How Momofuku Stole My Million Dollar Idea with a Sausage

I recently came up with my million dollar New York City food cart idea. The plan was to make pork burgers in the style of laab, chock full of lemongrass and toasted rice powder. I knew it would be a surefire hit. I'd set up shop in midtown during the day, filling the stomachs of office workers for $7 dollars a pop for a laab burger and all the accompaniments.  At night, I would trek down to the East Village to let sloshed NYU students sober up over some laab burgers served in a more low-brow style with a sesame bun and can of Four Loko. Alas, this great idea came to an end as I was perusing the Momofuku cookbook.  It was there—page 176, to be exact—that I spotted Tien Ho's recipe for Lemongrass Pork Sausage. It sounded similar enough to my idea, but I knew that the toasted rice powder, my secret ingredient, would set my dish apart.  Then I read the blurb above the recipe, which stated that toasted rice powder would be a nice addition to the sausage.  That's right, Tien Ho and David Change had my idea before I'd even thought of it. Back to the drawing board it is.  As for the Momofuku Lemongrass Pork Sausage? Well, I think theirs is better than mine would have been anyway.

Bacon Dashi with Mussels and Potatoes

"Man, you go through a lot of bacon!" Significant Eater exclaimed the other day as she watched me simmering half a pound of the good stuff to make the recipe for Bacon Dashi from Momofuku. 

"Don't worry, it's just a broth that contains the essence of bacon," I reassured her.  "I skim off all the bacon fat at the end, so it's actually not that bad for you.  Kind of like the idea behind Snackwells, but with much better flavor."

"Hmm, well that's a ton of bacon you have simmering.  Skim it well."

With the most persuasive tone I could muster, I said, "Don't worry.  And we're having mussels with it.  See? Healthy!"

"Wait... what's that?" She said skeptically.

"Just a little crispy bacon to top off the dish,"  I calmly answered.

She shrieked, "What! More bacon?"

"Oh yeah...sorry.  But trust me, it'll be worth it."

Tasting a mussel with a spoonful of broth, she said, "Wow...that's amazing."

"Bacon just makes everything better, doesn't it?"

Bacon Dashi with Mussels and Potatoes
Adapted from a recipe for Bacon Dashi with Clams and Potatoes from Momofuku

For the Bacon Dashi:

• 2 sheets konbu (dried kelp, available at Japanese markets) 
• 8 cups water
• 1/2 lb smoky bacon

For the mussels:

• 1 lb small fingerling potatoes, scrubbed
• 2 lbs mussels, thoroughly scrubbed and debearded
• 1/4 lb bacon, cut into 1-inch pieces
• soy sauce, to taste
• mirin, to taste
• 1/4 cups scallion greens, thinly sliced

Make the dashi one day ahead of time to allow the fat to bacon solidify so it can easily be spooned off:

1. Rinse the kelp under cold running water.  
2. Place the kelp in a large pot with the water and bring it to a simmer.  Turn off the heat, and let the kelp steep for 10 minutes.  
3. Remove the kelp from the pot and add the bacon.  Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the bacon and discard it.  
4. Let the dashi come to room temparature, then chill it in the refrigerator.  Once the dashi is chilled, spoon off the layer of solidified fat that will have risen to the top of the liquid.  Proceed with the rest of the recipe.

To cook the potatoes and mussels:

1. Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until it is crispy.  Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and drain on it paper towels.
   
2. Bring the dashi to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.  Place the potatoes in the dashi and simmer them until they are fork tender, 15 to 20 minutes.  Remove the potatoes with a slotted spoon and reserve. 
3. Bring the dashi to a boil and add the mussels. Cover the pot and cook until nearly all of the mussels are open, 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove the pot from the heat, and discard any mussels that do not open. 
4. Add the potatoes to the dashi to heat them through.  Taste the dashi for seasoning.  If it needs salt, add a splash of soy sauce.  If it needs sweetness, add a splash of mirin. 
5. Ladle the dashi into large bowls.  Place a few mussels and potatoes in each bowl and top each dish with the bacon and scallions.  Serve immediately. 

