A couple months ago for my birthday I went to my favorite Boston Dim Sum place, China Pearl, for an amazing spread of all things dim sum. While I try to get there every couple months, it doesn't seem to happen often enough. A couple friends that we went with emailed a few weeks later proposing a dim sum feast at their place. We would all cook together and produce a nice range of classic and not-so-classic dim sum dishes. I thought this would be a great idea (and great excuse to try some new Asian dishes) and this past weekend, this is exactly what we did.

Trying to narrow the scope of what we would make was the first hurdle. I had gotten the new Naomi Duguid cookbook, Burma, for my birthday, so of course I would look there first. After making a list of a dozen or so recipes I narrowed it down to a handful: Fried Shan Tofu (p. 126-8) with Tart-sweet Chili-garlic Sauce (p. 36), Curried Chicken Livers (p. 158), Kachin Pounded Beef with Herbs (p. 178), and either Semolina Cake (p. 276) or Magic Rice Balls (p. 290) for something sweet. The only real dietary restriction that I had to work around was Kosher (which obviously would have eliminated a number of traditional Chinese dishes), so this list looked like a nice balance between familiar and a little more "out there" flavors.

The Shan Tofu really spoke to me because I wanted to create as much from scratch as possible, and while I do want to tackle making tofu at home soon, I wasn't ready for a community meal to be my first experiment with it. The Shan region of Burma uses chickpea flour to create a firm-tofu-like dish rather than soy beans. The preparation for this is much easier than processing the soy beans to make it edible; if one can do polenta, Shan tofu is certainly within easy reach: basically just mixing water and chickpea flour, heating it to a silky consistency then allowing it to firm up overnight and you have yourself a fantastic vegan, high-protein, allergy-free alternative to tofu. The flavor is different, and I want to play around with adding different spices to vary it even more, but it is a great home option. When cut to 1/2"-thick pieces and fried in oil, the outside crisps up quite nicely and the inside stays soft, so it is almost souffle-like.

The Tart-sweet Chili-garlic Sauce is a great dipping sauce for it. The one that I made, while it had a lot of chilies, I don't think it actually had quite enough. The one I produced was very liquid instead of being a bit more chunky, which is what I think it is supposed to be. After I go through this batch (which will be quite quickly, I'm sure) I will experiment around with more chilies and perhaps using a mortar and pestle to create the base paste instead of a blender.

The great new(ish) Somerville butcher, M.F. Dulock, has been where I've been getting meat, pretty much exclusively, since they opened last fall. The one thing they do not do is poultry (sourcing local poultry is actually a cost-ineffective model right now as there is only one slaughterhouse in Vermont to process all the area poultry and so with the added shipping costs, etc. the end price that a retailer would have to sell the birds for is around $9/lb, which is not sustainable). What this meant for my chicken livers is that I decided to go with a nice beef liver that they had in the case instead. I knew this would be a more "liver"-like taste, but with the curry flavors included in the recipe (shallots, ginger, turmeric), I knew this would also not be too much of an issue.

The Pounded Beef was going to be a fun one. This recipe called for using the mortar and pestle to pound down the cooked beef and combine it with a paste of spiced herbs (chilies, garlic, ginger, Vietnamese coriander [I used equal parts cilantro and mint]). The beef is boiled for about 20-30m and then seared, then pounded with the herb paste to create a very "pulled" texture. It was initially a bit dry, but after adding a bit of salt and letting it meld in the fridge it was less-so. On serving, I quartered limes to squeeze on. This dish would make a very good taco filling.

For a sweet finish I decided to go with the Semolina Cake (mostly due to the ease of the recipe). This was the only one that didn't really meld for me. I don't know if there was a mistake in the recipe or if there was an issue in my prep, but the cake didn't really come together. From what was described, it seems as if the brown sugar in the recipe is supposed to melt everything together to create a dense mildly sweet cake. What it ended up being was much more dry, unfortunately, though not at all tasteless. It certainly got eaten with gusto. I will attempt it again, hopefully with more success after speaking with some baker friends.

This was quite a wonderful day, with our friends adding beef bao, boiled, and fried dumplings, garlic greens, taro cake, and a really nice and very spicy chili sauce. These recipes, incidentally enough, came from Duguid's earlier book, Beyond the Great Wall. I find her (and cookbook compatriot Jeffrey Alford - who didn't assist with Burma) books quite excellent and have been enamored with them since Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet.

