Scape experiments would not be complete without the de-rigueur pesto. And so I pulled out the food processor, olive oil and parmesan.
After the hake and kale, I didn’t have enough scapes left to make a full batch of pesto. But the basil is coming in; it seemed like the perfect marriage – scape-basil pesto! The scapes would replace the garlic in the more traditional version. Honestly, though, my pesto isn’t very traditional… it’s really just an herb oil, as I don’t like nuts. Nonetheless, moving forward…………..
With pesto in mind, I need something to put under it. Tomato soup seemed the perfect foil, especially since I still have plenty of jars left from last summer, and I will be canning this year’s stash in just a few weeks hence.
The flavors of the pesto were pronounced without being overpowering. I could taste the basil, garlic and tomatoes. The scapes had the spicy raw garlic flavor, though it didn’t linger in a way that raw garlic can. And with tomato soup, one must have grilled cheese! And so, I made lunch…
Tomato Soup, Scape-Basil Pesto and Grilled Cheese
Tomato Soup
1 tbs. butter 1 shallot 2 garlic cloves ¼ cup white wine 2 cups stewed tomatoes 1 cup chicken stock or water Salt and pepper to taste 1. In a soup pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots and cook for 5 mimutes, or until soft. Add wine. Then add tomatoes and stock.
2. Simmer for 10 minutes (longer if using tinned tomatoes). Puree
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Scape-Basil “Pesto”
4 scapes 1 handful basil ¼ cup parmesan cheese ¼ cup olive oil Salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
1. Combine all ingredients in a few processor. Blend until mostly smooth but a little chunky. Season to taste with salt pepper and lemon juice. Drizzle on top of soup.
Grilled Cheese
4 slices baguette ¼ cup grated cheese 1 tbs. butter
Spread butter on bread. Put bread, butter side down in an oven proof dish. Put cheese on top. Bake at 400 until cheese is melted. Serve with soup and pesto.
I'm submitting this recipe to Andrea's Recipe's"Grow Your Own" Blogging event. Check out her site to see what other folks from the blogosphere are cooking up from their gardens.
They say no idea is original, nor is any recipe. Most recipes take inspiration from someone else’s ideas. And my recipe for Juniper Scented Duck with Caramelized Balsamic Sauce and Celeriac Puree is no different.
Lorenza de Medici has a recipe for wild boar stew that has all sorts of unique flavorings and techniques. The marinade and subsequent braising liquid calls for juniper (the pine berry that is also the prominent flavoring in gin), red wine, carrots celery and onions. Separately, she caramelizes sugar with garlic, and then adds red wine vinegar to create a sweet and sour flavor. When the pork is cooked, the meat is pulled out, and the braising liquid (along with all the mushy vegetables) are pureed to act as a thickener to the stew. She finishes the sauce with chocolate, prunes and almonds.
As I often do, I substitute proteins within a recipe… chicken for pork, pork for duck, duck for beef or tuna, and so on… for this recipe, I decided duck breasts would be a fine substitute for the wild boar. And since duck breasts don’t require a long braising time (and in fact suffer from that) more modifications were necessary.
The duck received the same marinade as the original recipe. I then poached a technique from Thomas Keller to cook the duck “sous vide” I removed the skin, rolled up the duck breast lengthwise, the duck was rolled in a blanched cabbage leaf and then wrapped in plastic wrap like a tootsie roll. The whole package is poached in boiling water for 8 minutes for a perfect medium rare.
I liked the idea of the caramelized sugar for a sweet and sour sauce. But since I didn’t have red wine vinegar, I used balsamic instead. I didn’t want to lose the essence of the marinade, so I cooked that until the vegetables were tender, pureed that, and added it to the caramelized balsamic. Going back to the original recipe, I finished the sauce with chocolate. And recognizing my personal preferences, I omit the bay leaves, candied citron, raisins and pine nuts.
The prunes transformed into a tart relish with fresh plums, shallots and thyme.
