Clip no more. The Straits Times Life editor Tan Hsueh Yun's recipes, published fortnightly in The Sunday Times since 2008, have now been compiled into a new 144-page cookbook.
Published by Straits Times Press and named after Ms Tan's long- running food column, Hunger Management will be soft-launched this weekend at the Singapore Coffee Festival at Marina Bay Cruise Centre.
It compiles 63 recipes "that connected with readers", says Ms Tan, 49. The veteran food writer, who has a loyal readership, was food editor of Life from 2012 to last year. Before that, she was deputy news editor from 2010 to 2012.
Her book's recipes are categorised according to courses, from appetisers to desserts. Each dish has been labelled Feeling Peckish, Just Ravenous, Still Hungry and Sweet Cravings.
"My approach to the book is simple - to describe the various kinds of hunger and how you would go about satisfying them," she says.
Recipes include ones for Thai-style chicken wings, inspired by her favourite fried chicken at Bangkok's Greyhound Cafe chain; a honeyed char siew made with pork shoulder butt; and how to make deliciously crisp potatoes roasted in goose fat.
Creating recipes, however, has not always been smooth-sailing.
For example, it took her more than 10 attempts to get her recipe for madeleines right. These are small shell-shaped cakes written about in Marcel Proust's Remembrance Of Things Past. It was a "comedy of errors", she recalls.
In her recipe for Hokkaido Ramen, which she plans to share in her next cookbook, she went through more than 100 eggs before she managed to nail the perfect ajitsuke tamago or ramen egg with a gooey yolk.
She says it is both heartwarming and heartbreaking to know that some readers religiously clip her recipes for filing.
"Now they (readers) have a proper book to refer to when cooking," she says.
• Hunger Management will be available at the Singapore Coffee Festival at $20. It is also available at selected bookstores including Books Kinokuniya ($26.75 with GST).
BOOK IT / SOFT LAUNCH OF HUNGER MANAGEMENT
WHERE: Singapore Coffee Festival, Marina Cruise Centre, 61 Marina Coastal Drive
WHEN: Tomorrow, 2.30pm; Sunday, 4pm at the ST Press Booth
ADMISSION: The sessions are free but eventgoers must purchase tickets for the festival at $22 ($18 for DBS and POSB cardholders and ST subscribers)
INFO: Go to www.sgcoffeefestival.com or e-mail sgcoffeefest@sph.com.sg
BOOK IT / MEET AND GREET TAN HSUEH YUN
WHERE: Forecourt, Plaza Singapura, 68 Orchard Road WHEN: Aug 19, 3 to 3.45pm
WHERE: Books Kinokuniya, Ngee Ann City, 391 Orchard Road, Tower B, Level 4
WHEN: Sept 9, 3.30 to 4.30pm WHERE: Popular, B1-41 Jurong Point Shopping Centre, 1 Jurong West Central 2 WHEN: Sept 17, 4 to 4.45pm
