Chik's Crib

04 September 2026

Charcoal Series: Smoked Pork Belly Recipe V3.0

Recipe September 04, 2026 0

Over the last few months, I had been smoking slabs of pork bellies for family dinners. Some cooking methods make better pork bellies than others, but regardless, there's been no complaints so far. The beauty about cooking over charcoal is that even the worst results are still going to be fragrant and delicious.

I also used different seasonings for each of the pork bellies. You can do the pork 'Texas-style' (just salt and black pepper) if that's what you prefer. But pork is a blank canvass for seasoning and can take in a lot of flavours. I tried a couple of store-bought pre-mixed rubs, and even made the Memphis Dust Rub blend. Pork uniquely can also stand up to a lot of sweetness, more than chicken and much more than beef, so don't be afraid of the sugar content in some of these rubs.

But the most fuss-free, and delicious version came from a simple combination of mirin, soy sauce and gojuchang, and a light sprinkle of black pepper. It's the version that I'll be sticking with from now on.

Memphis Rub (Left), Mirin/Soy Sauce/Gojuchang with Black Pepper (Centre), Mirin/Soy Sauce/Gojuchang (Right)

Cube the pork bellies to maximise surface area for seasoning, or keep whole to maximise tenderness?

Pork belly can be deceptively hard to get tender. The belly is a fatty cut of meat, but all of the fat lies along the subcutaneous layer and is separate from the meat layer. The meat here is rather lean; with minimal intramuscular fat, it's prone to drying out. The challenge is to keep the meat moist and tender during cooking. I've spent many kilos of pork belly roasting them Chinese-style before I was finally happy with the recipe. Smoking pork bellies too, took a while to figure out what helps to get the tenderness that I want.

Glazed pork bellies: sliced from whole pork belly (front), or cubed for smoking and then glazed (back)

Pink from the smoke. I promise it's not undercooked!

Smoked Pork Belly Recipe V3.0

Adapted from various recipes done by Jeremy Yoder and by Malcolm Reed

Ingredients

2.5kg pork belly, skin-off and halved (each half about 1.2-1.3kg)

120g mirin, plus another 50-80g for braising

100g Japanese soy sauce

2-3 tbsp gojuchang (optional)

Black pepper

Steps

1. Remove the skin from the pork belly with a sharp knife, if not already done. Afterwards, score the fat layer of the pork belly into diamonds. This allows the seasoning to penetrate better, and also prevents the pork belly from curling up on itself during the cook. Place the pork belly in a large ziplock bag.

2. Set a large ziplock bag (large enough to hold the pork bellies) over a large bowl. Pour mirin and soy sauce into the ziplock bag. Stir to combine. Place the pork bellies into the ziplock bag. Seal tightly, squeezing out as much air from the bag as you can, and then let the pork marinate overnight in your fridge.

When ready to begin:

3. Remove the pork bellies from the brine. Spread a light layer of gojuchang over the meat, and then season with black pepper on all sides. Set aside as you prepare the grill.

Setting up the grill: Briquettes, Snake Method:
4. Arrange charcoal briquettes in a 2x2 snake along most of the circumference of the Weber grill. Set 3-4 wood chips directly on the charcoal at regular intervals. The top and bottom vents should left entirely open. You are aiming for a grill temperature of 225-275 F.

5. Pour 10 lit charcoals over one end of the snake. (I use a chimney starter for this).

6. Add a disposable aluminium pan over the centre of the grill pit. Fill it up with ~2cm of boiling water for a gentle moist cooking. It'll also collect any meat drippings and make cleaning up easier.

7. Set the metal grill over the charcoal. Oil the grates lightly with a paper towel dipped in neutral oil.

8. Place the pork bellies fat side-up on the grates. Place the lid over the grill and let smoke for 3 hours or so, until to an internal temperature of 145F. Check on the pork belly every hour or so. If parts of the surface of the pork appears to be drying out, you can moisturise those areas with water, either via spritzing or with a wet food brush. Pools of meat juices on the surface of the pork can be tipped out.

9. When pork comes up to 145F, it is food-safe as long as it's been rested for a minimum of 3 minutes. It can be served like this (it's still juicy and enjoyable), though the meat is still be a bit firmer than I like.