Celeriac Puree pairs magically with the sauce – complimenting both the sweet and sour flavor, as well as the juniper.
Of course, I couldn’t lose the duck skin. Those went into the oven until they transformed into cracklings.
All together, this was an elegant main meal for the Passover Seder last week. I serve this dish year-round, sometimes with duck, other times with pork tenderloin, and sometimes even with tuna.
Original Recipe:
3 pounds wild boar
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 yellow onions, peeled and roughly chopped
½ bottle red wine
4 tbs. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. juniper berries
2 bay leaves
salt
1 tsp. black pepper
¼ cup sugar
½ cup red wine vinegar
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 oz. grated bitter chocolate
1/3 cup raisins, soaked in water
½ cup pitted prunes, soaked in water
¼ cup pine nuts
1 tbs. candied citron, finely chopped.
1. Twenty-fours ahead, put the meat in a good-sized, flameproof casserole together with the carrots, celery and onions. Add the wine and marinate for 24 hours, turning from time to time.
2. On the serving day, remove the meat from the marinade and pat dry. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until it begins to color. Brown the meat on all sides. Strain the vegetables from the marinade add to the meat with the juniper berries, 1 of the bay leaves, salt and pepper. Pour some of the marinade over. Cover and simmer for 1 ½ hours or until the meat is tender, adding the remaining marinade, a little at a time.
3. Transfer the meat to a flameproof casserole. Puree the vegetables, then pour them over the meat and reheat. In a sauce pan, melt the sugar with the garlic and remaining bay leaf, and cook until lightly colored. Add the vinegar and bitter chocolate. Boil for a few minutes. Add the sauce to the meat together with the raisins, prunes, pine nuts and candied citron. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes before serving.
Julia’s Revised Recipe
Duck Roulade with Caramelized Balsamic Sauce, Roasted Plums and Juniper
8 duck breasts, skin removed
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 cups red wine
1 tsp. juniper berries
8 big leaves from savoy cabbage (with no splits or tears)
1/4 cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 oz. chocolate or butter
2 plums, quartered and chopped
6 prunes, pitted and chopped coarsely.
1 tsp. thyme, chopped
1 shallot, sliced or diced
salt and pepper to taste
1. Marinate duck with wine, juniper, salt, pepper, carrots, onions, and celery for up to 24 hours.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Cook cabbage leaves for 1 or 2 minutes, or just until wilted. Drain. Carefully, cut away large rib.
3. Remove duck from marinade.
4. Tear off a piece of plastic wrap about 20 inches long, and lay it across a work surface. Place cabbage leaf down. Roll duck breast, lengthwise into cylinder, and place cylinder of cabbage leaf. Roll leaf around breast. Trim edges, and roll tightly into plastic wrap. Roll both ends of wrap to secure shape and tie with kitchen string. Refrigerate packets until ready to cook.
5. Meanwhile, combine the sugar with the garlic and ¼ cup of water in a small sauce pot. Stir, over high flame just until the sugar dissolves. When the sugar begins to caramelize and turns a deep amber color, add the vinegar. Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar re-dissolves (it will seize up with the vinegar is added)
6. Cook marinade in a covered sauce pot over medium flame until carrots are tender. Puree the vegetables with a little bit of the wine and add about 1/2 – 1 cup to the balsamic sauce (taste after adding 1/2 cup and add more to taste). Swirl in chocolate and set aside in a warm place.
7. Toss plums with shallots and thyme. Season with salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Mix with prunes
8. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add duck packages and cook for 8 minutes, for medium/medium-rare. Remove from water and let rest for a few minutes before removing the plastic and slicing.
9. Serve with asparagus and celeriac puree
Celeriac Puree
3 knobs celery root (celeriac)
½ – 1 cup cream
truffle carpaccio
salt, pepper and lemon juice to taste
Peel celery root. Cut into 1/8th. Put in a pot of cold salted water. Boil the be-jeebies out of it. When tender, drain. Put in a food processor, and puree with approximately 1/2 cup of cream. Add lemon juice, 1 squeeze at a time, until it is seasoned to your taste. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
Conventional wisdom dictates that risotto should be stirred continuously while the rice is cooking.
