tjr wrote:Friday was pizza night. Recent sales on hot capicolla and mushrooms led to, you guessed it, mushroom & capicolla . . .

Looks really nice. Do you pre-cook your mushrooms? How did it turn out?

tjr wrote:Today we had a post-graduation meal at the Saddle Club in Hoffman Estates. Pickled pears on the cheese board led to a request to make pickled pears. After looking over several blog recipes, some that sounded too sweet, some way too large for an experiment, I worked out this one . . .

. . . We'll see how they taste in a couple days.

Please report back on these. I'm really curious about how it went.

There's been some recent chatter here and at another board I frequent about Fuchsia Dunlop's take on Kung Pao chicken. It looked great, so I decided to give it a go. Prep was basically in 3 stages . . .


Marinade Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama B#1 Damascus Gyuto, 240mm
Chicken thigh meat, potato starch, Shaoxing cooking wine, soy sauce, and salt. The adaptation of the the recipe I followed did not specify a marination time but with the starch in there, it wasn't too long before the entire business was effectively dry and fully absorbed. Kind of funny to see the Manischewitz in there with all the Chinese ingredients but I'm figuring potato starch knows no boundaries!


Sauce Mise En Place
Potato starch, granulated sugar, toasted sesame oil, 5-year-aged black vinegar, dark/mushroom soy sauce, light soy sauce and aromatic chicken stock, which was actually the skimmed and heavily reduced poaching liquid from last week's Sichuan-style cold, poached chicken.


Chicken Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama B#1 Damascus Gyuto, 240mm
Roasted cashews, spring onion bottoms, sliced garlic, marinated chicken, minced ginger, dried, heaven-facing chiles, Sichuan peppercorns and veg oil. Here, I took a the liberty of subbing in cashews for peanuts because I had them on hand (because I like them better). I also removed the whole Sichuan peppercorns after they'd cooked in the hot oil (and added some ground ones to the sauce). I find them to be really unpleasant whole, though they added a great buzz to the dish, as did the ground peppercorns.

Chiles and peppercorns go into the hot oil first until they're fragrant. Next, the marinated chicken is added. Once it's browned and the pieces have separated, in go the garlic, ginger and spring onions, which cook until the chicken is cooked through and the onions begin to soften. Next, the sauce goes in. When it starts to thicken, add the roasted cashews, stir and serve.


On The Platter
Kung Pao Chicken.


Plated Up
With Mrs. Suburban's sesame-roasted cauliflower, Sichuan-style cucumber salad and a freshly zojirushi'd batch of jasmine rice.

Happy Monday!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:There's been some recent chatter here and at another board I frequent about Fuchsia Dunlop's take on Kung Pao chicken. It looked great, so I decided to give it a go.

Looks delicious. Mind posting a link to the FD recipe you used.

Outside Skirt Steak / Chimichurri on the Weber kettle with lump. Tasty.

click to enlarge




Skirt steak, count me a Fan!

While I'm not Mr. Suburban, I don't play him on TV, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I suspect it was this recipe Gong Bao chicken with peanuts. Which is also called Kung Pao Chicken in the good ole USA. Scroll down a little ways to see it. There is one with shrimp here, as well as three other recipes. Also, here are some of her Cantonese recipes. And here is her recipe for dandan noodles. I've only made the Gong Bao chicken with peanuts. Still tweaking the recipe to my tastes; less sugar, less vinegar, a touch more soy sauce.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

tjr wrote:Friday was pizza night. Recent sales on hot capicolla and mushrooms led to, you guessed it, mushroom & capicolla . . .

Looks really nice. Do you pre-cook your mushrooms? How did it turn out?

I don't pre-cook mushrooms for thin crust pizza, and don't have a sogginess problem. I go fairly light on cheese, and very light on sauce. For deepdish or other types with more liquid, I probably would pre-cook. This one was quite good. There was some Romano cheese on top that helped tone down the capicolla. All in all a good combo of earthiness and spice.

Question about your kung pao recipe: Do you keep a separate pepper grinder for Sichuan peppercorns? They are one of those things that are forgotten in my spice drawer - I should get them out more often.

