Slow Cooker Barbecue Pork Ribs

There are many right ways to make BBQ Ribs and it's all up to you and don't let anyone tell you that it isn't right. After all the best pork BBQ rib is the one you like best. So if you want them fall off the bone tender then make them that way. You can put sauce on them or not, you can make your BBQ Ribs spicy hot, or sticky and sweet, however, whatever.


I, for one does not like to buy store bought sauces and being part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce Southern Style for sampling................
 

Click HERE to read further and for recipe

Yau Yee Cheng Chee Yoke/Steamed Ground Pork With Dried Squid

This dish is without a doubt in any MOM's repertoire, asian moms that is. Steaming ground pork and adding whatever to enhance the ground pork has been cooked and served since time immemorial.

To read further and for recipe, it is HERE

East Meets West- Zucchini with Pork and Rice Stuffing

This is a guest post from Reese Darragh of The New Art Of Baking. A Malaysian living in the United States,  Thank you Reese for coming to my rescue for not posting as often as i used to, you know, it's the summer and so much to do. 

The recipe and how to are HERE

Char Siew Pork Ribs

The Char Siew posting in this blog is one of the most sort after and from the comments, i know that everyone who have tried making Char Siew with this recipe liked it alot. My family always give me the thumb up when Char Siew Pork or Char Siew Pork Ribs are served. Make sure you have a huge pile of napkins ready cos these Char Siew Pork Ribs are so finger-licking good . Basically, the marinate is the same, the only difference is the choice of meat, one is just shoulder/belly pork while this are Ribs be it Spare or Baby Back

Continue for recipe HERE

Easy Popiah

Now that i have made Fresh Popiah Skin, i can't wait to try tasting them. Can't have a traditional Popiah Meal without the necessary ingredients and a good Popiah Meal require a long lists of fresh ingredients

The recipe for the filling is HERE

Garlicky Belly Pork

Have you ever eaten or cooked with pork belly? Pork belly is usually referred to the belly region of a pig which is from the underside. Pork Bellies are more commonly known as Bacon and now, when you think of all the delicious bacon recipes, you know where it comes from Eating Belly pork gives you an amazing textural experience, a feeling of flavor oozing in mouth You have a nice layer of meat, a nice layer of fat, another nice layer of meat, another nice layer of fat, and when you cook it properly, this combination of textures together with its rich, juicy loveliness will satiate your palate.


This cut of meat is enormously popular in chinese and korean cuisine.

The recipe for Garlicky Belly Pork is HERE

Dongpo Rou

Why is this dish called ‘Dongpo Rou’. There are many fables and this Dongpo Rou Story is the most popular of all.

 

Continue for recipe HERE

Bacon Wraps

When you have a potluck dinner to attend and don't feel like messing up the kitchen with so many pots and pans to clean after the cooking.  Think of bringing these Bacon Wraps - there is not much cleaning to do except washing the baking rack and the baking sheet does not need cleaning as it has been foil lined, so just throw away the greasy foil.  Oops,  there is still the knife that is used to cut the bacon in half and a plate to be cleaned, the plate that is used to microwave the bacon . The best part in this recipe is that you do not need a grocery list - just 3 ingredients.

The recipe is HERE

Lo Sam Chung Yoke/Red Cooked Belly Pork

I have many a time been told that 'lo soi' means 'old water' but am not able to argue that it is not so, you know why? if you can't read or write chinese, i don't stand a chance in this debate.

Tell me if i am wrong, to me - 'lo' means to steep it with meat/eggs/tofu in this very savoury and aromatic liquid, which is called 'The Mother/Master Sauce'. This way of cooking is also considered to be a kind of "red-cooking" method. I like to refer this sauce as 'The Mother Sauce' rather than 'The Master Sauce' - cos????? I would like to credit all Mothers who will be the one, diligently cooking in any home kitchen from dawn to dusk

Recipe can be found HERE

Step-by-step Mui Choy Kau Yoke

A task which usually take 5 minutes was not so and it was so frustrating.  Anyway, how difficult or time-consuming it was, i made a promise to post the step-by step on How to make Mui Choy Kau Yoke and .........

the promise is kept

The step-by-step can be found HERE

Mui Choy Kau Yoke

This is a very popular dish in Asia which appears on the dinning table during any asian festivals.  It is very deliciously sinful, mouth watering. 

Taste the intense flavour and the fats of the pork melting in your mouth.  . The preserved Mui Choy (dried salted veggie but sweet) has a nice balance which is light tasting  and goes well with the meat soft texture.  This dish might not be so acceptable by healthy freaks who shy away from most fat but in this case the fat actually gets soaked up by the 'mui choy'  and become very 'mui', giving glory to it's name.  "Mui" in cantonese means 'soft' . 

