Recipe: Pork Chop Sauté With Kombucha Reduction

You can cook with kombucha. It winds up tasting suspiciously like apple cider, even though it contains absolutely no apples! It does lose some of its wonderful healthy properties when you cook it, since the heat kills the friendly bacteria, but if you're making your own kombucha like I am, you probably have some extra kombucha…

Ingredients

• One-inch-thick pork chops (1 big chop per person)
• 1 tablespoon cooking fat (lard or ghee or clarified butter)
  
• Kombucha: approximately 2 oz. for each pork chop
  
• Sea salt and freshly-ground pepper

Equipment

• A well-seasoned cast iron skillet large enough to hold all your chops without crowding them. (If you have too many chops, you can cook them in batches.)
  

Directions

1. Preheat the skillet over medium to medium-high heat.
   
   
2. Dry the pork chops on both sides with paper towels. Salt and pepper them judiciously.
   
   
3. Put your cooking fat in the skillet. Use a fat that won't burn too quickly. Good lard is best. Ghee or clarified butter would work great too. If you have butter, it's pretty easy to clarify it—see here for example.
   
   
4. Once the fat has melted, put the chops in the pan, with a bit of space between them.
   
   
5. After 5 minutes, flip them. After 3 more minutes, cut into one and take a look. If it's still bloody, cook another minute or two and look again. If it's pink but not bloody, it's done—remove them to a plate. Keep in mind that the meat will continue to cook a bit after you remove it from the pan. If you overcook it, it will dry out, and you may be disappointed. (See Note About Undercooked Pork, below.)
   
   
6. (Repeat for additional batches as needed, adding more fat if necessary.)
   
   
7. When you are done cooking the chops, pour out most of the fat (save it to cook vegetables if you like). Pour the kombucha into the pan, over medium-high heat; stir it around with a wooden spoon, scraping up bits that are stuck to the pan; and cook until the sauce reaches the desired thickness, maybe a minute or two. Turn off the heat. Taste the sauce and season it as you like with salt and pepper if needed.
   
   
8. Serve with sauerkraut, seared greens (cooked in lard), Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes (with lots of butter), or whatever you like.
   
   
9. Why not wash it all down with some kombucha! Or hard apple cider.

Note About Undercooked Pork

In some countries, eating undercooked pork can give you a case of trichinosis. In the U.S., trichinosis is very rare (between 1997 and 2001, an average of 12 cases per year were reported). Freezing pork for at least 20 days at 5 degrees Fahrenheit or colder is sufficient to kill the larval worms that cause trichinosis. (reference)

Making Yogurt (video)

(If you can't see the video above, click here; if that doesn't work, then click here.)

Pho of Known Origin

At the beginning of this calendar year, I made a commitment to try to eat only Meat of Known Origin. I've done pretty well with this, although I have occasionally strayed, especially when traveling.

One of the things I've missed the most this year, and that I've broken my vows for once or twice, has been the Vietnamese noodle soup called phở. It most typically consists of a delicious, strongly-flavored beef broth; rice noodles; various and sundry pieces of cow, including tripe, tendon, brisket, rare fillet, sometimes meatballs, and so on; and garnishes such as lime, thinly-sliced onion, Thai basil, bean sprouts, and jalapeño slices. (I usually skip the bean sprouts, because they cool off the soup too quickly.) Making phở is somewhat involved. And your phở can only be as good as the beef stock you start with. If your "stock" comes from a can or a cardboard box, it's not going to be worth the trouble.

I had come across this phở recipe on Epicurious a while ago, and had made a note to myself to try it. Finding myself with a good supply of beef stock of my own making, and a pound of good steak, both of known origin, I decided that the time had come.

Below is the recipe, as modified to start from beef stock rather than bones, to make 3 servings instead of 6, to suit the ingredients I had on hand, and so on.

It turned out delicious. The broth had a great flavor, nice and beefy because of the concentrated stock I used, perhaps a little heavier on the anise and clove than what I've had at restaurants but by no means over-spiced. The bok choy and mushrooms were great additions, even if they weren't traditional. A thoroughly satisfying meal!

(Having said all of that, if anyone out there in blog-land knows of Vietnamese restaurants using sustainably-sourced meat, please comment!)

