MORSELS
Primrose Farm pork loin | Black garlic and anchovies Wood ear fungus | Carrots | Pancetta and farro
https://www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg/gourmet-travel/here-are-the-most-troublesome-and-delicious-dishes-in-singapore-restaurants-right-now/
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UP TO 5 DAYS
CARROTS
One batch of carrots is lacto-fermented (a process where starches and sugars in vegetables are converted to lactic acid by friendly bacteria) for up to five days to transform it into a tangy pickle. Another batch is lacto-fermented for around three days, so that it is less sour; this is then steamed and made into a fine puree with mirin.
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>75 HOURS
WOOD EAR FUNGUS
Dried wood ear fungus is rehydrated before it’s pickled in a mixture of ginger, chilli padi, Zhenjiang black vinegar, Chinese rose wine, and house- made garlic oil for 72 hours. The process infuses rich flavours into the fungus and softens it.
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4 WEEKS
PANCETTA AND FARRO
In a chiller, pancetta is cured with gochugaru (Korean hot pepper) flakes and Cambodian Kampot red pepper for two weeks, and further hung for another two in 80 per cent humidity. It is then chopped and cooked with farro and Chinese celery.
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9-14 DAYS
BLACK GARLIC AND ANCHOVIES
Garlic is fermented in a rice cooker for close to two weeks, before it is blended with white anchovies (boquerones) and brown anchovies to create an intense umami paste.
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28 HOURS
PRIMROSE FARM PORK LOIN
The pork loin is cured in a brining mix with allspice, cumin, caraway, liquorice and white peppercorns for 24 hours. It is then prepared sous vide for another four. “I’m a fan of layering of flavours. And adding spices gives that accent that I’m looking for,” says Loh.
Private banker-turned-chef-restaurateur Petrina Loh might be a California Culinary Academy graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu programme, but traditional Asian food has a distinct influence on her cooking. And keeping true to her principle of doing just about everything from scratch, the chef-owner of Morsels dedicates plenty of time to ageing, curing and fermenting myriad ingredients – a tradition shared among many Asian culinary cultures. These might appear as accent elements on the plate, but you should certainly pay attention to them.
(RELATED: The importance of fermentation and pickling in cooking is finally coming to the fore)
SAINT PIERRE
Hokkaido hairy crab | Tomato and corn sauce | Cucumber
https://www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg/gourmet-travel/here-are-the-most-troublesome-and-delicious-dishes-in-singapore-restaurants-right-now/
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16 HOURS
TOMATO AND CORN SAUCE
The sauce for the dish is a mixture of corn juice, fish stock (which takes two hours to cook) and tomato water. The tomato water requires ripe yet firm tomatoes to be seeded and stewed for six hours; this removes the acidity of the fruit and brings out its perfume. They are then strained and pressed for eight hours to obtain the clear tomato water.
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12 MINUTES
HOKKAIDO HAIRY CRAB
The crab is steamed and de-shelled, ensuring that the picked meat is free of even the tiniest shard of bone or shell. The meat is then inspected under ultraviolet light in the restaurant’s darkened cheese room to weed out any remaining bones.
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17 MINUTES
CUCUMBER
Slicing raw cucumber strips takes about 5 minutes, and this demands fierce precision from the chef – each ribbon measures exactly 180mmx3mmx3mm. This is so that a stable and aesthetically beautiful base can be built for the crab meat that sits on top. The strips are brushed with butter and lined against the interiors of
a metal ring to form a tower, through a process that takes 12 minutes. The cucumber towers are steamed prior to serving.
The Michelin-star Saint Pierre might be a contemporary French restaurant, but there is a very distinct Zen-like quality in its dishes. This is because, to Relais & Chateaux grand chef Emmanuel Stroobant, perfection lies in simplicity. At Saint Pierre, this translates to dishes with a maximum of five flavours and elements, in which the essence of the season’s best ingredients is drawn out and allowed to speak for itself. Yet simplicity is not simple – as demonstrated in this delicate starter.
