Eat Drink Style Chinese Beef & Scallion Pancake - 肉 卷 餅 or 牛肉 卷

On Sunday night, I invited my friends HL, Yoony of Immaeatchu and her beer-guzzling man over for for dinner. The irritating heatwave that had struck upon us a few weeks ago was finally, long gone. When it's cold, I immediately think of beef noodle soup because I am a noodle whore. Beef noodle soup calls for the usage of beef shank, the leg portion of the cow, and because it is tough and sinewy, it requires many hours of braising. Usually when I make this, I'm left with way too much beef. I had run out of soup and didn't know what to do with the remaining meat. Then, I remembered a delicious item I had eaten at Temple City's Mandarin Noodle Deli... scallion beef pancake. Such a good and easy snack to make.

Much like Koreans with their side dishes, known as 'baan chan', Chinese also have their own set of delicious snacks. We have something we call 'lu wei' (滷 味), which literally means 'simmered flavor' and requires hours of braising/simmering foods with spices such as anise, cinnamon and coriander. It's peasant food at its best. If you've been to a Taiwanese or Chinese market/deli, you might see a section of boxed foods with duck's feet, pig ears, tripe, intestines, etc.... that is 'lu wei' food. If you've ever had brown-colored boiled eggs, with that sweet, aromatic and somewhat salty taste... that's 'lu wei'. Good stuff! One of my favorite 'lu-wei' items is cold-sliced beef tossed with cilantro, chili oil and sichuan peppercorns... which is similar to what is used in beef scallion pancake.

I took my remaining beef shank from the beef noodle soup pot, wrapped it up and threw it in the fridge to let it harden. The next day, I sliced it into 1/8" cuts and poured a little bit of my beef noodle soup over it to revive it from dryness.

Next, I chopped up some scallions and cilantro. One of the best kitchen gadgets I own is the scallion slicer/rake. For this dish, you don't want thick cuts of scallions otherwise it'll be overpowering.

For the beef scallion pancake, you need a sweet sauce. Not oyster sauce because it's too salty. Get hoisin sauce. I diluted it with a little water and added about 5-6 drops of sesame oil to brighten the sauce. Tasty.

For the scallion pancake, it's not hard to find it at the Chinese market. They either come fresh in the bread section or frozen. Fresh is best, but if you can't find it, no worries. Just don't use a tortilla or pita bread. Pan fry the scallion pancake for 3-4 minutes on each side until it's slightly brown. If you overfry the scallion pancakes, you'll see the mess you'll make when you try to roll it up. So the softer the pancake, the better it is.

Now, lay the scallion pancake flat, cover it with a generous amount of hoisin/sesame oil sauce, add the scallions and cilantro toward the bottom of the pancake in a tidy row (close to your body), add the beef slices.... and roll tightly away from you. Cut them at a diagonal bias and discard (or eat) the ends.

For the cold beef slices, you can just use the beef noodle soup recipe. Enjoy and thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style Pizza Party for My Nephew & Pizza Snob Friends

As a kid growing up, I looked forward to Sundays when the Times would be delivered to our doorstep. I'd get up and run to the door and grab the heap of freshly ink-pressed paper and toss it onto the living room floor. I would then grab scissors and hastily cut the bra and thong off the newspaper with two quick snips. And on my hands and knees, I would quickly shuffle through the stack like a college intern in a file cabinet on a busy day. There it was. Exactly what I was looking for.

No, it wasn't the comics.

Coupons. Pizza coupons.

During that time, the powerhouse pizza companies were Domino's, Pizza Hut and Little Caesar's and were constantly offering deals with soda, an extra pie for X amount of dollars or some weird culinary invention. But it was Little Caesar's who kept it real. For $15, you could get TWO pizzas with TWO toppings, while the other two offered ONE pizza for nearly the same price. Coming from a frugal, Chinese family, we'd be lucky to even get the $15 deal. Domino's and Pizza Hut was for the rich... and plus, they make such damn greasy food. I still refuse to eat that stuff to this day. But Little Caesar's? Yes please! Anyway, it was easier to push a cow off the road than it was to convince my parents to buy us pizza. They just didn't see the point of bread, cheese and sauce cut into triangles? Why? For $15, they could get a whole roasted duck at the Sam Woo bbq zoo. They could buy 7 of those face-sun visors if they made them back then. Thank god they didn't. Sometimes, we'd get those cardboard-like pizzas that came wrapped and stacked on top of each other. One look at it and you knew that it wasn't going to be very good.

