glazed gingery ribs

I have no idea where this recipe came from. I think it was a library book, maybe something general like “Asian Cooking” by somebody-or-other. I don’t think the original recipe called for star anise or chile pepper - I think J thought that up himself. But, you know, we just have no record of it. The recipe is written in our little home recipe binder and has been there for years, and every time we make it we’re impressed anew with how easy and delicious it is.

It’s a great dish to make for company because it’s so hands-off: you combine the ingredients with water and let it simmer, then boil off the liquid. Stir occasionally and cook some rice and veg to go with it. That’s it! The only downside is being able to start it early enough, since it takes a long time to boil down - not really a weeknight meal unless someone in your house gets off work well before 5.

maple-rosemary-horseradish glaze for short ribs (and post #100!)

I’ve already talked about Molly Stevens’ recipe for braised short ribs with porter, but I did leave one thing out when I made it before: the glaze. I really think I like short ribs best as a kind of stew, with everything mushed up in the pot together and served over noodles, but we thought it was worth a try to do the recipe in its entirety at least once.

The idea is, after you’ve done your braise, you arrange your short ribs in a single layer in a heavy pan, tuck the vegetables around the sides, then paint them with a glaze made of rosemary-infused maple syrup mixed with prepared horseradish (the recipe uses 3 Tbsp syrup to 1 Tbsp horseradish). The pan goes under the broiler until the glaze is glossy and caramelized. Then, finally, you can eat them.

braising a brisket

On Sunday we did something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time - stayed home all day! We ventured out only to bring in the paper and fetch a bay leaf from the tree in the back yard. The morning was snowy and the rest of the day gray and uninteresting, so it was a perfect way to spend the day. We had gotten a brisket out of the freezer a couple days before. J got it prepped and simmering before breakfast, so its aroma filled the house all day long. We had it for dinner with mashed potatoes and some spinach sauteed with garlic.

We’d never done a brisket before, so we just picked a recipe that looked interesting from the book Kitchen Sense by Mitchell Davis. It uses ketchup, which sounded odd but somehow intriguing. The final product is very tender, and the flavor sort of reminiscent of barbecue, but also sort of like meatloaf. I might make this one again sometime, but I don’t think it’ll be my go-to brisket.

Braised Brisket

adapted from Kitchen Sense by Mitchell Davis

• 1 small brisket (ours was only 3 lbs or so)
• 7 oz ketchup
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp worcestershire
• 1/2 Tbsp dry mustard
• 1/2 Tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp New Mexico chile powder
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1 good grinding of black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 3/4 cup water

Indonesian pork & greens

I do lots of the cooking in our house, and I like it that way, but still - I love it when J cooks. Not only does it mean I can sit around with a drink and watch someone else work - always enjoyable - but he often tackles recipes that are a lot more complex than I usually feel like dealing with. He loves measuring spices for Indian curries, is a great baker, and doesn’t mind following long detailed directions. I tend to look at this sort of recipe, think “what’s all this nitpicking detail for?” and ignore half of it. He doesn’t, with the obvious result that a lot of his cooking tastes more complex and authentic than mine. Not that he complains much about my cooking

So on Sunday when I was at work, he undertook to make a couple recipes out of James Oseland’s Cradle of Flavor. I loved this book when I bought it so much that I actually sat on the couch and read it cover to cover, it was so evocative of the sights, smells and tastes of Indonesia. We made a special trip to Uwajimaya (a 100-mile round trip) to stock up on every single weird-sounding ingredient: pandan leaf, sweet soybean paste, fermented shrimp paste, galangal, water spinach, fresh turmeric, et al. It was great. But lately we haven’t been cooking out of it, and when we were in Uwajimaya again on Saturday the water spinach looked good, so …

Stir-Fried Nyonya-style Water Spinach

from Cradle of Flavor by James Oseland

Pork braised in milk

Our plan for Sunday - which actually worked out, astonishingly enough - was to go get our Christmas tree at a local farm, set it up, and braise something for dinner so it could be cooking away and scenting the house while we decorated our tree. Often, of course, these plans don’t work out, because getting the tree into the house takes approximately five times longer than you think it will, and by the time it’s upright, the floor is vacuumed and the furniture has all been rearranged twice, you don’t have time for an involved dinner. But we actually allowed enough time for once, so we had our braise and our tree, too.

I was very pleased with the braised short ribs I made out of Molly Stevens’ book All About Braising, and wanted to try another recipe or two from her. We have an Italian friend who used to make pork cooked with milk and sage, but I had never tried it myself (I think I still wasn’t convinced it really worked) so when I saw a recipe for Pork Loin Braised in Milk, I thought I’d try it just as written and see what happened.

Short ribs braised in porter

Saturday was chilly, and after a brisk walk by the bay we felt the need of something substantial and warming for dinner. I glanced at my still-pristine copy of All About Braising by Molly Stevens, and found a recipe for Short Ribs Braised in Porter Ale with Maple-Rosemary Glaze. We love short ribs and have made them before with either a red wine braising liquid or a good dollop of Patak’s curry paste, so porter sounded like a good variation. The maple glaze sounded unnecessary and sweet, so I left it off, but I otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely.

Our grocery store sometimes sells both English-style and Flanken-style short ribs - this weekend they only had Flanken-style. For beer we picked out a large bottle of Scuttlebutt Porter from Everett - it’s smooth and rich without any bitterness, and cooked down with no off flavors.