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Showing posts with label Sauces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sauces. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

January 23, 2018

Sticky Garlic Pork Chops – What Do You Think, About Slightly Pink?

This sticky garlic pork chop recipe seems too good to be true. It only takes a few minutes of prep work, requires no tricky techniques, and doesn’t call for any hard-to-find ingredients.

And for the last time, Asian fish sauce is not hard to find. It used to be, but it’s now carried in every major grocery store, and I consider it a must-have in anyone’s kitchen.

Above and beyond the sauce, which is also our marinade, the other key to this recipe is finding some nice, thick, bone-in pork chops. While this will theoretically work with thin, boneless “chops,” we give ourselves much more room for error when it comes to achieving the perfect doneness.

Speaking of which, I shoot for about 140 to 145 F. internal temperature, which will produce a very juicy, tender piece of meat. Sure, you may see a subtle, pale pink hue, but it’s still perfectly safe to eat, and you’ll be amazed at how much nicer the texture is, especially after sitting in the brine-like marinade.

Of course, if you’re one of these people who always cooks pork well done, because your grandparents told you about the horrors of trichinosis when you were a kid, then fine. Go ahead and cook it all the way through, until it’s nice and dry, but you really are missing out. You’re still not convinced? Either way, I really do hope you give these sticky garlic pork chops a try soon. Enjoy!


For the marinade/sauce mixture (would probably be enough for 4 chops):
1/3 cup light brown sugar
6 to 8 cloves crushed or very finely minced garlic
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons hot sauce, or to taste

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 thick-cut pork chops, bone in (about 10 to 12-ounce each)
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Friday, January 12, 2018

January 12, 2018

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza, or “Pizza” As We Call It In New York

The biggest problem with Chicago-style deep dish pizza, especially for a New Yorker, is that it’s called “pizza.” I’m not sure what else it could’ve, or should’ve been called, but when you grow eating thin-crust, and all of a sudden someone hands you a plate of this, with a fork, and calls it pizza, it’s quite the shock to the system.

Having said that, for the home cook at least, this deep dish pizza is actually much easier to pull off than your classic thin-crust, which really benefits from a 700 F. pizza oven. Another advantage is that we don’t have to worry about too much, or too many toppings, which is usually the fatal flaw of a poorly made NY-style pizza.

One key, besides the buttery, cornmeal-infused crust, is to be sure your sauce is very thick, and flavorful. Some Chicago pizzerias simply use seasoned, coarsely crushed tomatoes, but I prefer using a sauce, as long as it’s reduced at least as much as you see here. Your favorite will work, but just in case you don’t have one of those, here’s a link to our official pizza sauce recipe.

I went with a pretty basic sausage and cheese version here, but you can, and probably should, add other things like peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Same goes for switching up the cheeses, but I do like the combo of fresh, and firm mozzarella. I don’t think it’s quite as good if you use all one, or the other. Regardless, I really hope you give this “pizza” a try soon. Enjoy!


For the dough (enough for a 12-inch cast iron skillet):
1 1/3 cups warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons fine salt
1/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for the pan
1/2 cup cornmeal
3 3/4 cups flour, plus more as needed

For the fillings/toppings (in order of application):
4 ounces sliced provolone
8 ounces fresh mozzarella
1 pound spicy Italian sausage, removed from casing
4 ounces firm, low-moisture mozzarella
3 to 4 cups very thick pizza sauce (I made a double batch)
2 ounces (about 1 cup very finely grated) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil for the top
more cheese and parsley to garnish

- Bake at 425 F. for about 35 minutes
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Wednesday, October 11, 2017

October 11, 2017

Mumbo Sauce – Is D.C.’s Secret Sauce the Next Big Thing?

A friend of mine asked me recently if I’d ever heard of mumbo sauce, since she had just returned from Washington D.C., and said it was “everywhere.” I hadn’t, which isn’t a surprise, since unless you’re from the Capital, or select neighborhoods in Chicago, this stuff is virtually unknown.

Apparently, this sweet-and-sour condiment came to Washington D.C. via Chicago, where it somehow became a staple in Chinese take-out restaurants, served as a condiment with fried chicken wings, among other things. That’s as much background as you're getting here, and like many other regional culinary specialties, the history is murky.

All I know is that this was great with fried chicken wings, and I look forward to finding other uses for it, although I’m not sure French fries is going to be one of them. I’m a ketchup guy, and probably too old to change. Having said that, I can see this catching on, and for once, I’ll be ahead of a trend.

They say every takeout place in D.C. has their own secret recipe, but there were quite a few published recipes on the Internet, and so this is sort of a composite, based on the extensive, 20 minutes of research I did. Stay tuned for the chicken wing experiment I mentioned in the video, and in anticipation, I really do hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for about 4 cups of Mumbo Sauce:
1 can (6-oz) tomato paste
2/3 cup ketchup
1 cup pineapple juice
1 cup distilled white vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

- Please note: Every one of these ingredients is “to taste.”
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