Bo Knows Cuisine: Hong Kong's Bo Innovation Reviewed

When I realized that I was going to have an evening to myself in Hong Kong, I decided to make the most of this rare opportunity. I began researching information about Hong Kong restaurants, and I came across an article talking about the city's hottest places to eat. This is how I met Bo Innovation.

Billed as a modern take on Chinese cuisine, I thought this place would be just what I needed after a week of traditional Cantonese. One of the main attractions of this place to me was the opportunity to sit at the "Chef's Table." This was the equivalent of getting courtside seats to the NBA playoffs, only basketball sucks and this meal was about to rock. Off on the side of the dining room was a small room with a bar and 9 seats. Here, the secrets of chef Alvin Leung, Jr. would be revealed before my eyes. Any dish that was going out to a customer, I would bear full witness to the preparation.

The restaurant was quiet that night, so I had the room to myself - and of course, the kitchen staff. I have this wild fantasy of being a restaurant chef some day, but I have had virtually zero experience in a real professional kitchen environment. Sor for me, this was the chance to see what a quality operation was all about. Unfortunately, chef Alvin was on a business trip that day, but his staff was well in command.

I chose the Tasting Menu Degustation. 12 courses of unique tastes and experiences. Let me break that down for you:

Starters

- Crab meat salad, obha leaf mayo, marinated star fruit, caviar

The obah leaf lightened the effect of the mayo and added a green, leafy vibrance to the dish. The star fruit slices were marinated in lime juice. This was a nice, light way to start things off.

- Okra with fermented soybean foam
- Drunken quail egg

- Toro and cepes (porcini) sushi, air dried foie gras shavings, candy tomato

This was outrageously good. The foie gras shavings added depth and power to the flavor, but did not overpower the toro. Simply fantastic.

- Grilled calamari with chili-lime, ginger, and green onion sauce
- Scallop tartar, kaffir lime leaf oil, Parma ham

Both of these dishes were outstanding. The slight char on the calamari really enhanced the flavor, making the powerful spicy sauce a great compliment. The scallops were supremely fresh, as evidenced by the perfect texture and clean taste. The lime leaf oil was a great way to add lime flavor without overpowering the scallops with acidity.

- Crispy oyster souffle, sour cream foam

This was somewhat unexpected in that the texture of the "souffle" was entirely homogenous. Foaming up the sour cream lightened the mouthfeel.

- Cauliflower risotto, black truffle, pigeon jus
- Steamed Chinese bread with minced roasted duck & pork

I know, I've said this about other dishes already, but the cauliflower "risotto" was truly outstanding (in quotes because chopped cauliflower was used in place of rice). The black truffles have this incredible aroma that can only be described as captivating. And the jus was a perfect compliment. Not to be forgotten was the bread and roasted meat topping. I would eat that for a snack every day if I could.

- Apple and almond juice, served over dry ice

I love when I am surprised by something unexpected. This was a delicious and creative palate cleanser.

Main Course

- Suckling pig cooked two ways - crispy roasted / braised in Jiangsu vinegar with chestnut

The crispy roasted pork was mostly skin and fat - tasty, but I would have preferred a little more meat. The braised pork was tender and meaty, complimented with the slightly tangy-slightly sweet Jiangsu vinegar & chestnut sauce.

Pre-Dessert

- Red plum compote, vanilla ice cream, dried plum granita

A contrast of flavors here, with the sweetness of the ice cream and compote foiled by the tart, saltiness of the dried plum ice. Interesting combination.

Dessert

- Bo dessert platter featuring lychee jelly, sesame cookie with chocolate, and passionfruit curd with dragonfruit

The lychee jelly was a new item, and it was a little too firm and dry for me. The cookie was nice, but the passionfruit curd was really the standout here.

Here are some photos of the staff in action, taken from the comfort of my seat. Although chef Alvin was not in the restaurant this day, his staff maintained the essence and the level of quality I was expecting. I was also introduced to sous chef Adeline (hope I spelled that right) who comes to Bo via France. She was kind enough to sit and chat with me for 20 minutes or so, giving me extra dessert and espresso along the way. Good luck to you in Hong Kong!

