Recipe for Boeuf Bourguignon-Daring Cooks

I'll admit it.  When I first read through this month's Daring Cooks challenge, I thought "is all that really necessary for a beef stew?"  Well, maybe not necessary but definitely worth it-I'd say this is the best beef stew I've ever made!  Our May 2012 Daring Cooks' hostess was Fabi of fabsfood.  Fabi challenged us to make Boeuf Bourguignon, a classic French stew originating from the Burgundy region of France.


Oh, and did I mention it is a Julia Child's recipe, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking?



If you're interested, here's a link to Julia making this on You Tube, such a classic!
  
Yield: 6 hearty servings
Time: 5 hours


Ingredients:

• 6 ounces bacon
• Olive oil
• 3 pounds beef, cut into chunks for stew
• Salt and pepper
• 3 TBSP flour
• 3 cups red wine
• 1 large carrot, cut in to chunks
• 1 onion, sliced
• 2 cups beef stock, plus 1/2-3/4 cup additional for onions
• 1 TBSP tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, mashed
• Fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf, crushed
• 3 TBSP butter
• 24 pearl onions
• 1 lb mushrooms, quartered

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Remove bacon rind (keep), cut bacon into lardons (sticks) and simmer both rind and bacon in 4 cups of water for 10 minutes.  
• Drain and dry well with paper towels.
• Dry the beef well with paper towels.
• In a Dutch oven or other oven proof container, heat the olive oil and saute the  lardons for 3 minutes until lightly brown; remove from oil.
• Saute beef in the same pan until browned; remove.
• Saute carrot and sliced onions in same pan for 5 minutes.
• Return lardons and beef to pan, season with salt and pepper, then toss all in the flour.
• Place pan in oven for 5 minutes to further brown meat (I really didn't see any difference so I'd skip this next time).
• Remove pan and stir in wine, 2 cups of stock, tomato paste, garlic, a handful of thyme leaves,  the bay leaf (crushed), and the blanched bacon rind.
• Bring to a simmer on the stove top, cover and place in oven.
• Turn oven down to 250 degrees and cook for 3 1/2-4 hours until meat is fall apart tender (check occasionally that stew is just gently simmering).
• While stew is cooking, saute the peeled pearl onions in 1 TBSP butter until brown then cover with stock and simmer for 20-25 minutes until most of liquid disappears.
• Saute mushrooms in remaining butter until browned and released liquid is reabsorbed.
• When meat is cooked, remove pan from oven and let sit for a few minutes.
• Skim off any fat (I had fairly lean meat, so there really wasn't anything to skim off).
• Stir in mushrooms and onions, taste for seasoning, and heat to bubbling.
• Serve with sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves.

Really a fantastic meal!  Thanks Fabi for reminding us of this classic dish.

Check out the Daring Cooks! 
Printable recipe

Recipe for Armenian Nutmeg Cake-Daring Bakers

Oh boy.  This is an Armenian version of a coffee cake, but not quite as sweet.  It is however, wonderfully delicious!  The original recipe called for nutmeg, which I used, but I also added some cardamom which just gave it the most amazing flavor.  

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.  I chose to make the nutmeg cake for this month's challenge, but have the nazook recipe tucked away for later.

Yield: 16 servings

Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups cake flour (280 grams)
• 2 tsp single acting baking powder (aluminum free)
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar (350 grams)
• 1 ¼ sticks unsalted butter(150 grams)
• ½ cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1 egg white

 Method:

• Preheat oven to 350. 
• Mix baking soda in to the milk and set aside.
• Put flour, baking powder, brown sugar in food processor and pulse until mixed.
• Add in the butter and pulse until a tan crumb forms.
• Pour half the crumb into a spring form pan (Mine was 10 inches, 9 inches would make a thicker cake but all I have is 10”).  Press to form a crust on the bottom of the pan.
• Add the egg white, milk and baking soda mixture, and spices to food processor, and mix until a thin, slightly lumpy batter is formed.
• Pour batter over crust and gently sprinkle with walnuts.
• Bake for 30-40 minutes.
• Cool in pan, then remove and serve.

Some of my fellow participants reported problems with the batter not firming up or with the nuts migrating down in to the cake.  I made sure to use finely chopped nuts and gently sprinkled them on the top.  Not sure if the fact that I used a larger spring form pan (10 inches versus the 9 inches called for) made a difference, but my cake was cooked in the allotted time.

