An Unlikely Pairing

Tonight I had planned to make a very simple dinner: braised daikon and steamed spareribs (pai gwaat in Cantonese.) I was very surprised to read an article which explained how well the spareribs would go with pinot. In fact, the article said the pairing of the spareribs would go phenomenally with that particular wine. I was very skeptical. I am used to pairing only a riesling with Chinese food. The fermented black beans in the sparerib makes the dish very tasty but also one that generally doesn't lend itself to pairing with wine .. or so I thought.

The braised daikon is a Japanese recipe that I came across which sounded very easy to make and also healthy. The daikon is cut into circular section (each section being about 1" in depth) and then simmered in a flavorful broth until tender. The broth is rice water, dashi, and soy sauce. You must use rice water (the water used to wash the rice in) because it will take away the natural inherent bitterness of the daikon. After about 80-90 minutes the daikon should be soft. Take the daikon out of the broth and drizzle a sauce of white miso, mirin, water, and sugar.

Steamed spareribs is a homestyle type of dish. It is akin to mac and cheese for Americans. The sparerib dish is very easy to make and satisfying to eat. You take 1" sections of baby back ribs and marinate it in oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic, plenty of black beans, jalapeno slices, dark soy sauce, white pepper, and corn starch. You steam the entire dish for 25 minutes.

The meal itself was very delicious and tasty. When paired with the pinot I was completely blown away by how well the steamed spareribs went with it. It was a perfect marriage of flavors. The saltiness of the fermented black beans really was enhanced and complemented by the pinot. Mmm... this is a dinner I'll definitely make again. It is very simple to make and makes for a wonderful combination of flavors.

Veggie Pork Bun

Normally people think of BBQ pork filled buns when they think of Chinese buns. I have bought and eaten many BBQ pork buns. The other day, however, I rediscovered another favorite bun: the vegetable pork bun. It's a steamed bun filled with ground pork and vegetables (normally shredded napa cabbage.) I had forgotten how incredibly tasty this buns is and how enjoyable it is. It's much harder to make this type of bun than the BBQ pork bun. The BBQ pork bun filling is made by simply buying some BBQ pork from the deli and mixing together a sweet sauce. The veggie pork filling, however, requires you to season some ground pork and add some prepared vegetables to it.

Not many stores offer the vegetable pork bun (I suppose it isn't as popular as the BBQ pork bun.) If it's been awhile since you've had a veggie pork bun (or if you've never had one) I highly recommend it. Not only does it take more skill to make, it's a great change of pace from the normal BBQ pork bun. It is filling, satisfying, and much harder to make taste right.

Clean House

Ming and I cleaned house this weekend. Because we'd cleaned recently, it only took us 4 hours to clean house this time around. We cleaned from top to bottom: tidied up, dusted, vacuumed, cleaned the bathrooms, mopped the floors, polished the furniture, etc. It was exhausting the but house looks spic and span now.

We cleaned house in preparation for Chinese New Year. Chinese New Year is around the corner, this Thursday to be exact, so it's imperative we've got a clean house. We also made a trip to Costco and bought 15 lbs of clementines. Yup, we really did buy that many of them for ourselves... just the two of us. We love eating them and used the excuse that its ok to buy that many because it's for Chinese New Year (oranges are considered to be auspicious items to keep in the house.)

Hope everyone's weekend was as productive as ours

Sharp Knives

I own a set of Wusthof knives and a Chinese cleaver. I mainly use the cleaver. I use the cleaver because that's what my mom started me out using and I became very comfortable with it. I can easily create my own ground meat, smash garlic cloves, chop veggies and meats, and do just about anything with it. I am equally comfortable using a normal chef's knife to do the aforementioned tasks except the chefs knife isn't as good at smashing garlic since it doesn't have much weight.

Since I use my knives daily they get a lot of use. I know that my knife needs sharpening when my cleaver can't cut a green onion. O.o Yes, it had a hard time cutting the green portion of the green onion; it macerated my green onion. I immediately did research as to where I could get my knife professionally sharpened. Ming normally does the knife sharpening but it takes him a long time since I had several I wanted to sharpen and he was too busy to help me.

I found a place in San Mateo, called The Perfect Edge, and it had received a ton of positive reviews. I went to the shop and it was like a food lover's haven; they had just about everything. Before I delve into the goodies I bought there, let me get back to the knives.

I have never had my knives sharpened professionally so I was very excited at the prospect of having it done. I had them sharpen my cleaver, a paring knife and kitchen shears. It really does make a difference having the knives sharpened professionally. My cleaver cut through raw meat like it was butter; I was in awe. The paring knife wasn't really dull but since it gets a lot of use I brought it to get sharpened. I realized just how sharp they made it when I peeled ginger with the knife. I barely touched the ginger and the skin started falling off. Wow. I recommend that everyone get their knives sharpened professionally just to see the difference. I probably won't have it done very frequently but perhaps twice a year will be sufficient.

