After making the mashed potato spring rolls, I had a bit of leftover mashed potatoes so I decided to improvise and create a Vietnamese-flavoured croquette. I’m in love with what I like to think of as Vietnamese meat loaf: ground pork studded with wood ear mushrooms and shallots, flavoured with fish sauce, sugar, soy, white pepper and five spice.
The Ko kimchi consommé is supposed to be an up-scale take on the bo ssäm, which I’ve yet to make, but if it tastes even a fraction as good as this dish, I’ll be happy. The Ko chapter talks a lot about the perfection of food. The word soigné is thrown around a fair bit, the food at Ko is supposed to be refined, polished and elegant.
I know it sound sacrilegious, but a lot of people I know are disgusted by pork belly. They think the discernible layers of meat and fat are disturbing. On the other hand, I have friends who love pork belly – sometimes it’s the only thing they order.
Like lots of Asian kids, the first thing I learned to “cook” was instant noodles. I felt so grown up putting a pot on the stove, boiling the water, and adding the noodles and flavour package. Instant noodles used to be my standard after-school snack, but if I was feeling extra hungry and I was lucky, I’d make myself a bowl of meat-sauce noodles. The luck had to do with whether or not there was any meat sauce in the fridge.
If you’ve ever read my post on Ad Hoc’s braised beef short ribs, you’ll remember my story about the friend who “accidentally” ate the best scallops he ever had in his life. The scallops were wrapped in bacon, and as this friend is a practicing Muslim, pork is a big no. I personally can’t remember the first time I ate the bacon-scallop combo, but for him, he just can’t forget it.
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momofukufor2.com is where I document the little tips and tricks I learned while cooking through the Momofuku Cookbook by David Chang and Peter Meehan.
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