Protein:
1 lbs pork belly
Sauce:
3 TB soy sauce
2-4 TB chili oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
.5 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
.25 teaspoon raw rice wine
1 teaspoon Korean red pepper paste
-This dish is mainly about the sauce. You can substitute a leaner meat and it will taste pretty good: I like using a roasted pork loin and calling the dish 蒜泥白人 (because of the western style meat preparation, not because it's made out of Caucasians). Using pork belly is traditional, of course, and it adds a lot of chewy fatness. The vinegar is there to help take the edge of the raw garlic and give just a bit of acid so that the fat feel from the oil and pork fat isn't so overwhelming. The rice wine is present to help make the sauce pop- I have no idea why it does that, but it just kind of works.
-Prepare the pork belly. You can brine it if you want the meat to be juicier. Cook it however you like: traditionally it's boiled until medium done (about 150 degrees final temp) which is about 30 minutes for a 1 pound belly. If it's not brined, boil it in salted water with a slice of ginger to help take off the porky smell. I've been experimenting with a combo of tea smoking and then pressure steaming the meat: I'll update as more data becomes available. Whatever cooking method you choose, make sure it's wet so that the fat and the skin become reasonably tender. When the pork is done, chill it in the fridge to make it easier to slice.
-Slice the meat THIN. If my knives are dull and I haven't had time to send them to the sharpener, I just don't make this until I do. Don't bother trying without a good knife. Practice. This is the hardest part of the dish. You can also chill the meat in the freezer for 20 minutes to make it firmer. At fancier restaurants, the meat is sliced from a semi-frozen block so thin that it naturally curves into rolls, which is awesome, but it doesn't change the flavor of the dish. I've also heard that if you have a good mandoline, you can run the meat through that, but I've never got that to work (I have a super benriner- maybe it would work if I got my blade sharpened professionally?). Arrange the slices such that you can spoon the sauce over without too much of a hassle.
-Mix the garlic with the vinegar and rice wine. Whisk in the korean pepper paste- it's main function here is as an emulsifier that blends in with the other ingredients, so if it bothers you to see it in a Sichuan dish you can take it out. Whisk in the chili oil. If you like the "browner" version, just use 2 TB of chili oil, but if you want the flaming red version that's spicier, use 4 TB. Whisk in the soy sauce last. If you brined the pork belly, you can omit the soy sauce or use less depending on how salty you want the dish. Emulsifying the sauce is MUCH easier if the chili oil is chilled because the viscosity will be much higher. Note: you probably want to serve this soon since the emulsion breaks quite readily at room temperature.
Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spicy. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
水煮[something]片 (water boiled beef, fish, pork, chicken, etc.)
水煮肉片
1 pound of something (chicken breast, lean pork, beef tenderloin, fish (recommend tilapia, swai, or sole), or even silken tofu: anything with very little fat that will cook tender quickly. The dish is typically so spicy that no one will taste anything anyways. If using meat, make sure ALL the fat is trimmed: it simply will not cook fast enough to taste good.)
1 pound nappa cabbage, chopped into 2" squares or smaller (optional)
2 cups broth with:
2TB soy sauce
2TB rice wine
.5c canola oil
3TB crushed red chili
2TB coarse korean chili
2TB sichuan peppercorn
2 green onions, whites thinly sliced, greens cut into a decorative shape and reserved
.5" ginger, minced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
cilantro, if desired, for garnish
-If using lean pork or chicken, brine the meat for 30 minutes(good quality beef, fish, tofu this is unnecessary)
-Using a minimum of oil (or none, if you have a well-seasoned wok), stir fry the nappa cabbage until tender and remove to the bottom of your final serving vessel. This cabbage will help regulate the final temperature of the dish to prevent overcooking during the boiling step, and SO IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
-Get the 2 cups of broth on hand and ready to use. Heat the half cup oil with the sichuan peppercorns in a heavy bottomed pot on medium high. When peppercorns turn dark brown and the oil is just beginning to smoke, reduce heat to medium low, add the garlic, green onion whites and crushed red chilis and korean chilis. Cook until oil turns very deep red, typically less than a minute. As soon as it turns a deep red color and is very fragrant (you'll probably be coughing and sneezing and wanting to cry) add the broth to cool the oil.
-Add the ginger, soy sauce, and rice wine to the broth if you haven't already.
-When the meat is brined, rinsed, and drained (or if you didn't use a brine) take your 1 pound of stuff and coat it with 1 TB of cornstarch. Heat the soup on maximum heat: it should be very rapidly boiling. Stir the soup as fast as you can without it shooting out of your pot. Working quickly, put in your 1 pound of "whatever" slices and continue to stir.
