Carnitas Part II/Braising

Okay. So I tried again.. umm a few months later. I just finished reading the book "Heat", which is about a former editor of the New Yorker leaving his job to be Italian food cook and somewhat of a fanatic (Awesome book by the way). It may be think about my approach to cooking and working with food. I realized I've been leaving out a very important technique in my cooking which is well... how to cook. I decided to give Carnitas another try, but focusing this time not so much as how many things can go into a pot, but how to combine heat and meat to make food.

I did deviate from my original recipe a little but the ingredients were pretty much the same. With the exception of the milk which I this time decided I wasn't ready to bring into the experiment.

So what did I change this time? Braising. I'm learning to braise. I realize the last time that my success didn't depend so much on ingredients as much as it did in execution. I'm getting back to basics and learning the fundamentals. Which means heat control. I seared the pork at a really high heat to build up the crust, placed in the oven at about 300 degrees and left the pot uncovered. That's it. After finishing I was simply amazed how the proper cooking technique trumps any kind of flavors you can throw on. I would have had pictures, but I attacked the food to fast. I'll try to bring in more specifics in Carnitas Part III.

I left my heart (for Carnitas) in San Diego

I recently took a trip to San Diego and one thing I came back with was a deeper appreciation for Mexican food. My mission today was to start trying to figure out how to make those magical Carnita Burritos. I read that traditionally pork carnitas are made by slow cooking pork in a pot of lard. Hmm... I'm sure that tastes great, but I think I'll use the braising approach.

Carnita Recipe

3 lbs pork (I wanted to use pork shoulder but couldn't find it at Safeway to I used the pork loin chops that were on sale)

1/2 c Beef Broth (I think chicken broth would have been better)
1/2 sliced Red Onion
1/2 c Milk
1 /2 t Oregano
1/4 t Cumin
1/2 t Marjoram
4 smashed cloves of Garlic
1 Bay Leaf
3 hits of Worcestershire
Half a orange (quartered)
Juice of 1 lime
Chopped Cilantro
Salt Pepper to taste

I cut the pork into 1-2 inch chunks, took out some bones (since I bought the wrong cut). I decided to braise the pork so using a dutch oven was the best pot choice. I first browned the pork in oil. I took the pork out and sauteed half a sliced onion. I reintroduced the pork to the pot and threw everything else in (except the cilantro). The liquid should come up about half way up the meat. After the liquid reached a boil I turned down and simmered for 2 hours with the cover on. About every half hour I went over to check it out and give it a little stir.

2 Hours Later ....
The pork was nice, soft and broke apart. I pulled all the pork out of the pot and placed in a roasting pan. At this time I reduced the remaining liquid in the pot. That took about 10 minutes to make a nice gravy. Now was the time I wanted to add the little bit of crispiness that was after. While the liquid was reducing I broke the big chunks of pork up a little and placed in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 min. I turned up the heat to 450 and baked for another 5 min. I pulled out my pork put a little gravy on top and garnished with the cilantro.

And it tasted ...
I ate the pork with white corn soft tacos, guacamole and salsa. It was pretty good for a first try, but it didn't take the place of the San Diego Carnitas. Maybe I should have tried the lard.

The next day ...
We ate the left over carnitas the next day for dinner. I decided to try frying the pork to add some more crispy crust to the chunks. As I fried the pork I reintroduced some of the left over reduced gravy. The gravy is KEY. (Note: Don't throw the gravy away. It is beautiful flavorful goodness. You could even eat it on toast.) The taste was good and the texture was almost great.

I'm glad I tried this out and I'm definitely going to keep tweaking the recipe. I'm not going to stop missing the San Diego Burritos, but I think I found a way to get a fix until I go back.

Osborne Solaz Tempranillo Cab

This blend from Spain has a medium body with it's berry flavor up front. There's a little bit of tartness similar to a Pinot Noir, but with a fuller taste. It could be the 20% Cabernet Sauvignon which comes in to round it out. I'm having trouble nailing down the tannin level of this wine, but I think there is a little more acid then tannin. There is a light leather and tobacco flavor, which are traditional for Temprenillos, but not much earth or oak. The Osborne Solaz is on sale at Foodland for $9.99. I think it's a good buy.

Samual Smith: Pure Brewed Lager Beer

Whole Foods is here in Honolulu and with it a whole new array of things to try. I was just going to write about the lager but I got a couple things to go with it at Whole Foods.

Ahi Poke Alaea: Great quality fish. Little bit of spice, but nice subtle earthy flavor. The onion helps balance it out.

Mayan Ceviche: Ceviche is a citrus based seafood appetizer with spice. This one has mahi, scallops and a little bit of spice. There was little bit of citrus sour shock when I took the first bite but the refreshing taste grew on me. I think it would have been better with a wine with a little fruit other then beer.

