Moo Shu Pork – Daring Cooks October Challenge

I’m from the Midwest.  I don’t know if you know this about the Midwest, but it is not, as a rule, a place generally acknowledged for its expansive culinary tastes.  In fact, I had neither Indian food nor sushi until I was 18.  I blame my parents, for whom black pepper is sometimes “too spicy”.  In fact, it was in the Midwest that I first acquired my distaste for American Chinese food.  And, so we’re clear, I blame Midwesterners for that.  If you’ve ever had sweet and sour chicken in Rochester, Michigan, you’ll understand why.

But, real Chinese food is amazing.  It’s fresh, heavy on the vegetables, and is packed with complex flavors.  Moo shu pork is a northern Chinese dish consisting of stir fried pork, cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, bamboo shoots, scallions and scrambled eggs, served rolled up in a flat pancake a bit like a tortilla.  Moo shu pork is served with hoisin, a sweet and spicy soy based sauce.  So, when moo shu pork came up for October’s Daring Cooks Challenge, (which Sue and I just joined, you can read about it here, basically it’s a community of food bloggers who do a cooking and baking challenge with specific recipes once a month, and blog about the results) it seemed like a good time for me to try my hand at actually following a recipe.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t care much for that part.  But the moo shu was frigging delicious.

The stir frying part was a breeze.  I stir fry things all the time.  I don’t overcook the meat OR the vegetables.  Ever.  The pancakes part was a real pain in the arse, though.  You have to roll those things out, one by one, and cook them in a dry pan, ONE BY ONE.  Also, the Daring Cooks recipe made twice as many pancakes as were required by the filling amount.  The recipe below is for half the pancake dough of what the Daring Cooks recipe called for.  Though I will say, those jerky little pancakes were really tasty, and didn’t tear open at all once the filling was in them like soft tacos sometimes do.  They’re a bit of a cross between injera, the spongy, slightly elastic bread served with Ethiopian food, and a tortilla.  The hoisin sauce recipe was also lovely, though I did buy a bottle of hoisin sauce as well, just in case.  But it tasted very similar to the bottled kind.  No offense, Daring Cooks, I don’t trust other people’s sauces.

Moo Shu Pork, from the Daring Cooks October Challenge Recipe

1 lb pork tenderloin, sliced thinly

5 scallions, diced

3 cups Napa cabbage, sliced thinly (I used a bag of coleslaw, because, come on)

2 cups shitaake mushrooms, sliced thinly

1 can bamboo shoots, rinsed and drained

3 eggs, beaten in a bowl with a pinch of salt

3 tbsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp mirin, or rice wine vinegar, or orange juice

salt and pepper

Method:  In a large frying pan or wok on high heat, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil until shimmering.  Pop in the pork pieces, taking care, as they will cook extremely quickly.  While each side is cooking, sprinkle a little soy sauce and a little mirin.  This will probably take 2-3 batches, don’t crowd the pork in the pan.

it cooks WAY fast, look out. this is not the time to go see why the audience is laughing at jon stewart.

When it’s all cooked, remove it to a plate.  In the same pan, toss in the mushrooms and whatever is left of the soy sauce and the mirin.  Cook, moving it around quickly, for a minute or so.  Then, put in the bamboo shoots, and cook for another 30-45 seconds.  Then, put in the cabbage and scallions and cook until the cabbage has shrunk to about half its size, moving things around quickly.

don't by shy moving that cabbage around.

Remove everything to a large bowl, pour in the eggs and let them cook for about a minute (the heat is high, things will happen fast!), then put the cabbage/pork mixture back in the pan.  Turn off the heat and stir things around for a minute, letting the residual heat from the veggies and meat and the pan finish cooking the eggs.

Pancakes

2 cups flour

3/4 cup boiling water

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:  UGH.  Dump the flour into a large mixing bowl, and stir in the water.  When it starts to clump up, pour in the vegetable oil and stir until the dough comes together enough to knead it.

it's kind of shaggy. when it looks like this, start kneading it.

Knead the dough into a nice ball, for probably 2-3 minutes, then let it rest in the mixing bowl for 30 minutes, covered by a damp towel.  After 30 minutes, flour a nice work surface (I used a granite countertop) and knead the dough for 5 minutes until it’s smooth.  When it’s smooth, divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, roll each piece out into a long sausage shape and split each sausage shape into 4 pieces.  The individual balls should be golf ball sized.

these dough balls are my everest.