So overall, I had a great meal with some new and unique tastes. It may not have been as much of a revelation as Nobu was, but I was very happy with the whole experience and would definitely hit Bo up again.

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Pocari Madness

It had been 6 weeks since I last used Pocari.

I thought it was over. I thought I had made it through. But the sight of that blue bottle with the white label was all it took. What is Pocari Sweat you ask? Ask the Japanese scientests at Otsuka Pharmaceutical and they'll tell you that it's an "Ion Supply Drink." But anyone who has ever sipped this nectar can tell you the truth.

With the Hong Kong sun beating down on you, when you're sweating and your body needs hydration, there's only one answer. Sure in the States there's Gatorade, Powerade, Kool-Aid, etc., but in Asia there is only Pocari. With a light melon flavor, there is no better way to quench your thirst and replace body fluids. And once you have tried it...

I couldn't resist. Without thinking, I reached into my wallet and handed the clerk some money. I once again had my hand on some Pocari. What happened next, I'm not really sure. My memory is kind of foggy. All I know is that when I woke up, I could only think of one thing.

I must... get...... more.............. Pocari.........................

Man Down

They are trying to kill me.

There is no other explaination. They want me to die. THEY WANT ME TO DIE!!!!!!!

Seriously, how can one man eat so much food? It's not fair. It's not right.

Buffet breakfast, a ridiculous 12 course Cantonese lunch, and the kicker - all you can eat grilled meat at a Brazilian Churrascaria.

Of course, I forgot my camera in the office during lunch. I missed a great opportunity to capture the tableside preparation of traditional Peking duck. A whole duck with crispy brown skin comes out (with head, of course). The server cuts off all of the skin and wraps pieces in a thin crepe with some hoisin like sauce, green onions, and fresh red chili peppers. This stuff is out of control! We also had a plate of char siu - baby pig roasted until the skin is super crispy (see a trend here?). They serve this cut in to pieces, each with a little meat, fat, and skin. This gets dipped in sugar and then in a chinese BBQ sauce. There are also pieces of fat with crispy skin to eat too. We also had a dish of sea scallops and vegetables, some stir fried Chinese vegetables ("Oh, sorry, I don't know the English word for this"), whole flounder, beef short ribs, wok fried prawns with black pepper oil and other stuff I can't even remember. I couldn't stop eating, it was so good!

Dinner time - Brazilian Churrasco, all you can eat. I was set up for a classic double whammy. Imagine if you will, all the meat you can possibly eat. For $11. Swords of sizzling flesh arrived at the table at at a dazzling pace. Often times, I hadn't even eaten the last serving before more was finding its way on to my plate. Sirloin, rib roast, chicken wings, bacon wrapped beef and chicken, lamb, sausages, pork loin, ribs - an endless carnivorous parade of succulent morsels. And it was all for me (and everyone else in the restaurant too, I guess - but I digress). I ate a lot, and I am paying the price. It's worth it though. From now on in life, when I'm hungry, if I close my eyes and breathe deeply, I can imagine myself in that great meat paradise once again.

Yeah it's an apron - shut up! Things are going to get a little messy here.

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Keep carving, gaucho. Hey, you're not Brazilian...

Walmart in China is an interesting place. All the signs are familiar, but most of the merchandise is not. Take the food section, for instance. I've been to Asian markets before, but this was taking things to a whole new level. Exotic fruits, unidentifiable dried meat things, frozen dumplings by the half-kilo, fish tanks with live sea life, and various... parts... of animals in the meat case (sorry Karyn - you may want to skip the last photo!) They also make Wal mart brand beer - $1.25 for a six pack. You know that's gotta be good! I snuck out my camera to snap a few photos I thought might be interesting. Hope you like them!

Dragonfruit - Looks exotic but tastes a lot like kiwi

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Durian - Tastes like mangos, smells like &%#$. Yes, I tried it.

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Look mom, dried meat!

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Pork is apparently China's friend too. Even the feet and ears and face and...

