Open Thread WE 26 OCT 22 ~
Hey all. Made a dish sorta like this awhile back. Used ground pork instead of the BBQ.
Came out very good, especially when compared to the takee-outee versions. Our wok
when to dumpster land due to the cheap "non-stick" coating that was peeling off. An
old wedding gift. Now, I just use the good old stand-by cast iron skillet.
▢ 1 tablespoon hot water
▢ 1 teaspoon honey
▢ 1 teaspoon sesame oil
▢ 1 teaspoon Shaoxing wine (or dry cooking sherry)
▢ 1 tablespoon soy sauce
▢ 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
▢ 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
▢ 5 cups cooked Jasmine rice (add 1 teaspoon oil to rice when cooking)
▢ 1 tablespoon oil
▢ 1 medium onion (diced)
▢ 1 pound Chinese BBQ pork
▢ 1 teaspoon salt
▢ 1/2 cup bean sprouts
▢ 2 eggs (scrambled)
▢ 2 scallions (chopped)
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FOR THE PORK
1 lb. pork tenderloin
1/4 cup Stubb’s Pork dry rub
1/2 cup Stubb’s Sticky Sweet BBQ sauce
FOR THE RICE
5 cups rice, cooked and cooled in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours or up to overnight
3 eggs, beaten
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, defrosted
1 t. Stubb’s Pork dry rub
Never really follow recipes, just sort of improvise, using whatever is on-hand combined
with idiosyncratic tastes. The various recipes are somewhat useful guides for
ingredients and amounts. Usually work with the sifting of several for any new dish.
The rice is pretty important. Lately have been using Jasmine brown rice
with a touch of Saffron and 1/2 chicken stock with 1/2 the required cooking water.
Yummy.
~
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What have you found good in the Asian cuisine universe? Open thread so post away on
whatever you find contemplative.
Comments
Good Morning folks
On this date in history ..
1825 -- Erie Canal between Hudson River & Lake Erie opens
1850 -- Robert McClure sights the fabled Northwest Passage for the first time (from Banks Island towards Melville Island)
1861 -- Pony Express (Missouri to California) ends after 19 months
1863 -- International conference begins in Geneva aimed at improving medical conditions on battlefields - beginning of the Red Cross
1881 -- Gunfight at the OK Corral: The most famous shootout in the Wild West occurs, between lawmen (including Wyatt Earp) and the Cowboys, with Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton killed
1916 -- American sex educator Margaret Sanger arrested for obscenity (advocating birth control)
1918 -- Germany's supreme commander General Eric Ludendorff resigns, protesting the terms to which the German Government has agreed in negotiating an armistice
1962 -- Nikita Khrushchev sends note to JFK offering to withdraw his missiles from Cuba if US closes its bases in Turkey: offer is rejected
1965 -- Queen Elizabeth decorates The Beatles with medals making them members Order of the British Empire (MBE) at Buckingham Palace
1970 -- "Doonesbury" comic strip debuts in 28 newspapers
1971 -- UN votes to replace Taiwan with China
1972 -- Henry Kissinger declares "Peace is at hand" in Vietnam
1985 -- Hurricane Juan kills 97 in US (I was in that one - twice!)
1988 -- Donald Trump bills Mike Tyson $2,000,000 for 4 months' advisory service
2001 -- The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
There's a Korean dish
called Jjamppong (or Jambon when Murkanized) that I absolutely love, and for which I have never found a good recipe. There was one place to get it: Red Coral, up off of Colorado Blvd. They went out of business, and their front-of-house lady and chef moved down to a place near here. So I can still get it, thank Gawd, although they only do it on Thursdays- and who knows for how long. It is a spicy seafood and noodle soup, and is best served in gallon quantities. When I get it I cannot stop noshing on it, and tend to wound myself and require transport away from the table.
The linked recipe isn't bad, but isn't quite it. Since I can still get it from the source, I haven't dived in any further to try to reproduce it. But if anybody has a really good recipe, I'm all ears! It is all about a delicate, knowledgeable touch on that ginger/chili roux that you start with, I think. After that, it is probably nail soup. There are few things that can rival it when there's snow in the air.
Hey, EL and the other Bay Area folks- how was that little 5.1 for ya?
Be safe out there.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
Wow, that's a delightful looking bowl
It may be too spicy for my wife, but I could tone down the chili pepper.