Making the Pork Bellies Tender:

10. Place the pork bellies in an heat-proof pan. Add 50-80g of mirin. Seal the pan tightly with aluminium foil, then continue cooking it at 250-275F (~135C) for about 1.5 hours until a probe goes through the meat with no resistance. You can return it to the grill to continue cooking, but at this point, there's no benefit to using charcoal - the charcoal flavours would not penetrate through. I usually transfer it to my oven to complete cooking.

11. The pork is done when a fork goes through with little resistance. Let cool slightly, slice thinly and serve.

22 August 2026

David Lebovitz's Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Ice Cream August 22, 2026 0

We found a spot of perfect sunlight on my countertop for photography one day after we made Japanese milk puddings. The setting sun had bathed the puddings in such a warm glow, I wanted to see how the scene would look with this ice cream I’d just made. I liked this photo a lot too, as it turned out.

No one's more pleased than I was to find a copy of his revised ice cream book in a nearby library. I checked it out immediately. Am I a fan? I'm a huge one. I think over the course of a few years, I'd probably read every entry of his blog dating back to the early 2000s. It actually may have been a bit of a parasocial relationship, is what I'm saying.

I promise I'm a well-adjusted adult. Mostly.

I have a close friend who recently bought an ice cream machine (join the club!) and was looking around for good recipes. It was a no-brainer to direct him straight to David's books, and to his blog that in so many ways, had been my introduction to the culinary world.

24 July 2026

Charcoal Series: Smoked Dino Beef Ribs Recipe

Recipe July 24, 2026 0

It’s been a long search for a butcher that sells bone-in beef ribs, but I finally got my hands on them. Out of all my favourite cuts of meat out there, beef ribs is high up on my list.

While briskets are tricky to get right, beef ribs are much more forgiving: their fat cap and marbling helps preserve moisture. And it's just so catchy to call huge beef ribs dino ribs. I spent an enjoyable weekend smoking these. A day with no greater stakes than having a couple of kilos of meat going low and slow on the grill is always a good day.

Everybody I know is keeping a close eye on rising grocery prices, myself included. Beef ribs are pricey at $35/kg, and a 4-rib cut runs close to about $80. They’re definitely not an everyday cut of meat. But they're intensely heavy and flavourful, so you don’t need to eat a lot of it to sate yourself. You'll probably feel ill if you try! This is one of those cuts where a few hearty bites is all you need, and excellent when paired with other meats like pork and chicken.

Meat shrinkage from cooking. See how the sides have retreated from the edges of the bone after cooking.

This photo looks scarily burnt, but it's not: the smoke, the black pepper and the chile rub darkens the exterior of the meat, and this is called the 'bark'. While a burnt piece of meat would be all dried up and crunchy, the exterior of a properly-smoked meat is soft and tender, and juices would pool around your finger if you lightly press onto it.

Smoked Dino Beef Ribs
Dino Beef Ribs Recipe adapted from The Dawgfatha's BBQ, with additional information from Meathead (BBQ Hall of Famer)
Snake Method, explained from American Test Kitchen. It's an incredibly charcoal-efficient method for sustained low and slow cooking.

Ingredients
3-4 Beef ribs, bone-in (around 2kg)
Salt and Pepper*
Chile rub (optional)
BBQ sauce, for serving (optional)

STEPS
1. Season the beef ribs with salt and pepper and then with a light coating of chile rub (optional). Leave uncovered in a fridge overnight. There’s no need to trim the fat cap.

*Salt: the rule of thumb for the amount of salt to use is 1-1.5% by weight of the meat. For bone-in cuts like these, I use the lower end of the range (1%), as part of the weight would be just bones.

*Pepper: The rule of thumb is to use the same volume (not weight) of pepper as kosher salt, or twice the volume of pepper as table salt. But pepper is a spice, and like other spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg, you can use as much or as little as you like.

Charcoal Arrangement: Briquettes, Snake Method:
2. Arrange charcoal briquettes in a 2x2 snake along the circumference of the Weber grill. Set 3-4 wood chips directly on the charcoal at regular intervals. The top and bottom vents should left entirely open. You are aiming for a grill temperature of 250-300 F.

