Gula jawa and Sichuan Peppercorn Cured Bacon

from Zak Pelaccio's Eat with Your Hands:

• 6 ounces Sichuan peppercorns
• 2 1/2 ounces whole black peppercorns
• 1/2 pound kosher salt
• 5 ounces palm sugar (3 1/3 rounds gula jawa) or 6 2/3 tablespoons brown sugar
• One 12-pound Berkshire pork belly, skin removed [I got my hands on an 8-pound slab at Whole Foods]

Lots of peppercorns. Toast and grind them in batches.
Sichuan peppercorns are actually not peppercorns at all but is a member of the citrus family.

Gula jawa is at least according to Pelaccio and Wikipedia is supposed to be palm sugar. I bought something labelled gula jawa at Super 88 since it appeared to be a better value. However what I bought is made of coconut and cane sugar.

I seem to be doing a bit better when it comes to skinning this time around.

Though I got a bit sloppier with the fat caps toward the end.

Applying the cure.

Stacking them in the fridge to cure. Zak Pelaccio suggests 5 days; I assume waiting until next weekend won't hurt.

 
Hickory and cherry wood chips.  I never opened the bag of cherry ones.

 

Getting the smoker going.

The pork belly after being smoked for 6 hours.  It was disappointingly jiggly while I handled it (adding more chips or flipping it skin-side down for the last 2 hours).  Unlike my initial experience I achieved negligible moisture loss even after applying the old leftover cure I had.



All of it resulting in meat that at its thickest points are still pink and a fat cap that hasn't really experienced the magic.  All of those spices are very vague and skin-deep.
Might just do it Tom Mylan's way next time, but there's $50 worth of pork belly in the fridge I have to work through.  Some bits of it are still quite good.  Particularly the smoked meat.  Not so much the fat.

Crispy Braised Chicken Thighs with Black Bean Tapenade (GK)

Marinated Chicken

• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 orange, sliced
• 4 or 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with the back of a knife
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, toasted
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 3 pounds chicken thighs with skin (about 8), bone-in

Bring all the ingredients and 6 cups of water to a boil.  Then brine the thighs overnight.

Draining a bit on paper towels.

Sauce

• 2 tablespoon blended oil(half vegetable, half olive oil) [Just now realizing that the recipe called for the same two lines in the list of ingredients for 1 tablespoon blended oil.  In its second use in my execution, I said "Screw it.  I'm just using olive oil."]
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 tablespoons butter

Mise en place.

Browned chicken.

Browning the onion and garlic.

I realize here that I messed up by omitting the step of reducing the white wine (or in my current case, dry vermouth).  I brought it and the chicken to a boil in the same sauce pan.

Pour the liquid and aromatics all over the chicken, cover tightly with foil and braise in the oven for 2 hours at 275 degrees F.

Crisping the skin.

Reducing the strained liquid until it coats the back of a spoon.  Then enrich the sauce with butter.

Black Bean Tapenade

• 1/2 cup nicoise olives, pitted and roughly chopped [JP's Whole Foods didn't have any and I wasn't willing to make another trip for this dish before cooking it since I had delayed enough.]
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon fermented black beans
• 1 tablespoon chiffonade [Basically one rolls up broad-leafed herbs and cut super-thin ribbons of them.] of fresh mint
• 1/2 teaspoon sambal
• 1/2 teaspoon honey

None of these things are prepped.  I figured I would have enough time considering two hours of braising to do the prep during that period of time.

The dish was really damn good.  True perfection the night I cooked it.  Very moist, flavorful, rich.  Nice to see a sauce get so silky with the addition of butter.
I was worried about prepping a side (I rarely make side dishes), but the posole I made recently didn't stand on it own and proved an interesting complement.

Quick Posole (Pork and Hominy Stew) (FM)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 center-cut loin pork chops, about 1 inch thick
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 pound kale, collards, or other sturdy greens (stems are fine), chopped
• 3 cups cooked or canned hominy, liquid reserved
• 1 bunch radishes, chopped or grated, for garnish

I couldn't find canned hominy so I simmered dried hominy for about 3 hours in enough water to cover it.  Not so quick from scratch.

Cooked hominy (probably more than 3 cups worth) and its cooking liquid.

Mise en place.

Brown the pork chops.

Then saute the onion and garlic until softened.

Add the pork chops, greens, hominy and 2 cups of its liquid and cook until pork and greens are tender.

Cut pork in bite-sized pieces.

 

A pretty good, flavorful dish overall though I think I'm beginning to hanker for something richer.

Caramel Pork with Hong Kong Noodles (EYH)

The Pork

• 1 1/2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 tablespoon five-spice powder
• 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine or dry sherry [I already owned dry sherry.]
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch strips [Stupid me didn't know what that meant and cut them up in stir-fry size slices.]

Minced garlic.

Not exactly beaten to a fine paste in my new mortar and pestle, but everything is certainly obliterated.

Marinade.

Pork is marinated for at least 12 hours and up to 2 days.  In my case, probably about 24 hours.

I assume this would've been easier to rig up if I had cut strips of the shoulder an inch in width.

They're roasted in the oven on a rack over 1/2 inch of water.

Fried Garlic Garnish

• 5 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Garlic cloves are covered with cold water, brought to a boil and drained twice to cut some of their edge.

Couldn't understand how I could possibly use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature of 1/4 cup of oil so my garlic cloves aren't golden brown but mahagony.

Caramel Sauce

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup soy sauce

Two cups of sugar.

Cooked down into caramel.

And thinned out with the soy sauce and a 1/2 cup of water.

Finish the Dish

• Salt
• 1 pound Hong Kong or wonton noodles
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 splash neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola
• 4 scallions, thinly slice on the bias
• 2 tablespoons sil gochu ["You could certainly substitute thinly sliced fresh chilies or crushed dried chili as long as there's some heat to balance the salty sweetness of the sauce."]

I dunno if I really have a vessel where I can create an ice bath to shock blanch noodles.  Did a rather poor job transferring the noodles over.
I don't have a lot of experiences with ice baths yet.

Thrown together with the oil in the pan to heat the noodles back up.

 
Throw the pork in the caramel sauce and heat those up as well.

Toss the noodles, pork, and sauce and top with garlic and sil gochu.  Or in my case, gochugaru, Korean ground red chili.
How did I like this dish?  It was pretty satisfying I must admit, but involves a whole bunch of culinary gymnastics to pull together.  Perhaps for Thanksgiving.

Tahini Soup with Spinach and Lamb (FM)

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounces boneless lamb shoulder, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon tumeric
• 1/2 teasoon cinnamon
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 4 cups vegetable, chicken, or beef stock or water
• 1/2 cup tahini
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (canned are fine; include their juice)
• 2 pounds spinach, roughly chopped

Mise en place.

Browning the spice encrusted lamb.

Add the vegetables and cook until lightly browned.

Add stock, tahini, and tomatoes.

My friends enjoyed the dish though I still think the meat content is pretty token in these Food Matters recipes.  Certainly a well-spiced, creamy, comforting dish overall.