Food Feature No. 16: Apple Pie and the Julian Pie Company

It might be fair to say that for most Singaporeans, the first encounter with the mysterious object called the apple pie will be at Mcdonald's.  I remember that metal box with tiny compartments at the bottom, something like a blown-up section of a harmonia, that dispensed little green and red packets.  Then you flip two of the flaps up at one end, with one flap giving a stern warning about the 'contents being hot', thereafter trying to tip one end of the flaky block into one's mouth.  Before you know it, the whole things has vanished and one is left trying to pick at the flaky crumbs that has dropped all over the table.

Well, all of those dreamy childhood came to an abrupt end during Christmas eve when I bit into the culinary masterpiece of:

Jeffrey Steingarten, author of The Man Who Ate Everything, says that the pefect American piecrust must be seven things at once-flaky, airy, light, tender, crisp, well browned, and good tasting.  Characteristics rather removed from your ubiquitous one dollar Macs apple pie.  Julian pies are actually sold around the Los Angeles, San Diego county estate, basically Southern California, areas; Julian being a former gold mining town further inland. But the good news is that they sell their pies online at the website http://www.julianpies.com with FedEx delivery to boot. 

While eating my pie, I quite enjoyed their little blurb on the box that the pie came in though I was quite confused as to who "Keith" was.  But strangely, I like people telling me that they "appreciate my business".  I think its more elegantly direct than simply saying "Thank you, See you Again Soon". 

They actually do have a pretty decent selection of pies but I think they've been careful to stick to what they know and come up with too many wacky flavours.  Available at the Naval Base San Diego Commisary were only the traditional apple pie and the apple boysenberry crumble.  I wasn't too impressed with the latter, possibly because I missed the super good flaky and tender crust. 

The apple pie is one of those rare foods that is truly American.  Even the saying goes "As American as apple pie".  A tradition upon itself, a glimpse into the American soul.  This despite the fact that its origins are suspicously English.  But whatever the case, never hurts and always worth having two servings.

Eat In No. 35: Tiramisu Cheesecake (for 80 pax)

One of my cooking dreads is doing a cheesecake.  I've never been big on baking and especially for cheesecakes where one false step can ruin tens of dollars worth of good cheese and butter.  Not to mention that any self-respecting housewife or housewife-to-be of my generation ought to know how to whip up a standard cheesecake overnight.  Who was I to interfere in their realm? 

So I decided to make tiramisu instead for a ship celebration.  The only problem was that the day before, the chefs already had tiramisu on the menu.  Guessing that tiramisu on two days might make for grumpy crew, I needed to decide what to do with the lady's fingers and mascarpone cheese at hand.  Having these ingredients paid out of the ships budget also made me a tad more adventurous.  So I went to the trusty allrecipes.com and typed in "tiramisu" hoping to some tiramisu-variant desert would appear.  Happily, I chanced upon Marty Fries much vaunted (according to the reviews) tiramisu cheesecake.  Now the problem was to convert everything to metric units and think of how to adapt the recipe to feed 80.

For 12 servings:

Ingredients

340g lady's fingers

55g butter, melted

60ml coffee liquor

230g mascapone cheese

670g cream cheese

200g white sugar

2 eggs

30g all-purpose flour

Method

-Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius.  Place a pan of water at the bottom

-Crush lady's finges into fine crumbs and combine with butter then moisten with half of the coffee liquor. Press into a spring form pan

-In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, mascarpone cheese, and sugar till smooth.  Add rest of coffee liquor and mix.  Add flour and eggs and mix SLOWLY till smooth.  Do not overmix.  Add a little cream if the batter is too thick.

-Place pan on the middle rack and bake for 40 to 45 mins.  Or until just set.  Turn off oven, leave door ajar and let rest for 20mins.  Refrigerate overnight.

