[Update November 2016: I’m leaving this post up for archival reasons since it still gets quite a few clicks. However, the links have been removed because the So Delushious blog appears to be inactive. (Maybe because Chrissy Teigen wants you to buy her cookbook?) If you want to check it yourself the URL is sodelushious dot com.]
I ran across the So Delushious blog while comparing Caesar Salad recipes. Turns out the author is Chrissy Teigen, a swimsuit model who has an intense relationship with food. (Or, as she puts it, “a girl who loves bacon and can’t be fat.”) This contradiction has given her quite a bit of angst, along with a potty mouth to rival David Chang’s.
There’s plenty that has nothing to do with food and may actually cause you to lose your appetite, like the post that’s currently on her home page*, but if you breeze past that stuff you will be rewarded with some solid recipes and food reviews.
*Alas, Chrissy’s gone mainstream since this post was written, what with the TV show and new baby and all, and the more colorful stuff has been scrubbed from her blog.
Ramps are a wild leek that’s plentiful in marshy areas and farmers markets in early spring, where I live in upstate New York. They’re small and delicate so I use the green parts as well as the bulbs for pickled ramps. Drape a few over a pork chop, slice and serve in salad, or present as part of a pickle plate.
Ingredients:
A big bunch of ramps
1/4 c sugar*
½ c water
½ c cider vinegar
1 ½ T pickling spice
1 t salt
Method: clean the ramps by cutting off the roots, removing any dried outer husk with your fingernail, and cutting off any wilted areas from the tops. This process will take quite a while. Have ready a bowl of ice water; blanch the cleaned ramps quickly in boiling water then plunge into ice water where you can leave them while you prepare the rest of the recipe. Heat sugar, water, cider vinegar and pickling spice to a boil, cool slightly, then pour over drained ramps in a wide mouth canning jar. Keeps 1 month in refrigerator.
This amount of sugar will give you a mild sweetness to offset the oniony notes, but not as much as in bread and butter pickles. You can reduce the sugar if you like, or just leave it out.
This is a master tripe stew recipe that’s good, but can be made better with your tweaks. I started with some guidance from my Yelp friend Chen Z then began adding stuff. Serves 8 as part of a dim sum meal, or 4 as an entree.
Ingredients:
2 lb honeycomb tripe
1 lb fibrous vegetables such as daikon, turnip, kohlrabi, rutabaga
1 c Fujain cooking wine (or Shao Shing)
3 c water
2 packets Spice for Spice Foods made by Oriental Mascod (or 1 T five-spice powder)*
2 star anise
2 cloves garlic
1 piece of ginger the size of your little finger, peeled and cut into three pieces
3 T soy sauce
1 T sugar
One bunch of scallions, chopped, green parts included
1 t salt
1 T sesame oil (optional)
2 T cornstarch
Method: boil tripe for 10 minutes; drain; rinse with cold water; cut into bite size pieces (approximately 1 ½ inches square). Add aromatics to wine and water in a 2 qt saucepan and bring to boil; add tripe. Cook 20 minutes. Add root vegetables and cook another 20 minutes. Fish out aromatics and add soy sauce, sugar, scallion pieces, salt and optional sesame oil. Return to a boil; spoon out a few tablespoons into a serving bowl and mix with cornstarch, then return this slurry to the pot and cook until well combined. The tripe should be tender and the vegetables firm but not crunchy. Serve in a bowl by itself or over rice.
Spice for Spice Foods, including deconstructed packet
* Spice for Spice Foods is a spice mix readily available in Asian markets. You get 4 bags stapled to a cardboard for under $2, and each bag contains two spice packets. Label says the ingredients are fennel (they mean anise), cinnamon, cloves and zinziber which is ginger. I tore one apart and found some fibrous stems that must be ginger stalks along with the other more recognizable items. If you can’t find it, substitute five-spice powder.
Mom food from the 1950s. I followed the green bean casserole recipe from the French’s coupon insert but it was pretty bland so I doctored it up a bit with some ingredients that were probably present in the original. Serves 8.
Ingredients:
1 can cream of mushroom soup (Campbell’s preferred)
¼ c milk
¼ tsp black pepper
3/4 t salt*
1/4 t MSG*
1 lb frozen green beans, French cut, cooked according to package directions and drained
1 can (2.8 oz) French’s French Fried Onions=
Method: Dump the soup into a cast iron skillet and add milk, pepper, salt and MSG; stir until blended. Mix in green beans and all but ¼ c of the fried onions. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes then sprinkle remaining onions on the top and heat 5 minutes more. Serve from the skillet, on a trivet if you bring to table.
