B-Kyu Newsletter - 15 November 2020
Bagels, robot wolves, Deepavali / Diwali, miso, smelly food, Yakult ladies, Polish duck blood soup, cheese toast, Australian durians
Hi folks
Welcome to the B-Kyuniverse for 15 November 2020. Feel free to share the B-Kyu love by sending to all your good eating and reading friends and get them to subscribe for themselves. You can read past copies of the newsletter here and our blog here.
In each newsletter we search out articles for you the curious reader to broaden your eating adventures. We collect a broad menu of stories, blogs (including our own) or other media for you to digest, consume and hopefully, get out and feast on the wonderful world of food in Sydney and beyond. Links in the title, a $ sign after a story means you may have to go through a payment firewall if you’ve used up all your free hits.
Food and food writing
11 November 2020: From Stinky Cheese To Cat Pee, Author Takes A 'Nose Dive' Into The Science Of Smell (Terry Gross, NPR) An interview with Harold McGee about his new book, Nose Dive, about the science of smell. It looks at why smell is so important to food, cooking and pleasure, and most importantly, why some cheese smells like vomit. Not mentioned are our favourite stinky friends, fermented tofu and durian.
12 November 2020: Food law under review in Australia, New Zealand is first in decades (Food Safety News) The first review of our food and safety laws in 30 years, which we share jointly with New Zealand. Of interest are proposals to adopt overseas risk assessments and standards, speed up the process for new food products entering the market and looking at food crime and fraud.
8 November 2020: Under wraps: Matt Preston shares the secrets to great homemade dumplings (Matt Preston, Delicious) Read this article for the main tips from Diana Chan, Dan Hong and Durkhanai Ayubi, padded out by and some bloke from England who once wrote reviews of Home and Away and Neighbours.
The mixed dumplings at Chinese Dumpling Master, Newtown (B-Kyu)
Diwali / Deepavali
10 November 2020: How we light up Diwali by feasting together (Shivika Gupta, SBS Food) The Festival of Lights is the biggest celebration in the Hindu calendar (celebrated this year on 14 November). This article looks at the relationship of food and feasting and the importance of maintaining family and culture. I am imagining the endless parade of sweets delivered to your door, that’s some tradition to get behind!
Bagels and Cheese Toast
11 November 2020: Now Open: The Bagel Co Surry Hills, From the Family Behind Glick’s (Pilar Mitchell, Broadsheet) A new option for a good fresh bagel in Sydney opens up on Reservoir Street in Surry Hills. Coming fresh from the family bakery out in Tempe, Glick’s expands it’s empire. Lox and cream cheese on an everything for me.
13 November 2020: Sizzler cheese toast recipe revealed as restaurant chain closes (Stephanie Bedo, News.com.au) The secret recipe for Sizzler cheese toast, that crunchy salty must have at the buffet restaurant, is revealed. It’s just three ingredients - margarine, pecorino cheese and white bread. Sizzler closes all of it’s last nine stores in Australia today, including Campbelltown in Sydney.
Also this analysis of the closure which goes deeper into the decline of the food chain and the eating habits of Australians: Vale Sizzler: the cheese toast king couldn’t keep up with dining trends (Katherine Kirkwood, The Conversation)
Muesli
10 November 2020: Australian mueslis tasted and rated: 'Rice puffs as soft as packaging worms' (Nicholas Jordan, The Guardian) The muesli rating juggernaut rolls on! With ratings for the best and worst, this makes selecting a bag of oats and associated crunchy bits a whole lot easier.
Durian
14 November 2020: Durian season smelling great as Australia's largest farm gives Perth a whiff (Matt Brann, ABC Rural) Australian grown durian is now available, with pallets of the product selling quickly. Han Shiong Siah grows durian from his farm outside of Darwin, and after 30 years of cultivation is now starting to see a pay off as local interest increases.
Chinese
9 November 2020: How a trip to Hong Kong taught British-Chinese chef Andrew Wong that not all Chinese food was the same (Susan Jung, South China Morning Post) How this London based chef and cookbook writer moved beyond his parent’s Chinese restaurant cooking for English folk (“all ginger root, scallions and gloopy sauces” ) to discovering all the wonderful nuance of Chinese cooking. The quote below really sums up the reasoning for our love and joy of b-kyu food and cooking:
“We chefs spend our days treating food as if it belongs under a microscope, pleating dumplings as if it is an art only for rock stars, when the reality of the situation is that throughout China dumplings are usually pleated by 80-year-old grandmothers squatting on street corners while they simultaneously smoke and watch television. To this day, I have yet to meet a chef in any professional kitchen who can stir-fry rice faster than the street vendors in Chengdu, who serve 50-cent dishes cooked on their gas-fired grills.”
11 November 2020: Sichuan peppercorn: A Chinese spice so hot it cools (Megan Zhang, BBC Travel) This article delves into the spice essential to Sichuan cooking. Once when ordering Sichuan pepper spiced fish at Golden Fang we were asked if we liked spicy food ‘You know’ the waiter said, ‘It makes your mouth crazy!’
