinks cold after they have already been stirred or shaken and are at their ideal level of dilution. The spear is an aesthetically pleasing option if you want a single piece of ice, in lieu of a stack of cubes, in a tall glass.

How to make them: Break out the scissors. Mr. Joly and Mr. Solomon suggest modifying an existing ice-cube mold, like the easy-to-cut silicone Tovolo Perfect Cube trays ($13 for two, tovolo.com). Measure the glass you're using against the tray and cut out the ribs to create one long spear.

Crushed ice

Finely crushed ice is great for creating frosty tiki drinks, swizzles and smashes—and creates a pretty drink when packed high in a julep cup or double Old-Fashioned glass.

How to make them: Get what's known as a Lewis bag, a canvas sack that you pack with ice and then hit with an accompanying wooden mallet or muddler ($20 for bag, muddler and shaker, after5catalog.com). The canvas should wick away some of the wetness, producing a drier ice. Don't get too aggressive—crush to the point where you still have some irregular chunks, like the size of rock sugar, but not Sno Cone-fine.

Perfect Cubes

This shape is the backbone of a great cocktail—stir or shake with these. Drop one or two large cubes in a rocks glass or double Old-Fashioned glass if you're sipping a spirit like whiskey or drinking something like an Old Fashioned or a Negroni. Stack a few in a highball glass or slighter narrower Collins glass for long drinks.

How to make them: Buy a set of Tovolo King Cube Extra Large Silicone Ice Cube Trays, which make two-inch cubes ($9, tovolo.com). These fit well in rocks glasses. Or try the smaller Tovolo Perfect Cube trays, which produce cubes that are just over 1 inch square.

Spheres

Like a large cube, a sphere also melts slower than most ice. If you take your Scotch over rocks, try pouring it over a sphere. "If you want a slight bit of dilution and temperature drop, [large cubes and spheres] do the trick without washing out and ruining your spirit," Mr. Joly said.

How to make them: The Taisin ice-ball maker melts and molds ice into seamless globes; molds range from 30mm to 80mm (from $200, japantrendshop.com). A cheaper option is Muji's ice-ball maker, which consists of two conjoining silicone semi-spherical halves, with a hole at the top for pouring in water ($12, muji.us).

Big Block

A large chunk of ice is like a blank canvas. With the right tools you can shape them into large cubes, spheres or spears to fit different size glasses. And unlike premade molds, having a piece carved from a large block will convey a more natural, organic feeling.

How to make them: If you have enough room in your freezer, fill a small cooler with water, pop the lid on and freeze the entire thing. Take the cooler out before the water freezes all the way to the bottom—as the ice expands it should force the air bubbles and impurities down. Once out of the freezer, let your ice rest for at least 15 to 20 minutes at room temperature. Otherwise it will be brittle and prone to shattering.

Get your tools: try the Heavy Duty Pitchfork Ice Pick ($52, cocktailkingdom.com), and a rubber mallet. Carve on a stable surface lined with a polyethylene cutting board to prevent punching holes in what's underneath.

Start by scoring the surface of the block with an ice pick marking the cuts you'd like to make. Then using a rubber mallet, slowly drive the ice pick into the ice at various points along the scored line. The ice will start to separate along the line the more holes you make, and the deeper you go.

Write to Kimberly Chou at kimberly.chou@wsj.com

Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

WSJ: All They're Cracked Up to Be

FOOD & DRINK
APRIL 16, 2011

All They're Cracked Up to Be

Five gorgeous recipes to help you make the most of peak egg season

By CHARLOTTE DRUCKMAN

It's easy to take eggs for granted. They're always on the supermarket shelf when we need them, ready to do their part when a morning pancake craving or hangover-sandwich hankering hits. Thing is, just like allergies, asparagus and Paschal lambs, eggs have a season—and it starts in now. Birds are biologically wired to commence laying at the onset of spring and continue on until the dark days of winter, which means we've got nine months of intensely hued, rich-flavored yolks ahead of us.

