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Blanquette de Veau à L’Ancienne (White veal stew)

Published October 1, 2007 French , Recipe , Veal 1 Comment
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Look at how off-white my white sauce is

The name of this dish really stretches the limits of my French ability (which isn’t saying much as I don’t speak French). I did try an online dictionary to translate blanquette which apparently is translated as blanquette in English (I know English is a strange language but I never really though blanquette was part of it; Firefox’s spellcheck hasn’t heard of it). Anyway, it’s basically a white stew.

The genesis of this dish (well, for me making it) stems from my love of veal. As a note to farmers, please confine cute baby cows to tiny cages in order that they may be slaughtered and I may feast on their succulent flesh. I have no qualms about the condition of the animals as long as they’re still tasty. Which is not entirely true but makes for good copy.

So, several months ago (at this point, “several months ago” can be construed as a bad sign) I was grocery shopping and happened to notice that there was veal blade steak for sale (not a cut of veal that the grocery store regularly sells; speaking of which, why is there such poor selection of veal and lamb at the average grocery store? I’ve never seen a veal roast of any type anywhere). Not only was it for sale, it was also no sale. So I grabbed the promised deliciousness, after all there was something I could make with it. Once it arrived home, it was put into refrigerator. And it waited. And waited. Until I realized that it was liable to go bad if I left it in there any longer. So, up to the freezer it went. And it waited. And waited. And waited. Realize that several months have passed at this point and it looks like it’s accumulating a significant amount of freezer burn (good thing I didn’t take any pictures of that or I’d be the laughing stock of the food blog world for weeks; or maybe not, there’s at least one advantage to not being popular). And of course I’ve realized by this point that I have no idea what to do with it. It’s shoulder meat which isn’t particularly tender but it’s sold as a steak which would imply that you should pan fry it and cook it quickly but the shoulder part says it should be braised. What to do? As you may assume, I decided to just let it relax in the freezer for awhile (it was kept comfortable by various chicken pieces, some pork chops, several pieces of pork butt, and some veal scallopini).

The potatoes turned out much more photogenic than I ever imagined

About a week ago, I decided that it was time to use up all that meat that have been lounging in the freezer for who knew how long (which resulted in the General Tso’s Chicken and the Chicken Pot Pie; I actually have some freezer room available now). On Friday I decided it was time to play my trump card and actually cook (and hopefully eat; it wouldn’t be the first time a meal I’ve made has been inedible) the veal.

Now, I’ve heard reference to blanquette de veau several times. I know it’s mentioned by Anthony Bourdain in at least one of his books (uh, the one full of short stories) and I know there’s a recipe for it in Les Halles Cookbook (oddly, Amazon is charging more for the paperback version than the hardback version). Of course, being a French classic dish means that it’s almost never served in a restaurant anymore (I think the only places that serve classic French are cruise ships and it’s a bit too exotic, or possibly expensive, for a cruise ship). I had no real clue as to what it was or what it tasted like but I figured it couldn’t be that bad. And when had Julia Child led me wrong?

From what I’ve read (it sounds like I’ve extensively researched this dish; I have not; I’ve just heard reference to it), it’s supposed to be in a white sauce. And it’s supposed to be pretty much completely white. Go look at the pictures I posted and determine if the sauce is white. Sure, it’s not brown by any means but it’s also not the whitest sauce ever (you should’ve seen it before the addition of the cream). And really, I’m okay with that. It all results from the fact that I make much more of a brown chicken stock than a white one. This is the first time I’ve had a recipe that really wanted a white stock and even then, I can’t imagine making it. You mean you want me to generate less flavor by not browning the meat and then you want me to make some Rube Goldberg-esque contraption involving a raft of egg whites? Just so the stock isn’t dark? I’m sure that will fly in a classical French brigade kitchen but I’ve got better things to do with my time than that. There’s, uh, Scrubs reruns to watch. That’s the ticket. So I just used the brown chicken stock I had in my freezer (I really don’t think the taste would’ve changed much).

Isn't is sad that such beautiful vegetables get thrown away?

So what’s my opinion of the dish? It’s, uh, different. I’m not used to eating boiled meats and the texture was different (it reminded me of corned beef which is usually boiled). The flavor of the sauce was quite good. The veal probably could of used being salted before being cooked; it seemed like it was missing some salt (there’s no instruction to salt the meat before cooking; is there a reason you wouldn’t want to do that with a dish like this?). Also, the original recipe includes an addition of parsley at the end. The green of the parsley just looked odd and the taste didn’t really mesh with the rest of the dish. I would vote for omitting it. If you want an adventure, go ahead and try it. It’s not as hard or complicated as it looks and you might just like it.

