nomadfood
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
 
If you're thinking about the politics of food, it's worth reading this article by Michael Pollan.

- posted by Jenna @ 5:36 PM 0 comments
Sunday, October 19, 2008
 
rice cooker pork beans

rice cooker pork beans
Originally uploaded by jlovegren
back on the rice cooker.

wash pinto beans four good times, soak overnight.
in rice cooker add water, some cheap cut of pork and the beans. salt, bay leaf and garlic. turn on, then change to "keep warm" after it boils.

leave it overnight.

throw in a diced half onion, a tomato, roughly chopped, cumin, dry mustard, vinegar, rock sugar, salt, a whole jalapeno. leave it another 6-8 hours.

take out the bones and mix around with a ladel until all the pork meat falls apart and disperses amongst the beans.

- posted by Jesse @ 9:48 AM 0 comments
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
 
rice cooker braised pork





http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01rice.html?scp=1&sq=rice%20cooker&st=cse

for my rice cooker i measured the temperature it maintains in its chamber while on the "keep warm" cycle. it is 150F. at this temperature, if i remember correctly, connective tissue in tough cuts of meat dissolves slowly, and protein-bound water flows minimally. my theory was that you could braise a piece of roasting meat, even if it would take a whole day.

in fact it works.

recipe synopsis:

add a pice of stewing meat (browned on the outside if you want) and enough braising liquid to cover the meat 3/4 of the way to the rice cooker. turn it on. once steam comes out, change it to the "keep warm" setting. wait for 12-18 hours. you can open to turn the meat if you want. the main idea is to put it in at night, then to go sleep and it should be ready by the time you want to eat dinner the next day.

i used pork shoulder roast and a braising liquid taken from the Periplus "Homestyle Chinese Cooking" cookbook:

1c soy sauce
2c rice wine
2c water
.5 c vinegar
.5 c rock sugar
2in. sliced ginger
6 spring onions
peel of one orange
1 stick of cinnamon, broken
1t peppercorns
2 star anise

you are supposed to eat it with blanched spinach.

- posted by Jesse @ 5:35 PM 0 comments
Sunday, October 05, 2008
 
minor variants on beef stew
i am explaining how i made a beef stew last night with which i was pleased.  it is loosely based on boeuf bourgignonne, but the idea is to implement some techniques usually reserved for italian sauces and reduce the amount of thickener needed by using purées.  the result is a stew that is thick and a bit sweet, but not heavy or viscous.

cut a pound of stewing beef (i used shoulder roast) into 1-2" cubes.  salt and sprinkle lightly with flour.  press flour into the surface.

brown the beef in batches in bacon fat.  let the fat be almost smoking it is that hot.  a wok or dutch oven is good for this.  

remove the beef, reduce the heat to be quite low.  make a sofritto of one stalk celery, one large carrot, one large onion.  let them cook 20 minutes, caramelizing but not browning.

return the beef, then add water (stock is good if you want it rich) enough to cover.  salt lightly and simmer at low heat with the lid off for about 90 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

remove the beef, then purée or mill the liquid remaining in the dutch oven.  return the beef and liquid to the pot, add a pound of potatoes cut into chunks the size of the meat, likewise for three large carrots.  salt lightly and cook another hour with the lid off, adjusting water when necessary.

add a half pound of whole white mushrooms, ground black pepper and about 3T of baked garlic purée.  another fifteen minutes.  check for salt and then serve.  by itself or with egg noodles.


- posted by Jesse @ 3:22 PM 0 comments