*If you don’t want to use MSG, you can get the umami effect by adding 1/4 c parmesan cheese (preferably from the green Kraft shaker, like mom used) and 1 T soy sauce; if you do this omit the salt and MSG.
I generally do my own hacks of the prepared ingredients in a recipe, but French’s Fried Onions are hard to duplicate. Somehow they manage to coat each tidbit without making it heavy and greasy. These are often on sale around holidays and they last just about forever (in spite of what the “use by date” on the can might say) so stock up.
Broccoli Slaw with optional almonds and bacon (you really don’t need them unless you happen to have some around)
It’s pretty hardcore to bring a sweet slaw with onions to a neighborhood potluck, but this broccoli slaw works beautifully. (And it’s great with ham which is why I’m publishing the recipe this week.) When the perpetrator would not identify him/herself I had to invent my own. Serves 8.
Ingredients:
1/2 c mayonnaise
1 T honey
1 T cider vinegar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t pepper
12-16 oz shredded broccoli* or 1 package “broccoli slaw”
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/2 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped (about 1/4 c)
1 strip bacon, cooked till crisp and crumbled (optional)
1/4 c slivered almonds, toasted (optional)
Method: Combine the first 5 ingredients in a serving bowl and mix well. Add broccoli and cranberries and onion and optional nuts and bacon and mix well. (Be sure the honey is well dissolved and combined.) Better if it sits an hour or so before serving; if longer, refrigerate.
*Actually I used kolhrabi for most of the bulk in my prep. It’s very easy to shred with a mandoline and has a broccoli-ish taste.
This Sunday is Easter. All across the land, families will sit down to dinners featuring hams which were sold as “fully cooked” yet have been heated in a 350 degree oven according to a recipe like this one: “If the ham is labeled ‘fully cooked’ (does not require heating), heat for 8 to 10 minutes per pound, or to an internal temperature of 140°F.”*
Does this make sense? Is it a good idea? Is it remotely necessary? Let’s take a step back.
I am in possession of a beautiful fully smoked and cooked hickory ham on the bone sent to me by the folks at Jones Dairy Farm. I advise you to get such a ham if you possibly can. It’s sweet, not salty like a country ham, yet the hickory taste and smell pervades it. And because it’s cured on the bone it is firm and meaty throughout. Plus, you get a bonus hambone (hock) for beans and soup.
I am going to lightly trim the fat (which I’ll save for that aforementioned pot of beans) and then rub this ham all over with as much brown sugar it will absorb, same as if I was preparing a brisket for the smoker. I will not add any cloves or fruit juice because I want the hickory ham taste to come through undiluted. I will put this ham in a pan with a rack in a 350 degree oven and when it has reached a temperature where the fat has started to render then I will begin to baste it with the juices that drip off.
When it is fully heated through I will raise the oven temperature to 425 for 10 final minutes to caramelize the glaze, then I’ll remove it from the oven and let it rest half an hour before serving. (Be aware this is a fairly aggressive technique, and you should watch vigilantly so the glaze doesn’t burn. You may be happy keeping the oven at 350, and removing the ham when it reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees.)
The result is a crispy, crackling, finger-licking crust similar to that in Honey-Baked Ham—a dish which, like revenge, is best served lukewarm, or even cold. It’s your reward for taking an extra measure of food safety precaution even if it may not be entirely necessary.
P.S. Watch the video for Philip Jones’ easy method to prepare a bone-in ham for carving. First, identify the side of the ham that has the majority of meat. Then, cut a slice off the other size, toward the hip, as a base the ham can sit on while you’re carving. Now carve out a wedge at the opposite end, by the shank, to expose the meat. You can now start serving up beautiful slices that won’t fall apart.
*140 degrees is barely hot enough to kill cooties. To be sure of food safety, cook to an internal temperature of 145 degrees.
Magnificent, ethereal tripe at Mayflower dim sum restaurant
[SEE UPDATE BELOW] I love tripe. I love all organ meats, actually, but I have a particularly warm spot in my heart for tripe. It’s partly the spongy, chewy texture, strange and forbidding yet somehow irresistible. Partly the way this mild meat serves as a flavor platform for whatever it’s cooked with, soaking it up and enhancing it. And there is certainly an element of sense memory from all the restorative menudos and Chinese stews savored after a night of carousing.