My sister and I devised a plan to obtain more pizzas... simply by being on our best behavior. We showed homework, cleaned the house up every chance we could and blew MAJOR smoke up their asses. Most of the time, we failed. But for every 15 tries, we got our pizza. And it was heaven. For some reason, my story wasn't far off from Charlie & the Chocolate Factory. We weren't very wealthy but we had hopes and dreams... of getting pizza. I still remember what it was like holding $15 buck in my pocket and happily crossing the street. The all-too-familiar sign with the cartoon Greek guy would widen my eyes. I could see the oompa-loompas walking back n' forth behind the counter processing goodness. A smile cracked on my face and wielding that fabulous coupon that would grant me access into delicious cheesiness. If you remember, Little Caesar's used to package their double goodness on a cardboard and large white 'envelope'... much like Charlie's winning ticket in the chocolate bar. A simple tear in the 'envelope', and wafts of goodness seaped into your nose. Those days are long gone. Now Little Caesars pack their pizzas in boxes and are selling two types of pizzas for $5 each. You've seen their human billboards... spinning and tossing their signs on the corner of the street. Definitely not the same.

I still love pizza to this day, but really, who doesn't? My favorites being Fat Slice in Norcal, Abbot's in Venice Beach and Greco's on the corner of Hollywood & Cahuenga. And for a frozen brand, I absolutely love the 5 for $5 Jeno's pizza – my official poor-college-guy staple, amongst Del Taco and Sriracha-sauce hot dogs. But the more you cook, the more you stray away from eating out and I definitely can't eat the pizza from Domino's and Pizza Hut. The sight of that greasy bread and orange puddle of oil laying on top... man. It's inevitable that you'll try making your own pizza.

Finally, after a long hiatus, I got called for a catering gig that requires making pizza in a woodfire oven. I freaked because (1) I cannot stand baking and (2) how the hell do I work a woodfire oven. Why do I hate baking? Because it basically requires a lot of patience, standing around and precise measurements. Once you've done exactly what the book tells you to do, you loiter in the kitchen area. I prefer cooking savory food because it triggers the human senses and requires full attention. I see it as a high maintenace girl that needs love, care, attention, gifts, massages and affection. If something's not right, she'll react and blow up. Such is the case with sauces that break... meat that is overcooked. Very temperamental but I love it.

J and I borrowed her mom's Kitchen Aid mixer and one look at that thing ensures that your food will be good. Tokyoastrogirl sent me a link to a recipe by Heidi of 101 Cookbook's, who now has her first published cookbook. (Congrats to her on a huge achievement – she deserves it). I decided to throw a pizzafest slash practice for the catering event, and to celebrate my nephew's first birthday. Since he has four beaver teeth coming out, he'd be able to eat his first pizza. I tried out the recipe Heidi used and man, this was some GOOD pizza dough. My mom, who never let us have pizza, loved the bread. J called me 30 mins after she tried it, and asked that I save some dough for her. I myself hate eating pizza crust, but couldn't resist. So far so good. The best way to find out if this pizza was really good was to call on my friends ME & EP. These two are pizza snobs slash whores. They eat pizza once a week. They've DRIVEN to the famous Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix TWICE, where people wait for 2 hours in line to get in to this spot. I've seen the photos of their pizza and wow, amazing. If you like the pizza at Batali & Silverton's Pizzeria Mozza, you'll like Pizzeria Bianco because the head chef, Chef Matt Molina, was trained in that same restaurant.

These hairy arms are not mine. They belong to my friend ME. Here ME is rolling the dough out for our first pizza. A great dinner party to have is a pizza party, where you buy a bunch of pizza toppings and let everyone make his own pizza. I watched as he rolled the dough, and he looked very happy. Almost with that perverted, sexual offender look. Don't worry if your dough starts to look like Australia like it does in the photo, simply roll it back into a ball and start over. It's a good thing also to roll a few times because you want air to get in there to add some puffiness to the pizza.

Baby Cheese Pizza
For the birthday boy, my sister and I made him a 6" pizza with delicious marinara and mozzarella cheese on it. We then sliced the pizza into 1/2" x 1/2" cubes and laid them out on his baby chair (pictured above). He went to town on it and gobbled it up in about 7 minutes. This pizza reminded me of larger Bagel Bites and was very very fun to make.

ME's Double Pepperoni Pizza
First ME laid out 5-6 pepperoni slices on the cheese. I looked at him with a puzzled look. C'mon man, I thought you were a pizza whore... double down on it! He pretty much covered the whole pizza up w/ pepperoni... not a chance for the bread to see the light of day. A classic, delicious pizza!

My Sister's Marguerite Pizza
She likes simple food and this pizza is a classic representation of food that doesn't need to be complicated. The Italians first devised this pizza as a way to promot patriotism. A marguerite consists of only red sauce, white cheese and green basil... the 3 colors in the Italian flag. I cut the slices of tomato rather thin because 10 minutes in the oven really doesn't cook the tomato fully. Everyone loved this.

Spinach & Fontina Sausage with Zuccini and Red Onions
My favorite pizza has to be a veggie pizza, but the consensus insisted on adding sausage to this pizza. You can use any kind of sausage, it'll taste perfectly fine. I did a quick sauté with the zuccini and added garlic and smoked paprika. This combination was very good.

Portobello & White Truffle Oil Pizza
I made this for the client and she absolutely loved it. I quickly sautéed the portobello mushrooms in garlic and thyme and added it to the pizza. After it came out, I lightly drizzled some fantastic White Truffle oil. If you plan to buy White Truffle oil, try to fork out the money for a pure bottle of truffle oil, not the truffle-infused olive oil crap you see at Trader Joe's. If you don't use it quickly enough, the oil goes bad and tastes nasty. For many this was the 2nd favorite.

