Chinese-Style Spare Ribs

saw this on the serious eats website and think it's worth a try one day... since the piece mentions that the recipe was "inspired" by one from Saveur Magazine, i decided to post that recipe as well...

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Grilling: Chinese-Style Spare Ribs

Posted by Joshua Bousel, July 17, 2009

On the commute to work a couple weeks ago, my co-worker and I were lamenting that for each excellent Chinese restaurant in the city, there had to be at least ten horrible ones—and there's hardly any of those halfway decent standard Americanized Chinese joints that dot the suburbs. Unfortunately, the little Northeastern corner of Queens that we inhabit has no Chinese that we can find that is even passable, leaving me to turn to my kitchen if I ever want to fulfill a Chinese fix at home. Because of this, I've become adept at making lots of types of stir-fries and some noodle dishes, but I decided to take things a little further and try my luck at some grilled Chinese, take-out style spare ribs.

Based on my previous experience with home-cooking Chinese, I found a recipe that sounded like the right mix of ingredients to achieve the flavors I'm used to. So I whipped up the hoisin-based marinade, even adding the red food coloring to get that authentic take-out look, and let the ribs soak up the flavor overnight. On the grill, they cooked for a little over an hour over indirect heat at 350 degrees, then moved over direct heat until they got that caramelized crust that makes them so delicious. Everything with the recipe was spot-on: the flavors, the texture, and even the color. Luckily I made so many that I have a healthy portion still sitting in my fridge for those authentic Chinese leftovers.

Chinese-style Spare Ribs

Adapted from Saveur
- serves 4 -

Ingredients

1/3 cup hoisin sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons dry sherry
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons. sugar
3/4 teaspoon. red food coloring
1/4 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
1 2-pound slab spareribs, preferably St. Louis style, cut into individual ribs

Procedure

1. Whisk together hoisin, soy, sherry, garlic, sugar, food coloring, and spice powder in a large bowl. Place ribs in a large ziploc bag and pour in the marinade. Seal the bag and toss to coat ribs evenly. Open and reseal the bag, removing as much air as possible. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for one hour to overnight.

2. Remove ribs from the refrigerator while preparing grill. Light a chimney 3/4 full of charcoal. When the charcoal is fully lit and covered in gray ash, pour coals out and arrange them on one side of the charcoal grate, keeping the other side empty. Place the ribs on the cool side of the grill, reserving marinade. Cover and cook at 350 degrees for 35 minutes. Baste ribs with reserved marinade; flip and baste again. Cover and continue to cook for 35 minutes more.

3. Baste with remaining marinade and move ribs directly over the coals. Grill unto ribs are glazed and browned, about 5 to 10 minutes more. Remove from the grill, let cool for 5 minutes, and serve.

From Saveur:

Chinese Barbecued Spareribs

This recipe is based on one that appears in the Joyce Chen Cook Book (J. B. Lippincott, 1962) by the author of the same name. For this dish, we like to use leaner, Chinese-style spareribs, also called St. Louis style, from which the breast bones and flaps of cartilaginous meat have been removed.

1⁄3 cup hoisin sauce
1⁄4 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp. dry sherry
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp. sugar
3⁄4 tsp. red food coloring
1⁄4 tsp. Chinese five spice powder
1 2-lb. slab spareribs, preferably St. Louis style,
cut into individual ribs

1. Whisk together hoisin, soy, sherry, garlic, sugar, food coloring,
and spice powder in a large bowl. Add ribs; toss to coat with marinade.
Set aside, covered with plastic wrap, to let marinate at room temperature
for 1 hour.

2. Heat oven to 350°. Arrange a baking rack on top of a rimmed, foil-lined
sheet pan. Remove ribs from marinade (reserve marinade); arrange on
the rack, meat (not bone) side up. Place pan on middle rack of oven; pour
in enough water that it reaches halfway up the sides of the pan, making
sure the water does not touch the ribs. Bake ribs for 35 minutes. Baste
ribs with reserved marinade; flip and baste again. Bake for 35 minutes
more. (Add more water to pan if it dries up.) Raise heat to 450°. Flip
ribs again; baste with remaining marinade. Continue baking until ribs
are glazed, browned, and tender, about 20 minutes more. Serve with
Chinese mustard or duck sauce, if you like.