This was super easy to make and we really enjoyed it both as a breakfast treat and as dessert (Mr. ELEB had it with whipped cream, of course!).

See cakes from other Daring Bakers here.

Printable recipe


Other Daring Baker's Challenges I've participated in:

• Dutch Crunch
• Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread
• Simple Biscuits
• Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Spiced Coffee Rubbed Pork with Cauliflower and Bean Puree-Daring Cooks

Once a month I join a group of adventurous cooks online in cooking up something new.  It might be preparing an unusual or unfamiliar recipe from around the world or trying out a specific cooking technique.


Our April 2012 Daring Cooks hosts were David & Karen from Twenty-Fingered Cooking. They presented us with a very daring and unique challenge of forming our own recipes by using a set list of ingredients!  The challenge was to cook using 1 ingredient from each list:


List 1: Parsnips, Eggplant (aubergine), Cauliflower
List 2: Balsamic Vinegar, Goat Cheese, Chipotle peppers
List 3: Maple Syrup, Instant Coffee, Bananas


This was a fun little exercise and many very creative meals were developed-check them out at the Daring Cooks website.


This meal is pretty simple.  I like mixing up rubs for pork and we love cauliflower mash, so I really didn't overextend myself here!


Time:  45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 4 center cut boneless pork chops (bone in would work too)
• 1 1/2 TBSP ground coffee beans, cinnamon flavor
• 1 TBSP ground cardamom
• 1 tsp ground chipotle chile powder
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 medium head cauliflower, chopped coarsely
• 1 cup cooked white beans
• 2-3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with back of knife
• 2 TBSP light coconut milk
• Salt and pepper

Method:

• Mix coffee, cardamom, chipotle, and kosher salt together.
• Very lightly sprinkle a drop or two of olive oil on both sides of pork chops, then generously rub the spice mixture all over both sides (save a small amount for garnish).  Let meat rest at room temperature.
• Bring water to a boil and add cauliflower and garlic.
• Cook cauliflower until very soft, about 30  minutes; throw beans in last 2 minutes to heat, then drain and add cauliflower, garlic and beans to food processor with coconut milk, salt and pepper.
• Process veggies until very smooth.
• About 15 minutes before veggies are finished cooking, preheat oven to 425 degrees and heat a heavy oven proof pan (I used my cast iron skillet) over medium-high on the stove top.
• When pan is hot, sear pork chops 1 minute each side then place pan carefully in to the oven.
• Cook for 5-8 additional minutes in the oven, depending on thickness of chops.  
• Finish cooking, drain, and prepare cauliflower while pork chops are in oven.
• Slice chops and serve over pureed cauliflower/bean mixture.  Garnish with a few sprinkles of the left over rub.

The hint of coconut in the puree complemented the chipotle and cardamom flavors of the pork.  The coffee was a background nuance.  I might actually add some additional cinnamon next time as that flavor didn't really come through (so if you don't have flavored coffee don't worry!).

Printable recipe

Other Daring Cook's Challenges I've participated in:
Indian flavored squash patties
Beef braised in Rooibos tea
Char sui bao
Braised scallops

Recipe for Dutch Crunch-Daring Bakers

When I worked in San Francisco, our cafeteria had the best Dutch crunch rolls for sandwiches.  I never really thought about how the topping was made until this month's Daring Bakers Challenge. Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!


Sara and Erica told us "Technically, Dutch Crunch doesn’t refer to the type of bread, but rather the topping that is spread over the bread before baking. In Dutch it’s called Tijgerbrood or “tiger bread” after the tiger-like shell on the bread when it comes out of the oven. The final product has a delightful sweet crunch to it that makes it perfect for a sandwich roll. It’s a common option at sandwich shops all over the Bay Area and is often one of the first breads to run out."

I made my sourdough multigrain bread and then topped it with the Dutch crunch spread.  For my sammy: aged Gouda, turkey, and broccoli slaw-yum!    


For the topping (I had a small boule to top so I only made half of this amount):


Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast 
• 1 cup warm water (105-115º F)  
• 2 tablespoons sugar 
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 1½ cups rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) 

Method:

• Make your favorite bread dough
• Just prior to baking the bread, whisk all topping ingredients together (consistency should be of thick icing)
• Let topping sit for 15 minutes while oven preheats
• Spread topping over bread (thick layer for best cracks)
• Bake bread as per your bread recipe

Boule with Dutch crunch topping prior to baking

Fun challenge!  More bread from other Daring Bakers.


