Author: Hans Susser

Germany/USA

Vietnamese Ginger / Caramel Chicken ( Ga Kho )

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I remember when, many years ago, I got my first whiff of fermented fish sauce. It was one of the most disgusting smells I had ever encountered in a kitchen and there was no way I would ever put something this vile into my food !
Forward a few years. Fish sauce (and it’s cousin, shrimp paste) has become a permanent staple in my cup board. I use it for many of my favorite asian dishes, although I still don’t use it as a dipping sauce. In this dish, it is one of the three seasoning pillars . Fish sauce, caramel sauce and ginger play the major part, while garlic, salt and pepper play second fiddle. If you are not used to using fish sauce or shrimp paste, just don’t smell it before you cook it. Once you add it to your food and cook it for a while, it transforms itself into pure magic, giving the final product great flavor and debt. ( Umami, if you must 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Chicken, thigh’s slashed to the bone
Caramel sauce, see below *
Pearl onion, blanched
Chiles, mixed colors, whole
Onions, sliced
Cilandro, coarsely chopped
Black pepper, fresh ground
Chili flakes,
Fish sauce,
Rice vinegar,
Garlic, paste
Ginger, sliced
Kosher salt,
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Season chicken with salt and black pepper and saute until golden brown on both sides. Remove onto absorbent paper. Saute pearl onions and chilies. Remove to absorbent paper. Saute sliced onions, garlic and ginger until translucent. Add vinegar, caramel, and all seasoning. Add chicken and slowly simmer until chicken is cooked through and sauce has reduced enough to cover the chicken. If the sauce becomes too thick before he chicken is cooked all the way, add a bit of water. If the sauce is too thin when the chicken is done, remove chicken and reduce until desired texture is achieved. At this point, strain the sauce if you like it smooth, otherwise, serve it more rustic with all the bits and pieces still in the sauce. Now, return the chicken, whole chiles and pearl onions. Simmer for another minute while basting the chicken to make sure it is well covered in sauce. To serve, add chicken to plate, cover with remaining sauce, top with chilis, onions, cilantro and lime wedges.
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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* Saute sugar until lightly browned. Add water. If you have not done this before – BE VERY CAREFUL ! This splashes easily and burns right throuhg your skin if you are not careful. I suggest to put the pot into the sink and open the waterspout just a bit while keeping your head as far away as possible 🙂 Stir until smooth and all sugar is desolved. You should now have a light brown liquid. If the sugar solidified, don’t worry. Just put it back on low heat, stir frequently and simmer until all solids are liquified.
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Arrogance & Narcissism Of The Highest Order ?

.Michel Bras’ gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied

Michel Bras’ gargouillou, which René Redzepi has called one of the most copied dishes of all time [Photo: Entre Les Bras/Facebook]

Dear Friend’s
If you think the picture above shows a pretty presentation and is worth to pay a few bucks for in a nice restaurant, so that you have something to nibble on until the real food arrives, then we speak the same language.
If, on the other hand, you think this represents culinary art, innovation, and groundbreaking plating technique, we might not be from the same planet.

Here is what has started to tick me off lately:
A spectacle is being made by a bunch of chef’s about copy protecting recipes, cooking techniques, plating details, and styles. One recent headline on “Eater” read:

” Inspiration and Attribution in Cooking:
How and When Should Chefs Credit Their Sources? ”

What a tremendous load of bullcrap !
It is one thing to credit your sources for a “unique” recipe, technique, idea and/or influence out of respect and good manners.
It is a whole other story to, as some donkey’s now do, “demand” credit for something that has been around for years, decades or even centuries.
Lot’s of chef’s nowadays call themselves innovators, visionaries, inventors, when all they do is change, grow, and, hopefully, refine established ideas, techniques, method’s and ingredient’s.

– Fried Hollandaise ? Hollandaise has been around for a long time, folks. Frying , too !
– Foraging for food ? Come on guys, even my great great great great great… grandfather was foraging for food.
– Food trucks ? Been around for decades in Europe, (See also food carts in other parts of the world)
– Elaborate presentations? Medieval cuisines started that trend.
– Use of the whole animal? Come on, really?
– Sprinkle a few leaves, herbs and edible flours on a plate “painted” with a sauce or coulis? Ask your twelve-year-old to give you a hand.

While there are without a doubt a few (very few) chefs’s out there who are true innovators, artist’s and culinary visionaries, the majority of dishes, techniques, presentation, ingredients, and combinations, have been around forever. Some have come and gone, some have looked and tasted a bit different, some have not been as popular and many have come from other parts of the world and simple been introduced to an unknowing group of people who did not travel or frequent ethnic restaurants (or food trucks) and were therefore never introduced to stuff which was already well established elsewhere.

