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Saturday, February 25, 2012

Test-tube burger, anyone?

Today, Friday, February 24, 2012, Page T2, Wine & Dine
From http://imcmsimages.mediacorp.sg/CMSFileserver/documents/006/PDF/20120224/2402DWP076.pdf
Source Website: http://www.todayonline.com/WineandDine/EDC120224-0000016/Test-tube-burger,-anyone?
From THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
By Rose Prince, features@mediacorp.com.sg, 04:46 AM Feb 24, 2012

PHOTO: Test-tube burger, anyone?
By Stock Xchng, Copyright © MediaCorp Press Ltd
http://imcmsimages.mediacorp.sg/cmsfileserver/showimageCC.aspx?337&450&f=2169&img=2169_551186.jpg
http://www.todayonline.com/WineandDine/EDC120224-0000016/Test-tube-burger,-anyone?

Laboratory-grown meat is just the latest sci-fi food to fly in the face of public taste

It's a tale straight from the pages of the weirder realms of science fiction. A mysterious millionaire and a brilliant professor join forces with a single aim. To create Frankenburger: The world's first test-tube beefburger.

PHOTO: Would You Like a Bite of My Test Tube Burger?
£200,000 test-tube burger marks milestone in future meat-eating [Guardian]

Image via Andrjuss and Eugene Sim/Shutterstock.
http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/images/39/2012/02/72f8d4a06719ad1b18e4b7bb4b5f716a.jpg
http://jezebel.com/5886436/would-you-like-a-bite-of-my-test-tube-burger

Peculiar as it may sound, it's the future for our food, according to the academic in question, Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands. He plans to serve up the first burger this October after growing beef muscle in his lab, which will eventually become a juicy quarter pounder.

PHOTO: A strip of beef measuring 3cm by 1.5cm by 0.5cm. The Petri dish-bred beef is created using stem cells from bovine muscle tissue sourced from leftover slaughterhouse materials, Post explained.

http://static.culturemap.com/site_media/uploads/photos/2012-02-20/test_tube_hamburger_Petri_dish.800w_600h.jpg
http://austin.culturemap.com/newsdetail/02-23-12-test-tube-burgers-less-appretizing-than-pink-slime/

Post has grown small strips of beef muscle tissue using a cow's stem calls and serum taken from a horse foetus.

Just like all growing muscles, they are currently flexing away in order to become bigger and healthier - only, in true sci-fi style, they are doing so in a Dutch lab, held in place by Velcro and stimulated by electricity.

When fully grown, 3,000 of these muscles will be needed for one burger - and will cost an estimated £200,000 (S$394,583).

PHOTO: Coming soon, the test-tube burger: Lab-grown meat ‘needed to feed the world’.

From Sophie Borland, Daily Mail, June 27, 2011
http://www.infowars.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Screen-shot-2011-06-27-at-10.16.01-AM.png
http://www.infowars.com/coming-soon-the-test-tube-burger-lab-grown-meat-needed-to-feed-the-world/

Professor Post has big plans for his version of fast food. "Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells from," he says.

So who's the chef who will cook up this scientific experiment and launch a culinary revolution? You guessed it - Heston Blumenthal. And the lucky diner? To be confirmed, says Professor Post. "My financier will be the one to decide who will eat it ... (he is somebody) famous, everyone knows this guy."

But we will not learn his identity until his Frankenburger has proved a success.

PHOTO: Heston Blumenthal. (Absent dad: Busy with his food empire, he usually leaves his wife in charge of their children, Jack, 16, Jessica, 13, and Joy, 11).

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/26/article-1156002-03AB48F8000005DC-128_468x364.jpg
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1156002/Chef-Heston-Blumenthal-conquering-raging-temper-Gordon-Ramsay-look-like-wimp.html

While we shouldn't undermine credible efforts to solve the crisis in the world's food supply, rarely do the inventors of these technologies seem to understand why consumers are sceptical of their ideas and motives. There are dozens of examples of food technology "big talk" that has come to nought. Scientists and biotech companies grumble that their efforts fail because of bad press - yet it is often entirely their own fault that the public are so suspicious.