I also came across this knife sharpener called AccuSharp. A lot of people raved about it, including Cook's Illustrated. I frequently don't agree with CI so its endorsement of it made me weary. After doing research I found out that the AccuSharp knife sharpener is not something you want to ever buy. It basically shaves off a ton of metal on a knife and makes the blade very jagged. The knife is sharp but its a bad type of sharpness. It will tear the food instead of cut it smoothly. For more details, go here.

The reason you get your knifes professionally sharpened is because they do a great job and they take off minimal amount of metal from the knives, ensuring a longer lifespan of the knife.

The other goodies I bought from The Perfect Edge include 4 oz ramekins (perfect for individual servings), 6" cake pans, and a Kyocera vegetable peeler. My vegetable peeler was starting to become dull and I decided to get a new one. The Kyocera one is very sharp and I'm impressed by it. So far I've only used it on a daikon but it worked very well. It took only a very thin strip of the skin off which is good; it means there is more of the vegetable that can actually be used to cook with. :)

Japanese Cotton Soft Cheesecake

I love Japanese cheesecake. It has some similarities to its American counterpart but not many. The only thing which is similar is that it contains some cream cheese, it is a cake, and is cooked in a water bath. From there the similarities end. A Japanese cheesecake is softer and fluffier. American cheesecakes are dense and very filling. Many people like to have a topping on top (to make it even more decadent.) A Japanese cheesecake more closely resembles a chiffon cake but with cream cheese.

I originally saw the recipe for it at Diana's Desserts. I modified it to fit my needs. When I tasted it the taste was incredibly amazing. It was soft, light, fluffy, with just a hint of cream cheese. I don't feel guilty eating a larger slice of this since it doesn't sit as heavily in my stomach.

Japanese Cotton Soft Cheesecake
140g/5 oz. fine granulated sugar
6 egg whites
6 egg yolks
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
50g/2 oz. butter
8 oz. cream cheese
100 ml/3 fluid oz. fresh milk
1 tsp lemon extract
60g/2 oz. cake flour
20g/1 oz. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt

1. In a double boiler whisk the cream cheese, milk, and butter until well combined. Remove the mixture and cool. Soft the flour, cornstarch, egg yolks, and salt together. Fold the dry mixture into the wet. Mix in the lemon extract.

2. Whisk egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until firm peaks form.

3. Add the cheese mixture to the egg white mixture and mix well. Pour into a 9-inch round cake pan (line the bottom with parchment paper). Fill the pan only 80% full. You may have some residual. If there is left over batter, pour it into ramekins.

4. Bake cheesecake in a water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F).

Taiwanese Beef Jerky

One of Ming's childhood favorite foods was beef jerky. This isn't a beef jerky that can be purchased at the store nor at any vendor I've found. It is a dried beef that isn't sweet; the flavor is savory and indescribable. There are notes of five spice and chili in it.

I made it for the first time and it turned out pretty well. It isn't quite as good as his mom's but not bad for my first try. I'm definitely going to make this again since it was relatively easy and since I know he enjoys it so much. :)




I've forgotten what the Chinese name for this is but it's something along the lines of dried beef. Either way this is one of those family treasured recipes that will be handed down through the generations.



I bought nearly 3 lbs of meat for the beef jerky. It filled two containers (after some liberal sampling to make sure it tasted ok.) The beef jerky will be lucky if it lasts us a week. Yes, it is that good. Will I be sharing? Nope. Others will need to wait until I make a perfectly seasoned batch of beef jerky before I'm willing to let others taste test it.

Devil's Food White Out Cake

The cover cake of Dorie Greenspan's Baking book has always looked so yummy. This past weekend I caved in and made it. I had some buttermilk in the fridge that needed to be used up and it was a perfect excuse to make the cake. It's a devil's food cake with a marshmallow cream frosting.

I used Valhrona cocoa and it made all the difference. I've used Ghiradelli cocoa powder in the past with other baked goods and the outcome was that the chocolate cake/cookie/etc tasted only ok. Mundane would be a good descriptive word. Ghiradelli cocoa is an ok cocoa powder but it certainly does not make the cake shine. The Valhrona cocoa powder, however, made the cake have a terrific depth of flavor and I didn't want to stop with just one piece.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a good bittersweet chocolate while at Whole Foods and had to pair the terrific cocoa with Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate. Again, I've used the Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate without good results. Since I know what Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate tastes like, I was surprised that when paired with the Valrhona cocoa, the Valrhona manages to make up for all of the Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate's shortcomings .. and then some! It goes to show that premium chocolates make a difference and I'll continue to buy Valrhona's pricey cocoa in the future knowing that I can probably get away with the cheaper Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate and everyone will enjoy the finished baked product.