Now, just imagine to take this nonsense a step further and contemplate the following:

Every time you write a menu, you give credit to the creator of the tomato soup, baked potato, grilled steak, poached fish, lemon wedge, compound butter, turning spaghetti with a fork, sprinkling cheese on top of pasta, a ham & cheese sandwich, blanching and shocking in ice water, decorating your pudding with whipped cream (EXTRA credit if you add vanilla, extra-extra credit if you add sugar, extra extra extra credit if you call it Chantilly) Where would it start? I certainly could never end and be nothing but a pointless exercise. Professional chefs are well aware of the names of the creators of certain dishes, techniques, even garnishes (Melba, Célestine, Grand-Mère, Café de Paris), but in my humble opinion the names of these creators and innovators are still alive today because what the have created was worthwhile to cherish, admire, look at and most of all, eat, eat and eat again !

Ahhh, a little venting does one good 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Geroestete Semmelknoedel Mit Ei

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A few weeks ago I posted :

Rinds Rouladen & Semmel Knoedel ( Beef Roulade & Bread Dumplings )

in response to a request. I mentioned in the post that one can not re-heat bread dumplings in water, as they would become very dense. I promised to post another post soon to explain what to do with leftover bread dumplings. Here are two very delicious recipes.

A ) ” Semmelknoedel Salat ”
Dice the cooled dumplings, add diced red onions, diced radish, diced tomatoes, diced cucumbers, diced peppers, sliced chives and dijon mustard vinaigrette and mix all into a Panzanella – like salad. Beautiful and delicious 🙂

B ) ” Geroestete Semmelknoedel mit Ei ”
Quarter the cooled dumplings, then slice into quarter inch slices. Whisk whole eggs with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Saute dumpling slices in butter until lightly browned. Add eggs and sliced chives, saute until eggs start to set. To serve, sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Serve with tomato / cucumber salad.
Note : During the sauteing the dumplings will become crispy on the outside while they aquire a wonderful creamy texture on the inside.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Congee With Smoked Pig’s Tails & Vegetables

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Rice Porridge.
First thing that comes to mind is probably baby food or hospital gruff. Most folk’s would never think of ordering it from a menu in a restaurant, much less wake up and crave it for breakfast, if they hadn’t tasted or at least seen it before.

Now, let’s try again :
Congee. Lúgaw. Chok. Xifan. Juk. Okayu.
OK, that’s better 🙂

Sounds more interesting and exotic? These are just a few names given to rice porridge around the world. If there is a country or region which traditionally eats rice, then there is some form of rice porridge eaten.

Congee can be enjoyed as breakfast, snack, lunch or dinner. Congee most often contains rice, but other grains can be used. Ideally it is made with strong, tasty stock that infuses great taste and debt into the dish. But from there on, let your fantasy run wild. Congee can be made with seafood, meat, vegetables or a combination thereof. Then there are the toppings. Pickled vegetables, fried shallots, sliced scallions, pulled mushroom stems, crisp fried garlic, dried shrimps, 100 year eggs, cilantro, etc, etc. If you like it, put it on.
Below is a version I made on sunday for breakfast. The texture is more like a filipino Lugaw, with the rice VERY soft but still keeping it’s shape. At first I was not so sure about the smoked pigstails. I was worried they might be too overpowering. But not to worry. The taste was very rich with only a hint of smokiness. Another slightly unusual ingredient (served as condiment) was the freshly grated horseradish, although when you think of the japanese version Okayu, wasaby seems to be a fitting condiment. I prepare congee at home often, this version is definitely special and a great addition to my congee repertoire.
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All about CONGEE
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Previous CONGEE posts : 1 2 3
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Ingredient’s :

Jasmin rice,
Smoked pig’s feet,
Corn on the cob, cut into thick slices
Chinese unsmoked sausages, thinly sliced
Bell peppers, diced
Ginger, grated
Garlic, paste
Cilantro, chopped
Scallions, sliced
Salt,
Soy sauce,
Horseradish, freshly grated
Sesame oil,
Chili oil,
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Saute garlic and ginger in peanut oil until fragrant. Add water and pigstails. Simmer pigstails in unseasoned water for about an hour or until starting to become tender. Taste stock and if necessary season with salt and pepper. (Some smoked meats can be overly salted, so don’t season at first) Add rice and very slowly simmer for another hour or until the rice is close to the texture you desire. Now add the corn, diced peppers and sausages. Simmer for another fifteen minute. At this point, adjust texture and seasoning if necessary. If the congee is too thick for your liking, add some hot stock. If it is too thin, simmer longer or strain some of the liquid.
To serve, sprinkle with scallions and cilantro. Drizzle with chili oil.
Serve with horseradish and soy sauce. Acompanied by Oolong tea.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Am I Obsolete ?

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I love food.

I love food for the sake of food.
Does that make me obsolete? Out of touch? Old fashioned?
Removed? Aged? Antiquated? Archaic,? Bygone? A fossil?
Moth-eaten? Out-of-date? Outmoded? Primeval? A relic?
Or just plain stupid ?