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:There's been some recent chatter here and at another board I frequent about Fuchsia Dunlop's take on Kung Pao chicken. It looked great, so I decided to give it a go.

Looks delicious. Mind posting a link to the FD recipe you used.

Outside Skirt Steak / Chimichurri on the Weber kettle with lump. Tasty.

Those steaks look great! Nice call on the chimichurri, too.

The version I used for the Kung Pao is from NYT and adapted by Julia Moskin . . .

Gong Bao Chicken With Peanuts

=R=

tjr wrote:I don't pre-cook mushrooms for thin crust pizza, and don't have a sogginess problem. I go fairly light on cheese, and very light on sauce. For deepdish or other types with more liquid, I probably would pre-cook. This one was quite good. There was some Romano cheese on top that helped tone down the capicolla. All in all a good combo of earthiness and spice.

Okay, got it. Makes sense. Thanks.

tjr wrote:Question about your kung pao recipe: Do you keep a separate pepper grinder for Sichuan peppercorns? They are one of those things that are forgotten in my spice drawer - I should get them out more often.

I do not. I do have several grinders in use (2 types of black pepper, white pepper and cumin) but don't use one for the the Sichuan peppercorns. Maybe I should. For it and many of my spices, I use a small Krups coffee grinder, which does a great job. It can handle relatively small batches and is easy to clean by buzzing just a little uncooked rice in it after the job is done. When I grind more of something than I need, I offload the unused portion to a glass spice jar and try to use it asap.

=R=

tjr wrote:Do you keep a separate pepper grinder for Sichuan peppercorns? They are one of those things that are forgotten in my spice drawer - I should get them out more often.

I would suggest using a small mortar and pestle, if you have one. A quick toasting in a dry pan and then then they grind up in the mortar very easily.

I sprinkle them into the cold dry pan and remove any branches and seeds.

Steak with charred scallions, inspired by Bon Appetite
I went to Fresh Farms Wheeling hoping to find either outside skirt or hanger steak. They did not seem to have either and had what they called 'pepper steak'. Not sure what that is. Googling it did not help. It was fine - but not as beefy as I would have like. Also capers, cornichons, walnut pieces, garlic, scallions, aleppo pepper flakes, red wine vinegar, whole grain mustard and fresh thyme.
Sear the steak and tent.

Toast the walnuts in a dry pan and put into a bowl. Grate garlic over the hot walnut. Add chopped cornichons, pepper flakes, vinegar, mustard, pepper, thyme, sugar and salt. Mix everything together. Heavily char the scallions whole in the pan and then chop up and add to bowl.
Plate with the chutney served over the steak.

While this recipe sounds heavy in the vinegar arena, it is not.

Chicken and rice noodle stir fry, inspired by Ming Tsai
Rice noodles, boneless thighs, lemongrass, lemon, red pepper, jalapeno, red onion, eggs and fish sauce.
Soften the noodles in hot water and drain. Cut up the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Stir fry the chicken until cooked and slightly browned and remove. Stir fry the noodles until lightly browned and remove. stir fry chopped jalapeno, minced lemongrass, sliced red onion and red bell. cook the eggs until set and scrambled. Add everything back and serve.

ronnie_suburban wrote:There's been some recent chatter here and at another board I frequent about Fuchsia Dunlop's take on Kung Pao chicken. It looked great, so I decided to give it a go. Prep was basically in 3 stages . . .
=R=

As with almost everything she does, I love her Gong Bao chicken.

lougord99 wrote:

tjr wrote:Do you keep a separate pepper grinder for Sichuan peppercorns? They are one of those things that are forgotten in my spice drawer - I should get them out more often.

I would suggest using a small mortar and pestle, if you have one. A quick toasting in a dry pan and then then they grind up in the mortar very easily.

I sprinkle them into the cold dry pan and remove any branches and seeds.

Toasting them bolsters their numbing effect, so unless you want them even more buzz-y than usual -- or a recipe specifically calls for it -- I'd avoid toasting Sichuan peppercorns.