Printable recipe


Other Daring Baker challenges I've participated in:
Oatmeal raisin whole wheat quick bread


Biscuits


Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Braised Scallops-Daring Cooks

The March, 2012 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by Carol, a/k/a Poisonive – and she challenged us all to learn the art of Braising! Carol focused on Michael Ruhlman’s technique and shared with us some of his expertise from his book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”.  While braising is often thought of when using less than tender cuts of beef, I went a different path and created a recipe for braised scallops.


Carol tells us that "Braising, from the French “braiser”, offers us a combination cooking method – dry heat followed by moist heat. Typically, meat is seared in hot fat which helps to add flavor and aromas, improves color (browning), and texture (crust). It is then submerged in liquid and cooked slowly and gently at low heat."



I have been itching to use some of the lemongrass growing in our front garden.

I harvested a few stems, chopped them very fine and combined the lemongrass with ginger, coconut milk, fish sauce, and some finely chopped red pepper and sugar snap peas.

For the braising, I quickly browned the scallops on each side and then simmered them in the coconut milk/lemongrass sauce.  Served over rice, this was quite delicious!

Time:  20 minutes
Yield: 4 servings


Ingredients:

• 16 large scallops
• 1 TBSP Olive oil
• ½ cup finely diced red pepper, plus few matchsticks for serving
• ½ cup finely diced sugar snap peas, plus few matchsticks for serving
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 TBSP fish sauce
• 1 TBSP finely grated fresh ginger
• 2 TBSP finely chopped fresh lemongrass (or 2 TBSP lemon or lime juice if lemongrass is not available)
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

• Heat cast iron or other pan over high heat and add olive oil.
• Season both sides of scallops with salt and pepper.
• When oil is hot and shimmering, add scallops (watch for splattering) and sear on each side, about 30 seconds per side.
• Remove scallops and turn heat to med-high.
• Add red pepper and sugar snap peas, sauté for 3 minutes.
• Add coconut milk, ginger, fish sauce, and lemongrass (or lemon/lime juice).
• Turn heat to low and add scallops.
• Simmer for 8-10 minutes until scallops are almost done (still slightly transparent inside).
• Serve over rice with sprinkle of salt and pepper and garnished with matchsticks of red pepper and snap peas.

Printable recipe

Quick, simple and tasty!  Love it.

You can see recipes from other Daring Cooks here.

Other Daring Cooks challenges I've participated in:

Indian flavored squash fritters

Beef braised in Rooibos Tea with sweet potatoes

Char Sui Bao

Recipe for Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread-Daring Bakers Challenge

I used to be a chocolate chip kinda girl, now more an oatmeal raisin one.  Don't get me wrong, I love chocolate but when reaching for a cookie, I'm more likely to go for the oatmeal raisin one.  Well, the truth is I'm happiest when I can have an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie!  I don't know why oatmeal raisin cookies were on my mind when I came up with this recipe for February's Daring Baker's Challenge.  I'm glad they were though, because this Oatmeal Raisin Whole Wheat Quick Bread is terrific.  


The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lis stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.


The challenge instructions were quite good and very helpful in putting this together.  Here are some of the great tips Lis gave us:


Quick breads can be created by the following methods:

• Muffin (or the two-bowl) method – The dry and wet ingredients are kept separate and then are combined quickly and gingerly by adding the wet to the dry, and folding the two together with only a few strokes. The idea is to not over-mix, basically moistening the ingredients and leaving the batter slightly lumpy, with wisps of flour showing (even small lumps are fine) so as not to overdevelop the gluten in the flour which will keep the bread tender. An over mixed batter creates tough and rubbery muffins/quick breads. Since over-mixing will cause "tunnels" – holes where the air bubbles can escape – which will make the quick bread tough.
• Creaming method – The butter and sugar are beaten and creamed together until smooth and fluffy. Next, the egg and liquid flavoring are added to the butter and sugar mixture. The dry ingredients and other liquids are folded in last. This method is best when baking cakes since a lot of air pockets are added into the mixture. Folding in the ingredients creates even more air pockets to keep the cakes light and fluffy.
• Cutting in method – The chilled fat is cut into the flour. The fat results in a flaky texture since the fat melts while in the oven. This method is best used when baking biscuits, scones or pie crusts.
• Depending on the recipe and the type of quick bread, there are also three different types of batter:

• Pour Batter: This type of batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 1:1. Because there is so much liquid in this type of batter, the result is very moist and dense.
• Drop Batter: This batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 3:1. This batter will result in a moist but fluffy baked good.
• Stiff Dough: This batter has a dry:liquid ratio of 7:1 This batter will result in a very light and fluffy baked good.
• Lower gluten flours are best to make quick breads you can replace 4 tablespoons in each cup of all-purpose flour with cake flour in most recipes or replace 2 tablespoons in each cup of all-purpose flour with corn flour (cornstarch) if you wish to lower the gluten levels of your flour.
• Flour should be sifted to aerate it which gives more rise therefore a lighter crumb to the final baked goods.
• Add fruit, nuts, etc. after lightly combining the wet and dry ingredients. Then give the batter one more light-handed stir and you're done. Is the batter still thick and lumpy? That's exactly what you want.

With all that good information and some sample recipes to look at, I was ready to go.  I wanted a moist but fluffy quick bread so I used the muffin (two-bowl) method, sifted my dry ingredients and approximated a 3:1 dry to liquid ratio with my ingredients (a little more of the wet ingredients because I assumed the oats would soak up a fair amount).

Yield: 1 loaf (9x5 pan)

Time: 60 minutes

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup cake flour
• 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats (uncooked)
• ¼ cup sugar (plus more to sprinkle on top-optional)
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 2 TBSP cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• ¾ cup 2% milk
• ¾ cup plain non-fat Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup macadamia nut oil
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup golden raisins
• Baking spray (or butter)
• Parchment paper

 Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Lightly spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray (or spread with butter) and line with parchment paper sling. Lightly spray parchment.
• Sift flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon together in a bowl.
• Stir in oats and raisins.
• In a second bowl, mix together the egg, milk, yogurt, oil and honey.
• Stir wet ingredients into dry, just to mix.   Batter may be a little lumpy, that is okay, don’t over mix.
• Pour into parchment lined loaf pan.
• Bake for 45 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in center comes out clean.
• Sprinkle top with sugar when removed from oven (optional).
• Cool 10 minutes in pan on a rack then remove from pan and continue cooling.
• Serve room temperature, warmed or toasted.

A perfect loaf, if I do say so myself! Breakfast treat, dessert, afternoon tea?  Yes, yes and yes.

This is the first time I used the parchment sling with a loaf pan-it works like a charm, so don't skip that step. So easy to remove the loaf, just lift the parchment.

Printable recipe


Here's more info about the Daring Bakers and some of my other baking challenges:

Biscuits (aka scones in some parts of the world!)

Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Indian Flavored Squash Fritters-Daring Cooks

This recipe resulted from the monthly challenge from the Daring Kitchen.  The Daring Cooks' February 2012 challenge was hosted by Audax and Lis and they chose to present Patties for their ease of construction, ingredients, and deliciousness!  We were given several recipes, and learned the different types of binders and cooking methods to produce our own tasty patties.


Sometimes the challenges are very specific.  This one was great because we had a lot of latitude in our recipe. I thought about different kinds of patties all month-I think I had patty paralysis.  But, as is often the case, I just needed to open the fridge to get inspiration. When I saw the acorn squash sitting there, I was over my paralysis and knew what I'd put together-a fritter! 

Microwaving the squash made this a quick to prepare recipe.  If you are reading this blog much, you know I'm on an Indian kick lately.  I think these would turn out just as nice with other seasonings.  Let me know if you try something that turns out really tasty.


Yield: 6 patties
Time: 20 minutes


Ingredients:

• 1 small acorn squash (1 cup mashed)
• ½ cup cornmeal
• 1 egg
• Large pinch kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 tsp Garam masala
• ¼ cup olive oil (enough for shallow layer in frying pan)

Optional:

• Prepared chutney (like Major Grey’s)
• Spiced yogurt (non-fat plain Greek yogurt mixed with garam masala)

Method: 

• Slice squash in half and remove seeds and stringy bits.
• Wrap loosely in parchment paper and microwave for 8-10 minutes until steaming and soft.
• Let cool and then scrape out cooked squash, discarding skin.
• Mix squash, salt and pepper, egg, garam masala, and cornmeal together.
• Heat olive oil over med-high heat.
• When oil is hot, drop 1/6^th  of mixture into oil and flatten; repeat with remaining mixture (but don’t overfill pan-cook in two batches).
• Cook about 3 minutes per side until warmed through and crispy on outside.
• Drain briefly on paper towels and serve hot (with chutney and/or spiced yogurt if desired).