When ready to begin:
3. Pour 10 lit charcoals over one end of the snake. (I use a chimney starter for this).

4. Add a disposable aluminium pan over the centre of the grill pit. Fill it up with ~2cm of boiling water for a gentle moist cooking. It'll also collect any meat drippings.

5. Set the grill over the charcoal, and oil the grates lightly. Place the beef ribs in the centre of the grill over the water pan, bone-side down. Cover the grill with the lid, making sure the top vents are positioned on the other side of the grill away from the burning charcoal, so the hot smoke flows over the meat on its way out.

6. Review the beef ribs at 1.5-2 hour mark. If any parts of the meat appears to be starting to burn (turning black and drying out), brush or spritz that area with water.

7. Check in again at 3-3.5H. Using a sharp end of a thermometer probe or a skewer, check for tenderness of the meat. It should be done when the probe can slide in and out of the meat with minimal resistance. The internal temperature of the ribs should read about 200-205F.

8. If ready, you can pull the meat off the grill. Otherwise, check the ribs every 20-30 minutes or so, until desired texture of the ribs is reached. When done, wrap in butcher paper and rest in a cooler box for about 1-2 hours.

9. Cut and slice when ready to serve. You may like to serve it with BBQ sauce (controversial!)

10 July 2026

David Lebovitz’s Lavender Ice Cream

Recipe July 10, 2026 0

Is my cuisinart ice cream canister deteriorating in its 12th year of use, or has the weather getting much hotter in the last few years? Making ice cream recently has kind of been a pain in the butt. I’ve been having to first stick the ice cream mixture into the freezer for an hour beforehand until the edges of the ice cream are frozen, then give it a good stir before churning. Otherwise, I’ll just be watching the ice cream canister and the liquid ice cream warming up together on my countertop. At times like this, I’m starting to envy my friend who recently bought a self-refrigerating ice cream machine and skipped all these troubles that I’ve been having.

On a less whiny note, I’m happy to report that I've been awash with lavender flowers. We’ve been sprinkling it into the teas that we brew. I took some from our stash and made a couple of pints of this ice cream. This batch succeeded, thankfully, after I semi-froze the ice cream mixture before churning. Not only did it churn well, it also turned out to be some of the best ice cream that I’ve ever had. It was incredible, with a smooth consistency and intense lavender flavours that lingered.

On the days when I botched yet another batch of ice cream in the heat (I still get overly optimistic when I gauge the ice cream mixture as “cold enough”, I console myself with a scoop from this.)

David Lebovitz’s Lavender Ice Cream

Ingredients
125ml (½ cup) honey

4g + 4g (2+2 tablespoons) food-safe lavender flowers, dried or fresh
375ml (1½ cups) whole milk

50g (¼ cup) sugar

Pinch of salt
375ml (1½ cups) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

Steps
1. In a small saucepan set over low heat, gently warm honey and 2 tablespoons (4g) of lavender. Once warm, remove from the heat. Set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Pour the cream into a large bowl. Using a sieve, strain the lavender-infused honey into the cream. Press down on the flowers with a spatula or a spoon to extract as much honey as possible. Set the strainer back over the bowl, and return the bowl to the fridge.

3. In a medium sized saucepan set over low heat, combine the milk, sugar, and salt and cook until warm. Remove from heat.

4. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Drizzle the warm milk mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to combine, then return the mixture back into the saucepan. Set over medium heat to cook the mixture, stirring constantly with a heatproof spatula and making sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan as you do so to prevent the eggs from overcooking. Cook until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. If using a thermometer, it should reach 77°C - 79°C. Do not overcook.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the large bowl containing the cream through the strainer. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons (4g) of lavender flowers. Stir over an ice bath until cool. Chill the mixture thoroughly overnight, flowers and all.

6. The next day, before churning, strain out the lavender, again pressing on the lavender flowers to extract their flavor. The lavender can be discarded. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

26 June 2026

Autumn in Adelaide (Part 3): Adelaide City, Port Adelaide and the Farmer’s Markets

Wine June 26, 2026 0

Adelaide is blessed with a gentle climate, and surrounded by fertile farmlands and lush vineyards. It’s a fact that I’m reminded of whenever we step into a restaurant or a farmer’s market. From the city centre to the small town of Mannum, we hadn’t had a single bad meal. And at the end of every night, as we returned to our Airbnb, there was always plenty of fruits and cheese to be shared. What more can a guy ask for?