Continue for recipe HERE

Pork Tenderloin in Sha Cha Sauce

There are sauces and sauces - endless selection and there are many more that i have not encountered with or have the opportunity to try cooking with them. Walk down the  Sauces'    aisle  in  any asian market and you will know what i mean.. I have not heard of Sha Cha sauce until my friend Belinda used it as a dipping sauce for her hot pot. She told me to add an egg yolk with the sauce and it was so delicious that i had to get a can. Not only is this versatile sauce good as a condiment, it can be a base for soups , as a seasoning for stir-fry dishes and as a rub for barbecued meats.

Ingredients:

2 pieces pork tenderloin (about 12 ozs each)
4 heaped tbsp Sha Cha Sauce
1/2 lb french beans
Cilantro for garnishing











Method:

Trim pork of any visible fat and membrane/silver skin.

Cut off 12 inches or so of butcher’s twine, and put the thin end of the tenderloin in front of you.

Fold the thin end back on itself so that the entire length of the tenderloin is uniformly thick.

Slide the butcher’s twine underneath the tenderloin, and tie the folded thin end with a simple loop and surgeon’s knot.

Cut off the excess string with kitchen shears, and you're ready

Rub on the Sha Cha Sauce on to the pork tenderloin and let it marinate for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

Heat a 12 inch skillet with 2 tbsp oil and brown the pork tenderloins on all sides.

Put in a preheated 425f oven for 10 minutes to finish the cooking.(10 minutes is only a guide, try not to overcook, since overcooking will cause the meat to dry out. It's a good idea to use a meat thermometer to test for doneness; cutting into the meat to test for color will cause too many good juices to run out. A range of 150° to 165° is usually recommended  but i like to take it out at 140 - 150.. This should produce tenderloin that's juicy, tender, and safe. Rest for 5 - 10 minutes, remove the butcher's twine before slicing, )

For the french beans, remove the ends, wash and wipe dry.

Heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a skillet and when oil is hot, deep fry the french beans until crinkly and soft.  Do not fry all the beans at once, fry by batches.

Put the fried french beans on a platter and top with sliced pork tenderloin.  Garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy

Serves

If Yan Can Cook, Do You Think I can?

Last saturday was a very exciting day for me.  Fancy me, meeting Chef Martin Yan in person.  He was  in town giving a cooking demo and i get to go to see him cook live.  I really enjoyed the demo as he was so good with the knife, a real pro, I think i will have to be reincarnated several times before i can come to his level - especially how he garnished a dish.  I tried and here were my results - what do you all think, can i garnish or cook like Yan?

 Ingredients:

Pan Fried Pork

1/2 lb of pork loin  - sliced thin
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp soya sauce
1/2 tsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
1/4 tsp 5 spice powder
1/4 tsp white pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Method:

Place a slice of pork in between a plastic wrap, sprinkle some water on to the pork and pound the pork to make it thinner and tenderizing it at the same time.  Repeat with all the slices.

Marinate the pounded pork with the rest of the ingredients for at least 1/2 hour.

Heat a pan with enough oil just to coat the pan.  When oil is hot, put in 3 slices to pan fry, do not overcrowd..  Fry until both sides are nicely browned and crispy.  Repeat with the rest of the marinated pork.

Leave fried pork to cool for 10 minutes before cutting into bite sizes.

Garnish the platter with a tomato rose and cucumber slices(Martin Yan demostrated how they were done)  This Pan Fried Pork was my dinner last night.

Enjoy

Barbecue Pork Ribs

This weekend, sit back, and savor America's freedoms with the simplicity of time-honored traditions and have a Barbecue. A July 4th Barbecue is not the same without ribs and this recipe is simple producing tender and juicy ribs without the long hours on the grill.  Although prep is tedious, it is worth the effort.  This recipe is adapted from  Bobby Chinn - Wild, Wild East.  The recipe calls for steaming the ribs and i used the pressure cooker which cut the steaming time by half. I did not brine as the ribs were fatty enough and the meat would not dry out besides like the saying goes - the nearer the bone, the sweeter the meat and don't need any brining.. 

Ingredients:

2 1/4 lb baby back pork ribs or St Louis Cut Pork Ribs

Dry Rub:

1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground paprika
1 1/2 tbsp garlic salt
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp ground dried sage
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 tbsp chilli powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

Vinegar-based Barbecue Sauce:

1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup apple juice
5 tbsp tomato ketchup
5 tbsp molasses
2 - 3 tbsp crushed red pepper(to taste and optional)
Freshly ground black pepper

For the smoking:

Raw Rice
Sugar
Black Tea

Method:

To make the dry rub, combine all the ingredients well.  Store in an air-tight container for use as required.

To make the sauce, combine the ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes. While the sauce is cooking, throw in about half the dry rub.  It is pretty much up to you how much you use.

Clean the ribs and trim off excess fat.  Cut each rack in half. 

