5 lb brisket
1/2 c water
1/4 c dark corn syrup
1/4 c ketchup
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 c worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp mustard
2 tsp ground coffee
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp hot pepper sauce
Put the brisket in a deep baking pan. Mix all the other ingredients in a saucepan. Heat to boiling and cook for 5 minutes. Pour over the meat and cook, uncovered, at 325 for 3 hours.
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After the carnitas fail, I decided to just repeat the pressure-cooker braising part, with a slight adjustment to make the beef less salty. Here is the result: a delicious braised tri-tip roast with strong asian flavors.
3 lb tri-tip roast, cut into 2″ chunks
4 cloves garlic, minced
2″ large ginger root, peeled and minced
1 large shallot, peeled, ends removed, and minced
1/8 c soy sauce
1/4 c fish sauce
1/4 c hoisin sauce
1/4 c rice vinegar
1/4 c water
1 tbsp whole black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
4 stars anise
6 dried red peppers
canola oil
Combine the soy, fish sauce, hoisin, and rice vinegar. Heat the pressure cooker on high. When hot, add a little of the oil. Sear the pieces of beef on all sides, 3-4 minutes, in multiple batches. Remove and set aside. Reduce heat to medium and add enough oil to saute the garlic, ginger, and shallot in. Saute until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the water and scrape the bottom of the pot to get off the burned bits from the beef. Add about 1/4 of the soy mixture and continue scraping until the bottom of the pot is smooth. Add the rest of the mixture and cook stirring for about 1 minute. Add the meat and the dry spices. Turn heat to high, cover and seal, and bring up to 15lb pressure. Cook for an hour, turn off the heat, and let the pressure dissipate.
Remove the chunks of beef with tongs. Strain what’s left to produce a smooth gravy. Salvage the softened black peppercorns from the remaining sludge — they’re delicious — but be sure to discard all pieces of the cinnamon stick and star anise, since they’re hard to chew. Shred the meat for sandwiches, serve over rice, etc.
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Due to certain events, we had a lot of beef to cook in a short time, and so I decided to experiment with combining the technique of carnitas with the flavorings of pho and kalbi. The first step, slow-cooking (or this case pressure-cooking) the beef actually was not a fail and came out delicious and flavorful, if a little salty. But in the second step, I managed to burn the shredded meat to a literal crisp and the whole thing had to be tossed. This may be partly due to the beef I used for this being much leaner than the pork I used for carnitas. Anyway, the plan is to (a) try again and be more careful; (b) try again but use country ribs as with the carnitas; or (c) try again but stop after the pressure cooking to get a braised beef recipe.
2 lb tri-tip roast, cut into 2″ chunks
1 tbsp beef fat, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2″ large ginger root, peeled and minced
1 large shallot, peeled, ends removed, and minced
1/4 c soy sauce
1/4 c fish sauce
1/4 c hoisin sauce
1/4 c rice vinegar
1/4 c water
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
3 stars anise
3 dried red peppers
canola oil
Combine the soy, fish sauce, hoisin, and rice vinegar. Heat the pressure cooker on high. Add a little of the oil and the beef fat. Let heat for 30-60 seconds. Add half the beef and sear on all sides, 1-2 minutes, remove, and repeat with the other half. Reduce heat to medium and add enough oil to saute the garlic, ginger, and shallot in. Saute until fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add the water and scrape the bottom of the pot to get off the burned bits. Add about 1/4 of the soy mixture and continue scraping until the bottom of the pot is smooth. Add the rest of the mixture and cook stirring for about 1 minute. Add the meat and the dry spices. Turn heat to high, cover and seal, and bring up to 15lb pressure. Cook for an hour, turn off the heat, and let the pressure dissipate.
After this, put the meat in the oven and burn the bejesus out of it. Throw it out and eat peanut butter for dinner. See the carnitas recipe for actual details.
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This is a good, tasty lentil soup. It’s not very difficult, except for an hour or so of waiting for things to simmer.
1/4 lb bacon, diced
2 c diced yellow onion
2 carrots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
7 c chicken stock
1 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp celery seed
2 bay leaves
1.5 c black lentils
salt, pepper
Saute the bacon on medium until crispy. Remove it from the pan. Saute the onion, carrots, and garlic in the bacon grease on medium-low, covered, for 25 minutes. Add in everything else but the bacon, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer 40 minutes. Puree half of the mixture, add in the bacon, and serve.
