THE DIP, THE SAUCE, THAT DELICIOUS CONCOCTION YOU COULD DRINK

"Hey pass the dip man!" "What?" "Pass the dip, these lumpias are awesome, but don't hog the dip man!"
The dip is that tasty sauce in a ramekin that goes well with finger foods, like wontons, egg rolls, chicken strips, fish sticks, shrimp cocktail and any small foods. To me, a dip should be so tasty that you could actually drink the darn thing! Seriously. I mean have you ever tasted a delicious dip and just kept spooning it in your mouth? Yeah! Don't lie!

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So I been thinking of dips lately, just to share my insights on it. I mean, whenever you go to a sports bar, one of the main dishes that is served is the universal hot wings. Or hot buffalo wings. These come in mild or spicy, and served with a ranch dressing and celery sticks. Who the heck came up with this thing? Ranch dressing... it's usually mayonnaise with sour cream and some other powered herb and spice. 

WIKIPEDIA

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And the dips that go with egg rolls, those egg based dough wrappers that have vegetable fillings with pork or shrimp, Asian style, well with these you can get dips like straight up vinegar, or vinegar and garlic, sweet and sour, Sriracha mayo, honey mustard, the list goes on and on. Asians got more variety I think.

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Here's a dip you can make with some simple ingredients, and you probably have them in your cupboard. This will make about a cup of dipping sauce. This is going to be mild, and it will have some reddish color, and some sweet. I call this dipping sauce "dipping sauce"...haha.

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup vinegar

1/4 cup Sriracha hot sauce

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup mirin

1 tbsp. raw sugar

1/4 tsp. minced ginger

1/4 tsp. minced garlic

1 dash salt

1 dash white pepper

1 bay leaf halved.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, stir well, serve chilled. Use for wontons, lumpia, egg rolls.

MALA OCEAN TAVERN MAUI

Until next time Ron.

          

© 2015

THE HANGER STEAK, A SMALL BUT VERY DESIRABLE CUT OF BEEF

The Hanger Steak, is a cut of beef from the "plate" section of the steer or heifer, butchers with their knowledge understood that this cut is tender and kept it for themselves, hence it was commonly called "butcher's steak." 

Because it is from the plate section, it is mistakenly called "flap meat" or "skirt steak" but if you aren't a beef aficionado then you can mistakenly refer to this cut as such, yours truly is no butcher, so there you go, hey we are learning together as foodies. Restaurants sometimes offer this cut and call it "bistro steak."

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In Mexican cuisine, the hangar is used as filling for tortillas, simply salted and peppered, and grilled over hot coals and cooked rare to medium rare to retain its tenderness and always cut across the grain for tender bites.

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In some regions in the United States, the hanger is sold in abundance, while certain parts might have it displayed in the supermarket sparingly. Generally weighing at 1 to 1.5 pounds, you can purchase a whole hanger to grill at home. Marinating this cut is key to retain tenderness, soy sauce, garlic and ginger, sherry wine, vinegar, sugar, and any citrus like lemons or lime, maybe some tangerines even.

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In Filipino cooking, much like Mexican and South American, we utilize a lot of the same ingredients. I once bought hanger, and seasoned it with apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and lots of garlic. Due to the acidity of the vinegar it cooked the meat, though not heat from fire. Once over the hot coals, I just seared the outsides and it was good to go. I served it with white rice, and friends loved it, again cut across the grain and not with the grain.

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So there you have a little info an the "hanger" and where it comes from, isn't blogs great? Not too long to bore you, but just enough info to get you going. Recapping, the hanger steak comes from the plate section much like the "skirt steak" but is much more flavorful and tender. If you have a friendly butcher in your market, ask him some questions about different cuts of beef, most butchers love it when we ask them questions, why? Because they are so into cutting meat and not talking to anyone, they'll feel special. Because they are.

            

© 2015

TLAYUDA WITH SKIRT STEAK

A Mexican dish from  Oaxaca Mexico, a dish called Tlayuda. Generally made with a large thin and toasted crunchy tortilla, open faced, topped with shredded beef, pork, or chicken. And sometimes topped with refried beans, pork lard, lettuce and cabbage, and avocado, Oaxaca cheese and salsa. You can create your own Tlayuda at your house.

