This is a dish that my parents often made for me when I was growing and didn’t have too much in the way of money. Yes, we worked in a restaurant but that doesn’t mean we could eat whatever we felt like. Sometimes times were tough and we had to make the most out of what we had. This dish is a Taiwanese reinterpretation of a Macanese dish called Minchee. Our version is slightly soupier but delicious all around.
this is just a list… a place holder until i actually have the time to try this.
So I really, really wanted Momofuku Noodle Bar ramen but am currently a bit more broke than I would like so I decided to give it a go. My broth is still cooking but I decided to try David Chang’s recipe for 5:10 eggs.
so this dish is a combo of different noodle styles. it uses pad thai noodles cooked in a combo Zhajiangmian and lo mein style. i first cooked all the vegetable separately while i stewed the beef in a different pot. once i boiled off the pad thai noodles (think a broad rice noodle) i combined it all in one big pot a stirred until well combined. the taste is very similar to xi’an famous foods’ hand pulled noodles.
i think i am slowly perfecting my short rib stew recipe (original found here). this time around i added in some ground sichuan peppercorns for some added spice. 3/4 of the way through cooking, i noticed that it seemed thinner than my last interpretation. just as i was about to add in a cornstarch slurry, i noticed a package of panko crumbs. on a whim, i put another pot down on the stove, added in a healthy chunk of butter and a few glugs of olive oil. i threw in the crumbs and let them toast to a nice golden brown. then i threw the whole thing into the stew. it thickened up nicely and the butter and oil seemed to mellow out a bit of spiciness.
you what know what that means? heavy and dark stews.
so on a whim i decided to make chicken noodle soup for the first time ever yesterday. my thought was that since it was so simple (meat, veg, liquid, carb) that i had to get the absolute best ingredients to put in it. amidst my wanderings in the nor’e.aster yesterday, i bundled up and went to my usual one stop shop, whole foods. i would usually go up to USQ to the greenmarket but all things considered i just went to whole foods instead. i bought some onions, carrots, celery, potatoes, linguini, chicken stock and a chicken. the veggies were of a good quality even if the celery left a bit to be desired. the chicken was good, but could’ve been better. it was a near 4 pound beast but the coloring on the fat wasn’t very good. it was a pale-ish yellow when it should’ve been way more yellow. oh well i guess. i got home with all of my stuff (hauling all those groceries and a brand new heavy stockpot was a pain) in a reasonable amount of time but was rather soggy from the rain. i spent the next two hours prepping almost 6 pounds of veggies. peeling, washing, cutting, slicing, and chopping takes a fair amount of time when your kitchen (and counter space) is tiny. i sweated the aromatics in some good olive oil. after all that veg cooked down in threw in the chicken, the whole thing intact. i covered it with chicken broth, a bottle a beer, and half a bottle of vodka. all that liquid and it still wasn’t enough. i had the sense to put a kettle on and dumped boiling water over all of it. i think this helped bringing everything up to temperature. i then threw in some bay leaves, thyme, basil, oregano, and some black and white pepper. after simmering nice and slow for what seemed like forever (seriously, the liquid dropped almost 2 inches so it was like 4-5 hours) i pulled the chicken out to cool. i threw in a couple handfuls of salt, the potatoes, and the linguini (i already snapped the dry pasta into smaller chunks). i also had some braised carrots and onions from dinner the night before so i threw that in too. once the chicken cooled off enough for me to handle with my hands i pretty much stripped all the meat from the bones. i saved the bones (to make more soup with) and threw the meat into a pan. i skimmed some of the oil off the top of the soup, most of which came from the chicken itself, and threw it into the pan. i crisped/browned the chicken before throwing it back into the pot. i let it simmer a bit more before adding in some more salt and turning it off. i then let then entire thing sit out overnight before throwing it in the fridge. upon trying it a full 24 hours later… i’m fairly surprised by how it turned out. 1) i currently have a head cold 2) i’m all stuffed up and can’t really breathe through my nose 3) that means i couldn’t taste a damn thing yesterday. the soup turned out wonderfully seasoned, it didn’t really need anything else. the noodles are bit soft, but that’s good i guess? it reminds me of the campbell’s canned soup. the only thing i don’t really understand is why the soup is kind of spicy? the only spice in the soup was some black and white pepper, no chilis at all. the soup is also a bit cloudy, but i’m assuming its from all the starch in the potatoes and noodles. the soup itself is very, very hearty. once it properly cools down i might try to separate the congealed oil from the soup. it seems to be on the oily side right now. that’s a task for tomorrow though.
so i don’t really drink alcohol when i eat, not unless its absolutely necessary like wine pairings for a tasting menu. what i do drink is a large glass of very cold (but no ice) filtered water or artesian water. i also tend to drink at least half a liter to an entire liter of it. most of the food i prepare for myself is so spiced and seasoned that the water is needed to “dilute” the intense flavors often bringing out secondary flavors. it makes me enjoy my meal more because all of those flavors hit my tongue in surprising ways. it gives a new depth to my meal. i’m sure that the right wine pairing could sufficiently do the same effect, but i am no sommelier nor do i know that much about wine. it would be a difficult concept to work into a restaurant… i feel that most customers and critics would just says that i didn’t know how to season my food. of course i know how to season my food after so many years of cooking. i just prefer it this way. plus, the water helps make you feel full so you eat less but still end up with that full belly feel. and as far as i know water doesn’t have a caloric count. i really like water.
