Lacquer-Roasted Pork Ribs (Kao Paigu)

The Professional Chef, p 550

Ingredients

1.5 fl. oz.     dark soy sauce
1.5 fl. oz.     sherry
5 racks        pork spareribs

Marinade

8 fl. oz.        hoisin sauce
6 fl. oz.        black bean sauce
12 fl. oz.      ketchup
1 T              minced garlic
2 T              minced ginger
1 t               ground white pepper
.5 oz           thinly green onions
2 fl. oz.       chinese rice wine or dry vermouth
1 fl. oz.       sesame oil
1 T              salt
3.5 oz.        sugar

Laquer Coating

4 fl. oz.     honey
.5 fl. oz.    sesame oil

I read in Bon Appetit that Korean style ribs had totally jumped the shark. F that. Karen and I love the falling off the bone texture of pork and lamb falling off the bone and the sweet/savory combo of Chinese and Korean preparations (particularly at Minneapolis's own Bradstreet) are perfect. Consider me a continuing friend of the Fonz on this one.


1)  Combine the soy sauce and sherry; brush over ribs.

2)  Combine all the ingredients for the marinade. Pour over ribs, massage into meat and cover overnight, turning occasionally. 

The marinade is seriously dark.

3)  Remove ribs from marinade and wipe off excess. Place ribs in roasting pan on rack.

The marinade will stain the meat, but be translucent.

4)  Fill a pan with water, place in oven and preheat to 325' F. 


5)  Roast ribs until internal temp registers 150' F (about 1.5 hours).

6)  Mix ingredients for lacquer, during the last 20 minutes brush ribs with mixture.

7)  Remove ribs from the oven and allow them to rest for 10 minutes.

How did it turn out?

I followed this recipe pretty much to exactly. The flavor was excellent, but I thought the tenderness was lacking. My first instinct had been to turn down the heat, break out the Lodge dutch oven and let them roast for 3-4 hours. I will make this recipe again with that modification and hope that it provides the texture we're looking for.

Potato and Celery Root Puree

October 2010 Bon Appetit at 92

(This recipe includes a topping of fried Jerusalem artichokes, which I did not make and shall not blog.)

Ingredients

2       celery roots (trimmed, peeled and cubed to 1 inch, about 8 cups)
1lb    russet potatoes (trimmed, peeled and cubed to 3/4 inch, about 3 cups)
2C    low salt chicken broth
2C    milk
3cvs garlic
3spg thyme
1      bay leaf

I have a great method for mashed potatoes that I can blog about when I make them, but a recent Bon Appetit article celebrating root vegetables got me curious about using other roots as creamy sides. I once made cauliflower puree that turned out wonderfully fatty, but a little bland, so I thought this might be a good way to fill out my knowledge in a couple areas. I served them with Kao Paigu ribs.

At the outset, I balanced the amount of potatoes and celery root so they were even.


1)  Add first seven ingredients in a heavy pot and add enough water to cover. Sprinkle with salt, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer with lid ajar until vegetables are tender. 

I didn't add the water.

I usually only prepare celery root for white mirepoix for use in seafood stocks, so my insights are limited. They peel mostly like potatoes, but there are deep trenches that harbor small root fibers and dirt. I carve those out with a paring knife. There might be faster ways, but in terms of getting clean vegetables with little waste, it seems to work fine. Anyone with a better method is encouraged to describe it in the comments.

2)  Drain, return to pot.

I didn't do that, either. I left the pot uncovered to encourage some liquid loss. See below.

3)  Mash vegetables with potato masher, mash in butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Okay, Bon Appetit. Is this a mash or a puree? I wanted a puree, so I used my immersion blender and the remaining liquid to puree. This will give you a markedly different texture than mashing the drained vegetables.

The result, pictured blurrily with Kao Paigu pork ribs.

How did it turn out?

The higher, more herbal flavor of the celery root is an entirely new take on what root vegetables can do. One of my guests even referred to the taste as "summery". I'm split on whether that's a good thing. I think the recipe as I made it is solid, though; as long as the cook wants and expects a powerful celeriac flavor. In my preparation, the puree was light enough and delivered a good, smooth texture.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Own Recipe; the bible on cream soups is The Professional Chef at 404.

