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Pork and Potatoes
Pork and Potatoes
One of my favorite Chinese takeout restaurants, Bing’s, closed over 25 years ago. They were known for giant egg rolls, giant egg foo yung, plus standard Cantonese dishes that you’ll find on most menus prepared significantly better than other Chinese restaurants. But my favorite thing on the menu was their pork and potatoes. I’ve had it from many other restaurants, and it’s all been garbage in comparison to Bing’s. So what made Bing’s so much better? A couple things. While most potatoes used in this dish are cubed, Bing’s sliced them thinly on a mandolin. It creates a wider surface area when frying the potatoes, allowing them to get crispier than cubed. Most places just use oyster sauce. Bing’s added both light and dark soy sauces to enhance the flavor and give it a darker color. Also, their char siu was second to none.
Equipment
- mandolin
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 lb potatoes peeled
- 1/4 red onion sliced
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1/2 cup char siu roast pork diced
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- white pepper to taste
Garnish
- green onions finely chopped
Instructions
- Slice the potatoes on a mandolin about 1/4” thick. Soak in cold water for 30 minutes. Pat dry.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Fry the potatoes in a single layer in 2 batches.
- Fry for 3 minutes a side until lightly crispy. Remove from the pan.
- Add in the onions and pork. Sauté for 3 minutes.
- Add the potatoes back into the pan.
- Pour in the soy sauces, oyster sauce, and sesame oil. Make sure that all of the potatoes are coated.
- Pour in the water. Simmer for 5 minutes until all of the liquid has evaporated.
- Season with white pepper.
Brisket Tacos
Brisket Tacos
Continuing from where I left off on the Pecan/Oak Smoked Brisket recipe; I followed the cheeba, and this is where it lead me to: brisket tacos. Outside of my homies at Neza Tacos food truck, there are no tacos better. I sautéed up some chopped brisket. I cooked the tortillas in the residual brisket fat left over and assembled the tacos on the griddle. My brisket tacos are topped with thinly sliced anaheim chilies, pickled red onions, cilantro, and horseradish sour cream. The results are that of perfection. Follow the cheeba.
Ingredients
- smoked beef brisket chopped
- blue corn tortillas
- anaheim chilies thinly sliced
- pickled red onions
- cilantro chopped
- horseradish sour cream 2 tbsp sour cream + 1 tsp prepared horseradish
Instructions
- Sauté the chopped brisket on a griddle over medium high heat for 6 minutes. Remove from the griddle.
- Add 4 corn tortillas to the griddle. Cook for 30 seconds on the first side.
- Flip the tortillas. Top with some brisket as the tortillas continue to cook.
- Top with sliced anaheim chilies and pickled red onions. Remove from the griddle.
Roast Pork Puffs
Roast Pork Puffs
These roast pork puffs are very reminiscent of Chinese steamed pork bao, except the dough is made out of puff pastry. They are baked instead of steamed, resulting in a buttery flaky exterior.
Equipment
- rolling pin
- muffin pan with liners
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup white onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 1/3 cup chicken stock
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 cup char siu roast pork finely diced
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
Instructions
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the onions for 4 minutes.
- Pour in the soy sauces, oyster sauce, sesame oil, and sugar. Simmer for a minute.
- Whisk in the chicken stock and cornstarch. Reduce the heat to medium low and allow to thicken for a couple of minutes.
- Add in the char siu. Allow the filling to completely cool.
- Roll out the puff pastry sheet on a floured surface.
- Cut into 16 squares.
- Scoop a tbsp of the filling into the center of the pastry square.
- Place another sheet over the top. Crimp the edges with a fork.
- Put each pork puff into a greased muffin liner in a muffin pan. Brush the tops with the egg wash.
- Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds.
- Bake the pork puffs in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
If I was put on death row and asked what the last thing on Earth that I'd like to eat, my final meal, char siu would be on the top of the list. I have loved this bbq pork ever since I was a little kid. My family would order everything with bbq pork in it from the Chinese restaurant that we got take out from. I love this pork so much, I snuck some of the pork in the picture into the movie theatre in a ziplock bag.Char siu is typically made out of pork shoulder. It can be made out of pork sirloin, pork loin, or tenderloin; but they tend to be less juicy than pork shoulder. Fat is a good thing here. You will want a 3lbs. piece of boneless pork shoulder. I purchased a whole bone in shoulder and processed out the coppa roast and the flat iron, If the coppa roast was a beef cut, you'd know it as a chuck eye roast. You don't have to go to this extreme. You can use any part of the shoulder. I just happen to know how to cut these muscles out of the shoulder and use them. Cut the pork shoulder into 2" in diameter chunks with the grain. The char siu gets its color from the red bean curd. If you've ever seen this pork really red, the color will be coming from red food coloring. But I want to avoid food coloring as much as possible. The red color in the bean curd comes from a natural fungus. This pork needs to marinate for at least 3 days.When ready to cook the pork, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Yes, 400 degrees. Normally when you think of cooking pork shoulder, you cook it low and slow. Not here. It will be tender. Trust me. I was skeptical the first time I tried making this. Roast this for 15 minutes. Pull it out of the oven and brush on the glaze. Roast for 7 minutes. You want to do this for 3 times total. The honey will caramelize the outside while the bean curd juice will give it a nice red color. Once done roasting, let sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 3 red bean curd cubes + 2 tbsp liquid
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese 5 spice powder
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 3/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
Pork Glaze
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp red bean curd liquid
- 1 tbsp cooked marinade
Instructions
- Take a 3lb. piece of pork shoulder and cut it into a few long chunks with the grain. Each piece should be around 2″ in diameter. In this picture, I cut out the coppa roast and the flat iron. The coppa roast is the center muscle of the shoulder. If this was beef, you’d know it as a chuck eye roast.
- Mix together the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red bean curd cubes and liquid, 5 spice powder, honey, cooking, wine, white pepper, sesame, oil, and garlic cloves. Mash the bean curds into a paste. Mix everything thoroughly.
- Add the pork shoulder pieces and the marinade to a gallon sized ziplock bag. Marinate for 72 hours. Turn the bag over every 12 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lay the pork shoulder pieces on a rack onto of a foil covered baking sheet. Add a couple cups of water to the baking sheet to prevent smoking. Roast the pork for 15 minutes.
- While the pork is roasting, mix together honey, red bean curd liquid, and some of the marinade. Make sure to cook the marinade in the microwave for a few seconds before mixing in. Now you have your pork glaze.
- After the first 15 minutes of roasting, take the pork out of the oven and brush on the pork glaze. Don’t worry about getting the bottom. Put the pork back in the oven and roast for 7 minutes. Repeat this step 2 more times, for a total of 3 glazes.
- After the final glazing and roasting, let the pork rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