=R=

lougord99 wrote:Chicken and rice noodle stir fry, inspired by Ming Tsai

Looks great, Lou!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Toasting them bolsters their numbing effect, so unless you want them even more buzz-y than usual -- or a recipe specifically calls for it -- I'd avoid toasting Sichuan peppercorns.
=R=

I don't recall a recipe from anyone that calls for untoasted ground. Any recipe that I remember is either toasted and ground and added at the end of the stir fry or untoasted and unground and added early in the stir fry as is called for in Gong Bao by Fusia. I glanced at a bunch of her recipes and they were all as I describe.

lougord99 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Toasting them bolsters their numbing effect, so unless you want them even more buzz-y than usual -- or a recipe specifically calls for it -- I'd avoid toasting Sichuan peppercorns.
=R=

I don't recall a recipe from anyone that calls for untoasted ground. Any recipe that I remember is either toasted and ground and added at the end of the stir fry or untoasted and unground and added early in the stir fry as is called for in Gong Bao by Fusia. I glanced at a bunch of her recipes and they were all as I describe.

Can't recall them now but I've seen plenty that simply call for ground, especially at some youtube channels I watch. I'll try to point some out as I come across them in the future. I see them all the time.

Busy night at the Weber tonight. Had more show up to eat than we'd originally shopped for but it worked out just fine . . .


Grilling, Round 1
Some very nice NY strips from Zier's.


Round 2: Sausages
With the extra folks, was happy to have these on hand. The foursome is 'grilling' sausages, which appear at the store this time of year and are essentially small kielbasas. The twosome is a pair of pork wieners.


Round 3: Asparagus
The seasonal onslaught continues . . . still nowhere near burning out yet!


Plated Up
Turf & Turf with grilled asparagus and a blob of the weekly slaw.

=R=

The tornado warning siren this afternoon wasn't enough to scramble me to the basement but it did make me think twice about cooking outside. So, pan-seared chicken thighs and wok-fired sesame-garlic green beans . . .


Mise En Place & Katayama SG2 Suminagashi Gyuto, 210mm
Toasted sesame oil, fig vinegar, sliced garlic, golden sesame paste, green beans, toasted sesame seeds, "snow" salt and Kishibori soy sauce.

Figured that layering in multiple sesame components would bolster/build the sesame flavor. Not sure if that was the best approach but overall, this dish worked out really well. Sesame was the pronounced front note, with the garlic, shoyu and vinegar all accenting it nicely.


Stir-Fried Sesame-Garlic Green Beans
Garnished with chive blossoms.


Plated Up
Made a butter-emulsified shallot/white wine pan sauce that was really nice. Served it with some leftover Sichuan-style cucumber salad, which wasn't the greatest combo but worked well enough.

=R=

We got some decent lamb chops from Costco and decided to grill them tonight . . .


Grilling
Marked both sides over the coals very briefly, then finished them covered, on the indirect side for a few minutes.


Plated Up
With a salad of hothouse tomatoes and leftover steamed broccoli, along with a 'puck' of the weekly slaw, which did a very nice job of maintaining the form of the container in which I took it to work (and didn't eat it) for lunch.

=R=

More Memorial Day weekend, family-gathering prep. Started by getting some items ready for the smoker . . .


Spare Ribs
After I trimmed these and removed the membranes, I lightly coated them with yellow mustard, then seasoned them with my homemade rub and a dash of salt.

Bonus item . . .


Bologna & Konosuke W#2 Western Petty, 120mm
A 4.5-pound chub of Romanian Kosher bologna, scored to blossom, lightly coated with oil and seasoned with more of my homemade rub. A bit of overkill on the knife but I don't use this one as often as I love it.


Two Hours In
Working with my preferred fuel combination of lump charcoal, extruded coconut charcoal and apple wood. Here, I'd just misted them with a mixture of apple juice, cranberry juice and apple cider vinegar.

While the smoker continued to smoke, I put together a couple of additional sides . . .


Guacamole
What I imagine is a fairly standard take: avocados, red onion, cilantro, tomato, ground arbol chiles, lime juice and salt. Other than not mashing it too finely, the hardest part of this one is remembering to buy the avocados far enough in advance so that they're usable on dip day. On that front, mission accomplished.