Welcome to the China

I arrived in Dongguan City, China last night after 26 hours of traveling. Let me break that down for you:

Drive to Manchester airport: 1 hour
With all the rain and flooding we've been having, I wasn't sure if the roads were going to be safe to use (many areas in MA and NH had washed out sections of road). Turned out to be no problems.

Connecting flight to Chicago: 1 hour waiting + 2.5 hours in flight

Chicago to Hong Kong: 1.5 hours waiting + 16.5 hours in flight.This is the big one, so better settle in and get comfy. I had a window seat, which I prefer for a couple of reasons. Many people who prefer aisle seats justify that with some version of the idea that "I don't have to crawl over anyone to get up and out of my seat." Well, I look at it a little differently. If you do have the aisle seat, the person next to you is going to be crawling over you to get up - whenever and however they want. At least if you are in the window seat, you are the one who gets to choose when and how. Couple that with the view, and the window seat is a double winner in my book. Of course, on this particular flight, I had the worst case scenario. There was a woman sitting next to me who reclined the seat, raised the legrest, and slept the entire flight. And the person in front of her also had their seat reclined all the way. So every time I got up, I had to jump over and hope that I didn't land on her by accident. And it was too cloudy on the approach, so I even missed out on having a nice view.

Ferry from Hong Kong into China: 45 minutes waiting + 2 hours on the boat
The flight got in about 40 minutes behind schedule, which made the connection with the ferry a close call. With a mere 15 minutes to spare, I bought my ticket and headed to the bus transfer area to get taken to the ferry dock. I was the only Westerner on the ferry (out of maybe 200 people). I can tell my Mandarin is getting better - this time I was able to recognize a few words here and there when they make the announcements on board. Even still, it sounded something like this to me: "Ahda fjdalk djaf fjfa jfdkaewi vakld gnjdj toilet jfa mzcad maw mfdal fjalw jfdka newspaper mfda ewjal fjalf fjd fjslfa weus a dsafl Thank you." Now that's progress! This trip took extra long due to weather conditions. Oh, what's that? There's a typhoon that is going to hit tomorrow? Huh, that would have been nice to know ahead of time (more on this later).

Drive from Humen Ferry station to Hotel in Dongguan City: 45 minutes
Finally at the hotel, I could try and get a good night's rest. Everyone seems to have a different approach for how to best adjust to the time change. I have always managed to handle this pretty well. Here's what works for me.
Rule 1: As soon as you get to the airport, mentally make the time switch. This sets you in the right frame of mind from the get go.
Rule 2: Sleep as little as possible on the flight over. No sleeping at all on the second half of the flight. Stay awake!

Fortunately for me, I have difficulty falling asleep if I'm not lying flat, so this is not terribly difficult. The idea is that when you land (which is always in the evening), you will be very tired. The sun goes down a couple of hours later and your body knows that it is time to sleep. So far, I have always been able to sleep the very first night (after last night's 6 hours, I'm 3 for 3). By the next morning, I am well adjusted and good to go for the week.

The 7am wakeup call came quickly. I woke up and made the phonecall I've been training myself for since my last trip here. You see, no matter which hotel I have stayed at in the past, there seemed to be the same communication difficulty when it came to one thing - getting an iron brought to my hotel room. The first time I asked for one, I got a funny look and the squinty eyes. I tried charades, but still no luck. "You want aiyyyaaaaan??? Ohhhh... Ummmmm.. So sorry, please wait one moment" Eventually, they understood "iron" but told me to leave my clothes with the laundry service. No! I want to iron it myself. *Funny look* I want to use the iron! After 3 such incidents, I had made up my mind to learn how to ask for an iron in Mandarin. And now, the moment I had prepared myself for was upon me. I picked up the phone and dialed housekeeping.

"If it is not too much trouble, can you bring me an iron?" I threw out in Mandarin. "Oh, you want an iron? Afjkd fja hfakf jfkauw uwnc shir a fjaow f fasl fsjeah fjd. Afja ewaod fjadlw f fjlsa f afkruwofv dfjdho fjsaoweur."

