TOCINO A FILIPINO BREAKFAST MEAT

What is Tocino? What is in this meat? What kind of meat is it? Where can you purchase it?

Tocino is a breakfast meat that Filipinos fry up in a pan and serve with rice and eggs, or have it for lunch or dinner. The brand here is PAMPANGA a company according to the package has been in business since 1984. A look at their website suggests that the product's ingredients are as follows: Sugar, Water, Salt, MSG, Beet Powder, Paprika, Pork. (And a slew of other sodium whatevers for preservatives, if you're a health nut, forget this product, but if you don't give a shit, then by all means.) This is actually good stuff if you like eggs in the morning.

Pampanga is a food manufacturer based out of Anaheim, California. And you can find this product in most Filipino food marts or Asian marts, I haven't seen it in the chain supermarkets yet.

The package weighs 12 oz. so you get two good portions or three.

Until next time have a good life!

Ron Sambrano

       

© 2014

COMFORT FOODS DON'T NEED TO LOOK PERTIE

HEY THERE FELLA, yes you boy! Just talking good ol' comfort foods and I know you know all bout them there comfort foods. Ya know, like your mama used to make, or when your pops and his friends went a hunting, and brought home a wild boar, and smoked it, and with aunt Mabel's tater salad it was all too comforting. And what I'm bout to talk about today is when I do comfort foods, it may look uneven on your plate, and that's good good good comfort foods. I say comfort foods don't need to be photograph ready for Gourmet Magazine, no sir, it just needs to taste good and who cares what it looks like on the plate.

Photos from the top is my delicious Hamburger Steaks searing (top), and it's about ready to be done (middle), and finally plated with a pan gravy made from the drippings in the pan mmmmmm good! (bottom). The secret to this hamburger mix? 70/30 all beef to fat, salt and white pepper, tad of curry powder, eggs, and Best Foods Real Mayonnaise, and some minced green onion. Yes sir, if that ain't a comfortin I don't know what is.

The next set of photos is my Korean Style Mandu, which is basically a Korean style dumpling or Wonton. I buy the Chun Wa Kam brand Mandu wrappers a company that's based in Honolulu, Hawaii and it's sold in the local supermarkets here on Maui. The filling is ground beef..and secret seasonings, topped with green onions and some soy sauce that's it baby, comfort foods!

And these next two photos are fresh Opakapaka (Pink Snapper), it's a flaky tender fish, sweet to the taste. My sister wanted me to filet the fish which was about 2 lbs or so. I got a chance to break in my brand new Wusthoff Filet Knife I got about a week ago at the local chef supplier, an 8" flexible blade made for cutting up whole fish. From what sister told me she was gonna go and panko crust these two babies for her and her husband..bless that little woman's soul. Well, that's about it gang, hope you enjoyed my little diddy on comfort foods my way. Until next time, you all take care now you hear?

Ron Sambrano

          

© 2014

ONLY SALADS? OK LET'S DO THIS

SALADS DON'T NEED TO BE BORRRRRRRRING! It can be spiced up and livened up and it can be a ______ing meal baby!

If you are one of those home cooks that are just brain dead when it's time to make a salad, here's some tips from yours truly, and believe me working in a vegetarian deli for a few years has paid off. In this foodie blog I'll go over some things that's really simple. And you don't need a lot of gadgets, in fact I hate gadgets, just gimme a sharp knife, a whisk, a mixing bowl, and the veggies I need and we'll be having dinner real fast. The bacon wasn't inspired from the vegetarian deli by the way, it's from mom's home cooking baby!

