Dinner! 2013 (Part 5)

[Paul Bacino]

C..

It's this

Gramercy Tavern

[Dejah]

Memories of a wonderful meal we had in Singapore last April: Coffee Flavoured Pork Spareribs:

Then we got brave and bought a previously frozen durian. The first time we tried one, it was so foul we couldn't get it past our nostrils. It was opened in the garage and then went directly into the dumpster. Poor neighbors.

The second time, we had it at a cousin's house, squeezed our noses closed, and got it into out mouths - really enjoyed it!

Then, we had it fresh in Malaysia last spring - really strong aroma, but it didn't bother us, and it was absolutely delicious!

So, when I saw them at the store yesterday, I picked one up. Expensive - $5.98 for 3 lobes, but really good. I wonder if being frozen that the odour is reduced?

[Franci]

Dejah, your coffee ribs are so inviting, would you mind sharing the recipe? Last April I think we barely missed each other in Singapore...With only 3 days there, I think we did an amazing job at tasting the local specialties but I missed the coffee spareribs.

A Singaporean friend offered me these durian puffs made by a very good bakery and I admit it's a flavor you can get addicted.

Dcarch, beautiful. May I ask you how do you cook the chrysanthemum? I cook all stalks, love them, but these stalks look very woody to me, even for PC. Do you keep them for decoration, do you have a trick or like them no natter what?

Here it is becoming tradition to have little necks on Sunday night because I get them at the Farmers mkt. so we had that and some sauté escarole and chicory.

[Dejah]

Here ya go, Franci:

This was sent to me by my friend in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. She and another friend took us over (across the bridge) for the day. As we had been staying with Muslim friends, that day was pork, pork, and more pork:

Coffee Flavoured Spare Ribs

This dish is both sweet and slightly bitter (because of use of the coffee granules). Choose the spare ribs carefully, select those that are fleshy (also known as the soft bone) and you will get a very meaty and rich and aromatic dish.

Ingredients

1.

Spare ribs

1 kg, cut into pieces

2.

Oyster sauce

1 tablespoon

3.

Sugar

1 teaspoon

4.

Salt

1 teaspoon

5.

Sesame oil

1 teaspoon

6.

Egg

1

7.

Plain Flour

2 tablespoon

8.

Custard powder

1 tablespoon

9.

Bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon

10.

Water

200 ml

11.

Corn flour

200 gram

12.

Maltose

2 tablespoon

13.

Sugar

2 tablespoon

14.

Worchestershire sauce

1 tablespoon

15.

Instant coffee granules

1 teaspoon

16.

Water

100 ml

Method

1. Combine ingredients 2 to 11, add ribs and marinate for 3 hours.

2. Heat oil in wok until very hot and deep fry ribs until golden brown. Drain.

3. Mix ingredients 12 to 16 and stir in clean wok for 2 minutes until thicken.

4. Put in fried ribs, mix quickly and serve.

[Morkai]

I made Kenji Alt's turkey "porchetta" tonight. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/11/sous-vide-deep-fried-turkey-porchetta-recipe.html?ref=box_latest

Breast butterflied, stuffed with sage/garlic/S&P, wrapped with turkey skin, cooked SV then pan fried to crisp up the skin. Really good.

IMG_20131114_200810_165.jpg

Was the "turchetta" difficult to roll? I am thinking of doing this for Thanksgiving, but haven't yet decided. Kenji writes the article as if it's a revelation. Your thoughts?

[dcarch]

Franci'"---Dcarch, beautiful. May I ask you how do you cook the chrysanthemum? I cook all stalks, love them, but these stalks look very woody to me, even for PC. Do you keep them for decoration, do you have a trick or like them no natter what?---"

You are correct that the chrysanthemum stems can be tough. The basic trick:

1. selected the ones that looks tender.

2. Bundle them and tie with a rubber band.

3. Boil them vertically in shallow pot of water until they are tender. Don't boil the leafy part.

4. After the stem are tenderized, stir fry the whole thing.

dcarch

[huiray]

Franci'"---Dcarch, beautiful. May I ask you how do you cook the chrysanthemum? I cook all stalks, love them, but these stalks look very woody to me, even for PC. Do you keep them for decoration, do you have a trick or like them no natter what?---"

You are correct that the chrysanthemum stems can be tough. The basic trick:

1. selected the ones that looks tender.