Heirloom Tomatoes, Basil & Burrata Cheese Pizza
I think for this election, I'm not voting for Hillary, Obama nor Edwards, I'm voting for Burrata Cheese for President. This stuff is stellar. Tokyoastrogirl gave me the idea for this and I really have to say THANK YOU. The combination of sweet, juicy heirlooms, fragrant basil and soft & milky burrata is heavenly. After I baked the pizza, I dropped globs of the burrata cheese (it comes in a water-filled tub, in some sort of 'casing') all over. I watched as it melted slightly on the surface. Beauty. This was everyone's favorite and definitely mine.

A note to those that wanna try out the pizza recipe. With exception to the Baby Cheese and Pepperoni pizzas, I simply used olive oil on the dough as a 'sauce' base. I'm not much of a tomato sauce person, so I refrained from using it – and it turned out wonderful. Always salt and pepper the pizza after you've added your toppings. You can even add some more olive oil on top of the pizza before you bake it. Pizzas were baked for about 12 minutes, at 450 degrees without a baking stone. I've heard a baking stone does wonders, so I'll try that next.

Here's the link to Heidi's tasty recipe again. Happy belated to my little nephew, you rock. And thanks to everyone for reading.

Eat Drink Style First Anniversary with Oishii Eats

Work has been nuts. And moving during this hectic month of work has proved that thing's couldn't be worse. But my highlight in July was cooking a dinner for our anniversary. I can't get into it, so I'll let J do the talking, or writing, that is. Congratulations J. This has been a frustrating yet rewarding year, and I thank you for being by my side.

***Note. If you start any more petty wars, like whether the overall tone of my photos is too yellow, your next anniversary dinner will be inspired by whatever coupons I find. Hehe.

Eat Drink Style Summer Supper: Braised Short Ribs, Seared Salmon Steak, Spot Shrimp and Tuna Tartare

The summer heat is here and automatically converts J's 400 sq. ft studio into a 375 pre-heated oven. When I cook, I need to slap on my headband not because I'm a posing, rap-star or deviant NBA star – it IS ridiculously hot in her kitchen. For me, the dynamics of a meal evolve once you move to the outdoors, even if it's in a courtyard, where everyone can peek through the curtains at you or overhear anything said. It's time to eat outside.

This occasion was fitted perfectly for a post-poned birthday like a baby blue prom dress on a high school junior. We had missed my good friend's wife's bday and decided to make it up with a nice 4-course dinner. I had known LL since we were in 2nd grade, and only grew stronger in our friendship through the years. He ended up wedding his highschool sweetheart after nearly 11 years of screaming each other's heads off, tears, abrupt hangups on the phone – you know, the true acts of love.

They came over on a weekday to see the table already set with more cheese that J had hand-selected at the Silverlake Cheese store. As they sat outside munching on the cheese, they didn't see the headband-bearing guy running amok like Remy of Ratatouille. But in the end, it's always worth it to see a smile on anyone's face, especially if it's two people that mean a lot to you. After all, cooking for a friend is the tastiest way to say... "you're not bad, i like you guys."

The Setting
Cheese from the Silverlake Cheese store. Cheese platter from iGourmet.com. Plates from Crate & Barrel. And a plastic folding table from Costco. Pure class, I know. Call it a form of membership rewards.

Tuna Tartare
I must have raw fish in any meal. I do this over and over again because it's simple and tasty. No need to suffer any burns or missing digits with this appetizer. A few drops of soy sauce, fresh apples and a dash of sesame oil and you have a take on a famous hawaiian poké dish.

Spot Prawns in Tomato Confit
For the second course, we made some delicious spot prawns. This comes from the wonderful "Sunday Suppers" cookbook by LA chef, Suzanne Goin. After J made this for dinner one night, this one was tagging along with us for a while. After roasting some tomatoes in some garlic, basil and olive oil, they are then puréed and used a dipping sauce for large, succulent spot prawns and baguette bread.

Roasting Tomatoes
Tomatoes getting ready for a culinary MRI. You can't hear them, but they are screaming in joy.

Seared Salmon Steak in Thai Roasted Red Pepper Sauce and Sautéed Artichokes
Third course. This was a favorite in the restaurant I used to work in. Salmon is seared skin-on and cooked to a medium consistency. The best part of the dish is actually the crispy salmon skin. The restaurant used piquillo peppers and chicken stock for the sauce. I did a take on it and roasted some red peppers and added Sriracha chili garlic sauce, créme fraîche, stock and butter. This was tasty, leaving a slight spice kick on the tongue. My friends ended up sopping up the rest of the sauce with the baguettes.