According to Paul Dench-Layton, co-owner of Violet Hill Farm in Catskill National Park, N.Y., light and temperature trigger egg production from the feathered set. This ultra-satisfying protein stretches well beyond breakfast and, as any good cook knows, there are few flavors that don't shine when paired with it.

Herewith, five of the country's greatest culinary talents share their favorite justifications for getting egg on your face.

 

Slow-Cooked Eggs with Garden Herbs and Creme Frache

At Shinn Farmhouse on Long Island's North Fork, David Page cooks up a memorable breakfast daily; these creamy scrambled eggs are the highlight. Serves 4

12 large fresh eggs, beaten
4 tablespoons crème fraîche
2 tablespoons softened sweet butter
3 tablespoons chopped herbs such as chives, tarragon, basil and parsley

What to do:

1. Crack eggs into a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper.

2. Whisk eggs and add crème fraîche.

3. Place the eggs over a double boiler of simmering water.

4. Whisk eggs vigorously, keeping them creamy. When they begin to set, remove them from the heat and add the butter and herbs. They should have the texture of cottage cheese.

5. Serve with buttered toast or a biscuit.

Variations: Fresh goat cheese can be added instead of crème fraîche; Also consider stirring pesto or roasted garlic in at the end.

 

Sunshine Baked Eggs

As Jenn Louis of Portland, Ore., opens her second eatery, Sunshine Tavern, she introduces an easy, eggy meal with a pungent tomato presence and a porky garnish. Serves 6

½ small onion, finely diced
1 two-inch sprig of rosemary
1 sage leaf
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pinch red chili flakes
1 quart whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand to leave chunky
1 tablespoon chopped Italian parsley
12 black oil-cured olives, pitted and cut into halves
12 large eggs
6 quarter-inch slices pancetta, seared in a pan
6 small gratin dishes

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Over medium heat, saute onion, rosemary, sage, bay leaves and garlic until onion is translucent and garlic is cooked through, but not brown. Add chili flakes and tomatoes and cook until sauce has reduced to medium thickness. Sauce should not be pasty, dry or watery. Season with parsley and add salt and black pepper to taste.

2. Place ¼ cup of tomatoes in bottom of each gratin dish and sprinkle 4 black olive halves over each. Crack 2 eggs per dish on top of tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper. Bake for about 6 minutes in oven, covered with aluminum foil, or until egg whites are barely cooked through.

3. Remove from oven, top with warm pancetta and serve.

Variation: If you'd rather skip the pork, or want to try a Provençal spin, switch out the pancetta and put two anchovy slivers on top of each portion.

 

Korean Rice Salad with a Fried Egg

 

A staple on the menu at Susan Feniger's Street in Los Angeles, this dish features a fried egg atop a Korean rice salad that's full of surprising nutty flavors and crunchy textures. Serves 4

2 cups shiitake mushrooms
1½ tablespoons olive oil
2 cups shredded lettuce
1 cup firm tofu, diced
1 cup pickled daikon, julienned (available at edenfoods.com)
1 cup carrot, julienned
1 cup soybean or mung bean sprouts
1 cup dried nori seaweed, cut into ¼-inch-wide strips, soaked and rinsed
8 tablespoons sunflower seeds
2 cups brown rice, steamed
¾ cup (12 tablespoons) sesame dressing (see recipe below)
4 eggs

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. Sprinkle mushrooms with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast for 10 minutes. When they're cool, chop them very thin.

3. Place a small pile of shredded lettuce in the bottom of each person's bowl.

4. Make sesame dressing (recipe below).

5. In a large bowl, toss the mushrooms, tofu, daikon, carrot, sprouts, seaweed, sunflower seeds and rice in the dressing.

6. Heat a frying pan and fry the eggs.

7. Place the dressed rice mixture on the shredded lettuce in each bowl. As soon as the eggs are ready, remove them from the pan and put one atop each individual salad.