Shrimp & Grits, Momofuku Style

Having spent equal parts of my life in the Southeast and the Northeast, I was eager to make the recipe for shrimp and grits from the Momofuku cookbook.  Keeping the central components of the classic Southern dish intact while adding a small dash of New York edge, Momofuku's shrimp and grits achieves the right blend of North vs. South, something this blogger has been trying to achieve his whole confused life.  As difficult as it can sometimes be to tame New York 'tude with Southern charm, David Chang shows that it's pretty easy to do so on a plate. 

The hardest part about this shrimp and grits dish is sourcing the ingredients.  I had the good fortune of finding Anson Mills grits--the same South Carolina grits that Momofuku and seemingly every other higher-end restaurant in America with a grits dish on its menu use--at Formaggio Essex in New York's Essex Street Market.  It's worth it to search these grits out or splurge and order them online; they are the best grits out there, tasting as if the corn used to make them had been shucked just days before the grits were ground.

Aside from the grits, the only other ingredient you need to seek out is konbu, or dried kelp, that goes into the Bacon Dashi in which you boil the grits.  Fortunately, New York has no shortage of Japanese markets that carry konbu, but if you can't find it, you should be able to get by with boiling the grits in chicken broth. 

Ingredients and some splattering grits aside, this Momofuku's dish is easy to pull off.  Boil the grits, stir in a stick of butter (I didn't say this was healthy), cook the bacon, sautè the shrimp, poach some eggs, and stir it all together with a few splashes of soy sauce and some scallions and you have an excellent, North-meets-South-meets-Far-East meal.

Momofuku's Pickled Ramps

Ramps lend themselves to a variety of different uses.  They carry on unique flavors when grilled, sauteed, blanched, or pureed.  But my favorite thing to do with ramps is to pickle them. Pickled ramps, equally acidic, sweet, and spicy, work well on just about anything.  I tried them as a topping for lamb burgers, but have plenty more left to try alongside cured meats, steaks, and fish.  My recipe for pickled ramps comes from the Momofuku cookbook, and simply put, it's awesome.  I don't know how to describe it better, but the rice wine vinegar is the perfect amount of acidity for the ramps.  It's mid-April, and it's already shaping up to be a great spring. 

Pickled Ramps
Adapted from Momofuku

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs small ramps, roots removed and washed
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Pack the ramps into a quart-size container. 
2. Combine the sugar, salt, vinegar and water in a small sauce pan.  Bring to a boil and pour over the ramps.  Press the ramps down with a spoon to ensure that they are covered by the brine.  Bring the mixture to room temperature, then cover the container and chill the ramps in the refrigerator.  The ramps can be used immediately, but will taste better after a week.  The greens should be eaten within a month, while the bulbs will last for a few months. 

Momofuku's Noodles with Ginger and Scallion Sauce

 

My latest Momofuku recreation, Ginger Scallion Sauce, is one of the easiest recipes in the book. Try it and you will understand why David Chang calls the sauce one of Momofuku's "mother sauces" that makes appearances in many of the restaurant empire's dishes.  The sauce will go with just about anything from meat to seafood to vegetables.  Replicating one of the dishes on the menu at Momofuku Noodle Bar, I served the sauce with soba noodles.  As Chang suggests, I topped the dish with the book's quick-pickled cucumbers (2 Kirby cukes tossed with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt).  To make a complete meal of it, I also added pieces of sauteed chicken breast.  Served chilled, the dish would be an excellent dish for a picnic in the summer, but it was plenty tasty in the dead of winter.  

Ginger Scallions Sauce
Makes 3 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 scallion bunches, white and green parts, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup ginger, minced
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 1/2 tsp usukichi (light soy sauce)
• 3/4 tsp Sherry vinegar
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together and let sit for 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 2 days.   

