Tag Archive for 'Braised'

Green tea pulled pork with spicy asian bbq sauce

Published
by
marc
on June 23, 2008
in Asian, BBQ, Fusion, Pork and Roast
. 12 Comments

Still lingering on tasty memories of Michelle’s last BBQ, I was craving smokey pulled pork in a big way this weekend. So much so that I actually got my ass out of bed at 9 am on a Saturday to head over to Chinatown to pick up a big ole pork butt.

Pork butt for those initiated is another name for the “picnic” roast which in betrayal of its name comes from the other end of the pig (the shoulder). It’s a delightfully grisly fatty cut of meat that would make for a rubber doorstop if you cooked it any other way than slow and low.

At about 185 degrees F, the fat and connective tissue break down into that lovely moisturizing stuff that lotions purport will keep your skin wrinkle free and supple. This makes the meat incredibly moist and tender allowing you to enjoy the ample flavor that’s inherent in this cut of meat. The key is to slowly raise the temperature of the meat to 185 F then keep it there for at least an hour. In an ideal world, you’d put it in a heating vessel that holds a steady 185 degree temperature then leave it there for a day … But then again in an ideal world I’d be allowed to BBQ in my NYC apartment and not have to go to work either.

In an effort to make this more apartment friendly and time saving, I roast it in a dutch oven at 200 degree F. It will still take at least 5 hours mind you, so this isn’t a quick weeknight meal, but you could also put this into a crockpot on low and let it do it’s thing while you’re at work. I used smoked salt to give it a bit of that bbq flavour, but nothing beats putting it in a real charcoal smoker for hours on end.
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Buta Kakuni (Japanese braised porkbelly)

Published
by
marc
on May 18, 2008
in Asian, Japanese and Pork
. 12 Comments

Pork belly is one of those unctuous guilty pleasures that you know will kill you some day, but you can’t resist taking another bite. Unlike “pork butt”, porkbelly actually comes from the belly of the pig and has layers of glorious fat. Salted and smoked, this cut is called “bacon”… need I say more?

Cooked over low heat for a long period of time, much of the fat renders out (which you skim off) and the collagen in the tough bits breaks down into gelatin making the entire thing dissolve in your mouth on contact. While I love porkbelly how ever it’s prepared, it’s so rich that I like simple preparations the best.

In Japan, buta kakuni is served as an appetizer along with some beer or sake. Literally translated it means “stewed square cut pork”. While it’s traditionally cut into cubes, I actually like leaving it in longer strips then slicing it before serving.

The dried sardines and pork make a flavorful broth while the ginger and garlic evens out any overly fishy or porky tones. The braising liquid has a small amount of soy sauce for added umami and “that Japanese taste”, but it’s mostly seasoned with salt with just a touch of sugar to balance it all out.

This goes great with some stir fried greens (flavored with the braising liquid), but I also love having slices of this over udon noodles with some of the braising liquid in the dashi.
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Cider braised veal chops

Published
by
marc
on March 13, 2008
in Veal and Winter
. 2 Comments

Cider braised veal chop

This dish was actually born out of a mistake. I meant to get a boneless tender cut that I could pound into a schnitzel. Instead I ended up with a bone-in chuck chop (part of the problem with ordering food online) that would have ended up more chewy than tasty.

Chuck is a not-so-tender (though flavorful) cheap cut of meat which comes from the shoulder area. It’s got a lot of connective tissue (aka collagen) so it’s not great for making steaks out of. Cooked slow over low heat however and the collagen breaks down into gelatin and makes the meat delightfully melty and moist.

I love braising pork shoulder in beer so when I realized that the cut of veal I had wasn’t going to work for schnitzel I rummaged through my pantry looking for beer. As it turned out, I had no beer, but I did find a few bottles of hard apple cider.

If you’ve never tried real cider (not the carbonated vodka, sugar, and flavoring crap), you’re missing out. Warwick Valley Winery makes a line of cider’s that are inexpensive, subtle and refreshing. Think of it as poor-man’s champagne… in fact they even use the same yeast used to produce champagne.

With a few inexpensive ingredients and a bit of time in the oven this “mistake” ended up turning into a luxurious winter meal. Play around with the cuts of meat, try adding some different spices, but most importantly remember that when it comes to cooking, you can turn lemons into lemonade:-)

2 Veal chuck chops (About 1/2″ thick)
1 large Fuji apple cut into thick slices
1 small onion sliced
2 C “hard” apple cider (i.e. the alcoholic kind)
1 bay leaf
1 Tsp salt
Fresh ground black pepper to taste

Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Salt and pepper both sides of the chop.

Heat a heavy bottomed oven safe pan big enough to hold both chops in 1 layer until hot then add a splash of olive oil. When you see thin wisps of smoke rising, put the chop in the pan. Don’t disturb the chop until it is well browned then flip and let that side brown as well.

Remove the chop, turn down the heat to medium and add some more oil if needed. Put the onions and apples in the pan and saute until soft and lightly caramelized.

Pour the cider into the pan and deglaze. Add the bay leaf, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.

Return the chop along with any juices that have collected in the plate back into the pan and spoon some apples on top of the chop. Cover and stick it in the oven for around 2 hours or until the meat falls apart with a fork.

When the meat is ready, take it out of the pan and over with foil. Bring the liquid in the pan to a boil and reduce until it gets slightly thicker.

Spoon the sauce over the meat and serve with a wedge of lemon.

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