After returning from a long weekend in Istanbul, Turkey, I wanted to eat some pork. While in Istanbul, I ate a lot of very good seafood and a lot of very good lamb, but at the end of the day, you may take the pork away from the girl, but you can never take the girl away from the pork.
Ingredients:
2-lb boneless pork tenderloin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp red chile flakes
salt
pepper
1 cup of bourbon
1/2 cup brown sugar
1. Marinate the pork tenderloin by combining the paprika, red chile flakes, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Rub the mixture all over the pork and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 275º. Place the pork onto a rack-lined roasting pan and cook in the oven for 2 hours. Turn the pork over after the first hour.
3. Before the 2 hours are up, make the glaze. In a medium saucepan set over medium heat, bring the brown sugar and bourbon to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until slightly reduced, about 10 minutes.
4. Remove the pork from the oven and brush one-third of the glaze all over the pork using a heat-resistant pastry brush. Continue to roast for 30 more minutes, glazing the pork on all sides every 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest for 15 minutes before slicing and serving.
I feel like my kitchen’s been neglected the last two weeks. It’s full-blown summer time and I haven’t been home early enough to make dinner during the week nor have I been in the city the past two weekends. When it was time to clean up the fridge and the pantry, I saw frozen pork chops in the freezer and some leafy green thing swimming in some sort of pickle juice which turned out to be preserved mustard greens. (I swear those are not the weirdest things you can find in my kitchen.) I honestly had no idea when I bought the pickles, but it didn’t look nor smell too bad when I cut the packaging open. I popped the chops and defrosted them in the microwave to prepare them for the only dish I can think of: breaded pork chops inspired by Excellent Pork Chop House, the restaurant across the Chinatown post office here in New York City.
When I used to work in Chinatown, it was one of our lunch spots. When I used to take the Fung-Wah bus to Boston back in the day to visit my friend, Mo!, for the Head of the Charles, I would hastily eat a bowl of Taiwanese pork chops with pickled mustard greens before boarding the long WiFi-less ride out of the city. A bowl with rice cost less than $5 and it was definitely better than the Popeye’s the other passengers ate on the bus. (Ah, Chinatown memories!)
Growing up in the Philippines, cornstarch was more familiar than flour. Breaded-anything used cornstarch; it also made Chinese-style sauces thicker. Cornstarch is so old school, it brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. It’s so old school, I smiled when I saw that I had a small container of it in my pantry. I can’t remember what I first bought it for but I was glad I had it for these pork chops because it’s always more feathery than flour for breading. (So okay, it might have gone past its expiration date, but it looked fine!) I wanted these chops to be lighter than fried chicken because I didn’t want to deep-fry; I merely wanted to pan-fry and cook the meat through by pressing on them with my cast iron grill press.
I served the chops by slicing them in thick strips after letting them rest, but not cutting all the way through so I could fan them before placing them on top of the rice. The mustard greens went on the side with the last of my pickled ramps. A quick splash of the frying oil and pickle juice on the rice completed the whole setup.
Ingredients:
4 tbsps soy sauce
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsps sugar
a splash of white wine
4 tbsps five-spice powder
8 bone-in pork chops
cornstarch
peanut oil
1. In a large glass bowl, combine all the ingredients except the pork chops, cornstarch and oil. Mix together until the sugar and spices are completely dissolved. Marinate the pork chops for a couple of hours or overnight, turning them to make sure both sides are coated with the marinade.
2. When ready to fry, remove the pork chops from the marinade onto a plate. Using a small sieve, sprinkle a few taps of cornstarch on each pork chop with one hand while shaking off excess with the other so as not to make the coating too thick. Do this for the other side of the chops.
3. Heat some peanut oil in a large skillet. Add the breaded pork chops. Put the cast iron grill press on top to keep them flat. Turn chops once and cook until both sides are golden brown and the meat is cooked through. Remove to a strainer on a plate and let rest for 5 minutes. Slice in thick strips without cutting all the way through so you can fan each chop on top of a bowl of hot rice. Serve with pickled mustard greens.
I had no idea I missed Chinatown as much as I did last Friday when I made a trip during a break from the office. I stopped by my favorite meat market on Mulberry and saw how beautiful all the pork belly were and took home 8 pounds’ worth.
I woke up Saturday morning feeling refreshed so I was quite disappointed that it was cloudy outside. I set up in the kitchen and started to boil the pork belly, still imagining different recipes in my head. I left my apartment for some fresh air to make up my mind. On my way home late in the afternoon, there was a perfect chill in the air and I immediately craved the pork belly waiting at home braised, just like they do in those quiet Japanese restaurants. All I had to do was pick up a bottle of sake and an envelope of konbu , or dried kelp.