BACON & SALMON SALAD

INGREDIENTS
(Serves 2-4)

1 pound of romaine lettuce, cut into bite size pieces and rinsed well 
1 large zucchini sliced thin
2 medium tomatoes sliced into thin wedges
8 oz of mushrooms sliced thin

4- 4 oz. salmon filets
8 strips of bacon

Dressing
1 1/2 cups of orange juice fresh or frozen
1/4 cup vinegar
1 inch ginger minced
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1/4 tsp. sesame oil

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 deg F
2. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on each salmon filet, not too much.
3. Wrap 2 strips of bacon around each filet, placing a toothpick on the bacon so it stays in place.
4. Drizzle some olive oil on a nonstick baking pan, place salmon filets into pan, and bake for about 15 minutes or until the bacon is turning crisp, be careful not to burn the dish. Check at 10 minutes to see how it is coming along. Remove and let rest.
5. Place sliced vegetables in a non-reactive mixing bowl, and toss. In another non reactive mixing bowl, mix the dressing mixture, and strain over vegetables and toss again.
6. Divide vegetables onto serving plates, and top with baked salmon. Top with mayonnaise if desired.

As you can gather, salads in my world is never every boring. I'll fry up some SPAM™ if I want to, and no one can tell me "Ron what the hell take that off!" If you're in my home in my kitchen you eat what I cook junior!!

Until next time have a great life!
Ron Sambrano

                     

© 2014

CREATING FROM BEHIND THE STOVE YOU ARE A CULINARY ARTIST

YOU are a culinary artist if you understand the tastes of your ingredients, you'll deeply discern what goes well with a juicy steak, or what goes well with a coleslaw, and what method works best for whatever it is you are cooking.

Counteracting, what does that mean? If you have a sauté pan in front of you, and you put some cooking oil in the pan, and your heat is too high, smoke emulates the indoor surroundings, your smoke detector goes off, the kids panic, you need to counter with this but in what way? Most know if you throw some cold water on that hot pan, it could burst into a mess and possibly burn you. By simply removing the pan off of the heat element, and turning the power off, you just countered positively. As for flavorings, if something is salty, you can counter it by mitigating the salts' intensity by possibly adding a bland ingredient, like water, or rice or some starch. Or, balance salty with sweet, ever tried eating those candies that have some saltiness because of maybe there's nuts, but it is covered with sweet milk chocolate? Now you get the picture.

Cooking can be a creative experience, using your ingredients, your herbs your spice rack being your paints. You can start building an epic meal by just adding a little of this and a little of that as you cook. Just remember, a good piece of beef, pork, chicken, seafood, has a flavor all its own, and by adding too much stuff on there you can hide the beautiful flavor of the protein in question. I've learned some things, and that is to keep it simple all of the time.

BEEF: Ingredients that go well with beef, are as follows, salt, pepper, garlic, ginger, onions, tomatoes, peppers, olive oil, sesame oil, peanut oil, cabbage, zucchini, mirin, sake, beer, whisky, wine, sherry, vinegar, just to name a few, and depending on the style you are cooking, you can make a very delicious beef dish by just using 3 to 4 ingredients.

PORK: Basically the same ingredients as beef, but pork has its own DNA, smoking pork cuts like the bellies, or shoulder, or spareribs makes great eats. Stir frying the loin section is a winner. Making pork soup with the bones and the chuck section is comfort foods of the plantation days.

CHICKEN: Chicken is a protein that makes great fried thighs, and drumsticks, roasted breast, and baked hot wings. Again, keep it simple, my mom used to make awesome roast chicken with just salt and pepper, garlic, and soy sauce.

SEAFOOD: Now most people do too much for seafood, I've tasted the chef's special at some resort restaurants in the past and just got pissed off because the so called chef decided to use every ingredient from Europe for that awesome cut of Opaka (Pink Snapper)… what did that do? It hid the flavor of one of my favorite fish. And don't get me started when some dumb and dumber chef decides to experiment with my 60.00 lobster that I picked outta the tank. The waiter is like, "Sir the chef is well traveled, he can do your lobster steamed, and cut all the meat up, with a simple garlic and wine butter, or you can sample his 'Mediterranean Beijing Manila Tokyo South America Fiji Guatemala' influenced lobster stir fried with Zimbabwe potatoes escargot, would you like that?" Okay shoot, gimme that. And when it comes to the table it smells like confusion right off the bat, don't even start on the taste!!!!