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This is a simple stir-fry — or at least it’s simple once you’ve made the chicken. The mixture of the garlic and chili bean sauce is pretty good, but it didn’t really form a sauce for the dish, more a light coating with tasty chunks of garlic. If I did this again, I might add a little soy combined with other flavors and cornstarch at the end for a sauce. Though you want to be careful not to get the chicken too soggy; the thing to do would be probably create the sauce before adding the chicken and then add the chicken, toss it, and serve immediately so that the chicken picks up some flavor but stays mostly dry and a little crispy.
3/4 lb fried chicken bites
1 head broccoli, cut into bite-size pieces
8-10 small crimini mushrooms, stems trimmed and quartered
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp toban djan (Korean chili bean sauce)
2 tsp Korean red pepper flakes
Soy sauce
Vegetable or other oil
Heat the oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the toban djan and a generous sprinkling of red pepper flakes. Saute for another minute or so, then add the broccoli and mushrooms. Toss to cover with the chili-garlic mixture and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add the chicken and a dash of soy sauce, cook for another minute or so, and then serve, probably over rice.
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I decided to try my new fried chicken technique on boneless breast. Since it has no skin, I figured I’d try a coating of corn starch, and I thought it made more sense to fry the chicken in bite-size chunks than to just try frying a big slab of breast meat. I followed the same brine-steam-fry approach (though this time all in one day), and they came out very good, a little crispy outside and tender inside, with a good fried flavor. They worked well added to stir-fried vegetables just at the end, long enough to pick up a little sauce. The increased the salt and sugar in the brine since I was doing it for just 2 hours instead of overnight. Obviously, the flavors mixed into the cornstarch can be varied for different effects. Cayenne pepper is good for extra heat, and turmeric can give the chicken a nice color. Powdered ginger, five-spice powder, or curry powder can all work well too.
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (around 3/4 to 1 lb)
Peanut or other good frying oil
Brine
4 c warm water
1/2 c kosher salt
1/2 c sugar
Coating
Cornstarch
1-2 tbsp ground white pepper
1-2 tbsp Korean red pepper flakes
Mix the brine ingredients in a sealable container until the salt and sugar dissolve in the water. Add the chicken and refrigerate for 2 hours. For a longer brine, halve the salt and sugar and brine overnight. Remove the chicken from the brine. Steam the chicken in a steamer for 45 minutes over medium heat. Remove and chop into bite-size chunks. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator half an hour before frying. Put enough cornstarch in a bowl to toss the chicken pieces in. Add white pepper and red pepper flakes to taste and mix. Add the chicken pieces in batches to the cornstarch mixture and toss to cover. Remove to a colander and shake off excess cornstarch. Add enough peanut oil to a pan to submerge the chicken pieces and heat it to 375. I use a medium saucepan on medium to medium-high and give it 10 minutes to heat up, then fry the chicken a few pieces at a time. Fry each batch for about two minutes, until they start to form a slight crispy crust, then remove them to a paper-towel-covered plate, sprinkle with a little salt, and pat dry. Eat them as finger food, with a dipping sauce, or add them to stir-fried vegetables for a minute or two right at the end.
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This recipe was inspired by the Momofuku fried chicken recipe. David Chang uses a three-step process: brine, steam, fry. The brine (as usual) makes sure the chicken stays juicy; the steam actually cooks the chicken, so the fry can be only as long as necessary to crisp the skin. It worked perfectly and was pretty easy, though it takes time to do all the steps. It doesn’t actually have to be three days — you could do the whole thing over the course of 4-6 hours — but I did the brine overnight (my brine is not as strong as Chang’s), then steamed the chicken the next night and put it back in the fridge, then actually fried it on the third night. I decided to use chicken thighs, since they tend to be juicier than breasts and have a good ratio of meat to bone to skin.
Along with the chicken, I experimented with some sides and garnishes that were less successful. I thought it would be tasty and picturesque to fry whole stalks of thai ginger. They looked pretty good, but didn’t taste so great, acquiring a slightly bitter flavor during the frying. I also fried garlic slices and scallion pieces to accompany the chicken. The garlic was still too garlicky, but the scallions were not bad. I also put a little chili paste in the brine but it didn’t seem to have any effect. Finally, I made a BBQ sauce for dipping, which came out pretty good and went well with the chicken.
