Pork Hoisin

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Happy Chinese New Year! I’m cooking a modest and economical Pork Hoisin this evening, just for the two of us. This recipe doubles or triples very easily. For more Chinese food ideas, see the Index under Chinese. 

This recipe requires extra time 

for marination

Pork Hoisin:

½ lb. pork tenderloin

1 tbsp. dark soy sauce
2 tbsp. dry sherry, divided
2 tsp. cornstarch or tapioca starch
1 tbsp. cold water
8 small green onions (“spring” onions)
3 tbsp. oil, divided
3 tbsp. hoisin sauce
¼ tsp. cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp. cold water 

Remove thin sheath of fat from tenderloin. Slice pork across the grain into ¼-in. rounds; cut each round in half or into thin strips. Prepare meat marinade: Combine the soy sauce, 1 tbsp. sherry, and the cornstarch and cold water. Mix thoroughly and stir into pork. This will not seem like enough marinade; it is. 

Slice green onions lengthwise into thin strips (see Note). Cut on the diagonal into 1-½-in. lengths. Prepare stir-fry sauce for meat: Combine 1 tbsp. oil, hoisin sauce, cornstarch-water mixture, and remaining sherry. Set aside. 

Heat wok or heavy skillet over high heat. Add 2 tbsp. oil. Stir-fry pork 2-to-3 min. until cooked through. Add hoisin sauce mixture, stirring until sauce starts to thicken and bubble. Just before serving, stir in green onions. Serves 2.

Note: A bean slicer does a very speedy job of slivering the green onions. This is a worthwhile tool to add to your pantry. You may need to buy it online, because I rarely see bean slicers in kitchen stores. Mine is ancient. I treasure it! 

- With thanks to The Vancouver Sun

Carefully trim sheath of fat from tenderloin.

Slice meat into 1/4-in. (1.25 cm) rounds.

Cut each round in half.

Prepare marinade: Oil, hoisin, sherry, cornstarch.

Marinate pork.

Prepare sauce: Soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, water.

The fastest way to sliver green onions ... a bean slicer!

Slice slivered onions into diagonal lengths.

Sauté strips of pork.

Continue stir-frying until fully cooked, 2-to-3 min.

Add stir-fry sauce, cooking until heated through.

Add slivered onions just at the end.

Pork Hoisin: Every morsel delicious!

It’s traditional to give guests and family “lucky envelopes”
containing money. These “gold coins” are chocolate-filled.
As you celebrate Chinese New Year, celebrate life! 

Broccoli Chop Suey

I remember when George H. W. Bush wreaked havoc on broccoli farmers with the unguided missile that was his tongue (“I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!”). To teach him a lesson, the broccoli farmers of America dumped 20,000 pounds on the doorstep of the White House. The President may not have eaten any broccoli - but he did have to eat a little crow.

Broccoli? Or Presidential Kryptonite? You decide!

If you aren’t the President of the United States, the most important thing to remember about this dish is that the broccoli should not be overcooked. If you are the President of the United States, I suspect you’ve got more important things to worry about. Overcook broccoli, and it’s game over because you’ll lose its nutrients, crunch, flavor, and bright green color. I dare say that even a Broccoli Boycotter like the 41st President would enjoy this Chinese dish! 

Broccoli Chop Suey:

To Prepare Vegetables and Meat: 

Boiling water, as required

1-½ c. broccoli, cut into flowerets, stems removed (see Note)

2 tbsp. peanut oil, divided (see Further Note)

Small knob of ginger root, peeled and left whole

1 whole garlic clove, peeled

1 stalk celery, sliced on a fine, sharp diagonal

1 small cooking onion, quartered and slivered

1 small green pepper, angle-cut in bite-sized chunks

½ 8-oz. (227 mL) can sliced bamboo shoots, drained

6 canned water chestnuts, sliced and drained

Chinese-style barbecued pork, as needed, or 5 angle-sliced Chinese sausages 

1 tbsp. oyster sauce

1 tbsp. cooking sherry or rice wine vinegar

Cornstarch paste (3 tbsp. cornstarch or tapioca starch mixed with 2 tsp. dark soy sauce, 1 tsp. oyster sauce, and sufficient water to make a paste)

Assemble all ingredients, preparing vegetables and seasoning mixture (below) in advance of cooking. I recommend placing the sliced and chunked vegetables on a large platter or tray, keeping everything near your wok. Once you start cooking, you’ll need to move quickly! Your wok or skillet should have a lid. Please read the instructions through before you start this recipe.

