Pork 3 Ways

Wine:

Chesebro 2007 Cedar Lane Arroyo Seco Vermentino
The Ojai Vinyard Santa Rita Hills Pinot Noir Clos Pepe Vinyard 2002 (thanks Bea)
La Caudrina Moscato D’Asti Romano Dogliotti

We invited Bea to come join us for dinner. This would be her first dinner outing since she broke the bones in her ankle. We decided to cook a bunch of new dishes.

We had a recipe for Egg Foo Yung, a dish from our childhood that we wanted to make. Bea is allergic to shrimp so we made it with bacon. It is really easy to make and worked out well. We are going to explore more variations of the recipe.

For the main course we made a pork dish from Bruce Cost’s Asian Ingredients Cookbook. Bruce used to own a restaurant in San Francisco that we loved: Monsoon.

We made Red Braised Whole Pork Shoulder. It is really easy to make and it turns out to be delicious. This recipe is a keeper!

Billy is famous for his sticky rice. We finally decided to make it. Bruce Cost has a recipe for Sticky Rice, Sausage and Mushroom Stuffing. This is very close to Billy’s. Once again we left the shrimp out in deference to Bea’s allergy. Billy adds oyster sauce so we did also. Because we cooked it in a rice cooker we used much less water than called for. Just check every once in awhile and give the rice a stir. It is delicious! Billy also serves it with Turkey as a great side. At the Asian market the rice is labeled sweet rice.

Finally we made what we thought would be a dessert: Brown Sugar Shortbread from a recipe in the Los Angeles Times. Cathy modified the recipe by adding candied ginger. Bea was so enthused she had one wedge as a pre-appetizer and two for dessert! They are great.

Egg Foo Yung
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Gourmet Magazine June 2008
• 1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 bunch scallions
• 8 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
• 1/4 pound sliced fresh mushrooms (preferably shiitake)
• 1 cup fresh bean sprouts (3 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 6 ounces peeled cooked shrimp, chopped

Preparation
Whisk together broth, oyster sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, cornstarch, and a pinch of salt in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer, whisking occasionally, and simmer 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
Chop scallions, separating white parts and greens.
Beat eggs in a bowl with sesame oil and 1/4 tsp each of salt and pepper.
Cook white scallion, mushrooms, sprouts, and 1/4 tsp salt in vegetable oil in a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until any liquid has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add shrimp and half of scallion greens, then pour in eggs and cook, stirring occasionally, until eggs are just cooked but still slightly loose. Cover skillet and cook until eggs are just set, about 3 minutes.
Serve sprinkled with remaining scallion greens. Serve sauce on the side.

Brown sugar shortbread
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From the Los Angeles Times

February 4, 2009

Total time: 50 minutes, plus chilling and cooling time

Servings: 4 dozen bars or 2 dozen wedge cookies

Note: This recipe makes enough dough for 2 pans of cookies, so you can try a pan of each variety if you'd like. Because they're baked in pans, the wedge cookies will retain more moisture, giving the cookies a chewy texture. Conversely, the bar cookies will be crisp because they are baked on an open, flat sheet.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups flour

1. Heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a stand mixer or medium bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter, sugar and salt until creamy, about 2 minutes, being careful not to overmix. Gradually beat in the flour, working in the last one-half cup with your hands if necessary (the dough will be stiff). Divide the dough in half.

2a.To make chewy wedge-shaped cookies, butter 2 (8-inch) metal cake pans and line with parchment. Butter the parchment and press each half of the dough into a pan. Smooth the top with the bottom of a buttered measuring cup. Prick the dough with a fork in a decorative concentric circle pattern. Refrigerate the pans, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

2b. To make crispy bar cookies, shape each dough half into a 10-by-4-inch rectangle on a lightly floured board. Run a blunt knife or your fingers along the edges to straighten them (it doesn't have to be perfect). Carefully lift each rectangle onto a buttered baking sheet, lifting both edges with your hands. With a blunt knife, score each one once lengthwise without cutting all the way through. Score crosswise 11 times to make 24 rectangles. Prick each one several times with a fork. Refrigerate the sheets, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

3. Bake both the wedge and bar shortbread until lightly brown along the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool for 5 minutes, then slice the shortbread while still warm (if the cookies are allowed to cool before slicing, they will crumble). Unmold the wedge shortbread by running a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cookies from the sides. Gently flip the pan over, then slice the shortbread into 12 wedges. Slice the bar cookies all the way through the scored marks before moving to a cooling rack.