This is an acorn squash

These are the insides that you discard

Pan frying

Printable recipe

Other Daring Cooks challenges I've participated in:
Tea Challenge

Char Sui Bao Challenge

Here is some interesting reading about patties that our hosts provided.

Technically patties are flatten discs of ingredients held together by (added) binders (usually eggs, flour or breadcrumbs) usually coated in breadcrumbs (or flour) then fried (and sometime baked). Burgers, rissoles, croquettes, fritters, and rösti are types of patties as well.

Irish chef Patrick "Patty" Seedhouse is said to have come up with the original concept and term as we know it today with his first production of burgers utilizing steamed meat pattys - the pattys were "packed and patted down" (and called pattys for short) in order to shape a flattened disc that would enflame with juices once steamed.

The binding of the ingredients in patties follows a couple of simple recipes (there is some overlap in the categories below)

Patties – patties are ingredients bound together and shaped as a disc.

Rissoles and croquettes – use egg with breadcrumbs as the binder, typical usage for 500 grams (1 lb) of filling ingredients is 1 egg with ½ cup of breadcrumbs (sometimes flour, cooked grains, nuts and bran can be used instead of the breadcrumbs). Some meat patties use no added binders in them they rely on the protein strands within the meat to bind the patty together. Vegetarian and vegan patties may use mashed vegetables, mashed beans, grains, nuts and seeds to bind the patty. Generally croquettes are crumbed (breaded) patties which are shallow- or deep-fried. Rissoles are not usually crumbed (but can be) and are pan- or shallow-fried. Most rissoles and croquettes can be baked. (Examples are all-meat patties, hamburgers, meat rissoles, meatloaves, meatballs, tuna fish and rice patties, salmon and potato rissoles, most vegetable patties.)

Wet Fritters – use flour, eggs and milk as the binder, typical usage for 500 grams (1 lb) of filling ingredients is 2 cups flour, 1 egg with 1 cup of milk and are usually deep-fried and sometimes pan-fried (examples deep fried apple fritters, potato fritters, some vegetable fritters, hushpuppies)

Dry Fritters – use eggs and (some) flour as the binder, typical usage for 500 grams (1 lb) of filling ingredients is 1 to 2 eggs and (usually) some 2 to 8 tablespoons of flour (but sometimes no flour) and are pan- or shallow- fried. (examples most vegetable patties like zucchini fritters, Thai fish cakes, crab cakes, NZ whitebait fritters)

Röstis – use eggs (sometimes with a little flour) as the binder for the grated potato, carrot and other root vegetables, typical usage for 500 grams (1 lb) of filling ingredients is one egg yolk (potato rösti).

Sautéing, stir frying, pan frying, shallow frying, and deep frying use different amounts fat to cook the food. Sautéing uses the least amount of oil (a few teaspoons) while deep frying uses (many many cups) the most oil. The oil helps lubricate (sometimes adds flavour) the food being fried so it will not stick to the pan and helps transfer heat to the food being cooked.

In particular, as a form of cooking patties, pan- and shallow-frying relies on oil of the correct temperature to seal the surface (so retaining moisture) and to heat the interior ingredients (so binding them together) so cooking the patty. The exposed topside of the patty while cooking allows, unlike deep frying, some moisture loss and contact with the pan bottom with the patty creates greater browning on the contact surface that is the crust of the patty is browned and the interior is cooked by pan- and shallow-frying. Because the food is only being cooked on one side while being pan- or shallow-fried, the food must be flipped at least once to totally cook the patty.

Recipe for Simple Biscuits-Daring Bakers

Mmmm, fresh out of the oven!  We don't eat biscuits as a general rule although I used to eat them frequently enough when I lived in the South.  I was surprised how much we both enjoyed these when I made them for our monthly Daring Bakers challenge.

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host.. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!  Aud hails from down under, hence the "scone" reference.


This lovely, simple recipe has so many possibilities beyond the simple, yet fabulous plain biscuit (scone). Cheese biscuits come to mind as the first variety I might try next.


Tuck this away for when you want a quick and reliable biscuit recipe!