IF USING BEEF, FISH, PORK, OR LAMB: when the slices just begin to firm up, remove from the heat: when the pieces turn color, immediately pour over the nappa cabbage. The residual heat of the liquid ought to be enough to cook the slices without the stove top to a perfect medium rare and the cabbage should absorb whatever heat is left.
IF USING CHICKEN: make sure color is about almost completely white before removing from heat and soup just begins to reboil, then pour over cabbage. Or if you're brave, you can cook it as above, but you might get salmonella. I know the feel of the chicken between chopsticks when it's perfect, but it's hard to describe how to use that method. Sorry.
Garnish with green onion greens and/or chopped cilantro.
1 pound of something (chicken breast, lean pork, beef tenderloin, fish (recommend tilapia, swai, or sole), or even silken tofu: anything with very little fat that will cook tender quickly. The dish is typically so spicy that no one will taste anything anyways. If using meat, make sure ALL the fat is trimmed: it simply will not cook fast enough to taste good.)
1 pound nappa cabbage, chopped into 2" squares or smaller (optional)
2 cups broth with:
2TB soy sauce
2TB rice wine
.5c canola oil
3TB crushed red chili
2TB coarse korean chili
2TB sichuan peppercorn
2 green onions, whites thinly sliced, greens cut into a decorative shape and reserved
.5" ginger, minced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
cilantro, if desired, for garnish
-If using lean pork or chicken, brine the meat for 30 minutes(good quality beef, fish, tofu this is unnecessary)
-Using a minimum of oil (or none, if you have a well-seasoned wok), stir fry the nappa cabbage until tender and remove to the bottom of your final serving vessel. This cabbage will help regulate the final temperature of the dish to prevent overcooking during the boiling step, and SO IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
-Get the 2 cups of broth on hand and ready to use. Heat the half cup oil with the sichuan peppercorns in a heavy bottomed pot on medium high. When peppercorns turn dark brown and the oil is just beginning to smoke, reduce heat to medium low, add the garlic, green onion whites and crushed red chilis and korean chilis. Cook until oil turns very deep red, typically less than a minute. As soon as it turns a deep red color and is very fragrant (you'll probably be coughing and sneezing and wanting to cry) add the broth to cool the oil.
-Add the ginger, soy sauce, and rice wine to the broth if you haven't already.
-When the meat is brined, rinsed, and drained (or if you didn't use a brine) take your 1 pound of stuff and coat it with 1 TB of cornstarch. Heat the soup on maximum heat: it should be very rapidly boiling. Stir the soup as fast as you can without it shooting out of your pot. Working quickly, put in your 1 pound of "whatever" slices and continue to stir.
IF USING BEEF, FISH, PORK, OR LAMB: when the slices just begin to firm up, remove from the heat: when the pieces turn color, immediately pour over the nappa cabbage. The residual heat of the liquid ought to be enough to cook the slices without the stove top to a perfect medium rare and the cabbage should absorb whatever heat is left.
IF USING CHICKEN: make sure color is about almost completely white before removing from heat and soup just begins to reboil, then pour over cabbage. Or if you're brave, you can cook it as above, but you might get salmonella. I know the feel of the chicken between chopsticks when it's perfect, but it's hard to describe how to use that method. Sorry.
Garnish with green onion greens and/or chopped cilantro.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
麻婆豆腐 (mapo tofu)
Nothing special here except tofu cutting technique and use of korean pepper paste which helps thicken the sauce without cornstarch or reducing everything too much. Also, about double the spicy stuff of the traditional recipe: alter the oil, chili flakes, and peppercorns to your taste but keep the ratio. If you like your MPDF with ground pork, fry it at the same time as the mushrooms in the same fashion (that is, lightly coated with cornstarch and an appropriate amount of soy sauce) until crispy and serve it poured over everything at the end so that it stays crunchy. Or, leave it vegan mapo tofu- I personally think the shiitake's carry enough presence such that meat is unnecessary.
IMO the main difference between lame mapo tofu and good mapo tofu is the use of silken tofu, and then maintaining it in neat cubes for texture. To cut the tofu: first cut the top plastic film off using scissors. Then , cut off one of the bottom corners of the tofu box. Place a small cutting board on top of the tofu box and then invert: now that you've just cut a vent, you should be able to pull the box off of the tofu without breaking the brick (save the box). You'll probably need to do two cuts parallel to the cutting board plane to split it into thirds: this is the most annoying part: if you find it too annoying, just do one cut to split it in half (newb). Then, cut the tofu from the top into 10mm squares: err on the side of smaller, being careful to keep all the pieces together. Get that box you saved and put it back on top of the now cubed tofu, invert, and now your tofu will be MUCH easier to work with now that it's in a vented box.
