Dandan Tei (my innovation of Tantanmen Noodle Soup), the harmony of Chinese, Japanese, American & Filipino ingredients technologically infused into a single unique taste…plainly called…”satisfying”.

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This is the American ingredient.
Aside from honey-cured pork loin ham & bacon we produced for some food outlets,
we also, in smaller volume, process some plain tasting pork loin;
which are sodium nitrite & salt cured for 3 days,
boiled to tenderness, frozen, sliced and packed into 1/2 & 1 kilo portions
designed for other food processors & restos needing processed meat for their recipes.
Since these are pre-cooked, got 4 pieces then browned with little olive oil.
The Chinese ingredients.
Our company’s main line is Chinese dimsum & dumpling processing.
These are usually served by our clients either steamed or fried as is,
to go with your rice or in noodle soup with chili-garlic, lemon juice
& soy sauce as dip by the side.
Due such, we always stock on fresh egg noodles for outright summoning
(for noodle soup trials) when we test dimsum or dumpling formulations
determining whether taste fits or harmonizes that of rice or noodle.
Re-steamed 4 pieces of “pork siomai” and readied 250 grams of fresh egg noodles.
The Japanese ingredients.

GYOZA is one of the favorites of our Japanese resto accounts.
We supply them with stone hard frozen Gyoza
which they just quickly boil certain number of pieces unto non stick pan
and “brown” a bit one side (for aesthetics only)
serve together with our concoction of “Gyoza dip”.
I scored 1/8 kilo of “miso” paste at nearby Jap-store.
Miso paste on stand by, re-heated 2 pieces Gyoza together with siomai (no more browning)
The Filipino ingredients.
Again, for trial & production purposes, we’ve got stocks of beef (USA, Australia & local)
I sequestered about 8 pieces (2″x2″) local brisket together with 1 bulb “Ilocos” garlic,
(the northern part of the country from where this garlic is grown-
known for its high note pleasant garlicky aroma and more biting than Taiwan’s)
which, also, is our main spice-ingredient for “Vigan Longaniza”
(a type of native sausage where garlic & pepper are the dominant tastes).
Local beef, 3 cloves crushed Ilocos garlic, “Patis” (fish sauce) and Batangas black pepper stood by.
Heated pan with olive oil, browned garlic a bit.
Poured in 8 pieces beef and tumbled for 5 minutes or until totally brown.
Added 1/2 of miso paste. Tossed 2 minutes.
Poured 3 cups tap water and boiled until beef is tender. Set aside.
In a bowl set sliced-browned pork loin to sides.
Add siomai & Gyoza 7 any veggie of your choice.
Put in fresh noodles. Pour in boiled water with miso and beef.
“Patis” and pinch of black pepper to taste.
WOOLA.

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A convergence with revolting flavors fighting for time. 

Got up a bit late today. Had to hurry for early morning meeting with clients.
Marilyn prepared a “united nations” of breakfast for me prior to take off.
Processed from Canadian pork belly fried bacon strips got burned along sides.
Dried baby squid were oven toastered for few seconds to enjoy super crunchy appeal…overdone.
Sunny side up egg yolks got broken that they appeared semi scrambled.
Abundant citric acid-laden Chinese canned orange juice seemed like taking vinegar.
Never mind my high blood glucose condition, added 3 teaspoons of cane sugar to neutralize.
…and the rice…and the rice. WAIT!
Not yet done.
Oh well. At least, we’re together.

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HongKong Master Cook @ Macapagal Avenue, Pasay City

Marilyn’s & my favorite:

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The long All Saints’ Day vacation is a bore should wifey and I will just stay home. Kids and grandkids were out on their own.
Was ready for a long road trip with food tests of different eateries & restos on the side. So, took off headed north of Manila.
For apparent in-efficiency, the gas station gave me headache when loading gasoline.
This prompted me to conclude that God of Travel wouldn’t want me to proceed north. Drove towards south.
Feeling hungry as it was 11:45am the nearest food heaven we can think of was our family’s favorite when it comes to “paluto”
(you do the marketing of food you like to eat, mostly sea foods, and they do the cooking plus serving)
is Hongkong Master Cook along Macapagal Avenue, Pasay City.
They do great “sinigang” (tamarind soup) job. Their “inihaw na liempo” (char-grilled pork belly) is a masterpiece
by just plain dry rubbing strips with salt-pepper combi…and that’s it. The best I’ve tasted. Simple.
Kitchen works for crabs, shrimps, fish, mussels & oysters will also make you come back tagging along the whole family
and lots of friends.
Service is A-1. Cooking fees quite high but worth the bucks.
Reasons why it’s 1 of our head-ons always.
Learned from a staff that the firm, including Yakimix chain, belong to Barrio Fiesta Group. (CMIIW)
…and so…our favorite line up were served:

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Whew, we both consumed 1.5 cups of rice each.
Can’t drive any longer due to fullness. Felt sleepy.
Had to go back home to take a nap at 3pm…which heaven’s blessing…we both woke up 12:30am the following day.