“When you eat chillies, capsaicin induces a burning sensation known in Chinese as là. Sichuan peppercorns produce a phenomenon called paraesthesia, in which the lips and tongue feel as though they are vibrating and go vaguely numb – known as má. Together, the tandem combination of burning and numbing from these two ingredients is known in Chinese as málà, a hallmark of Sichuan cuisine that facilitates sweating – and thus creates a cooling effect that makes the sweltering climate more tolerable.”
Waiting for a customer, Chengdu (B-Kyu)
Japanese
12 November 2020: Ancient miso fermenting recipe brings Japan closer for Orange, NSW resident (Daniel Bingham and Luke Wong, ABC Central West) A profile of Nanae Harada of Mountain Miso who makes her ferments as a way to remember her home and family in Hiroshima Province in Japan. The cool climate in Orange is perfect for miso making. Ms Harada uses different beans and grains, foraged mushrooms from Mount Canobolas as well as soy beans for her ferments, and offers advice on cooking, not just soup. Find her products at Orange regional markets or here on Friendface or @mountainmiso_nanaeharada
November 2020: 10 Japan Favorites, by Alana Dimou (Appetite Press) Sydney based photographer Alana Dimou has been publishing volumes of photos and words on her travels in Hong Kong, Japan and her lockdown cooking. This is a highlight article of her Japanese adventures with wonderful photos of kakigori, coffees and sandos.
“I am but an outsider looking in, eating happily, and wishing my home country of Australia embraced even a pinch of the dense, dynamic, something-for-everyone-at-many-hours dining approach of Japan.”
9 November 2020: Daikon radish found growing in concrete in heart of Osaka disappears (Kyodo News) As soon as the story of this wayward radish growing outside of an Osaka railway station appeared, the wayward vegetable was gone a few days later. Nature pops up in the city, endlessly fascinating.
Korean
14 November 2020: ‘Yoghurt Ladies’ of South Korea Deliver More Than Dairy (Choe Sang-Hun, photographs and Video by Woohae Cho, New York Times, $) Affectionately known as ‘Yakult ajummas’, these women rise around in refrigerated carts selling the fermented yoghurt drink. They offer more than just a delivery service, more like a neighborhood support for busy parents, harried office workers and elderly neighbours. In return they work for commission to support themselves and family where at times employment would be hard to come by.
Malaysian
Ho Jiak have developed an Indomie Goreng ice cream that fuses all the noodle and five sauce goodness. At $16 a tub its an investment in dessert goodness. Available at all three stores, Haymarket, Strathfield and Town Hall.
Ho Jiak Indomie Goreng ice cream from their Instagram
Thai
28 September 2020: The Nostalgic ‘Vienetta’ Ice Cream to Make a Comeback (Khao Sod English) Made by Wall’s in Thailand, this classic ice cream dessert is coming back to Thailand after many years. For around 159 baht, you can pick one up at 7-Eleven and eat the whole thing, just like you wanted as a kid.
Laotian
2 November 2020: Starbucks to bring its lattes and frappes to Laos next year (Bangkok Post) Starbucks for us means two things: the wi-fi and toilets. The coffee? Only as a last resort.
“We’re excited to bring the Starbucks Experience to Laos, which has a rich history of coffee production and thriving coffee culture.” This sentence reminds us of the Australian experience for Starbucks, who couldn’t conquer in an already established market.
Christmas at Starbucks in China - Let’s merry, and use their toilet.
Indian
8 November 2020: From idli to tikkas, newly elected US Vice-President Kamala Harris reveals her love for Indian food (Times of India) A fairly loose story built around a single quote from the vice-president elect but it just goes to show the enthusiasm from India for Harris. Her favourites are “So South Indian, it would be idli with a really good sambar, and then North Indian – probably any kind of tikka.”
Ethiopian
3 November 2020: Gursha Ethiopian Restaurant, Blacktown (Lorraine Elliot, Not Quite Nigella) All the goodies of an Ethiopian feast, with injera, multiple wats and tibs and a blast of coffee at the end. And we agree - we miss Aaboll as well.
Polish
11 November 2020: Best foods to try in Poland (Pavlo Fedykovych , CNN Travel) Hearty soups thickened with rye flour, beef tripe or duck blood, stews with sauerkraut and vegetables, pierogi, tater, mini schnitzel like kotlet, donut like potato dumplings - hearty isn’t a comfort laden enough word for this cuisine.
Fennel filled dumplings from the Polo White Eagle Club in Canberra (B-Kyu)
It’s a B-Kyu world
We love these Godzilla-monster like wolf robots deployed to deter bears in Japan. It’s all about the flashing red eyes.
As always, get out and explore the beautiful world we live in.
Alison and Shawn, B-Kyu