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Open face sandwiches are common in American culture, like an open face ham and cheese without the top bread or bun, this Tlayuda is a perfect Mexican open face kinda sandwich in its own right. Creating one shouldn't be too hard, you can use ready made foods for this. Like a can of chili, just heat it up and put it on some toasted tortilla.

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What kind of Tlayuda would I make? I'd make a ground beef Tlayuda, seasoned with taco mix and some garlic and onions, maybe some diced tomatoes, and some cheddar cheese and melt it in the oven, and top it with some mayonnaise mixed with some hot sauce.

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To make it a platter I'd add some macaroni salad on the side, or some steak fries all seasoned favoring the Mexican culture. Or maybe mix the culture up and have some Ahi Poke Hawaiian style on the side, a little Mexican Hawaiian Tlyuda platter. What you think? Yea or Nay?

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Until next time Ron-

          

© 2015

SKIRT STEAK EXACTLY WHAT IS IT? AND HOW THE HELL DO I COOK IT?

Are you confused as to the cuts of beef out there at the meat market? Or maybe you're at a restaurant and the chef throws out some French thing, and it's something like, Steak au poivre, which is just steak seasoned with cracked pepper, and pan seared with a sauce of cognac and heavy cream. But in this blog, I'll break down as best I can what a skirt steak is.

Skirt steak is a cut of beef that comes from the plate, or the under carriage of the cattle. Google it and see for yourself. But if you look at the pic I got on the top, it's a grilled skirt steak, that was sliced against the grain. Generally this cut is confused as flank. It is similar. 

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Other names for this steak are, Romanian tenderloin, Romanian steak, Philadelphia steak, Arrachera. These cuts are good for grilling. If you buy skirt steak from a supermarket, it should be cleaned out, if not, you'll need to get a boning knife and slice off the outer skin. 

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Most cuts that come from the underside of the cattle are rather tough cuts, and need to be slow cooked, cuts made for stews and braises. However like I've stated earlier, grilling skirts works out well, just make sure to slice it thin across the grain for tender eats. Another way if you can't grill it is to use a stainless steel pan with a little cooking oil and that works well, seared skirt steaks are just as good as their grilled cousins, just keep the seasonings simple, a little kosher salt and fresh black pepper will suffice, make it all Yay Yay!

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Until next time take care Ron!

        

© 2015

HALLOWEEN 2015 WHAT'S A FOODIE TO EAT?

Happy Halloween Foodies! Remember that scary ass movie The Exorcist? Look at the pic to the left, looks like it's an over dose of Monsanto corn. Or lack of protein? Maybe too much protein? Well, never mind that, it's Halloween, a time when some peeps can live out their fantasies just for one day or night, maybe it's a serial killer, or a guy that wanted to be Pam Anderson, or a football player like O.J., the list goes on and on. Halloween, what's a foodie to eat on Halloween? Well, it is the harvest time of the year, maybe some pumpkin? Roasted kabocha and put into some soup. Pumpkin cake? Pumpkin mixed with marijuana and made into some cookies? I don't know. I don't know what foodies will be eating this Halloween, I mean.. It's not like Thanksgiving when we all go to grandma's or Christmas when we all go to grandma's... Halloween, I mean... do we even sit down together for Halloween? When's the last time I said to my family, "Hey we are going to aunt Judy's for Halloween dinner, you kids be on your best behavior, and Junior, say grace will you, and take out those Dracula fangs before you do it, and Amy will you cover yourself up, I mean I know you're in college, but you can't look like a prostitute at aunt Judy's for Christ's sake!"

