Korean Stew-Kimchi and Blood Sausage Jigae

Hands down one of my favorite things to cook is a Korean Kimchi Jigae and this time I had the opportunity to incorporate some Korean Blood Sausage (Soondae) into the mix..blood sausage is something that I have truly come to appreciate over the past few years..and should be noted that blood sausage and testicles were origally the two foods I felt I could NEVER get into. One down!

Anyhow, not much to my recipe here, essentially what really makes up the core of a jigae is the use of fermented red chili paste as well as the kimchi and dried pepper flakes. I've got to admit what I really love about a jigae is the simplicity of making a stew..but with the incorporation of these Korean staples of Kimchi, pepper flakes, and pepper paste you end up with this extremely savory chili/tomato taste which encapsulates all other ingredients in the stew. Knowing this is a stew you've really got carte blanche here..make due with what you have and you'll enjoy every last drop of it.

This time around you can see I made use of what we had on hand, the only "special" item I used was the Soondae since it is difficult to find in Chicago. Soondae is Korean blood sausage which uses (obviously) pigs blood, some "bits" of pork, but also incorporates vermicelli noodles which makes for an interesting sausage to be sure (seen above).

Here's a general process on making your own Jigae:

Saute a few tablespoons of garlic, diced onion, and whatever other "hard" veggie you have on hand in 3 tablespoons of Sesame Oil for a few minutes. Add 1 cup o kimchi (your call on what kind), 1.5 cups of water, bring up to a boil and add 3 tablespoons fermented red pepper paste, 2 tablespoons of dried chili flakes, 3 teaspoons of sugar and simmer for 20 minutes.

There you have it! You've got your base now toss in whatever you dig eating as a protein! This time around I did Soondae of course but in the past I have used everything from diced pork to duck. Just chill out and make yourself a Jigae and you'll quickly fall in love with the flavor.

Salute!

Charcuterie-Homemade Beef Jerky

Definitely one of my favorite snacks of all time, why before I even started chewing tobacco (did it for 10 years and successfully went cold turkey a few years back) I started with that jerky that was sold in containers matched specifically to the ones used for Copenhagen...coincidence? Absolutely!

But I digress ;)

This is the 5th go around with beef jerky and I will say that after my first batch last year the quality has steadily gone downhill...until now!

When I say the quality has gone downhill I attribute it primarily to 2 things: the cuts of meat used (progressively fattier..which we know does not work so well w/jerky), and when sliced I have made the pieces progressively thicker, which equals longer drying time and therefore tougher/harder jerky.

Flash forward to this weekend as my wife and I had just finished our weekly "Korean breakfast", which is essentially every Sunday when we dont eat anything in the AM and head off to Chicago Foods (AKA JoonGBoo) to catch them when they open up at 10am prior to the heavy lunch crowd. It should be pointed out that Chicago Foods is a Asian Grocery Store and the restaurant area consists of 5 tables and a bar area...and is the best Korean food this city has to offer (plus is the only place we've found that has Korean Blood Sausage soup on the menu..and the sausage to purchase..more on that very soon ;) )

So the point of bringing our weekly trip to Chicago Foods is this: Bulgogia Korean bbq is a meat dish that consists of thinly sliced pieces of beef ( you see where this is going eh?) and then....well no point to go further then right?

Yep, so sliced Bulgogi meat, approx 1/8 inch thickness is good meat for jerky (ie low-medium quality sirloin cut) and is fairly low fat. What fat there is is often on the fringes of the cut and easily removed if desired.

Process and ingredients are very straightforward, and is partially borrowed from "Charcuterie":

2.25 lbs thinly sliced beef
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tsp garlic powder
.75 tsp Cayenne pepper
.5 tsp Saracha Sauce
1.5 tbsp Soy Sauce
2 tbsp Worcester Sauce
1.5 tbsp fresh ground peppercorn

-Mix all of the above into a bowl, let cure for 24 hours under refrigeration. After a day in the box bring it out and utilize a well ventilated surface (which I picked up at the Korean Store as well-seen in the pic) and possibly your oven (dependant on the temp you can achieve-ideally 85 degrees will do well) and let dry out for 18-24 hours.

Presto! You've got jerky! And for approx $6 for the beef and seasoning you've got a high quality jerky in the amount that would cost you over $20 easily at any Grocer. Cheers!

Charcuterie-Homemade Sausage, Round 2!

Well this past weekend I made another go of home made sausage. I certainly employed the handful of lessons I learned from my maiden voyage into becoming the modern day Ab Froman (oh come on! You know the reference!).

