Category Archives: I, Me, and Myself

Sous Vide Super Bowl

I, Me, and Myself, Stuff I Cook

Contrary to popular belief, Patriot fans are not spoiled. We are insecure, traumatized individuals, deathly afraid of losing. I still can’t listen to Lady Gaga singing “Bad Romance” without recalling my stunned disbelief at the prospect of my team, not only losing, but being blown out,  at the biggest stage in my hometown of Houston.

I had a Super Bowl 51 party and invited some friends. As I recall, food was fantastic. We had crawfish boil, I made gumbo, an assortment of baos, and my superb-owls cupcakes. At half-time, it was starting look like an inevitable L and my mood got so bad that I gave a new meaning to “bad hostess”. I recall doing the same thing when Peyton lost to the Seahawks and the 4th quarter of Broncos-Seahawks game.

By the time Brady mounted the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history, my friends have left.   I was already cleaning up in the kitchen, unable to watch, until my husband called me back to the living room because the Patriots have won. I looked at my phone and the friends I drove away have texted me the good news, trying to cheer me up.  I am so blessed in having the most wonderful friends. They don’t deserve me…

So with Super Bowl 52, no more parties. I will be home, surrounded by people and puppies who love me unconditionally, warts, scars, neuroses and all…

I will be doing a sous vide theme this year because I have found my new favorite kitchen gadget. Sous vide, French for “under vacuum” is a method of cooking whereby food is vacuum sealed, placed in a water bath for a prolonged period under accurately regulated temperature. It results in food that is evenly cooked, never overcooked, retaining its moisture. It pretty much sums up what you need for a perfect steak. So I kitchen- tested my favorite meats as “warm-up” for my Super Bowl party of three.

This is chicken breast marinated in pesto.
This is how it looks like. Submerge the gadget in water, set the temp and timer. It has bluetooth, allowing you to control it through your phone. Hip and cool!

The app is very helpful in determining what temperature to use and the amount of time it needs to cook. This chicken was for 140F for two hours.

It turned out soft and juicy, but my unbiased and unpaid tester, D, thought it needed a bit of crispness to it.
Iron skillet to the rescue! Cooked it a minute for each side.
Perfect! Surface has some crisp, insides are still moist

The second meat is D’s beloved filet mignon. He prefers medium for his steaks. Quick perusal of the app shows to cook for 131.5F for 45 minutes. I chose a NY strip for me, also medium,  and it should cook for 139.5F for an hour. I chose to season it before cooking. Some books also suggest seasoning it just before you sear.

Right off the bag, I already knew it was going to turn out good, just with the way the meat feels to the touch. Nice and firm, just a teeny bit jiggly.
Sear in hot iron skillet (as hot as it could get) about 2.5 minutes for each side until crusty.
This is the NY steak. It tastes as awesome as it looks.
D’s filet mignon
He likes his steaks on a bed of salad, drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette

And now for my favorite meat — Lamb!!! As usual, I seasoned it prior to putting in a vacuum. Cooked it for 140F for an hour for medium.

Sear in iron skillet, about a minute per side
You might want to hold it to allow it to sear evenly.
Beautiful!!!

I bet Mary never had a lamb like this…haha.

I am going to make Beef Wellington this Sunday. That is my holy grail for this sous-vide cooking. I’ll also do lamb chops because I can’t seem to get enough of it. I am really hoping that meat-sweats would only be the reason to sweat during this game…

Go Pats!!!

 

 

Crispy Roasted Pork Belly

I haven’t posted any of my cooking for a long while. I still cook a lot but none that are blog-worthy. And I did eat out a lot this year…. New Year , however, is different. While most Asians believe that an x number of round fruits bring good luck, I believe that filling your table (and tummies) with all sorts of succulent meats is the ultimate good luck of all.

As usual, we did the Tomahawk steaks
This is always a winner. So pretty and yummy.

You can find the how-to on this steak on this blog. It’s on last year’s New Year post.

We also had herbed salmon
…and theee kinds of stuffed chicken—dirty rice, crawfish jambalaya and shrimp

And now for the piece d resistance — crispy roasted pork belly!!!

Dry brine pork belly (with skin) with salt, pepper and garlic salt. Wrap and refrigerate overnight
In the center of the pork belly, arrange chopped onions, chopped garlic and lemon grass. You can also rub garlic paste all over the meat side of the belly to make it more garlicky.
Roll up the belly with kitchen twine to form a log
Brush with milk and let stand for 20 minutes

Cover the log with aluminum foil, put on a rack and cook at 350 for 2 hours. Remove foil after two hours and crank up the oven to 450. Cook for 5 minutes for the top part, then roll to the side and cook for another 5 minutes. Do the same on opposite side. This is to mimic the rotating spit which is the traditional way.

Done! So beautiful!! And so photogenic too…
The skin turned out really crispy, which is the measure of “success”

I’m really happy this turned out well. Now I don’t have to travel all the to the Philippines. Sorry, Mom! I’m now open to take orders!! Haha. Just kidding. But these things go for $175, so maybe I’m not kidding!!!

Happy New Year all!!!