LAB BRAT(WURST)?

To begin with, they tend to make our stomachs churn. In-vitro meat production uses stem-cell technology and foetal material. How will we feel, eating the product of an animal that, never mind being kept in a factory farm, was never allowed life at all? Technologies such as this unnerve us because they interfere with the magnificently sedate process of evolution. We like to think what we eat is unaltered and as natural as possible.

PHOTO: The Dutch scientist Mark Post shows meat samples artificially developed at the University of Maastricht.

http://img.ibtimes.com/it/data/images/full/2012/02/21/10019-lo-scienziato-olandese-mark-post-mostra-campioni-di-carne-sv.jpg
http://it.ibtimes.com/articles/27410/20120221/hamburger-artificiali-mark-post.htm

I've always thought it was astonishing that we subject our food to far fewer safety checks than we do our medicines. After all, we can eat the same foods every day for a lifetime, making them more risky. Medicines are only consumed for short periods of time. Genetically modified foods, for example, are not as thoroughly investigated as GM drugs.

Cancer therapies using genetically modified organisms are rigorously tested over many years, yet pesticide-resistant wheat or soya needs only to be tested for three months - and tested on rats, not humans. The use of stem cells to cure human diseases is being debated all over the world by philosophers and politicians. Why is it being cleared for use on our plates with such ease?

The technology is expensive, but Post hopes that expanding his operation will make it affordable. The reality is, though, that efforts of scientists to feed the world sustainably rarely see the light of day. Twenty years ago, biotechnologists created super-nutritious GM "Golden Rice", transforming rice with genes from a daffodil to add nutritious beta carotene. It was hoped it would reduce vitamin A deficiency in developing countries. But the project has encountered many technological difficulties and attracted opposition from pressure groups.

Supporters of in-vitro meat say that it will solve many problems - not just hunger. But what? In-vitro meat won't prevent greenhouse-gas emissions from livestock farms because dairy farms are a major source of methane, and milk cannot be made in a laboratory. Yet.

PHOTO: Coming this October: Test-tube hamburgers.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40tVc9syF3iS8MT0rotW2cbp0FygFPA0G9NfQ4CQAHL_aChf88-_R1YxrbtYFdu_olGCTNE_jtpDD_QNvZhaOle8PSWZy8Yv1Q4DQB1_MIF_eghE5vpT1bdbEJQ4u0djeIUacV3J6Up-W/s1600/burger1.jpg
http://www.mid-day.com/imagedata/2012/feb/burger1.jpg
http://www.mid-day.com/news/2012/feb/210212-Coming-this-October-Test-tube-hamburgers.htm

FOOD WITHOUT FIELDS

Heston Blumenthal will surely employ all his powers to get the Frankenburger to taste decent. He is no shirker when it comes to using gadgets to enhance his cooking. It will probably need colour added to the flesh - Professor Post admits that the muscle strips are currently "pinkish towards yellowish" - and the flavour of well-hung beef needs replicating. But hey, a little hydrolysed vegetable protein, an unpleasant soya-based additive most often used in stock cubes to make them taste meaty, should do the trick.

PHOTO: How will we feel, eating the product of an animal that, never mind being kept in a factory farm, was never allowed life at all?

http://weeklyworldnews.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/testtubehamburgerse.jpg
http://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/44226/test-tube-hamburgers/

It's not that I'm against growing protein, per se. Let's not forget Quorn, a vegetarian mycoprotein developed in Buckinghamshire using a soil fungus. Grown in tanks in oxygenated water, it develops from a single spore to a mass that can then be processed, given texture and sold as a meat alternative. It is not a mushroom, and it certainly does not taste like fungi, or anything else much. But it has made a lot of vegetarians happy and is 1,000 times less controversial than using genetically modified organisms and stem cell science in food technology.