Ingredients

3 oz.    butter
4 oz.    flour
1 gal.   stock (see notes below on stock choices)
4 lbs.   peeled, cubed butternut squash
1 lb.    chopped standard mirepoix
6 cl.    garlic
4 T      curry powder
2 t       white pepper
2 t       cayenne
12 oz  cream

Makes one gallon.

Cream soups are challenging in a couple of ways, but way more approachable than they might first seem. The Professional Chef, cited above, offers great guidelines for how to build your own recipes for this type of soup. The following steps and commentary should allow you to confront some of the common problems I encountered while working on the recipes I now use.

The formulas in the Professional Chef (and thus this recipe) are fully scalable, although I've found that cutting the formula smaller than a third can offer dicey results.

1)   Heat the butter and flour in a large pot to make blond roux. 

Roux is flour cooked in fat, which is used in a variety of basic sauces (including a few of the French Mother Sauces) as a thickening agent. The classic formula for roux calls for 2 parts fat for every 3 parts flour (measured by weight). When the fat first starts to absorb the flour, the mixture should have the consistency of wet sand. I find myself frequently adding fat to reach this texture, but there's no harm in starting from the basic formula.

Roux is described by color: white, blonde, nut or chocolate, brick, black. These colors form as the fat cooks the flour. As the flour is cooked, it loses thickening capacity, but gains a bread-like flavor that becomes very earthy and nutty. Therefore, the longer you plan to cook the roux, the greater volume you need to use to achieve the same thickening effect.

Bubbling roux moving from white to blond

The bread flavor can be pronounced and pleasant in some applications (gumbo often uses brick or black roux), but I think most cream soups benefit from lighter preparations which help highlight the main ingredients and spices.

2)   Add the stock in a thin stream, stirring constantly. Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer.

There are a few important points here.

   a)   Choice of stock:  For the purpose of this particular soup, store bought chicken stock works well. I have used homemade duck, lamb and turkey stocks with great success. Making a batch of stock at home is easy; learning to make stock, especially degreasing and filtering properly, is a pain in the ass.

When using the formula to make your own recipe, consider what stock will match your main ingredient. Some cream soup recipes call for milk instead of stock. I have yet to try a recipe with milk that I like, but there is surely one out there.

   b)  Slow addition, constant stirring: Adding the stock so that the roux doesn't clump is the first real challenge of cream soups. In my experience, if you can get your veloute (a French mother sauce of stock thickened with roux) to turn out smooth, you're halfway to a great cream soup.

I add the first cup of stock a tablespoon at a time, stirring the roux until the stock is completely incorporated before adding the next. At that point I add the remaining stock very slowly. Patience is key; if you add the stock extremely slowly you can skip a lot of my learning curve.

   c)  Stock before mirepoix: Some recipes, including specific recipes in The Professional Chef, call for "sweating" or frying the mirepoix in the fat before adding flour. By this method, the roux forms around the aromatic ingredients. I suck at this all the time. Adding the mirepoix before the stock makes cooking the roux evenly and incorporating the first tablespoons of stock harder. If you fail here, the soup will have flour chunks. If you choose that method, proceed with caution.


3)   Add mirepoix, garlic and squash. Cook until vegetables are tender. (About 1 hour).

4)   Blend soup until smooth.


This is the second challenge of cream soups. Immersion blenders make this job a snap (with a little practice). In most kitchens, you have to use a stand blender and work in batches, storing the pureed soup in a separate bowl or saucepan. If you go this route, be sure not to overload the blending jar or jam in the highest setting suddenly; you'll get hot soup all over your hands. Work in small batches and pulse the liquid a few times before holding down the button.

Once the soup is pureed, you can stick it in the fridge for a day or two before serving. Simply cover the soup until you want to use it, reheat and continue the recipe. A sort of drier skin will develop on the resting soup, just stir that in as it heats, this layer will rehydrate with no effect on taste.


5)   Add spices and cook for 15 minutes to slightly reduce.

6)   Cut heat to low, add cream, stir and serve.

Use a spoon to ladle some extra cream on the soup, if you're gentle it will float and look impressive. A garnish of chopped cilantro or green onions will add a bit of freshness and color.

How did it turn out?