..Sausage King of Chicago!!!!

Okay..I trust the jokes have subsided..on to the recipe!

Style of sausage and ingredients remained very much the same as my last venture, but this time around I paid much more attention to getting everything into proportion.

See I have this nasty habit of over-seasoning..and being a self proclaimed Salt addict (I have 5 different salts and 2 different books on the subject..both of which I have read in the past 2 months) I have a bad habit of over salting foods to the point that no one else can enjoy them outside out myself..which is not the healthiest approach I might add :)

Here ya go!

-5.8 lbs pork shoulder (after de-boning)

-3 tbs kosher salt

-1.5 tbsp fresh young basil leaf

-1.75 fresh ground black pepper (mortor/pepper corn)

-3 tbsp diced garlic

-1.2 cups $2 chuck (that's pronounced "two buck chuck")-Merlot from Trader Joes

-1 package natural pork casings packed in salt

I butchered the pork shoulder 18 hours or so prior. After cutting the meat into 2x2 inch (or so) cubes I added the salt, pepper, garlic, and basil leaf to sit and partially cure in the fridge overnight prior to grinding.

After chilling in the freezer (colder is better..cant let the meat rise above 65 degrees else the fax will "break" and ruin he texture of the meat) I went about my business grinding, mixing (1 minute on medium setting then 1 minute on med/low setting with addition of chilled red wine), and stuffing into pork casings which had been soaked and rinsed for a 23 hours. This time around I had my kitchen aid sausage stuffer on hand (last time I diy'd this part..not so great) and it worked out fantastically.

All in all the sausages taste fantastic, in fact I've just distributed a few to my work buddies for their "professional" opinion and have froze the remaining 20 links.

If you would like a more in-depth description of the process please do let me know, I'd be more than happy to share as I'm all about this Charcuturie business and would love to be able to add to the promotion of this timeless art.

Next up-Brewing update: American APA (base malts: 2-row, oatmeal, rye, wheat)

Salute to that!

Homemade Pork Sausage..now we're talking Charcuterie!

Yep...this is a pretty big milestone for me since picking up Michael Ruhlmans and Brian Polycns "Charcuterie" last summer.

According to such great titles as the above making sausages is the ultimate in Charcuterie, what sums up the art of curing and preserving meats and is a whole field of culinary study in and of itself.

But enough about that..can you believe I made sausage? Me neither...but it was bound to happen :)


Just a quick post here folks, will be more in-depth on the next round of sausage making. Essentially what you see here is me raising a class of a Grand Cuvee Blonde Ale from some Belgium brewery who's name escapes me (was not so great anyway...wish I had some Brise-Bonbons left-French for "ball buster" by the way) and toasting the one poster we have in our kitchen..a classic butchers guide to pork and cuts of meat from these guys..its awesome.

From that point you have the grinding of 4lbs of Pork Butt (bone in-cubed and seasoned with salt, garlic, and pepper for 24 hours prior), the sampling of some of the sausage prior to stuffing into the natural pork casings (cooked on medium low heat on caste iron), and the final product which came out just "OK". Overall I consider the project a success and now know where I need to improve on my next go-around which I will post on at that point.

Cheers...and oink!

Panchetta!

So its been a while since I've put a posting up..which sucks :) But rest assured outside of not having enough time to post on my culinary adventures I have actually reserved my spare time to actually "have" my culinary adventures...and this was one of them.

I'm happy to report that only weeks after picking up my copy of Charcuterie I've already produced 4 different flavors of cured meats and will get some pics/descriptions up very soon...but for

now

lets look at the Panchetta.


Essentially a salt cured (with spices and herbs) pork belly then hang dried for
2+ weeks to develop flavor which is used to flavor other dishes.

So after leaving this guy to hang dry for two weeks (next to my second round of du
ck breast prosciutto) I was finally able to bring it down and use it one a nice breakfast pasta for the wife and myself. After slicing thin and cooking with some shallots I added our panchetta to some pasta, goat cheese, and sun dried tomato for a hearty (to say the least) Sunday morning breakfast (by the way..as I'm writing this Sunday evening I can now tell you that this more than contributed to our Sunday late morning nap :) ).

Personally I loved it, the flavor was very much like bacon (no surprise) but had a nice herbal/floral note to it left by cure (if you have any interest in the cure please let me know).

Cheers!

Duck Prosciutto..

Here's a riddle for you:

What has a road flare kit, a spare tire, tire iron, duck proscuitto air drying, my old softball mit, and is part of my car?

