"Discard" ... Yeah, Right

I make ramen broth now and again because people frankly like it.  It's not hard, but it does take organization beyond what is normally required of most recipes -- more than acquisition and mise en place.  It's more like a progressive use of leftovers and "residues" -- the latter being parts of a meal that were not used, and sometimes discarded by those with dainty and wealthy mores.  You have to plan to consume those "discards" too, so it really does take longer planning time.

We joke about "discards" because it makes us feel kind of superior.  And in the long cooking time toward ramen broth, it gives us something to talk about while the smells emanate from the kitchen.  No fancy technique or time-consuming manual tricks are needed to make this, but everything must be done in its right time and place.  You can divide up the work over many days or weeks if you freeze or refrigerate the bits and components, and bring them out in enough time to satisfy the sequence of the overall recipe.

I've also deliberately developed other recipes and dishes from this progressive approach, so I don't feel like I'm putting all my efforts into one (albeit copious and time-consuming) recipe.  The components all simmer in the broth at some point, but they also end up as ...

1. Kakuni pork >> tara, topping
2. Roasted chicken >> chicken stock, meaty chunks for topping
3. Roasted pork bones >> fond, meaty chunks for topping
4. Kombu >> Sichuan kombu salad
5. Dried shiitake >> soy-braised mushrooms, topping

None of this was part of the original recipe I learned, but it does make sense to one who enjoyed the delusion of "something for nothing," you know?

kakuni pork (to make the tara): pork belly should be frozen to make it easier to cut into chunks.  it's okay if it's frozen when it goes in, but cut them to the same size so they will cook evenly.

adding a bit of oil to start the frying/rendering step will help render faster -- markovnikov's law, kind of!  these will stick to the pan.  leave them there till you can pop them off easily.  stop fussing with it, i mean it!

make it as brown as you wish ... my kitchen elf turned it too soon for my tastes, but whatever :)  if you have more than the pot/wok can hold, remove after browning to a bowl or plate, and continue with the next batch.  when it's time to return them all to the pot, be sure to scrape in the accumulated juices, too.

it really helps to have one person cut and prep while the other attends to the parts that require heat and attention.  bif is a great sous.

ramen broth: roast pork bones till they are very dark and toasty.  douse the bottom with water to loosen up the fond, which goes into the broth, too.

steep the dried shiitake and dried kombu in hot water for a while, then simmer  skim off any foam, since this will be concentrated down a bit.

add the roughly chopped vegetation: scallion/leek tops or onions, garlic split in half or crushed, ginger, anise.  dried versions of the vegetation are okay, though you may need to add more liquid to compensate.

then add soy, sake, water.  how much water?  until the drop lid floats up.  set the lid askew, so the liquid can boil off slowly, but still benefit from the slow braise/condensation.

after three hours it will look done.  put the damned lid back on and go away for another three hours!  :)

don't boil the stock -- just simmer it.  or if simmering is too hard, just boil the water, add the kombu and shiitake, put on the lid, turn off the heat and come back in an hour.  fish everything out, drain it well and save it to make sichuan style kombu salad, and soy braised mushrooms.  both are great in a vegetarian sushi roll

roast the bones very well, the put into the hot stock (simmering) next.  leave them in there for about an hour before fishing them out.  cool, then strip off the meat.  i dress that with a citrus ponzu style of sauce for a while, and use it as ramen topping, in stir fries, etc.

while the pan is still hot, douse with water.  then scrape up the fond, and add this liquid to the stock pot, too

soft boil some eggs to split and put into the ramen.  we use egg-based ramen noodles, but use whatever you prefer.  this bowl is topped with braised mushrooms, hakusai and daikon oshinko pickles, kakuni pork.

did some experiments with singapore mei fun -- the leftover pork shreds was put in here at the end.  some of the shiitake was sliced into here, too.

we figured this salad out while eating our way through ramen alley and akasaka three-streets: bean sprouts, shichimi, sesame oil, salt, rice vinegar

it's not ramen without sliced scallions!

KAKUNI PORK BELLY

2 lbs pork belly, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons sugar

the greens from a bunch of scallions or a couple of leeks, roughly chopped

thumb-sized piece of ginger, sliced

3 star anise

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup sake

2 cups water, approximately

Brown the meat in the oil on all sides -- don't crowd the pan and do it in batches if necessary.  Some of the pork fat will render out.  Remove the pork pieces and mix the sugar into the fat and cook with stirring till lightly caramelized.  Toss the meat in the fat and sugar mixture to coat.

