Making a ragu from leftover brisket (smoked). Trying to decide between gnocchi and fresh papardelle.

Following a recently posted video by Mandy at her Souped Up Recipes youtube channel for Cantonese-Style Braised Beef and Daikon Radish . . .


Beef Blanching Mise En Place & Masakage Yuki White #2 Gyuto, 210mm
Cubed chuck roast, Sichuan peppercorns/knotted scallions/sliced ginger root, Shaoxing cooking wine. The method calls for blanching the beef in an aromatic bath before constructing the dish. The unseared beef pieces are placed directly in a pot of cold water. The other ingredients are added and the pot is brought to a boil. Once it boils, the the beef is removed and the rest is supposed to be discarded. I decided stray from that directive a little bit. Once I'd removed the beef, I skimmed all the muck and scum out of the blanching water and saved it to use later in the dish. Mandy says to use fresh water but this blanching liquid had so much flavor and aroma, I couldn't bring myself to discard it.


Beef Begins Its Blanching

Next up, the aromatics . . .


Aromatics, etc.
Sliced ginger, bay leaves, dried chiles, dried orange peel, star anise, galangal, licorice root and garlic cloves (smashed before usage). To start the construction of the dish, this plate of aromatics (minus the double-peeled daikon and the soy sauces, which all go in later) gets sweated in a touch of veg oil.


Aromatics & Blanched Beef (top, right corner)
After the aromatics become fragrant, the sauce is added. It's comprised of the following . . .


Sauce Mise En Place
Granulated sugar, hoisin sauce, chu hou paste, fermented tofu, natural peanut butter and pixian doubanjiang. Once the sauce starts to bubble a bit, the blanched beef is added . . .


Sauced, Blanched Beef
I let this simmer for a moment or two, then added enough of the reclaimed blanching water to cover the beef.


Beef Begins Its Simmer
This simmers for a couple of hours, until the beef is tender. But before that, when it's about 30 minutes from done, the large pieces of daikon are added.


Daikon Added
This is about 90 minutes into the simmer. The beef was just starting to get tender, so I added the blanched daikon (blanching is recommended, along with double-peeling, to reduce bitterness). From here, I covered it and simmered it for about another 40 minutes before serving it.


Plated Up
Garnished with scallions. Served over steamed rice with a blob of weekly slaw on the side. I loved how the daikon transformed due to having absorbed so much of the cooking liquid. Its bitterness was still there but it was mitigated and quite mild. Texturally, it was fork-tender like a potato but not crumbly at all. I think I ended up liking it and the broth more than the beef itself. And one note to self: next time, once the aromatics have all sweated, transfer them all to a sachet for the remainder of the cook.

=R=

JoelF wrote:Making a ragu from leftover brisket (smoked). Trying to decide between gnocchi and fresh papardelle.

Decided on pappardelle
(and spelled it correctly)
Could have gone one setting less thin on the pasta roller, perhaps.
The brisket bolognese came out pretty good -- the smokiness was strong in early cooking, but mellowed out to just beefiness by dinner time.

JoelF wrote:Decided on pappardelle . . .

That looks great. Is that cheese on top?

I was surprised when I figured out that it'd been over a year since I'd last made them but I'm trying to keep things varied, so I decided to thaw some freezer stock and make salmon patties . . .


Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki VG10 Fujin Petty, 120mm
Black pepper, salt, panko, parsley leaves, scallions, eggs, garlic, cuisinarted wild Alaskan salmon and evoo. Before it saw the cuisinart, the thawed salmon needed some work. Tweezed out the pin bones and used the petty to skin it with ease.


Plated Up
With Mrs. Suburban's world famous roasted cauliflower, a mound of the weekly slaw and dollop of mayo-dijon sauce.

Happy Monday!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote: so I decided to thaw some freezer stock and make salmon patties . . .
=R=

fish patty monday! i made sam sifton's cod cakes. they are a little fussy (he has you poach the cod first) but quite delicious, served with a caper-sour cream-chive-mayo sauce and some blanched broccoli.

ronnie_suburban wrote:

JoelF wrote:Decided on pappardelle . . .

That looks great. Is that cheese on top?