PHOTO: Approximate the taste of meat but are, in fact, developed from a mycoprotein that comes from Fusarium venenatum, “which was originally discovered growing in a field in Buckinghamshire, England.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/03/22/dining/dj-thai/dj-thai-articleInline.jpg
http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/come-back-veggie-burger-all-is-forgiven/

NASA, contemplating putting astronauts in space for long periods, initiated the in-vitro meat project nearly 20 years ago. They hoped that one day, those sent to space could feed themselves from on-board "farms", which grew beef, pork, lamb and salmon. That, too, sounds like another great sci-fi story. But could it provide a clue to the provenance and funding for Frankenburgers?

Consider the three elements of this story: Space travel, mystery wealthy investor and great publicity stunt. It feels very Richard Branson (who's set to send tourists to space some time in 2013). If so, Sir Richard, let me whisper a little something in your ear: Please don't call it Virgin Beef.

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
By Rose Prince, features@mediacorp.com.sg, 04:46 AM Feb 24, 2012

Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells from. Professor Mark Post.

PHOTO: Eventually my vision is that you have a limited herd of donor animals in the world that you keep in stock and that you get your cells from. Professor Mark Post.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrj_6Me584trpV5cMgmy8gz4kC0qRk6gnOOyY68ZbxWohuM9SD0DCuW0AEV875sDnuDMGsftVV4PSj5gdDHAnXru40Xo2BZTLeDmKPJwr6eUBczHhDorG2NXc1H0Z-CLKpsJPi7hV50poR/s1600/Test-tube+burger%252C+anyone.jpg

http://imcmsimages.mediacorp.sg/CMSFileserver/documents/006/PDF/20120224/2402DWP076.pdf
Today, Friday, February 24, 2012, Page T2, Wine & Dine

Reference

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The perfect Hainanese pork chop!

Source Website: http://food.insing.com/feature/the-perfect-hainanese-pork-chop/id-01223f00
By Julia Khoo, inSing.com

PHOTO: Hainanese pork chop
http://staticc03.insing.com/images/39/66/0f/00/pc_600x450.jpg

Hainanese pork chop – a distinctly localised Westernised dish – has its roots in English pork chops with apple sauce, but resembles nothing like the original version. The talented Hainanese cooks, who were employed by the colonial British, put their own spin on this English dish and came up with their own unique version.

How do you recognise an authentic Hainanese pork chop? The first sign is the use of crushed cream crackers for the coating of the pork chop. Other features include fried potato slices, peas, and sweet-tangy onion-based gravy.

We visited five old-time Hainanese eating establishments for this taste test. Which one serves the best Hainanese pork chops?

Yet Con Chicken Rice & Restaurant EDITOR’S PICK!
25 Purvis Street
Opening hours: Daily: 11am-9:30pm
Price: $10.00
Rating: 5/5

PHOTO: Yet Con Chicken Rice & Restaurant - EDITOR’S PICK!
http://img.insing.com/FoodDrink/tried-tested/T&T-hainanese-porkchop-yetcon.jpg

Our search for the holy grail of Hainanese pork chop ends here! Yet Con’s version is both authentic and flawlessly executed.

Pounded till neither too thin nor too thick, the pork is super tender with a lovely bite. The meat is tastily marinated, yet not too salty. Fragrant and delicate, the crust is made from old-fashioned crushed cream crackers. Beneath the pork chop slices are fried potato slices.

What stands out most is the sauce for the chops. Simmered from scratch, this is the authentic brown gravy flavoured with HP steak sauce. One can also detect a gentle kiss of ginger as well as the sweetness of onion.

Sweet, tangy and savoury – the gravy is robust, complex and perfectly balanced. The consistency is also just right.

Yet Con’s Hainanese pork chop may not score high in the looks department. But make no mistake, this is the real deal!

