Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

While strolling through the meat section at a local grocery store this weekend, a nicely packaged piece of pork tenderloin caught my attention. ET was walking right beside me and when he saw me checking out the pork, he complained like a kid and said, “I don’t like pork tenderloins. They are always tough and chewy. I had some at a bistro in Paris and even the French couldn’t make it taste good”. Already lost in my thoughts of good pork tenderloin recipes, I was too busy to acknowledge him. Continue ignoring him, I realized the tenderloin was on sale for buy one get one free. Fantastic! I know I can use the discount to convince ET for buying the pork ET might be picky with his pork, but he rarely refuses a good deal.

On our drive home, I remembered a pork tenderloin recipe that I read about earlier from the Fine Cooking magazine. I had wanted to try that recipe and now is the perfect chance. ET is right; pork tenderloin is a lean piece of meat and therefore it could be dry and tough. To make the meat tender, I modify the recipe slightly by quickly pounding the pork before marinating it. The pounding turned out to be a good step – the pork wasn’t tough and ET devoured ten pieces in no time.

This recipe serves two people who really like pork, or 4 people if served as an appetizer.

You will need:
- 20 pieces of pork tenderloin, sliced 1/4 inch thick each
- 1 cup of Japanese bread crumb (Panko is the brand that I used)
- Oil for frying

For marinate you will need:
- 1 tbsp of grain mustard
- 2 tbsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of kosher salt
- Freshly ground pepper

1. Using the back of the knife, chop each pork slice. Turn the slice by 90 degrees, and chop the slice again.
2. Add the marinate to the pork. Fridge for a few hours up to overnight.

3. Drench each pork slice in bread crumbs. Gently dust off any excess.
4. Heat oil in a quart pan. Make sure the oil is not higher than 1/2 the height of the pan. When the oil reaches 350 F, put in a few pork slices. I always clip a thermometer by the side of the pan. The thermometer tells me exactly how hot the oil is and by adjusting the heat, I’m able to fry at the optimal temperature.
5. Fry the pork slices for 1.5 minute. Place the pork on paper towel and let it cool.

6. To serve, put a dollop of plain yogurt and a bit of Dijon mustard on each slice.

Writing this recipe reminds me of a pork tenderloin roast that my friend prepared one time he invited us over for dinner. His pork roast was juicy and tender. It was the best-tasting pork tenderloin I had. This recipe cannot beat his but it’s a quick fix for my pork tenderloin craving for now

Location:
McKim Wonton Mein Saga   
1180-8788 McKim Way , Richmond , BC V6X 4E2
604-270-6632

There are two Chinese restaurants that I like and I would visit again and again in the lower mainland. One of them is Kirin, a chain of outstanding restaurants offering fine dining on southern and northern Chinese cuisine. Although I love Kirin’s peking duck, braised abalones and the lobster served in rich cream sauce, for everyday Chinese food, I always visit McKim’s. Famous for their wonton noodles, McKim’s is a causal, almost diner-like restaurant. Right next to the entrance stands the open kitchen where big pots of soup are boiling away and many woks are swung in the air cooking different types of stir-fry.

The selection of stir-fry at Mckim’s is incredible. Besides the usual beef and broccoli, chicken stir-fry in black bean sauce and chop suey, Mckim’s has many stir-fry dishes which I consider traditional homemade comfort food. I always tell ET that the food at McKim’s tastes exactly like my mom’s cooking.

The scrambled egg with shrimps and chives is always one of the classic Chinese home-cook dishes. Like the way eggs are prepared by the French, the eggs must not be overcooked for this dish; they should be slightly runny. As I’m never shy to admit, I’m a meatatarian by choice and rice isn’t the most essential item for me in a meal. However, I always ask for a hot bowl of rice to enjoy with this dish.

Lightly coated with syrup, the honey glazed spare ribs is crunchy and has just enough sweetness to satisfy my husband’s sweet tooth. When I order pork served in a sweet sauce like the honey glaze or the sweet and sour sauce, I’m always worry about getting a plateful of fatty pork pieces. The spare ribs served at McKim’s were lean and crunchy.

I always thought seafood are prepared quite well in Chinese cooking. The steamed fish is a good example. This is a steamed sole with cilantro, green onion with a slightly sweet soy sauce. The sweet soy sauce is the best thing in this dish. If you haven’t tried this already, next time when you have steamed fish, try mixing soy sauce into the rice. My dad used this trick to get me eat more rice when I was small. The rice tastes delicious after soaking up the delicious flavour of the fish from the soy sauce.

At the end of our meal, the waitress kindly asked us if we would like to have desserts, which will be on the house. I was really full with the eggs, the fish, the honey spare ribs, but my husband wouldn’t turn down dessert. The glutinous rice sweet soup was standard but it was a good way to end a comfort meal.