Thrown by the tire iron?

The answer is (of course) the trunk of our car!

So yeah..I let my duck proscuitto air dry in a propped open cooler in the trunk of our car..can you imagine the gatherinf of squirrels, ferrel cats, and whatever else wild animals prowl during the nights here on the north side of Chicago all gathered around our car during the nights like some sort of weird pagan ritual?

On to the process! After reading a few postings on making duck proscuitto over at the "Paupered Chef" (http://www.thepauperedchef.com/) by both writers on that site (Blake and Nick) and after getting my copy of "Charcuteries (http://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Craft-Salting-Smoking-Curing/dp/0393058298/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1206570634&sr=8-1) I was good to go!

First off, if this sort of thing interests you in the least (salting, smoking, and curing meats) please check out "Charcuterie" the book..well worth the investment.

Ingrediants are pretty straightforward: duck breast (I ended up with a frozen one from Whole Foods-but next time will go direct to China town), kosher salt (about 3 cups), some crushed peppercorn, thyme, a little cumin, and a small amount of white pepper (black is OK if thats all you have).

Equipment: non reactive dish ( I used a 12" pyrex pie pan), cheescloth, some twin or other way to suspend meat for approx one week.

Process: lay down an base layer of salt in your vessel, pat dry the duck breast and lay (fat side up) and cover fully with remaining salt, cover with plastic wrap. Refridgerate this for 24 hours to allow the salt to cure the meat.

After 24 hours remove, rinse breasts well off with tap water and pat completely dry. Once dried sprinkle with pepper and suspend in cheese cloth for 7 days (for approx 2 lbs of duck breast) at a tempeture around 50-60 degrees in a fair amont of humidity (not extremely wet, but also not extremely dry).

A quick note of the tempeture for line drying the meat: I actually left it to dry out in my trunk for a week which included some wild temp swings..from the low 30s for a small window up to the 50F mark...and my stuff tastes fantastic.

..I need a disclaimer after that though..please be careful and follow your best judgement (..if should be better than mine :) ).

After one full week (give or take a few days) remove from cheescloth and prepare to be turned off by the weird dark ruby colored meat and glistening duck lardo...but get ready for some amazing tasting meat as well!

Slice thin and serve as you see fit. Personally I enjoy the "gamey" taste of mine and eat it sliced and straight up.

Cheers!

Quiche...

Well as you can see it's pretty damn snowey for the 2nd day of spring here in Chicago, so on a Saturday morning that we were definetely not going out into I thought I'd give my first quiche a shot...

Pretty straightforward recipe: eggs, milk, cheese, portabello and spinach as the "meat", 2 kinds of chese (sea chedder, and gruyere), salt/pepper, and some spinach tossed on the top baked in a pie tin at 350 for around 25 minutes.


It came out pretty well, my only complaint is that I tried to cook the portabello a little before baking the quiche in the oven..which ended up adding a little too much moisture to the final product..making it kinda soggy, but still tasty.


In the future I think I will cut down on the egg/milk ratio for the filling. This time around I went with 4 eggs to 3/4 cup of reduced fat milk. Next time around I'll be aiming for 1/2 cup milk to cut down and cook time and also to dry the quiche up a bit, and hopefully in turn making it fluffier.


..Also it occurs to me that I should go with a deeper pie tin (and make my own dough) rather than using one specifically put out for use with pies..you just cant fit that much stuff in there :)

Cheers!

Vietnamese Pork Ribs and Pho..

I found this recipe off of a Whole Foods Video Podcast called "The Secret Ingredient", which is overall a great podcast once you get around the fact that they are obviously selling you Whole Foods products :)..maybe its my sales background that makes me sensitive to this..but hey everyones got to pay the bills right??

On with the recipe, its pretty straightforward-cure some baby back pork ribs for a few hours (sprinkled with kosher salt and peppercorns then wrapped up and set in the fridge), juice some coconuts (if you can find em-3 small/medium sized should give you 3.5 cups or so), add some dark sugar (1 table spoon), Vietnamese fish sauce (1/2 cup), garlic (5 cloves), and chicken stock (1 cup)..then braise for 1 hour at 350 degrees at which point you add some hard boiled eggs, cut ribs into 2 piece sectionns, and braise for an additional 30 minutes. Easy! And trust me its...delicious.

What you end up with is your ribs..which simply melt off the bone..but your also left with this amazing broth. What to do with it? Well thats your call..but here is what I did.

