Deep Down Inside (the sea) Octopus is as common as prawns and fish along the coast. I can’t really remember the first time I ate octopus; it was definitely not in my growing years—we stuck to freshly caught river fish, since salt-water fish was almost impossible to procure in our nook of the hinterland. Adulthood ushered in experimenting with newer foods, which was further supported by the move to a bigger city with more food-crazy people to make friends with and eateries that welcomed patrons looking for new experiences. Honest…
Read MoreTag: freshness
Cracking the Code: Your Guide to Cooking Squid
Squid Pro Quo Last year, on everybody’s favourite food porn show Masterchef Australia, we saw the pleasant George Calombaris dish up a luscious-looking Coconut ‘Calamari’ with Blackberry Sorbet, Blackberry Jelly and Blackberry Coulis. He scraped out the flesh of a young coconut, cut it carefully into rectangles, scored it in a diamond pattern, and folded it into rolls to be served atop stewed fruit with other accoutrements. A beautiful dish expectedly, this was a clever dessert take on fresh pristine calamari, that gorgeous piece of seafood that lights up many…
Read MoreCracking the Code: Your Guide to Cooking Fish
Salt to Taste Fish, wherever it comes from, will soothe and satisfy when everything else fails. The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea. -Isak Dinesen When I read this the other day, it struck a quick note—of course, when toiling and tearing up have been exhausted, it’s time to look towards the calming waters. And maybe what lies within. Fresh water of the rivers, lakes, and ponds is totally welcome too. After all, fish, wherever it comes from, will soothe, satiate and satisfy when everything…
Read MoreCracking the Code‒ Your Guide to Cooking Lobster
“Bon Appetit!” Julie in Julie and Julia readies to poach her first lobster, in a bid to cook the legendary Julia Child’s Lobster Thermidor. You don’t really need to read a guide for cooking lobster; you can easily watch the legendary Julia Child handle, cook and serve these live crustaceans ranging from a small chicken-sized kid to a 20-pound “Bertha Behemoth” on her classic The French Chef. The charmingly high-pitched Julia picks up a rustling creature with a firm, steady hand, the same way most of us would lift an…
Read MoreCracking the Code – Your Guide to Cooking Prawns
Hubba Bubba One of my favourite food quotes from the movies is not inspirational in the sense it’ll make you want to better your life this minute. Okay, actually, it does exactly that; it makes you want to get up and go do something—it’s so full of ideas packed into all of sixty two words. Here it is: “Anyway, like I was sayin’, shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan…
Read More