Braised Sichuan Red Peppercorn Short Ribs, Daikon & Asparagus

For the main course, we served up a dish that J and I had at the wonderful Sona restaurant in West Hollywood. If you have not experienced David Myers' fine cuisine, close your laptop and go – I love it. I put it up there in my favorites along with Wylie Dufresne's WD-50 in New York. They are both masters of the kitchen. If you go into the restroom of Sona, you'll see congratulatory letters written to Chef Myers from notable-chefs like Daniel Boulud, Charlie Trotter, Thomas Keller and Tom Collicchio of Top Chef (recipient of FIVE James Beard awards). Anyway, I took his braised short rib dish and added some Chinese flavor to it by searing them in sichuan peppercorn/salt mixture. Thanks to the talented Jaden of Steamy Kitchen for her inspirational posting on flavoring salts. I braised the ribs in red wine, a mire poix, red peppercorns, ginger, soy sauce and a little bit of sesame oil. These turned out great. I would do this again and shred the beef for asian style tacos.

Scoops Again!
This ice cream shop never ceases to amaze me with new flavors everyday. I believe this one was maple vanilla or something. I don't know, I just eat whatever J gets.

For Miles of Sideways, opening his bottle of 1961 Cheval Blanc which values at $2,600, was a special moment... as with the opening of our 2005 Sea Smoke Southing. The Sea Smoke went very well with the richly braised short ribs. This was a good summer supper. Happy belated to IL.

Eat Drink Style I'm Sorry For the 29 Years of Torture - Mother's Day Dinner

Raising a child is probably life's biggest challenges. From the day your child is born, your eyebrows will start to curve downwards. Your forehead develops creases like a shar pe's fur. And your blood pressure raises everytime you have to send a message to him/her. But you keep going. You keep going every single day until you see that they can function on their own. And even then, worrying never leaves your mind until they day you sleep infinitely. I was never a bad kid. I never got into any fights. Never hung around the wrong crowd - I was a schoolboy/soccer jock. Never got suspended from school - well maybe once for having a Motorola Pager with me during school. And it wasn't even one of those cooler pagers that everyone had – it was the one that held like 4 numbers and when paged, sounded like a semi backing the hell up. Never got anything below a B- (college was a different story). I never got a DUI (crossing fingers). But my mom always found a reason to worry. Then in college, I got into some serious trouble - nearly got me kicked out of school. And it was with utter shame and guilt that I called my mom and informed her of my deviance. I was prepared to have my head ripped off over the phone. But my mom surprised me. Even in time of peril, no matter who was at fault, a mother will stand by your side. Everytime I saw some news report of a juvenile crime, I was always amazed that the parents faced the music and stuck with their kid - even if it was attempted murder. It wasn't until this situation that I knew how important parents are and how down they were. As I sat in the deans office with my mom, I knew she was embarrassed. But she held my hand so tightly that I knew we were going to get through it. And we did thankfully. The dean simply wanted my mom in the conference so that she was aware of the severity of the incident. I dreaded the car ride home because I knew she would let me have it, but she didn't. She simply said "I know you won't do that again" and smiled at me. And ever since then, I made sure that I would never have to bring my mom into a situation like this again. And since then...



...I have not publicly urinated on a college campus.



So for mother's day, instead of taking her to a dim sum restaurant in SGV like every other Asian family, my sister and I cooked her a meal at home. After all, what's a few hours of cooking versus 29 years of nurturing this insanity called Dylan.



Seared Scallop & Pear Salad
I love scallops and I'll continue to cook scallops until I stop writing this food blog. Because I love tater tots, and to me, this is the marine version. A simple drizzle of kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, a searing hot pan and you're well on your way to the Olympics. I'm lazy when it comes to making my own dressing so I just call on my good friend Angelo Pietro because he gets the job done. I have to add fruit to all my salads now, it just creates a nice balance of savory, fresh, sour and sweet in every bite. I usually have a problem searing scallops nicely because of the amount of water that leaks out of them. A sign of a chemically-enhanced scallop is its high water content. They basically inject something to 'fill' the scallop up and when cooked, it ruins everything.



Lobster & Garlic Aioli Crostini
A few weeks ago, J and I ate at Hungry Cat in Hollywood. Its run by Suzanne Goin of AOC & Lucques' husband and it's a great place to enjoy oysters and super creative drinks. Their most popular dish is the Lobster Roll Deluxe which consists of chunky lobster, garlic aioli, parsley baked in a greasy roll. It's so rich but so good. If you try it out, I recommend sharing it or you'll get sick. Anyway, this was my attempt at recreating it. I simply boiled some lobster tails and cut the meat free from the exoskeleton. I then added it to a makeshift aioli prescribed by my incredibly talented friend, Yoony of Immaeatchu. I took mayo and added some cayenne pepper, freshly ground pepper, lemon, grated garlic, chives, shallots and lemon juice. It was very light and went well with crunchy texture of the baked crostini. This makes a great summer picnic dish.