The rest
Slice the mushrooms you got from making half the recipe of that mushroom broth into thin strips, about 2mm wide. Coat with about 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Heat the oil with the peppercorns on medium high heat. When they turn dark brown, add the mushrooms and lower the heat to medium after the coating first solidifies. Add the chili flakes and cook until the oil is red and the chili flakes are darkened but not burnt (this can be tricky...). When the chili flakes look done, scoop all the solids out with a strainer and set them aside: don't worry about being too thorough. Add the garlic, green onion, and chili bean paste and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the mushroom broth, soy sauce, ginger, and korean pepper paste and stir until uniform. Heat through until thick, then gently add the tofu which should be easy now that it's in that neat little box and should drop without too much effort because of that vent. Using a broad, flat, soft object (i.e. wooden spatula) very gently stir the tofu into the sauce and simmer for 1 or 2 minutes. To serve, carefully pour the tofu into a bowl, then top with the fried chili flakes/peppercorns/mushrooms you removed earlier, then top with the green onion greens, cut however you believe is the most visually appealing (I like using the shredder thingy that looks like 4 x-acto knives glued together to make long strings).
- 1 brick of silken tofu (16-20oz), cubed into 10mm (see below). Firmer tofu is for n00bs
- .5C dried shiitake broth and the two associated mushrooms
- 1t cornstarch
- .25C oil
- 2TB crushed red chili flakes
- 1TB sichuan peppercorns
- 2TB soy sauce
- 1TB 辣豆瓣醬 (Chinese spicy chili broad bean paste)
- 1TB korean red pepper paste
- 1TB fermented black beans, rinsed of grit
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 green onions, whites and greens separated
- .5" minced ginger
IMO the main difference between lame mapo tofu and good mapo tofu is the use of silken tofu, and then maintaining it in neat cubes for texture. To cut the tofu: first cut the top plastic film off using scissors. Then , cut off one of the bottom corners of the tofu box. Place a small cutting board on top of the tofu box and then invert: now that you've just cut a vent, you should be able to pull the box off of the tofu without breaking the brick (save the box). You'll probably need to do two cuts parallel to the cutting board plane to split it into thirds: this is the most annoying part: if you find it too annoying, just do one cut to split it in half (newb). Then, cut the tofu from the top into 10mm squares: err on the side of smaller, being careful to keep all the pieces together. Get that box you saved and put it back on top of the now cubed tofu, invert, and now your tofu will be MUCH easier to work with now that it's in a vented box.
The rest
Slice the mushrooms you got from making half the recipe of that mushroom broth into thin strips, about 2mm wide. Coat with about 1 teaspoon cornstarch. Heat the oil with the peppercorns on medium high heat. When they turn dark brown, add the mushrooms and lower the heat to medium after the coating first solidifies. Add the chili flakes and cook until the oil is red and the chili flakes are darkened but not burnt (this can be tricky...). When the chili flakes look done, scoop all the solids out with a strainer and set them aside: don't worry about being too thorough. Add the garlic, green onion, and chili bean paste and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute. Add the mushroom broth, soy sauce, ginger, and korean pepper paste and stir until uniform. Heat through until thick, then gently add the tofu which should be easy now that it's in that neat little box and should drop without too much effort because of that vent. Using a broad, flat, soft object (i.e. wooden spatula) very gently stir the tofu into the sauce and simmer for 1 or 2 minutes. To serve, carefully pour the tofu into a bowl, then top with the fried chili flakes/peppercorns/mushrooms you removed earlier, then top with the green onion greens, cut however you believe is the most visually appealing (I like using the shredder thingy that looks like 4 x-acto knives glued together to make long strings).
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
麻辣紅油 (Tim's chili oil)
You could buy the stuff in a bottle, but it won't taste like mine. This recipe is essentially making 花椒油 and then using that while still hot to make 辣椒油. I use a french press and tea kettle so that my kitchen is still clean when I'm done. Make absolutely sure there isn't any water anywhere on anything during this process or your hands and arms are going to start looking like mine (that is, messed up).
Variation: you can omit the peppercorns and use Korean coarse chili flakes to make an extremely fragrant, almost sweet oil. Put the chili flakes in the french press as above. Heat the oil until it just smokes, then remove from heat and wait for the oil to just stop smoking, then pour into the press. This is necessary because the flavor of Korean chili is much more delicate and it's easier to burn. Oh yeah, this costs a junk load of money if you use good chili flakes.
- 4C canola, soybean, or other neutral oil
- 2C crushed dried Sichuan chilies (or whatever crushed dried chilis you can find)
- 1C dried Sichuan peppercorns (no substitute for these exists)
Variation: you can omit the peppercorns and use Korean coarse chili flakes to make an extremely fragrant, almost sweet oil. Put the chili flakes in the french press as above. Heat the oil until it just smokes, then remove from heat and wait for the oil to just stop smoking, then pour into the press. This is necessary because the flavor of Korean chili is much more delicate and it's easier to burn. Oh yeah, this costs a junk load of money if you use good chili flakes.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)