Duvel

The other day I purchased a nice slab of pork belly to make Dong Po Rou. Unfortunately, a mixture of mid-morning hunger pangs and a general and enduring laziness got the better of me. I found myself scoring and salting that pork belly and making roasted pork belly with Knödel & mango Sauerkraut in between two virtual meetings … It definitely helped with the hunger, but accentuated my laziness. I almost fell asleep during the 14.00h call 🙄

Yes, you fry the chicken and everything else afterwards in that oil. It’s a one-pot preparation 😉

Not to derail this thread, but what you are describing is (also) basically the characteristics of a cooked, cooled and reheated pie, no ? Is that part of the equation ?

Does it have to in a classic NYC pie ? I had very few authentic ones …

Yes - I think it is a common technique, especially for the group of “red-braised” dishes to intensify the color. As the sugar doesn’t dissolve in the oil you can nicely watch the process …

Sure. I use this recipe as a base, with a few tweaks: Chop up ~600 g boneless chicken thighs or about 1 kg of bone-in chicken parts. Heat a big good gluck of neutral oil, add 1 tbsp sugar and caramelize. Once nicely brown, add all the chicken plus half a tbsp of salt, some MSG and a couple of peeled ginger slices. Fry for a minute, then add a tbsp of Doubanjiang. Fry briefly, then add cassia bark, two large star anise (or three small), one cracked black cardamom pod and 1 heaped tbsp of Sichuan peppercorns. Add 200 ml unsalted chicken stock and about 400 g of large potato cubes and cook for 30 min at low heat. You want a lazy simmer … After 30 min add 3-4 chopped up spring onions and a few chilies (dried facing heaven ones if available) Cook for 15 min more and add 6-8 whole peeled garlic cloves. At this point I adjust the saltiness. Potatoes should be soft by now. After about 15 more minutes you can add some sliced bell pepper or some fried aubergine slices. I do if have either of them - in that case I let the cook for maybe 10 min more until reasonably softened … Enjoy !

Thanks, I missed that. My version is a bit different when it comes to the details, but all in all we agree on Da Pan Ji …

While reading the news about the eruption of Aso-san (on which I stood exactly three years ago), I got a bit sentimental, reminiscing our time in Asia. Then, I spend a great amount of time traveling to Xinjiang, northwestern China. While the visits were of course professional, I enjoyed the local cuisine a lot - next to the ubiquitous lamb skewers especially a dish called Da Pan Ji (大盘鸡, or big plate chicken), an ultrasavoury chicken stew with plenty of Sichuan pepper and other spices, served usually with hand-pulled laghman noodles (for which a commercial product had to fill in). That’s what I wanted - no: needed - for tonight … I was a huge success. The flavors were there, the smell, the consistency of the meat (even though I used thigh off the bone). And most importantly my family liked it. It‘ll make a return soon …

And I was surprised eGullet has a Twitter feed … thanks for pointing that out 👍

So no need to buy the Oxford companion then … Lucky you 😉 And in the tradition of my rural ancestors you owe me half the price of the book that I just saved you. I‘ll be over next year for sure for a business trip and will accept it in form of a shot at a decent place, like the Dead Rabbit 🤗

Very true … But let me tell you from someone who loves pizza and desperately needs a few months on low carb (weightwise): after a month of no grain-based carbohydrates, a cauliflower crust „pizza“ tastes just right …

Nice! Now this looks like a decent Fischfrikadelle, and I am always looking for some varieties for my regular rotation: would you mind sharing your ratios ?

Why … warum … pourquoi … doshite ..?! Why make something great taste like something a bunch of desperate Germans have invented to shorten their miserable life in the mud-drenched sugar beet fields of southern Lower Saxony ? Growing up on that stuff I am truly curious on what the sea change has done to Pumpernickel, that even cooks I admire (such as @liamsaunt and @Chris Hennes) feel like making, eating (and liking 😱) it …

It‘ll teach you 101 way to drink your sherry while holding up your pinky. For all other ethanol-infused activities you‘ll need to wait for @nathanm …

Ahhh … the ever so popular rare steak cleanse. In Germany we do the Schnitzel & french fry cleanse, but the basic idea is the same 🤗

DOMS and a full day at work got the better of me today, but nothing that a Mettbrötchen and a hot bath couldn’t fix* … *one after the other.

Since we are going with the classics … Charming Oysters I cry, My Masters come buy, So plump and so fresh So sweet in their Flesh, No Colchester Oyster, Is sweeter and moister, Your Stomach they settle, And rouse up your Mettle, They’ll make you a Dad Of a Lass or a Lad; And Madam your Wife They’ll please to the Life; Be she barren, be she old, Be she Slut, or be she Scold, Eat my Oysters, and lie near her, She’ll be fruitful, never fear her. Jonathan Swift

That’s a lovely idea ! Also your red kuri rolls look very fluffy & delicious … care to share your recipe ?

That photograph was the farewell gift of my team when I left. It was made to order by a known photographer and fits exactly the wall above a Chinese cabinet I purchased even before we went to HK. It centers Jardine House, where my office was … sweet memories 🤗 Right now, you are facing 3 weeks of hotel quarantine if you decide to go. And not in the good hotels. We would love to visit our friends over there, but not under these conditions. Let’s hope for better times soon 🤞

Pizza & movie night (while my parents are stopping over on their way to their holiday in the Palatinate): First pizza was salami & mushrooms (as always, actually), but with the little one emphasizing on being hungry, my father praising the beer selection and my mom inquiring about the things I’ve done to the garden yesterday, I missed taking the picture. Yes, I know. @Anna N or eventually @JoNorvelleWalker will be all over me … Second one was raclette cheese & potato. I was reminded of the combination by @Chris Hennes post in the Modernist Pizza thread. I used to live off this combo in the early 2000s during my PhD time in Paris. The Pizza Hut in the suburb of Asnieres-sur-Seine (where I was living) had a 2-for-1 take away deal on Thursdays after 21.00h, which made me consume a looooot of these pizzas. It was a very substantial pie, suitable for students on a meager scholarship. Funny enough, they still carry the pizza (with lardons filling in for the caramelized onions) … Third one was spinach and gorgonzola, as requested by my father … My mom opted for figs, goat cheese, pine nuts and honey … Finally, the cooks choice: Margherita with thinly sliced fennel salami added post cook … All enjoyed with Disney’s The Living Desert - a really good movie, even in its German dubbed version … And a beer (or two ?!) for the hard working cook 🤗 Epilogue: tomorrow’s lunchbox will feature pizza as well …

As one does 🤗

I spend the whole tending the garden and dissembling a pergola, that covered our lower terrace. While I enjoy doing these things I noticed that my body seems not to (anymore ?). By the end of the day I wasn’t able to move, so I left the cleaning up for another day (and hopefully someone else 🤞) … At night I was neither able nor willing to do much anymore. We had a baguette in the freezer and some pork loin, which I flattened, put a slice of cheese and some ham and folded, breaded and fried. So, minimalistic cordon bleu sandwich with some iceberg lettuce and kewpie. And since then oil was hot, some squid rings (commercial product). Enough for the day 🤗

That long fermentation surely produces a nice leoparding on the crust. Well done 👍

Got about 500g SV tri-tip left over from last night. Thought I broaden the culinary horizon of my family and make a french dip sandwich … Just the beef & some really good Provolone from the Italian supermarket … Briefly heated and served with SV stock (augmented by some homemade beef broth, sofregit and fresh herbs) and (commercial) french fries. No complaints 🤗