Phew. What a trip. Over 3,000 photos to review and organize... I don't even know where to begin! A few first impressions:
1) The upcoming Audi A7 is a massively beautiful car.
2) British Airways has shockingly inconsistent service, ranging from the fantastic to the absolute most obnoxious, condescending, trip-ruining experience I've ever been subjected to. Their scones are pretty great though.
3) We have some pretty great food in the States.
Seriously, it seems like most Americans love talking about how mindbendingly amazing the food is in Europe... but then I don't think most Americans eat as well as I do here back at home in LA. Of all the on-shore meals we had, only a handful I would have considered truly memorable based on the merits of the food itself--in other words, when I leave out of consideration the company in my presence, the beautiful locations, the exoticism of it all. Mind you, we rarely ate at agency-friendly, kickback-endorsing, tourist trap-type places: most of the restaurants we went to had been researched, recommended, and booked by ourselves. Yet at the end of the day, Barcelona was meh, Italy was better... only Nice met my expectations. Nice was also the only French town we were in, so maybe conventional thinking is right: the French do still have the best food?
Holy fuck. I think I'm missing four days' worth of pictures. HOLY FUCK!! THAT'S FUCKING EVERYTHING FROM ROME TO POMPEI!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!?!
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Shanghai Style Braised Pork Butt
So for my very first bona fide food post, I thought I'd share with y'all a recipe I've concocted from online research for 紅燒蹄膀 and classic Western cooking techniques I've learned from Alton Brown/Harold McGee. It's something that I know several of my friends have been quite interested in... I'm using it as exclusive content here (EXCLUSIVE!!) to lure all y'all into following my blog. If nobody follows this shit within 29 hours from the moment of this writing, I shall close this account, close my fb account, close frikkin' everything, and go live in a cave, probably somewhere in Oregon. Please let me know if you're reading this!! Positive reinforcement (aka ego-stroking) sustains my soul!!
So without further ado... Shanghai Style Braised Pork Butt. Oh but some pictures first, so you know what it is you're laboring towards...
When it came time for lé chowdown, I also threw a 65º egg on top. 64º probably would've been better with an ever so slightly runny yolk. But this was pretty good, nonetheless.
=======================================================
OK, first of all, the traditional Chinese cut of pork to use is the hind leg, AKA hock or knuckle. Really though, any cut is fine as long as it's high-fat and high-connective-tissue. I like pork butt b/c it's a little bit leaner, but the downside is that there's less gooey chunks of gelatin in there which is what makes it all so delicious. Also, pork butt is definitely way more widely available, and if I have guests, picky palates would find it more familiar to eat.
Ingredients: Pork, ginger, scallions, garlic, star anise, soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar
1) First, blanch the pork in boiling, salty water. You can blanch it as long as you like: the longer you blanch it and the more of that frothy stuff comes out, the clearer your sauce is gonna be, but if you're just cooking for family, a minute of blanching is plenty, and I always believe that I'm losing more flavor than I need to if I blanch for longer than that.
2) Take the pork out of the pot, let it sit and cool off in plate/bowl (so you collect the juices that may flow). When it's just barely cool enough to handle, pat dry with paper towels. As the pork is cooling off more, heat up a dutch oven with a little bit of oil until the oil starts to smoke. Now sear the pork, fat/skin side down first. Leave it there for 2 minutes or so on high high heat while a bit of a crust develops and some of the fat renders out. When the skin is sufficiently browned, sear the other sides until they too, have browned.
3) Remove pork, now throw in the ginger (there should be enough pork fat that's hot enough that the ginger should be popping). After a bit, throw in the star anise, scallions and the garlic (in that order, preferably). It's difficult to overload on the scallions, garlic, and ginger (in that order), but be careful with the star anise... two to maaaaybe three stars per pound of pork, tops. When the fragrance of this aromatic quartet start to overwhelm your kitchen (but before the garlic burns), deglaze with a cup or so of the soy sauce + rice wine mixture. If you have a stove hood that won't melt, you might even want to light the rice wine on fire (I always do), especially if you have anybody watching... it's *very* dramatic. Now add Chinese rock sugar and let it dissolve fully. You want to add enough sugar that the sauce just begins to taste *too sweet*.
4) Now put the pork butt back in the pot, lay some uncooked scallions over it, and fill the dutch oven with more soy sauce + rice wine + sugar until it comes up to about an inch from the top of the meat. The final sauce before the braising process should be balanced thusly: the soy sauce + sugar in balance so that it you can't decide if it tastes savory or sweet, and enough rice wine so that the sauce doesn't make you pucker up from how salty it is.
*Note, if your dutch oven is significantly bigger than your pork cut such that it's taking a LOT of soy sauce + rice wine to reach that level, feel free to stick some other things in the pot to help bring up the level. I suggest a peeled, medium-boiled egg or two, maybe some dried or extra firm tofu, drained, of course.