Okay I gotta roll, just keep it simple, start with herbs and spices that you like, sauces that you like, and don't be afraid to try new techniques out, but add all of your ingredients in the pan or pot slowly. Go and watch a lot of Food Network, though I am sick of some of those stars, haha, they do have good instructions, and most of those recipes are tested, believe me because I have a friend that is not a cook, but he watches so much Bobby Flay and Tyler Florence he's actually pretty damned good in the kitchen now days… so there you go, always think, YES I CAN! and then go and cook your heart out. 

Until next time have a great life!

Ron Sambrano

            

© 2014

IN A COOKING FUNK

We all go through a slump, a funk, and we can't figure out what happened until someone else points it out for us, or we just get that "shit" moment…

Cooking funks are all part of the game in cooking because if you are a cook you need to pay attention to what you are doing. There's always some instance when some home cook will forget to add in a certain ingredient that was key, such as the basil in his pomodoro and he starts to trip. Or forget to put the sesame oil in his kalbi ribs marinade. That my foodies is a cooking funk. Or in a slump. What can we do to break out of this funk? It's fairly easy, don't cook for a while. You see, maybe you aren't into it, maybe there's something on your mind that's preventing you from really cooking that awesome curry, even if you are using instant stuff… if your mind is not into it, you may forget to turn on the stove, and you'll be looking at raw meat that's not searing, ahhhh!

If you are just mindless in the kitchen, take a break, and go out and buy your meals if you can afford it. Or if, if you live with other cooks, let them do the job, maybe they're just being lazy or something, but sharing the cooking duties is key too. But if you work in a professional kitchen, the restaurant already has set menus so that eliminates the funk because it's all repetitive stuff day in, day out, night in, night out. When you're responsible for creating the daily menu it can be daunting, like if you do a full-time job, you're probably too burnt out to figure out what to cook. So my advice to you home cooks is just take a break, come back to the kitchen and cooking with a fresh outlook, watch some Food Network, read some food mags, go online watch some You Tube videos on food and cooking, refresh my friends and you'll be fine. 

Until next time have a great life!

Ron Sambrano

© 2014

ONO IS GRAMMA'S KINE COOKING

Gramma's kine cooking in Hawaii is da best! C'mon, everyone that was fortunate to have that lovable gramma that could cook better than chef A hole had it made come Sunday evening dinners. FOODIES! Gramma Rocks!

In our home Peggy my mom, was gramma foodie. Seriously, her foods were simple, and she was a genius at keeping foods simple. Her theory was, less herbs and spices when cooking, but just enough for aroma and to enhance flavors. In other words, when she stewed meats or chicken, there wasn't a lot of herbs or spices going on, "You have to taste the meat, it's beef stew not rosemary stew." So growing up, we seldom used herbs and spices the way some cooks do in their homes.

Using the cheapest cuts of beef was meant to be in our homes because for one thing we weren't wealthy money wise. The cuts we bought weren't Wagyu, USDA Prime, it was the store bought cuts that didn't look too appealing by Le Cordon Bleu standards. It was the inexpensive chuck steaks, the tough shanks, oxtails, those cuts. And when dad manned the grill, again, it was a huge ass chuck that was sliced into steaks. We had delicious chewy steaks, but we didn't give a shit, it was good to us. As we got older and more educated, we learned about the different cuts of beef, pork, and poultry that were finer. The sirloins, the juicy rib eyes, cuts such as those. We then graduated from the chuck cuts to the New Yorkers or Porters…we got foodie educated. However I would not in a gazzillion years trade in Gramma Peggy's cooking, no way!

Peggy would get 5 lbs. of chuck, cube it, season it with salt and pepper, and sear all the pieces in a large stock pot. She'd add water to cover the meat, then simmer it for like 2 hours. Once it was fork tender, she'd add in tomatoes, carrots, string beans, potatoes, tomato sauce, and some herbs to give it aroma, maybe a couple of sprigs of rosemary, a bay leaf. And cook it more until the potatoes were soft. We would have beef stew with the meat literally so soft, it wasn't cubes any longer, but strands of beef that was incorporated in the sauce. Man my friends would stay for dinner and say, "I wish my mom could cook like this." Well my mom was gramma to all the kids, so she was Gramma Foodie.