2. Bundle them and tie with a rubber band.

3. Boil them vertically in shallow pot of water until they are tender. Don't boil the leafy part.

4. After the stem are tenderized, stir fry the whole thing.

dcarch

Interesting.

dcarch, are these chrysanthemum plants that you grow and cook as described the same variety as "tong ho" ( 茼蒿 ) ? The "Garland Chrysanthemum" one can buy (usually when in season) in Chinese groceries?

I've never grown them myself but if these are the ones you cooked I buy them from Chinese/Vietnamese/"Asian" groceries and have not had any problems with woody stems. The issue I have with tong ho is, rather, in keeping them from turning to mush. If I blanch them they go into the oiled boiling water (trimmed or whole smaller plants) *just* until they wilt and no longer. In soups ditto, and it is served/eaten at once. [The "blanching water", on leaving to stand after scooping out the tong ho, will turn deep green-blue]

[basquecook]

Catered a 40th wedding anniversary party for a little over 50 people.. They wanted stations, passed hors devours and then a brief dinner with more platters and chafing dish stations.

The couple met in Maryland. They had a beautiful loft in the flatiron district. It was mainly a crowd of actors and theater people as that was the couple's profession. They were not really into food but, enjoyed crab. We normally make a menu with the customer, we prefer to make our own but, when we have a few meetings with the people, we get an idea and eventually like to create a menu. These particular people were very adamant about a few things.. We had to have crab cakes, crab dip, there were vegans coming, they wanted a cheese plate, they wanted smoked pulled pork, some hand made pasta the rest was really up to us.

We sort of created the menu prior to heading to the space. They told us the apartment was huge so we figured it would have a huge kitchen. We were wrong, the oven was 12.5 inches wide and 17 inches deep. They also had a toaster oven and four burners. One small sink.

This definitely posed an issue.

We started with these really cool shot glass looking guys filled with a fall soup of butternut squash, sweet potato, apple, ruttabaga, yams, carrots. We finished the soup with cream and maple syrup, topped with cayenne and served with a peanut butter cookie cooked with foie gras in the dough and then filled with a foie gras mousse. Sort of like a foie gras peanut butter oreo. For the vegan was served a gingersnap cookie and just finished the soup with maple syrup. The soup was roasted, then blended, put through a China Hat twice.

One of the only photos.. If not the only photo. Egg shells cut off, a custard was made in the shell, a roasted mushroom, a spear of chive and shaving of black truffle. That was left over that came back into the kitchen after the night.

Ravioli for 50 was a challenge. Vegan was water and flour pasta dough, filled with sweet potaotes mixed with a cashew ricotta we made, toasted pecans, a match sticked apple slices topped with a sage olive oil. Non vegan was homemade ricotta, roasted sweet potato, ravioli, topped with toasted pecans, match sticked apples and shaved 5 year gouda and brown butter. We served in platers. Having 4 burners going at once, we were making 15 ravioli at a time, per pot. So it was like 2.5 rounds. Made them the night before and kept in the fridge.

We made roasted cauliflower, roasted red and golden beets on a huge plater with dollops of cashew ricotta and topped with a gremolita of scallions, parsley, lemon and raw garlic.

Cheese plates were fairly impressive.

Vegetable crudites with vegan and regular mint dipping sauces.. I actually preferred our vegan dip and I couldn't believe it. We hallowed out a few different types of squash for the dip containers.

Mini crab cakes, whole lump mixed with backfin, homemade bread crumbs, fried in clarified butter. Topped with a homemade mustard, togarashi, micro greens.

There was a whole thing of crostinis. Salt cod and potato brandade topped with a home made pickled cherry pepper, vegan lentil crostini, shrimp and avacado (as requested)

Crab dip was a huge amount of lump and back fin. Topped with a sharp cheedar cheese. We made homemade pita chips to serve with it.

Smoked pork brined for 2 days, rubbed for a day, smoked for 10 hours. Got up at 430 to start smoking, happy it started raining.

I am sure I am forgetting things. Long day, 23 hour day of cooking. I could barely walk Sunday.

Edited November 18, 2013 by basquecook (log)

[Ann_T]

Paul, Love the idea of meatballs and mashed potatoes - Comfort food.

A "loose" version of a Teppanyaki Steak dinner.

Trimmed New York Strip Steaks.

Steaks seared on both sides and then cut into bite size pieces.