How to Make Momofuku's Pork Belly at Home

The Momofuku cookbook contains a number of ambitious recipes, but I began with what is just may be the simplest in this roast pork belly that makes appearances a few times in the book.  I had only made braised pork belly dishes prior to making this one, but I really like how the meat of the pork belly stays firm by roasting it.  The salt and sugar dry-brine lends a salty-sweet flavor that essentially turns the belly into a very meaty bacon.  I served the pork belly wrapped in lettuce with a pickled mustard seed dipping sauce, but it would be just as good served as a steamed bun filling, draped over steamed white rice, or thrown into a pot of ramen. 

Momofuku Roast Pork Belly
Adapted from Momofuku

Ingredients:

• One 3 lb. slab skinless pork belly
• 1/3 cup kosher salt
• 1/3 cup sugar

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the salt and sugar.  Rub this mixture all over the pork belly, discarding any excess.  Place the pork belly in a roasting pan that is large enough for the pork to fit snugly.  Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. Heat the oven to 450F.
3. Remove the pork belly from the refrigerator.  Discard any liquid that has accumulated in the roasting pan.
4. Roast the pork belly at 450F for one hour.  Halfway through cooking, baste the pork belly with the rendered fat.
5. Reduce the oven to 250F and continue to cook for another 30 minutes.  Remove the pork belly from the oven and let it cool to room temperature.  Wrap the pork in plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator (this step will make it easier to cut in the pork belly into uniform pieces).
   
6. Once the pork belly is chilled, remove it from the refrigerator.  Using a sharp knife, cut the pork belly into 1/2-inch-thick slices that are 2 inches in length.  
7. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
8. Add the pork belly to the pan and heat each side just until the meat is hot, 1 to 2 minutes.  Serve immediately. 
   

Cereal-Milk Panna Cotta with Strawberries

Momofuku's cereal-milk panna cotta is modern comfort food at it's best. I finally made the salty/sweet dessert again, and this time I was patient enough to take a photo before I ate it. I topped the panna cotta with sliced strawberries and did not regret it.

Review: Momofuku Ssäm Bar

Fresh off the 12-days of cooking that was my Greenmarket Challenge, I decided to take a night off from cooking and have dinner with my significant eater at Momofuku Ssäm Bar, the only one of the four Momofuku establishments I had yet to try. The great meal that followed extended my enthusiasm for all things Momofuku.

As a starter we ordered the steamed pork buns, a standby at all David Chang restaurants. Like the pork buns at Noodle Bar and Milk Bar, the buns at Ssäm Bar are a celebration in pork fat: melt-in-your-mouth pork belly with thinly sliced cucumbers and hoisin sauce in a soft steamed bun. It may have just been a night in which I was craving pork buns, but the rendition as Ssäm Bar tasted better than any Momofuku pork buns I have had before, with the pork being particularly buttery.

From the "local/seasonal" section of the menu, we ordered snap peas which, along with eggs and mint, were tossed in XO sauce, a traditional Chinese sauce consisting of dried shrimp and scallops in spicy oil. The snap peas showed why David Chang deserves much of the overwhelming praise he receives; the sweet peas alongside the salty XO sauce created an excellent and unique combination of flavors, with the mint brightening the dish just enough.

Due to the Southerner in me, I have a difficult time passing up a fried chicken dish on a menu and my visit to Ssäm Bar was no exception. I ordered the fried chicken dish, assured that Chang would take fried chicken to a new level; the menu was certainly convincing, even in the teasing way of dishes are described at all Momofuku restaurants: "bell & evan's fried chicken-- ramps porcinis, egg." At least to me, neither of those ingredients can do any wrong. Unfortunately, the fried chicken was the one letdown of the night. While delicious, I was hoping my $24 would get more than two large cubes of crispy dark meat, a few morels, and a very rich egg yolk. Of course, despite my slight disappointment, my significant eater and I all but licked the plate dry. If anything, this dish served as reminder that David Chang is not quite the culinary god that some make him out to be; you expect a fried chicken dish from him to be transcendent, but this one was merely very good.

