I recently popped in to the Central Chidlom Department store to have a look at the household department.

 I was pleasantly surprised to see a decent selection of good quality (read heavy-duty) bakeware. So, if you are on the lookout for this, you do have an option besides the Emporium Department store.

Both places have easy BTS skytrain access.

My smaller Smeg oven gets fairly regular use, and I have become quite comfortable with it by now. The only thing I wish is that I could broil with the door open, but it will not work that way so I do not have a choice.

With regular use, no matter how carefully, there is a build-up of oil and grunge on the top and bottom plates. Left and right are self-cleaning liners, so they are not a problem, but what gets on the top and bottom plates gets baked on really well, and cannot be wiped off with soap and water only.

My wife called the local Smeg distributor to enquire about the oven cleaner they recommend. The person who took the call had no idea what she was talking about. Next, my wife called up the sales-person who sold us all our Smeg equipment. She was quite helpful and suggested that as the equipment was still under warranty,we could get it cleaned by their service personnel. Sounded good.

So, my wife then calls the service department. Yes, of course they would be pleased to clean our oven, but we would have to bring it in to the shop where they would clean it. I nearly had a fit when I heard that. It’s a built-in oven and it took 2 strong men to lift it into position and hook up the wiring. Now they expect my wife and I to disconnect the wiring, take it down, and lug it in for cleaning? Talk about crap offers that are made for the sake of sounding good, with no real sincerity behind them - this definitely belongs in that category.

So, the oven was just getting more and more grungy. Looking at the local supermarkets for oven cleaner yielded nothing. Your typical family here apparently does not use an oven.

Finally, I was talking to my buddy about it and he mentioned that I could get it at the Villa Supermarket on Sukhumvit 33. Well, I had looked there before without success, but decided to try again since he was so sure. As yesterday was my weekly pub crawl day, I gave it a try on the way home. Yes, the supermarket is open 24 hours.

All the kitchen cleaners were on 1 shelf, and I could see BBQ cleaners, counter-top cleaners, sink cleaners, but no oven cleaner. On the verge of giving up, I gave a final try near where the detergents were, and on an upper shelf well above my head,  saw “Easy-Off” heavy-duty oven cleaner. The blurb “America’s #1 oven cleaner” caught my eye, but frankly it was the only oven cleaner available so it could be #2 for all I care.

So now I have oven cleaner. This is pretty caustic stuff and my buddy emphasised that I should be sure to wear rubber gloves when using it. I should have bought them last night, but I was so delighted to get the cleaner my brain shut down and I did not think of it. That or the beer was doing its job. Well, I’ve waited so long a few more days won’t hurt.

I’ll update on how it goes when I use it.

Well, I finally got around to grilling the great cuts of pork that I bought a while back.

As promised, you can see the photograph in the latest article, Cooking Methods and Cuts - Beef, Pork, Lamb, Chicken.

Now, I can think of Moo Ping and other great uses for it.

Looking for good quality cookware can be a thankless task in Bangkok, and possibly other South-East Asian capitals. Forget about smaller towns, probably no hope at all.I still recall visiting literally dozens of department stores, supermarkets and any place selling cookware in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore in a fruitless search for a heat diffuser or flame tamer. The quest only ended when my buddy went to the States and returned with 3 of them, which he apparently found with little difficulty.

My latest search has been for bakeware, roasting pans and the like. I had 3 non-stick pans of an imported brand commonly found in Bangkok, but they were not heavy duty and warped alarmingly when placed right under the broiler. Aside from putting some of the food closer to the broiler than the rest of it, it also meant any oil or juices pooled in one corner - not ideal.

The final straw came when I roasted tomatoes for soup, and when I was chopping them after roasting, I noticed a fleck of something grey coloured mixed in with them. I had to switch from my cooking glasses to my reading glasses to identify it, but it was just as well I did because it turned out to be a bit of the non-stick coating that had flaked off.

I know that there are no health warnings about non-stick cookware (apart from dangers to birds if over-heated when empty of food), but I am fairly certain this does not extend to eating the non-stick material.

I tossed the lot out and relied on Pyrex for a bit. OK for baking but I have read warnings about tempered glass cracking when right under a broiler at high heat, and did not feel like risking my Pyrex. It would serve me very well for other things.

I tried sourcing good metal bakeware from a couple of the Central Department Stores, a Tesco Lotus and Paragon Department Store, without any luck. Quite by chance, I popped into the Emporium Department Store, and in the cookware section found a stack of Master Class Heavy Duty Non-Stick Bakeware, all sizes and descriptions. Imported from the UK, they had a 20 year warranty.

I’m not too crazy about warranties in Thailand, after a backpack I bought with a lifetime warranty opened at the seams. I took that back to the department store where I bought it, together with the warranty card and proof of purchase, only to be told the distributor had ceased dealing with that brand, and I would have to send it back to the manufacturer at my own expense etc etc.