But Lydia Shire is not a conventional chef. As a line cook at Biba, she taught me how to cook in her style… risotto, for example, was cooked in a large, 3 gallon rondeau pan. The large surface area allowed for even cooking, and easy pan-shaking. Lydia did not stir her risotto; rather she’d shake the pan occasionally just to make sure it wasn’t sticking on the bottom. After cooking the risotto ¾ of the way, it was spread out on sheet trays to cool quickly (and prevent over cooking). During dinner service, we (the line cooks) would finish the risotto by stirring in butter and cheese. The final stirring was just enough to coax out the creaminess while keeping the grains of rice separate.
I didn’t think much of this technique, one way or the other… until I was cooking with my brother-in-law. As we divvied up the cooking responsibilities for dinner one night, he offered to take on the risotto – an old friend had taught him how to make it, and he felt confident in his technique. I watched him stir and stir the risotto, just as his friend had taught him, slowly adding hot liquid. I didn’t question his technique – though different than mine, I knew this was traditional.
But as we sat down for dinner that evening, the risotto seized up into a glomy mound. All that stirring produced too much “creaminess” to the point of starchiness that glued the rice grains together.
To my taste, I prefer shaken, not stirred, risotto. And now I know why.
Risotto
Leftover duck confit makes a wonderful additional to risotto.
3/4 cup arborio rice 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup white wine 1/3 cup parmesan 4 tbs. whole butter lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste
1. Bring chicken stock and water to a boil. Keep hot while making the risotto.
2. Heat large sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add butter. When it is melted, add shallots, and sweat for 2 minutes. Add rice, stirring to ensure each grain is coated in butter.
3. Deglaze with wine. When the rice has absorbed the wine, add 1/3 of the liquid. Gently stir, to ensure that nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add 1/2 of remaining liquid. Cook rice, uncovered and without stirring, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add remaining liquid and continue cooking in the same method.
4. Test risotto to ensure that it is cooked almost completely. If not add more hot water, and continue cooking. Otherwise, season with salt and pepper. Stir in parmesan and butter. Adjust seasoning with fresh lemon juice, if desired.
I arrived in Hong Kong at 6pm, bleary-eyed from a 24 hour flight but also fully aware that I should get a bite to eat and try to stay awake until 9pm. I headed down Wanchai Road in search of food and adventure.
I was intrigued since I had never seen such culinary action in the US. And so the quest began to learn how to make these two dishes. The la mein has been a long saga without a happy ending, so I won’t regale the details here. The rice noodles on the other hand…
I took two cooking classes during my trip to mainland China, but had to wait until my trip to Vietnam to see the rice paper/noodle in action. As I explored various cooking school options, I focused on a course that would teach me had to steam rice paper or rice noodles.
A woman in the Mekong Delta making rice paper
In the class at The Red Bridge Cooking School, we learned how to steam the rice paper for fresh summer rolls. The chef gave us instructions for making the batter… soaking raw white rice in water over night and then pureeing it with 4 parts water for 7 minutes. The batter was already made for the students to then steam on the steamer-contraption they had set up. Imagine a tambourine (without the jingle) with a taut, translucent fabric set over a steamer. The batter is poured onto the drum and smoothed out with a ladle; I made one rather successfully. As I started to make a second, the instructor stopped me… “No, no, no. Only make one.” I was disappointed but also felt I had enough resources to try again when I returned home.
Attempt #1 was an unmitigated disaster. I tried to fashion a steamer-drum using a cotton napkin and an extra-large rubber-band. I soaked the rice overnight and then put it in the blender to puree. And puree. And puree. The batter never became smooth enough to make the thin crepe-like batters, but I tried cooking a few anyway. The napkin smoldered around the burner, the batter seeped through the napkin leaving the grainy rice on top. I was defeated and didn’t think about it again until I saw the recipe for steamed rice rolls on Ravenous Couple’s blog.