Veal Osso Buco & Linguini
I've neglected my wonderful Le Creuset pot for quite a while and brought her out of the attic for this special occasion. There's something nice about braising food in a quality porcelain pot - like I live in a French chateau surrounded by sheep and drink wine endlessly under a willow tree with my paperboy beret. Two and a half hours of braising the veal shanks in chianti wine, fresh thyme, bay leaves, chicken broth and mire poix and you're good. The sauce that's produced tastes really good over pasta - like gravy on mashed potatoes.

Hope everyone did something special for mom. My mom might have killed me if I took her to Hometown Buffet instead. Thanks again for everything mom. You're the best. Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style The Avocado Company Party

Two words: office party. You'll either see eye-rolling, deep sighs or head-nodding. Yes, it can be dreadful. When I think of the obligatory company party or event, I immediately imagine tech nerds with short-sleeve JC Penney shirts w/ paisley pattterns, Docker's khakis (tapered only), clip-on building access cards and white running shoes. The kind of running shoes that are never sold with a box, but tied together with a plastic strap. Yeah, awesome. Girls drool at this I know. But maybe this is really a misconception of company parties and merely a coincidence that one of my favorite movies is Office Space.

My agency announced that they were hosting a luncheon for us with tacos, rice, beans, salsa and of course guacamole. But a curveball was thrown in as well... there was an Iron Chef Avocado challenge. Nobody budged when they heard that. But the second you mention that cash prizes are involved, the enthusiasm level in human beings is triggered. Not that the world is full of greed or anything.

I figured people would make guacamole, and I wanted to try integrating the avocado as a sub-ingredient and not the core. A few weeks back, my coworker RM and I headed over to a mariscos restaurant nearby. We tried out the ceviche there and loved it. So we asked the owner how she makes her ceviche.

Me: How do you make ceviche?
Maria: Es facil. Vas al mar con un barco y capturas pescados, camarónes, pulpos y conchas.
Me: That's it?
Maria: Sí. Entonces le pones sal y limón y lo guardas en el refrigerador por lo menos cuatro horas.
Me: How are your smoothies here? I saw your sign outside.
Maria: Oh si, nuestros jugos naturales están muy frescos.
Me: Mmm sounds good. Can you make me a seafood smoothie?
Maria: (kitchen sounds halt with cold stares)
Me: Nevermind.

Dialogue provided by Google Translator. Just kidding, Maria was awesome. Totally joked around with us and provided great service. Last time, I messed around with a server, I got shafted.... literally.

Ok, so basically you use lime, lemons and salt to 'cook' the selected seafood. I went for shrimp and scallops. Tossed them in a bowl with garlic, cilantro and the juice of lemons and limes. Sealed them in a bowl and let them party together for at least 4 hours in the fridge. The next morning, I took out the mix, eager to smell the flavors... wow. I just made my nosehairs very jolly.


Shrimp & Scallop Ceviche with Avocado & Lime
I've eaten ceviche from a styrofoam cup (which I love) and I've eaten it this way on a tostada chip. Both will make you happy. I smothered the chip with the ceviche mix which was later flavored with more salt, black pepper, tons more lime, jalapenos and avocados. I gave it to my mexican friend RM to guinea pig it. *drum roll*

RM: "Super-delicioso! I like it spicier and with more lime though."


Blue Crab & Avocado Mulitas
Well I thought I was making quesadillas, but RM corrected me. In fact, when you're not folding the tortilla in half, but stacking it, it becomes a mulita. Whatever, I just hope it f*cking tastes good and nobody dies. I've never tried this before and this was actually my favorite. The sweet crab, salty cheese and creamy avocado turned out to be a culinary ménage-á-trois.

RM: "Mmm. Si ménage-á-tres!"


Avocado Mousse Poke on Wonton Skins
I know I know, but I had to throw this in. This dish is played out but actually got the best response from fellow coworkers. I will never buy wonton skins from Whole Foods - they are horrible.... so floury!

RM: "Muy bueno! Mis pantalones están mojados!"

My coworkers put up some really creative dishes, making this a really fun yet competitive event. Someone made avocado cream pasted in between cookies from avocados, créme frâiche and sugar. Someone else made an avocado soup and served them in coconut cups. And overall, there was a nice spread of avocado-ish dishes. I didn't win but still had a blast. The company party could've been worse. We could've all been forced into a meeting room and forced to sing happy birthday to the boss. And may be not even get a piece of that Albertson's cake.

Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style Pho Bo: Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup Recipe - Something's Missing.

Anyone that knows me, understands that I go through multiple phases of interests. I might be into a certain kind of music for a few months, and suddenly jump into something completely different. I might like photography for a few weeks, but then fall into a pattern of hanging out at bookstores. And of course, food applies very well to this pattern. Last weekend, after a long two-month date with Santouka's delicious shio ramen, I fell back into the land of Vietnam's traditional beef noodle dish, pho (pronounced 'fuh', not 'fo' as in 'mofo').

