10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
-James 2:10-11
I like this verse first of all because it's important in ministering to people to convict them of their sin and need for the cross.
Second, it is illustrative of how you are to follow recipes. Anyone who breaks one part of the recipe is guilty of breaking it all!
The Beef Roasting Recipe Laws
-You shall not buy meat of lower quality than sirloin tip for dry-roasting. You shall not purchase a chuck roast, a 7 bone roast, or a cross rib and attempt to use "this Korean marinade from my mom" that can make said unpalatable roasts chewable and try to use the rest of the recipe.
-You shall not use any salt other than diamond crystal kosher salt, for diamond crystal kosher salt is consistent and tasty
-You shall not roast the meat at a temperature other than specified
-You shall not cut into the meat until it has rested at least 15 minutes bare minimum
-You shall not roast meat in bricks larger than 6 pounds, ideally 5. For greater quantities of meat, you shall simply divide the roast into smaller sections, giving each roast at least 2 inches of breathing space in the oven, and using multiple ovens should this not be possible.
-You shall not roast without a digital instant read thermometer
-You shall not ask me how long to roast X piece of meat at Y temperature if its Z pounds
Now, here is the recipe for a 5 pound roast, which ought to feed 8-12 ish people. My favorite meat to roast (not that I can eat it...) is sirloin, since it has a good balance of flavor and tenderness for the price. If you are filthy rich, this technique works for a prime rib roast.
At least 30 minutes ahead of time, but ideally 24 hours ahead of time, salt the meat generously with kosher salt. It should be something like 5 grams per pound a.k.a a teaspoon of DCK salt. Using a lot of salt way before does two things- evenly distributing seasoning, and decreasing cook time from increased thermal conductivity of the meat. You can leave the meat out at room temperature- this will decrease cooking time dramatically.
Preheat oven to 275F. This will ensure a very, very uniform color in the meat.
Blow-torch the meat. You don't need it to get brown, you just need it to start rendering out some of its own fat. Alternatively, you can sear in a pan with 50% butter and oil, but I don't like doing that because it's messy. I don't mess with high heat oven searing- too unpredictable.
Stick the sucker in the oven. At around the 1.5 hour mark, start checking the temperature using a digital instant read thermometer. Try to aim for the center and find the coldest spot. Be warned- once the roast gets to the 100 degree mark it finishes pretty fast (i.e. internal temperature does not go up linearly with time).
When the instant read says 120 for bleu/rare, 128 for medium rare (recommended), or 135 for medium done, take the meat out and loosely cover with a bit of foil. OR, if you're feeling extra special, lather buerre monte all over the meat.
Once the meat has rested, ideally for around 30 minutes, slice against the grain and serve however you like. Note: if your slicer takes more than one forward and back stroke to cut the meat, your slicer needs sharpening.
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
Olive oil mashed potatoes
Use unflavored boxed potato flakes such as Idaho spuds. They don't taste like potatoes, they taste like nothing- this is why they are the perfect vehicle for eating absurd amounts of good quality olive oil.
~14oz box of potato flakes
1x bottle good olive oil (I use Berkeley Bowl extra virgin organic)
2 tablespoons diamond crystal kosher salt
OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons toasted oregano
Boil about half gallon of water. Mix 4 cups water with the salt and add to the entire package of potato flakes. Mix it together- it should make a kind of crumbly paste. Mix in about 2 cups of olive oil or until the potatoes taste as much like olive oil as you feel comfortable (I will sometimes put in 90% of a bottle). If it still looks lumpy, add more boiling water a little at a time until the consistency is satisfactory- probably about an additional 2 cups depending on how much olive oil you did or did not use. Adjust seasoning with more salt.
If using the oregano, toast it in a dry skillet and add immediately to the potatoes. I usually only do this if I am short on olive oil and need more flavor (i.e. it's too expensive to buy as much olive oil as I want)
Put an oven rack at the top and preheat the broiler.