I cooked some sticky rice and washed off the dirt from my remaining ramps stash. In a heated skillet, I added some olive oil and waited for it to smoke a bit. I flash-fried the ramps and drizzled in some of the buta no kakuni liquid to tame the strong onion flavor. When it dried up, I quickly picked them up with tongs and put them on top of the warm rice. A large chunk of pork belly accompanied them plus more of the soy-flavored liquid.
For the second seating of Not Just Eggs the next day, I roasted some Brussels sprouts and Peewee potatoes and used them as a bed for the pork. They held up while the pork beautifully fell apart and the poached egg yolks oozed their way down the sides. I heard a lot of mmms while the six guests were eating and that made me a very happy host.
For dinner, I strained the first batch of pork belly cooking liquid to make my broth and served the belly with noodles, plus steamed bok choy and, yes, another poached egg. It’s the pork belly that kept on giving!
Any way you serve your buta no kakuni, don’t be shy about pouring in the thickened soy-flavored cooking liquid as sauce.
Ingredients:
4 large pork belly, chopped in large squares, washed thoroughly
2 cups of sake
3 sheets of konbu
3 knobs of ginger, peeled
1/3 cup of raw cane sugar
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1. In a large Dutch oven, submerge pork belly in enough water and bring to a boil with 1/2 cup of the sake. Skim off impurities that float to the top.
2. Lower heat and simmer for an hour, covered. Turn off the heat and let cool, uncovered.
3. Transfer the pork belly to a colander and rinse under warm running water. (Save pork belly water in another container for future soups.) Return and submerge the pork belly in the pot again with enough water and let boil–this time with the konbu, ginger, sugar and the rest of the sake. Gently stir to distribute the sugar. Lower the heat and simmer for another hour, covered.
4. Add the soy sauce and continue to simmer for another hour. The soy-flavored liquid should reduce and thicken a bit and the pork should fall off when gently prodded by chopsticks.
Filipinos like their meat, but we especially love our pork. We love it so much that we will eat it three times a day–for breakfast, lunch and dinner. To start a traditional Filipino day, longganisa (also longaniza), or Filipino sausage, is one of the meat choices that pair up with eggs and fried rice. All three in one dish combined make longsilog: longganisa for “long”; sinangag, or fried rice, for “si”; itlog, or egg, for the “log”. All over the Philippines, you will encounter different combinations of -silogs.
I usually dash out of the apartment during the week and eat a simple breakfast of yogurt with fruit or Three Sisters cereal when I get to work, but on weekends I splurge on time and make myself a huge breakfast especially if I’m coming from a morning bike ride around Central Park. That breakfast always includes eggs and some type of meat, be it bacon or leftover steak from the night before. I rarely have cooked rice at home (it’s a lot to waste when you’re living on your own), so my fallback is usually a salad or a type of vegetable, even if it’s a pickle. Down the list of breakfast meats after bacon that I like comes longganisa because it has a touch of sweetness and tastes so damn good with a dash of vinegar. My mouth is watering just thinking of sticky-sweet longganisa and runny fried eggs on top of hot fried rice.
I promised myself that before the year ends, I will make my own sausages and use the attachments that I bought for my KitchenAid stand mixer. So during the long Thanksgiving weekend, I stayed busy in the kitchen and finally made them. I had asked my mother for a recipe because she’s originally from the province of Pampanga where longganisa is famous. She showed me an old copy of a Filipino recipe that used phosphate and food coloring! Fail! I then turned to my copy of Memories of Filipino Kitchens and substituted the rice wine and the rice vinegar for plain white vinegar and added brown sugar for the sweetness that I crave in these sausages. Their recipe also used lime zest which I thought was pretty interesting even though it got lost in the mix, so I have eliminated it from this version.
I learned a few important things when I made my own sausage links for the first time:
1. Making sausages is hard work, so another pair of hands is always helpful.
2. Keep lemon handy. The smell of meat will stay on your fingers for several hours and I found only lemon juice removed the odor.
3. White bread was invented to clean off your food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments.
This is a two-type recipe for longganisa. One is the easy way without any equipment or casings which makes the sausages naked, or hubad in Tagalog. The other is for sausage links which requires both the food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments with your KitchenAid stand mixer, plus sausage casings from your well-stocked butcher shop.
Ingredients:
2 tbsps vinegar
2 tbsps brown sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt
pepper
oil
If making them naked:
1 pound pork belly, grounded
1/2 pound lean beef, grounded
1. Add all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and mix with your hands. Knead the meat until it holds together and you can shape the mixture into patties. Wrap in wax paper to store in the fridge or keep in the freezer.
2. To fry longganisa patties, heat some oil in a deep skillet. Add longganisa and fry using low-medium fire until both sides are browned. Crumble and break into pieces and serve with two eggs, preferably over easy.