Why do I ask this question ?
Well, most of my post’s are getting very positive, kind,
approving comments, which makes me happy , appreciated and
assured that traditional, simple, real food still has a stronghold
in the culinary universe. Most of my followers are food professionals
of a certain age, the “riper” age usually, and a wide variety of
older, younger, middle aged, more or less experienced home
cooks, culinary students and food enthusiasts of all sort’s.
Great ! Who would complain? I certainly don’t !
But I really wonder why I don’t attract more so called FOODIES.
Isn’t the whole point of calling oneself a foodie the point to indicate
a strong love of all types of food, in any way, shape and form ?
Yet it seems to me that some (most?) foodies are more interested in
creations that look like architectural creations, less like FOOD that is
nourishing, tastes great and is beautiful to look at. When I look at the
Internet lately and see some of the dishes out there, I ask myself if
there really is a huge part of the population which think’s that a 30 course
tasting menu made of lot’s of unidentifiable stuff that takes 4 hours
or more to consume and cost as much as a used car is the new way to eat daily ?

While I am the first person to enjoy some of these foods and I can
appreciate the time, craft, effort and artistry that has gone into that kind of food,
by extremely passionate, highly professional chef geniuses who are truly amazing and
are bestowed with rare culinary gifts, insight and energy, I will never assume
that this is the way people will eat regularly in the future, breakfast, lunch and
dinner. I rather think meals like that should be appreciated
for what they are supposed to represent : Special rare, highly anticipated occasions
which are extraordinary for their cost, beauty, and rarity.

Besides, a lot of these so called modern interpretations of food
are nothing but weird, ridiculous crap, produced by people who call themselves
chefs and innovators who don’t have the slightest idea about good FOOD,
I am highly amazed of the large amount of guest’s in some of these “temples of modern cuisine”
who are gullible enough to fall for some of the idiotic concoctions presented as innovations.

Again, I want to highly stress that I am a strong believer and admirer of innovation, artistry,
extraordinary new way’s to prepare and present old and proven dishes and explore
new way’s to prepare and improve long forgotten and under-appreciated ingredients
and find new food items and combinations nobody thought of before or which were
just ahead of their time .
But, Food is food. Crap is crap. Period.

So, I beseech all food lovers out there, old and young, experienced or not,
professional or not, to please don’t let the cuisine of our culinary tradition disappear.

Let’s continue to cook and eat them with the respect, love and passion they deserve.
Please continue to explore new stuff, experiment, develop, evolve and improve our
beloved culinary heritage.

I look at myself in the mirror and see an old man, but I
don’t think that should be a reason to dispose of me.

Same with our food. Old can mean ripe, proven, always reliable, satisfying,
reassuring and a great addition to new and exciting way’s and thing’s.

In conclusion, I believe there is a time for everything:

A ) A time for expensive, highly elevated food, presented in the most outrageously beautiful amazing fashion 🙂
B) A time for excellent, beautiful, nourishing, economic, simple food, presented nice, clean and appetizing 🙂

C) There should NEVER be a time for pretentious crap 😦

Bon Appetit !
Good Is Good. Crap Is Crap !
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Stir Fried Chicken, Mandarins, Walnuts & Bok Choy

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Usually I am not a big fan of fruit in my savory dishes,
but here it just seemed to be the right thing to add, and
it made the taste so much more rounded.
The mandarins were a bit on the acidic side, not very sweet,
I think that’s what made it at the end. Very enjoyable dish 🙂
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Ingredient’s :

Chicken Breast, wing separated, cut into large strips
Bok choy, cut on the bias
Mandarines, peeled, segmented
Walnuts, shelled, halved
Chilies, finely sliced
Cilantro, coarsely chopped
Sesame seeds, toasted,
Chicken stock,
Kosher salt,
Corn starch,
Garlic paste,
Ginger, grated
Soy sauce,
Sriracha,
Oyster sauce,
White wine,
Sesame oil,
Peanut oil, to saute

Method :

Silken chicken by mixing corn starch,
egg white and water with seasoning and chicken.
Saute chicken wings until almost done, add breast
strips and cook until golden and 3/4 cooked.
Remove chicken, set aside. Sautee bok choy,
add garlic, ginger, chilies, walnuts and mandarines.
Deglaze with a bit of chicken stock and white wine,
simmer for one minute only. Remove from heat,
add the chicken, sprinkle with sesame seeds and
serve with soy sauce and chili sauce.

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !
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Salad With Vegetables, Egg, Asiago & Cicharon

Who say’s salad’s are for sissies ?

Great dinner tonight, quick and easy, but very tasty and satisfying.
Sometimes, easy does it 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

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Radish,
Tomato,
Egg,
Onion,
Scallion
Cilantro,
Peppers,
Chicharones,
Roasted garlic paste,
Asiago cheese
Dijon mustard vinaigrette
Chili flakes
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Fried Beef Ribs

Another one to shock beef rib traditionalist’s,
who will never know what marvel they are missing 😦

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Simmer ribs.
Debone ribs.
Give bones to Bella and all her friend’s.
Season ribs with salt, pepper, lime.
Apply standard breading.
Fry.
Serve with salad, horseradish, chili sauce.
Eat.
Be happy.

Life is Good !
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