RESTAURANT IBID
Short ribs | Angelica root sauce | Chinese pear | Black fungus
https://www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg/gourmet-travel/here-are-the-most-troublesome-and-delicious-dishes-in-singapore-restaurants-right-now/
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48 HOURS
SHORT RIBS
Salted short ribs are cooked sous vide, at 65 deg C for 48 hours, to give it a toothsome braised-like texture. This approach also allows the beef to “retain the pinkness of a medium rare steak”, details Woo.
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>24 HOURS
BLACK FUNGUS
Black fungus is pickled in a mixture of black vinegar and sugar, vacuum sealed, and chilled for 24 hours. To serve, Woo tosses the fungus in a hot cast iron pan while blow-torching the pieces concurrently. This caramelises the sugar in the pickling liquid, lending crunch to the chewy pieces of fungus.
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UP TO 24 HOURS
CHINESE PEARS
Thinly sliced Chinese pears are dehydrated for 12 to 24 hours, resulting in dry, slightly leathery pieces “somewhat like the texture of Chinese herbs you get from the medicine hall”, describes Woo. It is then simmered briefly in water before serving.
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UP TO 3 DAYS
ANGELICA ROOT SAUCE
Caramelised chicken meat and roasted onions are simmered in water for a day before it is left to rest for another. On the third day, the stock is strained and reduced to a velvety consistency. Just before service, butter is added, while Angelica root slices are steeped in the sauce for a few minutes to impart its unique flavour and aroma.
At Restaurant Ibid, chef and Masterchef Asia winner Woo Wai Leong showcases a cuisine with very cosmopolitan influences. The execution employs Western techniques, the plating is contemporary in aesthetics, but flavours are rooted in the Asian dishes Woo grew up eating. The East-meets-West contemporary cuisine which he calls Nanyang Style, represents Woo’s “quest to define identity through food” – a common thread among young Singaporean chefs who are lending their own interpretation to familiar dishes and flavours.
(RELATED: Masterchef Asia winner Woo Wai Leong breaks out with long-awaited Restaurant Ibid)
NOURI
Assam ice cream | Orange sponge cake | Almond foam | Bergamot pate de fruit | Orange
https://www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg/gourmet-travel/here-are-the-most-troublesome-and-delicious-dishes-in-singapore-restaurants-right-now/
nouri
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UP TO 56 HOURS
WHOLE ORANGE
Depending on its size, the oranges are dehydrated for 48 to 56 hours. This process slowly caramelises the orange pulp, while naturally occurring pectin in the fruit is allowed to gel – forming a thick bittersweet paste of intense marmalade flavour.
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UP TO 12 HOURS
BERGAMOT PATE DE FRUIT
To make the bergamot pate de fruit lying beneath the almond foam, bergamot puree is cooked for about 20 minutes with sugar, pectin and an additional acid. It is then poured into moulds and allowed to cool.
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7 HOURS
ALMOND FOAM
Orange zest, almond milk, bitter almonds, xanthan gum and gelatin are mixed and the flavours allowed to infuse for 45 minutes. The mixture is then strained through a siphon and refrigerated for six hours before it is piped out as a foam.
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2 WEEKS
ORANGE SPONGE CAKE
Oranges are dried for two weeks before being pulverised. The resulting powder substitutes part of the flour used to make the cake. The orange jam derived from dehydrating the whole fruit is also utilised in the cake. The cake mixture is then baked, cooled, and soaked in a spiced orange syrup.
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25 HOURS
ASSAM ICE CREAM
Assam tea and milk is boiled and allowed to infuse for 15 minutes to let a strong flavour develop. The mixture is then strained, cooled, and combined with sugar and eggs yolks. It is then frozen for 24 hours.
Chef Ivan Brehm, who led The Kitchen at Bacchanalia in Singapore to its first Michelin star in 2016, has always been famed for his modernist techniques. After all, he is also an alumnus of The Fat Duck, where he was development chef at Heston Blumenthal’s experimental kitchen. He is known to industry players as a thinking chef – there is certainly a lot more than meets the eye in each of his creations. Every dish tells of myriad influences across different cultures, and behind every element, painstaking effort.
(RELATED: Chef-owner Ivan Brehm on what to expect from “crossroads cuisine” at the new Nouri)
