Finishing out Les Halles with a whimper rather than a bang forced us to forgo may favorite recipe in the book, Choucroute Garnie. I’ll let the memory of that steaming bowl of porky goodness resonate untainted in my head for a while longer. Why ruin a wonderful memory?
We drew out the month mostly because, as we had been starting a new book somewhere around the middle, we thought it more efficient for us to start at the beginning of each month. That way we could better keep track of start/finish dates than our usual, “when did we start this book?”
“I don’t know.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I thought you were keeping track of it.”
“I thought you were.”
I am so excited to start my foray into Chinese cooking. i have been dying for this cookbook for months, as I see Fuchsia (pronounced like the color) as a lady after my own heart. Though she accomplished in China in two years what I could only hope to have done in Seoul in about 10-getting the whole language bit down taking a good 5. “As Tuscany is to Italy, so Hunan is to China,” her introduction reads. How could you not want to cook out of this book
So here we are, going into our month long tenure with Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from the Hunan Province by Fuchsia Dunlop. Our first efforts came in the form of the old take-out favorite General Tso’s Chicken with a side of fried cucumber with purple perilla (zi su jian huang gua) and some amazing xiao long bao (“little dumplings from basket”) Mary made last week.
Things are looking great to me as she states that the folks of the Hunan love pork (me too!), but as I started to make out this weeks menu, Kevin protested at my back to back pork dinners. “What?” I’d ask. “They are totally different. One is ground pork made into meatballs and the other is braised short ribs! Hello.” So tonight Kev’s favorite take out won. General Tso, I solute you.
The evening started off on the right foot, as you can see, our goods were ready to go this time and there was no frantic running around of the kitchen or last minute disasters to be had, it was a smooth operation from start to finish and I can truly say that we (I?) are learning from this little experiment.
After starting a new job as a recipe testing assistant to a local cookbook author I am insistent on drilling the practice of complete mise en place into being. Plus you can pretend you are on food network when you take the colorful ramekins holding a teaspoon of this spice and a tablespoon of minced so and so and ever so casually drop them into the bowl while showing off your cleavage-GIADA!
While I can take little credit for tonight’s amazing spread (I played runner more than anything else), I can say that after tonight, I’ve got high hopes for the rest of the book. Nothing like a month of French brasserie to get you hankering for some fiery chili oil Hunan eats.
Stir frying is a totally new cooking technique to me and at the same time isn’t. With Chinese cooking food is in the wok 1, 2 minutes tops, but as an American-er-Slow Foods cook, it takes me a little longer to register this notion into practice. Especially when trying to get two things out at once, as with tonight’s stir-fried cucumber and General Tso’s chicken. PS: if you have never tried stir-fried cucumber it is spectacular. Cooked over high heat with a touch of fresh red chiles, minced garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil, the cucumber takes on a more sophisticated summer squash flavor.
As the temperature crawls past 80, along with a new found hobby (exercise!), I lobbied for the inclusion of breast meat over all dark meat in this recipe. We met half way between with a mixture of boneless, skinless thigh and breast (thanks butcher man!) in order to capture the moisture of the dish while at the same time fooling ourselves that what we were eating was somewhat healthy. Marinated briefly in a mixture of dark and light soy sauce, an egg yolk and potato flour gave the chicken all it needed to crisp up into a deliciously golden nugget, not to cloying or thick it was the perfect coat. Tossed back in the wok with some chiles, ginger, tomato paste, sugar soy and vinegar and you’re done. Quick, easy, delicious. I’m going to love this cookbook.
recipe ease: 5 (if you can get your butcher to help with the meat, it helps)
time: 3 (quick with the high cooking temp)
make again: 10 (and again and again)