Sesame Dressing

1/3 cup lemon juice
1 ounce (approx. 2½ tablespoons) minced ginger
1/8 cup fish sauce
¼ cup rice-wine vinegar
½ cup light-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons spicy sesame oil
1 cup regular sesame oil
4 tablespoons Absinthe (or substitute Pernod)

Mix all ingredients.

 

Red Wine Poached Eggs

At The Publican in Chicago, chef Brian Huston poaches eggs not in the usual solution of water and vinegar, but in red wine. A drizzling of Hollandaise sauce goes on top for the win. Serves 4

4 eggs poached in red wine for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the yolk sets
4 large handfuls of fresh bitter greens (arugula, dandelion greens, mizuna or chickory)
8 slices of prosciutto
Hollandaise (recipe below)

Hollandaise Sauce

1 stick unsalted butter
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
1 shallot, diced
1 sprig tarragon
3 eggs

What to do:

To make Hollandaise sauce, melt butter, cool and set aside. In a small sauce pan, simmer vinegars, shallot and tarragon until liquid is reduced by half. Strain liquid and reserve. Crack eggs into blender, add strained vinegar and mix. Slowly pour in melted butter while whirring. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve: Pile a generous handful of bitter greens on the plate, and rest a poached egg atop the leafy pile. Lay two slices of prosciutto over the egg and spoon generous amount of Hollandaise over the whole.

 

Early-Spring Vegetable Charlotte with Coddled Egg and Camembert

Pete List, the chef at Denver, Colo.'s Beatrice and Woodlsey, coddles both eggs and lucky diners with this savory, cheese-filled take on a bread-based French dessert. Serves 4

2 medium roasted red peppers (see directions below, or buy the prepared version)
5/6 cups extra virgin olive oil
½ lb. red or Swiss chard, washed and stemmed
2 fresh zucchini
2 young onions with scallion-like tops in tact (or substitute 2 small, sweet onions like Mauis or Vidalias)
4 ripe heirloom tomatoes
1/4 cup crushed garlic (approximately 6-8 cloves)
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 loaf artisan bread sliced thinly (focaccia or ciabatta are preferable)
¼ cup olive oil
4 ounces (¼ lb.) Camembert cheese (or substitute any bloomy rind cheese, such as brie), cut into four slices
12 thin slices of Parma ham (approximately ¼ lb.)
4 large farm fresh chicken eggs
4 fresh basil leaves

What to do:

Make the vegetable filling:

1. Preheat oven to broil.

2. Toss peppers in ¼ cup of olive oil. Place on a cookie sheet and put under the broiler until the skin is blackened and blistering. Place peppers in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let steam to loosen the skin. After 10 minutes, uncover bowl and let peppers cool. Peel skin off the peppers and remove the seeds and stem. Slice peppers into 1-inch-wide strips.

3. Place roasted peppers in mixing bowl.

4. Prepare chard: Bring a pot of salted water to a boil while you wash the vegetable's leaves in cold water to get rid of any sand or grit. Remove stems. Submerge chard in the boiling water for one minute until leaves wilt. Transfer to a bowl of ice water. Once they're cold, remove and pat dry with a paper towel. Tear the leaves into smaller pieces and add them to the mixing bowl with the roasted peppers.

5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

6. Slice zucchini into rounds about ¼-inch thick and place in the mixing bowl with the other vegetables. Do the same for the onions and tomatoes.

7. Crush each garlic clove with the flat edge of your knife and add to the bowl.

8. Add 1/3 cup olive oil, salt and pepper to vegetables. Toss until coated evenly. Place vegetables on a baking sheet or medium-sized roasting pan. Stirring every few minutes to ensure even cooking, roast for 35-40 minutes, or until lightly brown. Remove vegetables from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Place cooled vegetables on a cutting board and rough chop to ¼-inch (or smaller) pieces. Return to mixing bowl and add sherry vinegar. Finally, add salt or pepper as needed and set aside.