Out of nowhere, after finishing a bowl of pho from Saigon Flavor, I decided to cook my own bowl of pho. When I eat pho, I always order a small bowl of soup - devoid of the blood that leaks from the rare beef (tai), the green onions/cilantros/onions and from the flour washoff from the dried rice noodles. I never taint my soup with Sriracha hot sauce or hoisin sauce. The result is a beautiful brown broth that is very sweet and aromatic from the usage of cinnamon, cloves and anise. Next time you try pho, order a bowl of soup on the side and you'll know that it tastes a lot different from the bowl of pho made to order. I had tried Golden Deli/Saigon Flavor's soup so many times that I have it branded in my palate.

I headed over to the Shun Fat market on Valley/San Gabriel which is joined by several eateries, boba cafe, random music stores and clothing I hope J never dares to sport, even on Halloween. With a list of ingredients I had compiled thru a vigorous search on the internet in my hand, I walked like a madman thru the market. First, the beef bones - the mother ingredient. I asked the butcher what I should use and he pointed me to the meat section with bones pre-chopped in bags. For my 14 quart pot, I needed at least 8 lbs of beef bones and went for 10 lbs. Many of the websites recommended using shin, leg and oxtail bones - but no neck bones because it's too fatty. When looking for bones, try and grab the bones that expose a lot of marrow. I then went for the spices, noodles and fixings such as bean sprouts, thai basil, limes and meat. I don't care for rare steak (tai), so I grabbed some beef tendon balls (bo vien). I was ready to go. I waited in line and I noticed a lady behind me staring at my groceries. I love when people look at the things you're buying - it's like they are trying to figure out who you are. Goes well with the famous quote... "Tell me what you eat, and I'll tell you who you are." It's a good thing I didn't have things like beer, hershey syrup, a banana and vaseline. Anyway, the lady asked me:

Lady with the Staring Problem: "You like to cook?"
Me: "Yes."
Lady with the Staring Problem: "You're making pho aren't you?"
Me: "Yes."
Lady with the Staring Problem: "It's a lot of trouble. You might as well go and buy a bowl."
Me: "I know. I just wanna try."

I barrelled down the freeway, more excited than a kid discovering his first porno video. I couldn't wait to make the pho. Keep in mind that this is my first attempt at pho, but I'll still provide a rough draft of ingredients (adjust your pho to your own liking):

14-qt pot (feeds around 8-10 hungry homies)
10 lbs. of beef bones (leg/shin/oxtail bones - more marrow the better)
beef balls or flank steak
5-6" piece of cinnamon stick
6 cloves
8 star anise
1 tblsp. of black peppercorns
1 tblsp. of coriander seeds
spices (cinnamon stick, cloves, star anise, black peppercorns, coriander seeds)
5-6" piece of ginger
8-1o tblsp. fish sauce
2- 2" pieces of rock candy sugar
2 large onions (the softball size)
MSG - yes, MSG. you have to have it for this dish. Add 1/2 a tablespoon - that's all you'll need.
fresh rice noodles (i like the 'Kim Tar' vacuum-sealed brand with the pagoda on it)
fixings: bean sprouts, limes, green chili pepper, thai basil, Sriracha hot sauce and Hoisin sauce

(1) First, add the bones into your pot filled with cold water and turn heat on high. Once it boils, let it boil vigorously for another 5 minutes. This process removes impurities in the bones and creates a raft of crap. Dump the water and rinse the bones in warm water, using tongs. Set bones back into pot, and again, bring water to a vigorous boil.

(2) While the water is boiling, use some tongs and char the onions and ginger over the stove. Char it for a good 5-7 minutes so that the onion becomes soft and flavors are released. Rinse the onion under warm water to remove the charred parts. Do the same thing w/ the piece of ginger, rinse it and then take a knife and give it a good whack to release more flavor.

(3) Once the water has reached a boil, toss in the onion, ginger, rock sugar, spices and fish sauce. Let it cook on SIMMER for at least 6 hours. Some recipes will tell you it's done in 2 hours - no way. It takes way longer than that to fully separate the marrow from the bones.

(4) After 6 hours, give it a taste and adjust accordingly. If you want it saltier, use salt and fish sauce. Sweeter, add small pieces of rock candy sugar. If it's too salty or sweet, start over by adding a little bit of water. The measurements given are for a starting ground. I found myself adding nearly double the amount of fish sauce and even more rock sugar. I even threw in a small piece of cinnamon and extra anise.

(5) Once the pho is ready, boil another pot of water. Make sure you soak your fresh pack of rice noodles in cold water for at least 15 minutes to 'wake' them up. Add the noodles to the boiling pot for no more than 8 seconds. Take it out and place in bowl.

(6) Serve with beef balls, fixings and hot/hoisin sauce.

So was it worth the 10+ hours of work? Most definitely. Pho may sound 'easy', but it's truly a form of art. Like with my Chinese beef noodle soup, which I invested nearly a year in improving it, I didn't expect my pho to come out perfect. It was very good, very aromatic and definitely edible... but something was missing. I had J and my friend MK come over to try it. They liked it a lot but also agreed something was missing. Maybe I should serve them pho on very sticky tables, play random Vietnamese music and have the hot sauce/hoisin bottles right on the table. What would I do differently? I think I will roast the bones in the oven with oil until they are browned. Same thing with the onions. Toasting the cloves and anise also helps wake up the flavors. I would also use less cloves because they are very strong. And I will most definitely add another 2 hours to the simmering process. I will be back soon with Pho Round 2 very soon. As always, thank you for reading.