Blanquette de Veau à L’Ancienne
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking


1 lbs. veal stew meat cut into 1″x1″ pieces (I used veal shoulder blade steak)
2 to 3 cups chicken stock
1/2 an onion studded with 1 clove
1 half of a large carrot, peeled and cut into several pieces
a bouquet garni consisting of 1 stalk of celery, 4 parsley stems (with leaves removed), 1/2 bay leaf, and 2 thyme sprigs
salt
9 small white onions
1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp butter
9 mushrooms
3 tbsp heavy cream
1 egg yolk

  1. In a dutch oven, place the veal and cover with water by 2 inches (you may want to season the veal with salt before this step). Simmer for 10 minutes. Pour the water and veal through a strainer. Rinse off the veal and clean out the dutch oven.
  2. Return the veal to the dutch oven and add the chicken stock to cover the veal by 1/2 inch. Bring the veal to a simmer. Skim any remaining scum from the surface. Once the scum has subsided, add the onion, carrot, and bouquet garni. Season the sauce lightly with salt. Cover with the lid slightly ajar and cook the veal at a simmer for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
  3. While the veal is cooking, cook the onions: Peel the onions and cut a cross in the root end. Place the onions, a 1/4 cup of the stock from the cooking veal, 1/2 tbsp of butter, and a pinch of salt in a sauce pan. Cover and lightly simmer for 50 minutes.
  4. When the veal is finished cooking, pour the contents through a strainer into a bowl. Return the veal to the dutch oven and discard the vegetables. In a sauce pan, over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp of butter and then whisk in 1 tbsp of flour. Cook for 1 minute. Off heat, whisk in the stock from the veal and any remaining liquid from the onions once they have finished. Simmer the mixture for 10 minutes.
  5. Sprinkle the mushrooms with a few drops of lemon juice. Add the mushrooms to the sauce mixture and simmer for another 10 minutes. Check the seasoning of the sauce.
  6. Pour the sauce into the dutch oven with the veal. Add 1 tbsp of cream. Place the dutch oven over medium heat.
  7. In a small bowl, combine the egg yolk with 2 tbsp of cream. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot sauce from the dutch oven then add the mixture back into the dutch oven.
  8. Simmer the mixture for a few minutes to warm the contents.

Serves 2.

My Grandmother’s Chicken Pot Pie

Published September 29, 2007 Chicken , Recipe Leave a Comment
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Chicken Pot Pie

My grandmother would frequently make this dish whenever we went over for dinner (I think it tended to be the days when it was just my dad and I for dinner; my dad isn’t really a culinary genius). At some point, my grandmother served this to my wife (I think it might have been before we were married) who proceeded to love it.

The thing about this is that it’s not really a chicken pot pie. It’s definitely related but it’s closer to a chicken noodle soup. It’s chicken, noodles, potatoes, and a few vegetables in a small amount of broth. I don’t know how it got its name, but it was always simply referred to as chicken pot pie (to the best of my knowledge my grandmother never has made a traditional chicken pot pie). I also have no idea of the providence of this recipe beyond my grandmother.

When I permanently moved away from home after college, I asked my grandmother to write down a recipe for her tomato sauce (partially for curiosity, mainly to placate her). She also wrote down the recipe for the chicken pot pie on the same piece of paper (if I remember correctly, it was because Angela liked it a lot).

CRW_9563My grandmother is not entirely there any more (well, really ever) and it shows when you tried and read the recipe. At least for the tomato sauce, there were a number of things missing the first time I asked her about it that she added later on. It’s also written in very disjointed sentences.

So, today, I got out my Sherlock Holmes hat (if only I really had one), and set out to decode the recipe. I’m not really sure how much the result really resembles my grandmother’s techniques and I doubt that the dish would be better following her techniques more closely (she has insisted for a number of years that there’s an oil sack in a leg of lamb that you have to make the butcher take out). If you haven’t figured it out by now, my grandmother is a bit crazy (and really always has been).