If making links:
1 pound pork belly, cut into 1-inch chunks
1/2 pound lean beef, cut into 1-inch chunks
sausage casings, soaked overnight in cold water, rinsed
white bread slices
1. Combine all the meats with the spices except the oil. Massage with your hands to mix well. Marinate for at least an hour or overnight in the fridge.
2. When ready to make links, assemble the food grinder and sausage stuffer attachments with your mixer. Select a length of casing and run water from the tap through it in order to clear out any excess salt and spot any holes. Trim to remove the holes. Run the casing between your fingers to remove excess water. Stretch the open end of the casing around the attachment’s nozzle and gradually slide the rest of the casing onto the nozzle, an inch or 2 at a time, trying not to twist. Leave about 3 inches at the knotted end dangling free. This will be your end knot.
3. Ground the meat and stuff the casing. Put the meat mixture in the hopper of the grinder and turn it on to speed 4. Hold the dangling casing with one hand, and with the other, feed the meat into the hopper with the plastic or wooden pestle at an even pace. Your stuffer will slowly stuff the ground meat into the casing. Gently guide the rest of the casing off the nozzle to aid the stuffing of the sausage. When you have 2 inches left at the other end, stop stuffing and remove the free casing from the nozzle. This is your other end knot. Repeat this process until all of the sausage meat has been used, pushing out the last bits of meat with a slice or two of bread. Discard grounded bread.
4. Run your fingers over the casing to distribute the sausage evenly. Pinch every 3 inches or in empty spots and gently twist it to form separate links. Feel free to tie end knots.
5. To fry longganisa links, heat some oil in a deep skillet. Add longganisa and fry using low-medium fire until all sides are browned. Gently pierce empty casing that bubbles up to avoid bursts of sausages! Serve with two eggs, preferably over easy.
I realize that this is probably the longest recipe I have on this site, so I hope these photos will guide you to making your own sausages at home.
1. Stretch the open end of the casing around the attachment’s nozzle and gradually slide the rest of the casing onto the nozzle, an inch or 2 at a time, trying not to twist. Leave about 3 inches at the knotted end dangling free.
2. Hold the dangling casing with one hand, and with the other, feed the meat into the hopper with the plastic or wooden pestle at an even pace. Another pair of hands is always helpful.
3. Your stuffer will slowly stuff the ground meat into the casing. Gently guide the rest of the casing off the nozzle to aid the stuffing of the sausage.
Please excuse the innuendos from the video above (which may not show up on your phones); they made sausage-making more fun though.
I don’t know how a planned dinner for three in my Harlem apartment turned into a pre-holiday dinner for seven, but that happened one Sunday night as soon as Mother Nature confirmed it was autumn in New York City. Our friend Marisol, who moved to Florida for work earlier this year, was in town for a meeting. Grabbing the opportunity to see her before the holiday craziness begins, I invited her over for dinner with Lily. Since the three of us were the only single ones in our group, I figured they would be the easiest to make plans with on short notice. It turned out that even the new moms who live in New Jersey were able to make some time to come over for dinner, tiny babies included.
I bought two boneless pork shoulders that were already tied up. After distributing the seasoning on the pork, I simply rolled and tied the pork back up; the tied-up pork should resemble a log. Adjust the cooking time to 2 hours if you’re feeding a large group like I did because the meat will compete for the oven’s heat. If you see the pork drying up halfway through, you’ll need to add some more broth in the roasting pan, so keep extra broth handy. If you think the ends are good enough to eat, feel free to remove the pork from the oven and slice off the ends after it rests; put back the rest of the pork in the oven to cook the middle part. By the way, refrain from opening the oven when you check–I just turn the oven light on when I need to take a peek at whatever I’m cooking. This saves the oven from needing to heat again.
Ingredients:
1 boneless pork shoulder, about 3 pounds, trimmed
salt
pepper
fennel fronds from one fennel bulb, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
rosemary from 3 stalks
1 tbsp fennel seeds, grounded
2 tsps red pepper flakes
2 cups chicken broth
1. Preheat the oven to 300º. On a large cutting board, untie the pork shoulder and lay flat. Season the pork liberally with salt and pepper.
2. In a small bowl, combine the fennel fronds, garlic, rosemary, fennel seeds and red pepper flakes and sprinkle two-thirds of the mixture over the pork. (Reserve one-third of the mixture.)
3. Roll the pork up tightly. Using butcher twine, tie the pork every few inches. Season the outside of the pork with the reserved herb mixture and salt and pepper.
4. Place the pork in the center of a rectangular roasting pan and pour the chicken broth around it. Roast the pork until well browned and an instant-read thermometer registers 150º, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove to a chopping block and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing. Serve immediately.