But at least if Master Class offer a 20year warranty, that would hold good in the UK, and could be taken as an indication of the confidence they have in their products. Plus, it did have a really solid feel to it, and a very nice finish.

I wound up buying 3 of varying sizes. I steered clear of the largest one as it would only fit in my wider rotisserie oven, not the smaller unit that gets the most frequent use. And the clincher was when my wife, usually very indulgent of my passion for all things food related, remarked that it was so large we would probably never see any real use for it. That was true enough, it could hold a huge turkey easily, and I doubt I’d ever be cooking one for a dozen people.

So, I am pleased with my find. Time will tell if it holds up to use, and I am extremely light-handed with my cookware.

My only disappointment is I still cannot find wire racks that fit in my Pyrex ware and these new roasting pans. The ones I see are either way too large, perhaps designed for a barbeque, or hideous high sided things that look more like they are meant to lower French fries into a deep fryer, rather than be used in a roasting pan.

Still, I’ll keep looking - might get lucky someday.

I’ve checked and Amazon UK sells Master Class bakeware. Amazon in the States has other brands, including Calphalon which is certainly worth checking out. I have some of their cookware which I find to be quite good. 
 

When I was a kid, lean pork was definitely an oxymoron. Had I even said it in school, there would have been shrieks of derision at the stupid kid. About as intelligent as saying giraffes have short necks.

As a kid, pork meant fat. In fact my father would ask for the cuts with a ‘decent’ amount of fat because he liked eating it. If you wanted lean meat, you bought beef.

For me as an 8 year old (pre-historic times, I know) fat meant this chunk of rubbery meat that did not break up no matter how long I chewed on it. Having not yet learnt the trick of a tissue to the mouth, I would finally stop chewing and try and swallow the damned thing. Gag! Face turning pale, quick sip of water to steady the gag reflexes. Deep breath, then a big swig of water to wash it down in one swallow. Phew, that was close. Damn pigs!

So, as soon as I was old enough to assert my independence, pork disappeared from my vocabulary. Well into my adult life, I hated pork, to the point where people would enquire whether my aversion was for religious reasons.

The only pork I would eat was char siew, and woe betide the vendor if there was too much fat despite my explicit request for lean meat. Actually, woe betide me, because I just did not eat it, preferring to leave the table still hungry rather than eat the stuff.

Fast forward, and somewhere in recent times, lean pigs became a reality. (What next, short-necked giraffes?)

Anyway, the kid in me said “Great, now I can use pork in all sorts of dishes I cook”; except slow-cooking for example. Forget the blarney about slow, moist heat and succulent meat. Lean pork in a slow-cooker comes out too dry for my liking. OK if you like meat well done I guess.
And grilling? I could fall off the chair laughing if you suggested it.

So imagine my surprise when I was shopping in the Villa Market on Soi Thong Lo and I saw these individually packed cuts of pork marked “Pork for Grilling”. Unmistakable from a distance were the streaks of fat. Fat as in marbling that is, not yukky chunks on the side. Beautiful, even, fine streaks, like a meteor shower………pinch me, I must be dreaming.

I picked up a pack, looking at it like it was manna from heaven, or like a South Seas islander would look at a pig he was about to cook maybe?

Seriously though, these were things of beauty. I picked two of fairly similar size and popped them in the cart, not quite believing my eyes.

I really should have taken a photograph before sticking them in the freezer, but I will make up for it when I thaw them out.

What am I going to cook with them? Haven’t a clue yet, though I’m sure I’ll come up with some appropriate recipe and a bottle of wine to go with them.

Lean pigs indeed. Sez who?

Last Monday we decided to make a trip to Chatuchak Market to look for some plates and props for photographing the dishes for my weekly articles.

We took a taxi there as we were late and wanted to maximise our time at the place billed as the largest market of its type in the world.

Well, when we got there the place was closed. The sign said “Chatuchak Weekend Market”, and I guess they meant it. Whilst some stalls may open during the week (I’m guessing), Monday was probably the worst day to try, coming immediately after the hectic weekend.

So we walked up the road to see what was there on the periphery. We came to a similar looking area, which we were told is Chatuchak Plaza. A lot of the stalls were closed, but there were enough open to occupy us for a couple of hours, and it did make the trip worthwhile at least.

Most stalls were selling gifts, artworks, antiques (or replicas, I’m no expert), soft furnishings, home decorations, brassware, furniture, and stoneware, plus a gardening and pets section.

Bargaining was definitely required, although in at least one instance the price quoted was so ridiculous we just walked away.

We first bought a Wooden Sauce Caddy for 150 baht (under $5). At the price, it really seemed good value for money, and the colour and finish match our dining table perfectly.

