Char Siu: Vietnamese Roast Pork Shoulder

Every Sunday, I try to find time to cook a large meal with enough leftovers so that I get to skip out on cooking dinner at least a few nights during the week.  During the cooler months, my go to Sunday night meals tend to be braises.  In the warmer months, I go for roast meats, and my absolute favorite roast meat is char siu, a Vietnamese dish consisting of strips of pork shoulder strips that are marinated in a sweet soy sauce mixture, then roasted at very high heat so that the pork on a beautiful reddish brown color.   Crispy on the outside, with a healthy dose of juicy pork fat interspersed throughout the meat, absolutely no other roast meat beats char siu.  Best of all, unlike the usual monotony that comes with leftovers, leftover char siu lends itself to a wide variety of uses; I have tried it by itself, mixed in with fried rice, and over a bed of noodles.  Each preparation reminded me why I love the dish so much. 

Char Siu
Adapted from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 2 lb. boneless pork shoulder, well trimmed
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 3 tbsp Hoisin
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 1/2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp double black (thick) soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame oil

Directions:

1. Quarter the pork lengthwise into 1 1/2 inch thick strips.
2. Combine all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the pork to the marinade and cover.  Refrigerate overnight, turning the pork a few times as it marinates to ensure that all sides are well-covered in marinade. 
3. Preheat the oven to 475F.
4. Place a flat roasting rack on a baking tray lined with foil.  Place the pork on the roasting rack and place it in the oven.  
5. As the pork roasts, baste it with the marinade every ten minutes and turn the pork.  Roast until the pork begins to char on the outside and is cooked through, about 35 minutes.  
6. Remove the pork from the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.  Using a sharp knife, slice the pork strips into very thin slices.  Serve the pork as desired. 
   

Shrimp with Caramel Sauce

It's always nice when an ambitious-sounding meal can be created by simply using some leftover bits in the fridge. In this case, I simmered shrimp in some of the Vietnamese caramel that I had made several weeks ago for pork ribs. These shrimp are not nearly as sweet as the caramel sauce title may lead you to believe. While I do cut the cooking time from what is called for in Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese kitchen, you still need to cook the shrimp for longer than you think in order to allow the flavors of the sauce to penetrate the meat.

Shrimp Simmered in Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp Vietnamese caramel sauce (recipe here)
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• large pinch of black pepper
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 1 scallion, green part only, thinly sliced
  

Directions:

1. In a small dutch oven, combine the shrimp, fish sauce, caramel, onion, and pepper. Bring to a rapid simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are the color of clay and the sauce is almost completely reduced, about 8 minutes.
2. Remove the pan from the heat and toss the shrimp in the oil. Garnish the shrimp with the scallion and serve with white rice.

Pork Ribs Braised in Vietnamese Caramel Sauce

The most important ingredient of this rich pork braise is the bittersweet Vietnamese caramel sauce, which gives the braising liquid its dark hue and robust flavor. The key to a perfect caramel sauce is to brown the sugar just shy of the point at which it becomes a black, burnt mess and ruins your pan. As frightening as that may sound, I highly recommend following Andrea Nguyen's recipe and technique for making caramel sauce, which can be found here, along with some extremely helpful photos.

Once you have made the caramel sauce, rest of the recipe will be easy, albeit somewhat time consuming with the marinading and braising time. Although the it calls calls for country cut pork ribs, I would think it would work equally well with other fatty cuts of pork, dark meat chicken, or beef; just adjust the braising time accordingly.

Pork Ribs Braised in Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs country cut pork riblets (ask your butcher to cut the whole ribs crosswise through the bone into long strips)
• 1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 6 tbsp fish sauce
• 6 tbsp caramel sauce (recipe here)
• 1 cup water, plus more if needed

Directions:

1. Trim the ribs of any excess fat.
2. In a large bowl, mix the onion, sugar, pepper, and 3 tablespoons of the fish sauce. Add the riblets and stir well to coat with the marinade. Refrigerate overnight.
3. Preheat the broiler. Remove the riblets from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and broil until browned on each side, about 9 minutes per side. Set aside on a plate.
4. Place the riblets in a braising dish or a large skillet with deep sides. Add any juices that have collected on the plate, along with the reserved marinade, caramel sauce, and remaining fish sauce. Pour in enough water to cover the riblets by two-thirds.
5. Bring the braising liquid to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer and cover. Cook for 45 minutes. Uncover the braising dish and turn the ribs. Increase the heat to a vigorous simmer and continue to cook uncovered for 20 minutes or until the pork is very tender. Serve with steamed rice.

Bo Kho Vietnamese Beef Stew

Bo kho, a traditional Vietnamese beef stew made with tomato, star anise, and lemongrass, from Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen:

Shrimp in Spicy Tamarind Sauce

Tonight's dinner was from Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. The last time I made a sauce with tamarind pulp, it was cloyingly sweet, so I was reluctant to try it again. However, Nguyen's recipe for shrimp in tamarind sauce included sriracha and fish sauce, so I decided it might be worth the gamble to use up the tamarind pulp that had been sitting in my pantry. My decision paid off, as the dish was a nice balance of spicy, sour, and sweet. I served it with Nguyen's cabbage and egg stir-fry; the best I could do as an homage to St. Patrick.

I always appreciate a recipe where I learn a tip that I can carry with me. Nguyen suggests tossing the uncooked shrimp with a generous amount of salt and then immediately rinsing the salt off the shrimp prior to cooking. She says that this quick step will "return the flavor of the sea" to the shrimp. I can't believe I have never heard this before, as this pre-salting of the shrimp imparted a briny flavor, which really did remind me of the sea. This is a step that I will take whenever I cook shrimp, and I urge you to do so, too.