Of all the above was just fine, until I realised I had to quadruple the recipe if everyone was to have a little bite of cake.  So I did away with the springform pan, there is no springform pan onboard the hsip anyway.  Instead, a large industrial grade metal tray was used. Also, I highly recommend you use a stand mixer.  I tried to be hero by using nothing but a spatula and brite force.  I was forced to retreat like a mouse.  Cream cheese and mascapone, at four times the stated proportions, are extremely non-compliant at the initial stages.  Crushing lady's fingers is also no mean feat, I used a heavy duty plastic bag and a pin roller to whack the biscuits to smithereens. Or you could simply employ, beg, borrow, cajole or coerce a helper:

 (Kenneth, one of the more hands-on foodie onboard, who kindly volunteered to help.  He came to the rescue when the amount of cream and mascapone cheese couldn't all go into the Kitchen Aid in one shot.  He suggest we do it in batches whereby the finished product was half taken out and put back into the crude mixture and the process repeated until everything was thoroughly mixed - remember to do this BEFORE putting in the flour and eggs)

And then with biscuit base lined, batter poured in, news sent out that cheesecake was being cooked, oven heated, I realised I didn't  know how long I should actually bake the quadrupled monster cheesecake.  I thought I would check in double the time needed.  But after an hour and a half, a toothpick poked in still brought out gooey batter.  And the top was beginning to brown unevenly.  In a panic, I tried to search online on cheesecake baking tips.  I discovered that the cake will continue to cook after being removed from heat and that it should be just set and not overcooke dto prevent moisture loss.  By the time I made these startling discoveries, it was a little too late, for the top of the cake at least.  It looked like a potato casserole.  But luckily there was no cracking.  I comforted myself by noting that some cheesecakes were actually meant to be top-brown.  But anyhow, a few simple tricks with heavy cream, coca powder and crushed coffee beans and the result:

It didn't turn out as moist as I wanted it, I thought it wasa little dry so I opted with a whipped cream topping.  It had been in the oven for about an hour and 50 mins.  Toppings can be either whipped heavy cream and icing sugar or go with fresh fruits or pair with vanilla ice cream or even some irish cream liquor.  You probably deserve a bit of fun after all that hard work.

Eat Out No. 40: Mexican Old Town Cafe, San Diego

To be perfectly honest, I've never really been familiar with anything Mexican until recently.  When I was young, my entire Mexican world consisted of Speedy Gonzalez and cacti.  In my teenage years, it expanded to Taco Bell and until recently it included margaritas as well.  And then the Big Bang happened when I got here to San Diego, mere kilometres from the Mexican border.   San Diego is heavily infused with Mexican cuisine judging by the number of taco shops there are here.  In Old Town, a little district north of the airport, lies the "historic heart" of San Diego where the first settlers came to.  If you want anything Mexican, go there.  They have everything from Mexican hats to ukeleles to burritoes.  So we ended up here at Mexican Old Town Cafe, touted by a local as the best Mexican restaurant in Old Town.  Well, it certainly had visual appeal with, at any one time, at least ten workers kneading corn meal and white flour doughs and cooking them on two large circular pans.  A nice big spit turning whole skewered chickens was fancy too.

And the place was packed.  Waiting for a table on a saturday required at least an hour.  The set-up was a gastro-bar concept where alcohol mixed with grilled chicken.  But once we sat down, we were immediately given grub:

Nothing...nothing beats the taste of these nachos.  These are far from Dorito's.  These have no MSG, no salt and no flavourings.  They come out hot and extremely crispy with a small pot of overflowing salsa.  When you come in from the cold, you really do want some Old Town Mexican Cafe nachos.  And the best part? These are complimentary.  And they gladly refill.  I think half the calories from my meal came from the nachos.   And of course, with a nice margarita, things just couldn't get better.

But they did, especially when the ribs came out.  Succulent, falling off the bone, heavenly.  And they weren't slathered all over with BBQ sauce.  The sauce came by the side.  These weren't cooked by lazily dumped into the deep fryer (read: Cafe Cartel) but real baked and roasted.  The ribs were particularly good because they had just the right amount of fat to be juicy but not too much that it crowded out the meat.

And then came more meat.  Much more meat.  First were the delectable barbecued chickens we spotted outside.  Once again, perfectly roasted, juicy and plump.  A bit like Kenny Rogers at half the price.  And not to mention the carnitas, pulled strands and pieces of pork paired with refried beans.  I always wondered what refried beans were.  Well, they are actually only fried once.  Cooked beans are cooked and mashed then fried with lard and spices like onions and garlic.  But the most important thing is the lard, which can consist up to 25% of the dish.  These are a staple in Mexico and are called frijole refrito (pronounced free-hoh-lay). 

