When Flavours Come Together

The Daughter's Experience

The Daughter has been working from home as part of her company's Business Continuity Plan (BCP). Thanks to BCP, many offices have now split operations with half the staff working from home. Since Chong Pang is hot and humid (and the coronavirus survives poorly in hot and humid conditions), The Daughter has deigned to go and lunch at Chong Pang with me. Normally, she would not touch Chong Pang Market with a 10 foot pole. She is the type to send me pictures of Gordon Ramsay preparing food as she eats at Bread Street Kitchen. 

One day this week, she ordered the Chuan Kee Boneless Braised Duck $4 set meal.

At the end of that meal, she said, "Mommy, this is really good. I think I will eat this again tomorrow." The next day came and she ordered the $5 set instead of the $4 set. Throughout the meal, she raved about ...

- how the flavours came together

- how the rice complements the half egg and the peanut

- how the chilli (a mix of 2 types of chilli) mix into an alchemist's wonder of sour, sweet and savoury

- how the bite of the duck pairs so well with the bite of the rice grains

Whoa! The way she described her meal, I felt inspired to bring along a bottle of chilled Pinot Noir to go with that dish.

The Son

I dropped in on The Son in the early hours of this morning. I cuddled his big head and sniffed his botak army boy hair. He murmured, "Last night's dinner was yummy!"

What did we have? We had Chuan Kee's Boneless Braised Duck.

My Moment of Epiphany

That was when I had my moment of epiphany. I have been eating Chuan Kee's food all wrong. Meat dishes take the longest to cook. So, I have the habit of tapau-ing the meat dish whilst cooking rice and vegetables at home. I also usually eschew the chilli.

That is the wrong way to savour Chuan Kee's food!

To get the best taste out of Chuan Kee's food, you have to order everything...

- the rice

- the egg

- the taukwa

- the duck

- the pork

- the chilli

The flavours and textures merge into a vastly superior experience compared to me just layering braised pork onto white rice.

You know what would be a good idea? Gordon Ramsay should compete in a face off with Chuan Kee Boneless Braised Duck. I am willing to bet that my favourite braised duck guys will win hands down.

Next Dinner Party

The next dinner party I have at home, I will tapau the whole lot and serve it with chilled Pinot Noir, to do the dish justice.