Yeah, pre-shredded parmesan. Sometimes laziness wins.

ronnie_suburban wrote:I decided to thaw some freezer stock and make salmon patties . . .

Never in my life have I had salmon patties from anything but canned salmon!

annak wrote:fish patty monday! i made sam sifton's cod cakes. they are a little fussy (he has you poach the cod first) but quite delicious, served with a caper-sour cream-chive-mayo sauce and some blanched broccoli.

I'm not usually excited about extra steps early in the week but looking at the recipe, I'm guessing the poaching imparted some additional flavor? Plus, they seem more like crab cakes than salmon patties, which is another plus. Either way, they sound really good.

ronnie_suburban wrote:That looks great. Is that cheese on top?

JoelF wrote:Yeah, pre-shredded parmesan. Sometimes laziness wins.

No judgment here. The shreds were so long and uniform, I just wasn't sure.

JoelF wrote:Never in my life have I had salmon patties from anything but canned salmon!

Hahaha, those were the ones that traumatized me in my youth! But as I thought about it, I came to realize that there's no reason salmon patties shouldn't/couldn't be good, and these were. And -- it was a good use-up of some frozen, acutely lean sockeye that doesn't cook up so wonderfully on its own.

That said, I posted last time I made these that I was going to try them with some canned salmon and I intend to do that in the near future. I think there's some excellent quality canned stuff available these days, which I'm interested in trying.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Hahaha, those were the ones that traumatized me in my youth! But as I thought about it, I came to realize that there's no reason salmon patties shouldn't/couldn't be good, and these were. And -- it was a good use-up of some frozen, acutely lean sockeye that doesn't cook up so wonderfully on its own.=R=

Never been a sockeye fan for that reason. Do love a good patty though. Surprised to report there's an excellent Scallop and Shrimp Cake @ Whole Foods on Belmont and Ashland.

My wife wanted shrimp for her birthday on Saturday. However, since we went out for dinner with friends, today was the day.

First, I made my version of a salt and pepper shrimp. I cooked them in a wok lightly coated with rice flour. I think that if I did it again, I would NOT use P&D shrimp using plain raw shrimp. I think that the next time that I try the recipe. I would use my air fryer. and reduce the amount of oil.

Second, I made shrimp scampi using a recipe that baked the shrimp. I think that the next tme that I would do it, I would use a skillet.

Tuesday night stir fry . . .


Mise En Place & Anryu Blue #2 Hammered Gyuto, 210mm
Chicken thigh meat, broccoli florets, cremini mushrooms, 4x gelatinous beef stock, minced garlic, veg oil, soy sauce, dark soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorn powder, Chinese-inspired spice blend, corn starch (later slurried), scallions and oyster sauce.

Marinated the chicken pieces for about 15 minutes in both soy sauces, a touch of oil and a dusting of corn starch. Then seared it hot and fast in veg oil, removed it and added it back at the end. The rest was a pretty standard stir-fry build.


Plated Up
Garnished with chives and homemade chili oil. Some leftover/reheated sushi rice on the side.

=R=

Two weeks ago, I bought 2.5# of stew beef for chile colorado. I decided to save 1# for future use as I was serving a couple of entrees that night.

Today, I made up a quick beef stew:

Stew beef
Potatoes, onions, celery carrots
Beef base and Tom Yum Paste
Tomato paste
Aromatics: Smoked paprika, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, lemon grass, peppercorns, star anise

30 minutes to prepare and three hours to simmer.

Meatloaf tonight . . .


Mise En Place & Saji G3 Ginsan Gyuto, 240mm
Ground beef & pork, black pepper, salt, granulated garlic, granulated onion, milk, sauteed cremini mushrooms, eggs, sauteed onions and panko. Last time I made this -- which was the first time I made this -- I threw in some leftover sauteed onions and mushrooms. Because it turned out so well, I wanted to include them again but since I didn't have any sitting around, this time I had to make them to order, which definitely extended the prep and clean-up times.

Freeform loaf - 15 minutes at 450F convection to set the exterior, followed by about another hour at 350F standard, until it reached 145F internal. I didn't measure it again after that but I'm guessing it carried over at least 10 degrees, which was good enough for me . . .


Meatloaf
Roasted and baked.