Take some fresh Star Anise, nutmeg, Cinnamon, and dark sugar, dump into a mortar and mix (about 1 tsp per for 2 servings), split up between 2 large soup bowls...cook some Pho noodles (rice noodles found in your local Asian market). Cut up some green onions, mushrooms, or whatever other veggie you think would work well (but does not require a long cook time) add to your bowls and pour the liquid left over from the ribs on top for each bowl, making sure that the broth is hot from the oven (this will release the flavor and fragrance from spices/veggies). Dump noodles on top, slice the hard boiled eggs in 1/2 and you've got your own version of Pho soup to go along with your ribs...good stuff.

The next time around I plan on using a sweeter beer (possibly a home brewed one) to replace the coconut milk..stay tuned.

Tips for this recipe...I wouldnt worry too much about having those exact spices on hand for the soup...think in terms of pumpkin pie spices and you'll be just fine..in fact you'll be making your own soup that way..no need to get hung up on the details :)

Also, I would focus on the quality of ingredients here (i.e. fresh coconut milk) but dont let that dissuade you..use what you have on hand and you'll soon be creating your own version of this dish. Take care!

Flemmish Beer Stew

What you see to the right of you is my second attempt at a Flemmish Beer Stew...and they are only getting better. Usually I would not bother with putting up a recipe onto the beer blog, but considering the time of year and the use of beer I say my way to rationalize doing so. This is one of my favorite dishes at a local belgium beer bar..or gastropub-The Hopleaf in Chicago (http://www.hopleaf.com/) and I have long thought about making it at home. Then one day came along on Basic Brewing Video (http://www.basicbrewing.com/) and lo and behold the fellas were throwing down a Flemmish Stew! That did it for me, within a week I had made my own (first attempt which was great) and now I am getting around to evolving it even more.

I'll keep it brief..but here is the tie in-RODENBACH :)

Various pics below, if you would like the recipe give me a shout and I'll post it up.

Here is the recipe folks..

This is based on a recipe for 6 people, so adjust where necessary:

4 pounds meat, such as chuck, diced into cubes, a teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 cup white flour, 1/2 stick unsalted butter,2 large onions, thinly sliced, 20 oz of your choice of belgian beer ( I prefer a sour brown ale)2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme, bay leaves 1/2 tablespoons red currant or other jelly you prefer (try to make it tart though)1 tablespoon vinegar

1. Season the beef cubes with the salt and pepper and dredge with the flour. Shake off any excess.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large heavy skillet over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the meat cubes and sauté until nicely browned on all sides. Work in batches so as not to crowd the beef cubes, or they will steam instead of sauté. Add 1 tablespoon of butter, if necessary. Transfer the beef cubes to a heavy Dutch oven.
3. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to the skillet and melt over medium heat. Add the onions and cook stirring occasionally, until browned, about 15 minutes. If necessary, raise the heat toward the end of the cooking time. It is important to brown the meat and the onions evenly to give the stew its deep brown color. The trick is to stir the onions just enough to avoid burning the but not so often as to interrupt the browning process. Combine the onions with the meat in the Dutch oven.
4. Deglaze the skillet with the beer, scraping with a wooden spoon to loosen any brown bits, and bring to a boil. Pour the beer over the meant. Add the thyme and bay leaves.
5. Simmer, covered, over low heat until the meat is very tender, 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Before serving, stir in the red currant jelly and vinegar; simmer for 5 minutes. This sweet-and-sour combination will give this hearty stew its sprigs and bay leaves. Taste and adjust the seasoning and serve.

Cheers!

Breakfast of..well stuff you would not usually eat for breakfast.

Early this morning after tending and playing with the dog for a bit I tuned into Anthony Bourdains: No Reservations-China program on the Travel Channel which is a kick ass show...even if he is a bit of a dick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain), well this got my foodie mind going so I decided at 7am that would prepare our (potentially just mine..) breakfast of the 3 items blogged previously: kimchi, kombucha, and gravlax...

Everything came out really well! My only complaint is that the gravlax (salt cured salmon) was a overly salty, but that is easily traced back to me leaving it in it's brine for 1-2 days too long (most guides I've seen say 3 days or so, I went with 5). So overall everything went really well, I also decided that my kombucha is ready for the big time and I have a large jug of sweetened black tea cooling on the counter as we speak, which means sparkling kombuch (carbonated) in 2 weeks. Also we have enough gravlax to last all week if we really spread it out.

Next post: Belgium Wit review, starting a starter, and brew plans for 7/22.

Thanks for reading, and as always please subscribe and/or check back frequently and leave comments!