Pour at least 1 c. boiling water over broccoli; let sit 3 min. Drain broccoli, reserving water. Chill broccoli in ice water bath to stop cooking process. Drain, blot dry, and lay on platter or tray until needed. In wok or deep skillet, heat 1 tbsp. oil until sizzling. Add ginger and garlic to oil. Remove from wok a few seconds later, discarding when browned. 

Add remaining oil to wok, heating on high. Add and stir-fry the following ingredients in the order and times given: Celery (30 sec.), onion (60 sec.), broccoli (60 sec.), seasoning mixture below (60 sec.), green pepper (60 sec.), bamboo shoots (10 sec.), water chestnuts (60 sec.), and barbecued pork or Chinese sausage, just to heat through. 

Combine oyster sauce with 1 c. reserved broccoli water. Pour around edge of wok. (Liquids of any sizable quantity should always be added around the edge of the wok, allowing them to heat quickly. Do not pour liquids into the center of the food). Cover and cook 1 min. on high heat. Remove lid and stir in cooking wine. Make a “well” in the center of the dish, adding cornstarch paste a little at a time until dish reaches desired consistency. 

To Prepare Seasoning Mixture: 

1 tsp. salt
½  tsp. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. dark soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce

Combine in small bowl. Set aside. 

Note: Reserve thicker, woodier broccoli stems for future use in making stock (see my Jan. 19, 2012 blog on How to Make Soup Stock). Peel and slice the more tender stems and add to Chop Suey. 

Further Note: Once again, I recommend using peanut oil for Chinese wok cookery because of its ability to withstand high cooking temperatures without breaking down. As with any oil heated to a high temperature, there’s always the potential for fire. Be extra careful.

Prepare vegetables in advance of cooking

Work quickly: Fry celery, onions ...

Add green pepper, par-boiled broccoli ...

Slice in a few Chinese sausages or BBQ'd pork

Thicken slightly, at the end of cooking

A closer view of a highly nutritious dish!

Chow Mein with Barbecued Pork

Chow Mein has become Chow Main Street! This is my version of a traditional dish that is easy to cook at home. You’ll need a wok or a large, deep skillet in which to make it. Please read the entire recipe through before you start. Chow Mein is such a beautiful dish that it deserves an Egg Garnish. Unlike most garnishes, this one needs to be made well ahead of your cooking and serving time. 

Chow Mein with Barbecued Pork:

To Prepare the Egg Garnish:

Few drops of oil, as needed

1 whole egg, well beaten
1 or 2 green (“spring”) onions, finely slivered on the diagonal

At least 30 min. before starting Chow Mein, preheat stove element to medium high. Add a few drops of oil to a flat-bottomed, medium skillet. Rub in with a paper towel, lightly coating the inside of the pan. Pour half of beaten egg into heated skillet, lifting and tilting pan off heat to spread egg paper thinly around circumference of skillet. Cook for a few seconds until egg sets. 

Wiggle a firm plastic or silicone spatula around edge of skillet to loosen egg before sliding egg onto a flat work surface. While egg is still hot, gently but tightly roll it up, jelly-roll style. Transfer to tray and chill. Repeat with remaining beaten egg. When each rolled egg is very cold, shred crosswise into ¼-in. slices. Set aside, chilling until needed. To garnish dish, sprinkle rolled egg over Chow Mein, topping with slivered green onion.