Quite apparently, Old Town Mexican Cafe lived up to its reputation.  I re-visited Old Town again two weeks later and visited Coyote's where the food was much sub-standard compared to Mexican Cafe.  Service was quick and efficient and we left generous tips.

So with chicken, pork, lard, beans, salsa, alcohol and never-ending heaps of tortillas and nachos, ten of us feasted like kings.  Some good measure of reward for enduring bad seas never-ending puke sessions on the high seas

Eat Out No. 40: Aloha! Cheesecake Factory!

Dear friends, I never had much to boast about in my life.  Maybe except the fact I met a wonderful girl who not only puts up with me but also outeats me.  But that's more of Providence than anything else.  But for once, I can tell the world that I, or We, the puny Singaporeans, have navigated across the entire Pacific Ocean.  From the Malayan Peninsula to Southern California, San Diego.  Almost 16,000km, we steamed, we braved 2 storey high waves, detoured through the Philippines to escape typhoons, encountered dolphins and watched beautiful sunsets.  And the best news? We're going to have to go all the way back -_-""

A fringe benefit is that we stopped by some interesting places.  In Guam, I was hoping for some authentic Guamese food but was advised that Guamese food was just a poor variant of Hawaiian cuisine.  And then when we reached Hawaiian,  I discovered Hawaiian cuisine was actually a mish-mash of other cuisines.  One the more authentic Hawaiian foods was Kalua pork.  A whole pig is cooked in an imu, a pit dug into the earth and with hot rocks placed within.  A bamboo pole is inserted in which water is poured in so as to create steam - this roasting/steaming method is known as Kalua.  Unfortunately. we weren't there on a holiday.  Time was short and there wasn't much time to enjoy ourselves.  So we opted for a safe option, considering that we would stop by Hawaii again on our return leg (then I'll go find my Kalua pork!). 

Yes, cheesecake factory at Waikiki beach.  I've never been the the US before this but I've heard friends waxing lyrical (PY included) about the wonders of cheesecake factory (which, incidentally, do not only serve cheesecakes and have no relation to other "cheesecake factories" outlets in Singapore).  So, four of us hungry souls, waiting for a good 30mins for a table.  One thing I noted was the service, in the US, service charge is tip-based which gives an incentive for waiting staff to perform to their best.  So our breads, drinks, menus, bills and forks came quick.  And the breads were hot and delicious, they even had cocoa loafs!

 

Quite possibly, the cheecake factory is something like a Jumbo seafood, Boon Tong Kee, Muthu's curry equivalent in Singapore.  It is well-loved by everyone, considering the waiting list.  But like good restaurants, too much franchising and branching out can have an impact on the food.  Well, we were about to find out.

I had the mahi mahi, a type of deep water fish with a dorsal fine.  Also known as dolphinfish although it does not belong to the dolphin family at all.  I simply asked for no carbo sides, just vegetables.

   

The fish itself was surprisingly fresh and the flesh was meltingly tender to the cut, as if it had come straight from the tank!  And I was surprised that such huge fishes could have such tender meat.  Well, definitely not as tender as a live soon hock or a grouper but highly commendable e.  It came encrusted with pistachios.  The veggies too were cooked to perfection and nice and crunchy.

Another dish we had was the meatloaf. Mind you, if you google cheesecake factory meatloaf, you get inumerable  recipe links screaming "cheesecake factory meatloaf" at you.  A bit like googling kfc fried chicken. 

 There were more accompaniments than pictured here.  There were fries and a salad.  All American-sized servings.  It could have a seriously fed a small family.  Despite the fame of its meatloaves, the one featured here, unfortunately, was not up to scratch.  I suspect it might have been overcooked a little as it was dry.  I also found that the seasoning was not quite complementary and a little bit more fat could have been used.  The saving grace was the caramelised onion topping, especially the gravy, a real classic brown gravy, full of body and flavour.

And of course, since life is so short....:

It would have been thoroughly sacrilegious if the cheesecakes failed like the meatloaf.  But Thank Heavens! No! They were in fact marvellous.  Similar to something you might find at Morten's of Chicago or Cedele in Singapore.  Super rich and sinful.  The one featured in the foreground is the Godiva chocolate and the one in the back is Stephanie's Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake; alternating layers of red velvet cake and cheesecake  But what was more impressive was the selections of cakes they had.  I think I counted more than 30.  Pretty amazing.  I personally liked my Godiva chocolate since I'm a sucker for the brown stuff.  But I could appreciate the red velvet cake too, sponge and cheese made a good yin-yang balance.

