Soy Sauce Ribs

I messed up my ribs last time, this time I'm redeeming myself. I have help this time. I got a recipe from my parents. This one is from my homeland, Mother China. Soy sauce ribs, aka 1-2-3 ribs you'll see why.

1 tblspn wine (I used sherry)
2 tblspn of vinegar (forgot to include this in the picture)
3 tblspn of sugar
4 tblspn of soy sauce
a bit of oil
a couple stems of green onions
a couple slices of ginger
2 lbs of spare ribs



First in a pot, add the oil and sizzle the green onions and ginger for a few minutes. Then mix the sauce ingredients. Throw in the ribs and sauce and brush the sauce all over the ribs. The recipe said to simmer for about half an hour. The juice from the ribs made the sauce light. That's not suppose to happen.



Oh well, I'll taste it anyway. It's a lot of ribs, I'll just have half of it. I'll continue to cook the other half.



It is blandish. The ribs itself is a little tougher than I like too. Let see how the other half turns out.

I cook the ribs until the juice almost all evaporates. the sauce is now dark and thick.



I had the ribs the next day and this is how it is suppose to be. Good stuff, taste sweet and soy saucy. More tender than yesterday too. So the idea is to cook it until the sauce is thick and dark, skip the recommended time in recipes. Judging my eyes is how to do this.

-a

Empty the Fridge Beef Stew

I have accumulated a lot of vegetables in my fridge and it's time to empty the thing.
Time to make stew, I'll only have to fill in th blank with a few things. The rest are in my fridge.

2.5 lbs of cubed stew beef
4 stalks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
2 yellow onion
2 potatoes
a box of mushrooms
2 jalapeños
3 sticks of green onion
some fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
Curry powder
4 cup container of beef broth
Dried rosemary
some red wine...
yes. this will last me a while.



First, I was suppose to brown the beef and sauté the onions and celery. I tried, but the pot I have is not that big. Oil and beef and onions and celery in the pot, medium/high heat. Some of it got brown, other parts kinda cooked, other parts starting to burn. It's time to move on. I dumped the broth and other stuff in. Other stuff includes everything but the potatoes and the mushrooms. If I had carrots, that would wait too. Simmer for about an hour and a half, the beef needs to get tender. After that put the rest of the ingredients in. and simmer for another hour.



The stew should get thicker and the beef and potatoes should be falling apart just a bit.

The taste test:



It was ok... , but a lot of the earlier vegetables like onions and celery melted. The jalapeños is a kick in the butt. Something is missing. It needed more salt. I added more salt and it was still kinda goodish.. I added too much, but still better than before.

Overall it was decent. If I do a better job of adjusting the salt,it would've been very good. It does seem like a bit of a waste of vegetables when so much of it melted and the taste is so full that it's hard to detect each taste. I think the secret to stews is to keep it simple and not throw everything in. That way you know what you're eating. Mystery stew is not a good thing. Oh, and use lots of salt but be careful how much to use.

-a

Cornish Hen with Honey Orange Glaze

Tonight I made Cornish Hen. I like the fact that I'm cooking the whole animal. Makes me feel caveman.

1 Cornish Hen, I had 2 but 1 was enough, the other one is gonna freeze
Sea Salt, Grounded pepper
Honey
Orange Marmalade



First chop the chicken in halves lengthwise, rinse the chicken and dry it with paper towel. Rub salt and pepper on all sides. Mix the honey and orange marmalade together. It was kinda thick so I threw a splash of raspberry vodka on it. Yeah, I just wanted some alcohol. It thin out the glaze some and it's easier to brush on the chicken.

Spread the glaze on all sides of the chicken. Bake it at 400, brush the chicken with the juice every 15 minutes. Bake for a total of 45 minutes.



I also made some rice as a side. It looks delicious.



Taste pretty good too. I think it can use a little more spice, maybe a little charred skin would make it crisy. That would be even better. Good nevertheless. The breast is kinda dry, but not as bad as bigger chicken. The next bird sitting in the freezer right now will get some chili pepper treatment. I'll up the temperature and maybe shorten the time.

-a

Chicken with mushroom cream sauce

I make chicken all the time but alway with dry spices. This time I'm gonna try making sauce.

3 Chicken thighs
A bunch of mushrooms.
A Bit of flour
Some milk
A pinch of chicken broth cube crushed up
Butter
Green onion
a clove of garlic
Cheap white wine

I marinade the chicken in the cheap wine and some green onions. I meant to do this overnight, but something came up and I ended up marinaded the chicken for 2 nights.

I had extra mushrooms so I baked the mushrooms and the chicken together. 350 for 40 minutes.



To make the sauce, I cook the mushrooms in butter until it's a nice soft. Then I put in the chopped up green onions and chopped up garlic. After a while, I put in the chicken broth crumbs and a bit of water. Stir it a bit and pour in the milk and flour. Keep stirring and heat in low heat until it's thick.



When the chicken is done, pour the sauce on the chicken and eat.



The chicken tasted a bit bitter from the wine. Not the best, I have to use a different marinade next time or just don't do it for so long. The sauce tasted good, but again, not perfect. Need more experimenting with sauce. Totally ODing on mushrooms. No more for a couple weeks.

-a