Thanks!
Yeah, mon!
I didn't even think to post that picture. The local variant has a ton of calamari, mussels for days, whatever white fish is laying around, straw mushrooms and bamboo shoots and I gotta stop typing or the saliva will short out the keyboard...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
That is a beautiful thing
. that delicious bowl of food posted above.
Meh. That was south bay, east of San Jose and
on the Calaveras Fault which is fairly close as such things go, and does intersect our fault not too far away as such things go, but we didn't even feel it because we were running errands in the car at the time. Our fault, fwiw, is the Hayward Fault, considered to be one of the scarier faults around, about 3 or 4 miles west of us. We feel even mere threes on that puppy.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
That sounds great
. I could eat that!
Here is what I remember from my Thai cooking class
in Bangkok: No wok, no stir fry. Woks should have a rough surface, as though whoever smelted them banged the interior of the wok while it was hot. This allows the ingredients to be stir fried individually, then raked up to stick on the rough surface while the other ingredients are cooked. After all ingredients are fried, one scrapes off the food sticking to the sides, gives it all one more stir fry for good measure, and voila!
I think I mentioned trying to find a real wok on the site a week or so ago. If I were going to seriously get back into the stir fry habit, I would shop for a wok first.
The other thing I remember from class is that a man from the state of Washington, who was a caterer in a tourist area, was in attendance. He tried and failed 3 times to crack an egg without dumping tiny egg shell bits into the oil. I, the rank amateur, got in an excellent egg crack on first try. He as so embarrassed!
I have a picture of me in apron and spoon in hand, somewhere around the office.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Lodge is making
some pretty nice cast-iron woks, if you are a cast-iron fan. Their small one is nice for cooking for 2, and the round as-cast surface seems to work pretty well. It just takes a while to get it properly seasoned. Ours survived the fire, and I'm partway through getting it re-seasoned.
Having said that, the best woks are the ones that are hand-sunk out of old oil drum lids. Thanks to our beloved military leaving millions of 40- and 55-gallon drums in old war zones around the world, we'll never run out of those. Just like we'll never run out of sweet pan musical instruments (what most folks would call steel drums), the best of which are also made out of old oil drums. Upcycling writ large!
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
I spent a week in Trinidad
and attended steel drum concerts every night. One of my favorite musical genres!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The Trinis know
pan, and that's a fact. Every year there's a Caribbean-wide contest called Panorama on Grenada (the Saturday before Juve, or Carnival), and every year someone from Trinidad walks away with it, of course. Last time I was there, it was the Tunapuna Engine Room that claimed the title, and they were friggin' *hot*. As a drummer, I covet that sound. But I suck at pan. Perhaps one day I can put some real time into it: like if I somehow survive long enough to retire down island...
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
One band I saw
had won that contest.
All the bands were a mix of young, old, men, women.
Most of the time, I was the only tourist. It is the locals who support this wonderful music.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Hola QMS et y'alls.
WOK (don't run) is a good tune from yesteryear. Woks should not have funny coatings because you cannot then properly season them. You want a plain old steel wok, flat bottomed for electric or convection stove and round bottom for gas (sits down in the burner opening). Eschew fancy ones with fancy brands and poke around the side streets of the nearest Chinatown (where the locals shop). San Fran's china town, for example has a dedicated "Wok Shop" where one can buy overpriced woks, wok kits, wok utensils and all like that. A few blocks away, down in the basement of "The Empress of China", not at all organized for display or promotion, one can find a ton of great woks and all other cooking and serving goods and much better prices. Better yet, go cross the bay and roam around the side streets in Oakland's Chinatown until you find someplace carrying them that isn't at all showy. Less well known, less touristy, and less expensive, in general, a lot of San Fran's residents sneak out east to Oaktown on BART to do a fair amount of their shopping.
We do plenty beaucoups stir fry cooking especially when bok choy is in season. The sauces and seasonings make or break the dish, which, within reason, can include damn near anything. One funny thing about fried rice is that many variations of it include a fair amount of shredded head lettuce stirred in near the end of the process. Try not to use that legendary head that beat madame Truss.