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Recipe: Phở of Known Origin

BROTH

• 3 quarts beef stock of known origin
  
• 1 3-inch piece ginger, cut in half lengthwise and lightly bruised with the flat side of a knife, lightly charred (see Note, below)
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and charred (see Note, below)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons sugar
• 5 whole star anise, lightly toasted in a dry pan
• 3 whole cloves, lightly toasted in a dry pan
• 1.5 teaspoons sea salt
• 2 dried hot peppers 
• 1/2 pound steak, cut into moderately thin strips
• hen-of-the-woods mushrooms (optional), cut to approximately match the meat
  

NOODLE ASSEMBLY

• 1/2 pound dried 1/16-inch-wide rice sticks, very slightly undercooked, drained
  
• 1/2 pound steak, slightly frozen, then sliced paper-thin across the grain, squirted with a little lime juice
• 15 leaves of baby bok choy
  

GARNISHES

• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced paper-thin
• 1 scallion, cut into thin rings
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/2 pound bean sprouts
• a few sprigs Asian basil
• some shiso leaves, chiffonade cut (optional)
• jalapeños, sliced
  
• 1/2 lime, cut into thin wedges
• Freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the stock. Add the charred ginger and onions, fish sauce and sugar. Add the star anise, cloves, and hot peppers. Let infuse until the broth is fragrant, at least 30 minutes. Taste the broth. If it is not spicy enough, crush the hot peppers against the side of the saucepan so that they release more spice. Add salt. When the flavor is good, strain and return to heat and cover. (The broth will taste salty but will be balanced once the noodles and accompaniments are added.)

2. Make sure the noodles and garnishes are ready before proceeding.

3. Add the first 1/2 pound of steak and the mushrooms to the stock. Cook for a few minutes. Strain out the meat and mushrooms with a slotted spoon when the meat is almost done.

4. To serve, place the cooked noodles in preheated bowls. (If the noodles are not hot, dip them briefly in boiling water to prevent them from cooling down the soup.) Place the bok choy, some cooked beef, and some raw beef on the noodles. Ladle hot soup into each bowl. Garnish with yellow onions, scallions and cilantro. Serve immediately, inviting guests to garnish the bowls with bean sprouts, herbs, chilies, lime juice and black pepper. (Alternatively, serve raw beef on the side with lime wedges, and allow guests to squirt it with lime, dunk it in the soup, and cook it as desired, or eat it raw!) Provide guests with soup spoons, chop sticks, chili sauce, and plum sauce.

Note: How to Char Ginger and Onions

To char ginger, hold the piece with tongs directly over an open flame. While turning, char until the edges are slightly blackened and the ginger is fragrant, about 3 to 4 minutes. Char the onions in the same way. Peel and discard the blackened skins of the ginger and onions.

Making Kimchi (video)

Pickled Rutabagas (video)

How To Make Sauerkraut (video)

An instructional video of me making sauerkraut (expertly filmed and edited by how2heroes!)

(Click here if the video does not appear below.)

Simple Kimchi Stew

A week or two ago, I was with a friend who ordered Kimchi Stew at a Korean restaurant. I tried some, and it was tasty. This inspired me to do some reverse-engineering.

Without looking around at other people's recipes, here's what I came up with. I aimed for taste rather than strict authenticity. Serve it on its own, or with rice, bean threads, little boiled potatoes, or the starch of your choice. Makes 1 significant serving.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of dashi, fish stock, vegetable stock, or meat stock from animals of known origin
• 1/4 lb of sliced MOKO (pork works well) (I don't believe in eating large amounts of tofu)
  
• a handful of dried shiitake mushroom pieces
  
• a generous teaspoon of miso paste (the kind from a tub, not from an envelope)
  
• a big forkful of cabbage kimchi (make it yourself or buy it)
• a large handful of baby spinach, bok choy, or other greens. If they are tough, boil or steam them some ahead of time; if they are tender, this is unnecessary.
• a scallion or "long onion", sliced thin diagonally, as garnish
  

Directions

1. Put the dried shiitake mushrooms in a small bowl. Barely cover them with boiling water. Let sit for 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
   
2. Boil the stock in a medium saucepan. Add the tofu or meat and heat thoroughly. Add the mushrooms and their liquid. Remove from heat.
3. Spoon a few spoons of the stock into a small bowl, add the miso to the bowl, and mix it with a spoon until all the miso chunks are broken up. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
   
4. Add the kimchi to the saucepan and stir.
   
5. Cut the greens into bite-sized pieces if necessary; add them to the saucepan and stir well.
6. Taste the soup. Adjust the seasoning by adding more kimchi, more miso, some fish sauce or soy sauce, some sesame oil, some sesame seeds, some water if you want, or whatever else you think it needs.
7. Ladle into soup bowls. Garnish with scallions. Provide soup spoons and chopsticks.
   