CRW_9564As to the recipe itself, you basically cook the chicken in simmering water while making a stock. You then cook potatoes and noodles in the stock and add the cooked chicken back in. Not a particularly complicated process if you’ve made stock before (and really, even if you haven’t). Because I had some corn in the fridge that needed to be eaten (I bought it almost a week ago; I’m a master of buying vegetables and then not using them for a long period of time), I added that to the pot pie and I think it added some nice texture and flavor. The homemade noodles were where I fell flat. Now, I’ve made homemade pasta lots of times. I understand how to make pasta. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I know how to make noodles. The directions that my grandmother included were a little less than comprehensive. I’m not even sure what style of noodles these are (they have flour, shortening, and water in them). What really went wrong was that I simply undercooked them; they became a bit too rubbery and chewy.

I’m a bit proud of myself as I had to guess and improvise quite a bit about how the dish goes together (not really my strong point; I tend to cook from recipes unless it’s particularly simple or I understand the dish well). I made the prefect amount of stock to go along with the chicken (I was afraid I’d have way too much but it was just perfect). I also guessed that the starch from the potatoes and noodles would thicken the broth up to the right point. The only part that didn’t come out as well as I would have liked (and I understand why) was the noodles (they were still good, just not quite perfect). It’s also nice to finally get to put up an original recipe up here (while it’s originally my grandmother’s, the recipe she gave me is more like a sign pointing me in the right direction).

My Grandmother’s Chicken Pot Pie

2 lbs chicken pieces, skin on and bone in (preferably chicken thighs)
salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp of sherry
3 stalks of celery
1 medium carrot
1 medium onion
a bouquet garni made up of 4 sprigs thyme, 2 sprigs Italian parsley, and a bay leaf
3 cups of all purpose flour
4 tbsp of shortening
1 lbs potatoes
2 cups of corn, preferably fresh (about 3 ears of corn)

  1. Dry the chicken pieces thoroughly. Season them on both sides with salt and pepper. Over medium-high heat, melt the butter in a skillet, then brown the chicken pieces on both sides, about 4 minutes per side.
  2. Pour the fat out of the skillet and discard. Off heat, deglaze the skillet with the sherry. Over high heat, boil the sherry for a minute, then turn off the heat and add 1 cup of water.
  3. Place the chicken in a dutch oven. Pour the contents of the skillet into the dutch oven then add cold water to cover the chicken completely. Bring the contents to a simmer over medium heat, do not allow to boil. Skim the surface of the stock until there is no remaining “scum” accumulating (while I’m sure there are better culinary definitions of “scum” on a stock, I remove anything that doesn’t look particularly appetizing).
  4. Cut the carrot and one stalk of celery into 3 inch long pieces. Peel the onion and quarter it. After the “scum” stops accumulating on the surface of the stock, add the carrot, celery, onion, and bouquet garni. Simmer slowly for one hour.
  5. While the stock is cooking, make the noodles. I made my noodles via the well method. You may be more comfortable mixing them in a bowl which should turn out fine (I made them this way because I make pasta via the well method). On a large flat surface (e.g. a cutting board, a sheet of parchment, a baking mat), place the flour. Make a well in the center and add the shortening and 2 tsp of salt. Cut the shortening into the flour. Once the shortening is incorporated into the flour (it won’t be completely incorporated but will be well distributed), make another well in the flour and add 3/4 of a cup of water. Mix the water with the flour. You may need to add up to another 1/4 cup of water to make the dough come together. Knead the dough briefly to make sure it’s come together. Roll out the noodle dough until it’s 1/4″ thick. Cut the dough into strips 1/2″ wide by 2″ long. Set the dough aside.
  6. Peel the potatoes and cut into bite size pieces. Cut the remaining two stalks of celery of celery into 1/8″ wide pieces. If using fresh corn, cut it off the cob.
  7. After one hour of simmering, remove the chicken, the vegetables and the bouquet garni from the stock. Retain the chicken and discard the vegetables and bouquet garni.
  8. Boil the stock for 10 minutes until slightly reduced. Return the stock to a simmer. Season the stock with salt and pepper to taste (really taste it; it needs salt and it’s hard for me to tell how much).
  9. Add the potatoes and celery to the stock and cook for 5 minutes.
  10. Add the noodles and corn and cook for another 5 minutes.
  11. Remove the skin and bone from the cooked chicken. Shred the chicken into bite sizes pieces. Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste (it’s not raw now; you can taste it without getting sick!). Add the cooked chicken to the stock and cook for 5 more minutes.
  12. Remove from heat and check the seasoning.