 We next went to an area where there were about 3 shops selling soft furnishings open. We bought 3 covers for the throw cushions on our sofa. At 500 baht (about $15) for 16″ x 16″ size, they were definitely more expensive than the last lot, but the difference was these were Thai Silk. There were many designs and colours; left is an example of the design we picked.

Next door to that shop was another that had a beautiful table runner on display.

I have always wanted one for our dining table, and when I saw the striking design and colour, I fell in love with it immediately.

Below you can see the detail in close-up.

For 200 baht (about $6), I thought it was just excellent value for money.

The last stop was a shop selling stoneware. We wanted to get plates for the food photographs from there.

In any event we found a circular plate that was quite striking. We browsed a few other items there. We did see a very unusual noodle bowl but unfortunately this one did not have a base plate to go with it, unlike all the others.

We did however see a nice rectangular plate, which we bought. We paid 580 baht for the 2 (about $17).

Done with the shopping, and still early, we decided to go to the Villa Supermarket in Thong Lo. We took the MRT (subway) to Sukhumvit. I must say that after the heat and sweat of Chatuchak Plaza, the cold subway cars were a real shock to the system. It took me a while to adjust and feel comfortable.

From Sukhumvit we took the BTS Skytrain to Thong Lo station, then a cab to the supermarket. We bought the ingredients needed for Garithes Yiouvetsi, which we had for dinner that night.

You can see the rectangular plate in use in this weeks article “Garithes Yiouvetsi - Greek Baked Prawns”. I am not terribly good at visualising things in use, unfortunately, so I must say I was pleased with how this plate looked with the prawns and garlic bread on it.

All told, a rather good day. 

Moving for the Third Time.

By 2006, the condo / apartment market in Bangkok was booming, rentals increased and our dear landlord smacked us with a 16.67% increase in rent when the lease expired.

Ouch! Since everyone owning an apartment had dreams of getting rich quick, at the tenant’s expense, moving to a house in the suburbs seemed to be the logical thing to do.

So, after 5 years in a pot, in 2 different apartments, our curry leaf plant finally found a home in the ground. I carefully studied the ‘movement’ of the sun, and picked a place with a decent amount of sunlight, albeit near 2 large trees.

I got the gardener to dig a very large hole, filled it with good quality top-soil and left it to settle for a couple of weeks. Then, in went the plant. Joy, a home at last!

Oh No, Moving Again?

The plant, not us, because unfortunately the story does not end there. After several months, it was clear that the plant was not doing well. Pale, speckled leaves, no new growth, it looked as if it was about to give up the ghost. You can see a bit of the problem in the photo at left - leaf edges drying up, as is the branch itself.

So, I decided to move it to the side of the house near the kitchen window. Yes, it would mean far less sunlight for it, but another flowering plant I had there, of a related family, was doing very well.

Uncertain if digging up the plant meant I would kill it, I cut off one of the off-shoots and potted it. Only when that gave out new growth, a sign of it thriving, did I move the mother plant.

I then got to see the source of the problem. One of the nearby large trees had sent out roots that were smothering the root system of the curry leaf plant, doubtless attracted by the fertilizers I was applying there.

My New Home is Nice.

Anyway, after a few months in the new location, the plant is thriving. The old stems (a little too small to be called trunks, though they should be) are too weak and whippy to support the abundant growth of new branches and leaves, so I have had to plant 3 stakes to support it at various points. The poor thing positively flops over when it rains and the leaves are heavy.

But, it is now growing taller than the wall, so it will get more sun and hopefully harden accordingly.

And as you can see from the photograph, it is sprouting many little off-shoots. I have not separated any of them, though I could. I have given the off-shoot that I potted to my buddy - he’ll love having curry leaves to cook with.

I hope that someday, our plant will be as big as the one we had in our garden when I was a kid - we could climb it, so it was a decent size.

I see from the web that the seeds can be grown. Perhaps I might try that - I might wind up as Thailand’s curry leaf version of Apple Seed John.

If anyone reading this in Europe or the States wants to get a plant, just Google “murraya koenigii in [your country]”. I’ve tried it and know it is available in the States, Canada and UK, and I am sure in many other countries. Try getting it, you’ll have a steady supply of the leaves for your own use, and you could even give some to your friends.

 The Search for a Curry Leaf Plant.

I have written a couple of articles and recipes in the last 2 weeks in which I have mentioned using curry leaves, Murraya koenigii.

This plant is easily found in India, Sri Lanka, and of course Malaysia where it is used extensively in South Indian based dishes.

I had enormous difficulty getting a plant in Thailand, mainly because it is not used in Thai cuisine at all. None of the local markets had the leaves for sale.

