Dinner 2015 (Part 6)

[sartoric]

Marinated roast belly pork, served with cucumber salad, eggplant salad, rice, lettuce to wrap and a lime pepper dipping sauce. All recipes adapted from a book by Kylie Kwong. She's a fifth generation Chinese Australian, has an award winning restaurant in Sydney, writes books and makes food doco's.

 

The pork.

 

The accompaniments.

 

The meal.

[patrickamory]

Wow sartoric that looks fabulous. Beautiful nubbins on the pork skin.

[sartoric]

Thanks patrickamory, here's a link to the recipe.

 

https://www.facebook.com/Whats-for-dinner--1427021760943871/

[David Ross]

Finally after three weeks of waiting we have deliveries of fresh Dungeness Crab off the WA Coast.  The fishery usually opens around December 1, but this year some of the fishing grounds off OR and WA were closed due to toxins in the water.  I only buy fresh, deep-water crabs the first of the season, but my guy Mike at Williams Seafood in Spokane always comes through in the end, in spite of limitations during the first rush of folks wanting crabs for the Holidays.

 

The photo doesn't do it justice, but this is my Dungeness Crab Cake on a bed of greens.  It's a mix of fresh crab, homemade mayonnaise, red and green pepper, green onion, tabasco and a bit of fresh bread crumb.  Always sautéed in clarified butter.

 

[Okanagancook]

Nice pork belly.  By the looks of the thickness, it must have been juicy.

Nice crab cakes!  So envious of west coast fresh crabs.  Just enough other stuff for the crab to stay together.  Do you form them ahead and leave in fridge to meld together and do you use any Old Bay?

[sartoric]

40 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Nice pork belly.  By the looks of the thickness, it must have been juicy.

Nice crab cakes!  So envious of west coast fresh crabs.  Just enough other stuff for the crab to stay together.  Do you form them ahead and leave in fridge to meld together and do you use any Old Bay?

Sure was juicy, I use an Asian butcher for the best pork belly.

 

Crab is my favourite food @David Ross, they look delish !

[huiray]

2 hours ago, sartoric said:

Marinated roast belly pork, served with cucumber salad, eggplant salad, rice, lettuce to wrap and a lime pepper dipping sauce. All recipes adapted from a book by Kylie Kwong. She's a fifth generation Chinese Australian, has an award winning restaurant in Sydney, writes books and makes food doco's.

 

The pork.

https://forums.egullet.org/uploads/monthly_2015_12/image.jpeg.ca2e07c02fc77f3bd987441354097965.jpeg 

 

The accompaniments.

https://forums.egullet.org/uploads/monthly_2015_12/image.jpeg.557de26c4369201279c771469223833c.jpeg 

 

The meal.

https://forums.egullet.org/uploads/monthly_2015_12/image.jpeg.d373ecd75ec0e6e8fba7cd4aa278b4c0.jpeg 

 

Sartoric, why not add this to the pork belly cook-off?

 

[Okanagancook]

Sartoric, I think you just nailed it, it ALL depends on the meat.  We are blessed with a little butcher shop here in our small town of 35,000 people.  I have cultivated my relationship with them and am usually invited to choose the belly I want from the pile they get each week. 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

45 minutes ago, huiray said:

 

Sartoric, why not add this to the pork belly cook-off?

 

@sartoric

 

huiray has a great idea. The Dinner topic is great for ideas and lovely food porn, but it can be very difficult to find something you know is there later because it is so huge and varied in content. That is, of course, what makes it so great, but frustrating to search.

 

Your pork belly treatment looks pretty epic, and for those of us with access to an Asian butcher that carries both whole and sliced pork belly, it would be great to go to the pork belly cook-off topic to find the recipe. I and others may well want to use it later.

Edited December 21, 2015 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[sartoric]

50 minutes ago, huiray said:

 

Sartoric, why not add this to the pork belly cook-off?

 

Done !

[Ann_T]

Sartoric, your dinner looks amazing.

 

  

 

Friday night, I roasted a small turkey breast and made hot turkey sandwiches with double fried fries.

 

Saturday night was Pizza night.  Using dough that had been in the fridge since Wednesday.   Baked two pizzas. in the  Bakerstone Pizza oven on the grill.

Greek Pizza for my son.

 

Moe and I shared an Italian Sausage and Mushroom.

 

Tonight we had roast chicken Italian style with a side of spaghetti Aglio E Olio.

[David Ross]

9 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Nice pork belly.  By the looks of the thickness, it must have been juicy.

Nice crab cakes!  So envious of west coast fresh crabs.  Just enough other stuff for the crab to stay together.  Do you form them ahead and leave in fridge to meld together and do you use any Old Bay?