Serves 8 (this is really just a guess; there are only two of us and it made a large amount; I believe I know what I’m taking to work for lunch the rest of the week)

Eggplant Parmesan

Published September 28, 2007 Eggplant , Italian , Recipe 3 Comments
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Eggplant Parmesan

I have a confession. I had never had eggplant parmesan (does parmesan need to be capitalized? my spell checker wants it to be; it’s the anglization of parmigiano meaning something from Parma, Italy) before. I love Italian food (I believe it’s authentically Italian as I’ve seen it in Italy and Wikipedia backs me up) as well as the Italian-American versions with chicken or better yet veal so you’d think that I’d have tried it before now.

However, until very recently I was of the opinion that eggplant was ‘icky.’ A certain movie with an animated rat (which, by the way, I haven’t gotten around to seeing yet) made me decide that I needed to at least reevaluate my opinions of eggplant. At the time, I made a simple version of ratatouille and actually liked it (I spared Angela from even trying it as I was almost positive she’d give it a thumbs down).

Risen Bread Dough

When it comes to Italian food, I’m much more in my comfort zone and am much more likely to modify a recipe to suit my tastes (or what I think my tastes will be). I used Marcella Hazan’s recipe as a basis and it turned out to be different than I was expecting. For some reason, I expected there to be bread crumbs on the eggplant but this recipe did not call for them (although that would be an interesting variation to try in the future). It was also layered and I was expecting a single layer of eggplant. I suppose I was expecting chicken parmesan where eggplant has replaced chicken.

As to the recipe, it was pretty good. I don’t think I soaked the eggplant in salt long enough as it was still quite bitter (unlike the afore mentioned ratatouille) and didn’t seem to have exuded a significant amount of liquid. I only had dry basil (the original recipe called for fresh but the basil plant I bought a few months ago is pretty much dead; I have a brown thumb) but it would probably be better replaced with fresh basil added as part of the layering stage. Because I used less eggplant, I ended up with fewer layers. Also, as you can tell in the picture above, the dish did not retain its structural integrity (wow, that brought out my inner engineer) when it was removed from the serving dish.

And Angela hated it (but what do you expect, she hates vegetables).

Eggplant Parmesan
Adapted from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

1 medium Italian eggplant (the type that vaguely resembles a purple banana)
salt
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 tbsp olive oil
3 roma tomatoes
1 tsp dry basil
2 oz mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Cut the eggplant into 3/8″ thick slices (for my eggplant, it resulted in about 4 different slices). Place in a collander over the sink and sprinkle both sides generously with salt. Allow to sit for at least half an hour (if my experience is any guide, probably closer to an hour to remove more of the bitterness).
  3. Run the tomatoes through a food mill (if you don’t have one, buy one; or skin, seed, and dice the tomatoes). Add 1 tbsp of olive oil, the tomatoes, 1 tsp salt, and the basil to a sauce pan. Simmer until reduced to a thicker consistency.
  4. Dry the eggplant slices in paper towels. Dredge the eggplant in the flour.
  5. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat until just before smoking. Add the eggplant, cooking in batches if needed, until browned on both sides. About 2 to 3 minutes per side.
  6. Grease a heat proof baking dish. Add a layer of eggplant, add a layer of mozzarella cheese, layer with tomato sauce, and sprinkle generously with parmesan cheese. Add another layer of eggplant, top with tomato sauce, and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes at 400°F.

Serves 2.

Cheese Soufflé

Published September 27, 2007 French , Recipe 5 Comments
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Cheese Souffle

Last night, I was all prepared to make Chicken Cordon Bleu. Because it takes a bit of time, I started by grating the cheese. I then went to get the chicken out of the fridge and realized that it had gone bad. Into the trash that went. So the million dollar question at that point was what to do with about a cup of grated Swiss cheese (well, really Jarlsberg but close enough).

To complicate matters, the Von’s near to our apartment had a grand reopening sale (as far as I can tell all that changed is they put a wood floor under the produce section and now carry a larger amount of alcohol) and had 18 eggs foisted on us for free by the checkout clerk (he actually had them send someone to go back and get us our free eggs). Unfortunately, we didn’t win the Ipod Shuffle like the gentleman ahead of us (when told he had won it, his response was “what is that?”). This meant that we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 eggs in the refrigerator. This partially spurred the Cinnamon Pound Cake the day before.

