Bagel french toast

flavour networks, Singapore

Writing is slower in the heat. Today’s recipe is inspired by the weird and wonderful food combinations I forgot existed here, as I catch ‘kaya lava croissants’ in Starbucks and ‘milo dinosaur cookies’ at the Singapore Food Festival (which, by the way, deserves all the hype it can get, with such temperatures only conducive to its sticky brown middle).

Food news of the week:

fresh sweet scallop at Kuriya

Kuriya has always been a mainstay in my Japanese rotation at home, for nostalgia (my late grandmother’s favourite place), for taste, for the impeccable service. Their lunchtime omakase is a surprising treat with smoke arsenals unveiling thick sashimi slices, alongside other seafood performances like a cluster of chopped otoro just edge-browned in hot, sweet soup. More omakase talk to follow. Back in London, Parsons has yet more summertime stars in their variety of white fish dishes, like their smoky and soft halibut paired with tomatoes and potatoes.

Science of the week:

This paper created a flavour network looking at links between over 1000 flavour compounds and ingredients that comprise flavour classes we’re all used to, e.g. fruit is close to alcohol but mushrooms have significantly different compounds to most other foods. It identified top contributors to a regional cuisine, like Southeast Asian cuisine. It also showed how Western cuisine shares many flavour compounds that contribute to a ‘food pairing’ habit that Asian cuisines don’t have!

Insight of the week:

The movie 12 Nights goes into the repetitive nature of relationship cycles, with a 500 Days of Summer sort of ending. It’s endearing and heartbreaking, a reminder that each cycle of modern love can involve obsession, self-doubt, jealousy and desire, and how the end of a relationship can be final and interesting but very unsatisfying.

Recipe of the week:

Bagel French Toast

I cringe at my old blogposts, occasionally awkwardly written and excessively annoying, yet I still trundle through old photos and make these recipes, again and again.

For one person, take one bagel (I used cinnamon raisin here) and slice into discs around 3/4-inch thick using a serrated knife. Preheat a pan on the stove to medium heat. In a shallow dish and with a fork, whisk together one egg, one tablespoon of softened cream cheese, a squeeze of honey and 1/4-1/2 cup of whatever milk you have on hand. I didn’t use cinnamon because I used a cinnamon raisin bagel, but add a dash of that if you would like. Soak each bagel disc in the egg batter for at least 10-15 seconds on each side, and then flip to do the same on the other sides. To your preheated pan, add a generous pat of unsalted butter, then lay all the discs on the pan. Wait around 30 seconds to cook on the first side, then flip, starting with the disc you first laid down.

Pair your french toast bagel with anything! Lay on the maple syrup, or top simply with icing sugar and fresh fruit.

Restaurant of the week:

I decided to visit this chicken rice spot again to understand if it still tastes like what I remember- bony, lean, succulent and brimming with gelatin and pulpy skin, just the way I like it.