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Cotton Candy, regular and Muscat grapes

As a side note, we drank a lot of milk over our trip. Like, A LOT. We bought cartons in every brand. Some of them seem to be only available regionally, which I had not came across before when I was in Melbourne. Some brands were more rustic than others: in Mannum, we found Tweedvale ‘traditional milk’, which was a non-homogenised version of milk. The first time I poured out the milk after a half-hearted shake, globes of cream plodded out along thin transparent milk. Read the label and shake well!

We weren't trying to be fancy here - the wine glass was just what we were using before. We ceebs to wash more glassware.

My favourite was from Paris Creek Farm, which was deeply flavourful despite having a lower fat percentage than the other. My friends also enjoyed Fleurieu Milk Company’s Jersey Premium Full Cream, which was almost buttery in its richness. It’s a nearby dairy farm from around the Fleurieu Peninsula.

On our last day, we also tried a bottle of raw milk. Instead of the regular heat-pasteurisation process, it uses high pressure via cold-pressing to treat the milk. It …tasted similar to usual heat-pasteurised milk. I don’t think we would be able to pick it out of a line-up, to tell the truth.

We went to Adelaide Central Market the morning after we landed, and experienced the warmest-ever welcome at Angelakis Bros Ocean Catch. As we bought a dozen oysters, we got to talking with one of the fellas behind the counter, and I shared that we had just arrived for our holiday. He later came out with not just our oysters, but also with salmon sashimi and smoked salmon to welcome us to Adelaide.

Amidst everybody else there buying fruits and vegetables and coffee, we found ourselves in the hot food section by the back, tucking into fresh seafood ,servings of paella and porchetta, fried falafels and hummus with pita bread. It was a breakfast-turned-lunch situation.

We’ve all seen beer on tap, but milk on tap? We were delighted with this Milk Bar from Fleurieu.

Someone brought their pet parrots out on a groceries run!

Haigh’s Chocolates also has a store here, and we stopped by on our last day to purchase gifts. They were bean-to-bar since 1915, before it was cool, and also runs tours in their nearby chocolate factory.

We dropped by Adelaide Showroom Farmer Market on Sunday as they opened. It was a showcase of the region’s freshest - and most colourful - produce.

I didn’t even know mushrooms came in these colours

Our best find was a cheese called Monet, which was made by Woodside Cheese Wrights. It’s a mild goat cheese seasoned with herbs and decorated with edible flowers, and went fabulously with a loaf of fig sourdough.

We didn’t spend too long at the farmer’s market, just long enough to have a look around and pick up what we wanted before making our way to wine country. We did spot Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong queueing for her coffee as we left!

Port Adelaide

On another day, we spent a wonderful morning kayaking around the Dolphin Sanctuary in Port Adelaide. There’s a chance of meeting some of the residential dolphins, though we didn’t manage to. Clearly, like lavender plants, dolphins prefer the summer too. The waters were probably getting a bit too chilly for them when we came. Still, it was a pleasant morning spent rowing through the mangroves and visiting the shipwrecks of the area.

Our clothes dried off in no time at all, and we had a lovely platter of oysters afterwards at The Lighthouse Wharf Hotel (in the open air, of course.)

Next to the hotel was Low and Slow American BBQ, and we came by for lunch. We ordered some of everything, and what a feast it was. Conversation stilled as the trays of food arrived, then stopped completely as we started eating. The BBQ was that stunning.

Beef brisket, pulled pork, sausage links and corn bread

We headed to Pirate Life Brewery afterwards for a spot of beer. The streets of Port Adelaide were pretty empty, and it turned out that everybody must’ve all been here. We weren’t the only ones trying to take advantage of the great weather.

I earned a bit of a ribbing when I asked for a beer that wasn’t too hoppy, but my flight of beers and stout turned out pretty good. The bartender also gave our designated driver a complimentary glass of almost-alcohol-free beer, just so he’s not missing out on the fun. I stole a sip: that beer was refreshing and delicious in its own right. And despite having no alcohol tax on them, alcohol-free beverages are not cheaper: the process of creating alcoholic-free versions is scientifically challenging.