To build the charlottes:

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

10. Slice bread about 1/8-inch-thick. For best results use one long slice that will fit all the way around the inner wall of the ramekin; for the bottom, if you can't cut one circular round, two semi-circular pieces are fine—they should overlap a little. The entire interior of the ramekin should now be covered. Measure the depth and width of the ramekins and trim the bread to fit. Finally, cut one circular piece to fit over the top of the ramekin.

11. Brush the bread with enough olive oil to soften and make pliable (1/4 cup of olive oil should be plenty). Line the inside of the ramekins with the trimmed, moistened pieces of bread; do the sides first, then the bottoms.

12. Fill each ramekin halfway with roasted vegetable mix, add a slice of cheese to each, then fill with the rest of the vegetables. Line the top with circular piece of bread, cover each ramekin with foil and bake for 20 minutes, or until the bread is toasted and the vegetables are hot.

13. When the ramekins go in the oven, coddle the eggs thusly: Place the eggs in makeshift stands fashioned from their respective carton slots in the bottom of a pan or pot that is deep enough to hold water to cover the eggs by 1 inch or so. In a separate pot, boil enough water to cover the eggs and. Once it's boiling, gently pour it over eggs. Let eggs sit in the water for 22 minutes for large eggs; extra large may take a couple minutes longer. Remove eggs from the water and let rest for 2-3 minutes to cool slightly.

14. Remove ramekins from the oven and let rest a few minutes.

15. To serve, remove each charlotte from the ramekin by turning it upside down onto serving plate (loosen the edges around the side of the container with a knife if necessary). On top of each charlotte, arrange two slices of Parma ham, gently crack the tops of the eggs with a spoon, pull the shell off the top to make a large hole and pour one gently on top of the ham. Wrap the ham around the egg, drizzle whole with olive oil and garnish with a fresh basil leaf.

YOLKLORE | Dispelling rural myths about eggs

Farm Fresh: No different from most ingredients, a fresh egg is a tastier egg than one that's been hanging around. To score a prime pick, shake it—there shouldn't be a lot of air in there.

Big Chill: Should eggs be stored in your fridge? Sure. Should they go straight from that holding place to your pan? No. Let them reach room temperature before you apply heat. This way the white sets more evenly and the yolk stays soft.

Color War: Turns out brown eggs are not healthier than white eggs. Both shells reflect the color of their respective mothers' plumage. You'll also find blue and gray, olive green, dark brown and black, which comes from a rare breed of duck.

Accessories Aren't Us: Egg-oriented accessories are mostly unnecessary; chef Pete List ditches the coddling jar and lets the egg cook in its own shell. Chef Brian Huston finds no use for an egg-poacher; he drops each cracked egg straight into a swirling bath of boiling liquid.

Copyright 2011 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

ST: Egg story

Lifestyle

Home > Lifestyle > Taste > Story

Apr 3, 2011

Egg story

By Chris Tan, Ask The Foodie

--PHOTO: CHRIS TAN

 

As Easter is on the horizon, and the subject is a perennially popular one in Ask The Foodie's inbox, this week's column is an eggcentric extravaganza.

To maintain their freshness, store eggs pointed side down in their carton in the fridge. Take them out and let them come to cool room temperature before using. Abide by their labelled expiration date.

Steamed eggs: More questions have been sent in about Chinese and Japanese steamed eggs than nearly any other topic. Use a ratio of 400ml of liquid (water, light stock, soymilk, or a mix) to 135g of beaten eggs (weighed without shells). Use more yolks than whites for richness and creaminess; more whites than yolks for lighter colour, flavour and mouthfeel. This holds true for all custards.

If you want to embed ingredients such as seafood, meat or vegetables in the steamed egg, use less liquid (perhaps 350ml) to counterbalance the moisture those ingredients will release during cooking.