When I see chefs acting like they're all that, I gotta go to their restaurant and taste their food, and I tell you what, there's a lot of chefs who are creative, but man, I'm telling you, no chef I've ever met can cook like anyone's gramma that can kick ass in her own kitchen. I guess I'm a simple guy and I said that a gazzillion times in my blogs. Keep it simple, and you'll feed them. And they…will come back for more.

SIMPLE BEEF STEW
(SERVES 6)

2 1/2 lb.s of chuck roast cubed
Photo for thecookandthebutcher.com

Salt to taste
White Pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for searing
4-6 cups of water
14 fl oz. tomato sauce
1 1/2 lbs. of potatoes, cubed
1 lbs. sliced carrots
1/2 lb. trimmed string beans
2 large tomatoes quartered
2 bay leaves
1 spring rosemary

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium stock put, put some oil on the bottom over medium high heat, begin to sear all the cubes of meat. If you must do this in batches first. You want to develop a nice brown crust on each piece.

2. Add at least 4 cups of water to the pot and bring to a boil, then lower to simmer covered for at least 30 minutes. Remove cover, add in all of the other ingredients, and bring up the heat to boil once again, then lower to simmer with cover on.

3. Simmer for about 30 more minutes or until the potatoes are soft. Off the heat, and leave it covered. It will continue to cook while it's covered.

Note: If you time this just right, by the time you turn off the stove, and dinner starts in an hour, that stew will be hot enough to serve, or you can heat it up once again. Also if you want, making this dish a day before is even better as all of the flavors become more incorporated, all you need to do is heat it up and serve. Adjust the seasonings, maybe you'll need more salt and pepper.

Other ways to flavor this stew is adding some red wine, or vinegar to give it some unique tastes. As far as veggies, stews go well with heavy root based veggies like potatoes, carrots, and even radish works pretty good.

Experiment with stews, use inexpensive cuts for this, like chuck for beef, butts for pork, and older whole chickens or stewing chickens. Good luck foodies! 

© 2014

IN FOOD WE EAT

Food has been a major topic as of late, the whole debate on GMO foods has circulated to astronomical proportions. When only a chosen bunch of people in the know about genetically engineered foods like ten years ago, almost every household now is conversing on GMO foods.

My take on GMO foods is this. I've been eating GMO as well as many in my generation for years. And yes, I have had some illness in my life, as well as others in my family, so the questions remain to most of us, are GMOs responsible for our illnesses? I believe in some respect it is. Why? It is fact that processed foods are not good for us, and if it is consumed three times a day, it can be fatal, leading to illnesses like hypertension and diabetes to name a few. Recently some studies have produced findings that GMO foods ingested in the long run is the cause for Alzheimer's disease.

However I must also say, if chemical companies are finding ways to feed the world that's a good thing, at this stage of the world's population the cost of all natural or organic foods is really expensive, hence the promotion of growing our own gardens if we can. But if chemical companies can use safe methods to growing non organic foods to feed the  world, isn't it a good thing? Of course the nay sayers will scream, "They are in it for the money and billions in profits!" Well yes, of course…they are in business aren't they? But if the foods are safe, then I'm all for it, however if it's not deemed safe I have reservations on it.

Will the non GMO organizations actually hurt food establishments? Will a mom and pop diner opened for years lose business if they are by law to state on their menu that they are not using organic, meaning yes they are serving up GMO foods…will this put them on the street without a home? If people get educated or possibly brainwashed, will food businesses lose a lot on their bottom line? I have friends ready to start small eateries, but now with the GMO debate and not knowing what's going to happen with legislation, it may not be the time to pull the entrepreneurial trigger in the food biz.

Whatever the case, people, ordinary people need to eat, and more than likely will not seek expensive organic foods because fact remains that stuff cost a lot more for the average person. It remains to be seen what will happen in the business of food that will actually have an affect on the regular people just getting by. We all know that big business influences government, and protesters have an affect on government. Maybe this whole GMO anti GMO thing was meant to be so we can sort this out quickly. We don't need higher cost for anything, the world does seem like it's coming to an end…well not to sound biblical, just saying. The whole world's gone nuts!

