Day 24: Cloudless Skies And Hot Sechuan Pork

Actually the day started with squalls and showers. I was on watch from 00h00 to 03h00, spending one and a half hours at the helm fielding squalls. Not that I complain. No, the drizzle was quite welcome. Just cool enough to warrant a light rain jacket.

After having overcast weather for alomost the whole time, we now have entered into that area close to the equator where weather patterns change from southern to northern hemisphere weather. Although there is the prevailing wind, now easterly, you also find squalls. A bit of muddled weather though. Like Mother Nature telling you that here she is somewhat undecided on what to givr you in the way of weather challenges.

Keeping you busy, making life interesting. Especially coupled with the almost full moon that we have at present. This could well have been the introduction or end scene for one of the Lord of the Rings films. Majestic is probably a good description of what I am seeing.

The squalls cleared towards sunrise and we had the most beautiful day of our voyage. Towards the middle of the morning ther was only a few wisps of cloud left on the horizon, with the sun blazing down from almost right overhead. Lierally.

We are now just over eight degrees south of the equator and the sun is at present a tad over nine degrees south. One degree from being right overhead. In fact, we crossed paths with the sun a few days ago. This makes for very interesting celestial navigation exercises.

Noon sights are quite inaccurate, due to the high elevation of the sun. basically almost at ninety degrees. So I have to wait for middle of the morning or afternoon before taking my sun sights for the day. Having a blazing sun also brings its limitations, as the light path cast by the sun on the water makes the horizon blend in with the sky. The contrast between sea and sky is almost nothing, making the sight more difficult. You can see the sun clearly, but not the horizon. Win some, lose some.

After discarding one of the three sights, I still managed to limit the damage to 14 miles difference between the ship's GPS and my plot. My dead reckoning efforts are also paing off, as the DR position is actually quite accurate now that I consider leeway as well.

Today was my turn at galley duty. I made a hot Secuan pork withvegetable fried rice a la The Hungry Sailor. As cosmoploitan as you can get, I guess. Your favourite housewife from the Sechuan Procince will probably turn a sour nose at my version, but it is relatively quick to make and quite tasty.

This dish stir fries the battered pork cubes in light oil or butter. The vegetable fried rice is actually quite loaded with vegetables in this version, being about 50% of the total rice dish. Salt is provided via the soy sauce in both the meat and the rice, therefore no additional salt is required.

Preparation time is short if you happen to have frozen chopped vegetables like us. Else chop your own. The dish lends itself to a variety of vegetables. I added a can of sweetcorn for some bulk but mostly for the variety. About two to three cups of raw chopped vegetables will go with one cup of raw rice.

Add to this about 350 grams of pork cubes and you have enough food for four hungry adults. This is one of th\ose dishes that stretch your ingredients and yet provide a hearty, flavourful meal. I started with about 400g worth of pork chops, which were then deboned and cubed, leaving me with around 300-350 g of meat.

Our fresh chillies had run out, so I substituted this with a teaspoon of chilli, ginger and garlic paste. The3 preparation takes the longest, with the cooking very quick. I started the rice, then did the ret of the preparation. The rice was ready by the time the rest of the food was cooked.

　

Ingredients

400g pork chops, deboned and cubed

¾ cup corn flour (Maizena)

2 large eggs

1-2 hot chillies to taste

2-3 cups chopped vegetables including any of the following:

cabbage

sweet green peppers

sweetcorn

onion

bean sprouts

mushrooms

cauliflower

broccoli

peas

green beans

bamboo sprouts

1 teaspoon garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon ginger, chopped

For the glazing sauce

¼ cup soy sauce

¼ cup vinegar

¼ cup sugar

oil for frying

¼ cup soy sauce or the rice and vegetables




Process

Add the rice to two and a half cups of water and set to boil. Then carry on with the rest of the preparation.

Mix the vinegar, soy sauce and sugar for the glazing sauce and keep it ready

Mix the eggs and corn flour into a thick batter. Add the cubed pork and mix to ensure that all the meat is covered in batter. Add some oil to the frying pan and fry the meat until the batter goes brown. Make a hole in the center of the meat and add the chopped hot chillies. Stir fry these for thirty seconds, then mix the flavoured oil into the meat cubes. When done, add the glaing sauce and stir fry this until the sauce has thickened to your taste. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

In the same pan add some more oil, then fry the garlic and ginger for fifteen seconds. Add the onions and fry them until translucent, then add the rest of the chopped vegetables. Stir fry these until they are done and still a bit al dente. Now add the rice, which should be cooked by now. Mix through toroughly, then add the soy sauce to taste. The dish should not be too salty.

Then dish up.

　

Bon appetit!

　

　

Authored by Johan Zietsman

Last updated on 2013-10-18

The Cookout with Le Creuset at Silwood Kitchen

How is that for name dropping? Cooking at the oldest cookery school in the country as the guest of the famous Le Creuset brand cookware.