Line a halfsheet pan with aluminum foil. Spread the mashed potato mixture into the pan. Use a fork to create troughs and valleys to expose more surface area (this is so it develops a crispier texture). Drizzle the whole thing with more olive oil. Broil until the whole thing is golden brown at the peaks. You may have to adjust your oven rack height or broiler temperature if the peaks burn before the rest of the potatoes get golden. If broiling doesn't seem to be working for you, you can put in a 500F oven until it looks delicious (dark brown peaks, golden brown surface, sizzling and delicious looking). To serve, sprinkle finely minced Italian parsley over the thing and drizzle with yet more olive oil.
Another name for this dish could be "stupid big pile of olive oil." Yes, it's not that cheap.
~14oz box of potato flakes
1x bottle good olive oil (I use Berkeley Bowl extra virgin organic)
2 tablespoons diamond crystal kosher salt
OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons toasted oregano
Boil about half gallon of water. Mix 4 cups water with the salt and add to the entire package of potato flakes. Mix it together- it should make a kind of crumbly paste. Mix in about 2 cups of olive oil or until the potatoes taste as much like olive oil as you feel comfortable (I will sometimes put in 90% of a bottle). If it still looks lumpy, add more boiling water a little at a time until the consistency is satisfactory- probably about an additional 2 cups depending on how much olive oil you did or did not use. Adjust seasoning with more salt.
If using the oregano, toast it in a dry skillet and add immediately to the potatoes. I usually only do this if I am short on olive oil and need more flavor (i.e. it's too expensive to buy as much olive oil as I want)
Put an oven rack at the top and preheat the broiler.
Line a halfsheet pan with aluminum foil. Spread the mashed potato mixture into the pan. Use a fork to create troughs and valleys to expose more surface area (this is so it develops a crispier texture). Drizzle the whole thing with more olive oil. Broil until the whole thing is golden brown at the peaks. You may have to adjust your oven rack height or broiler temperature if the peaks burn before the rest of the potatoes get golden. If broiling doesn't seem to be working for you, you can put in a 500F oven until it looks delicious (dark brown peaks, golden brown surface, sizzling and delicious looking). To serve, sprinkle finely minced Italian parsley over the thing and drizzle with yet more olive oil.
Another name for this dish could be "stupid big pile of olive oil." Yes, it's not that cheap.
Friday, March 28, 2014
潑辣魚 (1,000 chili fish soup)
This is the dish at China Village with some modifications to make it tastier according to me. I'm including instructions on how I get my white, opaque chicken broth which is the key ingredient to this dish.
Stuff
+1.5-2 lbs swai fillet (or rex sole)
+1 TB cornstarch
+1 x 7 oz package of shirataki, drained and rinsed (the real stuff, not the tofu noodles at Safeway)
+1 cup of dried Sichuan red chilis
+2 green onions cut into 4" strips
+.5 inch ginger cut into discs
+2 cloves garlic, smashed
+4 cups of opaque white chicken broth, recipe follows
+.25 cups white rice wine
Process
In a large claypot, heat one tablespoon of canola oil with the green onions, ginger, and garlic until all are browned and the vegetables are very fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the broth and rice wine and boil for 15 minutes.
While the broth is boiling, cut the fish into thin slices (about 3mm)following the angle of the segments and cutting with the grain. Salt the fish. Once the salt is absorbed, coat in 1 TB of cornstarch
Strain out the aromatics from the broth. Season with salt (probably need about 1 TB of DCK). Add the shirataki and boil for another 5 minutes. Add the fish and turn the heat to low, stirring until the fish has just turned color. Be mindful of the mass of your cooking vessel and estimate how much carry over cooking is going to occur.
Meanwhile, dry toast the dried chilis until all are blistered, darkened, and extremely aromatic (this may hurt). Add the chilis on top of the soup and close the lid of the claypot. Wait for about 5 minutes.*
To serve, bring to the table, remove the lid, and using chopsticks and a ladle, remove the chilis to the lid.