© 2014

WHEN YOUR KNIFE SKILLS GO SOUTH

What happens when a slugger in the majors goes into a deep deep slump, from nailing 10 homers in a row and batting over .300 in a week, to going 0-1 1,000,000 the rest of the year? What and why does this shit happen? Hmm, or say a PGA golfer like Tiger Woods goes into a winless streak that seemingly looks like the end of him? 

For me as a cook, it's my knife skills that needed sharpening. Why? For one thing I haven't been doing a lot of cooking lately hence my knife skills went…well…south. So here's what I did, I spent 12.00 at the Lahaina Foodland Farms, got me 3 medium round onions, 2 medium cucumbers, and 3 medium tomatoes.

I remember Martin Yan demonstrating how to decorate a salad plate by slicing a cucumber in half, and then slicing it down the center lengthwise creating a half moon. He used his cleaver to slowly create very thin slices that he fanned out around the salad plate. Man I ain't Martin Yan, I definitely need more practice.

And the roses from slicing the tomato skin from the base of the tomato and making a medium width slice going around the entire tomato and then rolling it up again. Not bad for being away from the knife for a few years..haha… I been cutting meats but nothing like making a presentation worth looking at. I just had to get back into the knife skills again. Maintaining my cleaver's edge and my paring knife's edge as well once again. It's all good. I guess I was that major league slugger in a long hitting slump, and Tiger Woods going winless for a long time. But with practice it's feeling like I can do it again. Thing is, if you're a cook and people are watching, you gotta be proficient, if not you'll look pretty bad. So practice I go.

© 2014

         ™

BREAKFAST TIME

To be very honest with you, I'm a very simple person, and cooking reflects my personality. Simplicity is premium in life for me. So when lots of chefs, are shunning breakfast because they are…CHEFS..BLOODY CHEFS!!! Hey, gimme that griddle and double boiler I'll jam!

I love the breakfast crowd, it is the start of the day, usually people are in a mellow mood, and they are just relaxed and reading the paper, or looking at what's happening on their smart phones. The start of the new day, and breakfast is just right up my alley, love it with a passion. Oh don't get me wrong my fine baggy shorts wearing, too tight top wearing lady friend, I love cooking lunches, brunches and dinners too. However, breakfast is something I'm just passionate about.

Eggs Benedict oh yeah! Love to make it, love to eat it. 2 poached eggs, set on Canadian bacon, over buttered and pan toasted English muffins, topped with a rich buttery homemade Hollandaise sauce, oooo…ooooo…ooooo..OOOOO!!!!!!! Check it.

Or it could be a Green Onion Omelet for the vegetarian, simple, little soy sauce, sesame oil, garden grown green onions, and fresh free range Hawaiian chicken eggs.

Peeps that love Over Easy, it's a rush flipping a couple of eggs and then… THEY EAT IT!!! Haha…Flip the eggs man, flip it good.

Eggs, it was made for the mornings. Eggs, one of the most versatile of all foods, used in baking cakes, pies, used for making batter to coat meats and seafood and deep fried. Eggs, for sauces like Hollandaise, mayonnaise, or custards… Without eggs, there wouldn't be any egg fights. Imagine, no eggs, no breakfast as we know it. Thank God for eggs. And if you don't believe in God? Thank you Joe Montana for eggs. Joe Montana? Well if you don't believe in God, Joe Montana is a good person to pray or thank for eggs… well you gotta believe in something, shit just pray to a rock whatever eh?

Till next time, have a great life!

Ron Sambrano

            

© 2014

PORK LUK FUN

PORK LUK FUN in the test kitchen yesterday, was a victory, because on the previous day, these steamed rice noodles did not cooperate, when I checked batch after batch, it turned out mushy, and my friend having a mushy noodle is really displeasing, after all who wants a mushy noodle? Mr. Mushy? Yeah he would because he's Mr. Mushy a freaking loser, but for us winners we want noodles that are made and executed correctly. Well then yesterday's test kitchen was triumphant. 

