I came across Globetrotter Diaries (globetrotterdiaries.com) while trying to figure out if it would be too hard to roast a pig at home. Yes, roast pork is one of the easiest foods to get in Hong Kong and I'm sure any siu mei shop makes it better than I ever could. But I was still wondering whether to add mastering a roast pig to my to-do list, along with perfecting pizza dough.
Karen and Valerie from Globetrotter Diaries aren't the first bloggers to roast their own pig, but their visual documentation of the process - plus Karen's extensive explanations - convinced me it's not something I'll be attempting in the near future (getting a pig would be easy, but I'd also need a garden with enough space in which to build a large pit).
They didn't start small - they jumped in with both feet, cooking (along with a chef friend) a 22.6kg pig (below centre) to feed an anticipated 30 guests (45 ended up coming). It was a long process that involved building a pit out of cinderblocks and metal, burning lots of charcoal, and carefully watching the pig so it roasted at an even temperature.
But not all the recipes on Globetrotter Diaries are as involved, thank goodness. As the blog title suggests, Karen and Valerie provide recipes from all over the world, such as Ethiopian trout spaghetti, Korean bibimbap, Moroccan chicken tagine with preserved lemons, Egyptian koshary (below left), baumkuchen (German tree cake; below right) and Brazilian cheese bread.