SERVES 4

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #111

Tapenade Recipe from Chef Huber Keller

A tasty-looking tapenade recipe from chef Hubert Keller, Top Chef Masters participant...

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Tapenade
- makes about 1 1/2 cups -

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups pitted brine-cued black olives, such as kalamata
4 oil-packed anchovy fillets, drained (optional)
2 tablespoons capers, drained
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, peeled
Leave from 10 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley or basil or a mix of both
Leaves from 2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 teaspoons cognac or brandy
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Pinch of freshly ground lack pepper

Procedure:

Put the olives, anchovies, capers, olive oil, garlic, parsley, thyme, cognac, mustard, lemon juice, and pepper in a food processor or blender. Process, stopping to scrape the sides occasionally, until you have a fairly smooth purée. No salt is needed because the anchovies and olives are fairly salty. Transfer the tapenade to a container and set aside until needed. The tapenade keeps, covered and refrigerated, for up to a week.

Burger Porn...

saw this on the hamburger today blog and had to post it. now this is the most indulgent... unfortunately, i don't live anywhere near chicago, but hell... next time i'm there i have a place i wanna go for lunch!
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Kuma's Corner: A Chicago Burger Even Upton Sinclair Would Love

Posted by Daniel Zemans, July 30, 2009 at 10:30 AM

Serious Eats contributor Daniel Zemans checks in with a piece of intel on the Windy City burger scene. Daniel also blogs about Chicagoland pizza with his friends on the Chicago Pizza Club blog. —The Mgmt.

Kuma’s Corner

2900 W. Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60618 (map); 773-604-8769; kumascorner.com
Cooking Method: Grilled
Short Order: The creative burgers are so good that this heavy metal bar is often overrun with a decidedly non-metal crowd
Want Fries With That? Absolutely! The waffle fries are cooked to perfection and the housemade chips are even better
Price: $10 to $13
Notes: In the summer, outdoor seating is available in back, but the extra grill space devoted to the additional tables means no orders to go during those months

Chicago has been the center of America’s beef world since the Union Stock Yards opened on Christmas Day, 1865. The city's status as the hub of the growing national railroad network and proximity to Midwestern cattle farms ensured that as the country and its demand for meat grew, so too did Union Stock Yards. By 1900, the Stock Yards was 475 acres and had 130 miles of railroad track and 50 miles of roads, and the city’s meatpacking industry employed more than 25,000 people and produced over 80 percent of the meat eaten in the United States.

By the late 1950s, technological advances eliminated the need for a large centralized slaughterhouse and part of Chicago's place as the epicenter of the meat industry withered away. But while the cattle may have stopped pouring in and out of Chicago, the cattle futures market remained at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, thereby retaining the city's importance in the beef-eating world and beef’s importance in the city’s self image. Given that history, it should come as no surprise that the hamburger is well represented in Chicago.

In the middle of 2005, Matt Cain opened Kuma’s Corner in Avondale, a working-class neighborhood on the northwest side that has consistently been a first American home for immigrants and has recently become a landing place for hipsters. After a couple of different radical menu overhauls, Kuma’s found and mastered its niche by 2007: a metal bar that sells some incredible and creative hamburgers. While the heavily tatted and pierced staff surely scared off some more straight-laced prospective diners in the early days, Kuma’s has evolved into a culinary destination for burger-lovers of all stripes—so much so that it is common for people to wait well over an hour to get seated.

Kuma’s offers 22 different burgers, 20 of which are named after heavy metal bands. The other two burgers are the eponymous Kuma Burger and a rotating monthly special typically named after a popular current news story (one of which was mentioned on AHT). I have not yet had every burger on Kuma's menu, but it is high on my to do list. One thing that has slowed me down is that the Kuma Burger is so good, it’s hard for me to not order it.

The Kuma Burger features 10 ounces of coarsely ground beef—like every burger at Kuma’s—and is topped with cheddar cheese, bacon and a fried egg. Between the juice from the meat and the egg yolk, there seems to be danger of making an inedible mess after a couple of bites. But the pretzel roll on which every burger at Kuma's is served is capable of absorbing an astounding amount of liquid.