As I go through this journey of the Luk Fun, I am learning that you got to eat humble pie, and that a recipe is just a guiding force towards the goal, a road map, but like in real life we will face obstacles even with a road map, at times those directions you get are valid but it never tells you about the "what ifs", like what if the shit don't work? You got to try, and make calls, and ask questions like a tourist on Maui looking for the Kaanapali Beach Hotel, his map is okay, but there was a detour on Hwy 30 and he got mixed up, so he has to improvise and ask questions or re-google map it… It's life man, life eh?

Noodle making is an art, it's science, it's fun, it's hectic, it's tedious, it's a pain in the ass, but there is nothing more fulfilling than cooking up a batch of noodles, and then the people you feed eats it all. Yeah, it may not knock their socks off or whatever, but when that plate is empty, hey you did something right, for one thing it was good enough for them to eat the entire plate.

One day soon, that noodle shop will open, one day. 

Until next time, "Have a great life."

Ron

          

© 2014

TEST KITCHEN CHOCOLATE MOCHI

This week has been a very very low point for moi (me). C'mon where's your French chops? OK, one- the Dodgers couldn't get past the first round of the NLDS, so that's one big disappointment. And then our house gets burglarized while we all were asleep, yeah go figure… oh well life goes on, and on it shall as I work on my test kitchen projects, today it was Chocolate Mochi. It's a dessert I am working on to perfecting.

What is it? It's mochiko rice flour that is mixed with sugar, salt, and water to form a dense batter and then baked. Because this is rice and not wheat, it has somewhat of a sticky finish. Check out the photos below.

This is what my Chocolate Mochi looks like, mmm!

© CHEF SAMBRANO 2014

But before I got to this stage I had to get through these other stages, well just look and see for yourself, the photos maybe jumbled out of order but you get the idea.

© CHEF SAMBRANO 2014

There's the steps before it was plated, and keep in mind that I Chef Ron do not drizzle any sauces I DOUSE IT TM

www.chefsambrano.wordpress.com

             

© 2014

Chinese Style Honey Baked Chicken

Chinese style comfort foods for those of you that want to cook it and not bother driving into town to get your fix. In this recipe blog I'll go over a very simple Honey Baked Chicken. And the ingredients are found conveniently at your local supermarket in the Asian aisle. If your supermarket doesn't have it, check online, or find a local Asian mart you can probably find it there.



INGREDIENTS
4 lbs. of chicken legs
3 tbsp. Chinese 5 spice (to be sprinkled over chicken parts)
3 tbsp. sea salt (to be sprinkled over chicken parts)

MARINADE/BASTING SAUCE (This is one sauce, it is called the marinade because you'll be soaking the chicken at least for 4 hours in the refrigerator or overnight). Then it is called the basting sauce after the marinade is heated in a saucepan and thickened for you to brush over the chicken several times before it is done cooking.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup rice wine vinegar
1/2 cup dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
1 tsp. oyster sauce
2 tbsp. raw sugar
4 tbsp. honey
2 cloves garlic smashed
2 inch fresh ginger smashed
1 tbsp. minced green onion

Cornstarch Slurry
1 tsp. cornstarch
3 tsp. water
(Mix together until instructed to use)

1. Place chicken in a roasting pan skin side up
2. Sprinkle 5 spice over top of all pieces 
3. Sprinkle sea salt same as the 5 spice
4. In a mixing bowl, add in all ingredients for the marinade/basting sauce, mix well, the ingredients need to be incorporated very well. 
5. Pour marinade/basting sauce over chicken, cover with plastic wrap and let sit in the refrigerator for 4 hours or overnight. 