Add all ingredients -- add enough water to cover the meat and put a droplid over it if you have one.  Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Leave the lid open a bit so the liquid can evaporate as it cooks.  Simmer gently for 3-6 hours, till the liquid reduces by half.  Add more water if it's evaporating too fast.

Drain out the solids and save the liquid separately to use in the ramen broth as tara.

Serve the meat over rice.  It's very rich and you will likely only need one or two pieces per serving.

RAMEN BROTH GUIDE

chicken backs or thighs, and / or pork bones

olive oil

salt 

pepper

Heat the oven to 450^oF.  Scatter the bones loosely on a baking pan, drizzle lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper.  Place in the oven and roast till very dark, at least an hour.

When done, pour water to fill the bottom of the pan to loosen the fond.  Leave for a few minutes before scraping.  

2 cups dried shiitake

6-8 quarts water

2-3 x 6" pieces kombu

1 lb bacon

1 onion, cut into quarters

2 carrots, roughly chopped

Boil water.  Add the shiitake and kombu pieces, place the lid on the pot tightly, and turn off the heat.  Allow to steep for an hour.  Then remove the pieces with a spider or a slotted spoon and allow to cool.  Use the kombu for Sichuan Seaweed Salad, and the mushrooms for a braise.

Add the roasted bones and the scrapings from the bottom of the roasting pan with the water you used to loosen the fond.  Simmer in the pot for an hour, then remove the bones; let them cool till you can handle them and pull the meat from the bones.  Discard the bones; use the meat for another dish.  (I usually dress the bland meat in a ponzu.)

Add bacon and simmer for another hour.  Remove the bacon and reserve for another dish.

Add onions and carrots and simmer for another hour.  Strain the broth.  If you wish, boil it down to concentrate the flavors further or to save space on storage.

To serve, you will mix your tara (from the kakuni pork belly) and the broth.  Season heavily with salt, if you'd like.  

Cook your ramen noodles in a pot of hot water.  Drain well and place in the bottom of a large bowl and ladle your tara-seasoned broth.  Top with sliced pork belly or other meats, vegetable, nori, scallions, soft boiled egg halves, etc. 

another night, another ramen bowl: scallions, mushrooms, pork, soft-boiled eggs, mung bean salad

Multigrain and the Bitch: HotHotHot

We've used poolish for our baguettes, and wondered about sourdough.  We did a lot of research/homework and finally made our own starter with rye flour, water, and white flour.  It took about 5 days of "feeding the bitch" on a regular schedule and crossing our fingers.  Tip: put into a cooler / chillybin with a bottle of hot water and seal to get the right temperature for the yeasts and bugs to work.

When it finally showed itself to be a viable sourdough starter, we fed it, then stuck it in the fridge as a retarder so we wouldn't have to keep feeding the bitch quite so often!

We used the sourdough for our levain:

The night before you need it, mix some starter in a bunch of water, then whisk with flour.
Cover and put in a warm draft-free spot till it's bubbly and kind of scary looking.

Add the levain to water and flour, and let rest for 30 minutes.
It's a hydrating the flour step, called "autolyse" ... a yuh.

Add some salt, and beat for a few minutes to incorporate.

Also the night before, create the "soaker" -- a mix of seeds and grains in water.
Her: cracked flax, sesame, sunflower, live oat groats, spelt.

This will take a while because the seeds, once soaked, will be slippery and kind of slimy.
Work it into the dough -- and then once it's mixed together, knead it till it's smooth.
Brian added about a cup more flour because though it made a nice dough, it just
wasn't coming together like ti should.  That happens; the amount even changes from
day to day.

Knead by folding and smacking the dough, and making sure you make
quarter turn each stroke.

We weighed the dough -- it came in at 7 lbs!  Since we planned to
make four loaves, they lumps were weighed to
be 1.75 lbs apiece -- bouncing big loaves!

These cut lumps were stretched and rolled into boules, covered and allowed to rest
for two hours total.  About halfway through, they were folded and pat down
then rolled into boules again and covered and left to rise.