While perusing the dessert menu, the hostess told us we had to try the ice cream pie, which had recently been added to the menu. We took her advice and ordered the pie, which consisted of the Momofuku-trademark cereal milk ice cream in a salty and sweet cornmeal crust. The pie was served with a compote of tri-star strawberries. The hostess was right on with the ice cream pie; it was excellent, with each element being equally delicious on its own as it was with the other two elements. Some may balk at the texture of the re-frozen soft serve ice cream, which made the ice cream slightly icy and not as creamy as one may expect an ice cream pie to be; my significant eater and I had no complaints.

Like the other Momofuku establishments, Ssäm Bar turns a blind eye to the established rules of fine dining. The room is extremely loud. The service is rushed, although friendly enough. For the most part, the only utensils offered are in a canister of chop sticks in the center of each table. Despite these deficiencies, there is a reason why the restaurant is packed with diners night after night; the food is excellent. If anything, Ssäm Bar's lack of fine dining pretense-- although it does carry a high degree of the annoying hipster pretense -- is refreshing. Most of all, the food at Ssäm Bar makes the deficiencies worth putting up with.

As we left Ssäm Bar, my significant eater and I made a pit stop next door at Momofuku Milk Bar and purchased a slice of "crack pie" to eat at home. We didn't need another pie out of hunger-- the portions at Ssäm Bar are more than adequate-- we just weren't quite ready to end our Momofuku night. Fortunately for us, the buttery slice of crack extended our Momofuku high a little bit longer.


Momofuku Ssäm Bar
207 2nd Ave. (at 13th St.)
New York, NY 10003

Momofuku Milk Bar

I usually don't fall for hype. Spotted Pig? Eh. Corner Bistro? Utterly overrated. However, I have joined the masses in being completely won over by all things Momofuku. My latest obsession is Momofuku Milk Bar. I have been several times so far, sampling many of the sweets on the abovc menu as well as the great, if overly expensive, Momofuku pork buns. All of the desserts I have tried have a nice combination of salty and sweet. Some may find them to be overly salty, but I find them perfect. Not to be missed are the corn cookie, cornflake marshmallow chocolate chunk cookie, and best of all, the compost cookie, a wonderful mix of pretzels, potato chips, butterscotch chips, and, chocolate chunks. Try it before you knock it! The cereal milk soft serve is nice as well, and I was pleased to find that the flavor of my cereal milk panna cotta was dead on. I can't wait to try the breads, pies, and cakes, on subsequent visits.

Skate with Brown Butter Sauce

If you haven't cooked skate before, I urge you to give it a try. It cooks quickly, the meat is flavorful so little more than a simple sauce is required, and it is fairly inexpensive. Inspired by a skate and brussel sprout dish I saw at Momofuku Noodle Bar, I served the fish with brussel sprouts that I roasted with bacon. The fish requires little in the way of a recipe since it is fairly versatile, but here are some general steps:

Skate with Brown Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

• 2 skate wings
• kosher salt
• flour, for dusting
• 3 Tb butter
• large splash of dry vermouth or white wine vinegar
  
• 1 tsp capers

Directions:

1. Dry skate wings with a paper towel.
2. Salt fish.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add half of the butter to skillet.
4. Dust skate wings with flour.
5. Add fish to skillet. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes total, turning once. Set fish aside.
6. Add rest of butter to pan. Once melted, add splash of vermouth and capers.
   
7. Cook butter and vermouth until sauce is reduced and nicely brown. Pour sauce over the skate and serve immediately.
   

Cereal-Milk Panna Cotta a la Momofuku

I’ll finally get off my lazy butt and resume blogging about my kitchen adventures (and misadventures) this weekend. To kickoff my comeback to bloggerdom, I wanted to give my personal recommendation for Christine Tosi’s (of Momofuku fame) Cereal Milk Panna Cotta with Caramelized Corn Flake Crunch recipe that appeared in the NY Times last week. No pictures, but I can say it was was a very nice combination of salty and sweet. Best of all, it was a cinch to prepare. And better yet, leftover corn flake crunch makes for a great ice cream topping.