Our initial thoughts drifted towards some sort of scrambled eggs and I started looking through some cookbooks for ideas. In my America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (it was cheap at Costco and isn’t a bad cookbook, despite the name) and I saw a recipe for cheese soufflé.

While I’ve had (and made) dessert soufflés, I’ve never actually had a savory soufflé. I’ve never seen one on a restaurant menu (including when I was in France several years ago). They seem delightfully old fashioned (to me at least).

While I’m sure America’s Test Kitchen has a good recipe for a cheese soufflé (why do I consistently want to capitalize soufflé?), when it comes to classic French recipes (and particularly when making them for the first time), I stick with Julia Child and Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One.

The soufflé was quite tasty and significantly more filling than the lightness suggested by a soufflé would imply. Mine, however, did not rise nearly as much as was promised in the recipe. Either my soufflé mold (yes, I have one; it was on clearance at T.J. Maxx and was a good price, despite it being Emeril branded; you can only tell if you look at the bottom) is larger than 6 cups (I didn’t measure it but it looks like it might be) or it could be the fact that when I finished the soufflé batter, the oven had preheated all the way so it had to sit out longer. I would also probably add some cream of tartar to the egg whites to help stabilize them (it was recommended in the introduction to soufflés if you aren’t beating them in a copper bowl but I forgot about it). The soufflé almost completely collapsed once we started serving it (you’re guess is as good as mine as to how to do it; Julia Child’s instructions were a bit lacking on serving).

Beaten Egg Whites

Cheese Soufflé
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One

3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
1 cup boiling milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
a pinch of cayenne pepper
a pinch of nutmeg
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites
3/4 cup grated Swiss cheese

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Butter a 6 cup soufflé mold (or something similar in shape and size) and sprinkle with 1 tbsp of cheese.
  3. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and cook for two minutes.
  4. Remove the sauce pan from heat and whisk in the boiling milk. Add the salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and grated nutmeg.
  5. Over medium-high heat, cook the mixture until thickened (about a minute).
  6. Off heat, whisk the egg yolks into the mixture.
  7. Beat the egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt. A pinch of cream of tartar will probably allow your soufflé to rise and stay risen better than mine.
  8. Add 1/4 of the egg whites into the sauce pan mixture and mix well. Add all but 1 tbsp of the cheese into the mixture and mix well.
  9. Fold in the remaining egg whites into the mixture.
  10. Carefully pour the soufflé mixture into the prepared soufflé mold. Level the top and sprinkle with cheese.
  11. Put the soufflé in the oven and immediately drop the temperature to 375°F. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is well browned and a skewer inserted into the center comes out cleanly.

Serves 2.

Cinnamon Pound Cake

Published September 26, 2007 Cake , Dessert , Recipe 4 Comments
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Cinnamon Pound Cake

Angela has class on Tuesday nights which means I’m home alone (although I don’t have to fight a couple of bungling burglars with improvised comedic devices). My dinner on those nights is usually something Angela doesn’t like but I was feeling a bit lazy last night so just made a sandwich. I did, however, decide to make a surprise for her when she came home.

This recipe has been sitting on our refrigerator door for about 6 months now. We originally picked it up at Penzeys Spices on our first visit to their retail store. I made it last night because I wanted something for breakfast the next day and the recipe card proclaims “This cake is wonderful for dessert but even better for breakfast.” Cake for breakfast? How could I not be all over that? (Of course, I’ve never had cake for breakfast before; never).

In regards to Penzeys, on that first visit I decided to buy cinnamon sticks because freshly grated cinnamon has to make food better, doesn’t it? I’m really not sure if food is better with freshly grated cinnamon, but I do know that it’s a pain to grate a full tablespoon of cinnamon. Here I was looking for any easy surprise to bake for my wife and instead I spend 15 minutes microplaning a cinnamon stick. Of course I decided to do this after I started mixing the cake ingredients. Mis-en-what?

I found some of the typesetting of this recipe to be a bit odd. In the ingredients list, the word cups was capitalized for no particular reason. Also, PURE VANILLA EXTRACT, CINNAMON SUGAR, and CINNAMON were in all-caps. I’m assuming it’s because Penzeys sells products by those names but why not do what every other brand does and specify your brand there (are they fooling anyone?). The way it looks, they’re just yelling at me (that better be PURE VANILLA EXTRACT or else!). My final comment would be that it listed 3 teaspoons of baking powder instead of 1 tablespoon. I have no idea what the purpose of that would be (do many people have tablespoon measuring spoons that don’t fit into their baking powder jar? my oversized plastic ones do).