When ready to bake

1. Preheat oven to 450 F. (Remove soaked chicken and bring to room temperature for 20 minutes.)
2. Before baking, place all chicken parts on to a separate plate for a minute. Then take the marinade that is in the roasting pan, and transfer it to a small saucepan. Then return the chicken pieces back to the roasting pan.
3. Place roasting pan in the center of the oven, you will bake the chicken for about 45 to 50 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches about 155 F. Every oven functions differently, please check to see if is too high, if it is, turn heat down to 400 after 30 minutes. I use this gauge as this time frame suits well for the equipment I do use. Some ovens may be weaker set at 450 F, hence the cooking time maybe longer, always check by eye sight and use common sense, and when baking/roasting always use an instant read thermometer.
4. Place saucepan with marinade/basting sauce, over medium high heat, bring to a soft boil, and stir. Once bubbling add in the cornstarch slurry, and cook until it becomes thick, immediately off the heat.
5. Open oven, carefully bring chicken out towards you and begin to baste the chicken with the basting sauce with a basting brush. Close oven door, baste every 10 minutes.
6. When the chicken is done, remove from oven, off the heat and let the chicken rest for 10 minutes. Serve with rice.

That was an easy Chinese Style Honey Baked Chicken

Until next time have a great life

Ron Sambrano

             

© 2014

TEST KITCHEN: PROJECT "LUK FUN"

Updating my test kitchen projects for my foodies out there, Project LUK FUN is my  TOP SECRET; CONFIDENTIAL; CLANDESTINE "I'll have to kill you if you know any of my information project from the Pentagon. Information concerning this project calls for stringent protocol from the top level down to the guy mopping up the test kitchen! Seriously. Nah just kidding. Anyhow I'm testing my Luk Fun noodles, and it is my friends a very tedious task. Noodle making is an art, to produce a perfect product sheet after sheet, roll after roll of these pliable, flexible and versatile rice flour noodles that works exceptionally well with any type of Asian stir fry is very popular in Hawaii, and in China Town in Honolulu it is prevalent. On Maui, Star Noodle has reinvented this noodle, creating awesome dishes. Well, I love this noodle and want to try and make it my own. NOPE I'M NOT TRYING TO JUMP ON ANONE'S BAND WAGON. I love this noodle since I was a young lad walking homeless in Beijing. Nah just kidding. But I love this noodle.

Photo above cut luk fun noodles for stir frying
These noodles can be made as thick or thin as you want, the batter is more of a slurry than a..batter. Just think of your pancake batter how thick it is to make a pancake, well imagine you add more liquid or milk to that batter and make it almost watery, well that's the consistency of luk fun batter or.. slurry. And it has to be steamed, with the right ratio of good quality white rice flour, and tapioca starch (flour), salt, sesame oil, and of course the right amount of water. You steam it in pans for a few minutes until it is somewhat glossy, and using a spatula just ply it off of the pan and let it cool. Thinner luk fun sheets are great to roll up like a crepe. You can fill it with finely minced cooked meats, chicken, veggies and what ever seasonings that suits your fancy. 

Photo above is a plain unfilled Luk Fun Roll 

Photo above is a Portuguese Sausage filled Luk Fun Roll

Photos above is Pork Luk Fun, ground pork and veggies stir fried together

The Chinese style of cooking to me is the most practical. Deep down my style suits this style of cooking, out of a wok, quick and simple, as opposed to some of the European types of cooking which I also love. However, out of a wok you can do a lot even searing a Wagyu ribeye and making a wine sauce. You can get gourmet with a wok. And the thing is most Asian style of cooking can be done out of a wok, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and one of my other favorite styles of cooking which is Filipino style suits the wok perfectly, soups can be made in it. But the Luk Fun noodle is my new obsession, and frying it up in a hot wok, these noodles soak up flavors really well. 

If you ever get a chance to visit China Town in Honolulu, or for that matter any China Town, I bet there's some food counter or stall, or cart selling these delicious noodles. And for you paranoid anti GMOers out there, nope the rice flour and tapioca flour I used did not have an Organic stamp on the package, but we been eating this for ages and I haven't died yet! Unless my next batch has Agent Orange in it, it's pretty safe.

Until next time have a great life!

Ron Sambrano

          

© 2014