Soup should have the fragrance of chilis and a slight, back of the throat spice.
*I'm still figuring this part out. I know if you boil them with the soup, it gets nuclear hot. I also know that if you steep them in the finished soup for less than 2 minutes, none of the fragrance enters the soup. This is the difficult part that requires secret kitchen kung fu. If you figure it out, let me know.
To make the chicken broth:
-at least 1 chicken carcass and any skin you don't want
-crapload of water
Roast the bones in an oven proof pot at 450 degrees for 1 hour. Cover in water and bring to a boil for 5 minutes- take this stock, strain, skim, reduce, and use for something else (this is closer to a French stock that is clear and roasty in flavor). If you don't mind your 潑辣魚 tasting like that, you can just keep boiling and follow directions below.
Add water to the bones again and boil them for an hour. Strain and skim this broth and reduce it on its own. Add more water to the bones and repeat. This lets you get opaque broth faster, as the rate of reaction slows down when you approach super-saturated stock. Combine both of the opaque stocks and reduce together- it should be very milky and taste very rich. You'll end up with about 1 quart of stock per carcass.
Stuff
+1.5-2 lbs swai fillet (or rex sole)
+1 TB cornstarch
+1 x 7 oz package of shirataki, drained and rinsed (the real stuff, not the tofu noodles at Safeway)
+1 cup of dried Sichuan red chilis
+2 green onions cut into 4" strips
+.5 inch ginger cut into discs
+2 cloves garlic, smashed
+4 cups of opaque white chicken broth, recipe follows
+.25 cups white rice wine
Process
In a large claypot, heat one tablespoon of canola oil with the green onions, ginger, and garlic until all are browned and the vegetables are very fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Add the broth and rice wine and boil for 15 minutes.
While the broth is boiling, cut the fish into thin slices (about 3mm)following the angle of the segments and cutting with the grain. Salt the fish. Once the salt is absorbed, coat in 1 TB of cornstarch
Strain out the aromatics from the broth. Season with salt (probably need about 1 TB of DCK). Add the shirataki and boil for another 5 minutes. Add the fish and turn the heat to low, stirring until the fish has just turned color. Be mindful of the mass of your cooking vessel and estimate how much carry over cooking is going to occur.
Meanwhile, dry toast the dried chilis until all are blistered, darkened, and extremely aromatic (this may hurt). Add the chilis on top of the soup and close the lid of the claypot. Wait for about 5 minutes.*
To serve, bring to the table, remove the lid, and using chopsticks and a ladle, remove the chilis to the lid.
Soup should have the fragrance of chilis and a slight, back of the throat spice.
*I'm still figuring this part out. I know if you boil them with the soup, it gets nuclear hot. I also know that if you steep them in the finished soup for less than 2 minutes, none of the fragrance enters the soup. This is the difficult part that requires secret kitchen kung fu. If you figure it out, let me know.
To make the chicken broth:
-at least 1 chicken carcass and any skin you don't want
-crapload of water
Roast the bones in an oven proof pot at 450 degrees for 1 hour. Cover in water and bring to a boil for 5 minutes- take this stock, strain, skim, reduce, and use for something else (this is closer to a French stock that is clear and roasty in flavor). If you don't mind your 潑辣魚 tasting like that, you can just keep boiling and follow directions below.
Add water to the bones again and boil them for an hour. Strain and skim this broth and reduce it on its own. Add more water to the bones and repeat. This lets you get opaque broth faster, as the rate of reaction slows down when you approach super-saturated stock. Combine both of the opaque stocks and reduce together- it should be very milky and taste very rich. You'll end up with about 1 quart of stock per carcass.
宮保雞丁 1.1 (Kung Pao Chicken 1.1)
You can have fun going crazy figuring out what's different- I've probably made this dish with another 30 pounds of chicken and am putting some fine adjustments on it now. I've tried using peanut butter, whole chilis, crushed chilis, toasted and non-toasted spices, etc.