Overall, a good experience.  Good service, great atmosphere, good for families and friends.  Plus it was decently priced, considering that oyu get plenty of food (for us Asians anyway).  No wonder that the cheesecake factory has built up quite a brand in the US.  And we tipped plenty.  Next up amigo, the real mexican cuisine in Old Town, San Diego!

Food 7.5, Service 9, Atmosphere 8,  Value for Money 8.5

The Cheesecake Factory

Hawaii, Waikiki Beach 

Eat Out No. 39: Geylang Crab Bee Hoon @ Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant

I think of all eating places in Singapore, none have divided the foodie community more than Geylang Lorong 35's Sin Huat.  At the centre of the debate is the value of its (in)famous crab bee hoon - how much would you pay and how much bad service will you put up with for luscious strands of delectably smooth "thick" bee hoon coupled with loads of Sri Lankan crab meat and roe?  Adding fire to the debate is the famed Anthony Bourdain's episode of A cook's Tour where he raved about the deliciousness of Sin Huat's bee hoon.  Plus of course K. F. Seetoh's praises about it.  Three of us - Yanjie, Jiakai and myself ventured last weekend to find out what all the fuss was about.  

Any self-respecting Singaporean foodie must have at least ventured into the Geylang Lorongs once or twice in search of some mystical food item - be it dao huay (been curd) or ter kah (braised pork trotters).  So three of us did just that.  Bringing steely balls and wallets we ventured to Lor 35 and sought out the famed Sin Huat, that looked something like this in the evening twilight:

Our evening began with a 5min wait for someone to attend to us.  Ok, to be fair, we were served our cutlery and peanuts pretty promptly after.  The cutlery (peanuts notwithstanding) remained clean for the next 15mins as our orders remained unwritten because, apparently, some crazy guy had pre-ordered maybe $10k worth of bee hoon (which may not be that much, as you'll find out later).  So after 15 mins, our orders were taken.  It was over in 15 secs, just one curt guy (could be the boss), no menu, no asking of portions, just scribbles on an order sheet.

Then came T.H.E G.R.E.A.T W.A.I.T.

It was 30mins before our first dish came.  It was simply our baby kailan that we ordered.  So it was just plain kailan eating for another 30mins before the next dish came:

Steamed Frog! I can't fault the freshness of the tiny buggers, the meat was outstanding.  But I thought the garlic was a bit over the top.  And no, they didn't serve us 'original' essence of chicken, it had already been so-called 'processed' or, for want of a better word, diluted, with other liquids.  I suspect soy sauce and/or oyster sauce.  And then we waited again ... 20mins this time:

Yes, this is what we affectionately call the gong-gong.  Other than a term used for your pesky little sister, it was a pretty convenient name for the Strombus Canarium, a member of the conch family.  Once again, freshness was tip top - couldn't fault it.  The highlight apparently is the tear-jerking sticky chilli/honey concoction by the side.  Jia Kai said that he read somewhere online they take half a day to prepare it.  Extremely fiery.

Then it was another 30mins of us discussing career options, politics, geology, property and TV sets before the piece de la resistance, the epitome of Sin Huat, the famed CRAB BEE HOON (2 X Sri Lankan crab) came:

 

To begin with, i actually found it a little bit too salty for my liking.  But what I immensely enjoyed was the crab roe and the silkiness of the noodle.  Plus, the gravy sauce, not too much to over-drench the noodle but robust and little enough to seduce you and make you just want to stuff your face with more noodle.  Not to mention the fact that we were ravenous by that time (10pm).  Yes, you can taste the richness of the sea in the sauce, no kidding.  Apparently, the legend is that tourists request just the gravy to be packed for take-away.  So finally, our night of gastronomy ended on a crabby note, the one dish at the one restaurant which you either hate or love.

Oh did I forget the bill? Our waitress aunty was obviously smirking and lording over us as she came over with (credit cards are accepted at this kopitiam btw):

 

Food 9, Service 1, Atmosphere 0.5, Value for money ?

Sin Huat Seafood Restaurant

Geylang Road (Geyland Lor 35)

Tel: 6744 9755