Golden Mile Thien Kee Steamboat Restaurant
6001 Beach Road, #B1-20 Golden Mile Tower
Opening hours: Daily: 11am-9:30pm
Price: $10.00
Rating: 4/5

PHOTO: Golden Mile Thien Kee Steamboat Restaurant - Thick and meaty.

http://img.insing.com/FoodDrink/tried-tested/T&T-hainanese-porkchop-thienkee.jpg

Thick and meaty, Thien Kee’s Hainanese pork chop is hearty and rustic.

Although the pork chop is quite thick, the meat is surprisingly tender and moist. The crust is also rather thick and crunchy, which prevents it from getting soggy too quickly in the sauce.

With a rich tomato base, the sauce has a strong presence of garlic and onion. We like its bold flavours, but the texture is too starchy for our preference. Despite that, Thien Kee’s Hainanese pork chop remains one of the better versions we’ve tried and tested.

Prince Coffee House
249 Beach Road
Opening hours: Daily: 11am-9pm
Price: $6.80++ for one person rice set
Rating: 3.5/5

PHOTO: Prince Coffee House - Juicy on the inside and lightly crisp on the outside, the pork cutlet is easy to the bite.

http://img.insing.com/FoodDrink/tried-tested/T&T-hainanese-porkchop-prince.jpg

Prince’s rendition doesn’t look as traditional as Yet Con’s, but it is still a more than decent Hainanese pork chop.

Juicy on the inside and lightly crisp on the outside, the pork cutlet is easy to the bite. We suspect the meat may have had some help from tenderiser.

Intense in flavour with bold tartness, the bright red sauce is ketchup-based. A generous amount of sautéed onions add aroma and sweetness. Mixed veggies and fries make up the rest of this not-so-authentic but appealing dish.

YY Kafei Dian BEST VALUE
37 Beach Road, #01-01
Opening hours: Daily: 8am – 10:30pm
Price: $6.00
Rating: 3.5/5

PHOTO: YY Kafei Dian - BEST VALUE
http://img.insing.com/FoodDrink/tried-tested/T&T-hainanese-porkchop-yykafeidian.jpg

YY Kafei Dian’s pork chop dish looks more Western than Hainanese in presentation. It is composed of just three elements – pork chop, crinkle-cut fries, and tomato sauce – but each one is nicely executed.

What we were most impressed with was the pork chop. They use pork loin with some fat. The meat is deliciously juicy with good bite. Evenly coated, the crust is beautifully thin and crispy, though a little greasy. The sliced pork chop is carefully propped up so that it doesn’t get soggy from the sauce.

Intensely sweet and rich, the ‘ketchupy’ sauce has a hint of chilli. It goes well with the pork chop and crispy fries.

Although YY Kafei Dian’s Hainanese pork chop is quite different from the classic version, it is very likeable.

Chin Chin Eating House
19 Purvis Street
Opening hours: Daily: 11am – 9pm
Price: $6.00
Rating: 2/5

PHOTO: Chin Chin Eating House - The pork chop is served with fried potato pieces and canned peas.

http://img.insing.com/FoodDrink/tried-tested/T&T-hainanese-porkchop-chinchin.jpg

Chin Chin’s version has all the elements of a classic Hainanese pork chop, but it is extremely lacking in execution.

Coated in cream cracker crumbs, the crust is disappointing soggy. The meat itself is dry and stringy. As for the tomato sauce, it is rather bland and lacks a distinctive identity.

The pork chop is served with fried potato pieces and canned peas. Although the presentation is old-school, this is one Hainanese pork chop that fails to appeal.

By Julia Khoo, inSing.com

inSing.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the eateries featured here.

Comment:
Maureen Tan

"I tried Chin Chin..one of my fav eating places...value for money...mUst try the iced lemon tea and sweet sour pork!"