For their batter, they used rice flour and tapioca starch. This seemed doable to me. So I set out again to make the rice paper. Making a steaming device remained the unresolved challenge. But then the flash of brilliance passed before me just long enough to realize that a silk screen (typically used for making art and t-shirts) might also work.
Did you know that silk is flame-proof? I learned this in the Arab markets in Jerusalem. If the salesperson claims the fabric is pure silk, ask if you can take a match to it. If they say okay, they know that the silk won’t catch fire. If they say no, then fabric is probably made of polyester or other flammable material. This was a useful factoid to remember as the silk of the steamer dangled precariously above the burner.
At the local craft store, I bought a sheet of silk (though I could have also bought the whole silk screen set up, the size didn’t seem right for me) and a large rubber band. I wrapped the silk around the bamboo steamer. Success #1.
I then made a filling of pork and mushrooms to go inside the eventual rice papers. Pretty straightforward, and another check in the success column.
Batter… Easy. I measured out the flours and mixed with water. Check.
Cooking the batter was a bit of challenge, but after a few attempts I was able to successful ladle the batter onto my steamer-drum, fill it with the pork and roll it up.
As I was photographing the final dish, I thought to myself, “Self, this was good, but I don’t think it’s good enough to go through the effort. Glad I tried it.” And then I tasted it and thought, “Well, okay. That was pretty damn tasty. Let me think of an occasion when it would be appropriate.”
And then I started to clean the kitchen….
Steamed Rice Noodle Rolls with Ground Pork
4 oz. rice flour 3 1/2 oz. tapioca flour 1/4 tsp. salt 2 1/2 cups water plain oil filling (see recipe below) dipping sauce (see recipe below)
1. Mix together flours, salt and water. 2. Put silk-steamer over a water bath. Bring water to a boil. 3. Brush oil over silk. Brush oil over cookie sheet. Brush oil over spatula that will be used to turn noodle. 4. Ladle a scant quarter cup over silk-drum. Spread the batter so it's very thin. Cook for 2 minutes, or until it begins to look translucent. 5. Sprinkle pork on top of noodle, and use the spatula to roll it up, starting from the edges. 6. Gently remove from steamer and placed on greased cookie sheet until ready to serve. 7. Serve with dipping sauce, garnish with scallions and fried shallots.
Filling
1/2 lb ground pork 8 shiitake mushrooms, steams removed, caps chopped 1 shallot, peeled and diced 2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced 1 tbs fish sauce 1/2 tsp. sugar 1 tsp. oil pinch salt and pepper
1. Heat a medium skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When oil is hot, add shallots and garlic.
2. Season pork with salt, pepper and sugar. Add to the pan, breaking up the meat. Cook until there is no more pink.
When my parents took their annual anniversary trip to the Caribbean, they would ship me and my sister off to our grandmother’s house in Alabama. Once there, Grandma Charlotte would trot us around town to visit her friends or to the country club to play bingo and eat fried chicken.
Wherever we went, the snacks abound. Cheese straws were the favorite: buttery, crispy and a little bit spicy. They satisfied snacks cravings on many levels. Even though my grandmother was an excellent cook, she never made them: a local woman baked them by the hundreds and sold them in round cookie tins packed in bubble wrap to the Junior League women.
A constant supply of this addictive treat may seem like a good thing: it was not. Since my grandmother never learned to make them, she didn’t have a great recipe to pass on. And since she always had the best, the cheese straw bar was set very high.
With the entertaining season upon us, a stream of guests will make their way through my living room and dining room. To simplify, I want to have snacks at the ready. I decided to tackle the elusive cheese straws.
Uncle Ken is the only one of the four kids who regularly makes cheese straws, and even he admits his recipe is not as good as the ones Charlotte served. As he says, “Same thing every year. I make them. They look nothing like I remember them. They end up more like 'cheese cookies' than cheese straws. Not nearly as crunchy or pretty as I remember them. Yet, my kids eat them, love them, and want more. I remain puzzled, and they are happy. I think what I use now is a variation from Cousin Henry.”