Cold Bean Salad
Started with Rancho Gordo vaquero beans, which I boiled up until they were just firm. Then made a dressing of evoo, a trio of vinegars (red wine, balsamic, apple cider) and a touch of dijon mustard. After that, added some water-rinsed and patted dry red onion, celery, Greek feta, roasted red peppers and parsley leaves.

After what I think was around 90 minutes, the bologna was ready . . .


BBQ Bologna
You can see where I missed a few cuts on the scoring (they were hard to see while making them) but for the most part, it did what it needed to.


Pre-Plate
This was my early round . . . bbq bologna sandwich with mustard & fried onions, guacamole, queso dip & chips.


Main Plate
Ribs, bean salad & slaw. Honestly, I was so full, I could barely touch this one. We had very few leftovers and sent a bunch of food home with our guests, which was a great relief to us and our fridge.

=R=

I participated in the 1st Royko ribfest in Lincoln Pk around 82 or so. The guy next to me did a full bologna on a rotisserie- crosshatched, slathered w/Whiz w/maraschino cherries @ ea intersection. Royko loved it and spent quite a bit of time marveling along w/us.

Jazzfood wrote:I participated in the 1st Royko ribfest in Lincoln Pk around 82 or so. The guy next to me did a full bologna on a rotisserie- crosshatched, slathered w/Whiz w/maraschino cherries @ ea intersection. Royko loved it and spent quite a bit of time marveling along w/us.

Yeah, bbq bologna has as presence attack.

=R=

Bolagna looks amazing. Where did you get it ? I have never smoked a bologna, but there is definitely one in my future.

lougord99 wrote:Bolagna looks amazing. Where did you get it ? I have never smoked a bologna, but there is definitely one in my future.

Thanks, Lou. Culinarily speaking, it's a bit of a cheap parlor trick but it never fails to be delicious or impress the crowd and it's a fun change-up from serving hot dogs.

Went to the 'kosher' Jewel in Highland Park and asked them for a piece of Romanian bologna between 12 and 18 inches long. What's pictured above is what they had. It was just under 4.5 pounds before I smoked it. I'm guessing you could ask for a piece of any length, though I didn't think that something smaller than a foot would do well on the smoker.

Even though I made the whole thing and there was about half leftover, my guests were happy to take leftovers, which left us with just a small chunk for ourselves (more than enough, given how much of it I'd eaten on the day of). And the one loaf of Butternut white bread that I buy every year is now in the trash.

=R=

Dinner prep meant our favorite warm-weather-one-two punch, the Weber & The Wok . . .


Veg Mise En Place & Tetsujin Metal Flow Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Sesame oil, pixian douban paste, minced garlic, veg oil, Kishibori shoyu, red onions, minced ginger, carrot, Fioretto and sliced shiitakes. Just getting RID of some older and partially-used ingredients from the fridge.

While the chicken was grilling on the Weber, where it can pretty much be left unattended for 20-25 minutes, I took to the wok and stir-fried the veg . . .


Stir-Fried Veg Medley
I really enjoyed the addition of the pixian douban, which I thought, gave the dish a nice punch. Mrs. Suburban was far less thrilled, proclaiming that she only likes it in mapo tofu. So, this one's unlikely to be duplicated any time soon. In any event, when the stir-fry was done, it was time to fetch the chicken . . .


Grilling
Seasoned with a Chinese-inspired spice mix. Had a hot fire but it was pretty breezy tonight. These took about 25 minutes, uncovered, on the indirect side.


Plated Up
Garnished the veg with some chive blossoms from our garden, as we have quite a supply on hand right now.

I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day. Happy Monday!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Garnished the veg with some chive blossoms from our garden, as we have quite a supply on hand right now.

Lovely and delicious!

Been ages since I've made Barbara Tropp's Strange Flavored Eggplant. Just as tasty as remembered!

click to enlarge


Strange Flavored Eggplant, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Been ages since I've made Barbara Tropp's Strange Flavored Eggplant. Just as tasty as remembered!

Yes. It's one for the ages. Every time I make it, I think that I should make it more often. A stellar dish.