I don't form them ahead because the small amount of fresh bread crumbs seems to get gummy.  I just form them and straight into the hot clarified butter in a non-stick pan.  And yes!  A good measure of Old Bay. 

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Ricotta and quinua gnocchi (shout-out to @SobaAddict70 for the base recipe) in a sauce of ground beef, wild mushrooms, and red wine.  Oh, and asparagus.  It doesn't look the most delectable, but it tasted insanely good.

[Shelby]

Gnocchi, crab cakes and pork belly OH MY!!

 

Was busy Saturday getting ready for a big meal yesterday (see the lunch thread) so Saturday was a simple, piled high pastrami sandwich on @cyalexa's wonderful recipe for homemade buns.

 

 

 

Last night (after gorging on brunchy food all afternoon) we wanted just a little something so we broke out some oysters and some shrimp cocktail.

 

Edited December 21, 2015 by Shelby (log)

[kayb]

@sartoric, let me add my congrats to you on the pork belly; a lovely thing. I've never attempted to cook pork belly; this may encourage me to do so. @David Ross, if I could have those crab cakes for Christmas dinner, I'd be a happy woman.

[huiray]

13 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@sartoric

 

huiray has a great idea. The Dinner topic is great for ideas and lovely food porn, but it can be very difficult to find something you know is there later because it is so huge and varied in content. That is, of course, what makes it so great, but frustrating to search.

 

Your pork belly treatment looks pretty epic, and for those of us with access to an Asian butcher that carries both whole and sliced pork belly, it would be great to go to the pork belly cook-off topic to find the recipe. I and others may well want to use it later.

 

There is also the pork belly topic.

[ninagluck]

trout rillettes for christmas done!

[weinoo]

I did a dinner party for 6 the other night, themed from our recent trip to Madrid/Rome.

 

Bottled Boulevardier which has absolutely nothing to do with either of the above.

 

Tapas

 

Cured Pork Products (Spanish)

Anchovy, Pickle and Olive Banderillas

White Anchovy & Pimento Toasts

Sherry & Pimenton-d Mushrooms

Toasted Marcona Almonds

Garlic Shrimp

 

One    

 

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

 

Two

 

New Zealand Grass-Fed Lamb Leg "Zikiro" - a riff on a Basque recipe from Gerald Hirigoyen, basically butterflied, marinaded and roasted

Potatoes cooked in that same roasting pan

 

Endive in lieu of Puntarelle and in the style of the classic Roman salad.

 

Three

 

Spanish Cheese Assortment

 

Four

 

Tarta de Naranja

Saffron Vanilla Ice Cream

 

Lots of sherry, some great wines, and digestifs.

 

Notes: I like American lamb more.

[sartoric]

So I've ummed and ahhed all morning about posting this but here goes....

 

After such success with the pork belly, the next night brings unmitigated failure ! 

 

This is is my nth attempt at an authentic Vietnamese Pho Bo. 

My usually reliable source suggested browning the beef and pork bones in the oven first, then simmering with the appropriate spices for several hours. The stock was gelatinous, but tasteless.

 

Can an any one help me with a stock for pho ?

 

PS - the dogs thought it was fine...

 

 

[huiray]

On 12/22/2015 at 1:02 PM, sartoric said:

My usually reliable source suggested browning the beef and pork bones in the oven first, then simmering with the appropriate spices for several hours. The stock was gelatinous, but tasteless.

 

Can an any one help me with a stock for pho ?

 

 

Well, I don't know if I can be of much help, but here are some examples of phở that Ive made and posted about here on eG: HERE and HERE for example. The commentary might be of use, perhaps. I don't roast my bones, but I do parboil them ("fei sui" treatment, in Cantonese; SEE HERE too for some comments) and I do make sure my onion and ginger are charred. I also use more star anise and spices than many other people use (do you add black cardamom into your stock?) (DO NOT use green cardamom, the two are NOT INTERCHANGEABLE) At least in my hands, one needs to ADD ENOUGH fish sauce (quite a bit), and don't skip on the rock sugar. I use Red Boat fish sauce nowadays, but used Three Crabs, & etc years ago. I believe in Australia Megachef is supposed to be a highy-praised brand put out by David Thompson.

 

Have you tried Andrea Nguyen's method for phở bò ?  

(As I mentioned above I use far more spices and seasonings than she does but that may not suit many people)

 

 

[Host's note:  To avoid an excessive load on our servers this topic has been split.  The discussion continues here]

Edited December 28, 2015 by lesliec
Added host's note (log)