Well, it happened to me. I received an invitation from Gillian MacGregor, the marketing manager of Le Creuset, to attend one of their customer evenings at the Silwood Kitchen in the southern suburbs of Cape Town.

All of this because I use their cookware and flaunt it. I flaunt the cookware because it does really deliver the goods and makes for a pleasant cooking experience.

People following my blog will know that I like cooking. They will also understand that the cooking that we do on board a small yacht out at sea differs from your everyday cooking by being limited both in ingredients and equipment. So it was indeed a privilege and a welcome change to go and experience a smooth running kitchen. I was very exited when Gill called me with the invite. Almost danced a small gigue then.

We arrived at the school on a late Thursday afternoon, where we were greeted by Gary of the Silwood Cookery School and our instructor for the evening. This was actually quite an eye opener to arrive just before dusk and to see the garden at the school. The setting is quite idyllic, with large trees in the garden.

We were duly plied with wine to ease our nerves. The school staff made us chef's hats and we were issued with bright orange aprons to round off the looks.

The kitchen, of course, was immaculate and their were little packages of welcoming presents for all of us. A kind gesture from Le Creuset. Amongst other things, the package contained a mini fluted flan dish which we were going to use for the tarte tatin that we making later on.

The menu for the evening was pasta alla saffi with home-made pasta (asparagus, broad beans ham),

Thai chicken curry and banana and blueberry tarte tatin. All, except the curry being foreign terms to me. My pasta experience is limited to the spaghetti Bolognese version that we make on board. A far cry from what we were to experience.

We started off with making the tarte tatin, as these need baking and thus take a long time. The very famous upside-down French dessert. You make it upside down, then turn it over before serving it. The first part of it was making the caramel. I have never done this before, so it was nice doing it under supervision of a pro! A neat trick to get even consistency and colour in the caramel is to add a little fluid to the sugar. The caramel went into the flan dish first. Then, after letting the caramel cool somewhat, the banana and blueberries are added. Over this goes a piece of puff pastry slightly larger than the dish. The pastry gets tucked into the dish, as this will be the serving platform when the cooking is done and you turn it over. These went into the oven and the next item on the menu started.

Which was the curry. This was made by frying the onions, sweet pepper and garlic in oil, then adding the curry paste and, after frying all of this for a minute or two, the coconut milk. This sauce was then boiled over medium heat to reduce before the chicken was added. At the end some fresh basil and coriander leaves are added. A wonderful dish indeed.

I had a discussion about the recipe with Gary, our instructor. The discussion centred on the preparation time. Again, I learned something new. The difference between my procedure and the school's one is the order of proceedings in making the dish. This does make a difference. Of course, it is rather nice having all the spices ready as you need it. Very nice at the school. However, at home and on the boat I have to do it all by myself. A labour of love well worth the effort, given the results.

Lastly we made the pasta. Gary demonstrated the procedure for making the pasta from the basic raw ingredients. Not too difficult, but you need to pay attention. Certainly worth the effort as well. Fresh pasta is not to be sneezed at. And this one especially, made with fresh spinach. The tagliatelli came out a dark green colour. We had ready-mixed pasta to process, which was a lot of fun. I don't have a pasta mill at home, so I have to make do with an Indian rolling pin, and a cutting board. The Indian rolling pin is about as thick as a Tabasco bottle and tapers towards the ends. This gives a lot of leverage to get the dough thin. When the dough gets to large, simply cut it into long strips and roll these out to the desired thickness. The lesson here is to measure the quantities. 100 grams of flour makes a huge amount of pasta. I once made pasta a la Jamie Oliver by chucking the whole packet of flour onto the work surface, adding salt and three eggs and mixing the lot. We had pasta for the next week, after the missus threw away the rest. So, a proper lesson indeed.

The pasta alla Saffi tastes of heaven. The fresh spinach flavour goes very well with the asparagus and peas, the cream consolidates the flavours. Hmmmm!

I also had the opportuity of cooking with the triple layer stainless steel saucepans made by Le Creuset. A marvellous concept indeed. The pan heats up very quickly and keeps its heat. They are not too heavy and the handle lies comfortably in the hand. What a pleasure to use these. There is one on my shopping list, along with a round cast iron casserole to complement the buffet casserole and saucepan that we already own. Perhaps another smaller saucepan. These work a treat as well. Once these cast iron pots are up to heat you can turn the gas way down low, even on the smallest setting. We have been using our 32 cm buffet casserole extensively over the last year and this heat retention rings true. You use the lowest setting on the smallest burner of the gas stove to keep the pot boiling. Literally. Our gas usage runs to 9kg over six to eight months, cooking every day. The variation is attributable to having dinner guests over more than twice a month.

The food was delicious. The evening a pleasure. And all of us amateur, part time home chefs enjoyed ourselves to bits.

And we all learnt something.

Thanks again to Le Creuset and the Silwood Kitchen.

Authored by Johan Zietsman
Last updated on 2012-12-12