Cooking with the Momofuku cookbook

[ChrisTaylor]

Today it's the chicken wings. I don't have a cold smoker, so I parked them in my gas-powered hot smoker for about 30 minutes (as opposed to the prescribed 45).

[ChrisTaylor]

The chicken wings are my favourite recipe so far. Tempted to cook either the pork buns or bo ssam tomorrow.

[&roid]

The chicken wings are my favourite recipe so far. Tempted to cook either the pork buns or bo ssam tomorrow.

The wings are great aren't they. The Bo Ssam though is on a different level - easily one of the nicest things I've ever cooked, and so easy too.

Quick tip: the recipe leaves this out, but you definitely need to rinse the salt/sugar mix off the meat when it's finished the overnight rest.

[MikeHartnett]

I think I may have to order this book. Quick question: is the recipe for the Momofuku Ssam Bar sprouts dish included? I've been telling people about that dish since I first sampled it, and I'd love to be able to show them what I'm talking about.

If you're referring to the dish with kimchi puree and bacon, yes, that's in there.

[Simon_S]

Thanks Mike. I don't remember kimchi puree and bacon (they were crispy and spicy but I can't remember specifics) but in any case I think I should just go ahead and buy the book.

[MikeHartnett]

It's a good book. I don't think you'll regret it.

[bigkoiguy]

I've really enjoyed cooking from this book. In some ways, it's a great "back to Asian basics" cookbook with some twists and turns. For me, the recipes have always turned out great - particularly the beef short ribs and the ramen.

In thinking about traditional ways of cooking, it occurred to me that ramen has been made for some time - which got me to thinking, where did people 100 years ago get potassium and sodium carbonate??? This got me looking into the chemistry of these two chemicals.

If you look at potassium carbonate, it appears that it was originally manufactured from potash. Potash was obtained by soaking plant ashes in water and then, after filtering charcoal and silica, drying the resulting solution. This left a slurry of silica (fine sand) in a potassium carbonate solution. Similarly, sodium carbonatewas obtained from ashes from certain plants.

It seems that ramen would have originally been made with potash? Thoughts?

[ChrisTaylor]

It's very good. I've played around with it every so often, but to be honest if I'd only been using it these past couple weeks I'd still feel that I've got my money's worth.

[TheTInCook]

It seems that ramen would have originally been made with potash? Thoughts?

IIRC, those kind of noodles were originally prepared with water from alkali springs.

You can also get sodium carbonate from mineral deposits, like trona or natron.

[ChrisTaylor]

Today it's prawn and grits, altho' I'll be using polenta instead of grits.

[ChrisTaylor]

Another weekend, another Momofuku recipe. This time I prepared the pork buns. Or, rather, I roasted the pork belly, tipped some hoi sin sauce into a bowl and steamed some store-bought buns. Oddly, I found the grocer stocked buns in damn near every shape and size other than what the ones in the picture. I could've travelled further afield and maybe found some, but the idea of getting in the car and messing around when I could just buy ... different ones didn't appeal to me. The ones I bought were more like football-shaped dinner rolls. I sliced them in half, pretty much as you would with a normal roll when making a hot dog.

It was nice and all, altho' true to form the steamed bread left me cold. Maybe it'd help next time if I just caved and made the buns, which seem to be a whole lot thinner than the ones I used. A higher pig-to-dough ratio sounds like a plan.

[Tim Dolan]

I made my own wings with the Octo Vin last night. I didn't have time to marinate the wings and I don't have a steamer, so I used the cooking method for Korean fried chicken found here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Korean-Fried-Chicken. The batter was easy to make and the double frying method produced a super crispy wing. My only gripe is that I wished that the Octo Vin had adhered to the wings a little bit better, and I would've preferred it a little spicer. Regardless, now that I've made it once and know how easy it is, the options are endless.

[FrogPrincesse]

I don't own the momofuku cookbook, but I got a craving for roasted pork belly after reading Kerry and Anna's fooblog. So I bought a 4-lb pork belly and made a batch this weekend. I realize that the online recipe that I used (from epicurious) differs from the book in several respects. First, in the online recipe the belly is brined for 12 hours (instead of being dry-cured). It is roasted at low temperature first, and high temperature at the end. Despite these differences, I got an outstanding result.

