SNICKER DOODLES TIME

It is Christmas time 2015, and we here in the office knows what this means, it means our friend and sister Jaime will be stopping by with some of her famous, delicious Snicker Doodles and other awesome cookies!

Me and a Ziplock bag of Jaime's Snicker Doodles, and there was another bag by the way.

© 2015

Me on the left Jaime on right

© 2015

The video of me eating a Snicker Doodle

© 2015

Life is good with friends like Jaime around, always thinking of others during the Holidays, those cookies were killer, so tasty, all we needed was some cold milk, or even some vanilla ice cream. Mmmmmm goooood!

          

© 2015

BACON WRAPPED CHICKEN BREAST WITH CHEF KRYSTLE COOK

Back by popular demand, Chef Krystle Cook doing her thing, making a Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast, totally Yay Yay! Enjoy the video.

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THE PORTERHOUSE STEAK

Let's talk about the good cuts of beef, it's been a while since we've discussed beef basics, so let's delve into the Porterhouse steak. This steak is basically a T-Bone with more tenderloin meat, that really soft textured meat that's smaller than the bigger side.

If you look at the picture above, the meat on the left side of the t shaped bone is the tenderloin meat, because the Porterhouse and T-Bone comes from the short loin portion of the steer. The T-Bone comes from the front portion of this section while the Porterhouse comes from the rear section. The T-Bone doesn't have as much meat mass in the tenderloin portion of the t shaped bone. The large portion would be your strip steak or New Yorker.

Cooking Methods:

1. Grilling over hot coals. Basic salt and pepper is good enough. Or other seasoned salts. Best cooked medium rare or rare. Overcooked it becomes too tough.

2. Broiler with the flames on top would be just the reverse of grilling, this would be done inside an oven, great for rainy days when you can't grill outdoors.

3. Pan Seared in a stainless steel pan with little oil. (However, the bone may prohibit the steak for sitting flat on the hot pan, leaving some portions of the steak near the bone to look pale, with no crust being developed.)

Happy cooking until next time

Chef Ron :)

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BEHIND THE WOK CRISP GAUGEE MEIN & KIMCHI PORK

My nephew and his family was in town from California, so I asked my sister if I could use her kitchen to cook for them, and of course whoever showed up. I got to the market at 5:15 HST, and bought all of the ingredients to make some Crisp Gaugee Mein, and some Kimchi Pork.

In this video you will see me cooking up some square bunched up noodles, you maybe asking what kind of noodles are they? Well they are from a company called S&S Saimin, and those are saimin noodles (frozen) and fried in vegetable oil.

CAKE NOODLES

These fried squares will be cut in half, and placed on the bottom of a platter, and topped with some stir fried chicken and veggies with some chicken stock, flavored with sesame oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, salt and pepper and thickened with a cornstarch slurry.

In the next video clip you will see in action, the crisp gaugee being deep fried in a flat bottom carbon steel wok.

CRISP GAUGEE

The video clip below is some pork slices being infused with some store bought Kimchi Cabbage, I got the mild flavored in case anybody couldn't handle the heat.

KIMCHI PORK

I ended up with 30 pieces of Gaugee, with the ground beef filling having about 3/4 of a pound extra. With plenty of leftovers to feed at least four average eating foodies.

Until next time

Ron Sambrano 

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© 2015

HONOLUA STORE'S FISH N CHIPS

I wanted something to eat yesterday, so I hiked up Office Road to the Honolua Store, went straight to the deli and order their Fish n Chips for 10.49. Was it good? Yes it was!

The batter wasn't too thick, it was crispy enough, and the Mahi was deliciously moist on the inside, it came in 3 pieces each at least 3-4 oz., add to that some curly fries, 2 lemon wedges and a ramekin of tartar sauce. Yay! 

The Fish n Chips 

© 2015

Youtube Video

            

© 2015

A SLICE OF NIKKI'S

Yesterday I was killing time at the Whaler's Village Shopping Center in Kaanapali Maui. I was a tad hungry, so I walked down towards the food court there. It's been awhile since I've done that, so the first thing I noticed was the Mc Donald's restaurant was gone.

There were only four food counters there, and the first thing that caught my eyes were Nikki's Pizza. In the warm showcase I was magnetized by this huge piece of Supreme pizza. Hmmmm, for 5.00 it was well worth it. The fresh veggies, the sauce, the Italian sausage... man it was good. And what I really loved about this piece of pizza was that the crust was thin and crispy, but also tasty. Check them out when visiting Maui.

The Supreme Slice

© Sambrano 2015

Me outside the food court

© Sambrano 2015

The sign

            

©2015

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KATSU CURRY AT MIKE'S HONG KONG BISTRO

It was Wednesday, December 9th and I had to run an errand in the town of Wailuku, Maui. Didn't have a ride, so I called up my buddy Ron, and off we went. Before the errand, since it was lunch time, I figured we go and eat some local food at Mike's Hong Kong Bistro.

My buddy Ron ordered some Kau Yuk pork, and a Hamburger Steak Plate with rice and macaroni salad. And me? I ordered the Katsu Curry. It was cooked the way a chicken katsu is supposed to be cooked, very crispy on the outside, the panko flakes nice and golden brown, while the dark chicken meat is moist on the insides, juicy and tender and not dried up like how some other stupid restaurants makes it. And the golden curry gravy was no doubt a ready mix one, but of good quality. Most likely S&B's Golden Curry mix, mild, no problem with that, I understand buying good quality ready made mixes is a must for some restaurants. As long as that chicken wasn't frozen, thawed and fried I'm good with that. Good, slice it up fresh, panko fresh and fried fresh, all Yay Yay, no worries. It's the totally 'cut the corner' type of dives I can't stand. It's like they charge you an arm and a leg, and you're thinking, "This tastes like the stuff I buy from Foodland in the frozen foods section."

