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Red-Braised Pork, a variation
First, here are two recipes I used as a reference: One and
two. My variations are in bold text.
Take a nice, reasonably fatty piece of pork. I like skin-on pork
hock for this, though the recipes I found online specify pork belly.
Season the meat with salt and pepper.
I did not pre-boil the meat as it was already cubed, and I gather this
is the main reason for doing so.
Caramelize some sugar till fairly brown in a Dutch oven. You can add 2
tbsp of oil right at the start. Keep an eye on it, it can go from brown
to burnt pretty fast.
Sear the pork right in the caramel on all sides.
Braise it in water to nearly cover (or some chicken broth, apple
juice, and then water), a splash of Chinese cooking wine, some spices
and herbs and aromatics: ginger, star anise, chilies, and cinnamon.
(I forgot the first three, but added minced shallots and whole garlic
cloves and raisins.)
The braising time is specified for about an hour, but I found 3+ hours
in a slow cooker was fine.
posted at: 19:20 Thu 17/Sep/2009 |
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Great sandwiches of the world
For a few years now, I've considered the banh mi to be one of the
greatest sandwiches ever. Typically it's built on a French-inspired
baguette made with some rice flour for a softer chew than a traditional
baguette. There's a rich mayo or aioli-like spread and fish sauce is
often a component too. Cucumbers and lightly picked carrots and daikon
show up frequently; hot peppers are optional. Meats can include head
cheese, ham, grilled pork, grilled chicken, meatballs ... Aside from
the cold cut versions (which often also include pate), most only have
one type of meat, but that's fine. The only traditional ingredient I
can't stand is cilantro; whenever I forget to order without
cilantro (which is often), I have to spend a little time picking
it all out.
Recently, I've come to love the torta cubana. Like banh mi, it's an
inspired bit of cross-cultural inspiration you can hold in your hands.
It's from Mexico, loosely inspired by Cuban sandwiches, and can
incorporate {pork} al pastor, which is meat grilled on a vertical spit
in the style of Lebanese lamb shwarma or Turkish kebabs. It's also
built on a baguette style of bread, at least in my experience, and
incorporates mayo, guacamole, lettuce, tomatos, split and grilled
sausages, ham, head cheese, ...
I like lobster rolls, at least in theory. I've only ever had one, as
it's not really a west coast sort of thing. And they're way, way more
expensive than the first two sandwiches I've mentioned.
I would also like to try authentic Louisianan po'boys sometime.
posted at: 20:38 Sun 06/Jul/2008 |
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Roulade a-go-go
So today I had the bright idea to attempt a roulade. I blame it on
watching too many astonishingly intricate roasts presented on After
Hours. I had turkey drumsticks, some dry stuffing packages
stocked up from the previous Thanksgiving, and some awesome fresh
mushrooms from the farmer's market.
(An aside: frankly, this is not one of my 100% culinary triumphs.)
I didn't really have a recipe, so my plan was just to prepare the
stuffing, debone the drumsticks, roll the whole thing up and truss it,
and then roast it in the oven.
I just brined the two drumsticks, then deboned them. I had forgotten,
unfortunately, that turkey drumsticks have a kajillion bone/cartilage
spurs to remove. So right there I'm way way behind schedule by the time
I get them all out.
The stuffing actually cooked more or less according to plan: cornbread
stuffing mix, mushrooms (white button mushrooms + a little bit of fresh
porcinis), and onions.
Then it came time to roll it up. (I made an effort to pound out the
meat a little flatter, but I didn't push it very far.) I didn't use
quite enough plastic wrap, so while the first roll attempt worked fine,
it fell apart immediately afterwards. Trussing was clearly going to be
out of the question.
So for my next roll attempt, I got the concept from Emeril: roll
it up in parchment paper, then in foil, then just roast the whole thing
while still in its wrapper.
This still led to a pretty fall-apart roulade, so I'm going to chill it
in the fridge overnight (still in a tight foil wrap) to try and shape
it.
Maybe I should have spiked the stuffing with a little gelatin or agar to
help the juices set up... Ah well. Next time I'm definitely going to
use a turkey breast, even though that violates my usual "no white meat"
rule. Deboning the drumsticks was a nightmare.
posted at: 08:59 Tue 03/Jun/2008 |
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pan-fried tofu dessert
This won't be a regular recipe since it's not a finished dish. Anyways,
while at a Taiwanese place for lunch, my co-worker ordered a fried tofu
dish, which was reportedly delicious, and "almost like a beignet": crisp
exterior, creamy interior.
I have very little interest in tofu flavor-wise, but this description
certainly did make it sound like something I would like to try once. The
results were OK, but not perfect. I'll list what I did in regular text
and ideas for improving the dish in italics.
continue reading...
posted at: 09:02 Wed 30/Apr/2008 |
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Food resolutions
I've never made it a habit to make New Year's resolutions, but these
have come to organically over the course of the last couple of months.
I gotta get a bathroom scale. (This is obviously food related.) I want to try a new cheese once a month, preferably from local
cheesemonger extraordinare the Milk Pail Market. (They sell other
stuff as well.) Failing that, the local farmers' market, or Whole
Foods. Safeway is the last resort here; their cheese selection has an
awful lot of barely-aged pasteurized cheeses.) I want to achieve more wok hei. I want to continue learning to braise. Eric prodded me into
attempting a braised short rib dish, which I made this January, and it
was awesome. (Thanks, Eric.) Once I get a more heatproof handle onto my new Dutch oven, I want to
try out that No-Knead Bread dealio. This year I hope to harvest more of my herbs instead of letting them
go unloved on the balcony. Same with the tomato plant.
posted at: 17:00 Mon 10/Mar/2008 |
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