The Road to 40 Day 207/365: Market Visit

It was a rainy Tuesday, and I thought it would be a good idea to check out the wet market for once.

While I cook, I usually get my stuff from the supermarket, except if I need huge quantities, like when I need a full belly for my lechon. Generally, Singapore wet markets are cleaner compared to the wet markets I grew up to know in the Philippines.

However, I feel like I spend a lot more in wet markets than in supermarkets. I think it’s because I know I’ll be there once for that week or maybe two, so I’ll buy whatever I think I need to stock up my pantry and fridge.

Another thing is that I know where to find my things when I’m in the supermarket compared to when I go to the wet market.

Recently, Che got me a sous vide machine, which I want to experiment things on. One of which is my beef salpicao.

I feel like I got the flavors down even if I don’t have measurements. I know the taste I want, so it’s a matter of choosing the right kind of meat. It’s always a mixed bag, because I’ve been trying several cuts. If I’m trying to impress someone, it’s going to be tenderloin, but its going to be super expensive.

I’ve been thinking about making my meals ready for selling, so I need a sustainable cut of meat I could use for my salpicao.

Before heading out to the market, I checked out the stalls for some food I could eat. I wanted to find some nice fishball noodles for a light, savory breakfast and ended up in the hawker stall just outside the big one at Ghim Moh Market.

While ordering, I saw a popiah stalll as well, so I got myself one.

With the energy I got from my breakfast, I went to the market.

Flank or oyster blade has been my favorite, because it’s lean and cheap. But it hasn’t always produced the best results my signature dish. With the sous vide though, I think I could change that. I got around 700 grams for 10 SGD, compared to the Php3,000 for 800g of tenderloin I cooked last time.

I took the chance to buy fish, because surprisingly, there were a couple of Filipina ladies who were selling at the fish stall in front of the beef stall. I’m not one to patronize a stall just because they called me “kuya” or something, but it’s just easier to tell them the dish I want to cook.

I’m an idiot when it comes to fish, so I really need guidance. I told them I want to cook paksiw, which Che likes, and they suggested that I get the seabass.

Finally, I went to the pork stall to buy pork belly for two dishes I wanted to make. First, I need to boil it and cook it in oil as lechon kawali. The leftovers (which will be a lot) will be my lechon paksiw.

I prepared my pork first by boiling it with salt, bay leaves, peppercorns, onions, and garlic. Meanwhile, I cut my flank to cubes, marinated it in my sauce, and placed it in the fridge.

Once the pork was done, I took it out and let it air dry as I picked up Vino from school.

He was out by 3pm, but he asked if we could stay until 4pm. I agreed, only because we were in no real rush. When we got home, we went back to academic refreshers. Today was rounding off numbers.

It took a bit of time and a lot of frustration from both our parts for him to actually figure out rounding out by tens, hundreds, ro thousands. I feel like I’m explaining it in an easy, logical manner, but somehow it’s not adding up for him. Maybe a bit more practice would help.

I let him go as I prepared dinner. It was raining all day, so I thought I’d pair my lechon kawali with kimchi soup for Che and I.

I’ve been watching a lot of videos about cooking kimchi jiggae, and I combined some of the “secret” things they did for their stews into this one. I added a bit of pepper powder and pepper paste for the spicy and smoky flavor. I used rice water (water from washing rice) and leveled that up by putting a broth pack containing kelp and anchovies. I also added some onions, garlic, and soybean paste. Towards the end, I added this instant beef broth that Koreans apparently use for army stew.

For the deep fried pork, I made a sauce for pairing. I’ve always been proud of ther sauces I made, so I was confident about this one.

The kimchi soup was a bit on the salty side, which I think either came from the beef broth or the kelp, but I’ll make adjustments next time. Vino had a good amount, and Che was able to enjoy the meal, so I’m happy with those outcomes.

Che and I watched what we felt like the last episode of The Manipulated. However, it felt to me that there were still plenty of plot holes that needed to be filled. Upon checking, I saw that it’s apparently 12 episodes, with the final two coming tomorrow.

I cleaned up the mess on the dining table and went to the room, where Che decided to sleep early. Vino watched a show before deciding to sleep.

I finished the blog off and watched Matt Rife’s comedy special to get me to sleep. I’ll probably work on the salpicao and the lechon paksiw tomorrow, so I had to have a good night’s sleep.