Create your own Sweet Chili Sauce.

A bit break from the series of posts re: “extenders”.

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You all love the Sweet-Chili Sauce to dip in your fried stuff.  You yearn to savour that sugary-sweet-piquant concoction a lot.
Most popular & tastier brands are from Thailand while the lower price ones from China are not that so remembered. Quality, many claim, is far behind Thailand’s.Let’s create our own Sweet Chili Sauce. No ARTIFICIAL COLORING. All natural. Kindly NOTE I use grammage system rather than the volumetric teaspoons and cups measurements. So prepare your kitchen weighing scales.
(complete 1 liter formulation expandable to endless commercial quantity)
  SWEET CHILI SAUCE
Serves:    26-28
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Ready In: 25 min
Ingredients:
Water 450ml.
Cane or Palm Vinegar 80ml.
8 grams Salt
375 grams Cane Sugar
70 grams Bell Peppers (Combination of Red & Green)
2 grams Red Cayenne Pepper (or about 2-3 pieces)
15 grams Corn Starch
Step-by-step directions:
1. For multi-color presentation, head & stem cut-off, without removing seeds of red & green bell and red cayenne peppers, lay a portion or a piece of each (should they be smaller) into chopping board. Chop very finely. Include the seeds, set aside.
2. Adding little of our water, also without removing seeds, head & stem taken-off, cut into 4 pieces & blenderize remaining bell and red cayenne until semi smooth emulsion is reached.
3. Leaving about 50ml water for corn starch slurrying, pour remaining water into the blender. STIR manually with long teaspoon so emulsion will be scraped off and mix well with water.
4. Pour into cooking kettle. Add vinegar, salt & sugar. Stir consistently and bring to a boil.
5. While waiting, in a container, mix well 50ml water and corn starch until no lumps are visible.
6. On first boil, simmer down to lowest cooking temp. Add in corn starch slurry and the finely chopped peppers.
7. Stir until a bit viscous consistency is attained.
8. Done.
Notes:
Yield: 80-90% (800-900ml)
Servings: 26-28 on 30ml per serve basis at 80% yield (800ml)
If more Red bell pepper is used, sauce’s outcome color is light red. More green means reddish-green note.
Over time some discoloration will be visible & apparent. No worry. Since formulation did not use artificial colorants, it’s bound to happen. What is lost is the “natural color” of bell & red cayenne peppers. Guaranteed, there is no effect on sensory qualities of finished sauce as: aroma, taste, mouthfeel etc.

My favorite Chinese resto fumbled.

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Whenever Marilyn (my spouse) and I have the urge to unwind post hectic grind at the office, we ONLY have 4 choices of eatery to choose from.

One of them is my very own fave, Gloria Maris at Greenhills. While cross-overs are welcome, the site is gigantic divided into different dining sections (dimsum & dumpling, “shabu-shabu” (cook yourself) and fine dining).
Their Chinese lines of cuisines are superb that each time I had my 2 bottles of ultra cold beer plus the array of dimsum, dumpling, dry or wet noodles or their other Chinese chefs’ concoctions, we head home truly filled, full and satisfied. But not yesterday.
We ordered the usual as in this tablet-taken shot (for I left my DSLR at home).
We noticed:
1. busboys & servers were few. Majority of tables were still with dirt & leftovers of the previous patrons.
2. it took them 15 minutes before they can attend to us. Swiftness and attention to details in serving were nil that we conclude personnel are evidently tyros.
3. The former cozy rectangle tables by the glass-wall side where we love to dine due to high banquette head restrains were replaced by rounded ones. Quite uneasy to dine sideways.
4. Beef noodle soup was awful. Beef was old stock that I tasted mold in them.
5. My favorite Bean Curd Roll was tough. Needed a little more heating to soften
its “Kikiam” wrapper (note the brown roll in the pic).
But then, wifey and I just rationalized: busboys & servers could have been absent since it was raining hard
that afternoon till evening due to typhoon. Also, the reason for the delay in service.
Rectangle tables could have been used elsewhere in a function.
The beef’s “moldiness” and “Kikiam” wrappers’ toughness are non-negotiables.
Chefs’, no matter how busy they may be, MUST check, double check each and every dispatch from the kitchen.
That’s how to assure management of “consistent quality” products.
And so…no matter what…we will still come back. I know there were valid reasons for those “bruhaha”.
Amen.