Put in about an inch of water in the pressure cooker and place a steamer rack on it.  Place the ribs on top of rack and close lid of pressure cooker.  Pressurized for 15 - 20 minutes until ribs are cooked through and tender.  I cook them until tender enough to pull the bone from the meat freely. 

Rub the surface of the ribs with the remaining dry rub - ready for smoking.

To smoke the ribs:

Line the wok with aluminium foil to prevent ingredients sticking and burning against the wok's surface
Arrange the smoking ingredients on the bottom of the wok.
Place a circular wire rack on top of the smoking ingredients
Place the tender ribs on top of the wire rack
Place the wok lid on top of the wok and seal with damp towels.
Heat the wok. As the wok commences to heat,  the rice, sugar and tea will begin to burn, filling the wok with flavoured smoke. The ribs will bake and at the same time become flavoured by the smoke.
Smoke for 20 minutes.

To grill:

Heat the grill and cook smoked ribs for about 4 minutes on each side.


To Serve

Place the cooked ribs on a cutting board, sprinkle about a tablespoon of dry rub over them and chop through every 2 ribs.

Drizzle some sauce on top of the ribs and serve.

Enjoy and have a Good July 4th Weekend!!!!!!

Steamed Ground Pork With Cuttlefish/Yau Yee Cheng Gee Yoke

Before i proceed further with this text, i would like to apologise for my absence and would like to thank all the well wishes and prayers for my mom.  My Mom is now resting in peace and my daughter and me are glad that we get to spend a few days with her before she passed on.  My Mom was such a considerate person and she had never ever wanted to 'mah fan' her children especially me.  She must have wanted me to know that she is now in peace.  Thank you Mom for being such a lovely mother and bringing us up to be meaningful human beings, may you rest in peace.  I would like to thank all my siblings, their better half and children, and relatives who came from far and near and giving me an opportunity to connect to you all. Although we may be thousand of miles away, you all are always in my thoughts and have a special place in my heart.

This dish is one of the dish that my mom would cook and i would like to share this simple and yet so delicious served with white rice.  In the good old days before meat grinder or food processor, my mom would chop the pork with her cleaver, the one and only knife in the kitchen. Somehow pork chopped with a chinese cleaver tasted so much better when steamed, perhaps it is the love put in.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb/8 ozs ground pork
1 piece of cuttlefish(tieu pean) - washed, soaked until soft and then shred.
2 tbsp light soya sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp tapioca starch/cornstarch
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
2 - 3 slices of ginger - shredded

Method:

Mix all the ingredients in  ceramic dish/plate which can fit in your rice cooker and put the shredded ginger on top.. Alternatively, you can use a regular steamer or a wok to steam this dish.

Put in this prepared dish on top of the rice when the rice is  not cooked totally and the rice cooker's cooked function is not done. You must put this dish in time so that the residue heat from the rice will cook the pork.

Remove from rice cooker and serve hot.

Serves

Homemade Streaky Bacon/Lap Yuk

Historically, Lap means "ritual" in old Chinese, it was very often that surplus meat after the ritual would be cured for use in times of scarcity. These preserved delicacies are called "Lap-mei" in Cantonese and are often mistaken that they are waxed because of their waxy appearance and the word "lap" which also means wax in that dialect. There are three types of "Lap-mei"and they are preserved Chinese sausages, preserved pork, and preserved ducks.

In Chinese tradition, they are usually prepared around the time of December of lunar calendar, as one of the delicacies to celebrate the 'Spring Harvesting Festival'. They are traditional gifts during the festive seasons, especially during the Chinese New Year.


It has been found that 'Lap-mei' prepared commercially, has nitrite/nitrate and coloring which are not very desirable, therefore this gives me a reason to prepare 'Lap-mei' at home - preservative free.

I have to thank Claire, my dear friend, who came with the special Rose Wine and Dark Soya Sauce.





 Ingredients:
5 lhs belly pork
5 ozs sugar
1/4 cup Mui Kwai Lo (Rose Wine)
1/2 cup light soya sauce
1/4 cup thick dark soya sauce
3 tbsp table salt

Marinated.

First day of drying












Second day of drying or airing
















Method:

Cut belly pork into 1 1/2 - 2 inch strips.

Rub in sugar and salt into meat and pour in the remaining ingredients to marinate overnight in the refrigerator. Turn meat often to marinade evenly. I kept them in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Drill a hole on top of a strip of meat with the sharp point of a boning knife and pass a piece of string through the hole and tie string with a knot.
Hang up to dry in the sun for 1-3 days and move to a windy place to dry for another 2-3 days. I had sun for only a day but managed to get 2 windy days.  Took them in and hang them near the ventilation vent and the heat was good, it dry the meat pretty good.

Steam air dried pork(lup yuk) for 8 minutes over high heat. Slice thinly and serve with rice.


Serves