Shoot! I knew something like this was going to happen. I just said "Okay" a bunch of times hoping that that was a good answer. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. Aaawwwwww yeeeeeeaahhhhhh! There was my iron. It was a proud moment for me. I took it and filled the reservoir with water. Of course, it started leaking all over me and the floor. Next time, I guess I am going to have to learn how to ask for an iron without a crack in the side.

Nice! Too bad this iron was on crack...

Lunch today was Chinese fast food chain Kung Fu, who advertises that "Steamed is good for the health." For about $2.30 you can get a bowl of steamed rice with some stewed beef or pork over it, along with a side of steamed lettuce. Honestly, steamed lettuce kind of weirds me out, but they flavor it with soy sauce and some oil so it actually tastes pretty good. We also tried this thing which is sticky rice filled with some unknown orange thing, wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. The orange thing turned out to be an egg yolk of sorts. It wasn't very good.

I'm sure Bruce would be proud

Sing with me - Everybody was Kung-Fu eating...

Before I go to bed (hey, it is midnight here!), I just wanted to let Hollis know that we are not in any real danger from Typhoon Chanchu. We are getting brushed by the western side of it right now, but it doesn't seem to be anything more than a little rain here. The track takes it east of us, so I think we're in the clear. Time for night-night!

On the Road Again

Just finished packing - I have an early morning flight out tomorrow (well, I guess it's now officially today, isn't it?). I'm heading to Dongguan City, China via Chicago and Hong Kong. Of course, I'm bringing my laptop and camera. No doubt ther'll be some goodies to post. Internet access is really hit or miss in the People's Republic, so I'm not sure how often I'll get to post. Stay tuned!

The Tasting

Part 3

Just like with the sausages, it was difficult to let a day go by without going down to the basement to check on the progress of my experiment. Within a couple of days, the surface of the meat was dry and began to darken in color.

I should point out that the meat was hanging just 10 feet or so away from the washer and dryer. So every time that my lovely wife was downstairs to do a load of laundry, she was forced to come face to face with the jowls. Some of you may be wondering what her thoughts were about this whole meat curing madness - I think it best that she speak for herself.

"That thing better not smell!"
"How long does it have to be there?"
"I'm not eating any of that, you know."
"That's disgusting - I can't stand to look at it."

Yup, that about sums it up.

The 6 weeks came and went pretty quickly (partially aided by a two week trip to China). It was time to cut it down and eat. I washed off the salt which had dried and hardened into a rigid shell, trimmed the end, and carved myself a thin slice. It tasted a lot like prosciutto, but less salty. This was a good sign. Since guanciale is almost always cooked before serving, I sliced off another piece and sauteed it up. The flavor was surprisingly like bacon despite the complete lack of smoke used in the preparation process. However, the flavor was richer and, well, meatier. And it was awesome!

Honestly, as a first foray, I would have been quite happy if the stuff had been simply edible. Instead, I got something that surpassed my wildest expectations. If I had known how good this was going to be, those 6 weeks would have been a lot longer! I wrapped my prize in a freezer bag and placed it delicately in the fridge. I went to sleep a happy man that night. Two days later, having experienced no health issues, I was confident that the guanciale was safe to eat.

With a viable product to use, I could now get down to the businiss of cooking with my guanciale. I decided to first try an old favorite, Pasta alla Carbonara. I had always made this dish with pancetta (which there's nothing wrong with), but I was told that guanciale makes an especially mean carbonara. I have included my own recipe at the end of this post. Let's just say that you should make this - even if you can't get your hands on some guanciale. Pancetta will make a great dish too, just different.

So I made carbonara for dinner, with a skeptical wife squinting her eyes at me with a look that said, "You're not going to make me eat that, are you?" When I was done, I prepared a plate and brought it out to my bride. Now that there was hot, ridiculously good looking food that smelled great out on the table, Hollis began to rethink her vehement protesting. She enjoyed every bite.

With this rousing success under my belt, I turned my attention to the most famous of guanciale dishes - Bucatini all'Amatriciana. Since I had never had this dish, I used the method that Josh Friedland described in his article. Once again, the dish was fantastic. The tomatoes and hot spice are a nice compliment to the richness and flavor of the guanciale in this dish. I would definitely make this again.