This is one of my most frequently requested dishes, and with good reason. It's earthy, satisfying and easy to present impressively. The batch in the photos is maybe the best I've ever made and I can guarantee that because I really took my time adding the stock to the roux. It may also be due to the homemade stock; in almost all cases store bought stocks are fine, but home-made adds an incredible depth of flavor.

Butternut Squash Risotto with Leeks and Basil

December 2010 Bon Appetit, pages 54-55

Ingredients

3T     olive oil (divided)
4C     butternut squash, peeled and cubed to .5 inches
3C     sliced leeks
1T     thyme leaves
2C     arborio rice
52oz vegetable broth
1C    chopped basil
3/4C grated parmesan (with extra for serving)

 

Karen once told me that she doesn't like risotto because it's too runny, to part of my goal for this recipe was to alter it or prepare it to be a little bit drier. 


1.   Heat 2T of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add squash and saute until the squash begins to brown and soften (about 5 minutes). Transfer to bowl using slotted spoon.

Be sure the squash is cubed small enough; this recipe provides very little time for squash cooking and larger pieces will still be hard and uncooked in the center at service if they are too large.

Squash often doesn't get that brown look when sauteed. As it softens, it looks wet and smells sweet and earthy. Look for those signs that the squash is finished.

If you really want the squash to brown, use higher temperatures; medium-high won't cut it for squash. All else being equal, vegetables with higher water content brown less effectively. In order to counter this tendency, you have to consider amping up one of the other factors that favors good Maillard reactions. Temp is an easy one that works for most foods; in the case of sweet foods like squash, adding a little sugar to the pan might also be an option.

2.   Reduce heat to medium, add remaining oil, leeks and thyme to pot and stir until tender, but not brown.

Preparing leeks is easy. Chop off the leek half an inch from the root and where the leaves start to branch. (You'll be let with a white to pale green section.) Cut the leek lengthwise in half and run the halves under cold water. There is often dirt between the layers, so run your thumb over the leek to expose those spaces to the water.


3.   Add rice and stir one minute. Add one cup of broth and stir until absorbed, add remaining broth by half cupfuls, waiting for rice to absorb broth before adding again.

In order to make the risotto drier, I turned down the heat and did not add the full amount of broth. The rice absorbed the liquid a little slower, but kept cooking.

Stirring the arborio rice constantly is key. Doing so rubs the grains together, which accomplishes two things. First, it helps the rice itself absorb water. Second, the starches that rub off thicken the remaining liquid. Explanations vary as to why arborio and other risotto rices have this property while common white rices do not.

Some claim that arborio is less processed and simply keeps more soft starch as a result. Others say that risotto rices have two layers with slightly different starch content. (Amylopectin starch is creamy and is found in the outer layers of risottos rices, while non-sticky amylose makes up common rices and the center of risotto rice.) In a cooking class I took once, the chef suggested that wooden spoons were the best tool for the job.

I tend to add the next round of liquid to risotto when I can "part the seas" successfully. That is, if I drag the spoon across the bottom of the pot, the liquid should be thick enough not to fill in the gap immediately. If the liquid quickly fills in the path of the spoon, I stir and wait a bit longer to add more.

The bottom of the pan stays clean and the liquid clings to the risotto.

You can add liquid until the dish is your desired level of creaminess, but be aware that adding less liquid will also decrease cooking time, so the rice may not soften all the way through. In this way, risotto really balances how creamy you want the liquid against how al dente you want the rice.


4. Return squash to pot, continue to cook and stir gently until rice is just tender and creamy (about another 10 minutes).

5.   Remove from heat, stir in basil and parmesan, season with salt and pepper. Serve with additional parmesan.

How did it turn out?

The rice was a little undercooked in my opinion, but Karen was pleased by the lack of runny-ness. I think the only way to really address this problem is to add more liquid and let the rice cook longer. I like my risotto creamier, so in general, pushing for the limit of Karen's texture tolerance will make the dish better.

In terms of flavors, I found the higher, herbal tones of the leeks and basil a little discordant with the earthy squash. After I added a little more parmesan to my plate, this sense went away. Parmesan can be sharp and earthy all at once, so it makes a great bridge between the star ingredients. I would make sure not to skimp on the parmesan and consider adding more if it feels like there's a hole in the flavor profile.