Stir liquid and eggs together and slowly strain through the finest sieve you have. Pour into a bowl. Mixture should not be more than 4cm deep. Add ingredients, if any, and cover with a lid or foil. Steam over barely simmering water for 25 to 30 minutes or until just set - the middle should not be liquid but should quiver when the bowl is shaken. Gentle steaming is crucial to avoid bubbles and an overcooked texture. Note that chawanmushi is supposed to release a little liquid when dug into with a spoon. Too much oozing liquid is a sign of overcooking or too little egg in the formula.

Creamy scrambled eggs: Beat 4 parts eggs with 1 part milk or cream by volume and season as desired. Preheat your pan over medium-low, steady heat. Melt some butter and add the eggs. Wait 5 seconds, then start to stir at intervals of a few seconds: longer intervals for large, soft curds, short intervals for a smoother scramble. The instant they are done to your liking, dish them up. Eat promptly or all bets are off.

Boiled eggs: Get a deep pot of water to a bare simmer, with only a few bubbles rising every 5 seconds. If cracks in the eggs bother you, place a small, clean, folded kitchen towel at the base of the pot so that the eggs have a soft foundation. As long as it is totally submerged, it will not burn.

Place your room temperature eggs in the pot in a single layer and start the clock. Cook for 3 minutes for barely set, jelly-like eggs, 4 minutes for half-set whites and runny yolks, 5 minutes for mostly set whites and runny yolks, 6 minutes for set whites and half-set yolks, 9 minutes for hard-boiled eggs. These cooking times apply to 60g eggs; add or subtract seconds for larger or smaller eggs, remembering that practice, not slavish timekeeping, makes perfect.

As soon as their time is up, remove the eggs from the pot and transfer them to a bowl of cold or running water to halt their cooking. Shell and eat them as soon as possible - prolonged standing, especially if they are still warm, leads to the grey-green yolk ring forming.

Poached eggs: Eggs destined for poaching must be very fresh. Newly-laid eggs have the most gelatinous white and will form the neatest poached eggs. Bring a pot of lightly salted water (no need for vinegar) to the boil and keep it just below a simmer, so water currents will not distort the eggs. Crack your egg into a large ladle or small bowl and carefully slip it into the water so it is fully submerged. Do not crowd the water with too many eggs and do not stir. Cook for 3 minutes for runny yolks, 4 minutes for gooey yolks. Lift eggs with a slotted spoon, drain briefly on paper towels and serve immediately.

Omelettes: These require a pan or wok that is non-stick either by design or years of use. Preheat it over high heat to get it hot. Add oil or butter, swirl it, then pour in eggs which have been blended and aerated by a quick, vigorous beating. For a western-style omelette, stir the eggs for several seconds, till they are set underneath and semi-liquid on top, then let cook undisturbed for a couple of minutes while you sprinkle on a filling. Fold it up and serve immediately while still slightly soft in the centre. For a non-folded, thicker Asian-style omelette, use ample fat, get it very hot and do not stir after adding the eggs, so they puff into a disk. Flip it when well-browned and cook until just fully set.

Eggs multi-task incredibly efficiently in recipes, especially baked goods. They enrich, thicken, leaven, trap air, emulsify, add grain, add smoothness and add protein. Yolks bestow creaminess and colour, whites dryness and elasticity. Because eggs take on a different suite of functions in each recipe, it is all but impossible to derive general rules for substituting eggs that give consistent results across genres. What works for a cake may not work for a different cake, or a custard, or a pastry. Consult vegan cookbooks that can advise you on a case-by-case basis.

ST: Chef's TOP TIPS

Lifestyle

Home > Lifestyle > Taste > Story

Mar 27, 2011

Chefs' TOP TIPS

By Rebecca Lynne Tan and Eunice Quek

 

LifeStyle teases out 10 cooking tips from five chefs.

