Did you know: just like tuna, there’s an otoro (fat belly) for rice.
When you cook a giant pot of rice, there’s prime real estate that they reserve for making sushi. The rest, usually the dried out, crusty part (my favourite) is saved for - I don’t know - making congee, staff meals, pet food, SK-II essence.
I guess, in a Zojirushi / Cuckoo / Instapot kind of world, it doesn’t really matter (pressure cooking, dude). Yet, if you’ve ever been to an old-school Chinese restaurant with an old-school lime-green rice cooker the size of a smart car, you know to avoid the bottom of the barrel.
Anyway, this is a long spill to say that the same theory applies to bread.
If I were to ask you to identify the fluffiest, chewiest part of a loaf of bread, you’d not hesitate to point towards the baby bump.
It’s sad that we only have 3-4 slices worth of it per loaf. I pretend to like the crusty bit so my daughter could have them.
But what if you’re able to purchase only the belly, the size of your head?
And that place, is in Victoria Market?
M&G Caiafa does not need an introduction. Due to its location, everyone stumbles across it eventually, no matter which entrance you take to enter the deli. (Some of you are thinking ‘that place has a name??’)
During the first few years of visiting M&G, I thought they baked everything on-site - the bread, pastries, nougats, baguettes, chocolates, etc.
I know, I know.
I mentally facepalm myself whenever I think of my own stupidity when I was 19. That also explains why, whenever I see college students trying to elbow their way into adult conversations, I feel the urge to facepalm them with my frying pan.
Anyway, within the depths of M&G, hiding in the pantry, are huge loaves of Maxi Sourdough Bread by Noisette Bakery.
I know Noisette isn’t a sexy brand for anyone born after the 90s, but they were THE sourdough bakery of Melbourne in the early 00s. If you’ve ordered any ham & cheese croissants near a market, suburban cafe, shopping mall, or airport, chances are they’re using Noisette.
If heritage isn’t convincing enough, please tell me where else I can buy bread by the weight? Other Noisettes around Melbourne don’t count.
That’s right, I can walk up to M&G, tell the lady I want *hand gesturing a big letter C* this much of Maxi bread, and she’d slice a chunk, weigh it, and ask for $4-5. (Of course, there’s no stopping you from buying a whole 4.2kg loaf.)
You can research and tweak recipes with hydration, flours, fermentation and sourdough starters to get those massive bubbles in bread, or you can buy a giant loaf of bread with normal bubbles.
And only the best part.
Do you also miss the days when you get an actual thick slice of toast, big enough to fit a big breakfast in cafes? It baffles me why cafe owners aren’t ordering more of this Maxi bread. I mean, it’s their loss, because I’m doing it at home now with my $1 avocadoes and homemade ramen eggs.
M&G also bakes Noisette croissants on-site for $4.50 each, when you get it fresh in your hands it still is the best croissant in Melbourne.
I also buy Callebaut chocolate here for baking, totopos corn chips from La Tortilleria. They’ve started selling bagels and sausage rolls recently too.
So that’s one Victoria Market secret ticked off.
They may not bake things here, but they stock the good stuff.
My parents are in town this week.
The last time they saw Hana was in 2019, Sydney.
I was roasting chestnuts - the old slit, soak, and oven roast method.
And mum started talking about how she never ate it whole, and fresh.
She started saying how when she was young, they sell chestnuts on the streets with big casseroles.
She said my dad’s mother loved them, but they balked at the price in Petaling Street.
And my dad started talking about her mother.
It was an ‘oh shit’ moment for me.
I made my parents reminisce.
I mean, people telling me my posts, my writing, my book have that effect on them. But you know, they are strangers on the internet, no real people involved.
Even if it’s true, I always thought I could only do this with other people who did not wipe my ass and witnessed my most embarrassing moments in life.
But maybe, I was never listening.
I read somewhere that after your parents hit 70, you can use statistics and probability to find out how many more times you get to see each other.
Eg., (the number of festive seasons + birthdays) x ( life expectancy - current age)
It's not a lot.
Even if we’ll be annoying each other for next week, I was glad I could make them think about their younger days.
The other day, my grandmother came back for a visit while I roasted chestnuts.
Hi there, thanks for reading. Writing isn’t my full-time job (evident from my grammatical and spelling mistakes), but it is something I’ve been doing since 2021. I found it hard to compartmentalise my writing into ‘paid’ and ‘unpaid’ quality so I’ve decided to make it free for all since April 2022. This is a guilt-tripping blurb to nudge you to gift this subscrption to a friend, or buy my daughter an ice cream once a month.