I used the remainder of the mushrooms -- along with some 4x gelatinous beef stock, shallots, some dried porcinis, a bay leaf and some roux -- to make a gravy . . .


Plated Up
Meatloaf with mushroom gravy, flanked by a side of Mrs. Suburban's county-renowned tomato-garlic green beans.

=R=

Firing up the ole' stir fry machine again. Shopping day tomorrow so, getting RID of a bunch of stuff in tonight's dinner . . .


Mise En Place & Saji G3 Ginsan Gyuto, 240mm
Leftover spicy cabbage (take-out), "fresh" shiitake mushrooms, Shaoxing cooking wine, mushroom soy sauce, fermented black beans, leftover charsiu pork (take-out), chu hou paste, Sichuan pepper powder, scallion bottoms, minced garlic & ginger, scallion tops, fioretto, dried chiles, leftover ground pork (last night's meatloaf) and veg oil.

Kind of a weird combo using the charsiu and ground pork but I wanted to get rid of both and didn't have enough of either to use only one. It worked out well, though. The charsiu imparted some flavor, while the ground pork grabbed some of the other flavors and provided a nice textural variation. The chu hou paste plays like an intense, salty and less sweet iteration of hoisin sauce, so I thought it would work well with the charsiu, and it did. The shiitakes and fioretto both had some age on them so, it was now or never on those. This was my first time cooking with the mushroom soy sauce and it also worked out great. It performed better at being a dark soy sauce than conventional dark soy sauce does, and I liked the flavor better too. Overall, I was shooting for a relatively dry finished dish and the stars aligned because that's exactly what I ended up with . . .


Plated Up
With jasmine rice.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Meatloaf tonight . . .


Mise En Place & Saji G3 Ginsan Gyuto, 240mm
Ground beef & pork, black pepper, salt, granulated garlic, granulated onion, milk, sauteed cremini mushrooms, eggs, sauteed onions and panko. Last time I made this -- which was the first time I made this -- I threw in some leftover sauteed onions and mushrooms. Because it turned out so well, I wanted to include them again
=R=

I love using mushrooms in meatloaf and never make otherwise. I learned it from Gourmet Mag (the recipe in the giant yellow compendium cookbook). It is especially rewarding to do with turkey as the meat - adds moisture and umami. You don't miss the beef, so it's healthier and more sustainable.

annak wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Meatloaf tonight . . .


Mise En Place & Saji G3 Ginsan Gyuto, 240mm
Ground beef & pork, black pepper, salt, granulated garlic, granulated onion, milk, sauteed cremini mushrooms, eggs, sauteed onions and panko. Last time I made this -- which was the first time I made this -- I threw in some leftover sauteed onions and mushrooms. Because it turned out so well, I wanted to include them again
=R=

I love using mushrooms in meatloaf and never make otherwise. I learned it from Gourmet Mag (the recipe in the giant yellow compendium cookbook). It is especially rewarding to do with turkey as the meat - adds moisture and umami. You don't miss the beef, so it's healthier and more sustainable.

That makes perfect sense. Was thinking about trying this with ground chicken thighs and, possibly, shiitakes next time. They usually have an ample, fresh supply at a couple of the markets I shop, and they have a lot more flavor than creminis.

=R=

Working in Portland I used to buy dry porcini powder @ the farmers mkt. Especially good dusted on scallops and seared but good with most meats as well as some vegs.

Jazzfood wrote:Working in Portland I used to buy dry porcini powder @ the farmers mkt. Especially good dusted on scallops and seared but good with most meats as well as some vegs.

Duly noted. I have some dried porcinis. Gotta remember to buzz a few of them in my spice grinder and try them out on a few items.

Tonight, it was pan roasted pork tenderloin with onions and peppers and sweet & sour eggplant . . .


Pork Mise En Place, Saji R2 Damascus Gyuto, 210mm & Yu Kurosaki VG10 Fujin Petty, 120mm
Onions, black pepper,salt, Manale spice blend, minced garlic, pork tenderloin (trimmed and trussed), evoo, white wine and bell peppers.
Used the Saji for everything except cleaning up the tenderloin. For that, the Kurosaki worked beautifully.

