made tapas + donburi dinner for Lisa’s friends, 2 couples CSS & hubby LF and B & hubby L.
daughter SL, son & PT joined dinner so 9pax dinner.
I made-
1 teriyaki salmon belly
2 nobu miso cod
3 ika sugatayaki (grilled whole squid)
4 japanese chashu
5 tamago
6 chorizo prawnswife served sashimi from kuriya, and made sushi rice for donburi & cooked the mirin steak..aunty bes made very nice charred brussel sprouts.
L’s friends brought very good sake = kokuryu 黑龙 sake & another more expensive sake, and dessert wine almost ice wine standard..also brought le tau cheese cake 👍
food was excellent this evening, exquisite actually!
the teriyaki salmon belly perfect charring and texture, and very tasty marinade combined well with the oil belly and dill. par excellence!
nobu miso cod was very good too.
the hilarious thing was i never been to nobu, while CSS and LF went to nobu nextdoor years ago & tried the real nobu miso cod.
i made very good tamago this evening too, good taste, not too sweet & well rolled even w/o a tamago pan.
the japanese chashu was excellent this evening.
in a way it was the first time i did with an entire 1 kg slab. and it made a subtle difference that the slab was fully rolled with only skin outside instead of having one whole side w/o skin exposed for the 3.5hrs.
the texture was perfect, tender still crystalline.
the ends were a bit frayed but it was still good. son said it tasted less porky that it should be.i think that partly because of the japanese marinade mirin, tsuyu etc not the teochew type braise.
ika sugatayaki was the usual, flamed with agave nectar, olive oil, sea salt & coarse pepper. 🙂
chorizo prawns very good with very tasty, intense chicken stock, chorizo, basil, chilli padi flavours. the prawns were just frozen prawns. my eldest daughter (not with dinner this evening) actually prefer the frozen prawns to fresh ones. for me i still prefer fresh.
wife made sushi rice and served beef donburi.
wife made mirin steak using qbfood usda prime ribeye. it was very good. the mirin caramelised and increased the charring of the steak, and of course impart flavours too.
it was a wonderful beef donburi.
for me, i still prefer plain steak to the mirin steak, though mirin steak was very nice too.
i don’t drink much, so only had sips of wife’s sparkling sake, and the good expensive sake and dessert wines her friends brought, the light le tau cheese cake were very good.
this a very good group of friends, totally natural & direct – if you want something just say it! exactly what i do too…
and i actually knew L’s dad was a respected elder in my past engagements many many years back, small world it is. and when memories came calling, then i realized they looked so alike. 🙂
c.h.e.f andy