Notes

• This is an ideal use for old kimchi that has lost its crunch.
  
• My Korean friend thought that the presence of kimchi made fresh greens unnecessary.
• Get non-GMO or organic tofu and miso if you possibly can.
  
• You can find miso paste at Asian markets, and also at some non-specialized supermarkets.
  
• With a little work, you may be able to find local sources for tofu and miso. With a little more work, you can make your own. (Possible career path?)
  

Making Kimchi

My kimchi recipe of choice is adapted from a recipe on Epicurious, which is in turn adapted from a recipe in the book Dok Suni: Recipes From My Mother's Korean Kitchen.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup coarse sea salt (or kosher salt)
  
• 2 cups chlorine-free water
  
• 4 lbs of vegetables: mostly Napa cabbage, plus any combination of mustard greens, bok choy, daikon, burdock root, and whatever other vegetables catch your fancy
• 1 head garlic
• 2 or 3 good-sized onions
• some more chlorine-free water
  
• 1 inch ginger root, peeled (a spoon works well for peeling ginger)
  
• 1 cup red pepper powder, available at Korean and other Asian grocery stores
  
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 small bunch scallions

Directions

1. In a big bowl, dissolve 3/4 cup salt in 2 cups of water to make a brine.
   
2. Cut up all of the 4 lbs of vegetables. Cut leafy vegetables into 1" square pieces. Peel root vegetables and cut them into thin diagonal slices. Slice and include as much of the cabbage core as you like.
   
3. Put the chopped vegetables into the brine and mix. Hands are an excellent tool for this. Leave the vegetables in the brine for 4-6 hours. Cover it to keep it free of foreign objects. Uncover it and stir it up every once in a while.
4. Drain the vegetables pretty thoroughly in a colander.
   
5. Peel the onions and garlic, and mince the ginger.
   
6. Blend the onion, garlic, and ginger in a food processor with as much water as is necessary to form a smooth paste.
7. Mix the red pepper flakes and sugar into the paste.
   
8. Cut the scallions diagonally into 1" lengths, and add them to the paste. Then let the paste sit for 10 minutes.
9. Move the chopped vegetables from the colander into a large bowl. Add the seasoning paste. Mix it up well with a wooden spoon, your hands, or whatever falls readily to hand.
   
10. Pack your kimchi tightly into Mason jars. Close the jars loosely. Leave the jars on the counter at room temperature for as long as you dare, but at least 1 day. Open them every day or two to check their progress. (Or, optionally, seal the jars in plastic bags and bury them in your back yard.)
    
11. Taste your kimchi periodically. When you think it's "done", close the jars more tightly and put them in the fridge. (Or bury them in the ground, or keep them in a cool root cellar.)

Kimchi Recipe Concepts

• New England Kimchi Canapés (bite-sized cracker, cheddar cheese, apple, kimchi)
• Kimchi Reuben Sandwich (rye bread, corned beef of known origin, kimchi, mayo, optional wasabi)
• Baked Potato with Sour Cream and Kimchi
• Kimchi Scramble (scrambled eggs, kimchi, sprouted grain toast with grass-fed butter)
• Kimchi Stir-Fry (animal or tofu, animal fat or coconut oil, kimchi, other vegetables if desired)
• Kimchi Fried Rice (similar to stir-fry, but with brown rice and scrambled egg)
  
• Kimchi Buckwheat Pancakes (savory pancake recipe + kimchi)
• Kimchi Nachos
  

Musings on Leftovers

So, you have some leftovers, and you don't feel like simply rewarming them and eating them again?

You are in luck!

There are many things you can do with leftovers. Here are a few ideas. Some of them may work better for some kinds of leftovers than for others.