The chefs:

Chan Kwok, 55, group master chef of Orchard Hotel Singapore

Sam Leong, 46, chef and owner of cooking school Sam Leong@Forest Cooking School

Milind Sovani, 47, chef-owner of high-end Indian restaurant Song Of India

Violet Oon, 62, cookbook author and food consultant

Devagi Sanmugam, 55, chef-restaurateur and owner of Epicurean World Cooking School

---

1 How do you minimise odours when frying fish in the kitchen?

Chef Devagi says: Boil a pot of water with lemon and orange peel, unwanted parts of lemongrass, or smashed ginger and keep it bubbling as you fry the fish. The vapour will help dissipate the fishy smell.

2 How do you cut onions without crying?

To prevent tearing, chef Leong recommends cutting onions in half and soaking them in iced water for five minutes before dicing them.

Another way is to store the onions in the refrigerator. Onions release a volatile vapour when they are cut, which is what causes the tears; keeping the onions cold retards the release of the vapour.

Oon has a simple solution: Cut the onions such that the side you are cutting faces away from you.

3 How do you tenderise beef?

Chef Devagi suggests using pineapple, grated green papaya or mashed kiwi fruit. The natural fruit enzymes help break down the meat fibres, making the meat more tender, she says.

Alternatively, buy tender cuts such as fillet and tenderloin, and always cut against the grain, recommends Oon, who favours the ribeye.

4 How do you tell if an egg is fresh?

Put the egg in a glass of room- temperature water, says chef Chan.

If the egg is fresh, it will sink to the bottom. If it is stale, it will float.

Adds chef Chan: 'Stale eggs have air inside them, which causes them to float, or sink slowly.'

He also looks at the texture of the egg white. If the white is thick and does not separate from the yolk, it is fresh.

5 Why and how do you use toasted spices?

Singapore's humid weather causes spices, such as cumin seeds and cardamom pods for making curry powder or pastes, to become damp. Chef Sovani recommends toasting spices in a dry pan which removes the moisture and in turn helps release its flavours. Spices to be cooked in hot oil need not be toasted.

6 How do you cook vegetables with thick stalks without overcooking them?

Leafy vegetables with thick stems, such as kai lan, often take longer to blanch or poach. Chef Leong's trick is to add a smidgen of soda bicarbonate into the boiling water before adding in the vegetables. This keeps the leaves green and helps to soften the stems, without the need to boil the vegetables for an extended period of time.

7 How do you get rid of garlic odour from your fingers?

Chef Devagi recommends rubbing a cut lemon over your hands. The acidic juices will help remove the odour. Another option is to wash your hands in milk, she says.

8 How do you prevent your fingers from turning orange when peeling turmeric?

To remove the bright orange stain from turmeric root, wash your hands with lime or vinegar. If dealing with turmeric powder, make sure your hands are dry and use a teaspoon where possible, chef Devagi advises.

9 How do you tell when the oil is hot enough for deep-frying?

Put a small piece of bread in the oil to check if it is hot enough. The bread should puff up and rise to the surface immediately.

Oon says: 'The bread should be bubbling at the sides with little droplets of hot oil all around it.'

10 How do you store fresh herbs in the refrigerator?

Chef Leong wraps fresh herbs such as coriander, parsley and spring onions in newspaper, and stores them in the chiller.

The newspaper-wrapped herbs may look slightly limp when you take them out of the fridge. Chef Leong suggests soaking them in some iced water - they will spring back to life.

To ensure that these herbs last longer, soak them in cold water for 10 minutes before storing in the fridge. You should trim and dry the herbs thoroughly with kitchen paper towels, and place the herbs in a zip-lock bag or plastic container. They should stay fresh for about four days.

This is the start of an occasional series.

Boing Boing: Learn how stir-fry works with this awesome cutaway wok image

Learn how stir-fry works with this awesome cutaway wok image

Maggie Koerth-Baker at 10:07 AM Tuesday, Mar 22, 2011 

 

As a little kid, I loved picture books where buildings and machines were shown in cutaway and everything, from apples to hats, was labeled—think Richard Scary or, more advanced, The Way Things Work. That's why this photo of a wok, taken from the book Modernist Cuisine, immediately caught my eye. The book teaches cooking technique and science with the help of tons of images, just like this. Most taken by Seattle photographer Ryan Matthew Smith. The best part: According to an interview on Serious Eats, this photo was made by simply cutting a wok in half and cooking stuff in it.