I was too into cooking and then eating to get any pictures, which would have made this long post much more interesting, but there we go. Until next venture...

Long time gone

It has been a tremendous long time since I've posted, which isn't to say that nothing has been happening, rather that there has been a TON of things going on, most of which keep me from posting here. This will be changing, however, as I am looking more and more to shifting my focus back to a food-related life.

We had a great 2nd night of Hanukkah with friends; I made up some regular and sweet potato latkes as well as roast beef from an eye round that I got from the great new butcher in Somerville, M.F. Dulock, as part of their monthly meat CSA. @StarkView took a nice snapshot of both:

The recipe was quite basic: a spice rub consisting of sweet paprika, ancho chili, ground ginger, ground coriander, salt, and sugar; then roasted in a 350 degree oven for 20m, then hitting up the oven to 425 for an additional 20m, resting it for 15 and slicing it to reveal this gorgeously pink center.

The night before we went to a tree trimming where I made a quite excellent egg nog (one of my favorite holiday traditions). Nothing beats homemade egg nog, and the recipe that I elaborate upon is pretty simple and enough for two servings with four people:

6 eggs
1c sugar
2c whole milk
2c heavy cream
spices to taste (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground ginger, mace, cayenne)
alcohol to taste (rum, bourbon, or other like liquor)

Start with all dairy chilled. Whisk the eggs to a froth; whisk in the sugar, add the milk, cream, spices and liquor. Refrigerate and serve.

Suffice it to say that all ingredients should be of the highest quality - you don't want to be eating Stop & Shop eggs raw nor adding a flavorless mass produced milk or cream. Try to get un-homogenized cream and you'll have a wonderful (and filling) toddy.

The Kraut comes out with some porcine friends

Aimee made a great dinner last night for a couple of friends where we debuted the young but fantastic sauerkraut that I started three weeks ago.

The 'Kraut sitting in the crock.

It was nice and crunchy (which I enjoy), and had some great garlic and caraway taste to it. The addition of the red cabbage turned it all a nice pink color. It was quite a nice pairing with the Mangalitsa chops that we made up based on a recipe from James Villas' Pig: King of the Southern Table: Baked apple- and corn-stuffed pork chops.

The 'Kraut removed from the crock.

Sarah, our guest, brought the most amazing to-die-for apple tart that she had made earlier. As you can see it was enjoyed by all.

I'm going to leave the sauerkraut fermenting for a few more weeks and continue to try it as it goes to get some idea of how it changes taste through the process. I have another head of cabbage, so I may even add some to it once we run low - I think that's possible without destroying it.

Pâtés, forcemeats and terrines; notes from a demo class at Formaggio Annex

This past Sunday, January 23rd, saw Formaggio Kitchen's charcutier extraordinaire, Julie Biggs, give a demo/tasting about three types of pâtés: chicken liver mousse, Pâté de Campagne and a rabbit pâté, all of which she regularly makes and sells at Formaggio Kitchen.

Left to right: Chicken liver mousse, Pâté de Campagne, Rabbit Pâté

The main thing to keep in mind when making any charcuterie (pâtés, sausages, aged meats) is to begin with high quality meat. Your results can only be as good as what you begin with, so make sure to go the extra distance to track down free-range chicken livers, humanely-raised pork products, sustainably-farmed game and make sure that everything is F-R-E-S-H!

The event was held at Formaggio's Annex, which is where they do all of their mail order and sometimes hold demos like this. The front half of the warehouse looks like a set from a television show on gourmet food preparation, complete with the stainless-steel table with a slanted mirror above it so that everyone can get a bird's-eye view without crowding around the work area. It's a nice set-up, but on this cold, cold evening it was a bit frigid.

We began with a nice glass of mulled wine, which at least took the chill off, and a Gruyère puff, which was a nice complement. Then it was down to business. The chicken liver mousse is a relatively simple affair, combining butter, rendered duck fat, chicken livers, white pepper, salt, cream, brandy and egg yolks.

Blend softened butter and duck fat (1/4 lb of each) until creamy. Then add the cleaned chicken livers (8oz) one at a time until combined. Then add the egg yolks (4) one at a time until combined. Separately, make a slurry of 3/4T kosher salt, 1/2 t white pepper, 1T cornstarch (for binding, this is optional, but if you're putting out of it's cooking dish to stand on its own, it is helpful), and 1T brandy, then add to the liver combo and mix. Bring 1c heavy cream to a scald then let it cool until it's warm enough to touch. Transfer the liver mixture into a large bowl and blend in the cream. Strain this through a fine mesh chinois.

