Text 19268, 120 rader
Skriven 2011-12-20 08:16:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE SACERDOTE
Ärende: Krab 384
================
 -=> Dave Sacerdote said to Jim Weller <=-

 DS> I was in the mood for seafood last night, so I twisted Michael's arm
 DS> into going to one of the area's last remaining Asian buffets, where I
 DS> knew we'd be able to get oysters. 

It didn't take that much twisting once you mentioned the
words "oysters on the half shell." Turns out that the
oysters were vulched almost as severely as the crab legs,
so we got not very many of them and not first pick at
that. My favorite thing turned out to be the hot-pepper
octopus.

 DS> On the table where Fried Things were served, Maryanne scooped up a few
 DS> breaded/fried disks labeled as "scallops." Michael asked her how they
 DS> were and she said, "I've had better."
 DS> We broke one of them up and they seemed to have the right scallopy
 DS> texture and they even had a bit of the expected scallop flavor (but

I took my part and said, "this tastes like egg white."

 DS> not much) and they were indeed surimi.  Expecting real scallops at
 DS> the price of that buffet would have been expecting a bit much, though.

Expecting real oysters would be a bit much, too, but we
expected and received. So life is at least partially good.
I.e., neutral protein, all the goodness (?) having been
bleached out of it.

 -=> Dave Sacerdote said to Jim Weller <=-

 DS> a young Chinese woman,
 DS> said to her, "Your husband made THAT? Send him to me, I want him
 JW> Lucky dog.
 DS> to teach MY husband to cook."
 JW> Oh. [g]
 DS> As an ugly old fat guy, that's about the best I can do these
 DS> days. :)

An ugly old fat guy of only moderate means. You should have
seen some of the trophies who have shown up at reunions on
the arms of my classmates. Makes me almost regret not having
tried to get rich. Despite the reputation for predatoriness
of gold diggers, some of them are very nice, just so long as
one lets them have their way.

Chairman Mao's red-braised pork belly
cat: celebrity, main, Chinese
servings: 6

roughly 2 lb pork belly
groundnut/peanut or vegetable oil
fine white sugar
shaoxing wine or dry sherry
1 oz ginger
bit more ginger for grating
clove of garlic
1 star anise
3 dried red chillies
spring onions/green onions
cinnamon stick
rice
pak choi, bok choi, choi sumthing-or-other or similar Asian green
Half a chicken stock cube (or real stock)
soy sauce

Parboil the pork belly for a few minutes, then cut into
strips, then bite-sized chunks.

Put 3 Tb oil in a heavy-based pan over medium high heat.
We don't recommend a wok.

As the oil heats, add 3 Tb sugar and stir in to melt. Continue
to heat, stirring, until it caramelises nice and dark but is
still liquid.

Tip in the pork and then recoil from the hotplate as things
start to pop and spatter.

As Lenny says, splash in some shaoxing wine, but we actually
don't have it, we've got some dry sherry. Put in about a
quarter, a third or half a cup of whichever. Mix the pork
around to coat, then top up with just enough water to cover.
Raise the heat to get it bubbling.

Slice the ginger into thin rounds and add to the pot, along
with the star anise, cinnamon stick and chillies. Sprinkle
a bit of salt and mixy mix, then turn down to a simmer.

Now, the lid-on, lid-off conundrum. This is braising, and
there's 50 min cooking overall, so we suggest doing it with
the lid on for 30 min, then taking the lid off and jacking
up the heat a bit for the last 20 min to reduce the liquid.

In the meantime, prepare rice however you do.

As serving time looms, chop your Asian greens into separate
stalky and leafy bits. Dissolve your stock cube in some hot
water or, if using liquid stock, heat it up in a pan.

Chop up the garlic clove and grate a tablespoon of ginger.

Heat a splash of oil in a wok or frypan, toss in the garlic
and ginger, then almost immediately add the stalky greens
and 1/4 to 1/3 c chicken stock. Turn down low and cover
for a few min.

Back to the pork, where we splash in 2 Tb soy sauce and
(optionally) sprinkle a bit of salt.

Chop 3 spring/green onions or whatever you call them into
inch lengths and add to the pork - mix in so they soften a
bit, though you still want some crunch.

Add the leafy greens to the wok and toss 30-60 sec and
they're done. Serve up and eat like a dictator!

crashtestkitchen.com
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