Each of 48 bars: 72 calories; 1 gram protein; 9 grams carbohydrates; 0 fiber; 4 grams fat; 2 grams saturated fat; 10 mg. cholesterol; 39 mg. sodium.

STICKY RICE, SAUSAGE, AND MUSHROOM STUFFING
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Yield: about 8 cups


Before a recent Thanksgiving I was asked what I'd cook for the holiday. Turkey, I told people, stuffed with a traditional Boston dressing of glutinous rice, Chinese sausage, dried shrimp, and black mushrooms. I got some laughs about the Boston part. But it's true—it's the traditional stuffing in the home of a friend who grew up in Boston, albeit a Chinese home, and who was coming for Thanksgiving. She insisted we have her mother's turkey stuffing. This delicious version of Chinese poultry stuffing will add good taste and texture to a holiday meal. Or it may be used to stuff a chicken or duck for roasting any time of the year.

2 cups glutinous rice (Sweet Rice)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
6 to 8 links Chinese sweet sausage
12 large dried black mushrooms
½ cup dried Shrimp
3/4 cup chopped scallions (white part only)
1/4 cup freshly rendered chicken fat or peanut oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons sesame oil

Soak the rice 8 hours or overnight in cold water. Spread the rice over damp¬ened cheesecloth in the top of a steamer and steam for 1 hour, sprinkling water over it from time to time.
Meanwhile, cover the mushrooms with the boiling water, and allow to sit. Put the sausages on a plate and steam, covered, for 10 minutes.

Chop the dried shrimp or grind it in a food processor. Chop the sausages into a small dice. Squeeze the soaked mushrooms over their soaking liquid (reserve the liquid), dice the mushrooms, and set aside with the sausage and scallions.

Heat a wok or heavy skillet and add the fat or oil. Add the sausages, mush¬rooms, and scallions, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or so. Stir in the rice and dried shrimp, and season liberally with salt and pepper. Stir in the mushroom soaking liquid until the rice is moistened to a desired consistency. This should take 1 cup or more.

Use the stuffing as you would any stuffing. If you want to reheat it, simply put it in a bowl and steam it. It's delicious hot, with a handful or so of fresh coriander leaves stirred in right before serving.

More succulent than fresh ham, the pork shoulder is a cut prized by theChinese. Surrounded by stir-fried hearts of Shanghai bok choy or spinach, and coated with the rich brown glaze of the reduced sauce,this dish is a glorious focus of a meal.

Red Braised Whole Pork Shoulder
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Bruce Cost’s Asian Ingredients Cookbook

1 pork shoulder (5 to 7 pounds) with bone and rind
3 to 4 quarts water
3/4 cup Shaoxing wine
6 star anise
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
8 garlic cloves, smashed
10 thin slices fresh ginger
2 or 3 pieces dried tangerine peel
2 dried chili peppers
1 whole scallion
1/3 cup dark soy sauce
6 approximately 1-inch square crystals Chinese rock sugar
1 tablespoon coarse salt, or to taste


Bring the water to a boil in a large pot, and add the pork. When it comes to a boil again, skim, and reduce the heat to medium. Add the wine and cook, partially covered, for 20 minutes.

Add the star anise, cinnamon stick, garlic, ginger, dried tangerine peel, dried chilis, and scallion, and cook for another 20 minutes. Add the remaining seasonings and continue to cook for another 2 to 3 hours, turning the meat occasionally. The rind and fat should be very soft when it's done. Remove the pork from the liquid and keep the meat warm. Strain the sauce into a large skillet and reduce to syrup over high heat. (This may take 15 minutes or longer.)

When the sauce is reduced—it should be the consistency of thin syrup— put the pork in the center of a large platter, arrange vegetables, if any, around the pork, and pour the sauce over the meat.