Serious Eats has a link to enlarge the photo, which will allow you to read the text. There's all sorts of cool information in there about how stir-frying works.

WSJ: The World's Most Expensive Noodles?

December 20, 2010, 6:37 PM HKT

The World’s Most Expensive Noodles?

A $324 bowl of beef noodles at Niu Ba Ba in Taipei, Taiwan

Four years ago, Taiwanese restaurateur Wang Cong-yuan asked his VIP clientele — local celebrities, three-star Michelin chefs, and world politicians — how much they would pay for a bowl of his best beef noodles. The most common answer he received: 10,000 New Taiwan dollars (US$324).

For whatever reason, the figure stuck. Mr. Wang printed it on the menu of his Taipei restaurant, Niu Ba Ba (“Beef Father” in Chinese).

Today, the small 40-seat eatery is known among many foodies for serving the world’s most expensive bowl of beef noodles. Niu Ba Ba has a lower-priced beef-noodle bowl — called “ordinary beef noodles” on the menu — that costs a more affordable NT$200. But Mr. Wang gets requests for his most expensive bowl almost every day.

It took the chef 15 years to perfect his recipe, which includes just 120 grams of noodles, five four-inch squares of beef, one piece of tendon, and of course, soup. Here, he explains why he charges more than a six-course meal for each bowl.

Four countries of beef: Chefs often cite import costs as a reason for high price tags, but Mr. Wang takes it to another level. For one bowl of noodles, he uses cuts of beef from four different countries: Japan, Australia, the U.S. and Brazil (for the beef tendons).

Custom cuts: Meats are most tender when cut against the grain, but that can be tricky when dealing with different parts of the cow. Mr. Wang cuts every piece in a specific shape perfectly suited to how the meat and tendons meet. For example, the Japanese beef is frozen slightly to ensure cleaner cuts whereas Australian beef is slowly scooped out from the side of the bone after cooking.

Freezing: There’s a reason why some leftovers taste better the next day – more flavor has had time to seep in. “No matter how long you boil the meat, it’ll turn the texture to mush before the flavors really marinate and develop,” says Mr. Wang. He uses a technique where he slow-braises the meat over three days, and freezes the individual pieces every night so they can rest in between. The process for all the different cuts of meat takes about one week.

Soup blending: Mr. Wang, who studied architecture in Taiwan, says he “builds” his soup. Using five or six different stocks, each distilled from various parts of the beef – tendons (for collagen), tenderloin (for that “meaty” taste), bone (for a smooth but hearty texture) – he blends the final soup similar to the way perfumers craft a scent. The resulting taste is “beefy,” but not “gamey” and there is a signature “velvety” texture to the broth and no greasiness.

Noodles: Originally made in-house when the restaurant opened 20 years ago, the noodles are now made in a nearby Taiwan factory using an exclusive Niu-Ba-Ba recipe. But to keep his customers happy, Mr. Wang offers more than 20 different varieties of noodles — thick to thin, flat to round – and will cook them to order based on the customer’s choice of al dente.

Minimal seasoning: Besides soy sauce, rock sugar, and some five spice, nothing else is used to season the beef broth. “The idea is to keep things as natural as possible and let the flavor of the ingredients shine,” says Mr. Wang, who sees many additional seasonings, like wine, as bad for your health. “I’ve had customers take my soup base to labs to ensure that it doesn’t have any carcinogenic ingredients in it.”

Niu Ba Ba. Zhongxiao East Road, Sec. 4, Alley 27, Lane 216, No. 16, Taipei, Taiwan. Tel: 886-2-2778-3075

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