I think this is as good as its going to get without a revolution in my approach.
The stuff
-To get peanuts roasted, dry toast in a wok or skillet on medium heat until fragrant. Or, put in a 350F oven, stirring every 5 minutes, for a total of 15 minutes, or until fragrant.
-Dry toast the peppercorns until fragrant, then remove. Do the same to the crushed chilis. Take both and grind in a spice grinder until very fine. Warning: this step may make you want to die from the volatile fumes.
-Once chicken is brined, thoroughly wash chicken and drain. Mix with just enough cornstarch that the chicken starts sticking to itself, probably 2 to 3 tablespoons. You should err on the side of too much starch- during this step, you really need a "batter" as opposed to a coating so that the pancake maintains its integrity for flipping. This allows an otherwise impossible thing to do without sauteing the breast whole- establishing a flavorful crust.
-Heat a well seasoned wok with about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil until shimmering. Add the garlic and green onion whites and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and spread out into a single layered "pancake" (if your wok is small, divide the chicken into appropriate sized batches). Cook for about 2 minutes or until you can see the chicken start turning white from cooking up to about a third of the thickness. Shake the wok to make sure the pancake is loose- if it isn't, gently use the spatula to loosen trouble spots until the whole thing is sliding around your wok like a giant puck. Flip the pancake (or slide the chicken out onto a plate and flip the whole assembly back into the wok uncooked side down). Cook another 2 minutes or until this side starts showing white coming up the sides of the chicken as well. Break the pancake with the spatula and then wait for another 30 seconds for the freshly exposed starch to set. Toss in the wok until the chicken is just tinged pink in most areas, about another minute or two. Reserve chicken. You want it slightly undercooked (90% ish) so that rolling it around in the extremely hot kung pao caramel will bring it to perfectly cooked.
-Heat the sauce ingredients excluding the 1 reserved tablespoon of lemon juice on high until it turns into a very thick, dark caramel with lots of small bubbles forming. Add the ground chilis/peppercorns. You want this to be REALLY thick because the juices and oil on the exterior of the chicken will dilute the sauce when you mix it. Add the chicken, half of the peanuts, and remaining lemon juice and coat the chicken and finish cooking it, about another 30 seconds to a minute. Plate the chicken, sprinkle with remaining roasted peanuts and green onion greens and serve immediately.
I think this is as good as its going to get without a revolution in my approach.
The stuff
- 1-1.5 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cubed to L = 15mm, brined. If you're not sure what 15mm looks like, get a ruler. This dish works with pieces up to 1" cube in size.
- 1/3c coarse crushed peanuts, roasted (see below)
- 2 green onions, whites thinly sliced oblique and greens reserved for garnish
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- .5" ginger, grated
- 2 TB soy
- 2 TB 紹興酒 Shao xing rice wine
- 2 TB dark brown sugar, packed
- 1+1 TB lemon juice, divided (Using a sour grapefruit also works)
- 2 TB crushed red chilis
- 1 TB 花椒 (Sichuan peppercorns)
- OPTIONAL: zest of a half a lemon (or grapefruit zest if using for the acid)
-To get peanuts roasted, dry toast in a wok or skillet on medium heat until fragrant. Or, put in a 350F oven, stirring every 5 minutes, for a total of 15 minutes, or until fragrant.
-Dry toast the peppercorns until fragrant, then remove. Do the same to the crushed chilis. Take both and grind in a spice grinder until very fine. Warning: this step may make you want to die from the volatile fumes.
-Once chicken is brined, thoroughly wash chicken and drain. Mix with just enough cornstarch that the chicken starts sticking to itself, probably 2 to 3 tablespoons. You should err on the side of too much starch- during this step, you really need a "batter" as opposed to a coating so that the pancake maintains its integrity for flipping. This allows an otherwise impossible thing to do without sauteing the breast whole- establishing a flavorful crust.
