Massaman Curry

[afn33282]

Rather new to all this.

Chuck? Brisket? Shank? Butt?

Money is a factor, too.

Also, to what extent should I remove fat from the meat before cooking?

The lovely La Bonne Cuisine de Mme. Saint-Ange really clued me in that defatting-skimming is one of the factors to a beautiful braise, but fat carries flavor, too...

ref: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/29373-thai-cooking/

I'll be referencing a David Thompson rec as well, but skipping deep-frying the beef before as a first step.

[afn33282]

Or... to be less specific, could anybody recommend a good source of info on various braising cuts and related factors? Thx.

[Chris Amirault]

I've used both chuck and brisket to good effect, but prefer brisket. It's definitely a beefier flavor, of course, but I think that's the appeal.

[afn33282]

Wound up using short ribs from a butcher where I've gotten good beef great meat in the past (can I name them?.. Savenor's, Cambridge, MA. The point is, once again it was worth it to patronize a good butcher.. deep beef flavor, as is usual from their stuff). Chose the cut per the butcher's rec., as he offered to charge me the bone-in price ($9 per), weighed after boning (!).

Tremendously tender; only thing I'd do differently is trim off the sheath of fat from one side of the meat first next time. Wound up being far too much fat in the sauce, texturally. Maybe short ribs are meant for even greater glory via dry-cook methods.

Plan to try chuck and brisket, too, as one doesn't always find such accommodating butchers.

Other notes: palm sugar is proving a bit hard to find at the moment. And Mae Ploy curry paste, per the link above, was righteous enough, but I plan to get off my lazy scrump next time and round the recipe out with Thompson et al's recommended finishing spices, (six bay leaves etc.), no matter what the curry paste package says... proved worth the trouble last time when made from scratch.

Edited July 20, 2010 by afn33282 (log)

[heidih]

If you are in the US you may be able to easily find pilconcillo sugar (see Wicki here) which has a somewhat similar raw and almost burnt taste to palm sugar.

[ChrisZ]

Just curious... I like massaman curry and have always thought of it as a sweet curry.  I've been looking at recipes and nothing jumps out at me as a source of sweetness.  The recipes I have seen online have no sugar, and a bit of googling suggests that coconut milk isn't very sweet and is comparable to cows milk.  

So is it only me who thinks of it as a sweet curry, or is there something in the recipe that contributes to this perception?

 

(Am also happy for links to good recipes.  Keen to try it in the pressure cooker, possibly with oxtail)

[Taveren]

Just curious... I like massaman curry and have always thought of it as a sweet curry.  I've been looking at recipes and nothing jumps out at me as a source of sweetness.  The recipes I have seen online have no sugar, and a bit of googling suggests that coconut milk isn't very sweet and is comparable to cows milk.  

So is it only me who thinks of it as a sweet curry, or is there something in the recipe that contributes to this perception?

 

(Am also happy for links to good recipes.  Keen to try it in the pressure cooker, possibly with oxtail)

There may often be a little sugar for balancing the dish, but by no means do I the of it as a sweet curry.

[Kerry Beal]

I also find Massaman to be sweet - there is something in the combination of peanut and coconut that gives it a honey like flavour to my taste.