Fake Claypot Rice?

I watched an older episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations last night. In 2007 he went (back) to Hong Kong. At the time of watching, I'd had two slices of leftover pizza to eat that day... about noon. That was it. No other form of sustenance except for a bit of water entered my body. The time of viewing? Oh, about 10:00 PM. I was pretty hungry but had little to cook in the house and little money to justify getting take out that late.

So perhaps my state of hunger had something to do with how big of an impression this particular episode had on me.

(In contrast, the night before I'd watched the Shanghai episode and, though everything looked spectacularly delicious, I was so not hungry that the episode was hard to watch)

One dish in particular reminded me of a few things I did have in the house to eat and would have cooked if it wasn't so late. Claypot Rice. Basically, a steamed rice dish in a small claypot that was accompanied by various "toppings", such as Chinese sausage ("lop chang", or however you want to spell it), duck, salted fish, chicken... basically a one-bowl rice dish. It's something they apparently eat in the winter.

I knew I'd be making some version of that today for lunch.

I had leftover rainbow chard (about 12 days old, but still a lot of healthy-looking leaves), eggs, leftover rice, and lop chang. A bit of canola oil, soy sauce, water, and crushed red peppers and I was ready to go.

Oh, but wait. I don't have a claypot. What to do?!

1. Canola oil went into a medium-medium high heated nonstick pan. After it was hot, I threw in the lop chang, which I'd cut into medium-sized pieces (for its size).
2. Once the sausage had browned, I threw in the chard until it wilted. Then, in went the rice. I tossed it with some crushed red pepper. Then, about a 1/4 cup of water to help steam the leftover rice.
3. After most of the water had been absorbed/turned to steam, I cracked an egg over the top. I drizzled soy sauce over everything and put a lid on it. After a few minutes, once the egg had cooked through, it was ready to go. The results?

Excuse my funky mug, but the webcam was the only thing available. Pretty obvious that I'm happy though, yeah?

It was pretty damn good, cheap to make, and didn't take long at all. Usually I make fried rice with my leftovers, but this was a bit different. Fluffier, really, and the dish overall seemed to be a bit more incorporated whereas fried rice is usually a mish-mash of ingredients that still seemed separated in the dish. This could've been more incorporated had I used more liquid, but it was good the way it was. The bottom of the rice dish was crispy because it had fried while the rest did not. This led to some pretty intense flavors.

A small variation on a one-bowl rice dish, to be sure, but one worth exploring with your leftovers.

I poached my first...

...egg.

I poached my first egg.

Sadly, I had not eaten a poached egg until fairly recently. The first time being a few months ago, in fact, and I had more just last week for brunch. I like them very much. They're delicate, creamy, and are great with toast... which is why I guess toast is such a popular accompaniment with poached eggs.

So, I wanted to try poaching an egg at home. My thoughts drifted back to the movie Julie and Julia (a wonderful movie), in particular the scene where Julie was about to poach her first eggs.

And she failed. And failed. And failed. Until finally, she got it right.

It's actually not that difficult, at least it wasn't for me. Granted, I only poached a single egg, but as long as I'm able to recreate the same conditions and use the same approach, there's no reason why I would fail in my future endeavors.

First, I referred to Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques. About 2-3 quarts of water. Check. White vinegar. Check. Fresh egg. Check. Bowl of ice water. Check.

Time to go in.

The result? Brunch at home: a leftover chicken salad made with mixed spring greens and tomatoes, a simple Dijon vinaigrette, and a poached egg.

Ingredient

Prep/Use

---

MEAT AND PROTEINS

Chicken, roasted or rotisseried	shredded or chopped into small strips. Mix with the salad
1 large fresh egg

PRODUCE

Mixed spring greens	for the salad, of course
1 tomato	chopped, for the salad

SEASONINGS

pinch of kosher salt

black pepper

LIQUIDS
*Note that I did not measure the liquids and the amounts listed below are approximations. You should use the amounts desired.

extra virgin olive oil (approx. 1/4 cup or amount desired)	for the vinaigrette
white wine vinegar (approx. 2 tbsp or amount desired)	for the vinaigrette
2 tbsp Dijon mustard	for the vinaigrette
white vinegar	for the egg (helps firm the egg white)
water	for the egg (see hardware)

HARDWARE

saucepan or small pot	for poaching the egg
2 bowls	1 with ice water, the with clean water for washing the vinegar off the egg
1 small prep bowl	for the egg
slotted spoon	for the egg

For the vinaigrette, whisk the white wine vinegar (not the white vinegar!), the Dijon, salt, black pepper, and olive oil together until smooth.

For the poaching of the egg:

1. Bring 2-3 quarts of water and the white vinegar to a boil in the saucepan or small pot.
   
2. Once the water comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer.
• A simmer, by the way, is the state of a liquid that is just under a boil. It is sometimes referred to as a "gentle boil", and small bubbles will rise to the surface as opposed to the large bubbles you'll find in a rolling boil.
3. Break an egg open into the small prep bowl.
   
