Prime cap steak tacos! Fresh corn, Texas sweet onion and Texas grown baby portabella mushrooms. Sautee with a little garlic powder, cumin and chili powder. Light sear on the cap steak. Pile veggies and meat onto a corn tortilla. A dollop of sour cream. Squirt of sriracha. T
The mention of Philly Cheese steak sandwich, has me craving one. The restaurant that makes my favorite version is an hour away and in the U.S. I'll drag my brother to come with. Also means bringing the dog. He's ok in the car. He freaks out for a few minute. A park is close to my house. The procedure he freaks out. I stop at the park let him sniff around. Once back in the car he's fine for hours. Second is finding his rabies vac record for the border. Kind of a pain just for a sandwich.
Tonight it was these Hunan style spareribs. They end up in the top 5 best things I've ever eaten. Probably top 3. Di Shui Dong in Shanghai. Image Unavailable, Please Login
That was disappointing. They took the Philly off the menu. Ended up having the Texas T-bone. Not bad but not great either.
I've had my meatball mixture marinating in the fridge since yesterday. Chicken sausage Ground pork ground beef (no veal at the market) Old school bread and milk and lots of garlic! I think I'll throw some fresh basil in there before cooking. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I've heard about the ribs at Di Shui Dong, and now that I see the pic, they look delicious! Unfortunately, with no plans to go back to Shanghai anytime soon, I'm going to have to try to make them on my own. I just found this, so I think I'll give them a shot next weekend. Tonight, it's my own take on chicken adobo. I'll post up pics later.
That's a grandma sized portion!! Went on a bbq run to Hard Eight with some fellow car enthusiasts. I'm too stuffed to do dinner. I'm holding out for a slice of peach pie later! T
Tonight I'm going to try my hand at a tofu stir fry...I was at Homegoods yesterday afternoon looking at woks when my dad called. While I was telling him what I was doing he convinced me not to buy one. This morning he gave me this. I thought the box was great. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Post pics. I can never get my stir fried tofu as good as a restaurant. I don't know if my wok is not hot enough, I'm using the wrong oil or there's some trick I'm missing...T
Adobo's traditionally a balance of salty/sour/sweet, but my take has an added hint of exotic/spicy. The set-up: Image Unavailable, Please Login Chicken: Marinated boneless, skinless chicken thighs in Chinese red rice vinegar, chopped garlic, and fresh ginger for thirty minutes. Then removed chicken from marinade and quickly browned in a super-hot skillet with a little peanut oil. Spice blend: Using mortar & pestle, ground together Sichuan peppercorn, dried red chili flake, and cumin seeds. Cooking liquid: Combined soy sauce, remaining marinade (vinegar/garlic/ginger), fish sauce, spice blend, sugar, star anise, and bay leaf. Aromatics: Chopped onion, smashed garlic, sliced ginger. Tossed aromatics in bottom of pressure cooker, placed browned chicken thighs on top of the aromatics, and poured cooking liquid over to almost cover. In the cooker and ready to go: Image Unavailable, Please Login And the finished product: Image Unavailable, Please Login
Tom, three questions: 1) What style of stir-fried tofu have you been trying to make - soft and silky, or firm with a crispy exterior? (Do you have an example of a specific restaurant/dish you're trying to emulate?) 2) What kind of tofu are you using? (silken, regular, firm, extra firm, pressed, etc.) 3) Are you thoroughly draining the tofu? If you want a crispy, browned exterior, then you have to use firm or extra firm. Keep in mind that extra firm browns/crisps up easier than firm, but doesn't absorb sauces/flavors well. So if you cut extra firm tofu into pieces that are too large, the inside may be bland. There's also a draining process for all of these (except for pressed or smoked) using boiling salt water (which draws out the moisture) and then paper towels. If you don't get enough of the moisture out, then your tofu will never brown properly. But if you're aiming for something soft like ma po tofu, and you're using silken tofu but it's still not coming out right, then I'd be curious to hear what kind of trouble you're having.
Hi…1) I am trying to replicate firm with a crispy exterior. 2) I use extra firm tofu. 3) I press the tofu before usage (typically, I put a plastic cutting board on the entire cube, the tofu sits on a few paper towels & then I put a cast iron pot on top and let it stand for a few minutes. Maybe I need to let it stand more to get more moisture out? I'm definitely not using the boiling salt water technique. I've not heard of that before, so I will need to read up. Thanks…T T
My SIL was born in a town along the Chinese/Vietnam border. I googled the town once but zero info existed. Her food is more like Vietnamese then Chinese. She uses tofu in a few things. We actually have gone to a Hunan style restaurant, its a very good place to eat. One of the few places now that has an English name that I can remember. Lucky Noodle.
Tom I may very well be corrected but I don't think you'll ever get what your looking for in a wok. I've messed up more tofu than I'd care to admit and to add insult to injury I've only once gotten that crispy golden crust. I think that day was just pure luck to be honest. The trick is corn starch and the oil escapes me but it definitely wasn't veg oil. Im actually hoping someone else can comment because that's my favorite way to have tofu. Tonight I pressed the tofu same as you and baked it for maybe 10 mins. Threw it in the wok at the end to warm/cook for maybe 3mins. It came out semi firm but how I like it in a wok. Hard enough that it didn't fall apart but not chewy in the slightest.
Okay, for a crispy exterior, try this: Cut your tofu into the desired sized pieces, soak it in boiling salt water for 10-15 minutes, and then do your pressing/paper towel method. If the tofu feels completely dry after that, it should be good to go. Lightly coat the tofu pieces with corn starch. I use a large, flat-bottomed, wok-shaped pan and not a traditional wok, but only because that's what we have at home. (Besides, my wife's from Wuxi, China and that's what she uses.) Also, I usually use peanut oil for stir-frying, but I've had to use canola many times before and it's always worked just as well. Anyway, heat your wok or pan until it's very hot, but not smoking, and add a little oil. When the oil's hot, stir-fry the tofu until it's crispy and then take it out and set it aside. Next, cook your veggies, make your sauce, or whatever else you want in your dish. Add the tofu back in at the end after the sauce is already thickened so it doesn't absorb a bunch of water. Toss until it's coated in the sauce and serve!
Fired off a text to my brother. SIL uses mostly peanut oil. But not the stuff sold in regular grocery stores, has to be from a China and only found in Chinese stores, for the peanut oil. She doesn't know the English word for the right peanut oil. She also buys pork, chicken and duck fat from butchers in China town. She also uses canola oil.
One of us was born and lived in China for 30 years and this is the brand we use (Lion & Globe), but only because it's far cheaper than buying peanut oil at an American supermarket. Other than the lower price, I'm not sure there's much difference, to be honest. If anything, the American products are probably more refined and of higher quality. And again, canola has always worked just as well for us. Image Unavailable, Please Login
^ Ok. This is given me the motivation to try again. My wife and I are in the home stretch of a year-long home reno and so it'll be a while before I'm back in my own kitchen with all my own tools, but I def will try all these ideas. Thank you, everyone...T
Thank you. It was pretty good. The round things are water chestnuts. They added a nice crunch to everything. I'm already excited to try Wayne's method next time I make tofu. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