Location: Phnom Penh Restaurant   
244 Georgia Street East
Vancouver, BC V6A 1Z7
(604) 682-5777

Being a Chinese girl raised in a family where rice must be eaten for every meal, I didn’t grow up trying many different cuisines besides Chinese food. Sometimes though, my mom would be in her creative mood and cook her own version of pasta. I still remember those mornings when I woke up to a hot bowl of pork rib and little shell pastas swimming in black bean sauce. As I reluctantly force the little shells down my throat, all I could think of was why would anyone like this kind of noodles? My mom’s pasta was purely disgusting. Since then I have learned and will always remember that black bean sauce is not the most suitable sauce for pasta. Although discouraged by the pasta experience, I never gave up wondering what other non Chinese dishes would taste like. I knew something out there would taste better than pasta in black bean sauce. I knew something out there would taste amazing. As I was 6, I was waiting for my next opportunity to try something different.

Such an opportunity came when I started living on campus. In my first year of university, I lived in a complex where all students ate their meals at a nearby cafeteria. The same items were always served for breakfasts – eggs, bacon, pancakes, toasts and different kinds of cereal. Lunch was also always the same – pizzas, chicken strips, pastas (luckily never in black bean sauce) and made-to-order sandwiches. Dinners were somewhat more interesting as each day had a different theme – Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Greek etc. Everyone complained about cafeteria food: “That beef is disgusting; I’m now a vegetarian.”. “Oh, that greasy pizza I had for lunch made me sick! I was in the bathroom all afternoon!”. I was complaining along too. But deep inside me, I was glad that besides rice, I had chicken strips, pizzas, sushis or sandwiches to choose from. However, after having chicken strips, pizzas and sandwiches for three months, I wanted to try something different. At 17, I was constantly finding excuses to eat off campus.

Then I met ET. Having a Singaporean background, he and I went on an endless gastronomic exploration of Southeast Asian cuisine. We found ourselves eating at Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesia restaurants. One day he brought me to Phnom Penh, “It’s voted as the BEST Southeast Asian restaurant in town”, he said. After entering the restaurant, we were greeted by a wall fully hung with awards, newspaper and magazine interviews. On our way to our table, we noticed every table ordered a bowl (or multiple bowls) of tossed noodles and a plate of chicken wings:

Unlike the Vietnamese pho, the tossed noodles are served dry along with minced pork, pork slices and shrimps. The noodles are tossed in soy sauce, oil (I highly suspect it is lard which explains why the noodles are so tasty) and green scallion. Bean sprouts, chili and lime are also provided for you to mix into the noodles. The best noodles are sitting in the bottom of the bowl because that is where all the minced pork, scallion, chili and soy sauce hide. There are different versions of tossed noodles on the menu, I recommend you to try item #4.

I love the tossed noodles at Phnom Penh. However, my favourite is item 78 on the menu, the buttery deep fried chicken wings:

Fried in an extremely light and airy batter, the chicken wings are cripsy with a hint of buttery flavour. Lime juice mixed with freshly ground pepper is served as the dipping sauce. Every time I eat these wings, I can’t help but think that if KFC’s chicken are finger-licking-good, then these wings are just finger-licking-fantastically-the-best!

Another item which we always ordered is the Vietnamese spring rolls. The spring rolls at Phnom Penh are smaller, shorter but somewhat more flavourful than those that I’ve eaten at other Vietnamese restaurants.

Last night we visited Phnom Penh again with foodies Ben and Suanne from ChowTimes. Since there were more people, we ordered the a pot of chicken curry in addition to the noodles and chicken wings:

The chicken curry had a mild curry flavour. What’s most interesting about this curry is we saw something that looked like potatoes and they turned out to be taro root. Baguettes are recommended to be eaten with the curry, which we used to quickly soak up all the curry sauce.

Ben and Suanne are very knowledgeable about Southeast Asian cuisine. When they learned there is a dessert with durian on the menu, they were excited to try it:

It was a plate of glutinous rice submerged in coconut milk and topped with a few pieces of durian. Although the durian smelt strong, I was disappointed by how thin the slices were and I almost couldn’t taste the fruit at all. When I looked at the slices closely, I realized they were not durian flesh but rather a pile of durian mousse. All in all the glutinous rice tasted yummy with the slightly sweetened coconut milk.

Now in my late twenties, I have tried a lot different cuisines besides Chinese food. I have learned that pastas are very delicious in a tomato or cream sauce, or even simply mixed in a good extra virgin oil. My mom is very good at cooking Chinese food. But because I never learn cooking from her, I never learn how to cook Chinese food properly. Once in awhile, I miss a meal in which rice is served with many home style Chinese dishes like the ones that my mom made. Now I’m trying to recreate familiar home style Chinese dishes that I grew up with as well as waiting to try dishes that I have not yet tried.