Lilli is a platinum member of IC Hotels, so we booked a
night at the Intercontinental Hong Kong mostly to eat
at Yan Toh Heen, which wasn't accepting reservations,
but when I e-mailed the desk saying we'd staying be at
the hotel and would like to eat at the restaurant, they
said, oh, cool, when should we expect you.

This has been one of my go-to restaurants for decades,
along with Dynasty in the New World Renaissance (now
demolished), Yung Kee (now demoted), and Petrus (way
too much for me these days and also demoted). Over the
years I'd stayed a few times at the late lamented
Renaissance and twice walked over to this restaurant,
then called Lai Ching Heen, for a break from Dynasty.
The second time, which I shared with Ian and Jacquie,
clinched it, this was to be my favorite splurge restaurant
in this city. The third time, also with the Hoares, the
mazy passage from the Renaissance was closed (as the hotel
was getting ready for demolition), so we walked around
through the Intercontinental feeling a little underdressed
(or at least I did; Ian is always comfortable in his
shabby raffishness, and Jacquie is always elegant. This
time I arranged to take Lilli, who later informed me that
I've taken her here twice before.

The staff had suggested I preorder, which I did (no extra
charge, and you get not to be worried about anything
except wine and dessert - a luxurious feeling. Of course
you are disinclined to go cheap if you preorder, so the
restaurant really likes this.

We got lost getting there. They've relocated it by a
few steps but walled off the former back way, which I
used to take to avoid the treacherous main staircase.
The entrance now is right at the foot of these stairs,
and there's no apparent other way of getting there -
I think you could take the elevator to the back
entrance of the buffet next door and then through that
place and out and across, but I'm not even sure of that.
Once safely down the staircase we turned right, checked
in with the host, and were assigned a sub-host who led us
through a windy passage past the restrooms and the wines
and then finally into the lightened dining room with its
big windows and optimized view of the harbor (the view
used to be nice but across a patio with, horror of horrors,
people who could look in). Beware, because if you have to
pee during dinner, there is a chance you'll never find
your way back to your food.

What used to be a utilitarian plain light-colored room
when I first came here has gradually transformed into
fancier and fancier, culminating with a complete redo
a year or so ago into what would be a stereotypical
multistar space. The room is dark and woody and elegant,
with moody lighting that turned out to feature our table.
We got ourselves moved to another table.

The waiters were somewhere between suave two-starness
and bumbling Chineseness (but without the resentment
that many Chinese restaurants offer as an appetizer).

I was pleased to see the Amiral de Beychevelle 10
at a not extortionate price (only 3 or 4 times
retail) and ordered that, thinking it would be in
its prime and perfect with the pigeon; what came
was the 14, which wouldn't go with the pigeon but
might cut the grease well with the other dishes,
as I noted to the waiter, who came through in a
way with a couple glasses of Bristol Cream on the
house (I'd suggested and would have been willing
to pay for Tio Pepe, which was on the list but
also wasn't available, which would have been
slightly better in a different way). This turned
out to be fine.

The famous sesame candied walnuts were the usual
freebie, perfect of course (Lilli was so impressed
- she had two bowlsful so ended up with almost a
full meal's worth of calories - that she tried to
make them on return home; hers were good but not
nearly so good).

An amuse of yuzu-scented silken tofu garnished
with fried enoki mushrooms - the gentle tofu
livened by the citrus to the degree that Lilli
actually ate hers.

The usual array of sauces, which I didn't bother
to taste this time. Six opportunities at new
flavors, but I was going for purity this time,
plus I'd probably tasted them before. Plus they
came by with the usual spiced salt and hoisin
for the pig and the duck sauce for the duck
anyway; I didn't use these either.

So crispy roast pigeon isn't much protein for the
price, but it's nicely executed. How they managed
to get the head both soft and crisp I'm not sure
(guess: steaming before roasting). The glaze was
good in a classic way, the star-anise based flavors
in balance, the meat velvety tender, salted but not
salty. I'd have liked the skin to be a little
crispier, but that seems to be a secret that Otto
in Massachusetts has not vouchsafed to the world.
The bones were tender but not quite crunchy enough
to enjoy, so a little pile of shards grew on my
plate. Lili's had none, as I gave her some boneless
bits to try, and she didn't like the dish much,
more for me, yay. I sneaked some bones onto her
plate for appearance's sake.

The barbecued suckling pig, well, it cost twice as
much as at Kam's (of course, two mighty Michelins
as opposed to one) and was probably not as good. The
poor beast had been heavily brined, bad for me and
sort of ruining the texture, which ended up being
tender to the point of flabbiness. The skin was
crispy but not quite as much as I'd prefer, with a
little toothiness that surprised me. Also, Lilli (it
had to be she) found some extraneous cartilage in
her portion, which displeased her (I rather like it).

Our main main, Wagyu with duck liver in spicy sauce, was
an understatement in description and an overstatement in
flavor. A couple ounces of Kagoshima A5 ribeye eye,
possibly the most perfect beef I've ever put in my mouth,
tossed with a similar amount of seared chunks of
creditable foie gras, in a soy and ginger sauce,
garnished with ginger shredded to hair thickness and
fatlessly fried crisp. At almost a hundred bucks for this
dish alone, the restaurant was probably actually losing
money.

We had no rice - I'm firmly of the belief - held by
the classical Chinese menu planners - that the more
festive the meal the less carbs and the more protein.
Vegetables also have a limited role in this scheme.