-Heat a well seasoned wok with about 1 tablespoon of cooking oil until shimmering. Add the garlic and green onion whites and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the chicken and spread out into a single layered "pancake" (if your wok is small, divide the chicken into appropriate sized batches). Cook for about 2 minutes or until you can see the chicken start turning white from cooking up to about a third of the thickness. Shake the wok to make sure the pancake is loose- if it isn't, gently use the spatula to loosen trouble spots until the whole thing is sliding around your wok like a giant puck. Flip the pancake (or slide the chicken out onto a plate and flip the whole assembly back into the wok uncooked side down). Cook another 2 minutes or until this side starts showing white coming up the sides of the chicken as well. Break the pancake with the spatula and then wait for another 30 seconds for the freshly exposed starch to set. Toss in the wok until the chicken is just tinged pink in most areas, about another minute or two. Reserve chicken. You want it slightly undercooked (90% ish) so that rolling it around in the extremely hot kung pao caramel will bring it to perfectly cooked.
-Heat the sauce ingredients excluding the 1 reserved tablespoon of lemon juice on high until it turns into a very thick, dark caramel with lots of small bubbles forming. Add the ground chilis/peppercorns. You want this to be REALLY thick because the juices and oil on the exterior of the chicken will dilute the sauce when you mix it. Add the chicken, half of the peanuts, and remaining lemon juice and coat the chicken and finish cooking it, about another 30 seconds to a minute. Plate the chicken, sprinkle with remaining roasted peanuts and green onion greens and serve immediately.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Basic Gumbo, Beta v0.1
There's a part of me that chuckles slightly when I see a "gumbo" without any roux. Funny thing is you make gumbo pretty much the same way you make Japanese curry from scratch- this is an area that is under development. Warning: this is even more labor intensive than the other dishes I make that people complain about, though if you have students with you a lot of the labor is unskilled.
Protein:
1 x whole chicken, about 6-ish lbs. prepared*
1 lbs andouille sausage or other smokey, cheap sausage
Roux:
Generous .5 cup APF, (or 75g)
Oil as necessary (will combine with sausage drippings: total should be .5c)
Other:
2 celery ribs
1 medium yellow onion
.5 green bell pepper
1-2 quart stock**
1 tsp dried thyme
.5 tsp dried basil
1 tsp cayenne
2 green onions sliced thin
Salt
Blackpepper
Chicken: *Preferably the day before: Brine the chicken. and poach OR pressure cook the thing until its done: breast should be at 155 final temp, so you want to pull out at 145. If you are pressure cooking, do under high pressure for about 15 minutes- the brine increases the internal heat transfer coefficients.
Once the chicken is cooked, reserve the skin and shred the meat (don't turn it into sawdust, just pull it apart so it's not giant bricks). If you get some undercooked pieces near the dark meat that's fine- just set them aside for now. If you like (I do), roast the bones and make chicken stock for the rest of the gumbo (if you're lazy use this). Take the skin and cook it under low heat to make chicken skin cracklings for garnish. Yes, you can use a Costco rotisserie chicken in a pinch and this dish becomes a lot more manageable, but it's not going to taste like mine.
Roux: Dice the onions, bell pepper, and celery (we're going to blend this gravy eventually so don't worry about making it look nice). Get your stock boiling. Slice the sausages into .25" discs and fry them under medium-low to render the delicious smoky fat. Reserve sausages. Add enough oil so that you will have .5c oil in the pan. Heat it until it smokes, then add the flour and whisk together. Cook while continuously whisking until you get a very dark roux: I prefer to take it off heat when it looks like melted chocolate so that the carry over cooking takes it to very, very dark red-brown. If you're not sure on this part you can look it up online somewhere- you can do it faster under higher heat but the risk of burning it is higher. BTW you should realize at this point that if you use teflon pans this dish isn't possible to make.