As I mentioned above, there was also side-dishery, Sweet Sour Eggplant in Yuxiang Sauce via the Cooking with Lau youtube channel. For this one, there are a ton of ingredients, most of which go into a sauce . . .


Eggplant Mise En Place & Saji R2 Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
Japanese eggplant, corn starch (for a slurry, added at the end), bell pepper, dark brown sugar, grated ginger, scallions, minced ginger, sesame oil, spicy soy bean paste, soy sauce, dark mushroom soy sauce, apple cider vinegar (I went rogue by adding this one), Shaoxing cooking wine, 5-year black vinegar and oyster sauce.

Wok'd hard the aromatics and the eggplant in a touch of veg oil, drizzling in a bit of warm water at a few points along the way to prevent burning and allow steaming. From there, most of the other ingredients come together to create a sauce, which gets poured into the wok when the eggplant is suitably tender. Once all the pieces are thoroughly covered, turn the heat to low, drizzle in the corn starch slurry until the sauce thickens, kill the heat and mix in a wee bit of sesame oil . . .


Sweet Sour Eggplant in Yuxiang Sauce
Garnished with scallions.

As for the tenderloins, I oiled and seasoned them, then seared them in a carbon steel pan. Once they had browned on all sides, I removed them and sauteed the onions and peppers with some garlic, salt, black pepper and white wine. Once they'd softened and reduced a bit, I put the tenderloins back in and put the whole pan into an oven for about 25 minutes at 400F convection. When the pork hit 135F internal, I pulled the pan out of the oven . . .


Pan-Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Onions & Peppers


Plated Up
I really liked how this all turned out. You really have to empty the pantry to make the eggplant but it tastes great and is well worth it.

=R=

Today's dinner was braised pork neck bones (not smoked) with black beans.

I purchased the neck bones from Safeway for $1.29/ lb. The meat was not as advertised. Instead of only neckbones, there was a lot of pork scraps including some pork belly and some shoulder meat. For what I was doing, it worked very well.

Currently, my refrigerator is very empty (other than 4 doz. eggs and 20# of cheese thanks to some Christmas gifts). I literally took every vegetable out of the crisper and pretty much used up everything that I had.

I braised the neck bones after they had been seasoned with smoked paprika, black pepper and salt. While they were braising, I chopped up all of my green onions, red onions, brown onions, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, garlic and ginger. I added some tired celery. I let it braise for 2+ hours.

Then I added in a can of black beans, a can of whole kernel corn and a can of diced tomatoes and simmered it for an hour.

I served it with some Glory Foods turnip greens.

Tonight, it just kind of went off the rails over here. In the end, not inedible but not exactly what I'd envisioned . . .


Plated Up
Parmesan-crusted chicken thigh, Sichuan-style cucumber salad (mostly refreshed from a leftover portion) and a blob of the weekly slaw. Had every intention of pan cooking the chicken but then the phone rang and I ended up on a lengthy work call. I ended up throwing the chicken in the oven (convection roast), which wasn't exactly optimal. It had good flavor and a nice top crust but the real estate between the exterior and the meat was a bit on the gummy side. Oh, well. They can't all be winners.

Happy Monday!

=R=

I suspect your 'not a winner' is the rest of ours 'a winner'.

lougord99 wrote:I suspect your 'not a winner' is the rest of ours 'a winner'.

Haha - you're too kind. It was fine and one of my son's friends asked today about the recipe, so maybe I was being a bit too hard on myself.

Tonight, it was back to the wok . . .


Mise En Place & Saji R2 Damascus Gyuto, 210mm
4x gelatinous pork stock, onions, creminis, minced garlic & obscured ginger, scallion bottoms, fermented black beans, scallion tops, veg oil, Sichuan peppercorn powder, marinated beef (soy, dark soy, salt, Shaoxing, veg oil, corn starch and baking soda), white pepper, soy sauce, dark/mushroom soy sauce, Shaoxing cooking wine and broccoli.

