China Travel Updates

Plan to post some photos over the next few days. Flight to Taiwan this afternoon. Be good.


Getting to China

My flight Sunday was uneventful - very long but uneventful.  It takes time to fly 7100 miles even at 540 mph.  Yes, for those who can multiply it was a 14 hour flight.  The Delta staff was professional and courteous while doing their best to make everyone comfortable on such a long journey.  The Delta on-demand movie service helped considerably.  All in all I think I watched five movies..

• Ted - parts were hilarious but can’t recommend
• Pitch Perfect - better than expected
• The Diirty Dozen - a go-to classic
• Gone in 60 Seconds - a tribute to American muscle cars.  You have to love Eleanor
• And finally, Knuckleball - a baseball documentary on Tim Wakefield and R.A. Dickey of the Mets and the fraternity of knuckleball pitchers

The biggest surprise on the flight was seeing a colleague that I had not seen in almost 8 years.  During one of my stretch breaks I was looking through the cabin and recognized a familiar face but of course i doubted myself because what are the chances that you’ll know someone on a flight to China.  Turns out I was right and I was able to reconnect with Jerry Powaser on the way to Shanghai.  Jerry and I started our careers together in the Indianapolis District of Betz Industrial working for John Tedesco.  We had a great time then and have always enjoyed each other’s company.  It was an unexpected pleasure.

I only slept for about an hour which ended up being positive.  When I finally did go to sleep around 8:30 I had been awake for almost 26 hours.  So I had no issue falling asleep.  Jet lag has not been too bad in spite of the 14 hour time change.  A late afternoon Starbuck’s latte - double shot of espresso - has helped me over the hump.  I should be good to go tonight.

One trivia note, China is roughly the size of the continental US and has a single time zone.   

Day #2

First, if you have business on the east side of Shanghai then I highly recommend the Parkyard Hotel.  It’s nice, quiet, furnished in a modern style and the staff is accustomed to westerners.  The breakfast buffet is top notch with breakfast favorites from Asia, Europe and North America.  I put the latte machine to good use this morning.  By US standards it’s also a good value.  For a comparable hotel in the US I would expect to pay 2 to 3X the rate.

After a meeting with the region executive team this morning we traveled about 1 hour south of Shanghai to Xiajing.  The local team met us for lunch in a private dining room in a well-known restaurant.  The conversation was lively as the local account management team patiently detailed their customers expectations and the processes they follow.  We have work to do to simplify and shorten processes for our products.  The team is knowledgelable, professional and courteous.  It’s easy to see why this customer respects our team and their performance.  

After our customer meeting we drove to the Hongqiang airport on the west side of Shanghai for a 5 pm flight to Taijuan.  We’ll meet a steel customer tomorrow before returning to Shanghai in the evening.

The Food and Dining

A few notes on dining in China...  (like to hear other comments from other westerners)

• Family style dining is the norm with a lazy susan in the middle of the round table and the dishes are shared communally
• I do ok with chopsticks; at least well enough not to go hungry.  Most restaurants will provide knife and fork, if requested.
• The fruits and vegetables are generally fresh and tasty
• The hosts will always order more food than can possibly be eaten in one setting.  
• There are a couple of practices that I struggle with
• It’s a common practice to put food in your mouth, bones/shells and all, and then remove the inedible parts after chewing
• They serve shrimp with heads and shells.  It’s awkward for me so I avoid them.
• Of the dishes so far I actually found the bamboo shoots cooked in a brown sauce to be the tastiest.
• I generally eat big breakfasts and less at lunch and dinner while in China

Much more to follow from this trip as I will visit Taijuan, Taiwan, Chongching, ShenZhen and Wuhan with stops in Shanghai between flights.  I’m expecting an interesting journey.

Success!! - Our own bacon

Spoiler alert - the bacon turned out very well.  Salty, smoky and fried up nice and crispy.  We were all pleased, relieved and a bit surprised that the process was easy and straight-forward with a predictable, positive result.

 Yesterday afternoon I removed the pork belly from the ziploc bags and rinsed under cold, running water and then patted dry with paper towels.  You can see the cured pork belly in the photo on the left.

