Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan

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April 18, 2011 By cheryl

Braised Brisket: Seder a La Singapore

Sometimes, one just needs a good muse to get the juices flowing.

In my case, that would be a certain brisket I spied recently once the cut of meat began flooding butchers with Passover on the horizon. Now this was a beautiful five-pounder with an impressive girth, hearty red hue and slick coating of fat. Thoughts of what I might do to it washed over me instantly — something conventional, perhaps? Or a return to the trusty sweet and sour brisket recipe I’ve hauled out time and again? And then I thought of my Auntie Alice’s Singapore-style braised duck recipe and how unforgettable that soy sauce gravy inflected with ginger, garlic and five spice powder is.

In recent weeks, I’ve spoken often of how one shouldn’t be intimidated by Southeast Asian recipes — yes, it’s a less usual form of cooking than you would see in most American kitchens. The ingredient lists can be long and the sometimes numerous steps can be mind-boggling. But if you love the flavors, try to understand and dissect them, I’ve been saying in book appearances and interviews — and then adapt those techniques and spice strategies to everyday dishes in your own kitchen.

Faced with my brisket, I thought perhaps I should heed my own advice. My auntie’s braising strategy works wonderfully on duck — so why not beef? Armed with a bagful of garlic, ginger and an onion, I was ready to give it a shot …

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Filed Under: Asian, Chinese, Holidays, Recipes, Teochew Tagged With: Asian, Beef, Bolognese, Braised, Brisket, Chinese, Fat Duck, Garlic, Ginger, Heston Blumenthal, House, Onion, Passover, Seder, Singapore, Southeast Asian, Star Anise, Teochew, TV

November 21, 2010 By cheryl

The Shop at Andaz Fifth Avenue: Style, With Some Substance


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As hotel restaurants go, the shop at Andaz Fifth Avenue tries pretty hard.

Determined to cast itself as a New York restaurant, it likes to broadcast just how local it is. Its Web site rattles off a litany of New York purveyors — eggs hail from Feather Ridge Farm in the Hudson Valley; lox comes from Russ & Daughters on Manhattan's Lower East Side, which has been providing New Yorkers with smoked fish since 1914. And there's even a self-conscious little area that sells snacks made by small, lesser-known brands in New York.

This is all in line with the in-the-know feel that the hotel, part of Hyatt Hotels & Resorts' chain of boutique properties, tries to give off. It's a pretentiousness you can already sense from the fact that it is the shop — spelled all lowercase, the hotel insists — and not, well, The Shop. (You'll have to check out my review of the hotel in the New York Times Travel section for more on this Andaz.)

How would the food stack up against all this posing? We decided to find out …

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Filed Under: Breakfast, Brunch, Hotels, Locavore, New York, Restaurants Tagged With: Anchovies, Andaz Fifth Avenue, Apple, Berkshire pork, Bloody Mary, Bolognese, Bone-in Virginia Ham, Books, Breadcrumbs, Breakfast, Brioche, Brunch, Cafe Des Artistes, Capers, Chicken Schnitzel, Cinnamon, Coffee, Compote, Crema, Eggs, English peas, Feather Ridge Farm, Fish, French toast, Greens, Griddle bread, Hotel, Hudson Valley, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Manhattan, Meatballs, Mimosa, Mint, New York, New York Times, Orange marmalade, Pastries, Raison, Restaurant, Roberto Alicea, Russ & Daughters, Sam Sifton, Schaller & Weber, Tarragon, The Shop, Thyme, Tomato, Travel, Wall on Water

December 22, 2009 By cheryl

Panettone: The Seven-Day Bread


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If you are among the people who believe that nothing says “The Holidays” like a festive loaf of panettone, let me just say this: You are mad.

This bread, it is evil.

It will drive you insane, make you tear your hair out. You may find yourself repeatedly staring intently at an unrising bowl of taupe glop, thinking, “Just, why, God, WHY?”

I mean this for the folks out there attempting to bake it, that is. (If you’re the sort who buys panettone in a store then, sure, go for it. I’m sure that’s pretty harmless.)

The problem I had here was holiday spirit.

Recently, I found myself so infused with the stuff that I decided to tackle panettone for the Bread Baker’s Apprentice challenge. 

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Filed Under: Baking, Books, Bread, Holidays, Italian Tagged With: Bolognese, Bread Baker's Apprentice, Christmas Song, Dough, Dried cranberries, Dried Mangoes, Dried pears, Ella Fitzgerald, Heston Blumenthal, Panettone, Rye Flour

December 6, 2009 By cheryl

The 12-Hour Bolognese


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I used to think Martha Stewart was high maintenance — but that was before I encountered Heston Blumenthal.

Yes, the man — chef/owner of the three Michelin-star Fat Duck in Bray, U.K. — is a molecular gastronomy genius responsible for tongue-boggling dishes like powdered anjou pigeon and scrambled egg and bacon ice-cream.  

But let’s take something like, say, bolognese, one of the most basic dishes in classic Italian cooking. It should be fairly easy to make … well, except that this is Blumenthal we’re talking about.

His bolognese recipe includes this instruction: “Cook for at least six hours.” And this would be taking place after a good two hours or so of cooking and prep work.

By the time my Blumenthal bolognese was done, it was 4:30 a.m. and the ragu had taken a total of 12 hours to make. I was mad at my oven, my bolognese — while also plotting a trip to Bray to give Blumenthal a piece of my mind.

But then I had my first spoonful of the ragu, a rich and muscular concoction that was beefy and hefty but also so, so, so sweet. Each morsel had just the slightest hint of licorice and the beef was so tender that I wondered if it was possible that I was actually feeling it melt on my tongue.

It was, in short, a joy to eat.

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Filed Under: Italian, Meat, Recipes, Television Tagged With: Beef, Bolognese, Bray, Carrots, Celery, Collagen, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, Heston Blumenthal, Marcella Hazan, Martha Stewart, Michelin, Milk, Molecular gastronomy, Molecules, Pasta, Rib-eye, Sauce, Slow cooking, Steak, U.K., Wine

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