Pulled Pastor

This was my play on pulled pork and al pastor.

What youll need:
Pork shoulder/butt
Onion
Garlic
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Guajillo chilies (dried)
Pineapple
Apple cider vinegar
Cumin
Oregano
Paprika

Al Pastor marinade:
(Let the Guajillo chilies steep in hot water for about 10 minutes until they’re tender before you blend)
– Combine onion, peppers, pineapple, vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano, paprika, salt and pepper in blender.  Blend until it forms a paste.
– Set aside extra marinade.  You’ll need this to finish the dish.

Prepping the roast:
– Rub pork roast with marinade
– If possible, let marinade over night

Cooking instructions:
– Preheat oven to 325
– In a roasting pan or dutch oven, place roast in middle of pan.  Cover while cooking.
– Add extra marinade until it covers the bottom of the pan along with a cup of water (will prevent it from sticking and give extra moisture while cooking
– Bake until fork tender and you can shred (here I used a 3 lb roast and cooked for approx. 3 hours)

Finishing the dish:
– Add shredded meat in separate frying pan
– Cook on high heat so it crisps the meat and add additional marinade to taste

Enjoy!
– Chef Toast!

 

Sous Vide Salmon

Sous Vide Salmon
Simple and AMAZING Hack

When I found this fancy method online this summer, I had to try it out.
One of the best cooking hacks I ever came across.. this is basically how I always cook Salmon now.

Sous Vide (pronounced su-vee) is a low temperature cooking method using the heat from warm water.
The concept is that by submerging your choice of produce in warm water, you cook your food VERY evenly at a consistent low temperature. Result: Instant marination with whatever you cook with (cooks in its own juice), moist, tender, and you can achieve the most amazing medium rare. Note that you’re NOT cooking IN water, your food should never touch a drop of water with this method.

The only way to legitimately sous vide is to buy a damn sous vide machine… which can cost you hundreds of dollars. This method is to do it for free in your sink! Check it out yo.

Season your salmon however you prefer. I chose oregano, thyme, and peppers for this one.

Place your salmon in ziplock. Pour olive oil and/or butter until you submerge the fish. The key here is to get the air bubbles out. Submerge the ziplock in water to the opening while you massage out the air pockets.

Sorry no photos, but submerge your fish in your kitchen sink full of tap water at your hottest setting (approx 50deg C, 122 deg F). Cook for 10-15min depending on the thickness of your cut. When you take out your Salmon, sear the outside in a oiled hot pan. Link with a photo and detailed directions here: http://lifehacker.com/5830856/cook-salmon-sous+vide-in-your-kitchen-sink-for-no+fuss-healthy-eats

I seared mine in garlic and chilli pepper infused olive oil, added a little bit of potato starch to get a crust, and garnished with fried mac nut and parsley. Don’t forget to squeeze some lemon juice! Mmm..

Second attempt: Sous Vide in half butter and half olive oil mixture with several sprigs of dill. After I took the salmon out, I rolled it onto a bed of crushed mac nut and roasted peanut. Seared on a hot pan with garlic for a crunchy and salty outside and a melt-in-your-mouth salmon sashimi inside. Garnished with fresh dill and thinly cut red chilli peppers (P.S. I know, I know, presentation sucks here, but gimme a break. This was 3am after a night of heavy duty drinking and I somehow decided to teach my lil bro how to sous vide. Using a sashimi-grade salmon from Mitsuwa may have been a waste that night haha)

-Chef Snak

 

Garlic Edamame and Kinpira Gobo

Garlic Edamame and Kinpira Gobo
Healthy Appetizers

I’ve been hearing that we post a lot of meat on our blog and we had an anonymous request to post more vegetable dishes, so here it is. Meat is more fun, tastes wayyy better, and you get full cheaper… but it doesn’t hurt to be healthier once in a while 🙂

Butter Garlic and Soy-Sauce Edamame with Sea Salt
Sauce: Soy sauce, roasted garlic, butter, brown sugar, sesame oil, red chili flakes
Boil edamame, strain water, smother in sauce, top with sesame seed, chili flakes and hawaiian sea salt.
Sweet, Spicy, Salty, and Buttery… OK not really healthy, but awesome with beer.

Kinpira Gobo
Evidently, Gobo is Japanese for Burdock root… whatever Burdock is…
Sauce: Soy sauce, Sesame Oil, Sugar
Cut the Gobo, Carrot, and Bacon in thin pieces like the photo below. Stir fry the bacon followed by the Gobo and Carrot. Once it starts to get soft, pour some Sake (Alcohol). When its right about ready, pour the sauce mentioned above. Top with sesame seeds and red chili flakes.
(Traditionally, this dish does not have bacon… my own twist that ups the original lol)

Kinpira Gobo with a bottle of cold Iichiko (my favs Oolong Tea + Iichiko = Oolong-hai.. I could literally drink that all night long)

Gettin hungry, Gd nite!

-Chef Snak

 

Roasted Leg of Lamb…

BLEND mint with olive oil and rub leg of lamb with mint/oil mix…

SEASON leg of lamb at least 1 hour before cooking with salt + pepper + cumin + lemon juice + rosemary and let sit at room temperature…

PREHEAT oven at 425 degrees…

SEAR meat on all sides approx. 3-4 min. per side or until browned…

COOL at room temperature until meat is cool to the touch…

RUB leg of lamb with finely minced garlic…

LINE bottom of roasting pan or cast iron skillet with lemon slices and rosemary sprigs…

BAKE at 425 degrees for 20 minutes… then lower heat to 325 degrees and bake for additional 40 minutes…(approx. 10-12 minutes per lb. of meat for medium rare)

LET MEAT REST FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES BEFORE CARVING…

-Benson

 

Plant for Dessert

Plant for Dessert
Thanks for the idea Noble Pig!

OK, this one is super easy, but I think it looks pretty cool.

1) Make chocolate pudding per box direction (I spiked mine with a little bit of mint Baileys)
2) Blended mint into the pudding
3) Pour in CLEAR cup and let it chill
4) Right before serving, top with crushed cookie (e.g. fudge Oreos) and plant a piece of mint in the middle.
(Note: The cookie can get soggy if you let it sit in the pudding for too long)

Enjoy!
-Chef Snak

 

Beer Can Chicken

One of my favorite ways to make chicken.  This method keeps the chicken moist because the beer steams the chicken while cooking. It is critical you let the chicken rest after you cook it because there will be a lot of juices flowing throughout. If you cut it too soon all the juices leak resulting in a drier chicken.

What you’ll need:
Whole chicken (mine was a little less than 5lbs)
Can of beer (readers choice)
*Yes I realize I have a bottle of beer in my picture. I didnt have any cans so I just filled up my can of green tea with beer.
Seasoning mix (mine was a mix of garlic salt, onion powder, paprika, kosher salt, pepper, trader joes 21 season salute, and cajun seasoning) But you can use anything you want.

Cooking instructions
preheat oven to 375
remove innards from chicken and rinse
pat dry
drink 1/3 of beer (yes only a 1/3!!) and set aside
season chicken liberally with your season mix. Do not forget to season inside the chicken!
place chicken over beer can
tent chicken wings with foil (so they don’t burn)

Cook for aprox 1.5 hrs. (my bird was a little less than 5 lbs)
Let rest in oven for 30 minutes.

Quarter chicken into pieces

Enjoy!!

-Chef Toast