Cover whatever dough you’re not working with a damp kitchen towel to keep them moist.  When all the balls are made, roll each one out with a rolling pin (OR an aluminum water bottle, if you don’t have a rolling pin) to about 6 or so inches across.

work crap i got free at a conference OR perfectly good rolling pin?

Apparently they are supposed to be circular, mine mostly looked like Pangaea.

this one was the best circle i achieved. i admired it for some time.

The key, for me, was when the ends of each one started curling upward a bit, they were as thin as they were gonna get.  Put them on a plate as you roll them out, and keep the stack covered with a damp kitchen towel.  When you’re going through this process, think about how I made twice as many of them, because I didn’t know better, and then feel sorry for me.

i have nothing to say about this. i just wanted you to see how many i rolled out.

When they’re all rolled out, heat a nonstick pan to high and, in the dry pan, cook each pancake.  They cook REALLY fast.  Like, if your pan is fully hot, they will cook in like 20 seconds a side, if that.  You’ll get the hang of it.  They will go brown and speckly a bit, but if they start to puff up a lot, you’re cooking them too long and now they’re tortillas.

a little speckly, a little puffy. it will de-puff.

Hoisin Sauce

4 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp molasses or honey

2 tbsp brown sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp white vinegar

1 tsp Sriracha

Method:  Whisk together all the ingredients in a jar.  Jars are sensible.

i just thought someone might be interested in the pancake stack AFTER they were cooked. there were a lot of them, in case you wondered.

- Cat

Sweet and Spicy Shredded Pork

Remember when the Food Network was not a reality TV channel, but one that actually featured cooking shows? Yeah, me too. Since the Food Network seems to not really be about cooking anymore, the big guns over there decided to make a new network called the Cooking Channel. However, my crappy cable company that shall remain nameless (it rhymes with schmomschmast) does not include it. So, naturally, anytime I’m somewhere that does have it, I watch it.

The other day I caught this show called Kelsey’s kitchen, and kind of loved it. This Kelsey is a little bubbly for my taste, but I really liked the food she made. She also talks about a lot of the technical sides of her cooking methods, which I love (if you haven’t figured that out already). The day I watched she made this lemon orzotto, which is like risotto but made with orzo, and is easier to make. I’ll let you know when I try it. After the show I headed to the website (yeah, I’m a nerd) and I looked at some of her recipes and came across one for a sweet and spicy shredded pork. I immediately knew I had to try it.

I love pork in all forms, especially the slow cooked and shredded variety. Often shredded pork is mixed with a bbq sauce of your choice, which I do enjoy, but sometimes it covers up the flavor of the pork. If you’re looking for a good porky flavored shredded pork, this is the recipe for you. It was incredibly moist with just a hint of sweetness and spice. It was delicious, and easy, and I will be making it at least once a week for the rest of my life (or until my boyfriend gets tired of eating it).

Sweet and Spicy Pulled Pork- modified from The Cooking Channel

Ingredients:

1 (5-7 lb) pork shoulder

½ cup light brown sugar

4 cloves garlic minced

1 Tbs ground cumin

1 Tbs salt

1 ½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2 onions coarsely chopped

2 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup cola

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and dry the pork shoulder. Mix together brown sugar, garlic, cumin, salt, cayenne, and nutmeg. Rub the mixture generously and evenly over the pork shoulder.

In a large roasting pan or Dutch oven, add the chopped onions, broth and cola. Place the seasoned pork in the Dutch oven. I had a little bit of excess seasoning that I just patted on to the top of the pork once it was in the cooking liquid.

Roast for 6 hours, checking the pork every couple hours for tenderness and liquid level.

When the pork is tender enough that it is falling apart, shred it with a fork. I did this directly in the Dutch oven, it shredded with very little effort. Stir to combine with the remaining juices.

I topped the sandwiches with a Jicama Apple Slaw.

Ingredients:

1 green apple, cored and julienned

½ of a medium sized jicama, peeled and julienned

½ of a medium sized  green cabbage, cored and thinly sliced (or use a mandolin like I did)

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbs sugar

2 Tbs olive oil

½ tsp freshly ground pepper

½ of 1 jalapeno seeded and julienned (optional)

Method:

Combine all the ingredients. Chill for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. Add more salt and pepper if needed.