If you are ever on Maui, you want better than decent Chinese and local foods, try Mike's Hong Kong Bistro in Wailuku Town, Maui. Google and Yelp it. 

Check the video out, it's only 22 seconds but you can see what it looks like.

      

© 2015

FILIPINO STYLE SWEET AND SOUR PORK STIR FRY

Sweet and sour pork stir fry Filipino style, well it's not too much different from the Chinese style, only difference is with the Filipino version, we are going to use some tangerines and some raw sugar for the sweet, and for the sour basic apple cider vinegar as the two star ingredients besides the pork bellies.

Belly Pork Slab

INGREDIENTS:
1- 8 oz. slab of pork bellies sliced thin and set aside to room temperature.
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. minced ginger
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sliced bell peppers
1/2 cup tangerine pieces

MARINADE (mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl, stainless steel or glass)
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp. patis fish sauce
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed tangerine juice
2 tbsp. raw sugar
1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar or more to taste

First- sprinkle some salt over the sliced pork bellies, then marinade the pork belly slices in the marinade for 20 minutes.

Directions:
1. Heat up oil in a wok or fry pan over medium high heat, then add in garlic and ginger and stir quickly to just bring out the aroma, quickly add in the pork pieces without the marinade (save marinade set aside). Fry pork until it turns color, do not over cook. Remove and set aside.

2. Return wok/pan to heat, add more oil, and cook the mushrooms, bell peppers and tangerines for about 2 minutes. Return pork to wok/pan, continue to cook for about 2 minutes. Add in the reseved marinade and cook for 1 minute.

Note: if you want the sauce to be thickened, simply add a slurry of 1 tsp. cornstarch to 3 tsp. of water, add to wok/pan until thickens.

Serve Hot with Rice. It can serve 2 to 4 people.

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Until next time

Ron Sambrano

          

©2015

THE MINI BEEF PLATE AT PEARL'S KOREAN BBQ

Hungry for Korean BBQ? You best head to the Queen Kaahumanu Center upstairs at the food court, head up the escalators, turn left, then right towards the end corner you'll see Pearl's Korean BBQ. Delicious food, totally flavorful.

Photo © 2015 Chef Sambrano 

Today I got the Mini Beef Plate, it came with 1 scoop of white steamed rice, and my choice of 2 sides, mind you, you got a variety of healthy veggies as sides to choose from, I went with the kimchee cabbage, and macaroni salad. And of course the main protein was the barbecue beef, marinated perfectly and grilled over a hot flame producing some char which adds flavor. Check it out $7.99 was a great value with a drink it came out to less than $10.00.

Check out my selfie video below.

    

© 2015

KOREAN STYLE BEEF STEW IN A SLOW COOKER

Fill the slow cooker and in the morning, and this Korean inspired beef stew will be ready when you return home from a long day. Just have the cooked rice ready, to save time you can go to your local market and pick it up, or order rice from an Asian restaurant.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2

lbs. beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces

1

lb. ready-to-eat baby-cut carrots

6

green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2

cup tomato juice

1/3

cup soy sauce

3 1/2

tablespoons sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons sesame or vegetable oil

1/4

teaspoon pepper

2

teaspoons cornstarch

4

teaspoons cold water

Cooked rice to serve with stew

Directions

Spray 4-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In the slow cooker, mix the beef, carrots, onions, garlic, tomato juice, soy sauce, sugar, oil and pepper.

Cover and cook on Low heat setting for about 10 hours. 

In small bowl mix cornstarch and cold water and mix; stir into beef mixture in slow cooker. If you are cooking on low heat setting just increase heat to high. Cover and continue to cook for about 20 minutes more, or until mixture is slightly thickened. If you don't want the stew thickened skip this step. Serve with rice.

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MULLIGAN STEW ANYONE?

The Irish, what a people. They love to eat and drink and be totally happy, and most of them by nature can see right through someone's BS! My sister in-law is Irish, I got Irish friends, they're fun peeps.

Mulligan Stew.

INGREDIENTS

1/2 c. a.p. flour
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 1/2 lbs. of beef stewing meet cut into cubes
1 1/4 tbsp. vegetable oil
4 cups of beef broth
1/3 cup of water
1 to 2 bay leaves
1 tsp. garlic salt
1 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
3 medium or 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch slices
2 large potatoes, cubed
2 cups of chopped celery
1 round onion cut into 1/2 inch squares
4 cups of frozen mixed veggies
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/4 tbsp. minced parsley

Combine flour and pepper & mix with beef cubes. In a roasting pan with a lid, brown beef in oil. Add broth, water, bay leaves, garlic salt, oregano, basil and dill; bring to a boil. Lower heat; cover and simmer until meat is tender, about 1 3/4 hours. Put in the carrots, potatoes, celery and onion; cover and simmer for 40 minutes. Add in mixed veggies and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Mix cornstarch and cold water until smooth; add to stew. Bring to a boil and stir for 2-3 minutes. Remove bay leaves; add parsley. Serves about 8.

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© 2015