Today was our first CSA delivery of the new season (Nichols Farm) and we did our best to dive in head-first . . .


Mise En Place & Tetsujin Metal Flow Blue #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Spinach, sliced garlic, green garlic, evoo, red onions, salt and black pepper. Green garlic and spinach were from the box. Just hit the wok hot and fast with this, starting with the onion and adding from there until the spinach was wilted.


Stir-Fried Spinach
Garnished with chive blossoms and (more) hothouse tomatoes.

I really did learn something useful tonight. For as long as I've been buying them at Zier's, I've never understood why hanger steaks always seem to come in pairs and why one steak is almost always larger than the other. This past week, I was in the area, so I bought a cryovacked bundle of hangers at Restaurant Depot. I neglected to take a 'before' picture but the pack consisted of two 'double-barreled' hunks of meat covered in sinew and fat. I got to work on trimming one of the hunks and as I carved away, it became clearer to me. What remained were two cylinders of meat connected, nearly end to end, by a hard white tendon. By the time I separated the cylinders and trimmed the tendon away, I ended up with something fairly similar to the 2-packs I usually get at Zier's . . .


Hanger Steaks & Kanehide Bessaku Semi Stainless Honesuki, 150mm/lefty
I have to say that it was really fun butchering down these steaks with the honesuki. And the steaks were pretty good, though not nearly at Zier's level. Here, they're ready for the grill: trimmed, trussed, oiled and seasoned.


Grilling
A few moments directly over the coals to mark them, followed by about 6 minutes, covered, on the indirect side.


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled hanger steak, stir-fried spinach and a blob of the weekly slaw.

=R=

*deleted*

ronnie_suburban wrote:And the one loaf of Butternut white bread that I buy every year is now in the trash.

You could have made Bread&Butter Waffles! (French toast in a waffle iron; I consider it a great treat, rest of fam is not as enthusiastic.) Or a panade, no need to remove the crust if you're not super picky or, if you are, willing to wash a stick blender.

The pickled pear was "not great" in the words of the resident teen food critic. I agreed. Considerably too sour and salty. Next try, will cut vinegar by half and salt by 2/3. Spicing and sweetness were ok. Would have liked more pear flavor so will consider using a fully ripened pear. Green Anjou's are 99 cents at the Jewels this week so onward and upward.

Oh, and as for the two hanger steaks being different sizes, according to Wikipedia, the right hanger steak is larger and stronger than the left. Does that mean that all cattle are right-handed? Right-hoofed?

tjr wrote:The pickled pear was "not great" in the words of the resident teen food critic. I agreed. Considerably too sour and salty. Next try, will cut vinegar by half and salt by 2/3. Spicing and sweetness were ok. Would have liked more pear flavor so will consider using a fully ripened pear. Green Anjou's are 99 cents at the Jewels this week so onward and upward.

I don't know much about pickling (other than I like doing it) but for more pear flavor, you may want to leave the skins intact. Most all of the essential oils reside there and they are key flavor components.

tjr wrote:Oh, and as for the two hanger steaks being different sizes, according to Wikipedia, the right hanger steak is larger and stronger than the left. Does that mean that all cattle are right-handed? Right-hoofed?

LOL - I think that's exactly what it means. I've only ever seen cattle swat flies with their tales from right to left, so maybe it's true.

=R=

The Trib had a Bucatini Amatriciana recipe today, but SueF dropped it in the recycle bin which was picked up this afternoon. But Hazan's Classic Italian Cooking came to the rescue. I had pancetta in the freezer, bought some bucatini, onion sauteed in butter, seared the pancetta, added crushed tomatoes, chile flakes, salt, oregano from the garden (not in Hazan, but I remembered marjoram in the Trib version). I made the sauce in too-wide a pan so it was evaporating too quickly, a splash of white wine helped. Grated Romano to finish, delicious if a little salty.

If you have a Tribune paper subscription, can't you look at everything online ?

JoelF wrote:The Trib had a Bucatini Amatriciana recipe today, but SueF dropped it in the recycle bin which was picked up this afternoon.

http://rss.tribunecontentagency.com/web ... v_20220516