5) Now throw the whole thing in the oven, let it braise for 4 hrs plus at 250F. Unless I'm in a hurry, I usually check at 4 hours to see if it's falling-apart tender yet... if not, then I re-check at 45 minute intervals. If you're in a hurry, you can do 3 hrs at 300F and start checking at that point, but I recommend low and slow. When it's done, DE-FAT! Always remember to de-fat (skim the layer of oil off the top) or... or ELSE! OR ELSE! Just do it.
That's it! 5 easy steps! Have fun trying to get the damn thing out of the pot, LOL...
So without further ado... Shanghai Style Braised Pork Butt. Oh but some pictures first, so you know what it is you're laboring towards...
=======================================================
OK, first of all, the traditional Chinese cut of pork to use is the hind leg, AKA hock or knuckle. Really though, any cut is fine as long as it's high-fat and high-connective-tissue. I like pork butt b/c it's a little bit leaner, but the downside is that there's less gooey chunks of gelatin in there which is what makes it all so delicious. Also, pork butt is definitely way more widely available, and if I have guests, picky palates would find it more familiar to eat.
Ingredients: Pork, ginger, scallions, garlic, star anise, soy sauce, rice wine, rock sugar
1) First, blanch the pork in boiling, salty water. You can blanch it as long as you like: the longer you blanch it and the more of that frothy stuff comes out, the clearer your sauce is gonna be, but if you're just cooking for family, a minute of blanching is plenty, and I always believe that I'm losing more flavor than I need to if I blanch for longer than that.
2) Take the pork out of the pot, let it sit and cool off in plate/bowl (so you collect the juices that may flow). When it's just barely cool enough to handle, pat dry with paper towels. As the pork is cooling off more, heat up a dutch oven with a little bit of oil until the oil starts to smoke. Now sear the pork, fat/skin side down first. Leave it there for 2 minutes or so on high high heat while a bit of a crust develops and some of the fat renders out. When the skin is sufficiently browned, sear the other sides until they too, have browned.
3) Remove pork, now throw in the ginger (there should be enough pork fat that's hot enough that the ginger should be popping). After a bit, throw in the star anise, scallions and the garlic (in that order, preferably). It's difficult to overload on the scallions, garlic, and ginger (in that order), but be careful with the star anise... two to maaaaybe three stars per pound of pork, tops. When the fragrance of this aromatic quartet start to overwhelm your kitchen (but before the garlic burns), deglaze with a cup or so of the soy sauce + rice wine mixture. If you have a stove hood that won't melt, you might even want to light the rice wine on fire (I always do), especially if you have anybody watching... it's *very* dramatic. Now add Chinese rock sugar and let it dissolve fully. You want to add enough sugar that the sauce just begins to taste *too sweet*.
4) Now put the pork butt back in the pot, lay some uncooked scallions over it, and fill the dutch oven with more soy sauce + rice wine + sugar until it comes up to about an inch from the top of the meat. The final sauce before the braising process should be balanced thusly: the soy sauce + sugar in balance so that it you can't decide if it tastes savory or sweet, and enough rice wine so that the sauce doesn't make you pucker up from how salty it is.
*Note, if your dutch oven is significantly bigger than your pork cut such that it's taking a LOT of soy sauce + rice wine to reach that level, feel free to stick some other things in the pot to help bring up the level. I suggest a peeled, medium-boiled egg or two, maybe some dried or extra firm tofu, drained, of course.
5) Now throw the whole thing in the oven, let it braise for 4 hrs plus at 250F. Unless I'm in a hurry, I usually check at 4 hours to see if it's falling-apart tender yet... if not, then I re-check at 45 minute intervals. If you're in a hurry, you can do 3 hrs at 300F and start checking at that point, but I recommend low and slow. When it's done, DE-FAT! Always remember to de-fat (skim the layer of oil off the top) or... or ELSE! OR ELSE! Just do it.
That's it! 5 easy steps! Have fun trying to get the damn thing out of the pot, LOL...
Hello errrbody!
Wow. My first post ever on blogspot. I suppose a short introduction is in order.
Hi, my name is Elliott W. I used to yelp, but then blah blah blah and now I'm here.
Wow that's the shortest story I've ever written! Two records in a single day!
So I suppose I should add what this blog is going to be all about:
Me.
WHOA!! THAT WAS EVEN SHORTER!!! ZOMG I AM ON A FUCKING ROLL!!!!!
Hi, my name is Elliott W. I used to yelp, but then blah blah blah and now I'm here.
Wow that's the shortest story I've ever written! Two records in a single day!
So I suppose I should add what this blog is going to be all about:
Me.
WHOA!! THAT WAS EVEN SHORTER!!! ZOMG I AM ON A FUCKING ROLL!!!!!
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