Reference

Friday, February 10, 2012

Char Kuey Teow (炒粿条 chǎo guǒ tiáo)

Source Website: http://www.visitpenang.gov.my/portal3/where-to-eat/helen-ong/char-kuey-teow.html
By HELEN ONG, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 14:34

PHOTO: Char kuey teow – flat noodles with prawns, chinese sausage, beansprouts and spring onions at a hawker centre somewhere in PJ. Malaysian hawker stall food fest.

Posted by Moniqca Food, © 2010 moniqca
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http://www.moniqca.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Char-Kuey-Teow.jpg
http://www.moniqca.com/char-kuey-teow/

It’s something that you have to try when you are in Malaysia, and definitely when you are in Penang. There’s nothing quite like this plate of flat rice noodles, short, fat crunchy bean sprouts and a handful of kuchai (garlic chives), a few prawns (if you’re lucky), a dollop of ground chilli paste, and optional seeham (cockles), fried up with chopped garlic in a large spoonful of lard. Some stalls add a few slivers of Chinese sausage.

PHOTO: Autenthic Penang Char Kuey Teow!!

Must have! Beats waiting two hours for the Sisters Char Kueh Tiaw @ Lorong Selamat, Penang! Char Kuey Teow - RM9.00

Written by yomi at 4:49 PM Monday, May 30, 2011
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn9IhdZCJ3mxQp2c5qqXth2zCdd9qNadQ2pCn522kDkabACR-n3FVJZVMxii6aiaGMl6vwpyowXQ4F6ivcuWn6IOc_UXthSc7Hre9PgkCFp5Beg5Rv6fCI74fXYNoR0NSBJuxpF7lqSqBe/s1600/220597_187768611269614_123911204322022_441612_2718242_o.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRmybi2ytLbtUJ8SBJ6gjbVDdG5NHoV1tytqgjr0jIDeRR-ZfG2_6cBQX7FUAw-uHOl3S6yz6xqT_J2M241QQr8-M88m4NDsYfqLW5p9L2Y3SYieykHSRVPSkuND8WdRPLtivnh7YGFp4/s1600/220597_187768611269614_123911204322022_441612_2718242_o.jpg
http://naomitham.blogspot.com/2011/05/wok-cafe.html

It’s got to be good and quick, and all bound together with some good black soya sauce and an egg thrown in right at the end. No wonder this all-time favourite has been voted one of Penang’s traditional heritage listings.

Char kuey teow – flat noodles with prawns, chinese sausage, beansprouts and spring onions at a hawker centre somewhere in PJ. Malaysian hawker stall food fest.

PHOTO: Char kuey teow – flat noodles with prawns, chinese sausage, beansprouts and spring onions at a hawker centre somewhere in PJ. Malaysian hawker stall food fest.

A good char kuey teow must have “wok hei”, that certain characteristic aroma that can only be achieved with a large black metal wok sat over a really fiery heat (none of this non-stick stuff). The heat caramelises the sugar in the soya sauce and gives it a faintly burnt taste and makes your mouth drool when you smell it!

PHOTO: Tiong Nam’s Char Kuey Teow

It has a nice aroma when a piece of banana leaf is used for lining the plate when the Kuey Teow is piping hot. 2 pieces of prawn (the size slightly bigger than RM0.50), some cockles, few pieces of ‘lap cheong’ (Chinese sausage) & egg cost RM3.00 a plate which is cheap to KL’s standard.

Posted ~ by chialat on March 28, 2009.

Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: ChaoticSoul by Bryan Veloso. "Chialat Foods, If it’s not good, then it’s si peh chialat!"

http://chialatsfoods.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/p32801442.jpg?w=497&h=360
http://chialatsfoods.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/tiong-nams-char-kuey-teow/

A place for a decent Char Kuey Teow at Tiong Nam. Normally people go ‘Tion Nam’ for breakfast, lunch and dinner or supper there; but would not bother to mention the name of coffee shop. In fact didn’t know the name of the coffee shop until taking this photo for blogging. It is ‘Keat Seng', located at the junction of Reservoir Garden where the morning market is. If heading to Penang Hill from town, it is just right after the Shell petrol station.