There are places where so much is made of the toppings that the actual burger is an afterthought. That is not the case at Kuma’s at all; my rare burger was cooked perfectly. There was a nice crisp layer on the outside and the center was warm, soft meat. Combined with the crisp and chewy bacon, melted cheese, and molten egg, every bite had an incredible melding of flavors and textures. And because there is so much meat, there was no danger of the burger being overwhelmed by the toppings, something that has held true on every Kuma’s burger I’ve tried, from the Iron Maiden (avocado, cherry peppers, pepper jack, chipotle mayo) to the High On Fire (Sriracha, prosciutto, roasted red pepper, grilled pineapple, sweet chili paste).

When I visited Kuma's Corner in late May, my plan was, as it always is when I go, to finally try the Goblin Cock, which is basically a bacon cheddar burger with a fully dressed quarter-pound Chicago-style hot dog on top. But once again, I was distracted, that time by the monthly special, the Swine Flu. That burger featured fried tortilla strips, chorizo hash, roasted green chiles, pico de gallo, fresh cilantro, and a cream sauce. It was not my favorite burger that I've had at Kuma's, but the competition in that category is fierce. Other than the fried tortilla strips not retaining any crunch at all, the Swine Flu was an excellent burger. While it did not earn a permanent place on the menu, I do hope that chorizo hash will reappear on another burger there soon.

Even though Kuma's Corner has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years, it remains very much a neighborhood bar. There are regulars who know each other and everyone who works there, and Cain has been noticeably generous in hosting fundraisers for small local causes. The combination of good people, incredible burgers, and an impressive beer list that's dominated by craft brews has been a winning one for Kuma's. There have been rumors of Kuma's expanding to other cities, but so far it has not happened. Cain rejected the Venetian's overtures regarding an expansion into Las Vegas, but he has expressed willingness to branch out into cities like Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. I would advise residents of those cities to start a letter-writing campaign immediately.

NPR Segment on In-N-Out Burger

Check out the piece on In-N-Out Burger. the author of a new book on the In-N-Out phenomenon is interviewed. Find link here.

Also a piece from "grubstreet":

Those who checked into All Things Considered on NPR yesterday were treated to a breakdown of all things In-N'-Out when Stacy Perman, author of In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks the Rules, took to the airwaves for an interview.

In addition to illuminating founder Harry Snyder's "keep it simple" philosophy that has saved us from In-N-Out burgers in bread bowls, Perman details one of our favorite ways to do a double-double: Animal Style from the sorta secret menu.

GrubStreet: Article on LA's best burgers

this stuff is always subjective and i don't agree with some of the inclusions, some of those excluded, and frankly haven't tried them all... that said, an interesting article/slideshow worth giving a look...

The Burger Register: L.A.'s Twenty-Five Most Notable Burgers

Throw all the raw vegetables, juice bars, and ionized Whole Foods water you want at L.A., it still holds its own as a burger town, as any In-N-Out fanatic will proudly let you know. Even the New York Times recently squashed any East Coast-West Coast "beef" (sorry!) when it highlighted L.A.'s storming of the nouveau burger scene, calling Comme Ça's creation nothing short of "genius." Many of today's best chefs in L.A., from Tim Goodell to Govind Armstrong, have ditched artful plates and the evolution of California cuisine for sloppy, sinful slabs of sirloin, Angus, and rib-eye.

We whipped around the city for a tour of L.A.'s twenty-five most relevant, beloved, and delicious hamburgers. Some are legends, some are spring chickens, but each one has carved out a niche in our burgerland. When you're done drooling, check out Grub Street's Burger Registers for New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston.

Recipe: Mediterranean Pasta Palad

hopefully i'll have some time soon to fill in more detail (amounts, etc.), but thought i'd post at least this much...

i made a cold mediterranean pasta salad today, and it turned out pretty good. i'm sure i'll tweak it a bit, but all in all happy with it...


the ingredients (in no particular order):

israeli style couscous
orzo
baby garbanzo beans
red quinoa

saffron
curry powder
minced garlic and ginger
white pepper
salt

halved cherry tomatoes
greek feta cheese
red basil (chiffonade)
roasted green bell pepper (chopped)

vinegarette:

olive oil
dijon
white balsamic vinegar
rice vinegar
honey
green onions (chopped)

Gourmet Magazine: Best Burgers Menu

Nice feature from Gourmet Magazine Online with an interesting slide show (with reciepes) of "unusual" but tasty-looking burger ideas. Find the slideshow here.

Personally... i'm a big lamb burger guy these days, but i have been wanting to try a burger with a fried egg for some time. Crab burger looks good too (i'll pass on the poppy seed bun, though).