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Just make sure that if you guys are going to eat at somebody's house for Halloween, make sure you check the peppered steak for any razor blades, bring along a guy you hate, and make him sample the food first, if he rolls over and starts to foam at the mouth, there's a possibility that the food has been poisoned. Just be careful, I mean I don't have any stats, but I figure every Halloween, there must be at least one apple/razor blade debacle. Be safe, wear your costume with pride, wear that Caitlyn Jenner wig with pride, wear that OJ Simpson mask with pride, yes this is America, the land of the foolish, deceived, and flat out mentally retarded. Have you seen Halloween lately? Freeking adults supersede the kids when it comes to dressing up... Really? Or it's just a one day or night reason to get totally _______ faced! Whatever you eat, check it out first, be safe foodies. Have a Yay Yay Halloween.

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© 2015

HOW TO SOFTEN EGGPLANT

© 2015

"Hey Ron, how can I soften some eggplant so I can make a dip, or to add into a salad or something?" That's a good question junior. And good old Ron will come to your aid, all you gotta do is ask, and I'm here. Me and Jesus, same line bro. Ask us and you shall receive. So here we go, ready Freddy?

First of all, get some skinny eggplant, or the fat round ones, doesn't matter, cut em how big or small you want. Okay? Here we go, get yourself a veggie peeler, and peel off the soft skin. Trim both ends, removing the stem at the top, and squaring out the bottom end. If you look at the top photo, it's soften eggplant, the skinny ones. All I did was this.

1. Heat up some oil in the wok over medium high heat, I  just used Wesson vegetable oil, was it organic? Probably not, but I am not into this whole debate thing eh?

2. Once the oil is hot, add in a few slices and cook until soft, then remove and let it drain on some paper towels on a plate.

3. Once cooled, I rolled it up in some rice paper and made some spring rolls, and added shredded Romaine, and carrots. 

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It's very easy to do, I mean softening up eggplant, and once it's cooked and cooled down, you can do all kinds of things with it, baba ghanoush, use it as a wrap if you got a large slice, and fill it with some deviled shrimp or lobster. All good yeah? Check the pic below, it's sizzling in the hot oil in my favorite wok.

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So there you have it, really easy stuff, just keep this in mind, when slicing the eggplant, you'll notice that the meat may get discolored, if you are cooking it, there's no worries. Now if you're going to place those sliced puppies on display then I don't know guys... So was this a Yay (Happy post?).

Until next time.

Ron.

      

© 2015

FOOD TRUCKS... WHAT'S UP WITH THIS?

Food truck operators are everywhere! They are in the neighborhoods, shopping center parking lots, beaches, parks, at sporting events, rock concerts, moto cross races, funerals, you name it there's a food truck near by. So what's up with this obsession of an eatery on wheels? I mean there's a show specifically produced for this on the Food Network. I've talked to some operators on Maui and here's what some of them have to say. For some reason, non of them wants to use their names and their businesses, I don't know why, it would be free advertising right? Right? No? Well whatever.

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Food trucky No.1: "I get to set my own hours, I don't have a high overhead, I don't need lots of permits, I don't have a greedy landlord that wants 20% more off the top of my sales in the event I have a good month. It's total freedom."

Food trucky No. 2: "I only sell one dish, I'm not a trained chef, I make one dish really well, and I have my following. It be hard to open a brick and mortar eatery and sell only one item. Me, I don't care, I love what I cook. You don't like my cooking keep on driving."

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Food trucky No. 3: "We've had success with this food truck serving fish, we get to set our own times of operation. If we don't want to work on a certain day, we can relax. And it's very cost efficient, the truck is much more inexpensive then paying for square footage in some strip mall, or some other building."

Food trucky No. 4: "Ours is a trailer... and we got this from the mainland, built to our specs, and it's fun. We park across the school, and there's offices nearby, so we get a mix of customers, kids, professionals, and everyday people, both locals and visitors too, and the cost is much better than having a restaurant, the overhead would kill me."

You know what would be cool is to have a food truck that serves up breakfast all day, that would be totally cool. I love breakfast, and having a breakfast on wheels rolling through town would be awesome, like if I want eggs Benedict, or killer French toast, or a Portuguese sausage omelet, I could flag the guy down, "Hey stop stop stop!!! I want to eat breakfast." With my luck the guy would be all sold out, "Sorry man, I sold out!" hahahahahaha.

Until next time.
Ron.

© 2015