Please checkout Guilty Carnivore's version of pho. This Portland-native has a great blog and helped me out with the pho recipe. Thanks again GC.

Eat Drink Style Goodbye to BR... For Now: Five-Spice Braised Pork Belly with Apple/Cinnamon Brussel Sprouts and Roasted Kabocha Risotto

My good friend BR is leaving for New York to pursue her lifelong dream of being an advertising account executive. I really think she's going to New York for the food and bars that close at 4 am. And the 15-degree weather I experienced only 2 weeks ago really adds to the long list of New York's benefits. I first met her at our last agency and since then have become good friends. She's competed with me in the first annual Iron Chef Souplantation competition and shared a Happy Hallmark Day. As a goodbye, I promised to cook her dinner. She was the one after all that hooked me up in 'the restaurant'. Which has led me down the path as a part-time caterer. And she's also introduced me to the wonderful art scene in LA.

Her bf, C, and her arrived at my place around 8, only to find me running frantically in the kitchen. I had become so used to prepping food the night before and underestimated the time it would take to cook this much food. Luckily, a bottle of wine, sake and a trusty connection to YouTube is all you need to ameliorate your guests hunger.

Ika Salad with Sesame-Miso Dressing
We wanted something light and what immediately comes to mind, is anything from the sea. With the help of Angelo Pietro, a simple, yet healthy salad of thinly-sliced squid, mixed greens, thinly shredded scallions (korean style), radish sprouts and mixed greens.


Seared Scallops with Soy-Yuzu Beurre Blanc
I love anything seared and yuzu-endowed. I bought these 'japanese sashimi-grade' scallops from Trader Joe's for $10. Sashimi-grade my ass - maybe this is what Todai uses. I usually get mine from Restaurant Depot in a large paint bucket. I made a simple beurre blanc with shallots, vinegar, soy sauce, cream and yuzu. I was very disappointed with the taste of the seared scallops, but I was fortunately saved by the sauce. Garnished with a few microgreens, this is a light and pleasant appetizer.


Pork Belly: Up Close and Personal
There's nothing I love better than pork belly. I love it braised Chinese style in pickled vegetables. I love it in ramen. I love it seared to a nice crisp. I had a nice pork belly dish in San Francisco's Blue Plate a few months ago and loved how it was the perfect block of meat, cooked tenderly with a generous layer of fat. I started braising this the night before with a simple mire poix (onions, carrots, celery), chicken broth, black peppercorns, garlic, ginger and an aromatic rub consisting of all-spice, coriander seeds, anise and cloves. The smell was great. My neighbor's dog started scratching on my screen door. He wanted a quick taste haha. Sorry buddy... only if you leave town. Anyway, I braised this at 425-450 for nearly 3 hours and simmered it on low right before serving.

To go with this, I thought a nice bitter vegetable would go well with the sweetly-spiced pork. I chopped up some brussel sprouts (mini Cabbage-like veggies) and sautéed them with bruonóised apple-smoked bacon and fresh cinnamon-flavored apples. The combination was great but a little too much on the cinnamon spice. It lingered forever.

As the base, I made roasted kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) risotto. I started getting into risottos after I had them at Japanese-style Italian bistros. Places like Musha in Torrance and Blue Marlin on Sawtelle Blvd. have risotto. To make this, you simply roast some kabocha rubbed with olive oil and a tiny bit of salt. I then took them on a rollercoaster ride in the food processor - adding water and oil to help the purée process out. Simply add the kabocha purée to your delicious risotto and adjust the salinity and sweetness. That's it.

Overall, everyone loved the perfectly tender pork belly but felt the cinnamon was overwhelming in the veggie stir fry. The risotto turned out nicely. Warning with risotto, this must be eaten right away. The second it starts to harden, it won't be as good.

We finished the night with some red wine, sake and more YouTubing. To BR, I wish you luck on your next endeavor and remember, what you think is a cat in the streets of New York probably isn't a cat. Always, Dylan. Thanks for reading.

Eat Drink Style NRM 2.0: A Revisit of Niu Rou Mian 牛肉麵, Chinese Beef Noodle Recipe

Nearly after one year since my first post on this popular Chinese dish, I continued to work on this recipe at least once a month. Known as 'niu ro mian' (牛肉麵), this is a dish that is shared widely within the Chinese culture - particularly in Northern China and Taiwan. My favorite being the Taiwanese version which is not as spicy as the Chinese version - yet more oily and richer in spices. Tomato paste is also used heavily for its acidity, which balances the 'beefiness' of the dish. I recently went to Taiwan for the sole reason of eating their night markets and pursuing their beef noodle soup. In 2005, Taiwan was named the beef noodle soup capital and started holding competitions that displayed the talents of nearly 40 top noodle restaurants in the city. While I was there, I raided a bookstore for books on beef noodle soup and gladly walked away with 4 books that my parents need to help me translate. I also met a wonderfully sweet lady, that ran a small beef noodle soup stall, that was more than happy to give me her recipe. I was in a rush to fly back to Hong Kong and told her I HAD to have a bowl of her noodles before departing.