So when I enjoyed one of the best tripe preparations I’ve ever had this week in the Bay Area—snowy bible or leaf tripe from the third stomach, plunged into boiling stock on the serving cart and then garnished with shaved scallions and peppers—I bemoaned the fact that when I returned to my home in upstate New York there would not be a tripe dish to be had in a 50 mile radius. The reason is not that tripe is hard to come by or prepare. It’s just “not for the American taste,” a server explained to me at a Vietnamese place. And I resolved to do something about it.
Google “airy book tripe (sach) is already cooked when you buy it” and you will find a page of references but they all trace back to this canonical recipe at Viet World Kitchen. So could it be that I could simply pick up a pound of tripe at the Asian Supermarket on Central, then shave it into my pho at Van’s or Kim’s or, god forbid, Pho Yum when the restaurant fails to provide it?
Not quite. The snowiness comes in part from bleach or other chemicals—rarely available “green” tripe is an unappetizing shade between grey and pink and must be cooked for hours during which time your kitchen will smell like the boys latrine at summer camp. I do not trust my friends at Asian Supermarket to completely purge these chemicals before selling, so I’m going to bring my sach home, wash it in several changes of water, then boil it (which will also give me an opportunity to correct any residual rubberiness through more cooking). Then I’ll load it into a zip-loc bag and we’re off for some pho. Tripe, let’s do this.
UPDATE: I went to the Asian Market and bought a pound and a half of honeycomb tripe (for my Chinese Tripe Stew) and a pound of leaf tripe. Boiled them for a few minutes and tasted before and after and I did not discern any bleachy/chemical taste, so next time I’d pop them right in the prep. The honeycomb tripe definitely has a stronger flavor so I’d prefer it for most recipes though I love the delicate texture of the leaf tripe. I also peeked at the nutritional content and was surprised to find tripe is low calorie, about 100 per 1/4 pound serving. Unfortunately it’s punishingly high in cholesterol, around 150 mg for that same serving. But we’re not going to eat this every day… or are we?
Here’s a way to dress up boring tomato juice with ingredients you’re likely to have around the kitchen. The flavor profile is similar to seafood cocktail sauce. If you come into money, first thing to add is some vodka or tequila. 1 serving.
Ingredients:
8 oz tomato juice (I use Campbell’s)
1 t Worcestershire sauce
½ t Tabasco
1 t horseradish
½ t sugar
¼ t salt
2 T pickle juice (I used McClure’s)
Method: Mix until dry ingredients are dissolved, enjoy. Note that all proportions are “or to taste”; feel free to vary.
You can’t get past the first serving station at the Highland Park Cafeteria without encountering an array of tempting congeals. Tomato aspic is one of my favorites. This prep is sure to warm the heart of anyone with roots in the south. Serves 12.
Ingredients:
4 c tomato juice (I use Campbells)
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t salt (start with less, taste)
2 t white sugar (start with less, taste)
1 t Tabasco or to taste
½ c chopped celery and/or celery leaves
½ c chopped onion
½ c chopped green pepper
2 bay leaves
3 packets gelatin*
½ c cold water
2 ½ T cider vinegar
Mayonnaise (preferable Kewpie brand)
Method: Mix everything EXCEPT gelatin, water and vinegar in a large saucepan and bring slowly to a simmer. Continue cooking 5 minutes over very low heat until vegetables are just beginning to lose their crispness. Remove bay leaves. Meanwhile, mix gelatin into water in a shallow bowl and stir if necessary to thoroughly hydrate the gelatin. Turn off the heat and stir in gelatin, continuing to stir until all lumps disappear. Add cider vinegar and pour into a ring form or multiple individual molds (use silicon molds or else lubricate the surface with a tasteless oil). Refrigerate until very firm. Unmold onto serving plate(s); if the aspic sticks it helps to briefly dip the outside of the mold in hot water. Serve with a dollop of mayonnaise on each piece.
*The gelatin lobby wants us to use one packet for every cup of water but that’s definitely too much. I used three packets for insurance but two is probably sufficient.
VARIATION: Halve a ripe avocado then cut lengthwise into slices. Strain the vegetables from the aspic before adding the gelatin. When aspic is thickened but not yet set (after 1-2 hours in the refrigerator), carefully place the avocado pieces around the edges of the ring mold, curved side facing out, so each serving gets a piece of avocado. For individual molds, place a slice of avocado in each mold.
While researching green papaya salads for my Mock Som Tam recipe, I typed “how to make green papaya salad without a mortar and pestle” into the Google search box and up popped She Simmers. Leela Punyaratabandhu was born in Thailand but lives in the U.S. Her blog is dedicated to her late mom, the “cookbook addict”, and she presents recipes from those Thai cookbooks as well as her own creations and those of modern Thai chefs.
, is available on Amazon.