Pork-face pasta aka Bucatini all'Amatriciana

I still have about 2/3 of the guanciale sitting safely in the fridge, so if anyone is interested in taking some, let me know. And if you happen to be in the Fitchburg area, come on by and experience the fatty goodness for yourself. Maybe this is the only fitting end to this story. It's one thing to read about food, but real understanding can only come in the tasting of it.


Part 1 - In Pursuit of Guanciale
Part 2 - Getting Cheeky

Rich's Carbonara
Serves 2 as a main dish

1/4 lb guanciale, sliced and roughly chopped
1/2 c dry white wine
2 eggs
1/4 c grated pecorino romano cheese
1/2 c grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Lots of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lb pasta - I prefer tagliatelli or fettucini
2Tbsp olive oil
Salt

Put a large pot of water on to boil. Meanwhile, get together all the other ingredients.

Once the pasta water has come to a boil, add the olive oil and guanciale to a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. The guanciale should brown and render out all the fat, crisping up in the process. While the guanciale is browning up, add 3-4Tbsp of salt to the pasta water and then add in the pasta. This starts your timeclock - remember, the pasta never waits for the sauce! Tagliatelli should cook for about 8-10 minutes, so keep this in mind.

In a medium sized bowl, beat the eggs and add the two cheeses and a good 2 Tbsp of coarsely ground black pepper (about 20 twists or so - you are using fresh ground pepper, aren't you?) and mix together. Reserve.

Once the guanciale is browned and crispy, deglaze the pan with the white wine. Scrape all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. This is tasty stuff. Let the wine reduce until it is 25% of its original volume, about 4-5 minutes. At this point, the pasta should be cooked al dente and is ready to come out. Take the pan with the guanciale and reduced wine off of the heat and add the pasta. Add the egg mixture, stirring continuously so that every strand of pasta is coated, but the eggs do not scramble (the residual heat from the pasta and the pan will "cook" the eggs, making a rich sauce). Top with extra Parmigiano Reggiano and black pepper before serving.

Getting Cheeky

Part 2

I am not really sure what I was expecting, but the jowls were much bigger than I had anticipated. They were superbly fresh (a benefit of buying from a local farm that raises it's own animals) and had almost no odor. The skin was still on - which besides raising the question of whether or not I should remove it, made it visually obvious what this piece of meat was. Now what's the big deal about eating pig cheeks? It's meat, isn't it? Not to gross out any of you who don't like to think of these things, but all meat comes from animals. So what difference does it make if it's the leg, the shoulder, or the cheeks?

No matter, I had all the supplies I needed to get started and I was more than ready to go. I had decided to follow the Mario Batali recipe referenced in Friedland's article - after all, he is an Iron Chef. Plus, he serves his homemade guanciale in his restaurant, so you know it's gotta be okay. What should I do about the skin? None of the articles I read seemed to offer any help. I also took a cursory look through some forums at egullet, but no luck there either. The skin is very thick, so it would make it a little harder for the salt to penetrate through to the center of the meat. But Prosciutto di Parma is made with the skin on... Screw it - I'll just leave it on.

The cure is simple - equal parts salt and sugar, with a few peppercorns and some fresh thyme. Just cover the meat, making sure to rub the cure on every exposed surface. There should be plenty of cure, and the meat should be almost completely covered. A week in the fridge and it would be time to hang.

Yup, it's pig face. Get over it.

That's gonna make a lot of bacon!

Applying the cure

At this point, I checked on the progress every day. After a couple of days, it seemed like a lot of liquid had been released and there were some exposed sections of meat. I thought that it was probably okay, but just to be sure, I whipped up some more cure and reapplied.

Halfway through the in-fridge curing time

After a weeks' time, it was ready to hang the meat to dry for about 5 weeks. Then, it would be ready to taste the fruits of my labor.

Now fully cured, time to start the drying

Once again, the waiting began...