Roll still-hot cooked egg tightly; chill until needed

Slice when thoroughly cold

Sprinkle egg and green onion
over Chow Mein

To Prepare the Chow Mein:

4-to-6 dried, whole Chinese mushrooms (about ½ c. sliced, dried mushrooms)
Boiling water, as required

2 tbsp. peanut oil

1 large stalk celery, sliced paper-thin, on the diagonal 

1 medium cooking onion, quartered and slivered

3-to-4 stalks bok choy (or 3-to-4 bunches baby bok choy), sliced ¼-in. thick, on the diagonal

1-to-1-½ lb. fresh bean sprouts

¼ c. slivered bamboo shoots

8 oz. (225 g) pkg. dried chow mein noodles (see Note)

½ tsp. salt

2 tbsp. soy sauce

2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce

¾ - 1 c. sliced, lean, Chinese-style barbecued pork (see Further Note) 

Assemble all ingredients, preparing vegetables and combining seasonings in small bowl in advance of cooking. I recommend placing the sliced and chunked vegetables on a large platter or tray, keeping everything near your wok. Once you start cooking, you’ll need to move quickly! Your wok or skillet should have a lid. 

Reconstitute dried mushrooms by pouring water over them in a heat-proof jar. Fill to the top, seal, and let stand 15-to-30 min. Squeeze excess liquid from reconstituted mushrooms. If mushrooms are whole, sliver caps (Reserve and freeze tough stems for future use in making soup stock). Set aside.

Heat peanut oil in wok until oil reaches smoking point (see Additional Note). Meanwhile, bring 1 c. water to a boil. Add and stir-fry the following ingredients in the order given, each for 10-to-15 seconds: Celery, onions, bok choy, bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms. Immediately add cooked noodles, combining well (Whoa! Read that noodle Note without fail, Dollinks!). 

To just enough boiling water to steam vegetables tender-crisp, add salt, soy sauce, and 2 tbsp. oyster sauce, adding liquid and seasoning around edge of wok (Add liquids of any sizable amount around the edge of the wok - not into the center of the food! If you use uncooked noodles such as the Farkay brand that my Note mentions, you’ll need about 1 c. boiling water; if you add cooked noodles, you’ll need less). Cover and cook just until noodles are tender and liquid has evaporated. Transfer to serving platter, topping with Egg Garnish and finely slivered green onions.

Note: There are Chow Mein noodles - and there are Chow Mein noodles! The dry, skinny kind that resemble bundled hay can’t just be dumped into Chow Mein, or stirring them in will be impossible! Soften them in a separate pot of boiling water for 2 min. I like the fat, yellow kind of noodle - the Farkay brand is sold around the world - that you add directly to the wok. You can also buy soft, precooked noodles in the produce section of your supermarket, or in your supermarket’s refrigeration unit.

Further Note: I buy my barbecued pork from a Chinese supermarket chain. If you expect to make the Broccoli Chop Suey and Pork Hoisin recipes upcoming tomorrow and Monday, buy a little extra! Ask the butcher to send me the bill. I’ll never pay it, Dollinks, but try it, anyway. (My Broccoli Chop Suey uses a small amount of barbecued pork, but it’s optional; my Pork Hoisin recipe uses a ½ lb. of regular pork tenderloin. In deference to my readers who don’t eat pork, I promise I’ll make a greater effort to deliver more recipes that use other meats - or no meat at all! Mea culpa, Dollinks!)

Additional Note: I recommend using peanut oil for Chinese wok cookery because of its high smoking point. Peanut oil can withstand high temperatures without breaking down. I sometimes use canola oil, but watch it carefully. Because some Chinese food requires hot, fast cooking with oil, there’s always the potential for fire. Prenez-garde! Be vigilant!

Assemble and prepare all ingredients 

Add reconstituted dried mushrooms:
For extra convenience, buy them sliced

Stir-fry bok choy and fresh bean sprouts with celery and
onions, building or "layering" one ingredient at a time 

Chop BBQ'd pork: Resist the temptation to snack!

Continuing to stir-fry, add pork to wok

Add noodles, combining well
with other ingredients 

Put a lid on it!

The wok weighed so much that Ron had to do this part!

Sour Apple Martini: A Kitchen Exposé!

