Char Siu Bau…

Sticking with my chinese themed recipes, my girlfriend and I wanted to make char siu bau.  Locally it’s called manapua, a hawaiian translation.  Bau means bun and char siu refers to the chinese barbecue pork filling.  This style of chinese is more specifically cantonese, from southern china.  You can use store-bought char siu or make it from scratch.  We had some in the fridge, so I just used that, but I have a homemade recipe I’ll post.

Typically, chinese restaurants will make these out of all purpose flour or maybe even rice flour because they are light, which leads to a very puffy and light bun.  I like the bread flavor and consistency, so I used baker’s flour (or bread flour) for the higher gluten percentage.

Gau…

I hope everyone had a great Valentine’s Day weekend.  Hopefully you shared it with someone special.  I was taken out by my sweetie to Belladonna, a fairly new European restaurant on Waialae Ave between 12th and 13th avenue.  The food there is remarkable.  We had a 4 course menu consisting of beef carpaccio, onion soup, duck breast with gooseberry sauce, and a chocolate fondant for me.  She had butternut squash ravioli instead of the carpaccio and seared Ono with risotto instead of duck.  All in all, it’s a great place you have to see for yourself.  Their regular menu is outstanding as well.  Last time I had a beef wellington; it was marvelous.

Coincidentally, V-day also fell on Chinese New Year this year.  I’m not chinese, nor do I ever really celebrate it, but some family friends gave us Gau, or chinese mochi.  It’s a traditional chinese food eaten for new years.  Its stickiness represents family bonds, the sesame seeds are related to fertility, and the red date on top is for good luck.  Like I said, I don’t get into cultural holidays much, but I wanted to make gau for some reason.

My grandmother makes a good version so I tried that one out.  It’s simply a mix of brown sugar and rice flour.  There are a few additions in this recipe to make it more flavorful though.

Pasta Bolognese…

Aah yes, pasta.  One of the ultimate comfort foods.  Simple, yet filling, it fulfills every culinary dream.  Did I make the pasta fresh? No (aww, moment dulls).  But next time I will.  After all, I did get a pasta maker for Christmas that still needs to be test-run.

Bolognese is a pasta sauce originating from Bologna, Italy (duh).  Authentic recipes only have small amounts of tomato and is mostly meat, although some recipes have been modified to be a mostly tomato sauce.  I made sure this one was very meaty.

It’s simmered for about 3 1/2 hours, so you know it’s gonna be good.  Anything that sits that long allows for the flavors to really come together and build up one great dish.

One of the flavoring agents here is Parmesan cheese rind.

Rosemary Lemon Chicken with Sweet Potatoes…

Chicken is the most versatile meat.  Julia Child once said that you could eat chicken everyday of the year and never have it the same way twice.  This time, I went with a whole roast because it’s easy and you can never go wrong with it.

So why do you stuff the cavity of the chicken when roasting? Stuffing it with items like onions, lemons, carrots, celery, oranges, etc causes the meat to be moister from the evaporation out of the fruits or vegetables.  It also imparts a flavor and aroma to the meat.  However, the food you stuffed in there doesn’t taste quite as good as if it were roasted out of the chicken.  Some people throw out the cavity foods, I don’t.  It’s your preference.

I stuffed this one with carrots, onions, lemons, and rosemary.  Onions are a common choice because they’re mostly water.  Carrots lend sweetness.  Lemons lend tartness.  Rosemary gives it a great aroma.  But it’s also important to close the chicken’s …well…butt in order to keep the moisture in the bird otherwise it’ll escape and it was all for nothing.

The carrots and onions out of the cavity will caramelize in the oven and yet be moist because of the chicken drippings flowing onto it.  You’ll also use the drippings to baste the chicken so that the skin crisps up.

Oven Smoked Pork…

For those who have followed often, you know I love barbecue.  Slow roasting over wood creates a flavor and aroma no other coking style can.  But when I saw an oven-smoked pork in the Cooks’s Illustrated issue this month, I scoffed at it.  How can you properly create a smoky flavor in the oven? But my better half said “don’t knock it till you try it” and decided to try it out.

The method of how they imparted the smoke flavor is logical.  Brining: the method of soaking meat to make it moist and impart flavor.  I absolutely love brining; it turns “eh” to “wow” in some meats. Liquid smoke, and lots of it, is added to the brine.

In the smoky abyss lies a fatty, soon to be tender pork shoulder.