Grilled Chicken Breasts - Tacos with homemade corn tortillas.

[Franci]

Thanks both, Dejah and Dcarch!

Basquecook, that was quite a lot of work. RAvioli for 50? You are brave.

[basquecook]

November 30th, I have a 130 person wedding, they too would like ravioli. The scary thing is, we are making a ricotta and beet. Beet ravioli is tough as they bleed and are very fragile. Too hot they melt, to cold, they crack. It's going to take me at least 6 hours of straight ravioli making. I am dreading it.

[ScottyBoy]

Long time no see everyone!

Winter time!

12 hour wagyu beef and berkshire pork belly, roasted garlic farro, smoked ham and pork-beef demiglace.

[scubadoo97]

Very nice!

[mm84321]

I don't think I've seen pork and beef on the same plate outside of a take-out Chinese restaurant. Interesting combo!

[Ann_T]

Scottyboy, WOW!!!

Blanquette de Veau.

[patrickamory]

Ann_T - blanquette de veau, something I always plan to make and never end up making. Looks delicious.

What recipe do you use?

[stephen129]

Thanks dcarch, but I have seen the combo in the past. Bernard Pacaud, in particular, who does a veloute of jerusalem artichokes with scallops and black truffle, and similarly roasted with pigeon jus and chopped black truffle.

"Salade empereur"...basically poularde thighs and lobster with Caesar dressing..

Very impressive Max.

Are you a professional out of interest, or just a very enthusiastic/talented home cook?

[mm84321]

Are you a professional out of interest, or just a very enthusiastic/talented home cook?

Thanks, Stephen. I'm not a professional. I just enjoy cooking and eating.

[huiray]

Some recent simple dinners.

------------------------

Early dinner

• Turbot fillets marinated in rice wine (ryori-shu), sweet mirin, fresh lemon juice, ground white & black pepper, sea salt; then poached in the marinade. Parsley leaves garnish.

• Pan-fried delicata squash crescents.

• Fried rice, w/ Western celery & scallions, salted to taste.

------------------------

Dinner

• Salmon fillets, de-skinned; steamed w/ coarse local mustard [Localfolks Foods] (has jalapenos in it), sliced white/button mushrooms, rice wine (ryori-shu), juice of ½ a lime, a bit of salt, a splash of mirin.

• Romaine lettuce blanched in oiled hot water, dressed w/ oyster sauce [LKK] & ground white & black pepper.

• White rice (Basmati).

------------------------

Late dinner

• Sliced chicken breast marinated w/ Shaohsing wine, ground white pepper, vegetable oil, sea salt; stir-fried w/ chopped garlic & chiffonaded turnip greens in vegetable oil.

•White rice (Basmati).

[rotuts]

everything excellent as usual, H.

except the celery for some reason cant stand the texture, esp when cooked.

use the leaves all the time though.

[patrickamory]

Following andiesenji's recommendation, I ordered wild rice from Bineshi Farms. Canoe-harvested, wood-parched. I've never seen wild rice this color:

The stuff I get is usually black. This has a nutty, woodsy smell raw. Almost like gerbil food - I realize that doesn't have a good connotation, but stay with me here.

Here is what it looks like cooked, which only takes about 15 minutes (compared to an hour for the black stuff):

The flavor is extremely nutty and complex. Gerbil smell all gone. Hard to describe. Easy to eat tons without any salt or oil - it's delicious. It doesn't have the chewiness of the black wild rice, but perhaps I could cook it for less time - I do enjoy that texture.

And finally, with midnight black beans on top:

Thanks for the tip, andie!

[Ann_T]

Ann_T - blanquette de veau, something I always plan to make and never end up making. Looks delicious.

What recipe do you use

Patrick, I use a recipe that I've had for more than 25 years. It was a recipe from a newspaper - The Toronto Star. I'll be happy to send it to you, if you would like.

[patrickamory]

Ann - yes please! Thanks, very much looking forward.

[Unpopular Poet]

Ann -- could you send me that recipe as well -- I have been aching to make this for some time and haven't found a recipe to use -- I really appreciate it!

Thanks

Dan

[Ann_T]

Ann - yes please! Thanks, very much looking forward.

Ann -- could you send me that recipe as well -- I have been aching to make this for some time and haven't found a recipe to use -- I really appreciate it!

Thanks

Dan

Done!