My plan was to see how this went and order noodles
(for long life) or dessert as the spirit moved us.
I didn't end up feeling like any starch or even one
of those understated Chinese sweets so with Lilli's
agreement ordered a portion of roast duck, of which
the waitress who had taken over from our waiter
suggested could be done in a small portion, as she
eyed these two frail old people dubiously. Well, we
got a half portion, and it was delicious, a true rival
to Kam's, but the skin also not crispy enough but the
meat superb. We weren't charged for a half portion, I
think. In fact, perhaps we weren't charged at all.

The next day the bill was e-mailed. For some reason it
was only about $100. A couple hours later the rest of
the bill came, trpling the total, but it was still
well within my estimate.
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Quoting Michael Loo to All <=-

Yan Toh Heen

crispy roast pigeon / glaze / star-anise based flavors

barbecued suckling pig

Wagyu with duck liver in spicy sauce
Kagoshima A5 ribeye eye,
possibly the most perfect beef I've ever put in my mouth,
tossed with a similar amount of seared chunks of
creditable foie gras, in a soy and ginger sauce
garnished with ginger shredded to hair thickness and
fatlessly fried crisp.

I enjoyed my vicarious taste. And actually, the amount of funds
expended isn't all that much more than what I used to drop at
Pierre Lepage's.

He was awarded one star by Anne Hardy's "Where to Eat in Canada" but
that's not in the same league as a Michelin star. (She awarded 3
stars to a total of 26 places in Canada last year.) He was also
given a Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for his wine cellar
which placed him in the top 1% of all the licenced restaurants in
North America. (Again, Michelin is about 100 times choosier.)

On a less stellar note, some pleasing recent tastes here ...

Whisky: Roslind bought me a bottle of Canadian Club Premium Original
1858 whisky thinking it would be a special treat. It turns out to be
just regular Canadian club with a fancy new label! Still it's a
reasonable 6 year old sip. I'm enjoying it on the rocks with a
single drop of bitters and a small splash of soda.

Char steaks: In the far north, typically winter caught fish are laid
out whole on the ice to flash freeze (and splashed with water to
glaze them). So when it comes time to prepare them they have to be
thawed first and then cleaned and skinned before cooking them. Last
week I baked a small whitefish that way.

It is also common to use a band saw to cut larger fish into steaks
while frozen solid. When the steaks are almost but not completely
thawed it's easy to push out the plug of slushy guts before the meat
is tainted. (Young Inuit women tell me to leave them in for a couple
of hours to flavour the flesh, while their grandmothers suggest a
whole day!)

This make for a very pretty fish steak as it has a circle in the
middle perfect for holding a poached egg or a spoonful of creamed
spinach instead of two loose belly "tails" flopping around.

One of the fish Roslind brought home from a recent trip up north was
a huge arctic char weighing about 10 pounds. We had our BIL Matthew
steak it for us and we gave him half for his efforts. I have
two steaks, each 1 1/2 inches thick thawing out for supper tonight.
I'm not sure yet what the filling will be.

Matthew also kept the head and tail for chowder. He said I was Too
White to make fishhead soup. [g]

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV 2.10

Title: Crispy Fish Skin Chicharrons
Categories: Fish, Offal, Snacks
Servings: 1 batch

fish skins
oil
seasonings

At a big Sacramento food festival called Have an Offal Day
Sacramento's greatest sushi chef, Billy Ngo of Kru, made sturgeon
skin chicharrons.

Billy told me how to make the chicharrones: I am happy to report
that I've now made chicharrons from the skins of sturgeon, leopard
sharks, walleyes, Pacific rockfish, white bass, and salmon. Having
done this, I am pretty sure you can make chicharrons from any skin
you can slice off a fillet, meaning that ultra-thin skin like that
on a mackerel might not work.

Start by scaling your fish if they have scales; sturgeon, eels and
sharks don't, so you are good to go there.

Slice the skin from the meat off the fillet. You will notice that
you still have some meat and fat attached to the skin. That needs to
go. You also need to tenderize the skins of thick-skinned fish, like
sturgeon, sharks and fish like salmon and triggerfish. You do this
by boiling in salty water; the salt helps season the skins.

Here's what I've found with certain skins:

Sturgeon and leopard shark: Boil for about 5 minutes.

Salmon I'd boil for 1 or 2 minutes, but you can scrape the skin even
without cooking.

Most basslike fish, i.e., walleyes, rockfish, bass and perch you
will only need to boil for a minute or two. They are tender already.

Now you need to carefully remove all the meat and fat from the
skins. Gently lift the skins out of the boiling water and lay them
meat side up on a cutting board. Now, using a butter knife,
carefully lift and remove all the meat and fat. This is fairly
tricky; take your time until you get the hang of it.

Next you need to dry the skins. I do this in a dehydrator at 120 F
until the skin dries, which isn't too long — about 2 to 4 hours
depending on the species of fish. I've also greased a baking sheet
and laid the skins down (meat side up) and dried them in an oven set
to 170 F. You will need to flip the skins at least once if you do
this. When the skins are dried you can save them in the freezer
indefinitely.

Frying is easy. Heat about 1 inch of high smoke-point oil — I prefer
rice bran or grapeseed oil, but canola or other vegetable oil works,
too — to between 350 F and 360 F. Get your seasonings nearby, as you
will have only seconds to season before the skins' surface dries.
Salt is a must, but I've used herbes de Provence, smoked paprika and
even lemon pepper.

Drop a couple skins into the hot oil and watch the magic: They will
puff up immediately in an amazingly miraculous way. They will be
ready in less than a minute. Watch for the sizzling to die down
dramatically. Move them to paper towels with a slotted spoon and
season immediately. Once fried, they will stay crispy for a few
hours, depending on the humidity. By: Hank Shaw

From: Https://Honest-Food.Net

MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

Cheers

Jim

... Fruitcake is illegal to gift due to its extreme lack of popularity.

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