Goat Steamboat? CNY Luncheon
The night before, I was partaking Reunion Dinner at my sister’s home when my friend WhatsApp-ed to invite my family and I to lunch.
“Hey, I’ve got shitload of food for steamboat and meat for grilling. Want to come over tomorrow for lunch at 12nn?”
Invitation accepted!
Valerie and Ryan would be visiting my in-laws (Ryan’s family) for their first 설날 (Seollal) which is similar to our Spring Festival – 春节 (chūnjié), so they could not make it to this lunch. Vanessa and Sam went with me.

Valerie’s first New Year lunch at her in-laws.
LA Galbi, mini pancakes, crab stew, pepper wings, japchae, kimchi, bean sprouts and purple Korean rice.
Photo courtesy of Valerie.

We’re waiting for the broth to be heated up on the kitchen stove before transferring into the steamboat pot which would then be placed on the table.

Round things are auspicious because they symbolise never-ending.
Fish balls, lobster balls, fish paste and meat rolls as well as cheese tofu for the steamboat.

Sambal belachan, cut chillies with light soy and sweet chilli sauce with pineapple (now that’s quite special).
The sauce that scored was the sambal belachan (top left)!
Vanessa said, “Spicy with a kick!”

Meats for grilling.
Can you guess which is lamb?
I can’t make out as there was no strong gamey smell of lamb and the colours looked the same after cooking.

Steamboat or Hotpot is a common Reunion Dinner and CNY Lunch/Dinner option as everyone gathered around the table to cook and enjoy the meal. It encourages intimate mingling and communications using food as a bonding tool.

See the cheese in tofu?
I doubt the tofu was purely soybean as the texture was denser and firmer than silken tofu.
It should be a variation, seafood (paste) tofu perhaps.

These are not ordinary udon.
They are fish paste and wheat flour noodles.
Very tasty with natural “sweetness” of the sea not unlike those I had from Tonny’s Restaurant.
Trockenbeerenauslesen is the highest in sugar content in the Prädikatswein category of the Austrian and German wine classifications. To me, the sweet taste was similar to Canada’s Ice Wine except that it was not as cloying like the latter. It is best drunk very chilled but not icy cold. Because it was still considered very sweet, we did not over-indulge, sipping and refilling (once poured, the bottle was returned to the chiller immediately) very little at a time so that it remain chilled when we drink. I like it and I think it paired well with our steamboat lunch.
Alois Kracher Jr. (February 23, 1959 – December 5, 2007, Illmitz) was one of the most successful winemakers of Austria, and was known under the nickname “Luis”. The wines from his vineyard Weinlaubenhof Kracher reached a world reputation and high acclaim from international wine critics such as Robert M. Parker, Jr., who awarded 98 points or higher on his famous 100-point scale to several of Kracher’s wine. His fame was mainly built on his sweet wines, so called Trockenbeerenauslesen (TBA) of high sweetness and enormous concentration that results from the development of noble rot on the grapes. Local conditions on the shallow Lake Neusiedl, where the Kracher vineyards are situated, are conducive to the development of Botrytis cinerea (the fungus responsible for noble rot). – Wikipedia
After I’ve had my share, I saw a “newcomer” on the table. The marbling was wonderful. I asked what cut those were. I was informed they were Meltique Beef. I hope I got the word right. I’ve never had it before. I was further let on that those were artificial marbling – injected with sunflower oil.
YuLi said nothing beats the flavours of well marbled beef but they can be very expensive. Meltique beef is very tender and offers a cheaper option.
I did some reading online and found out that the idea of oil-injected meats is nothing new (https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F2/356/356.F2d.1013.7595.html). I suppose it is a technique parallel to larding with caul or barding with bacon, except that liquid fat is used instead of solid. An alternative to the traditional way of using strips of fat and a larding needle.
I was given a piece of the sunflower oil-injected grilled meat. The initial juiciness was the same as any beef but on continued chewing, the meat stayed tender and juicy, something which less marbled and unlarded meat cannot sustain. It was so tender that earlier I was able to break up the meat with a spoon. In other words, the fork-tenderness of this chunk did not have to undergo long cooking to break down its muscle or fibre. How about flavours?
For me, marbling is more than just the presence of fats. Natural marbling is the ultimate indication of breed and feed of the cattle. I’m lucky I do not have a horde of hungry boys to feed so my occasional indulgence of good beef is justified.
Happy eating and bonding 🙂
Previous posts on Fish Noodle and Steamboat Meals:
Tonny Restaurant @ Geylang Lorong 3
Delicious Makan Trail In Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia! Part 5 (Yong’s Steam Bot Garden 泳池海鲜生锅園)
Hualong Fishhead Steamboat 華龍魚頭爐
Whampoa Food Street (KENG) – Fish Head Steamboat Restaurant
136 Hong Kong Street Fish Head Steamboat 香港街魚頭爐
The Wood Horse Has Arrived! 马年已到!
En Japanese Dining Bar – Irrashaimase いっらしゃいませ
Crystal Jade Korean BBQ Buffet – Boil and Broil
Wanna Lok Lok? – Malaysia Local Delights
Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market 노량진수산시장 Part 2
Impressive spread … think thin…
Love, hugs and happy new year again … ME