Cinnamon Pound Cake
Adapted from Penzeys One, volume 1 issue 3, originally by Scott and Jackie Nelson

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 cup milk
5 tbsp cinnamon sugar (or 1 tbsp cinnamon mixed with 4 tbsp sugar)

  1. Preheat oven to 300° F.
  2. Grease a loaf pan (the recipe wants you to use a tube pan which I’ve never heard of; it fits perfectly in a loaf pan plus that’s the shape every pound cake I’ve ever seen has been).
  3. Cream the butter.
  4. Add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix well.
  5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder (the recipe specifies sifting but I cheated and just mixed them).
  6. Add half the flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine.
  7. Add the milk to the butter mixture. Mix to combine.
  8. Add the remaining flour to the butter mixture. Mix to combine.
  9. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on the bottom of the loaf pan.
  10. Add half of the batter to the loaf pan (really try for half; I failed and it was much closer to 3/4 than half but it still tasted good).
  11. Sprinkle 1/3 of the cinnamon sugar on top of the batter in the loaf pan.
  12. Add the remaining batter to the loaf pan.
  13. Sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar on the top of the batter.
  14. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Servers 25 to 30 (or just 2, if you’re us)

General Tso’s Chicken or How to Create Pepper Spray in Your Own Kitchen

Published September 25, 2007 Chicken , Chinese , Recipe 2 Comments
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Apparently, if you cook chilies in more oil than necessary, then add liquid, you will create your very own homemade pepper spray. As I was cooking the General Tso’s Chicken, I was suddenly overcome by a combination hacking and sneezing fit (in retrospect it’s not something that I thought would be physiologically possible but I often manage to surprise myself with my own abilities). By the time my wife noticed my predicament, the toxic cloud had drifted the few feet to her and she was overcome. And now I understand how pepper spray works.

Now, I don’t normally cook Chinese food (let alone any Asian cuisine). It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s culinarily 180 degrees from my comfort zone. I usually stick to Italian or French dishes, occasionally adding in other European fare or the Americanized versions thereof (thereof is a seriously underrated word in the English language). In my mind, Asian food is something you go out to eat (speaking of which, why are there a dearth of reasonably good Chinese places in Long Beach?)

Chinese and other Asian foods are different from my American (and by extension European) culinary tradition (well don’t I sound pompous; perhaps I should refer to food tradition). The techniques are just significantly different. While thinking about the differences, I realized I’m not even qualified to comment on what the differences are: that is my level of understanding of Asian cuisine. I’ve made a few successful stir fries (and I highly recommend this tutorial) but they were rather Americanized affairs.

Despite this lack of knowledge, I had heard rumors that Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province was a good cookbook. I also have happened to find that the library has an online request system (somehow with regards to libraries I’m stuck in mid-1980’s; I’m still skeptical of using anything that isn’t a real card catalog). Of course the combination of a cookbook to reconnoiter and an automagical book request system meant that I got a copy of the book into my grubby little hands (their much grubbier when I make bread but that’s another story, or would that be blog post?).

Being a good American, I immediately thought that many of the recipes would not be the first on my list to try. I mean, many of them even had vegetables in them. While that’s not really what I thought, I did think that some of the ingredients I had not heard of before and would be a bit harder to come by and that my vegetable-hating wife (well, maybe not all vegetables) would not like them.

So what was probably one of the only recipes in the entire cookbook I had heard of (not counting the spring rolls; is it just me or do spring rolls seem to be entirely too time consuming to actually make? all those who make them have my respect) was General Tso’s Chicken. In the cookbook, two different versions are listed: one from Taiwan (where the dish was invented) and one from Hunan (which is the style in which it is made). Not surprising to me was the fact that it’s virtual unheard of in China (that would be the People’s Republic of, it’s actually found in Taiwan). Contrary to rumors I heard, however, there was actually a General Tso at some point in the past (and I figured he was just made up).