I did not attempt making the buns so I used high-quality dinner rolls from a local bakery. I served them with the quick-pickled cucumber from the book, chives (I did not have scallions), and hoisin sauce.

Absolutely delightful

This is a great recipe because it can be prepared in advance and reheated as needed.

[Tim Dolan]

I just popped a 3-4 lb. pork shoulder in the oven for a nice 6 hour roast at 300 degrees. Because this pork shoulder is smaller than the normal 8-10 pounder that I usually get, should I reduce the temp or cook time at all?

P.S. since I posted about the wings two weeks ago I've been putting the Octo Vin on pretty much everything. It's addictive and so simple to make.

[Tim Dolan]

Left it in for 5.5 hours and it was perfect. This was my 3rd attempt and by far the best. I rinsed the pork off before roasting this time, which definitely helped. Topped the pork and rice with some Octo Vin and sriracha, it was fantastic.

[ChrisTaylor]

Made the short ribs. Very good. Easily the best short ribs I've had, altho' my loyalty, rib-wise, is still with the pig. Nice way to try out my new toy (SV@Home), tho'.

[Broken English]

I've only made the red eye mayo so far. It's quite good, but it was a little bitter for my taste, so I added a little honey into it.

I've been doing a lobster canape with the red eye mayo, pickled ramps and duck prosciutto, which I really like.

[ChrisTaylor]

I highly recommend the chicken wings as your next move.

[Broken English]

Smoked, confited in pork fat and then fried? How could that be anything but glorious?

[Merkinz]

Hey All,

Long time listener first time caller Here is as good a place as any to start I guess.

I've had this book for a while and although I don't cook out of it often (fiance is a vego ) there are a couple of thing I couldn't live without from this book - mainly the pickles! (and the shiitake pickles to be precise). However the other week I was home alone so I decided to crack out the ghetto sous vide (chilli bin and digital thermometer, too broke to buy the real thing) and have a crack at the marinated hanger steak ssam ... although I couldn't find myself a hangersteak in the land down under

Turned out great! I'm still warming to Kimchi ... but I'll warm to anything tho after a few tries

Grabbed the biggest cast iron pan I had and got it slightly hotter than the surface of the sun...

The results: EXACTLY how I like my steak...

[ChrisTaylor]

Made steak ssam last night. Used a slow-cooked (real sv, not ghetto--56C, 40 hrs) blade steak instead of the skirt. I think it's a nice enough dinner, sure, but it's lacking something. Consider that the pork ssams have some kind of sauce or condiment (i.e. pickled mustard seeds come into play). I think it needs something might that. I had a tub of the mustard seeds in my fridge only the other week, even, and really wished they'd still been loitering around next to the pecorino last night. I don't think reducing the marinade and using that is a good idea, but, yes, it needs something. Octo vin?

[ChrisTaylor]

Here's what happens when you tip the still-warm wings and confit fat (about a kilo of lard in this case) into a container that's better-suited, size- and shape-wise, for storing in the fridge. Luckily it only took a couple of minutes on the stove for the fat to soften enough for me to be able to dig the wings out.

[Paul Kierstead]

I made the pan-roasted Asparagus with Miso butter, exactly as the recipe. The overall flavour profile was excellent, but the miso butter was much, much too salty. I'm not sure if the quantities in the book are off, or if my Miso is much saltier than they use, or what. There is essentially 2 Tbs of Miso per serving.

Anyone else try this recipe? Does Shiro Miso come in widely varied salt?

[Whygee]

Has anybody tried the ramen broth in both the cookbook and Lucky Peach? I read that the recipe published in Lucky Peach is "ramen 2.0" and that the goal was to streamline the process and cut down on cost. Does anybody know if there's a noticeable taste difference?

Thanks.

[Broken English]

Has anybody tried the ramen broth in both the cookbook and Lucky Peach? I read that the recipe published in Lucky Peach is "ramen 2.0" and that the goal was to streamline the process and cut down on cost. Does anybody know if there's a noticeable taste difference?

Thanks.

I know that the broth we make at Noodle Bar TO is pretty much identical to the cookbook, with an added pigs head. The freeze dried version is way too expensive to be viable at the moment, the biggest saving for it is time.