So, even though we were living in an apartment at the time, my thoughts turned to growing a plant on the balcony. Easier said than done. If the local markets had not heard of the leaves, the plant nurseries had never heard of the plant. Despite lots of research getting local names, photographs off the net, etc, we drew a complete blank.

Finally, a friend whose aunt hails from the South turned out to have a plant. We were promised an off-shoot. Yes, minor miracle!!!

Then the baby arrived - all 8cm / 3 in of it, in a tiny little container. OK, I thought to myself, we’ll have curry leaves in a year or so, if the little tyke survives.

Living on a Balcony.

So, lots of TLC on a balcony that only gave it about 1 hours direct sun a day, and in a year it was about 60 cm / 2 feet tall. At that point, I dared to cut off 2 small sprigs for a curry dish I was cooking; but would not do so again for at least a couple of months, as I wanted the leaves to be replaced at the very least.

After a year plus at that apartment, we had to move to another one. That had a larger balcony, but facing north as it did, I could only give the plant a couple of hours of early morning direct sunlight.

In those conditions, it basically had 1 stem, but did throw up an off-shoot that looked promising. Nonetheless, it was soon time to re-pot our curry leaf plant into a larger and deeper pot.

When I did that, I realized why the plant was so slow growing. It had a taproot system, and the main root could not go down deep enough, even though I was using a pot that was about 3 times deeper than it was wide. There was simply very little lateral root growth, and the taproot just curled and bunched at the bottom of the pot. Well, no options, as the balcony was all we had.

Note: Unfortunately, I lost the photos for this stage, when my hard-disk crashed.

Anyway, Part 2 on Monday (Tuesday in Asia). Have a nice weekend.

Having had no success with finding Black Pomfret in the supermarkets last week, we decided to go to one of the premier fresh markets in Bangkok this week, the Or Tor Kor market.

We found 2 stalls with Black Pomfret. The one we patronised was the one we have been buying crabs and prawns from for 6 or 7 years now. The lady recognised us as usual, and was pretty helpful.

The Black Pomfret she had on display was large enough for a family of 4, too large for the 2 of us. She dug into the ice and found a slighly smaller one. She opened up the gill cover to show us how fresh it was, the colour being a very nice deep red. She also ran a fingernail down one of the gills, and blood came out pretty readily, another sign of real freshness she said. We ended up buying the smaller one, which weighed in at 700 grams (25 ozs).

Left: 2 Black Pomfret, the smaller one above.

We took the opportunity to browse whatever else she had for sale. Some photos below.

Left: A tray of Silver Pomfret. Every stall had these in abundance, including larger specimens.

She had assorted fish for sale, of pretty good quality. Unfortunately, there were no Spanish Mackerel for sale at any of the stalls in the market.

A couple of mud crabs. These are usually sold live, so the fact that they were on ice probably meant that they had died. There were no live Blue Crabs available at all, the only ones being on ice, so any thoughts I had about cooking my signature crab curry went out the window.

A tank of live prawns (shrimp), the type that I usually buy for a barbecue. They go great with Thai seafood dipping sauce. I’m hungry just thinking of this.

These clams were very much alive, and you’d see them squirting up water every so often. I only had my point and shoot, so I didn’t try to get a photo of that happening.

 A tray of mussels, with some mud crabs at upper left. There is a great Thai starter which has steamed clams and mussels, in a broth of lemongrass, basil, shallots, kaffir lime leaves and a cup of wine. Haven’t done this in ages, so the next time we go there, it would make a nice starter for a barbecue!

After browsing her stall, we took the opportunity to buy some Thai Garlic, as this is not always available in the supermarkets.

As we were leaving, we saw some Rose Apples (Chompoo in Thai) of pretty outstanding quality, so we bought some as well.

Or Tor Kor market is not the cheapest market by any means, but it does have a reputation for good quality produce.

So, an interesting trip and I cooked a Black Pomfret Curry that night. One of my better efforts I was told, motivated no doubt by how much effort it took to get the fish. 

Three supermarkets in 2 days - not a Black Pomfret in sight.

Silver Pomfret aplenty, a lot of them palm sized - so small that they were priced per fish, rather than by weight. Surely too young to have bred, and if we keep this up, even more severely depleted fisheries will definitely be the result.

I have not seen a Spanish Mackerel in a Bangkok supermarket in all the time I have been looking, over the last 6 or 7 years. I won’t say that there have never been any, but I will say that on the weekends that I have been and checked, I have never seen one.

When I was a kid, Spanish Mackerel and Black Pomfret were fish that we would find in the wet markets every weekend. There was nothing at all special about them. Indeed, the special one would be the Silver Pomfret, which cost more then, as it does now.

So, where have the fish gone? And when will we stop this stupidity of selling palm sized Silver Pomfret? When consumers care enough to refuse to buy them?