Brian and I were clearly on the same wavelength this weekend, although I was trying to use up a beef clod heart, which, nowhere near as rich/marbled as a short rib, was still a purebred wagyu clod… so I went for it. Similar process, with more pics on IG story.
Couple of side notes - I roasted the carrots separately, is I don’t really care for the traditional waterlogged chunks. Added pork lardons and seared the mushrooms off in the pork fat, which isn’t readily apparent in the pic. I reduced the juice into a sauce, but didn’t get a snap of it sauced up in my phone pics.
Today is “Mortens Aften” in Denmark, a day where we eat duck! But as we also eat duck, potatoes and gravy on Christmas Eve, I wanted to make an attempt of a spin on it.
Duck breast sous vide (bought and the weakest part of the dish really)
Simple oven potatoes.
Asian flavoured sauce. This is where it gets different:
Fresh ginger, spring onions, red onions, garlic, ponzu, fresh orange juice, black pepper and a duck stock, cooked for an hour. Then thickend a bit with a classic roux and then a thick 38% cream was added at the end.
Very happy with the result. So much flavour and as my wife was cleaning the plate completely for any trace of it, you know you hit something
The salad was lightly mashed red cabbage with fresh spring onions, fresh mint, fresh cilantro, fresh orange juice, sesame oil and a bit of ponzu.
Costco brings in these bone in pork loins a couple times a year. I dry brined this for 2 days (planned on 1 day but had to call an audible) then I kinda cold smoked it for a couple hours then seared it on the grill-boy was this good. I don’t know if it was the extra day or just luck when I pulled it from the smoker and sear time but really good-I was cleaning up after we got done gnawing on the leftover bones in my happy place
buttermilk and dijon mustard brined chicken legs and thighs topped a bread crumb mix of garlic, tarragon, lemon zest, fresh bread crumbs, S&P and olive oil.
If these are the Swift racks with up to 10% brine then the Novato Costco got them in last week. I do a little trimming and break them into 8 chops. They freeze very well, remaining tender and juicy.
Back in town to cook a little it was cold last night so just some black bean soup. Not the most interesting photo.
Tonight some sesame crusted tuna sweet potato risotto and some broccoli with leftover hollandaise.
Salad to start not pictured.
Grilled FlanneryDry Aged Hanger Steaks, pan roasted Brussels Sprouts with shallots and Black Pig Meat Co. Bacon, Red Leaf Salad w/toasted pecans, fresh pomegranate berries, blue cheese and red wine vinaigrette.
Btw funnily enough, I just watched a Youtube review of the Chef’s Table at Brooklyn Fare. He got the $580 premium wine pairing, and one of the pairings was a 2022 Servin Grand Cru Les Clos.
Seems a little pedestrian for a $580 pairing if you ask me!
Finally got a 1st trip to Japan so I haven’t been able to cook until recently. Restaurant food has been mostly very inexpensive and awesome.
I’m in the northeast, and visited an amazing (mostly fish) market that also sells beef/chicken/etc with prepared food stands etc. Got some live scallops, about 6 small slices of incredible wagyu beef, a small fresh horse mackerel, small abalone, chicken skin gyoza, a skewer of welk and other sea snails with squid and octopus. The market has a room where you can cook whatever you buy over hot coals. I bought a small bottle of sake that turned out to be something I’m not familiar with. Used it (with a little soy) to braise the scallops and abalone in their shells, and sipped a little in a sake cup that I purchased at the market. This would have cost well over $100++ at a restaurant and it was closer to $30 Best meal I’ve had all year.
Kuraishi beef from Yakiniku (at least that’s what google translate said, melt in your mouth goodness)
Live scallops squid, prawns etc etc. Booth after booth of ultra fresh fish and tons of drying horse mackerel. No pics of plating etc, it’s paper plates and everything was cooked and eaten in batches.
Don’t know much about sake or what this actually is but it was a treat. Higher alcohol, really complex, and went very well with the seafood and especially with the beef. Found something new that I’m going to seek out.
Yakiniku isn’t a place, it just means “grilled beef” and is the name for that kind of cuisine - you can go to a yakiniku restaurant, like you can go to a yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurant. So the translation should probably have been “for” rather than “from.” I believe the melt in your mouth part!
Nicely done.
Edited to add that your sake was “koshu” which is aged sake, a very particular thing, with an oxidative profile. Most sake doesn’t look or taste like that.
Thanks for the clarification, and you are exactly right (and so was the translator)! I thought the translator mistakingly used “for” instead of “from”, then assumed “yakiniku” was a place.
Thanks for the notes about the sake, too. It’s not something I’ve ever dove into understanding like wine. It definitely has an oxidative taste, almost similar to sherry (to me), and now after having it, I’d probably have it without food. I purchased another small bottle and 2 others based on their descriptions before leaving. These are really small (100ml).
Sherry-like is exactly the descriptor I use for most koshu! As I said, it’s very different from sake in general. Many sake drinkers don’t like it, they think it tastes as if something has gone wrong. But others do, it’s a thing, as they say. I can appreciate it, but, while I love sherry, most koshu isn’t for me. If you want to dive into sake, koshu wouldn’t be the place to start, as it’s an extreme thing. Of course drink what you like! The “3 times as much koji thing” has me skeptical, I admit.* It sounds a little like they are trying to be hip and edgy. To be fair, the brewery we import has been around since 1573, family owned and run the whole time, so it’s fair to say I’m biased to the traditional.
*I just looked it up, and it is indeed a brewery focused on innovation. But it’s been awarded many significant prizes, very impressive.
I sure wouldn’t have bought a large bottle if these little ones weren’t available (intentionally purchased it to cook with). It was delicious but I can’t see myself really exploring this style (just like I’d never do the same with sherry) so these little bottles will be fun to sample with some friends and probably move on. When this trip is over I’m sure (at least hope) I’ll be coming home with something more traditional and special. I generally don’t drink anything when I travel (especially solo) but some some sampling will be done for sure when I’m done exploring these northern towns and settled for a longer period further in the south. 1573, very cool!