Part 1 - In Pursuit of Guanciale
Part 3 - The Tasting

In Pursuit of Guanciale

Part 1


As we were planning our move from FL to MA, I realized that one of the benefits of moving up to the "frigid north" is that the winter creates the perfect environment for curing meat in the basement. I know, so I'm a little different than most people.

So I started to research the possibilities to see if this was mere fantasy or if it could realistically work out. I learned that I needed a cool, dry environment - 50-55F with 30% humidity or less (update: turns out, 60-70% humidity is ideal. Oops). Music to my ears. My basement is the perfect place for this from around November through April. Should I start out small or should I go after a serious project? I checked out this book which was full of great information. Prosciutto - the holy grail, would be awasome - but the 400 days it takes to cure is ridiculous. I decided to try something a little more basic.

I found this article by Josh Friedland called "The Art of the Cure," which described this journalist's introduction to the meat curing world. He decided to make guanciale - a cured Italian bacon made from hog jowls (yes, that would be the cheeks - the ones on the face). The description sounded delicious and at a short 6 weeks, I wouldn't have to wait too long to see if this whole process worked. I decided to give guanciale a go and see what happened.

The first challenge was actually finding hog jowls. I don't know if you've looked closely in the meat section of the grocery store, but hog jowls are not a particularly common item. I decided to look in some more "low end" stores that tend to stock these cheaper, undesirable cuts of meat. No luck. I even tried a local Chinese market by my house. They had pork ears, pork tails, pork intestines, hearts, feet, liver, and kidneys - but no jowls. My plan was falling apart before I even started. Eventually, I located a local farm that could deliver - but I would have to wait 4-6 weeks.

I decided that I didn't want to risk having the winter go by without trying any type of curing experiment, so I needed to come up with a plan B in short order. I called my Italian friend Lamberto to get his family's recipe for cured, dried sausage. I'm not going to say how this happens, but let's just say that I have had the opportunity to try some of this imported meat product. A quick call to Italy and I had my recipe. Pork meat (shoulder would do nicely), fat back, salt, and black pepper. Also, I would need some type of casing to stuff this in. Fortunately, all of these materials were easily obtainable. With raw materials in hand, my career in meat curing had begun.

Cutting the Pork Shoulder

Mixing the Fat and Seasonings

Don't ask how this got stuffed in the casing - Let's just say that it wasn't pretty.

Cool, dry air - do your magic

Now, all that was left was to wait. In the grand scheme of things, two weeks is nothing. But when you are living with great expectation and anticipation, it can seem like an eternity. After a mere 8 hours, I bubbled with glee as I studied the hanging meat - my fine handiwork. I could already detect a slight change in the color and surface moisture content. Over the next couple of weeks, I would run down to the basement dozens of times just to check things out. Finally, it was time.

The finished goods

It was at this point that I made the mistake of researching the potential dangers of home cured meats. After some consideration, I had elected not to use nitrites as part of my curing mixture. I don't want to get into the technical details, but suffice to say that if you want to be absolutely sure that your cured meat is safe, use nitrites. However, they can transform into carcinogenic nitrosamines and may have potential health risks. Salt alone will prevent almost every harmful bug from surviving, but without nitrites, it is possible for one ugly food poisining situation to occur. If you want to read about botulism, be my guest. Keep in mind that sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

I was never really concerned about this danger, but as I held the first slice of meat up to my lips, the potential pain and suffering seemed to come to life in my mind. I chewed quickly and swallowed. I would wait a full 72 hours before pronouncing the meat "safe."

Having survived with no health effects, I brought the sausage in to work to "test out" on some of my co-workers. By now, I felt the freedom to enjoy the tasty morsels without irrational fear. The texture of the sausage was a little drier and harder than I was hoping for (update: due to overly dry environment), but sliced thinly, it had a nice texture. The flavor was outstanding. It had the sweet taste of supremely fresh pork, with a nice salty bite and a hint of black pepper. I was very satisfied with my first venture, but had not forgotten about my original plan to make guanciale.

Fortunately, my supplier had finally come through. The voicemail indicator on my cell phone was lit up. "Rich, we have your jowls."

Part 2 - Getting Cheeky
Part 3 - The Tasting