Samuel Smith: Pure Brewed Lager Beer: If you're familiar with Samuel Smith you probably think of the Oatmeal Stout, one of my favorites. I decided to try something different this time. My first impression is that it tasted very similar to Kona Longboard. The flavor is subtle with nice weight and a very clean finish. Actually everything tasted really "clean". There is a nice malt and a light floral character. My girlfriend thinks it tastes like the beer she had from a can wrapped in a Styrofoam can cooler when she was three. So she enjoyed it because of the childhood nostalgia. The cost was almost $3 a 550 ml bottle. I really liked it and would get it again, but I'm going to compare it to the Longboard the next time I picked it up.

Quick Bite

I know it's been a while but I need to ramp up for the holidays. After tonight I'm convinced I need the practice. I was kind of in a rush and don't have very accurate measurements.

What I made:

Spicy Honey Pork
1 1/3 lbs Pork (sliced thin)
Salt
Pepper
Ginger Powder
Cyan Pepper
Corn Starch

Garnish:
Furikake
Marash Pepper

Put all the ingredients, except garnish stuff, on and fry in canola oil.

Sauce:
approx. 8oz Chicken Broth
Soy Sauce
Lavender Honey (Ali'i Kula Lavender Farms one)
Sriracha
Hoisin Sauce

Add sauce ingrdients and thicken with cornstarch slurry.
Garnished with Furikake and Marash Pepper.

Oyster Sauce Eggplant
2 Japanese Eggplant
Green Onion
Bottled Diced Garlic
Oyster Sauce
Rice Wine
Salt and Pepper

Just go ahead and saute everything.

Result?
Everything was just a little salty. I think the sauce for the pork had so much sodium that I didn't need to add salt to the pork itself. Either that or I should have used lower sodium chicken broth. There was just a little too much flavor, but that honey lavender with the pork is a nice flavor.

The Oyster Sauce Eggplant was a little salty or "bottled garlicy". I like the mix of flavors but it needs some tweeking. It would have been much better with fresh chopped garlic. Also be careful not to add too much rice wine.

If you figure out good proportions let me know. Good luck.

I don't know if making lamb is an Easter thing

I associate lambs with Easter, but I don't know if eating lamb is the proper way to celebrate. Anyway heres a new lamb roast recipe I tried out.

Grilled Lamb Roast
4 lbs lamb roast

Marinade:
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Red Wine
2 t Dijon Mustard
lemon zest
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
pinch of salt and pepper


I left the netting on my lamb roast and punched slits all around it with a knife. I put the marinade and the lamb in a ziplock and left in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Before roasting, I put garlic slivers in new slits on the lamb (I couldn't find the old ones because of the marinade). I used about a head of garlic - usually the more garlic, the the better. Blam! I let the lamb rest at room temperature for about half an hour before roasting.

After preheating the grill to about 500 degrees, I seared the outside of the lamb roast. Then I turned down the heat and grilled it on medium, indirect heat, 15 minutes on each side until the internal temperature was about 145 degrees.

Make sure you take off the netting before cutting and eating. Leftovers on toasted pita bread and goat cheese make a great lunch! Happy Easter!

Does "Red Red Wine" really deserve a song?

Recently a friend of mine asked about "Red Table Wine". Usually Red Table Wine isn't something I usually look for. A label of Red Table Wine usually signifies a crazy mixture of different varietals from different places. This doesn't usually project the impression of quality wine. Quality wines are usually associated with a region and/or varietal, like Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon or the powerhouse of wine regions Bordeaux. The only thing you can definitely expect from something labeled Red Table Wine is that it will be ... well red. That is unless you're buying wine from Europe. In countries like Italy and France the "wine police" usually use the term to denote a lower quality wine. In the United States there isn't that controlled use of the term, but the term still doesn't tell you much. I have had a few that were pretty good. I decided that I would try out a couple I haven't had before and see how they were.


2005 Kenwood Red Table Wine
From first whiff I realized that it needed a little time in the air. I couldn't make out a distinctive nose because of the alcohol. After a little time a different smell came out, unfortunately it was "Red Crayon". I know that's not really a smell, but that's what I got. Fortunately it didn't taste like a "Red Crayon". It had a little peppery taste and pretty high on the dryness scale (not sweet). A little more air and some oak came out. Pretty generic oak, but not that bad. The tannins were a little strong for my taste, but still okay. My score would be 86/100.


Big House Red, 2005 California Red Wine
On the label this wine boasts 11 different varietals and as soon as I got the first whiff I smelt ... well everything. If I had to make a choice of a predominate flavor I would choose Sangiovese and Syrah. The body and flavor are light and bright. It almost tastes like a Pinot Noir, but surprisingly it's not one of the 11. It is a nice combination of flavors with medium dryness and light tannins. Very drinkable and decently likable, but nothing really special or original about it. My score would be 88/100.

Mini Review
I drank the Big House Red with "Kal Bee" I got from Costco. It was labeled "Authentic Korean BBQ". It was a bold statement considering that it came from company called "Greenland Meat Co." and it was labeled "Kal Bee" not "Kalbi". I actually don't know how it's spelled, but if they spelled it "Galbi" I would have been convinced. The taste is okay. It had the texture of meat that has been marinated for too long. Has a sweet acidic taste, but not the "Kalbi" taste. My girlfriend puts it "almost kalbi". 6/10