I started a joke…

My friend, Eric, shared a photograph on Facebook captioned as follows: “Four Seasons seasonings are very very good for making “shao rou”. Will provide recipe with every purchase! Yum yum!” In response to that, I commented jokingly, “Any free samples? Wink! Wink!” to which he promptly replied, “Ask and ye shall be given. Haha!” Oh dear! It was meant as a joke and I was not really asking for it.

In the meantime, I noticed this among the other comments on his photograph, “Oh i love this! Used it when i was back in state. Been looking for it for a long time!! How to get it?!” [SIC] Gee!!! It must be really good, I thought to myself.

The next morning, I received a message from him asking me to drop by his instant kampua noodles collection centre (2.304949,111.847399) because his mum would like to give me a bit of the meat that she had cooked to try so after brunch with my missus, we stopped by to collect it…

It turned out that she also gave me two packets of the seasonings to try and cook stuff on my own – she did say that besides using it to cook siew yoke, it would also be great for marinating and roasting chicken.

I shared the above photograph on Facebook to thank Eric & his mum and instantly, my Facebook friend in Sydney, Australia commented, “That’s the seasoning I use when I make siew yoke,” and then another one, originally from Sibu but now residing in Perth, said, “This SEASON brand seasoning is very good for roast chicken/pork. My auntie even asks my mum to buy from Perth.” Wowwwww!!! It certainly seems mighty popular Down Under and from the sound of it, it must be very very good!

Incidentally, Eric’s mum also gave me some kaya (coconut jam) that she made…

…and it was simply awesome – so lemak (rich with the coconut milk), so fragrant and not all that sweet. I must say that I really loved it a lot!

We had brunch already so when we got home, I put the meat in the fridge with the intention of reheating it up later for dinner…which I did. Later that evening, I wrapped the meat in foil, just the meat – the skin on top was exposed and I let it stand in a pan, the skin upwards and I put it like that in the oven. I wanted the crackling to be extra crispy and crusty but did not want the meat to be overcooked lest it became hard and dry. After around half an hour, I took it out, removed the foil and cut it into bite-size pieces…

Yes, the meat was not overdone, simply perfect…and the crackling…

…was absolutely stunning!!!

I sure would love to try and cook my own using the seasoning that Eric mum’s gave me…

…but I had siew yoke for brunch as well, twice in a day, so I guess I would have to wait for a while before I would get down to that…and hopefully, when I do so, it will be just as perfect, with the meat, sweet and tender and the crackling…

…so crusty and crispy. For one thing, having had that, none that I can find outside around town here would possibly be good enough ever again, no joke!

Thank you so very much, Eric, and especially to your mum for the siew yoke and the samples and also the kaya…but next time, don’t take me too seriously though the way things turned out this time, I would say that I was glad I did poke a bit of fun at you when you shared your photo on Facebook. LOL!!!

Now, if anyone is interested and would like to get hold of the spicy bake mix for your own use, you can drop by The Kitchen’s collection counter to the extreme right of the building where UOB Bank is located in the vicinity of the Sibu Bus Terminal. I gather that it is a product by a Hong Kong company, available in boxes with 6 packets of the seasoning like the ones in my above photos, going for RM19.00 a box so that would work out to over RM3 a packet. I think by now, it would be available at  Georg Peck at Premier 101 in Kuching and I did hear it mentioned that Ta Kiong, Miri sells it as well. Good luck to all of you who are going to give it a try…and do wish me good luck too!