I became addicted to adobo while living in Brooklyn. Albert, my roommate from Guam, made chicken adobo one night and handed me a plate with some fat chicken thighs, a thick brown sauce with onions, and a clump of rice. Keep in mind that at this time, I was making dainty hors d’oeuvres everyday in [...]
Tag Archives | Pork
Making Hong Kong-Style Wonton Noodle Soup
Wonton noodle soup is one of the few dishes I set very high standards for, almost to the point of obsession. Because of cravings for an ideal bowl of wonton noodle soup (and seeing my relatives), I have paid way too much for same day plane tickets to Hong Kong. When I get wontons that [...]
Twice-Cooked Pork
Contrary to myth, the Chinese don’t have magically low cholesterol. But they do know that it’s okay to eat pork belly every week in moderation, as long as you also get a healthy dose of greens, and maybe bike regularly to the grocery store in your clunky steel cruiser. Not long ago I posted a [...]
Red-Cooked Pork
I remember a time when pork belly was shunned in the U.S. as a fatty, undesirable cut of meat. But thanks to a few big-name chefs, this unctuous piece of hog is gracing some of the country’s most popular dining spots. David Chang’s Berkshire pork belly in a bun may have been the most lusted-after [...]
Sweet and Sour Pork
I grew up with two kinds of sweet and sour pork. Like any American child living in close proximity to a Chinese take-out, I ate a good amount of Ping-pong ball-sized pork laced with red food coloring and accompanied by canned pineapple. At home, my mother would also prepare her version, using bone-in chunks of [...]
Guide to Wrapping and Pan-frying Dumplings
I have to admit that I have a strong bias towards jiaozi (饺子). Besides Shanghainese soup dumplings (xiaolongbao), my favorite Chinese dumplings are thin-skinned and pan-fried, the kind found mainly in Southern China or New York’s $1-for-5 fried dumpling joints. Northern Chinese-style dumplings, which offer more thick doughy skin than filling, just can’t compare. What’s [...]
Recipe: Pork and Sī Guā Stir-fry
Sī guā is a common vegetable used in Chinese cooking, but comes with a rather sinister English name: snake gourd, for the long, spindly shape. Despite the exotic name, I’ve seen it in both New York and Boston Chinatowns. (Sī guā is the long skinny gourd with bumpy ridges running the length of the outside.) [...]
