[ezcol_1quarter] [/ezcol_1quarter] [ezcol_1half] THE FOOD-EQUIVALENT OF BATMAN AND ROBIN, THE BRANGELINA OF ICONIC TURKISH EATS [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1quarter_end] [/ezcol_1quarter_end] [ezcol_1half] AS some of you may have noticed from this particular announcement, that I am now officially divorced
[ezcol_1half] DON'T GIVE ME THE BULLSHIT, IN THE END, DO I TASTE FREAKING-ABSOLUTELY AWESOME? [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] [/ezcol_1half_end][ezcol_1half] To be honest, I don't think I have ever truly enjoyed BBQ ribs. It has always been, to me at least, more enjoyable as an idea - the smile of the pit-master, the black smoker hissing under the Southern sun, the sense of all American lifestyle - than in actuality. In actuality, I've been waiting my whole life so far, to be impressed, turned, proven wrong, by something that I so desperately would like to grow more fond of. But in the end, picking at a pile of ribs that are often borderline dry and overly sweet, I always ended up wondering if I have missed something. This isn't to say, the rib's problem. In fact, any form of scanty meats adhering to a disproportionate amount of bones, that requires bare hands and sheer fangs to tear down, I'm there. In fact, the rib-hole that had been ironically left hollow in my long years spent in holy BBQ-land, was immediately filled and nurtured within a month after I moved here, by the most unlikely of all cuisines. A Northern Chinese creation called, cumin spare ribs. Typically you wouldn't think the word "mild" is
[ezcol_1half] JUSTIFICATION - MAXIMUM CARAMELIZATION [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] SO you watched Tony Bourdain in Bronx, didn't you? And if in the next following days, a certain very catchy phrase got stuck in your head like the most maddeningly annoying tune, echoing "chop'cheese
[ezcol_2fifth] DEEP-FRIED XL HAMBURGER PATTY
[ezcol_1third] On the 20th of May 2013, I made a recipe that up to this day, more than a year later, still haunts me. It was a glorious, beautifully crafted specimen of pork belly confit, originally created by the Thomas Keller of whom I almost always, agree with. There was nothing fundamentally wrong with it. The belly went through long hours of brining process before taking a hot-fat-tub bath that was equally as elaborate, then it went on to sit through an overnight pressing procedure
[ezcol_1half] I have never been to Mexico. To clarify further, I have never even been close to any of the states next to Mexico except maybe LA, which I'm not even going to use as my pathetic credentials on real Mexican cooking which is to say, zero to none. I've heard that Taco Bell is about as close to real Mexican food as fortune cookies are to being Chinese. I've also heard that they don't actually "nacho" much over there. Aside from that, Mexican food has remained quite a romantic mystery. But even though I don't know enough to say what's Mexican food, whatever it is, that tasteless borderline-inedible crap we were served with the other day near Beijing's embassy area, was definitely not it. Given that it was a very hot day hence we weren't feeling particular choosey, we thought those more-than-a-handful patrons who were present during off-meal hours were a good indicator that the restaurant at least serves human food. WROOONG! I mean seriously, seriously, how inhumanly difficult is it to serve passable tacos to someone who's never had a real taco! Not so freaking hard is it? Why!? [/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end] We left the place feeling psychologically hungry. The trauma only left me wanting more of what I've
[ezcol_2third] the refreshment of slippery noodles in an icy tangy broth