PHOTO: Tiong Nam’s Char Kuey Teow

You can’t miss the Char Kuey Teow when you are in Penang, can you?

Posted ~ by chialat on March 28, 2009.

Blog at WordPress.com. Theme: ChaoticSoul by Bryan Veloso. "Chialat Foods, If it’s not good, then it’s si peh chialat!"
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhKcVbbmyYvM0CDKLgDbxN0M1ylIjNAIPtZHe1cJvNFbBnaO_VLOUDG2A4NNzhcaTXhGhRGzul8VpuO-4-qf1v7H5QepM0wykc35xPSmz3lj9THvTbvjesQxr8V2uKXGVGu6LPVP9K2uBL/s1600/p3280148a.jpg

http://chialatsfoods.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/p3280148a.jpg?w=497
http://chialatsfoods.wordpress.com/2009/03/28/tiong-nams-char-kuey-teow/

There are various versions of it available all over Malaysia: some are darker through the addition of more thick black soya sauce; others are redder (extra chilli). Some use thicker, broader noodles; others are finer. Some people prefer it slightly wetter with a touch more gravy; others prefer it with more yolk – achieved using a duck’s egg instead of the more traditional chicken. Here in Penang it’s a bit of in-between – neither too thick nor thin, neither too black nor red – in fact, any Penangite will tell you, “It’s perfect!” For our Muslim friends, halal versions are very popular too, available in many of our great hotels and restaurants.

PHOTO: Penang Char Kuey Teow

Article and Photos By HELEN ONG, Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 14:34
http://www.visitpenang.gov.my/portal3/images/stories/charkueyteow.png
http://www.visitpenang.gov.my/portal3/where-to-eat/helen-ong/char-kuey-teow.html

Traditionally a poor man’s meal because of its high carbohydrate and relatively low protein content, in recent years the humble Char Kuey Teow can also be found in the more upmarket establishments: small shrimps have been replaced by succulent pieces of lobster, and it also comes garnished with juicy crab meat, which will of course mean commensurate prices. However, aficionados will argue that these add-ones are unnecessary: a good Char Kuey Teow seller doesn’t need such fancy items to enhance his specialty. He will make do with traditional ingredients only, because all he requires is that special skill.

Penang Char Kuey Teow (炒粿條 chǎo guǒ tiáo).

PHOTO: Penang Char Kuey Teow (炒粿条 chǎo guǒ tiáo).
Posted by PickYin, 11:29:00 AM, Thursday, March 03, 2011
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgKL0K867LaiJu4n0OtB21PxAyqhyphenhyphenqZMtPl-ZKrA96VlzLVjmH1svCK3aVivY8ulYRrxHC3IxIfM46Cxgi63H-OIRSKY4NWYpMLaoLGQTlCLBhxXrzJtacQ0VO2EjBRWz_0Uk9SZ25VaMi/s1600/5481505073_2f22193f19_b.jpg
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http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5251/5481505073_2f22193f19_b.jpg
http://pickyin.blogspot.com/2011/03/penang-char-kuey-teow.html

Everyone has a personal favourite in some nook or cranny, although cholesterol notwithstanding, many seem prepared to travel far and wide in their hunt for the perfect plate of this local favourite. Personally, I don’t think we need to go far. And there are many places where you can get good char kuey teow in Penang - someone will have set up his gigantic black wok at practically every coffee shop or food court.

Helen Ong is a self-confessed foodie who loves to hunt down the best of Penang. She is the author of the book Great Dining in Penang. Check out her blog on www.helenong.com

Char Kway Teow (炒粿条 chǎo guǒ tiáo)

From: http://www.savetubevideo.com/?v=135MxX4nONw&feature=player_embedded

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