The one change I'd make to the recipe is to eliminate the chocolate shavings/chocolate chips. At the very end of the recipe you are supposed to add chocolate chips or chocolate shavings. This adds texture and more chocolate goodness to the cake. I personally found the chocolate made the cake too sweet (the cake and marshmallow frosting were sweet enough) and the compounded extra sweetness was slightly overwhelming. Also, I found the texture to be a slightly irksome and not enjoyable. I enjoy my cake without bits of chocolate pieces interspersed.



Recipes for this cake are seamingly everywhere on the web. One such user who posted the recipe is here

The cake was light and fluffy, just the way I like cakes. I did not refrigerate it, as was suggested by Dorie, since refrigeration makes the cake denser and more fudgey. The cake had a great chocolate flavor without being overly chocolatey and the marshmallow cream frosting was nice and light. This cake is a keeper and I intend to make it again. The next time I make it I'll probably add strawberries between the layers since I like that flavor combination.

Skim Milk Is Bad For You

I don't like skim milk. It has this ugly gray tint to it, which looks completely unnatural, and tastes like water. I recently found out more reasons why you shouldn't drink skim milk. It makes your liver work much harder. Here's an exerpt:

The butterfat of commercial milk is homogenized, subjecting it to rancidity. Even worse, butterfat may be removed altogether. Skim milk is sold as a health food, but the truth is that butter-fat is in milk for a reason.

Without it the body cannot absorb and utilize the vitamins and minerals in the water fraction of the milk. Along with valuable trace minerals and short chain fatty acids, butterfat is America's best source of preformed vitamin A.

Synthetic vitamin D, known to be toxic to the liver, is added to replace the natural vitamin D complex in butterfat. Butterfat also contains re-arranged acids which have strong anti-carcinogenic properties.

Non-fat dried milk is added to 1% and 2% milk. Unlike the cholesterol in fresh milk, which plays a variety of health promoting roles, the cholesterol in non-fat dried milk is oxidized and it is this rancid cholesterol that promotes heart disease.

Like all spray dried products, non-fat dried milk has a high nitrite content. Non-fat dried milk and sweetened condensed milk are the principle dairy products in third world countries; use of ultra high temperature pasteurized milk is widespread in Europe.
Full Article

Steamed Teriyaki Tofu

Tonight was a lazy night. I didn't really feel like doing any real cooking so I took the easy way out. I made steamed teriyaki tofu with shredded chicken.



How do you make this? I simply take a block of soft tofu, place the shredded chicken on top, then pour teriyaki sauce on everything. It's all steamed for 10 minutes.

Voila, instant tasty dinner

Soy Milk

Not all soy milk is created equal. I used to purchase the brand "Snow White" soy milk from 99 Ranch. Sadly, Ranch has stoppped carrying this brand of soy milk so I've had to experiment with other brands. I've tried the soy milk from Golden Gate and will never buy it again. It doesn't have any taste; it tastes as though I am drinking water. I have found that Soy (I believe that is the brand name) is the best brand of soy milk available and it is found at both Marina and 99 Ranch. It has a very nice taste in both the sweetened and unsweetened forms. It also uses non-GMO soybeans which is a huge plus!

Silk is the Americanized version of soy milk and it is ok in a pinch but it's taste just doesn't compare with that of Soy. If you have a hard time trying to find this brand of soy milk, just look for the brand which is made in Hayward, CA. The labeling is very non-descript.

Powdered Buttermilk

I spent some time in South over the Christmas holidays visting Ming's family. I found out that all the supermarkets carry powdered buttermilk and I've always been intrigued by it. Powdered buttermilk is a harder to find ingredient in the west coast and you need to go to a specialty store to find it (and pay a specialty store's prices.) Even though our suitcases were bulging (we hit the max weight limit!) I decided to buy it anyway.

I gave the powdered buttermilk a test run on New Year's Day. I made buttermilk pancakes. I've used this recipe forever and have always been completely satisfied with the results. This time I used the powdered buttermilk in lieu of normal buttermilk. The taste was fantastic as always but the consistency was different. These pancakes were much thinner and less fluffy than the pancakes made with normal buttermilk. The ease of making the pancakes was amazing though. It was such a relief not to need to worry about going to the store to buy buttermilk ahead of time for something as simple as pancakes. I'll definitely use the powdered buttermilk again in pancakes but every so often I'll go back to the real stuff since I do miss the taller, fluffier texture of pancakes.

The next test of my powdered buttermilk will be in cakes. Stay tuned ...