He sent me several old family recipes, including Uncle Henry’s and one from Aunt Emma Lee. The ingredient list is simple and consistent across recipes: butter, flour, cheese, baking powder, salt and cayenne. The variations are in the ratio of butter, flour and cheese; and the baking temperatures.
If crispy is the goal then I decided that more butter and cheese is better, as is a lower cooking temperature.
What follows is the recipe I used. Do you have a great recipe for cheese straws?
¼ pound butter ½ tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. salt 1/2 pound grated sharp cheddar cheese 1 ¼ cup flour 1 tsp. sriracha chili paste ¼ cup water
1. Cream butter with a paddle attachment in a kitchen aid mixer. Add baking powder, salt and cheese. 2. When combined, add flour and sriracha and just enough water to bind the mixture. Do not over-mix. 3. Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick, and cut into strips, 1 inch by 4 inches. 4. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden brown. 5. If you can, let cool before eating and definitely before storing.
My first few attempts at challah were surprisingly easy and successful. The recipe yields two loaves. And while I could easily eat both before they go stale, I decided to experiment with the dough. Babka seemed the natural successor to challah… the sweet, yeasty dough with chocolate swirls in the middle. Martha Stewart has a recipe that uses butter and milk. I made it once and for such a complicated recipe it was disappointing. Zabaar’s makes the best babka I’ve eaten and it’s dairy free. It seems like a logical step that challah enriched with eggs and oil would be as suitable substitute for sweet dough enriched with butter and milk.
I switched out the recipe for the dough, but otherwise used Martha’s technique.
I blended bittersweet chocolate with butter, sugar and flour. I rolled out the dough to ½ inch thick rectangle and sprinkled the chocolate mix on top. I rolled up the dough like a jelly-roll and folded it until it fit into a loaf pan. I sprinkled the dough with a streusel topping of flour, sugar, butter and cinnamon.
Welcome to my journey of culinary exploration. What started as a way to incorporate more bacon into my diet, ended in a discovery of a new taste sensation!
It all started with a post by Canary Girl. She wrote about bacon mayonnaise: mayonnaise made with rendered bacon fat instead of the usual vegetable oil. I was beside myself with the genius of this idea. But as I thought about it, the logistics seemed somewhat challenging. Bacon grease solidifies at room temperature which would make it seemingly difficult to emulsify into mayo. The really beauty of the idea, my thought- process continued, is the smoky, salty fat. So if I made “smoked” oil, then I could make mayo without bacon – and have a recipe that my non-pork eating friends would like.
Given my history of setting fires in other people’s kitchen, smoking oil wasn’t one of my better ideas. This is what I did… I lit a charcoal fire (yes, that’s right, open flame) in the Weber grill on the patio. When the embers started to fade, I threw on soaked wood chips. I put the grate on, and on the side without the flame, I put on a pot of canola oil. Oh, and as long as I was smoking, I put a second pan with home grown chilies and more oil. Thank goodness I’m still here to tell the tale, because I could have created a massive fire. But I didn’t and I ended up with some smoky oil and chilies.
With the oil, I made mayonnaise. Unfortunately, it tasted like the bottom of an ashtray. It probably would have been better with equal parts regular oil and smoked oil. As I recounted my tale to my neighbors they mentioned yet another brilliant idea: popcorn in bacon fat! And so the culinary journey continued…….
I rendered bacon over low heat – wanting to release the fat without crisping the bacon.
When enough fat coated the bottom of the pan, I added the corn kernels. While the corn popped, the bacon continued to crisp. After 10 minutes, I had fluffy popcorn mixed with crispy bacon bits. A quick toss with salt… The bacon flavor was good, but very subtle – I had used three slices for 1 cup of popcorn. Next time, I will need to use more bacon.
