Singapore Steamboat

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

   Greetings again from the Singapore Airport.  My flight to Colombo leaves in about one hour.
   The National Library had two catalogue entries for locally produced YWCA International Cookery Books (1935 and 1939).  They were the earliest books by far; about 95% of all Asian cookbooks seem to be from the 1980s and 1990s.  I went to check them out, but they were--all together now--MISSING FROM THE NATIONAL LIBRARY.

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SINGAPORE STEAMBOAT

   You don't see it anymore, but it's in some of the 1970s cookbooks.  This is from Google Groups:


From: Alvi (fedayin00 at hotmail.com)
Subject: Re: Chewiness.
View: Complete Thread (23 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: alt.food.asian
Date: 2002-04-22 02:56:35 PST

On Mon, 22 Apr 2002 06:12:00 GMT, "John" <johndroge at earthlink.net>
wrote:

>Tenderness?? Come on tell me about Kobi beef.
>Beer fed and massaged!!
>Shabu-Shabu, Kalbi, Bul Go Gi, Suki Yaki (excuse any spellings)
>These are not made with "chewy beef"
> Asians pay a steep premium for tender beef. I don't  believe you know what
>Asian visitors pay (like $40-50/ lb) for beef from Colorado that they bring
>back home.

Well, yes, but the Japanese learnt their tastes in beef, along with
their racism against africans, from *Americans* in the 19th century.

Bulgogi is Korean, Shabu-shabu (which we used to call "Singapore
Steamboat") they probably got from the British Empire and sukiyaki was
a conscious effort of the Meiji oligarchy to get the Japanese to eat
beef so that they might be seen as having equal status with the
Western imperialist powers, including the US.

Alvi


EATING OUT IN CHINESE RESTAURANTS:
A GUIDE TO ORDERING CHINESE FOOD
Singapore: Asia Pacific Press
1972

Pg. 16:  Mongolian Hot Pot.
Pg. 17:  Mongolian Barbecue.
Pg. 17:  Swatow or Teachew Chafing Dish.
   In Singapore this is referred to as "Steamboat."  Ingredients vary with the locality, but the Steamboat is basically the same as the Hot-pot except that a chicken broth is used as stock.  Smaller restaurants serve the chafing-dish with all the food already placed in it.

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MISC. BOOKS

MALAY PROVERBS
(More than 20,000 copies sold!)
by A. W. Hamilton
Singapore: TImes Books International
85 pages, paperback
1987; reprinted 1996

   Possibly for the Fred Shapiro-types.


REX SHELLEY
SOUNDS AND SINS OF SINGLISH
AND OTHER NONSENSE
Singapore: Times Books International
182 pages, paperback
1995 and 2000 copyrights

   About the same as the COXFORD SINGLISH DICTIONARY.


SINGAPORE TATLER:
SINGAPORE'S BEST RESTAURANTS 2003
236 pages, paperback
2002

   A nice book for the many cuisines here.  There's a Glossary of Culinary terms on pages 212-219.  For the OED revisionists out there:

Pg. 216:
Maki; Marsala; Mascarpone; Mee rebus; Meuniere; Mezze; Mi krob; Mirin; Mirugal; Miso; Morel; Moussaka; Mozzarella; Mulligatawny; Murgh; Murtabak
Pg. 217:
Naan; Nasi biryani; Nasi lemak; Nasi padang; Nori; Osso buco; Otoro; Paella; Pak krasan; Pakora; Panir matta; Paratha; Pilau; Pitta; Polenta; Poo paad gari; Poppadum; Pomfret; Ragu/ragout; Raita; Ravioli; Rijsttafel; Rogan gosh; Rocket; Rojak; Roti prata; Saag; Saba