January 14th

January 14th

I’ve been on the hot and spicy kick and kept it going this evening. We’re lucky to have an amazing Asian grocery nearby and they generally have very good produce. I was there yesterday looking for collard greens for the Ethiopian food I was cooking (which unfortunately they didn’t have) but I did get some baby bok choy, which I like. Most supermarkets have larger bok choy but the baby ones here are always very small, fresh and sweet.

I’m not great at cooking Chinese but I do better than I used to. The biggest problem I used to make was using too many things and muddying up the flavors. I’ve been much more successful at using less ingredients and less flavors and then letting those come through. I opted to make beef and bok choy and wasn’t looking for a particular recipe. I always marinate the meat in soy, sesame oil, Shaoxing rice wine, and conrstarch, and occasionally throw in ginger, although tonight I didn’t. The basic sauce was chile bean paste, ginger, garlic, soy, and a dash of black vinegar.

There are a couple of keys to stir frying. First, get everything prepped. Once you start cooking there’s no time to stop and prep items. Next, use high heat and don’t crowd the pan. I’m a big fan of flat bottom stir fired pans as opposed to traditional round bottom woks. I have a carbon steal one and a non-stick although I seem to go through the non-stick ones in about two years, because the coating doesn’t last well on super high heat. (I buy a couple when I see them on sale because I know I’ll need them).

I cook the meat first, and in batches so it gets a chance to brown and doesn’t stew. If you cook the meat first, don’t cook it all the way through. Use the hottest pan you can to get good color and minimize the amount of time required in the pan. Also, make sure you drain the marinade before you cook it because otherwise the meat will steam in the pan. Once the meet is done, add the vegetables. If you’re doing multiple types, throw in the ones that require longer cooking first. It’s also best to cut things to sizes where they cook in a few minutes. When the vegetables are done, I move them to the side, add the sauce ingredients toss it and then add the meat back in. If you thicken it with cornstarch, throw it in now. Sprinkle some chopped scallions on it, toss it all again and serve it right away with rice.

The dish was moderately spicy but not incendiary. I had a pint of stout with it because the stout has good malt flavors to cut through the spices. The stout is a little drier than I like with spicy food, but still good and low enough alcohol that you can drink a good amount of it. (Hot spices seem to accentuate alcohol flavors in some beers, particularly in lighter bodied beers). Besides I need to drink the stout up since it’s not a long lived style and we’re brewing more porter this weekend. (OK, I know porter and stout aren’t the same, but I don’t drink enough of either one to require one of each on draft at home).