Since I also had the smoked chili oil, I decided to pop corn in that. Now THAT was delicious. Surprisingly smoky and unexpectedly spicy, it was a great success for pre-dinner cocktail snacks. Thanks to Canary Girl for inspiring this journey!
I spoke with Brett (from Even' Star Farm) this morning and the Peachy Mama are producing incredible amounts. It's no wonder, he says, he planted 800 seedlings. CSA subscribers will be getting a pint or two in their weekly boxes, and he'll sell the rest at the Chevy Chase Farmers' Market on Saturday and to his wholesale restaurant customers. Peachy Mamas are sweet peppers that look like habaneros, but have no heat. They have a wonderful floraly aroma.
I've received several inquiries for recipes. While I don't have recipes, per se, I can offer you these suggestions:
My favorite preparation is to slice the peppers and then saute them in (canola) oil until their soft. A slight brown is fine, but not much more than that. Season with salt. The peppers make a delightful hors d'ouevre served with crackers. I served them this way for Farm Share Thursday.
I also mix them in tuna salad along with the standard mayonnise, celery and scallions. Brett also suggests mixing them in egg salad.
Grapeseed Bistro makes a peachy-mama jelly, in the style of red pepper jelly and serves it with Grilled Chicken livers. This would also work well with grilled swordfish or halibut.
Peachy Mamas pair beautifully with corn and okra. I put them in a succotash.
Mixed with rice, they perk up the standard side dish.
Make a relish with roasted peachy mamas mixed with olive oil, pinenuts and raisins. Season with salt and pepper, and perhaps a little balsamic.
Peachy Mama Jelly 2 cups diced peachy mamas 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes 1 tablespoons pectin 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup white-wine vinegar 1 tablespoon unsalted butter 1/4 teaspoon salt
Combine all ingredients, except pectin in a stainless steel pot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add pectin, stirring constantly, and continue cooking for 5 minutes over medium heat.
You can refrigerate for a week, or can according to the directions here.
Happy Experimenting! If you have some interesting recipes, I'd love to hear them too!
On a regular basis, I browse the supermarket aisles looking for inspiration for dinner. I’m hoping the mix of unrealized cravings and fresh produce will elicit a creative flash. More often than not, my plan fails and I usually fall back on a few standby’s: Clay-pot Chicken with Chinese Sausage and Mushrooms, Fish Tacos with Chipotle Slaw or Chicken Piccata with Spicy, Garlic Broccoli (yes, I cook this way on an idle Tuesday night). If you’re like me, the produce aisle (and the fish and meat counters, too) tends to look the same after a while… and I glaze over the unfamiliar or uninteresting like kohlrabi or jicama.
I only recently tried kohlrabi for the first time… at a Yoga Retreat in Costa Rica.I waxed on about its virtues here, so I won’t repeat myself now. I decided to grow some in my garden this year. Because Kohlrabi is so little known, though, it’s hard to find a recipe for it.And with my kohlrabi finally ready for harvest, my research has reached fever pitch.My two vegetarian cookbooks, The Greens Cookbook
and Vegetarian Planet, have nary a reference. The old standby: Time-Life Cookbooks had a few.
I like to think of myself as a creative chef, but it’s hard to come up with ideas without a frame of reference. For example, I know tomatoes and basil work well, so I can season a ricotta filling for squash blossoms or cannolonis with basil and serve with a tomato ragout, toss pasta with fresh tomatoes and pesto, or serve beef with a tomato sauce dotted with basil. You get the idea: the same two ingredients in various configurations. This summer, I’ve eaten kohlrabi twice in restaurants: at Oleana in a cucumber slaw served with fried oysters and at No. 9 Park, pureed and served with beef and chanterelles.Though the texture is different than zucchini (with no seeds in the middle) the flavor profiles seem to marry well as they are paired together in many recipes, or kohlrabi is used in a recipe where I might expect zucchini:
Zucchini – Kohlrabi Gratin
Kohlrabi Apple Slaw
Kohlrabi and Carrots
Kohlrabi Squash Empanadas
Kohlrabi stuffed with Dill and Sour Cream
Bear with me in this train of thought…. Kohlrabi and zucchini seem to substitute well for each other… my stuffing recipe for stuffed zucchini also works well as moussaka filling… kohlrabi works well in gratin…. So I’ve come up with these ideas:
Kohlrabi Moussaka
Parmesan Breaded Kohlrabi with Tomato Sauce (think: eggplant parmesan, or zucchini fries)
Jennifer 8. Lee, author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles
describes Chinese Cuisine in America as “the biggest culinary joke played by one culture on another.” General Gau’s chicken tops that list in that it appears on nearly every Chinese menu in the US as a chef specialty.While the General was real – a soldier from the Hunan region in China – his chicken is wholly an American invention.