As soon as the roux is the right color, including carry over, add the onion and dried spices and return to medium heat until the onions caramelize. Add the bell pepper and celery and cook until everything is soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Use an immersion blender or food mill to puree the gravy. Add 1 quart of stock slowly while blending, (or whisking if you used a food mill) so that you get a nice smooth texture.
**Depending on whether you want a thick gumbo that's more like a sauce or a thinner one more like a soup, add up to an additional quart of stock.
Return the sausage to the gravy and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste.
To serve: put some steamed long grain rice in a bowl and then invert this bowl into a shallow dish to get a neat mound of rice in the middle. Pour the gumbo all around the rice. Add the shredded chicken all around the plate, mixing white and dark meat. Garnish with the sliced green onion and chicken skin cracklings. Serve with Tobasco or Frank's (or some other sour hot sauce- it's to offset the fat).
You can stretch this out further by adding a poached or fried egg on top of the rice sprinkled with some salt and/or a small pat of butter.
Protein:
1 x whole chicken, about 6-ish lbs. prepared*
1 lbs andouille sausage or other smokey, cheap sausage
Roux:
Generous .5 cup APF, (or 75g)
Oil as necessary (will combine with sausage drippings: total should be .5c)
Other:
2 celery ribs
1 medium yellow onion
.5 green bell pepper
1-2 quart stock**
1 tsp dried thyme
.5 tsp dried basil
1 tsp cayenne
2 green onions sliced thin
Salt
Blackpepper
Chicken: *Preferably the day before: Brine the chicken. and poach OR pressure cook the thing until its done: breast should be at 155 final temp, so you want to pull out at 145. If you are pressure cooking, do under high pressure for about 15 minutes- the brine increases the internal heat transfer coefficients.
Once the chicken is cooked, reserve the skin and shred the meat (don't turn it into sawdust, just pull it apart so it's not giant bricks). If you get some undercooked pieces near the dark meat that's fine- just set them aside for now. If you like (I do), roast the bones and make chicken stock for the rest of the gumbo (if you're lazy use this). Take the skin and cook it under low heat to make chicken skin cracklings for garnish. Yes, you can use a Costco rotisserie chicken in a pinch and this dish becomes a lot more manageable, but it's not going to taste like mine.
Roux: Dice the onions, bell pepper, and celery (we're going to blend this gravy eventually so don't worry about making it look nice). Get your stock boiling. Slice the sausages into .25" discs and fry them under medium-low to render the delicious smoky fat. Reserve sausages. Add enough oil so that you will have .5c oil in the pan. Heat it until it smokes, then add the flour and whisk together. Cook while continuously whisking until you get a very dark roux: I prefer to take it off heat when it looks like melted chocolate so that the carry over cooking takes it to very, very dark red-brown. If you're not sure on this part you can look it up online somewhere- you can do it faster under higher heat but the risk of burning it is higher. BTW you should realize at this point that if you use teflon pans this dish isn't possible to make.
As soon as the roux is the right color, including carry over, add the onion and dried spices and return to medium heat until the onions caramelize. Add the bell pepper and celery and cook until everything is soft. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Use an immersion blender or food mill to puree the gravy. Add 1 quart of stock slowly while blending, (or whisking if you used a food mill) so that you get a nice smooth texture.
**Depending on whether you want a thick gumbo that's more like a sauce or a thinner one more like a soup, add up to an additional quart of stock.
Return the sausage to the gravy and heat through. Salt and pepper to taste.
To serve: put some steamed long grain rice in a bowl and then invert this bowl into a shallow dish to get a neat mound of rice in the middle. Pour the gumbo all around the rice. Add the shredded chicken all around the plate, mixing white and dark meat. Garnish with the sliced green onion and chicken skin cracklings. Serve with Tobasco or Frank's (or some other sour hot sauce- it's to offset the fat).
You can stretch this out further by adding a poached or fried egg on top of the rice sprinkled with some salt and/or a small pat of butter.
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