Happy Call Pan - Grilled Mackerel and Popcorn

Teh:

My colleagues were nice enough to buy me a Happy Call Pan (HCP) for my birthday. My first attempt with the grilled salmon fillet was less than ideal because i felt "cheated" the oil drips out from the steam hole. It is not possible to flip the pan over and cook because the oil will drip out and land on the stove! Nevertheless, the crispy skin on the fillet made me want to try the pan out with various food.

While at Sheng Siong yesterday, i found frozen mackerel. They were cheap! 8 fishes (small to medium size) for $5 (800g). The idea of having grilled saba fish was a tempting! I decided to cook 4 pcs while they were still frozen. I didn't see the point of thawing them. Isn't this a good way to test how well the pan conducts heat and cook food at amazing speed? I proceeded to rub some salt all over the frozen fishes, drizzled some oil onto the pan (yes shame on me i didn't even bother to heat up the pan in the name to test its awesomeness), and placed the fishes in it. On medium heat, i cooked each side for 5 minutes. You can flip the fish (not the pan!) when one side is browned and crispy.

Happy Call Pan - Mackerel

Happy Call Pan - Mackerel (close up)

Verdict: Nice moist fish. 10 minutes in total for 4 frozen mackerel was enough. Although the skin was not as crispy as the salmon's, its understandable. There's a lot of fats in salmon but not as much in mackerel. Please note that even though there is no oil splatter, the oil fumes coming out from the steam-hole is still enough to make the kitchen feel oily. I guess its inevitable.


Just for fun, i made popcorn on the same day with HCP. I did not add any oil at all to the pan. The corn got popped in 5 minutes. I added some salt to the popcorn and gave it a shake in the closed pan. Relatively effortless. However this can be done in your normal average non-stick pan with a cover.

Happy Call Pan Popcorn

I will continue to experiment with the HCP!