I was in San Francisco for the AGU meeting the first week of December and had the good fortune to meet a number of Brethren at Phat Matt's. It was a nice time. I took a few pictures, but I had my cheapo back-up camera that doesn't work so well in low light. As it turned out, Ron_L also was in town, so it was really special. Some of these people need no introduction, as you recognize them from their avatar, like Landarc:
Martyleach and R2Egg2Q
Smokejumper,
and Ron_L
For some reason, I took these pictures when we got our food
and I waited for SirPorkaLot to get his food to take a picture, but by the time it showed up, I completely forgot :icon_blush:. I know there were others taking pics there, so I hope someone with a decent camera can fill in the details. What happened the next day is that Bob, Rob and I went to Mission Chinese. There were a number of great dishes, but what I really enjoyed was General Tso's veal breast. For anyone who has eaten Chinese food, you know that one of the most typical dishes to be found now is General Tso's chicken, which is usually a sweet-spicy dish (although I have had it twice in which it was sweet-sour). I think it has replaced completely the sweet-and-sour pork abomination that was probably the most popular American-Chinese dish. I say abomination because in America this dish never has a sour component at all, making it very one-dimensional (although great for kids and a guilty pleasure). Surprisingly, it is quite a different dish if ordered in Europe, where it is actually sweet-and-sour (a thinner, darker, non-fluorescing sauce is used) and the pork is a roast, rather than the fried pieces of pork that you typically find in America -- at least that is my experience. I was told this was probably the most popular "Chinese" dish in Europe, but it was quite different from our version having the same name. In any case, the veal breast at Mission Chinese was a nice variation and I especially liked the crispy outer coating. My thought was that when I got home I would give it a shot with burnt ends, which is what I did last weekend.
I began by seasoning up a couple of pork butts and a chuckie and doing an overnighter. I've wanted to do that for a while anyway.
Next morning, I took off the chuckie (you can forget about the pork for now) and chopped it up to make some faux burnt ends.
I then made a hot-sour sauce that is General-Tso-like:
In short, I mixed the following:
1/4 cup water
1 T soy sauce
1 T Apple cider vinegar (this was homemade, last year's batch and really good)
1 t Hoisin sauce
1 t Sriracha
1 t sesame oil (dark, although it probably doesn't matter)
1 T brown sugar
1 t cornstarch
1 T Red Boat Fish Sauce (thank you Smokejumper)
1 T ground ginger
I made a double batch, as I would need the other half later for a topping. Also, if you are making this, make sure you dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water first, before adding everything else, mix everything up and heat on the stove to thicken. There are lots of variations possible on the ingredients. What is critical is balancing the sweet and the sour. I especially want to put a plug in for the Red Boat Fish Sauce. This normally is not used in this dish, but I find it a great brightening agent.
Since I was doing a bit of experimentation, I mixed one of these batches with a healthy dose of Sweet Baby Rays and doused those cubes that I cut up. I put these on at 300* and made faux burnt ends. When these were finished, I plated them with some broccoli, added some Thai peppers and sesame seeds and the other half of the sauce.
I found General Tso's Burnt Ends to be much better than the chicken he's more famous for.
Later, I tried something a bit different. I again made up some sauce (same recipe as before, but I added some chili paste to the mix.
The sauce had a bit more body to it, but the balance was still very good (I adjust the Sriracha accordingly).
I put these together with some sliced green onions, and yellow pepper to make General Tso's Pulled Pork Sammie:
I must admit that the sauce did not work nearly as well on the pulled pork as it did on the beef, but it was still good.
Martyleach and R2Egg2Q
Smokejumper,
and Ron_L
For some reason, I took these pictures when we got our food
and I waited for SirPorkaLot to get his food to take a picture, but by the time it showed up, I completely forgot :icon_blush:. I know there were others taking pics there, so I hope someone with a decent camera can fill in the details. What happened the next day is that Bob, Rob and I went to Mission Chinese. There were a number of great dishes, but what I really enjoyed was General Tso's veal breast. For anyone who has eaten Chinese food, you know that one of the most typical dishes to be found now is General Tso's chicken, which is usually a sweet-spicy dish (although I have had it twice in which it was sweet-sour). I think it has replaced completely the sweet-and-sour pork abomination that was probably the most popular American-Chinese dish. I say abomination because in America this dish never has a sour component at all, making it very one-dimensional (although great for kids and a guilty pleasure). Surprisingly, it is quite a different dish if ordered in Europe, where it is actually sweet-and-sour (a thinner, darker, non-fluorescing sauce is used) and the pork is a roast, rather than the fried pieces of pork that you typically find in America -- at least that is my experience. I was told this was probably the most popular "Chinese" dish in Europe, but it was quite different from our version having the same name. In any case, the veal breast at Mission Chinese was a nice variation and I especially liked the crispy outer coating. My thought was that when I got home I would give it a shot with burnt ends, which is what I did last weekend.
I began by seasoning up a couple of pork butts and a chuckie and doing an overnighter. I've wanted to do that for a while anyway.
Next morning, I took off the chuckie (you can forget about the pork for now) and chopped it up to make some faux burnt ends.
I then made a hot-sour sauce that is General-Tso-like:
In short, I mixed the following:
1/4 cup water
1 T soy sauce
1 T Apple cider vinegar (this was homemade, last year's batch and really good)
1 t Hoisin sauce
1 t Sriracha
1 t sesame oil (dark, although it probably doesn't matter)
1 T brown sugar
1 t cornstarch
1 T Red Boat Fish Sauce (thank you Smokejumper)
1 T ground ginger
I made a double batch, as I would need the other half later for a topping. Also, if you are making this, make sure you dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water first, before adding everything else, mix everything up and heat on the stove to thicken. There are lots of variations possible on the ingredients. What is critical is balancing the sweet and the sour. I especially want to put a plug in for the Red Boat Fish Sauce. This normally is not used in this dish, but I find it a great brightening agent.
Since I was doing a bit of experimentation, I mixed one of these batches with a healthy dose of Sweet Baby Rays and doused those cubes that I cut up. I put these on at 300* and made faux burnt ends. When these were finished, I plated them with some broccoli, added some Thai peppers and sesame seeds and the other half of the sauce.
I found General Tso's Burnt Ends to be much better than the chicken he's more famous for.
Later, I tried something a bit different. I again made up some sauce (same recipe as before, but I added some chili paste to the mix.
The sauce had a bit more body to it, but the balance was still very good (I adjust the Sriracha accordingly).
I put these together with some sliced green onions, and yellow pepper to make General Tso's Pulled Pork Sammie:
I must admit that the sauce did not work nearly as well on the pulled pork as it did on the beef, but it was still good.