Our investigative news team has blown the lid off the debauched speakeasy promoted as the kitchen headquarters of Nicole Parton’s Favorite Recipes. Presented as the alleged site of “recipe testing and blogging” (nudge-nudge, wink-wink), the kitchen’s true behind-the-scenes activities emerged last night, as our hidden cameras recorded the now-disgraced Nicole Parton guzzling vodka martinis before a sink full of dirty dishes. Our cameras also caught her putative spouse, Ronald E. Fisher, jiggling a martini shaker to the tune of “La Cucaracha” as Parton - swinging her all-too-ample hips - attempted to warble along.

Fearing for their safety, these concerned citizens were forced to don disguises as they told our news team of their suspicion that Mr. Fisher’s choice of song was a direct comment on Ms. Parton’s less-than-adequate housekeeping skills.

Living in fear: A courageous couple speaks out

Caught on film urging his wife to “Drink up!” Fisher denied the relevance of the popular Mexican song, pleading that his first choice had been to sing “Shake, Rattle, and Roll.” He was forced, he said, to “change his tune” when a tipsy Parton objected to the lyric “Get out in that kitchen and rattle those pots and pans.”

Confronted with the evidence of a sink full of dirty dishes, Fisher initially agreed to blow the whistle on Parton’s poor cleaning skills, but claimed he had selected the song “on a whim.” Asked to comment on the relevance of her rendition of “La Cucaracha,” Parton hiccuped: “Wazza question again?” Parton insisted she knew how to hold her liquor. As proof, she clutched a vodka bottle to her prodigious chest.

When our news team told Fisher that his spouse was bound for the Big House if she didn’t come clean, Fisher said he would divulge his secret martini recipe to the world if Parton stopped her off-key singing. She did not. He did, anyway. 

Sour Apple Martini: A Kitchen Exposé!

Ice - plenty of it

2 parts vodka

2 parts Rose’s Sour Apple Mix

1 part orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier or Cointreau (see Note)

For each martini, chill glass in freezer. Add ingredients to martini shaker. Vigorously vibrate shaker to the tune of “La Cucaracha” and float a thin slice of lime on top. Oh, yes ... Bail wife out of jail.

Note: Nicole prefers only a few drops of this liqueur.

Hot ’n’ Sour Soup

My old friend Hazel Soon of Vancouver, Canada, gave me this recipe 40 years ago, when she taught me how to cook many Chinese dishes I use to this day. Back then, Chinese food was considered “exotic.” Traveling to “Chinatown” to buy the necessary ingredients was the only way to find them. Over the past many years, it’s been exciting to watch as this and other “ethnic” foods have become readily available in mainstream supermarkets. The other big change we’ve seen is that Chinese cooking has made some healthy changes, with less fat than was formerly used, little or no monosodium glutamate (MSG), and the introduction of reduced-sodium soy sauce. If you’ve never made Chinese food - and even if you have - this delicious soup is a great place to start!

Hot ’n’ Sour Soup:

8 c. poultry stock, skimmed of fat

8 slices fresh ginger root, unpeeled (see Note)

1 tsp. whole black peppercorns

6 green (“spring”) onions, sliced on the diagonal

1 red bell pepper (“capsicum”), sliced lengthwise into 1-in. strips 

1 c. sliced mushrooms (I reconstitute dried shitaki or other Asian mushrooms by soaking them in boiling water for 30 min.)

½ c. canned, sliced bamboo shoots, drained

½ c. rice wine vinegar

2 tsp. chopped dried chili peppers, with seeds (for convenience, use chili pepper flakes)

2 tsp. sesame oil

Bring stock, ginger root, and peppercorns to a boil. Reduce heat to low, simmering uncovered for 20 min. Strain through a fine sieve, discarding ginger root and peppercorns. Reduce heat to simmer. Add remaining ingredients, continuing to simmer 10 min. Serve at once. Serves 10 in small Oriental bowls, or 4 in Western-style bowls.
Note: Slice ginger lengthwise - not crosswise - to extract more flavor by maximizing its exposed surface area.

Skim fat from stock (see Index for How to Make Soup Stock)

Add slivered green onions ...

... Red bell peppers ...

... Sliced, reconstituted Chinese mushrooms ...

And a splash of rice wine vinegar!

Simmer (Bubble, bubble! No toil! No trouble!)

And ladle into bowls! It's hot! It's sour! It's good!