4 chicken thighs, bone-in and skin-on
Peanut or other good frying oil
Brine
4 c warm water
1/4 c kosher salt
1/4 c sugar
BBQ Sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp mae ploy (sweet chili sauce)
1 tsp sambal olek (or other hot chili sauce)
a few drops liquid smoke
Mix the brine ingredients in a sealable container until the salt and sugar dissolve in the water. Add the chicken and refrigerate overnight. For a shorter brine, double the salt and sugar and brine for 1-6 hours. Remove the chicken from the brine. Steam the chicken in a steamer for 45 minutes over medium heat. Remove and refrigerate for at least two hours or overnight. Take the chicken out of the refrigerator half an hour before frying. Add enough peanut oil to a pan to submerge the chicken pieces and heat it to 375. I use a medium saucepan on medium to medium-high and give it 10 minutes to heat up, then fry the chicken one piece at a time. Add the chicken to the oil skin side down and fry for 2 minutes. Flip the chicken and fry until golden brown, about 2 more minutes. Remove from the oil to a paper-towel-covered plate and sprinkle with a little kosher salt. Mix the sauce ingredients and serve the chicken with the sauce in a bowl for dipping.
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This is based on my rice and grilled pork soup recipe, which itself is just one way of using leftover pho broth. This time, I decided to experiment with the broth a little, using this recipe. Also, instead of making the kalbi with country ribs I went with bottom round beef for a less fatty texture. I served it with the usual pho accessories, with the addition of some sliced mushrooms. The result was a very good, hearty soup, definitely related to traditional pho but with marked differences.
Asian beef broth
1 1/2 c brown rice, prepared
1 1/2 lb kalbi, with bottom round beef substituted for the country ribs
1 lime, cut into wedges
2 scallions, sliced
1/2 white onion, sliced thin
4-5 large crimini mushrooms, stemmed, halved, and sliced thin
Thai basil leaves
Hoisin, sriracha, and fish sauce to taste
The night before (or even more in advance), make the broth, marinate the beef, and prepare the rice. To serve the soup, pour the broth into a saucepan and add the mushrooms. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, remove the beef from the marinade and place on a hot grill. Grill covered until medium rare or medium, turning once or twice. Remove from grill, let rest for 10 minutes, then cut in thin chunks or slices. Place some of the rice in each bowl and pour the broth over it. Serve with all the other ingredients and add to taste. Juice from the beef may also be added for more kalbi flavor. Makes 4-5 servings.
This broth is based on my pho recipe, but I scaled back the spices relative to the beef flavor a little. I also took a couple of ideas from the cinnamon beef recipe, adding a cinnamon stick and a little soy sauce. Finally, I added some mushrooms for a little more umami. The result was very good, a bit fuller and meatier than my usual pho broth (which is frankly a little thin compared to good restaurant pho), and with less of the spice flavors that E sometimes finds overpowering. It’s a good general-purpose broth for Asian soups. This recipe makes enough for 4-6 bowls of soup.
3.5 lb beef bones
2″ ginger, sliced
1 white onion, quartered
1/2 lb small crimini mushrooms, halved
10 c water
3/8 c soy sauce
1 star anise star
8-10 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
1/4 c fish sauce
In a large skillet, toast the star anise, cloves, cinnamon, and peppercorns on high for a few minutes. Remove and toast the onion, ginger, and mushrooms. Put all the ingredients except the fish sauce in the pressure cooker and bring to a boil on high. Seal the pressure cooker, lower the heat, and bring to 8 lb pressure (first red ring on Kuhn Rikon cookers). Cook for 1 hour, remove from heat, and let cool until pressure returns to normal. Open top and skim off fat (or refrigerate overnight and skim solid fat off the next day). Add fish sauce.
Use for pho, rice and pork soup, or other recipes calling for Vietnamese or Asian beef broth.
This is based on the Smitten Kitchen’s pizza dough recipe. This recipe is for two small thin-crust pizzas.
2 c flour
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 c lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
3 tbsp olive oil
Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump out onto a lightly floured surface and knead everything into a ball. Let it sit for five minutes. Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl the original mixing bowl, put the dough back in, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap, and leave it for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size. Dump it back on the floured counter, and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.
Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and preheat your oven to its top temperature. Roll out the pizza, toss on whatever topping and seasonings you like. Bake it for about 10 minutes until it’s lightly blistered.