Everything is put into a cooking dish (usually a loaf pan or terrine) and placed into a water bath, covered with foil and cooked at 325ºF for about 40m, or until they lightly set (it should still have a little bit of a jiggle to it, but it shouldn't be too liquid-y). If it's cooked too long it will begin to rise. This will add air into the mousse and give it a non-mousse consistency.

Julie made four mousses (or is it just mousse?) and put them in the oven so that we would be able to see from beginning to end the process of cooking this pâté. Then we were passed out a plate with samples of the three pâtés that we were learning how to make along with some white wine and three kinds of mustard (a whole-grain, a tomato and a grape must - all of them quite nice). While we were enjoying these, Julie moved on to discussing the makings of the Pâté de Campagne.

This pâté is essentially a meat loaf and while it, too, is not very difficult, there are some steps that need to be followed fairly closely in order for it to come together properly. The meat needs to have a good amount of fat when grinding down, so fat back, bacon and pancetta are added for both flavor and fat content. The fat helps the meat to bind properly, whether your making sausages or terrines you always want to have at least 30% fat to the total amount of meat. Julie's Pâté de Campagne calls for 2lbs port butt (because this will be a well treated pig that you're getting your meat from, there is likely to be a good amount of fat already included in this cut, but you still need more), 1/2 lb fat back, 1/4 lb bacon, 1/4 lb pancetta. When grinding your own meat, the key is to keep everything cold or else the meat won't so much grind as it will emulsify in the grinder and not come out properly. When chilling your meat, it is best to have it already cut into cubes and then salt it all with about 3/4T salt.

After the meat is ground, keep the mixture cold while preparing the binder: combine 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped, with 2 shallots (same), 2T chopped parsley, 2t fresh thyme, a pinch of oregano, 1T pâté spice (a mixture of sweet paprika with some allspice, black pepper, garlic, ginger, etc.), 1/2T black pepper, 1/4c brandy, 1/4c red wine, 1/8c dry sherry (not sweet!), 1T tawny port. Blend this mixture together until the shallots and herbs are finely mixed. Add 4oz of cleaned chicken livers, 1 egg and 1 3/4 c light cream and blend well to emulsify. When you add the livers and egg in with the alcohol mixture, make sure to blend it together quickly because if you leave it unblended too long, the alcohol will actually cook the liver and egg, which you do not want to happen.

Combine the meat mixture with the emulsified binder. Finely dice 1c jambon de paris (or other ham) and stir into the mix. Add 1/4c blanched peppercorns as well. These are interior garnishes. (One can add all sorts of interior garnishes to terrines depending on what the flavor profile is. For the rabbit pâté there are pistachios added, you could do dried fruits, other meats, other vegetables, just be sure to make it appetizing.) Pack all of this into a terrine, making sure that there are no air pockets, and top with caul fat. Bake @ 325ºF, covered with foil, in a waterbath until the internal temp reads 135º. Remove foil and continue to bake until the internal temp is at 155º (total, about 2hrs).

Top: Pâté de Campagne covered with caul fat

Bottom: Rabbit pâté covered with pancetta

I do not have a recipe for the rabbit pâté, but it shouldn't be too different from the Pâté de Campagne, just with fewer up-front spices. When spicing a terrine, you want to make sure that you are using appropriate spices and not overloading a subtler meat with a lot of forward flavors. The rabbit pâté is covered with pancetta to add some more flavor as well as give it some added fat when it cooks. It is finished off, after it has cooled and set, by pouring aspic around the entire terrine (the chicken liver mousse is also finished off by pouring aspic over top of it and garnishing with cornichons).

 Rabbit pâté covered in aspic

To make a simple aspic, without worrying about hooves and other bones, gelatin sheets are used: 25 sheets per quart of liquid. The liquid in this particular case being Madeira. Flame the Madeira and season with salt and sugar. Bloom the gelatin sheets in ice water for about 5min, then place in the warm liquor and stir until dissolved. It couldn't be simpler than that. It can keep refrigerated, to re-liquefy just place in a double boiler.

When using the aspic, pour over or on top of whatever you are wanting to encase and let sit, undisturbed, until set ~45m - 1hr, then refrigerate to set completely.

This was a really fun course to be at, quite tasty, and it certainly answered a couple of questions that I had. I hope I can answer yours....