With my books and visual lesson of making beef noodle soup, I knew what I had done wrong all this time... I was using way too much star anise and five-spice powder. The technique I used belonged more to the mainland Chinese way of NRM. After cooking NRM with the Taiwanese recipe, I had to have my Taiwanese/Chinese friends come over for a test... and they really enjoyed it. Pictured below is the cut of the beef shank braised in the soup. In my original version, I had cut the beef shank into large cubes. After hours of braising, the cuts of meat lost its shape and much of the fat/tendon content. I found that braising the whole fiber of shank muscle was a better way to serve this wonderful dish. Not only was the soup pot less crowded, I was able to make nice slices - the same way cha shu pork is served in Japanese ramen shops. It's more presentable, easier to eat and shows the grains within the shank meat.





Here's my recipe for Chinese beef noodle soup. Since there are HUNDREDS of variations in China/Taiwan, I picked 2 of my favorites and mixed them together – Sichuan and Taiwan style.

Ingredients for 6-8 Servings in a 5 qt pot

2-3 lbs. of beef shank (use brisket if you don't like tendons)hot chili bean paste (attachment is a non-hot version, but hot is recommended. you don't have to have that same brand. just match the Chinese characters with whatever you can find. In the image attached "chilibeanpaste.jpg", I prefer the brand all the way on the left with the blue label from Taiwan. I don't really like Lee Kum Kee products.)

dark soy sauce (also labeled as Mushroom Soy Sauce)

soy sauce

sesame oil

6 garlic cloves

Small handful of star anise

6-8 slices of ginger

2 bunches of green onions (cut off the green part)

3 small tomatoes, quartered (or whole canned tomatoes for a more punchy, hearty tomato taste (taiwanese) - omit this for Chinese style.)

2 cans of beef broth or 2-3 tablespoons of beef demi-glace (paste)

1 large onion

8" piece of daikon radish (optional... adds a nice sweetness like tomatoes. taiwanese ppl use papaya sometime.)

2 chinese spice packets (image attached)

shao xing rice wine

rock sugar for a subtle sweetness - should not be candy sweet

salt

white pepper

whole black peppercorns

sichuan peppercorns

dried flour noodles

cheesecloth/string (for star anise, sichuan red peppercorns and whole black peppercorns) - omit sichuan red peppercorns if unavailable



Garnish

green onions

cilantro

bok choy or spinach ( i like spinach better)



Use this as a starting point. Our pots and BTU's are all different so everything is affected... add more as you need. don't be afraid to add/taste things.



(1) Cut the beef shank into 1.5" square pieces. Place in a pot of water and bring to boil to remove blood and impurities. Remove from pot and rinse off the meat – set aside.



(2) Add oil to a pot, once it's hot, add garlic and ginger to flavor the oil for 1 minute (do not burn). Add the beefshank back into the pot and brown the meat - don't overcrowd the pot – fry in batches. Take out the meat once it's browned, and repeat till finished. Add all the meat back in and add 3 tablespoons of hot chili bean paste, 2 tablespoons of dark soy sauce, 1 cup soy sauce, small handful of salt, tablespoon of white pepper, 1/4 cup of shao xing rice wine and 2 tablespoons of sesame oil. Fry for about 8 minutes.



(3) Add tomatoes, green onions, spice packets (image attached), a handful of sichuan red peppercorns and a handful of whole black peppercorns) along with 2 cans of beef broth, and filling up the rest of the pot with water. Bring to a boil with lid on and lower the heat to a simmer for 2.5-3 hours. longer the better, you want your meat to break easily w/ a fork.



(4) When the meat is tender, adjust the taste of the soup with soy sauce, white pepper and rock sugar to your liking. If the soup is too dense, add water to balance it out. The soup may appear oily from the hot chili bean paste, but keep that in there for flavor. And add another tablespoon of sesame oil to wake up the broth. To ensure a beautiful clean bowl of beef noodle soup, ladle thesoup into a sieve with cheesecloth over your noodle bowl. Aesthetics count! Boil some water and cook your dried flour noodles al-dente. The Chinese refer to the chewiness of the noodles as "Q" and it's important in making a perfect bowl of NRM. Garnish with green onions, cilantro and whatever boiled vegetable.



It is important to note that after your first day, the soup will turn a bit sour from the soy sauce and sesame oil. This is normal. Restaurants make fresh batches every day and never reuse soup. You will have to add more water or sugar to bring back the taste if you eat for the next few days because it will lose its potency.



enjoy, please send photos of your final products. regards, dylan.



Here are some other links to NRM.



Kirk of Mmm-Yoso

Chez Wang

2005 Taipei Beef Noodle Festival



Feel free to add any NRM links to the comment section. Thanks for reading.