• Dice or shred your leftovers and heat them up in a skillet, perhaps with some lard or oil; put them in a warm corn tortilla; top it all with some chopped onion, cilantro, and maybe some salsa, cheese, shredded lettuce, crème fraiche, and hot sauce. Taco!
  
  
• Dice or shred your leftovers. Heat a tortilla in a skillet over medium heat with some lard or oil. Top it with shredded cheese. Put your shredded leftovers on top. Once the cheese is melted, but while the tortilla is still pliable, fold it in half, and top it with fun stuff. (Don't neglect that avocado you've been holding on to.) Quesadilla!
  
  
• Make some rice; dice or shred your leftovers and heat them up in a skillet with some lard or oil and some garlic, ginger, scallions, and perhaps a crushed dried hot pepper; scramble an egg or two, a bit underdone; mix the rice in with the egg and continue to fry for a few minutes; finally, mix in the leftovers. Season with sesame oil, hot oil, and/or a little soy sauce. Fried rice!
  
  
• Put your leftovers on bread with some mayonnaise, lettuce, sauerkraut or other pickles or chutney, cheese, hummus, or whatever else is handy. If you're feeling a little wild, toast the whole thing in the oven, on the stove top, or in a sandwich press (a George Foreman grill works great). Sandwich!
  
  
• Especially if your leftovers are meat, and include bones: Pull the meat off the bones, chop the meat into bite-sized pieces, whack the bones with a cleaver if they are large, and throw both the meat and the bones in a stockpot with some rough-cut carrots, celery, onions, a bay leaf, some parsley stems, some thyme, a shot of wine (red or white), some other root vegetables (light on the parsnips), some cabbage, some mushrooms (but not too many), and whatever else. Dried shiitake mushrooms are great (but not too many). Just barely cover the contents of the pot with cold water. Bring it to a vigorous boil, lower it to a simmer, and let it cook for a long time (many hours if your bones are big). Pull out the bones and the bay leaf (if you can find it). When you serve it, add some cooked rice or cooked pasta to each bowl. Season with salt, pepper, fish sauce, and whatever else. Soup! (Or stew.)
  
  

Burns Supper Hangover

You've just hosted a winning Burns Supper. But blast! You have enough tatties and neeps left over to feed the cast of Braveheart for a month! What to do? Consistent with the general Scottish feeling that deep-frying anything makes it better, a feeling not foreign to my American shores, I present:

Tattie and Neep Croquettes

Equipment:

• a mixing bowl
• a deep skillet or chicken fryer, ideally cast iron, like this
  
• spoons and spatulas for mixing and cooking
  
• some paper towels
• (optional) a slotted spoon or spider

Ingredients:

• tatties
• neeps
• eggs
• salt
• pepper
• oil or fat for deep frying
  
• (optional) truffle oil

Recipe:

1. If your skillet is cast iron, preheat it over medium heat.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix tatties and neeps, roughly 2 to 1. Add salt and pepper to taste. (And don't be afraid to taste.) If your tatties don't already have truffle oil in them, then for God's sake, add some! Add one beaten whole egg for each cup or two of vegetable. Mix well.
   
3. Using your hands, form the mixture into croquettes. These can be very similar to Tater Tots (but are more expensive, because they sound French). You can also make them into small patties, which fry nicely.
   
4. Spread the paper towels on a plate, ready to receive the croquettes when you are done frying them.
   
5. Place the skillet on medium heat, and add your oil or fat, a couple of inches deep. (A word about your choice of frying fat. For the purist, I suppose rendered sheep fat would be the only option. For the rest of us, options include other animal fats, olive oil, clarified butter, and coconut oil.)
6. When the oil is hot (which you can test by throwing a tiny bit of vegetable mixture into it and waiting for it to sizzle), gently put your croquettes into the pan, being mindful not to crowd them. If you have a lot of croquettes, or a smaller pan, do them in batches. Don't splash oil on your hands if you can help it.
7. Carefully turn the croquettes every minute or so, until they are a nice golden-brown shade on all sides. Total cooking time will depend on the size of the croquettes, the heat of your stove, the moisture content of your vegetables, and too many other factors to list here. So keep your eye on them.
   
8. Remove the croquettes from the oil (with the slotted spoon if you have one) and put them on the paper towel.
   
9. (Repeat with subsequent batches, until you are done.)

Serve hot, warm, or cold, with fancy home-made mayonnaise and parsley.