Thịt kho tàu 2.0

I've been making this dish, or at least a version of it, since my bachelor days. In fact, I wrote a recipe on this blog about 13 years ago (see it here). I've since been told not to use that name, and I now have better tools than my old single-coil electric stove. This one is for the Instant Pot which, as you'll see if you read the recent posts on this blog, has been my galley gear of choice these days. It also borrows some elements from this recipe for 红烧肉 (hong shao rou), which is another dish I want to try making. 

Ingredients

1 kilo pork belly, cubed

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic, chopped

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/4 cups coconut water

1/4 cup fish sauce

ground pepper

1 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

canola oil

1. On Saute, heat up a bit of oil then add the sugar. In my experience it started out a bit clumpy, but it eventually started to melt. When the hot oil-sugar mixture is mostly melted (with a few clumps) add a mixture of 1/4 cup fish sauce and 1/4 cup coconut water. Heat this up and use this to fully dissolve the sugar. 

2. Add chopped onion and garlic and simmer until you can smell the aromatics through the caramel and fish sauce. 

3. Add the pork and generously season with pepper. Simmer a bit until pork is a bit browned/denatured on all sides. 

4. Add 1 cup coconut water, star anise, and cinnamon. Simmer for a while. Then, if you have time (I did), Slow Cook for 4 hours. This will help extract all the flavours. 

5. Check tenderness of meat. If needed, Pressure Cook on High for about 20 minutes and NPR until meat is very soft and fat is rendered. 

6. Continue simmering on Saute until desired sauce thickness. 

You may add hardboiled eggs or tofu in step #6 for a more festive dish (they do serve this for Tet). Serve with steamed rice and greens. 

Next in the Galley: Marosszéki Heránytokány

So I ordered 2 x 500g of beef brisket with the intention of making Tass Kabab e Aremaneh. Instead, what arrived as 500g of beef brisket and 500g of pork ribs. I'm pretty sure Iranian tass kabab will not be very authentic if I use pork, so I looked for a stew recipe that contained both beef and pork. I found this dish (recipe from here and here), which is apparently claimed by both Hungarian and Romanian cuisines. Seems the distinctive flavour will be coming from paprika (because Hungary, of course), marjoram, caraway, sautéed mushrooms, and sour cream. Interestingly, there is no garlic anywhere in this dish and wondered if a link with Transylvanian nobility of the literary kind is the Romanian side of the dish. Of course, I plan to make this using the Instant Pot.  

Ingredients

500g beef brisket, cubed

500 pork ribs, cubed

bacon or Speck, chopped

1 onion, chopped

button mushrooms, sliced

a pinch of caraway (or fennel) seeds

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

1/2 cup water

1 cup white wine

sour cream

canola oil (something neutral-tasting)

salt and pepper to taste 

1. In the Instant Pot, press Saute and sauté bacon then onion in oil until brown and aromatic. Add paprika mixed with water and bring to a simmer for a few minutes. 

2. Add beef, pork, spices, and wine and Pressure Cook on high for about 50 minutes then NPR. While pressure cooking, in another pan sauté the bacon and mushrooms until mushrooms are browned and lose a bit of moisture. 

3. After pressure cooking and meat is nice and soft, press Saute and reduce the sauce until desired thickness. Stir in sautéed mushrooms and bacon. Simmer a bit. 

4. Before serving, fold in some sour cream to enrich the gravy. 

Usually served with a crusty bread or baked potatoes, but we will probably have this with steamed rice. 

Next in the Galley: Cochinita Pibil

Combined recipe from here and here. See the fascinating history of the dish here.

Ingredients

1 kilo pork shoulder

achiote paste (Yucateco)

garlic, minced

juice from oranges and limes

cumin powder

peppercorns, whole and ground

salt

bay leaves

banana leaves

1. Mix citrus juices, achiote paste, garlic, ground pepper, cumin, and salt into a marinade and rub over the pork. Let it marinate (ideally overnight). 

2. Add 1 cup of water to the Instant Pot and throw in bay leaves and peppercorns-- this will add aroma to the steam. Use the trivet. 

3. Wrap marinated pork in banana leaves (season with extra salt, pepper, and cumin as desired) and place packages on the trivet. Pressure cook on high for 50-60 minutes then NPR. Pork should be falling apart tender. 