Since the home oven is not deep enough to make baguettes, these were formed into
batards -- thicker, stubbier, but basically the same shape and total weight.
Except the standard baguettes are 12 oz and ours were 38 oz.
We raised them on a professional linen couche because it was cheaper than making
one or converting our cotton towels to couche-duty.  And the dough doesn't
stick on the linen as badly as on cotton.

When the batards are risen, they are slashed to allow for controlled expansion of
the dough so that it won't tear the loaf.  Think "stretch marks" ... and when
done properly, they open up and one edge makes an "ear" -- prettier than
any stretch mark!  We baked these on terracotta oven tiles, or a rough clay
baking slab -- both work equally well.

Once when he was baking bread for a surgeon's family, the doctor admired his kneading and
the strength of Brian's arms.  "You would have made a fine orthopedic surgeon --
I'll bet you could set bones just like kneading dough!"
Note that we cool them  upside down, and we don't cut them for at least 20 minutes,
or the insides won't have any texture or real flavor.

We continue to work on the texture, but this was damned good!  It also made
wonderful french toast several mornings hence.

Szechuan Eggplant, Restyled

We had a recipe for Szechuan Eggplant which required the eggplant to be soaked in water, deep fried, then soaked in water again, then simmered with a hot red sauce.  Yes, it's worth it, but there must be a less arduous, less caloric way to create this dish.  It's so good that I bought a dozen long eggplant to make more and experiment a bit.

Instead of frying, we decided to roast the eggplant -- even though this means we lose the lovely opalescent purply color of the skin.  We scored the skin side; the flavor of the sauce doesn't penetrate the skin side, otherwise.  Plus, not only does it not pull the flesh of the eggplant so it falls apart, but it's easier to chew the skin when it's already scored.  Be careful not to overcook, or it goes mushy.

While roasting, chop up ginger, garlic, and scallions.  Heat a wok and drizzle a tablespoon or so of vegetable oil.  When the oil starts to smoke, add these vegetables and stir-fry till wilted and the mixture is bright green in color.

Add gochujan paste, soy sauce, red wine vinegar and water to loosen up the mixture.

When the eggplant are browned and still hot, toss with the sauce to coat.  If you wish, you can simmer in the sauce for a few minutes, but we'd forgotten to do this step previously and it was still delicious.  Finish with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil.

It's great on it's own as a main course offering with some rice or noodles.  Or as a sandwich filling.

Tail o' Poolish

Baguettes are a sort of benchmark of bread making; croissants are, too.  They are a basic bread, consisting of flour, water, yeast only.  They require more knowhow than they require technique, and time is needed to develop flavor.

The flavor comes from poolish, an analog to a sourdough starter, and if you skimp of the required 15 hours, the baguette won't have the expected flavor.  Fear not -- you need to remember to start the poolish so many hours ahead, but otherwise, it's nothing special, other than to not poke at it or keep looking at it.  Forget it for 15 hours, seriously.

The other thing that is important is the forming and slashing of the dough.  In bread competitions, the crumb of the bread is important, as well as the lack of any evidence that the dough has been overworked or "abused."  So, despite what we may have learned about kneading bread dough, you really do need to pay attention to the dough.

Slashing the cuts is a bit like creating a stretchmark -- you are creating a weak spot so the bread can "bloom" out and form into a uniform shape without ripping or cracking in an unattractive or destructional manner.  it's a little counterintuitive, so the first ones should be about following and replicating the masters till you "get it."  like gru.

right out of the oven -- two baguettes with nice slashmarks
and one row of rolls called the dragon tail 

the dragon tail rolls are cut like epi rolls, but the tails are folded
back onto the roll.  the resulting row of rolls resembles
the spine of some mythical reptile ;)

to eat, pull the dragon tail "vertebrae" apart

nice creamy looking crumb!

Quid Pro Quo: So Little Time, So Much to Know

guess which one is me?  (from the yellow submarine: sea of holes)

I just spent a fun weekend with my fab-four, though we were not "all together now," since we're now grown-ups and can't all make it where and when we said we would or wish we could.  this time, for the first time, our casual group portrait required "photoshopping in" to get the four of us into it.  there are even "significant others."  like i said, we're now grown-ups.  so we look at the good, mostly.  we also forgot to take photos of all of us, in general -- maybe we are entering dementia?

We ate a lot, too.  We even managed to cook one of the meals.  A partial log of 4 days: