Song Title: Memphis Album: Indestructible (2003) Lyrics: "By the time we made it to New Orleans, it must have been half past three. By the time we made it to Memphis, we were crazy."
The song "Memphis" might be my favourite song off of the "Indestructible" album... though I suppose it depends on my mood. This song gets me going! This is the song that I play in the car as loud as my pathetic speakers will allow when I'm in a happy mood... but I will do the same thing with this song if I'm in a really pissed mood! Right from the start you're assaulted with a great, driving beat backed by what I can only describe as electric bagpipes?! When I get it loud enough... it kind of takes my breath away (awww). And then it inspires me to make some southern barbecue! Which I did... but for some reason, I was feeling like Asian food too, so it turned into Southern-Asian fusion! This came out so tasty! I'd never cooked meat in vinegar before and the flavour was so tangy, the meat was perfect and juicy, falling apart! I was almost sad to put the sauce on the meat because it was so good plain! We'll be making this again... and again! -jen
ASIAN BARBECUE PORK SANDWICHES
4-5 pound pork shoulder
4 tablespoons minced garlic
3 tablespoons minced ginger
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon chili paste
2 cups cider vinegar
1/2 cup soy sauce
Asian barbecue sauce
fresh sandwich rolls
shredded carrots
fresh cilantro
Cut pork shoulder into 2" steaks. In a bowl, combine garlic, ginger, sesame oil, fish sauce, and chili paste. Place pork steaks into slowcooker. Pour vinegar and soy sauce over steaks. Spread the garlic and ginger mix over the steaks. Cover and cook on high for 7 hours. Remove pork from slowcooker and shred. Drain liquid from slowcooker and put shredded pork back in. Begin mixing Asian barbecue sauce into the pulled pork. I suggest starting with about 1/2 a cup and adding more to your taste. I ended up adding about 3/4 cup sauce all together, as I don't like my barbecue real saucy; I like to be able to taste the meat's flavours. (And now I have a lot of leftover sauce to use for other barbecuing.) Rewarm pork and serve on a roll with spicy mayonnaise, shredded carrots and fresh cilantro.
Spicy Mayo = mayonnaise with sriracha hot sauce to taste.
ASIAN BARBECUE SAUCE
34 oz tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
1 jar (8oz) Hoisen sauce
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons dark molasses
2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
zest and juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon dried cilantro or oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 Spice
1 teaspoon Pasilla chili powder
1 teaspoon New Mexico chili powder
2 chipotle peppers (from a can of Chipotle peppers in Adobo Sauce)
Whisk all ingredients in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Simmer on a low heat for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
BAKED BEANS WITH BACON (Gotta give credit to my mom, Loretta, for these! I might have zipped them up a little, but she's been making kick ass baked beans my whole life and I got my base recipe from her!)
1/2 pound bacon, diced
1 can (1 pound 12oz) pork and beans in tomato sauce
1 can (15oz) kidney beans, drained
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon dark molasses
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 tablespoon whiskey
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
black pepper to taste
Cook diced bacon over a medium-high heat until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside on a paper towel to drain. In an oven safe dish, combine all ingredients (including crumbled bacon). Cook at 325 F for 1 hour if you like your beans saucy, or for 1.5 hours if you like thick beans (which is how I like 'em!)
Song Title: Arrested In Shanghai Album: Indestructible (2003) Lyrics: "In my cell there is no sky, when I was arrested in Shanghai"
Good mellow song. Cursed with an overactive imagination, I end up thinking of horrifying images of what prison in Shanghai might be like. Makes me think of the movie "Midnight Express". Chilling. But back to the food! I haven't had a lot of experience with making Chinese food, only a few different dishes over the last few years. I came up with a few recipes tonight and wasn't feeling so confident about how it was turning out. However, I'm glad to say that the dinner was a delicious success - fantastic Chinese food without a delivery fee! -jen
SHANGHAI FRIED NOODLES WITH CHICKEN STIR-FRY
2-3 medium sized boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup soy sauce, divided (1/4 cup, 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup green onions, chopped + 1 cup green onion, sliced in 1" strips
Cut raw chicken breasts into thin slices. In a Ziplock bag, combine sliced chicken, 1/4 cup soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, 1/4 cup chopped green onions, cilantro, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, and chili paste. Refrigerate and let marinade for at least an hour.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet or wok on high heat. Stir-fry chicken in two or three batches, adding oil for each batch as needed (remember to give the oil a minute to get hot in between batches.) Set chicken aside. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and in small batches, stir-fry broccoli, carrot, cabbage, mushrooms, and bean sprouts, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, and 1/4 cup of the remaining soy sauce, setting cooked veggies aside in a bowl after each batch. When final batch is finished, toss with the chopped basil.
In the hot skillet, add 1 tablespoon minced garlic and 1-1/2 cups of the chicken broth. Bring to a boil. Combine the remaining 1/2 cup broth and corn starch in a small dish. Mix until smooth. When the broth comes to a boil, add the corn starch mix, and whisk until the liquid returns to a boil. Broth should begin to thicken into a gravy. Once gravy has begun boiling again, quickly add chicken and vegetables. Cook for a couple more minutes until chicken is rewarmed and remove from heat.
Serve over pan-fried noodles.
PAN-FRIED NOODLES
1/2 pound Shanghai noodles or Chinese egg noodles
1 tablespoon sesame oil
olive oil
Cook noodles until al dente. Drain. Rinse with cold water and let drain again. Toss with sesame oil. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet or wok. Add 1/4 of the noodles to the pan, spreading out to the edge of the pan. Cook on high for 5-8 minutes - do not stir! When noodle-patty is golden brown, carefully flip the patty and cook the other side until golden brown. Repeat three more times to make a total of 4 patties.
This was my first attempt at flipping a noodle patty without using a spatula... I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what you're doing... and I didn't. But I've flipped a lot of crepes this way. I didn't do too bad for my first noodle flip.
PORK AND SHRIMP EGG ROLLS
1/2 pound ground pork
1/4 cup shredded carrot
2 cups shredded Napa cabbage
1 cup bean sprouts
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoons ground ginger
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon chili paste
3-4 cranks of fresh black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup bay shrimp (tiny shrimp)
2-3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
egg roll wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
In a large bowl, mix pork, carrot, cabbage, bean sprouts, green onions, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste, and black pepper. Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture and cook until pork is cooked through. Add shrimp and cilantro, toss, and remove from heat. Let cool. Lay egg roll wrapper out with a corner pointed at you. Add 3 tablespoons of meat mixture about 1/3 of the way up from the corner pointed at you. Brush a little egg white on the top two edges of the wrapper. Roll the lower corner over the filling and roll tightly until the halfway point. Tuck the left and right sides in and continue wrapping until the top egg-washed sides seal the wrapper.
Heat oil in deep fryer or large pan to 350 degrees. Deep fry 3-4 egg rolls at a time for 5-7 minutes, until golden brown. Turn egg rolls half-way through to cook evenly.
EGG DROP SOUP
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon minced ginger
1 quart chicken broth
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 eggs
1/4 cup corn starch
salt and pepper
1/4 cup green onions, chopped
In a 3 quart pan, heat sesame oil on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and let them sweat for 2-3 minutes. Set 1 cup of the chicken broth aside and add the remainder of the chicken broth, as well as the soy sauce, to the ginger and garlic. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, mix the corn starch and 1 cup of chicken broth until smooth. In a different bowl, whisk two eggs (like you were making scrambled eggs) and set aside. When the broth has come to a boil, whisk in corn starch mixture and continue whisking until it comes back to a boil. When it has begun boiling again, slowly drizzle in the eggs, breaking them up in the soup with a fork as you drizzle. Remove from heat and serve topped with a few green onions as garnish.