4. As close to the water's surface as possible, slide the egg into the water. Use the slotted spoon to gently lift the egg from the bottom of the pan.
5. Let the egg simmer for about 3-4 minutes, depending on how firm you want the egg.
6. With the slotted spoon, remove the egg and place in the ice water to stop the cooking. Then, move the egg to the bowl of clean water to wash off the rest of the vinegar.
• If you don't want to serve cold, then don't leave the egg in the ice water too long.
  
7. Drain the water from the egg (using a separate rack or carefully with the spoon) and place atop the salad.
   

If you want a hot poached egg, Pepin says to place the finished poached egg in boiling water for about a minute to reheat, then drain and serve.

Slow-cooker carnitas: Attempt #1

It was March 19, 2010 when I used our slow cooker for the first time.  After spending a few days researching the pros and cons to several slow cookers, we decided on a Hamilton Beach 6-qt programmable slow cooker.

The thing did me right.

My first dish was slow-cooker carnitas.  I knew that was going to be my first dish.  I had no doubt in my mind that it wasn't going to be stew, beef bourguignon, or soup.  No, it was going to be pulled pork, and not just any pulled pork... I wanted carnitas.

What exactly are carnitas?  According to Rachel Laudan, historian, scientist, and food writer, carnitas, Mexican-Spanish for "little meats", are little chunks of pork cooked in its own fat.  For many of us here in America, Epicurious' definition basically says it all: it's small bits or shreds of pork, made from an inexpensive cut.  Check out Rachel Laudan's site for something more authentically Mexican in description.

I didn't have a whole pig, and I didn't even know at the time that it was more authentic to use one.  I just figured I'd get a pork shoulder, thrown in some spices, and make some mouth-watering pulled pork, Mexican style.

So, I did.

I referenced several recipes for spices and cooking times.  Every recipe had something different to offer: some cooked the pork on high, some low; some cooked for a shorter time while others cooked for about 10 hours.  I found a recipe that used no liquid at all (the juices from the meat would have provided the liquid, eventually).

In addition, there were some spices and herbs that I just wasn't going to buy.  I'm broke, and I wanted to use as much of what I already had in my kitchen as possible.  Anything I was going to buy needed to be used either immediately or fairly frequently.  Therefore, I did not buy bay leaves.

I also did not want to use water, which is a popular liquid used in many recipes.  I wanted to use something with flavor (a la Alton Brown's philosophy) since I was going to keep the liquid once the cooking was finished.

After referencing several recipes, I assembled the following:

Ingredient

Prep/Use

---

MEAT

6 lbs pork shoulder

trim large chunks of excess fat around outside of shoulder

PRODUCE

1 onion

quartered, leaves separated

SEASONINGS

1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt

1 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp oregano

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

LIQUIDS

1 bottle Shiner Bock or beer of choice	for braising
olive oil	for searing pork

HARDWARE

large skillet	for searing
slow cooker	for the long, long braise

1. Place the onions in the crock, spreading them out on the bottom.
2. If the pork shoulder has bone, remove the bone and cut the meat into large pieces.  If there is no bone, leave in one large piece, if desired, or cut into large sections.
• When it comes time to sear, you have the potential for more flavor if you sear several chunks rather than the entire shoulder as you will be searing more surface area with the chunks.
3. Heat the skillet on medium high heat.
4. Combine the seasonings into a large bowl. Place the meat into the bowl to coat with seasonings.
5. Add the olive oil to coat the bottom of the skillet. Once the oil is hot, brown the meat on all sides. Do in batches, if necessary.  Once browned, place the pieces on top of the onions in the crock.
6. Add the bottle of beer, making sure all the pieces of meat are at least partially submerged in the liquid.
7. Secure the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 8.5 hours on low. Be sure to turn the meat over halfway through cooking.
8. Remove meat to a separate bowl when done. Pull meat apart and place back into liquid in the slow cooker.

VERDICT:

We served the carnitas with tortillas (corn or flour), with a simple guacamole, minced onions, and cheddar cheese available should one desire them. I personally skipped the cheese, not because I don't like cheese but I didn't want to many things getting in the way of the meat, which I wanted to be in the spotlight.

The meat turned out awesome, but there was a little too much cinnamon.  Meat also gave up a lot of liquid (not necessarily a bad thing) and I ended up pouring a little out.

Next time, I may cut back on the cinnamon. I also have a theory that Shiner Bock, being a beer with a crisp, wheat flavor, may bring out the cinnamon flavor. I have no scientific proof of this, just that when I had a Shiner Bock with the meal the wheat flavor seemed to pair well with the cinnamon aspect of the meat, which caused me to believe that the beer may have enhanced this spice. It’s something I’ll have to look into.

Also, perhaps use half a beer instead of a whole, next time. This will reduce the amount of liquid at the end… and I’ll get to drink the other half.