For a Mexican dinner, it should be served with corn tortillas, pickled red onions, and salsa. But we will probably have it with rice.  

Update: Made it, and we had it Mexican style with tortillas, cebollas curtidas, and salsa verde anyway. See the pictures here and here. 

Estofado de ternera al vino tinto malbec

My take on an Argentinian beef stew using short ribs and Malbec wine. 

Ingredients

1 kilo beef short ribs, bone-in

2 carrots, diced

2 celery sticks, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic bulbs, smashed

3 sprigs fresh oregano, hand-crushed

3 large bay leaves

2 cups red wine (I used Argento Malbec 2016)

2 cups beef broth

knob of butter

olive oil

fennel seeds

peppercorn

ground black pepper

salt (I used Maldon Smoked Sea Salt)

1. Gently salt the beef. Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan. When it's smoking, sear both sides of the beef. Place beef inside the Instant Pot container. 

2. In the same pan, fry some fennel seeds and ground pepper until you can smell them. Then sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant. Add in the celery. Then add in the carrots. When they are nice and fragrant, put them in the Instant Pot container with the beef. 

3. Put 3/4 cup of the wine and 3/4 cup of the broth in the pan and deglaze any oily, buttery browned bits on the bottom. Place in the Instant Pot container. 

4. Pour the rest of the wine and broth. Add in the peppercorns, bay leaves, and sprigs of oregano. Slow Cook for 4 hours. This is to extract the most flavour from the ingredients. 

5. After the slow cook, check softness of the beef and taste of the sauce/broth. Season the broth as needed and, if beef is not yet fork-tender, Pressure Cook as needed (maybe 30 minutes on high pressure). Afterwards, on the Saute function reduce the sauce to desired level of thickness; season as needed.  

Serve with potato puree or, to be truly Argentine, pasta. Of course, we had it with rice. See the dish here.

Teriyaki Pork Ribs 1.0

Logging for notes. There are a few thinks I need to tweak-- texture is good (not too soft), but the meat's flavour apart from the sauce could be better. Not bad for a first try.

Ingredients

1 kilo baby back ribs

3/4 cup teriyaki sauce (I used Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade)

3/4 cup hon mirin

knob of butter

salt and pepper

1. Season the ribs and marinate in teriyaki sauce and mirin, preferably overnight (I only did 2 hours, hence the lack of flavour). 

2. Place ribs and marinade in the Instant Pot. If you have a trivet, rub salt and pepper on the ribs and place on the trivet. Pressure cook on high for 40 minutes, natural release for 10 minutes, then quick release. 

3. Place ribs on a baking tray, keeping the now-watery marinade in the pot. Add a knob of butter and Saute on high to reduce the sauce until it can coat the back of a spoon. 

4. Bake ribs at 220C until desired brownness. 

Serve with rice (or course). 

Instant Pot Sanbeiji 三杯雞 (Three Cups Chicken)

Well, not exactly 3 cups as I've changed the proportions of rice wine, sesame oil, and soy sauce. And because we used the Instant Pot, it's more a stew and not the Maillard reaction-browned version you'd get from a claypot or a wok. 

Ingredients

1 kilo chicken (wings and drumettes)

1 garlic, peeled but not chopped

3-5 slices of ginger

1/2 cup Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing) 

1/4 cup sesame oil

1/4 cup dark soy sauce

1/2 cup water

salt and pepper

1. On Saute mode (high), sauté the garlic and ginger in sesame oil until the garlic starts to blister. 

2. Add in the chicken and fry a bit-- no need to brown at this stage, just to get the temperature up again. Add in the rice wine, sesame oil, and dark soy sauce and let it simmer for a minute or so. Press Cancel to turn off Saute mode. 

3. Place the pressure cooker lid on the instant pot and set Pressure Cook (or Poultry) for 25 minutes (high pressure). After pressure cooking, leave it on natural release for about 10 minutes then do a quick release to stop cooking. 

4. Go back on Saute mode to evaporate all the liquid until you are left with a thick sauce (this could  take a while on the Instant Pot; alternatively, transfer contents to a separate pan/wok and reduce sauce over a stove). Sauté/reduce until desired thickness. 

Serve with rice and some stir-fried greens. Pickled greens would be good too. 

De Re Coquinaria of Apicius

 Saving for reference: https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Apicius/home.html

Might try Roman dishes some day.