 The Primo Grill was then set up for indirect smoking with a mixture of lump charcoal and hickory.  The smoker  temperature was set for ~200F - low and slow.  An instant read thermometer was inserted into the thickest piece.  ~155F was the target internal temperature.

A couple of cold drinks later (~2 hours) and the pork belly was at 155F and I removed from the smoker to cool.

I could not wait for the bacon to cool for the full hour as directed - too anxious.  You can see the result below as I sliced a few thin pieces to fry up and taste.  Overall, it's pretty cool.

A couple of notes for next time

• four days is plenty long for the salt cure in the refrigerator; I went closer to six and likely contributed to the salty taste
• I'll rinse with cold water more thoroughly
• other than that the process and cure mixture will remain the same.

Have a great weekend!!

Aaah bacon! An Ode to Pork

I've written on and off about the skills and knowledge of our ancestors.  How did they ever survive without a refrigerator?  A modern grocery store?  A cold 12-pack?  They raised their food, preserved and stored it for winter.  Their survival depended on it.  They also accomplished this seemingly herculean feat without modern chemistry of dyes, hormones, pesticides and preservatives. 

Part romance for simpler times and part curiosity has led me on my latest quest - curing/smoking my own bacon from a pork belly.  I ordered my pork belly from an organic farmer (Arnold Farms) at the Davenport Farmers Market about a month ago.  It was $5.75/lb and was nicely wrapped and prepackaged when I picked it up on Saturday morning.  This slab went about 8 pounds.

 I modified a recipe that I found in Men's Health Magazine of all places.  The cure recipe that I used:

2 1/2 cups of salt
1 1/2 cups of  brown sugar
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
3 tsp of allspice
2 tsp of coriander
1 tsp of red pepper flakes

I cut the pok belly into four pieces and then liberally coated all sides with the salt mixture.  The slabs were then placed into ziploc bags, air removed and sealed.  They will now sit in the refrigerator for a few days before smoking at the end of the week. 

I have no doubt that it will be delicious, edible and likely different than our store bought, pre-packaged bacon.  Time will tell.

Dog Days of Summer

It has been hot!!  Yes, it's summer in the midwest and we're used to the heat/humidity that comes with the season; but now it's abnormally hot ~105F - too hot.  What is your favorite drink  on a hot summer day?

In July, 2005 we were in Kansas City when the temperature reached 108F.  We walked into a brewpub for a drink.  When our waitress arrived at the table we talked about the heat and the need for a refreshing drink.  Which of their beers would she recommend for a summer scorcher?  She says that she has just the thing and will be right back.  She returned with two frosty mugs of (can't remember what she called it) beer mixed 50/50 with lemonade.  We politely said thanks and looked at each other with perplexed/quizzical yet polite expressions.  And lo' and behold it worked.  We both liked the drink for a summer scorcher.  It was not too sweet, not overly tart, still had the taste of beer and quenched our thirst. 

Since then we've made them several times when we're outdoors and the temperatures approach those of the sun.

Caveman Ribs You Can Be Proud Of

Cooking pork ribs is not something I do very well.  No matter what I've tried over the years they're just not as tender or tasty as ribs from a restaurant.  Doesn't seem to matter if they're babyback or spare ribs, dry rub versus mop, or sauce/no-sauce.  They've turned out dry and chewy, tough and sometimes burnt and charred on the outside.  The closest I've come to edible ribs are ones that I braised in the oven for two hours and then finished for ~10 minutes on the grill.  Yes, they were good but because I cooked them in the oven I just couldn't feel good about them.  A good friend of mine says that his best result comes from simmering his in apple juice and like me he feels like he cheated to get the end product.  Hells bells, we're men; we cook with fire; and ribs (the most primal of cuts) are not made to be cooked in a kitchen.  They're just not!

After 25 years of effort to fulfill my quest, and giving up several times along the way, I finally cooked ribs over smoldering wood and charcoal that rivaled ribs from a restaurant.  Yeehaw!!

A few things made this possible....