Peel St Cafe was another excellent find, which was a solid recommendation from our Jurlique tour salesperson. The waitress warned that each portion was meant for sharing, and we were thankful for the warning: the portions were truly huge. Our table for four can only accommodate two dishes at most, and an order of the Banana Blossom Salad, listed as small plate, was uncommonly large. It was also one of the tastiest things that I’d eaten in Adelaide, filled with creamy shredded chicken and fresh herbs. The Crispy Fried Barramundi was a platter of an entire barramundi, fried to perfection and served with a spicy side of som tum salad. The Braised Lamb Shoulder was tender and done well.

Crispy Fried Barramundi

On those lazy nights when you want to relax in your apartment after a long day out, we recommend Bakery on O'Connell. Their absolutely delightful pies (a Quiche Lorraine and a Steak and Cheese Pie) were our take-home dinner one night. And also for breakfast. They’re open 24/7. Legends.

If you’re back in the city from the wineries all sort of drunk and looking for a hot broth meal, Ông Vietnamese got us - and you - covered with their beef phở. We chowed down on the shatteringly crisp Vietnamese Spring Rolls, and drained our phở bowls clean.

We also had a terrific dinner at Sosta Argentinian Kitchen: the grilled meats and seafood were faultless and generously portioned.

Some of our off-wine days were spent in search of good coffee beans. We visited Monastery Coffee Roaster, and met the manager Lee who introduced us to the coffees that he roasted. We ~~probably~~ definitely took up too much of his time as he worked. If you’re a fan of Nordic-style light roast coffee, this roaster is for you.

He’s genuinely passionate about coffee, and we learnt so much about coffee and cupping from him. He was infinitely patient with us and our questions, and also because we stayed past the closing time (I would have kicked myself out had I known it was after-hours). But Lee’s the biggest sweetheart of Adelaide, and that’s saying something given all the swell people we met over the course of our trip.

He held an impromptu cupping session for the five of us after we selected several beans that we were interested in, and even brewed us a cup of espresso and a long black because I was looking for beans for my espresso set-up. Again, because I’m not sure we can emphasise this enough, it was already past the roaster’s closing time.

We finally left, happily clutching bags of coffee beans that were just roasted a day before, and counting down to the day when we can start brewing with it (2 weeks from the roast date is its peak, so people start brewing from a week off roast to catch the peak - thanks Lee for the tip.) As we left the roaster waaaayy past the closing time, it prompted a soul-searching conversation amongst us if we would have done the same when we were at work.

Lee, serving up coffee beans with a side of existential crisis. jk you’re inspiring.

It wasn’t even the first time we came by and took up his time: we actually stopped by a couple of days before, but unfortunately that happened to be a day when the electricity for the entire street was out. We couldn’t buy anything from him at the time (the vacuum sealer for the coffee bags was down as well), though he gave us bags of Nespresso-compatible capsules.

Adelaide has a bit of a sleepy reputation which seemed undeserved. For travellers coming by for a week or two, there’s plenty of activities to do and places to see. We had a grand time here. As we sat in the airport waiting to board our flight back, we were already planning for a return visit.

It’s for people who want to experience a Safari experience and drink plenty of wine from sun-kissed grapevines. A bit like South Africa, actually, but without the safety concerns of being in Africa. (You wouldn’t need a Yellow Fever vaccine for one, and petty crime is low in Australia. It is pretty safe to walk and drive around). You get to meet wild animals, go to great wineries, and be back in the city by dinnertime to dine in amazing restaurants.

We were also frequently surprised by how proactively helpful everybody had been. We’d met so many people who had so generous with their time, and frequently went out of their way for us to have a good time in Adelaide. On the bus ride from the airport to our accommodations, a lady saw that we were alighting and alerted everybody on board to clear the aisle for us. On another occasion, as we stood on the sidewalk deliberating if we should go into Eros, a Greek restaurant, a group of passersby reassured us it was great (which it was). We took recommendations from everybody we met (winery recommendations from other wineries’ servers and restaurant suggestions from store assistances), and they all pointed us in the right direction. Everybody had been wonderfully, impossibly warm.

Til next time, Adelaide. Don’t be a stranger.