As to the recipe itself, the first item to note is that it is spicy. Very spicy. Now, I can’t claim to like my food flaming hot, but I do like my food a bit spicy. This was a bit spicier than I’d like and my wife gave up eating it after awhile due to its heat. So if you don’t like it hot, add less chilies. In retrospect, seasoning the chicken with salt and pepper before mixing in the marinade would make a better dish (to my Anglo-Saxon mind). The original recipe specified potato flour but it’s not in my pantry, so I substituted corn starch and there didn’t seem to be any ill-effects from it. The recipe also specified Shaioking vinegar which, according to the book, is a dark rice wine vinegar, so I substituted that (which is still a pain to find; I eventually had to go to Little Saigon to find it). My final substitution was replacing peanut oil with canola oil because Costco stopped selling it. While Changsha version is supposed to be closer to American versions of General Tso’s Chicken, it’s really not. There’s a vague resemblance but it’s really a different dish.

General Tso’s Chicken (Changsha Version)
Adapted from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province

12 oz. chicken (preferably thigh or leg meat)
6 small dried chilies, cut into 3/4″ lengths, seeds removed
3/4 in of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 tbsp tomato paste
3 scallions, green parts only, thinly slice
1 tsp sesame oil peanut oil

For the marinade:
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 egg yolk
4 tsp corn starch

For the sauce:
1/2 tsp corn starch
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp black rice vinegar
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce

  1. Cut the chicken into bit-sized pieces. Don’t be like me. Make them actually bite-sized. There’s few things more annoying (this would the textbook definition of hyperbole) than eating food with chopsticks that are too big for one bite.
  2. In a bowl, mix the marinade soy sauce, egg yolk, and chicken. Then mix in the corn starch. The mixture will become very sticky.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the sauce ingredients.
  4. Combine the tomato paste with 1 tbsp of water.
  5. In a wok, add enough oil to come up about 3 to 4 inches (depending on the size of your chicken). Heat oil to between 350° F to 400° F. Deep fry chicken pieces, in several batches, until it is golden brown. Remove chicken to a bowl after deep frying.
  6. Pour all but1 tbsp of oil into a heat proof container. Turn your vent fan onto maximum (you’re about to pepper spray yourself). Turn burner to high. Working quickly, add the dried chilies, then add the garlic, then add the tomato paste. Cook until tomato paste becomes burnt orange. Add the sauce mixture and stand back (this is the pepper spray creation moment). Once the sauce stops boiling with the oil, stir as the sauce thickens.
  7. Once the sauce thickens satisfactorily (you want it relatively thick), add the chicken to the mixture and coat thoroughly.
  8. Off heat, add the scallions and sesame oil.

Serves 2.

Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, and Sage

Published September 24, 2007 Pasta , Recipe Leave a Comment
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Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, and SageAs a big fan of corn, pancetta, and pasta, one would think that combining them would be a no brainer. However, I never thought of it. And why would you? Pasta is Italian and corn is American. And Italian-American food has been relegated to cheap restaurants that those in the know would never eat at (apparently I am not in the know and I’m pretty happy there).

This recipe comes from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook which was helpfully provided to me by our local library (as I’m too poor to purchase it for myself right now). This dish is basically creamed corn with pancetta and a bit of sage mixed with pasta. The sage flavor is not particularly pronounced so increase the amount if you, unlike my wife, like sage a lot. The original recipe called for 5 to 6 small ears of corn but, given that I buy corn priced by the ear, I used 3 large ears instead. There may be a flavor difference but as long as I don’t try it, I’ll be happy with the cheaper version (that was, until recently, my theory with sushi; as long as I don’t know what I’m missing, I’m okay).

Pasta with Corn, Pancetta, and Sage
Adapted from The Zuni Cafe Cookbook

2 1/2 cups fresh corn (about 3 large ears)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
3 oz pancetta, cubed
6 sage leaves, diced
1 lb. fresh egg pasta, preferably linguine
salt and pepper
3 tbsp Parmesan cheese

  1. Using a knife, slice the corn kernels off of the ear into a bowl. Then, run the back of the knife at a 45 degree angle to the ear to force out all the starchy liquid. Combine the liquid and the corn.
  2. Boil waiter for the pasta and cook until slightly underdone. Reserve pasta water.
  3. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the pancetta and saute until lightly browned.
  4. Turn off heat, add sage and 1 tablespoon butter. Allow the sage to seep for 1 minute.
  5. Add 6 tablespoons of butter and turn heat to medium. When the butter is melted, add the corn and liquid. Cook until warmed through and the liquid in the pan thickens slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Add cooked pasta to the corn and toss. Finish cooking the pasta with the corn.
  7. Off heat, add Parmesan cheese and retaste for seasoning.

Serves 4.

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