A couple of thoughts . . . I really love this knife. It's so much fun to work with. In some ways, it reminds me of my cooking days when Western knives were all I owned. But it also brings many quintessential J-Knife attributes to the board. Lots of fun. I wasn't confident in the textural quality of the grocery store beef, so I added 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to the marinade. And it then sat for a couple of hours. The result was that the meat was very tender. Still, not great flavor-wise but it did the job. I would have preferred using beef stock but pork and chicken are all I have right now, so pork got the call. Rather than having big pieces of mushroom in the finished dish, this time, I was more interested in cooking them down to the point where they were a more foundational, background element of the dish. So, I cooked them first, with some soy and Shaoxing, until nearly all their moisture had sizzled out and they had grabbed some nice flavors. This worked out well but last time I used this method, I had fresh shiitakes and not surprisingly, they brought a lot more of their own flavor and perfume to the final product. Creminis are great carriers but they don't impart much of their own anything.


Plated Up
With some Zojirushi'd jasmine rice.

=R=

In trying to mix it up a bit, I was determined to make a non-stir-fry shrimp dish. I settled on shrimp tourkolimano, which I've only ever had in Greek restaurants. It turned out great but ended up being eerily similar to the shakshuka I made over the weekend. Maybe my recent tomato cravings mean I have a lycopene deficiency . . .


Mise En Place & Kanehide PS60 Gyuto, 210mm
Scallion bottoms, scallion tops, u26 shrimp, red onion, minced garlic, Greek oregano, red chile flakes, black pepper, feta cheese, whole canned tomatoes, white wine and Greek evoo.

From what I gleaned on the internet, the distinguishing element between the tourkolimano prep and a saganaki prep is the inclusion of white wine. To be safe, I made sure to include plenty. Started by sauteing the onions, scallion bottoms and garlic in the evoo. Then added the tomatoes, which I crushed by hand. After that, I added the chile flakes, black pepper and oregano, being sure to 'activate' the latter by rubbing it between my palms on its way into the pan. Next, I added about 250ml of white wine and let it all reduce together. Once it got where I wanted it, I mixed in the shrimp, crumbled a bunch of the feta on top and put it under the broiler for a couple of minutes. Feta doesn't really brown but it does get nice and melty . . .


Shrimp Tourkolimano
Fresh out of the broiler.


Plated Up
With sauteed spinach and well, all I had was Polish rye, so I toasted up a piece. I hope that doesn't cause an international incident.

=R=

Holy crap, Ronnie. That looks so good!

The GP wrote:Holy crap, Ronnie. That looks so good!

Thanks, Mary. It paled compared to Psistaria's version and I'll never get it that good but I think I can close the gap on future attempts. It's an easy prep and the family loved it, so it'll be in the rotation for sure.

Tonight, with the weather dry, calm and in the mid-30's, I decided to hit Zier's. Best looking thing in the case were some excellent, dry-aged NY strips, cut to order . . .


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled NY strip, garlic green beans and a blob of the weekly slaw.


Interior Shot
A happy outcome!

Dinner, hosting friends (hence, the placemat), went with a tried and true trio . . .


Plated Up
Chile verde pork stew, Rancho Gordo mantequilla beans and some Mexican restaurant-style rice.

=R=

Decided to do a moderately deep dive, and tackled the Cantonese-style Ribs in Black Bean Sauce that Mandy recently covered in a video posted at her Souped Up Recipes youtube channel. I swear it's not that I'm obsessed with her. It just seems that lately, she's often post things I'm interested in making. Plus, I always see these ribs in the meat case at my local Chinese market, so I was just waiting for a good reason to buy some of them and this was definitely it . . .


Wash
The process starts with 'washing' the ribs for 8 minutes in a mixture of salt, corn starch, Shaoxing cooking wine and ice.


Washed
After 8 minutes of swishing it all about, my hands were virtually frozen and all the ice had just about melted. From here, I rinsed and dried the ribs and started on the marinade . . .


Marinade Mise En Place & Kanehide PS60 Gyuto, 210mm
Veg oil, minced ginger, minced garlic, white pepper, granulated sugar, dehydrated orange peel, fermented black beans, Shaoxing cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, baking soda, corn starch and oyster sauce.

One interesting move is that Mandy calls for holding back 1/3 of the garlic and 1/3 of the ginger -- plus the black beans -- and giving them a quick sizzle in some of the veg oil . . .


Sizzle
Garlic, ginger and fermented black beans toasting briefly in veg oil. This mixture is added to the marinade.


