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Dinner! 2013 (Part 2)


dcarch

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I'm going with Keith too, the real artistry and skill in that tofu dish is to cut it like fine hair. So when suspended in the broth it floats cloudlike. Never tried cutting it myself either but will get some tofu next opportunity and have a go at it!

I forgot to post this nice meal in my last catchup post. I had some foodie colleagues from China, Singapore and Malaysia for dinner recently so it was a good reason to put together some of my favourite Asian dishes. We started with lobster noodles and followed it with ox cheek rendang, golden sand prawns, catfish in caramel fish sauce, tong ho choy and some pickles.

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It really was so delicious. The shell was super crunchy, super pork.. I would call it beautiful.. Great for a crowd. For the sides, we served a dal, a basic salad, a truffle risotto from a box of food samples Miss A brought home, deep fried brussel sprouts with sriracha and honey, roasted sunchokes, roasted fennel and golden egg potatoes. I am so full.. Tonight, we are going to put the remaining roast on a meat slicer and see if it makes good sandwiches.

Hi basquecook, wonderful looking roast! I assume you live in Spain? In that case, may I ask what type of pork cut did you order? I've tried porchetta a couple of times but butchers here in Madrid are not used to that cut with the skin on and always had problems....

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Prawncrackers, it is pure genius to use Ox cheek in rendang. I am so going to steal that idea! Beautiful food as always.

Dinner tonight was a disaster. My mashed potato turned into a bowl of glue. I normally buy Royal Blue or Nicola potatoes, but tonight I bought "brushed potatoes". I retrograded it at 72C for 30 minutes then boiled it for 15. This normally works - but at 15 minutes the potatoes were still hard and refused to mash. So I boiled for another 15 minutes. It was softer, but still impossible. Then I recall reading that the starch retrogradation step makes the potatoes safe to mash in a food processor - so I got the FP out. That's when it turned to glue. It was a waste of good potatoes and good butter.

I got Chinese take-away instead :(

Anyway, since you posted a picture of your rendang, here is one of mine prepared earlier. I used my usual rendang cut - oyster blade. The other highlight of that dish is the "son in law eggs" - boiled with a soft, runny yolk then deep fried.

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There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
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Keith, you are absolutely right. I thought maybe I should call it Tina Noodle instead of Wensi Tofu :raz:

Thank you so much for that potato rosti video. I'm so happy to learn new things and it's definitely a good way to practice my knife work! It's on my homework list now!

Life is beautiful.

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Prawncrackers, it is pure genius to use Ox cheek in rendang. I am so going to steal that idea! Beautiful food as always.

Thanks Keith, i'm going to claim that it is actually my original idea to steal from! The eureka moment happened in this cheeky thread back in 2009.

Cheeks are great eating, I had some pigs cheeks in the freezer and made a mole poblano sauce to go with them today. Delicious but impossible to photo nicely:

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Grilling season is definitely here and I know you good people like to see a nice steak. As a plus the asparagus season as also started in the UK so i grilled some of those too.

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Served over Japanese rice with miso aubergine and that same sesame miso sauce from my last post (a real favourite). Best thing was the steak only £6.50 from my local supermarket! Reduced price as it had been on the counter for a week apparently. Whodya thunk aged beef costing less, that's supermarket logic for you. I aged it another 8 days in my fridge before cooking it. I think £ for lb ('scuse the pun) it was the best steak I've ever eaten. Really flavourful and tender.

Edited by Prawncrackers (log)
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Tonight, "Florida-Style" Banh-Mi Sandwiches.

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These are the BBQ smoked, bacon-wrapped chicken/pork meatballs made over the weekend (shown upthread) on whole wheat hoagie rolls, with a Sriracha-lime mayo, pickled onions, fresh chopped pineapple, cilantro and mint, and ripe jalapenos.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Double injected roast chicken, Mk. 3 (roast chicken injected with roast chicken jus). This time I followed the Modernist Cuisine at Home cooking technique - i.e. slow roast to 60C, then rest 45m, then brown the skin under the broiler. Result: my oven cooks the chicken in half the time specified in the book, but broils the chicken in double the time without satisfactory uniform browning (note slight burning).

I had the same trouble getting a good uniform browning. The meat was lovely and moist using the slow cook method. My brother made it again and cranked his oven up to as high as it would go and got a nice brown but he said it made one heck of a mess in the oven. I will be doing a slow cooked bird again and finishing it off in the BGE to get a nice crispy skin.
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I guess if I want good char siu, I’m just going to have to get someone to give me a good recipe and make it from scratch (hint-hint :wink: ).

PM sent :smile:

Last night our Russian friends stopped by and taught Mrs. C to make blini, so we had a classic culture-clash meal: spicy Thai beef with nahm phrik pao and fried shallots, wrapped up in Russian blini. Quite good, actually, but no pics.

Beef stir-fried with cauliflower – Flank steak, sliced thinly and marinated with fish sauce, soy sauce, black pepper, sugar, and cornstarch. Onions, garlic, and parboiled cauliflower. Cilantro after the picture. The flank steak turned out meltingly tender.

Jasmine rice, green salad, and Mrs. C’s delicious salad dressing with pineapple and balsamic vinegar. Warm Costco strawberry-rhubarb crisp for dessert.

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basquecook - I somehow missed commenting on that pork. That looks so amazing! My mom was looking over my shoulder and caught sight of it and said, “WHAT is that? It’s gorgeous!”.

Soba – I think you are probably right! I want to try Chinese sausage – it is on my shopping list for the next time we go by the Asian market.

Prawn – Lobster noodles. Just the name sounds fantastic.

Bruce – back atcha! Thanks!