The dish varies from restaurant to restaurant, but the theme is consistent: crispy fried chunks of chicken tossed in a sweet and spicy sauce.Despite its inauthentic origins, it’s still a personal favorite.
My favorite Chinese cookbook, The Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo features a recipe that continues to receive rave reviews from my dinner guests. The sauce is nicely balanced, not overly sweet, and fragrant with ginger and chilies.My continual challenge – which most restaurants mastered – is frying the chicken nuggets so they stay crunchy after they’ve been tossed in the sauce. The chicken, marinated in egg and corn starch, is dusted with more corn starch just before frying.I’ve experimented with the oil temperature, twice frying and even trying to caramelize the sauce, to no avail.
When I was in China a few years ago on a summer internship from business school, I broke away on several occasions to take cooking lessons.The top technique on my list was learning how to get the crispy chicken nuggets even after they were tossed in sauce.My cooking instructor in Beijing happily obliged me.
The first secret is in the corn starch.He used “wet” corn starch.To make wet corn starch: combine ½ cup of corn starch with enough water to make a slurry, about ½ cup.Let the mix sit for at least ½ hour until the water and starch separate.Pour off all the excess water.What you’re left with is the wet corn starch.It’s slightly chalky, but dissolves into liquid when you run your fingers through it.It is this mixture that he tossed the chicken cubes in before frying.
The second secret, which really isn’t as critical as the first, is in cooking the sauce.The sauce must be reduced until almost all the water has evaporated.It is then reconstituted with a little oil.
General Gau's Chicken
adapted from Eileen Yen-Fei Lo
4 chicken thighs, cut into cubes ½ teaspoon salt 1 egg 2 tbs dry corn starch 2 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce 2 tablespoons hoisin 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon white vinegar 1 ½ teaspoons Shao-Hsing Wine ½ cup wet corn starch 3 cups plain oil 1 teaspoon chopped garlic 1 tablespoon chopped ginger 8 small dried chilies 1 bunch scallions, cut into rings.
Marinate chicken with salt, egg and corn starch for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the sauce by combining the soy sauce, hoisin, sugar, vinegar and wine.
In a large pot, heat the oil to 350F.Toss the chicken in the wet corn starch and then add to the hot oil.Cookuntil crispy, about 5 minutes.
While the chicken is frying, heat a large skillet over high heat.Add 1 tbs. of frying oil to the pan.Add ginger, garlic, scallions and chilies and cook until aromatic.
When chicken is crispy drain and add to ginger mix.Pour in sauce and reduce.
has a recipe for wild boar stew that has all sorts of unique flavorings and techniques. The marinade and subsequent braising liquid calls for juniper (the pine berry that is also the prominent flavoring in gin), red wine, carrots celery and onions. Separately, she caramelizes sugar with garlic, and then adds red wine vinegar to create a sweet and sour flavor. When the pork is cooked, the meat is pulled out, and the braising liquid (along with all the mushy vegetables) are pureed to act as a thickener to the stew. She finishes the sauce with chocolate, prunes and almonds.
, have nary a reference. The old standby: Time-Life Cookbooks had a few.
by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo features a recipe that continues to receive rave reviews from my dinner guests.