Damn, and I already made dough for pizza tonight, so stir fry will have to wait. I have some leftover overly spiced Tuscan Black Pepper stew that just needs some veggies and greens and a touch of shoyu.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Stubbs bbq sauce
fan here as well. We use it occasionally...not too often because of sugar content. (I know, I know, it doesn't have that much...but still...) I did find a recipe for bbq sauce without sugar, I've never tried it though. One of these days I will.
Your recipe sounds good. I'll have to give it a try. We do lots of stir-fry once the weather cools down. The steel wok is my pan of choice. It's most effective with a gas stove but, sadly, I don't have that. Still, it works, you just can't get the heat distribution and intensity as ideally as with a gas burner.
Speaking of ground pork, one of my favorite stir-fry dishes is Sichuan Green Beans. You can omit the ground pork if you want a no-meat dish. The beans get stir-fried in high heat until you get that characteristic scattered blackened spots and kind of shriveled appearance of the bean. Then you put the beans aside, stir-fry the pork mixture, and then add the beans back in.
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons oil
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon dry sherry
2 1/2 tablespoons tamari
1 pound green beans cut into 2 inch pieces
1/4 pound ground pork
4 medium garlic cloves minced
1 1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
3 scallions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
I omit the cornstarch just because I don't use the stuff but then you do get a more watery sauce i.e. not as thick as otherwise. You may also want to back off on the quantity of spice if you don't like hot stuff, because this is an exceptionally spicy dish.
I was reading about ginger the other day aka Zingiber officianale. I was trying to find out about its medicinal properties. It is considered an herbal remedy by many but that is always a debatable topic so I won't go there. It's a spice that has been used for thousands of years. Even the ancient Greeks imported it. I love the stuff almost as much as I love garlic and both ingredients go in practically every stir-fry dish we make and both are generally added in great quantities. I prefer to use fresh ginger but it is handy to pickle it in dry sherry and keep it in the fridge for those times when you don't have fresh on hand.
Thanks for the OT QMS, I'm not cooking today because the weather is too fantastic to be inside.
Enjoy your meal, it looks delish.
My source for woks and asian cooking tools when unable to
travel the distance to a shop to inspect directly.
The Wok Shop
An electric stove has its own set of challenges for a wok, even with a flat bottom wok. Small quantity stir fry dishes cooked in the caste iron skillet are as good as any of my woks. The quality of cooking greatly improved once I got a wok ring and it reduced heat loss from the base of the pan both flat and round bottom (plus stops the rocking).
If I was restricted to one kitchen pan it would be a wok. Fortunately I am not. A bamboo steamer in a wok cooks great frozen potstikers and tamales (less moisture pools on the food).
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT1XqpTse88]
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
I do have a wok ring
, but where is it is the question. I stopped using it long ago, I've just gotten used to the tippiness of it all (I never deep fry in it anyway, although that is a great way to 'season' it). I have several sizes of flat-bottomed woks and they do come in handy, but they are the non-stick coated variety of pan....not the best of materials. Some say to throw those away but they are still in good shape so I hate to do it.
Now I'm going to have to go look for that wok ring.
To avoid the potential toxic fumes from non-stick pans
do not preheat the pans. When cooking keep pans below 500 degrees to keep chemicals from leaching into the food.
It is tough to throw out good pans. I did not even send mine to a donation box for someone else to find a use.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Good tips, thanks
. "Keep below 500 degrees, don't preheat".
The hammered woks
are what I would buy. Cast iron is great! Until you get old and have weak hands and arms, can't pick them up. I prefer cast iron for everything, except wok. Can't hammer that. I must have help lifting them. If B is around, cast iron. I grew up in the 50s, know all about seasoning them, as that was mostly all we had.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Late to the discussion
I do love a good stir fry. Have one both in Santa Fe and place down in Texas. Unfortunately have only electric stove in both places but manage tippy and all! Bok Choy stir udon noodles and shrimp is a favorite at the moment. Like to try all sorts of different sauces and of course the red pepper flakes that are such a part of the New Mexico cooking.
I also happen to have a steel drum my parents brought back to the states after our time in Venezuela in an oil camp. They got them in Trinidad I believe. One is the big size that was mentioned earlier in the thread and the other is a small one but they both have a great sound.
Hope all have a good day and keep on working!
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
a cast iron skillet is our go to
You have to keep your skillet good and greasy
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmBXgeDNH1Y]
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”