A few notes:

The “modification” I made was the nutmeg. I love nutmeg in savory dishes, it adds just another level of spice and helps bring out an earthy almost smoky flavor in the meat.

I left the house for 5 out of the 6 hours this was cooking. While I can’t “recommend” this, my pork was juicy delicious and not at all dry.

I served this on those cute little slider buns. I prefer a smaller bun for the meat to bread ratio. We each had two.

You could top this with any type of slaw, or even bbq sauce. I liked the jicama apple slaw because it adds a bit of crunchiness and sweetness to the pork.

-Sue

Pork and Ricotta Meatballs

Awhile back I came across this recipe in Food and Wine. The story mentioned that it was a beloved special run frequently at the restaurant A16 in San Francisco. As a foodie obsessed with the San Francisco food scene, I had to try this. When I was looking over the recipe, I was asking the boyfriend what he thought of some minor changes I thought of making to the recipe, his response was “just follow the damn recipe for once.” He makes a good point. So I did (mostly). Honestly, it was wonderful just as is; the one major thing I did was divide the recipe in half which is the recipe I have posted here. I generally am cooking for two and 24 meatballs seemed like a bit much. The 12 I ended up with seemed like too much…until all the leftovers disappeared the next day.

These pork meatballs were wonderful, they were amazingly moist, flavorful, and the sauce was thick with an earthy sweetness from the tomatoes. The only thing I would change (and is reflected in the recipe below) is extra tomatoes. Once everything cooked down I found myself craving more tomatoes. Granted, I served this as a spaghetti instead of just pork with tomatoes, I still think it would benefit from the extra tomatoes. This recipe is originally modified from Food and Wine.

Pork and Ricotta Meatballs (1/2 recipe)

Ingredients:

¼ lb (2 cups) white bread, crust removed cut into ½ inch dice

¾ lb lean ground pork

1 ½ oz thinly slice pancetta

2 eggs, lightly beaten

2.5 oz ricotta (about ¼ cup)

2 Tbs chopped flat leaf parsley

½ tsp dried oregano

¼ tsp fennel seeds, crushed

¼ tsp crushed red pepper

Kosher salt

Two 28-oz cans whole peeled Italian tomatoes (San Marzano if available)

Freshly ground pepper

1 Tbs shredded basil

3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

¼ cup freshly grated pecorino romano cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 400.

In a food processor pulse the bread to coarse crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a large bowl. Grind the pancetta to a coarse paste in the food processor (you can also chop it finely, but I find this easier). Add the pork, pancetta, eggs, ricotta, parsley, oregano, fennel seeds, crushed red pepper and ¾ tsp kosher salt.

Mix well. Shape into 12 meatballs. The best tool for this is an ice cream scoop, but your hands will of course work as well. Transfer the meatballs to a medium roasting pan, oiled if it’s not non-stick.

Roast the meatballs in the oven for about 30 minutes, turning once at 15 minutes.

While the meatballs roast dump all the tomatoes into a large bowl and crush lightly with your hands. Mix in the minced garlic, 1 tsp of kosher salt, and a heavy couple grinds of pepper.

The meatballs should be browned. Using a spatula, loosen the meatballs from the bottom of the pan. Add the tomato mixture. Lower the oven temperature to 325 and cook uncovered for about 2 hours until the sauce is thick and the meatballs are very tender. Turn the meatballs once or twice during cooking.

Serve the meatballs over spaghetti (or on their own). Garnish with fresh basil and pecorino romano cheese.

A few notes:

I added garlic to the tomatoes because I love garlic and I felt like it. Feel free to omit it.

The meatball mixture is very wet, do not be surprised by this, just do your best to form them into balls.

In the past I haven’t ground my own bread crumbs. I usually use panko bread crumbs. I think the fresh bread crumbs really added to the moisture of the meatballs, so don’t skip this step.

-Sue

Sweet Onion Jam

I have had things like this on cheese plates across town; I have also had it as a lovely accompaniment to charcuteries, pates, and mousses. I was pretty much obsessed.  No one had to win me over on the onions, I already love those, but this was something better. This was a slightly sweet, slightly savory, wonderful version that begged to be eaten by the spoonful but was even better when combined with a smear of brie.

I worked on this recipe for awhile, and I finally found this one. It is a wonderful combination of tangy from the wine and the vinegar, savory from the onion, and sweet from the sugars. The grenadine, which some may think as odd, adds a stunning garnet hue to the jam. As it slowly cooks everything reduces and thickens to the perfect consistency for spooning onto crackers.