Marinating
Mandy recommends at least one hour or overnight. I gave these about 4 hours before the steaming began.

I have a two-level steamer set-up and in each of the two baskets, I positioned a plate full of marinated ribs. I let them steam for 30 minutes, after which they were done . . .


Cantonese-Style Ribs in Black Bean Sauce
They should be light in color and tender enough to suck the meat off the bones/cartilage with only a little resistance. Check both of of those boxes. They really looked, felt and tasted exactly as they have when I've had them at various restaurants.


Plated Up
With sesame-garlic sauteed spinach and jasmine rice.

I really liked this one and will definitely do it again. I scaled up the recipe 4x from the one that Mandy provided and in doing so, came away feeling like next time I'd cut back on the salt a bit (no reason to scale it up 4x) and increase the fermented black beans by 25%. Other than that, the only negative was having one of my favorite dim sum dishes at home . . . without the other half-dozen or so that I'd normally order with it if I were at a restaurant!

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Decided to do a moderately deep dive, and tackled the Cantonese-style Ribs in Black Bean Sauce that Mandy recently covered in a video posted at her Souped Up Recipes youtube channel. I swear it's not that I'm obsessed with her. It just seems that lately, she's often post things I'm interested in making. Plus, I always see these ribs in the meat case at my local Chinese market, so I was just waiting for a good reason to buy some of them and this was definitely it . . .


Wash
The process starts with 'washing' the ribs for 8 minutes in a mixture of salt, corn starch, Shaoxing cooking wine and ice.


Washed
After 8 minutes of swishing it all about, my hands were virtually frozen and all the ice had just about melted. From here, I rinsed and dried the ribs and started on the marinade . . .


Marinade Mise En Place & Kanehide PS60 Gyuto, 210mm
Veg oil, minced ginger, minced garlic, white pepper, granulated sugar, dehydrated orange peel, fermented black beans, Shaoxing cooking wine, soy sauce, salt, baking soda, corn starch and oyster sauce.

One interesting move is that Mandy calls for holding back 1/3 of the garlic and 1/3 of the ginger -- plus the black beans -- and giving them a quick sizzle in some of the veg oil . . .


Sizzle
Garlic, ginger and fermented black beans toasting briefly in veg oil. This mixture is added to the marinade.


Marinating
Mandy recommends at least one hour or overnight. I gave these about 4 hours before the steaming began.

I have a two-level steamer set-up and in each of the two baskets, I positioned a plate full of marinated ribs. I let them steam for 30 minutes, after which they were done . . .


Cantonese-Style Ribs in Black Bean Sauce
They should be light in color and tender enough to suck the meat off the bones/cartilage with only a little resistance. Check both of of those boxes. They really looked, felt and tasted exactly as they have when I've had them at various restaurants.


Plated Up
With sesame-garlic sauteed spinach and jasmine rice.

I really liked this one and will definitely do it again. I scaled up the recipe 4x from the one that Mandy provided and in doing so, came away feeling like next time I'd cut back on the salt a bit (no reason to scale it up 4x) and increase the fermented black beans by 25%. Other than that, the only negative was having one of my favorite dim sum dishes at home . . . without the other half-dozen or so that I'd normally order with it if I were at a restaurant!

=R=

Gorgeous!! Thoughts on how these would freeze?

boudreaulicious wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Decided to do a moderately deep dive, and tackled the Cantonese-style Ribs in Black Bean Sauce . . .

Gorgeous!! Thoughts on how these would freeze?

I honestly don't know. I wonder if they'd lose something texturally. I think cooked/steamed, frozen and reheated by steaming would be worth a shot with a small batch of leftovers just to see how they'd fare. There's no egg white, so they're not exactly velveted. Probably for that reason, I wasn't able to find anything about it online. I posted a question over at Mandy's channel, asking her. We'll see if she responds. If she does, I'll report back.

While I'm not sure about freezing, I can confirm that they're excellent after having sat on the counter in an open tupperware for a couple of hours!

=R=

Beef Wellington, roasted potatoes and broiled asparagus on a reduced wine sauce.

lougord99 wrote:Beef Wellington, roasted potatoes and broiled asparagus on a reduced wine sauce.

Slap me on my big round butt and make me smile. Looks like a winner for dinner!