• the Primo Grill held the temperature steady and allowed me to smoke the ribs over indirect heat for just over four hours at ~230F
• Alton Brown and the Food Network.  This recipe worked very well.  I will adjust the dry rub for our palate next time around.  His tips on knowing when the ribs were done were most helpful.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/barbecue-st-louis-pork-ribs-recipe2/index.html

As much as enjoyed the ribs we also smoked a couple of pounds of chicken drumsticks at the same time.  Tossed them in a dry rub of paprika, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders and then 225F for 90 minutes (turned them half way through) and then into a roasting pan with smoky, spicy barbecue sauce.  Tracy and Josh enjoyed the drumsticks as much as the ribs.

Mistakes of a Primo Rookie

We purchased a Primo Grill for our outdoor kitchen area.  The promise of a wood-fired oven as well as a smoker for low and slow cooking of prime cuts of meat was just too enticing.  We chose the Primo over its more popular rival (The Big Green Egg) for a couple of reasons..

• The oval shape and cooking surface
• We like the dealer on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities - Corn Crib Nursery

For those not familiar, the Primo is a kamodo-style ceramic cooker.  It weighs ~200 pounds empty and burns lump charcoal - not briquets.  I was pleased when they offered to deliver the grill at no additional charge.

A few claims on the Primo Grills are worth noting...

• heats up in ~10 minutes
• Lighter fluid is not needed
• Holds temperature very steady
• Can reach temperatures of 550F or hotter
• Ideal for cooking low and slow - 225F

So how did it do against these claims?

Well the first night was as close to a cooking disaster as I've had in awhile.  I followed the instructions closely and I could not get the temperature above 350 even after an hour.  It was frustrating.  I had the vent holes fully open on the top and the bottom vent fully open and yet the temperature would not increase and certainly not in the 10 minutes that was claimed.  After about 90 minutes I got the temp to ~350 and said the heck with it and cooked the pizzas anyway.  Not bad pizza but the Primo Grill was a disappointment.  More research was needed.

Day #2 - much better results after I discovered my mistake.  The Primo Grill is great; the instruction manual is terrible and could be greatly improved for a much better user experience.
The issue was that the entire top vent can open; not just the vent holes.  Once I figured that out two things happened

• The grill came up to temperature, and
• It did it in ~10 minutes.  Problem solved.

Now for the next test, how would the Primo cooker do for the ultimate test of low and slow cooking of pork spare ribs?

It passed with flying colors.

Evolution of an Idea

I have a lot of ideas.  Mainly because my brain is constantly in motion while I multi-task with computer, iPad, television, radio, books and magazines.  Some of the ideas find their way into my journal but most are never put into action.  I’m still looking for that one big idea.  In any case, this is the story of one of my ideas becoming a reality; thanks in large part to my talented and lovely wife – Tracy.

Sometime in April I had the idea that I could build a wood-fired, brick oven in my backyard for authentic pizzas and artisanal breads.  The thought of real, wood-fired pizzas with a thin, crispy crust while not leaving the comfort of my home made me salivate.  This was the ticket.  I promptly turned to the internet and learned from others who built their own backyard ovens.  What did I learn?

·         I didn’t have the skills

·         I didn’t have a good location for the oven, and

·         It was a bit beyond my intended budget

No wood-fired pizza oven for me.

We continued to talk and discuss plans for a new gas grill and improvements to our deck off the rear of the house.  How about an outdoor kitchen?  We could extend one area of the deck and then add some cabinets, countertops and grill with a small table/bar area for entertaining.  Tracy agreed that this had promise.  We even sketched out our idea on the plane.  It was taking shape.

Somewhere in this process I learned of a kamodo-style ceramic oven; aka The Big Green Egg.  Hmmm, with one of these I could smoke meats low and slow for hours and use it as a wood-fired oven as well?

Once we returned home we continued to sketch and like most engineers, we drew up plans and then changed and changed some more.  The deck extension would not work.   I wanted it under roof to extend the season; the roof turned out to be impractical.  We wanted to build it from stone or brick; turned out to be very expensive plus our deck could not handle the extra weight.  In the end we are very pleased with the project.  This gives you an idea on how the finished project came together….

 A couple of key decisions we made can be seen in these two photos.

• Novik vinyl siding to simulate the look of stone.
• Wrought iron table top (wished we had went 54" diamter instead of 48")
• Umbrella and canopy instead of a structured roof
• Countertop of 12" x 12" granite tiles