This recipe originally comes from Food and Wine Magazine.

Ingredients:

1 Tbs unsalted butter

2 medium Vidalia or other sweet onions diced into ¾ inch pieces

½ cup white sugar

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup grenadine

1/3 cup dry red wine (I use malbec)

Method:

Melt the butter in a medium skillet or sauce pan, cook over medium heat until the onions are soft and just translucent, about 8 mins. Add the sugar, wine, vinegar, grenadine and a pinch of salt.

Cook over low heat stirring occasionally until the liquid thickens significantly and all of the onions have been saturated with the red color. About 35 mins. Transfer onion jam to bowl and let cool.

This can be refrigerated for up to a week

Notes:

I used a small enameled dutch oven to make this- I think it’s the best a caramelizing the onions and the non stick is unsurpassed (at least in my opinion).

I like to use a malbec in this dish as it is a dry red, but with slightly fruity and spicy undertones. A cabernet sauvignon would be nice in this, as well as dryer zinfandel.

Did you know that grenadine used to be made from pomegranate juice? If you can find the real stuff I highly recommend using it.

This would also be a wonderful accompaniment to grilled or roasted meat, especially pork. I really love cheese though, so I’m pretty much sticking with that.

I most commonly serve this with goats milk Brie, and a smoked white cheddar with black pepper (Tillamook).

-Sue

Pork Chops with Maple Black Pepper Sauce

I was making dinner the other night and I was throwing out options to the boyfriend and this recipe came up. His response was “I would never say no to a pork chop”. As well you shouldn’t, pork is delicious in all of its forms, especially the chop one. This is a recipe that I came across awhile ago and filed away in my e-mail (I am a super huge fan of Gmail being searchable; it makes my life so much easier). The sauce was a really nice combination of sweet, vinegary, and spicy. It really complimented the pork well.  Surprisingly, I did not modify this recipe one bit. It was delightful.

Original recipe here at Seriouseats.com

Ingredients:

2 bone-in, thick cut pork chops (about 1 inch thick)

1 Tbs olive oil

¾ Teaspoon whole black peppercorns (see note)

1 tsp kosher salt

1 medium shallot minced

1 Tbs fresh thyme leaves

2  1/2 Tbs cider vinegar

1/4 cup maple syrup (Grade B or Dark Amber)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Season chops well with ¾ tsp of the salt. Pour the oil into a large oven proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chops. Sear the chops for 4-5 minutes on each side until the look like this (don’t even think about flipping them before 4 minutes or you will get a crappy sear and you WILL be sad).

Carefully transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until their internal temp reaches 145 F, about 2-4 minutes (yes, this is a safe temp, keep reading). When chops have reached temp, remove them from oven. Remove the chops from the skillet and place on a serving platter, cover with foil (this will also allow them to cook a little bit more and reabsorb their juices).

Place the skillet back on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. Add the shallot, thyme, and the rest of the salt. Cook until the shallot is beginning to brown, about 2 minutes.

Pour in the vinegar and deglaze the pan with a wooden spoon to dislodge any browned bits (aka the yummy parts). Reduce heat to a simmer and let reduce for 2 minutes. Then add the maple syrup and crushed black pepper.

This is how coarse you want the pepper

Return to a simmer and cook for 8 minutes.

Serve the sauce over the chops.

A few notes:

If you over cook this sauce, or you cook it at too high of a temp, it WILL turn into maple syrup candy. Mind your temperature and keep it on a low simmer (it should be reducing not boiling). Also 7-8 minutes is plenty, even if it seems a little soupy. While I’m not opposed to pork in candy, this is not the time for that.

The recipe calls for whole pepper corns, which you will obviously need to grind. If you have a coffee grinder dedicated to spice grinding, I would recommend using this and producing a coarse grind. If not (like me) I emptied out my pepper grinder into a bowl, added the ¾ tsp, set it to the coarsest grind, and ground away. The main point of this is using fresh ground pepper, peppercorns are full of oils and as soon as they are ground they start releasing these oils (thus losing their potency) so please, don’t use store bought ground pepper, you won’t get the same effect of the spiciness in the sauce.

You must use real maple syrup in this recipe, any other fake syrups will not work. Don’t get me wrong, I do not hate on a little Aunt Jemimah on my pancakes, but for cooking, use the real stuff.

-Sue