Monday night Mr. Kim finally redeemed his Father’s day coupon from last June – a dry aged steak dinner with all the trimmings. Pre-dinner munchies included a cheese selection along with white fig preserves (homemade – a gift from a friend), sour cherry preserves and Daelia’s hazelnut w/ fig biscuits for cheese:

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The cheeses were (from 12 o’clock) Roquefort Société Bee, Mitica Capricho de Cabra w. fine herbs, les 3 comtois aged mimolette, Mitica fresco asiago:

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Salad:

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The steak covered one entire plate:

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The sauce was a dried morel and wine sauce that I came up with. I had some of James Peterson’s meat glaze in the freezer and added that and a little salt and pepper. Mr. Kim said it was one of the best things he’s ever eaten.

The baked potato and asparagus had to go on another dinner plate:

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Swaddled bread:

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:laugh:

Dessert was just some minis that we got at WF:

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Éclair, turtle cheesecake, fruit tart and cannoli. The fruit tart and the cannoli were really good. The others were very ordinary. Why does it seem so hard for bakeries and restaurants to get eclairs right? Crème pâtissière is NOT that hard to make and choux pastry is dead easy. And so many places put a thick layer of buttercream icing on top instead of a glaze. I just don’t get it.

Last night my mother was over for dinner. Salad and James Briscione’s sherry shrimp and grits:

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We love these shrimp. I did the grits in the slow cooker – I love this method and don’t think I’ll ever do them stove top again.

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Great posts. Prawncrackers that rib-eye is ridiculous looking. The marbling on that steak is what cardiologist call job security. Jason Perlow - beautiful job on wrapping those meatballs. Drop off a batch and I'll certify the "Florida Style" appellation.

Fresh corn and mushroom chowder. Finished with homemade tasso brunoise, aleppo pepper and spinach (not quite) chiffonade.

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Prawncrackers, absolutely beautiful and delicious dishes! Would you mind telling me about that sesame miso sauce? I searched your posts but didn't find it. Thanks!

Kim, you and Mr Kim really have a delicious life!!!

Edited by TinaYuan (log)

Life is beautiful.

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Prawncrackers beautiful steak, really only £6.50?!

It was Ridonkulously cheap! Keeping my eyes open for those reduced priced Hereford rib roasts at Waitrose on a Tuesday afternoon.

Prawncrackers, absolutely beautiful and delicious dishes! Would you mind telling me about that sesame miso sauce? I searched your posts but didn't find it. Thanks!!

Of course I've been having it with grilled pork chops and beef. I retro-engineered it from one I had in a steak restaurant in Fukuoka. It should be mixed with freshly ground toasted sesame before dipping your meat into it. In the restaurant we each had a small bowl with grooves etched into it called a suribachi. The sesame seeds are ground in this before the sauce is added. The combination of the sweet deeply savoury and deep nuttiness of the sesame is simply sublime:

200ml ichiban dashi made from katsuobushi and kombu

100g brown miso

120g mirin

75g sugar

50g rice wine vinegar

Simmer the above for 15 minutes then add a teaspoon of finely grated ginger and simmer for another 5 minutes. Take off the heat and stir in one tablespoon of yuzu juice (or a mixture of lime and Seville orange). The sauce will keep for a while in the fridge.

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Jason Perlow

great idea on those balls. would the balls freeze well, then thaw and torch a little for future sandwiches?

Absolutely.

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Kim, I looked in your cook book, I googled the chef and I STILL can 't find that recipe! Grrrr! Help, please; they look so good!

"Commit random acts of senseless kindness"

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Prawncrackers, thank you. Definitely grill some meat this weekend!

mm84321, your dish is too beautiful to eat!

I tried to make potato rosti today. Since I don't have mandoline, it's really painful to cut those potatoes. Five potatoes, one hour.....

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Unfortunately, I didn't dry potatoes completely. It turns out only a thin layer of crispy, absolutely I want more. Moreover, my stainless steel pan is sticky. It's a total disaster to get it out of the pan.

In all, it's not successful. Hope next time it will be better~

Garnished with lemon yogurt and cilantro,

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One more thing, could somebody help me with a cutting question?

Why are things always sticky to knife when I cut them, like potato chips, tofu. I have to push them away almost after each cut. Any solution to this problem? Or is there something wrong with my way to cut food? Thanks!

Life is beautiful.

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Tina, you did very well even with your knife problems! Those are very nice juliennes.

Why food sticks to your knife - this is because the surface tension of water and vacuum makes the food stick to your knife. To get around this, either use a thinner knife (like a Japanese sushi knife) or get a knife with scallops near the cutting edge (like a Santoku knife). The scallops introduce air and stops the food from sticking. I wonder if you can oil the knife (though I have never tried it).

I have tried making that rosti as well. In my case I had all the equipment needed - non-stick pan, mandolin, etc. But I couldn't get mine to flip without breaking the rosti. After a few failed attempts, I now crack one egg white into a bowl, whisk it, then add it to the mixture - I found that it works perfectly with no noticable difference in taste.

Edited by Keith_W (log)
There is no love more sincere than the love of food - George Bernard Shaw
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Keith, thank you very much! Your explanation is really helpful. My knife is victorinox 8 inch chef's knife. I don't know if this type of chef's knife all have the same thickness. I will shop for some thinner knife, as you say.

Moreover, I did oil the knife but it didn't work. I also wipe the wet knife but it didn't work either.

My pan is crazily sticky. I also don't have confidence in flipping. So I use two pans to do the flip.... Your solution is great! I will try it next time.

Life is beautiful.

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Tina, I am not sure if there is a way to make wet food not stick to the blade, certainly not a thinner blade.

When two smooth surfaces are closely put together with a very thin layer of water in between, there will be about 14 lbs per sq. inch of atmospheric pressure pushing them together.

Dimpled blades (granton edge) may help a little for thick cuts, but not much for thin cuts.

dcarch

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