Yield: 8 biscuits
Time: 20 minutes (or 60 minutes if you follow the options)


Ingredients:

• 1 cup/140 grams plain all purpose flour
• 2 tsp/10 grams baking powder (make sure it is fresh)
• 1/4 tsp/1 1/2 grams table salt
• 2 TBSP frozen grated butter (grated on large holes of box grater)
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) cold 1% milk plus a dab for brushing the tops

Method:

• Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
• Sift the flour, salt and baking powder three times.
• Optional: place sifted ingredients in refrigerator for 20 minutes to chill.
• To the sifted dry ingredients, rub in the grated butter until the mix looks like a mix of large sand pieces and pea sized pieces.
• Add the milk to the bowl with the dry ingredient/butter mixture and mix with hands until a sticky dough is formed.
• Turn dough out on to a floured surface and sprinkle the top with flour.
• Gently knead a few times, then fold into thirds several times, gently pressing out between folds.
• Pat dough out into an approximately 6 x 4 inch rectangle.
• Using a floured biscuit cutter (approximately 2 inches) cut 4-5 biscuits pressing down, not twisting.
• Reform dough and cut out 2 more biscuits.
• Use scraps to form final biscuit.
• Place biscuits in baking pan.
• Optional: place formed biscuits into refrigerator for 20 minutes.
• Brush top of biscuits with milk and then bake for approximately 10 minutes.
• Serve warm.  Can be cooled to room temperature and stored in freezer bag in freezer.
• Reheat briefly.

Biscuits formed, ready for fridge

Out of the oven

Mmmm, ready to eat

If you are interested in more information about the Daring Kitchen challenges, here is the website.

Printable recipe

Another Daring Baker challenge I participated in:  Sans Rival Cake

Recipe for Char Sui Bao - Daring Cooks

Do you love dim sum?  We do and always try to go to our favorite dim sum restaurant when we get back to San Francisco (Yank Sing-a top 100 SF Restaurant in 2011).  They call it deem sum...they probably know better than I do, but I've always seen it written as dim sum, except on their website.  Anyone know the correct spelling?  Anyway, I digress.  I love the steamed pork buns-Char Sui Bao-but never gave a thought to trying to prepare them at home.


Turns out they are a challenge to make, but not an insurmountable one.  That's why I really enjoy participating in The Daring Kitchen challenges.  The challenges so far have pushed me in to culinary experiences I wouldn't have picked on my own and are presented with very detailed instructions, priming the pathway to success.  Our Daring Cooks’ December 2011 hostess is Sara from BellyRumbles! Sara chose awesome Char Sui Bao as our challenge, where we made the buns, Char Sui, and filling from scratch – delicious!

Pork for the filling

Filling for the buns

Three stages of buns:  front-dough balls after rising; middle-dough patted out; back-filled buns

Buns ready for steaming

Before I go any further I will admit that one area of this challenge that I didn't feel much success in was the bun making.  They tasted great but are sort of ugly-Char Sui Bow Wow.  I did try. I even watched some U-Tube videos but, meh, just not pretty.  Now, this lady-she knows how to make buns!


Yield: 20 buns
Time: 3+ hours including rising time for the buns; does not include overnight marinading time for the pork


Ingredients:
Char Sui (pork)

• 1 pork tenderloin (1-1.5 lbs)
• 4 large cloves of garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 TBSP peanut oil
• 3 TBSP honey
• 2 TBSP hoisin sauce
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 TBSP oyster sauce
• 1 TBSP sherry
• 1 tsp Chinese five spice powder
• 1 TBSP sesame oil

Pork filling

• 12 oz char sui, finely diced
• 2 green onions, finely diced
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 3 TBSP oyster sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil

(The original recipe was for 1 TBSP soy sauce, 2 TBSP oyster sauce, 1/4 cup chicken stock and 1 tsp cornstarch but I felt the filling was too dry so I added additional quantities as per the list above)

Bun Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup of milk, scalded
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 tsp dried yeast
• 3 cups plain flour
• Parchment paper
• Steamer (original recipe called for bamboo but I used metal in my wok)

(The original recipe called for 1 cup of milk but my dough would not come together so I added another 1/2 cup as per the list above)

Method:

Char Sui (Pork)

• Trim tenderloin of fat and silver skin.
• Cut into 4-5 equal pieces.
• Mix remaining ingredients together.  Reserve 1/3 of mixture-place in fridge.
• Marinate pork in remaining mixture overnight or at least 4 hours.
• When ready to cook, preheat grill to med-high and clean and oil grates.
• While grill heats, remove pork from marinade and pat excess marinade off with paper towels. 
• Remove reserved marinade from fridge.
• Grill for 2 minutes each side to get a slight char and then reduce heat to medium, baste with reserved marinade.
• Grill for an additional 10-12 minutes until center is just barely still pink.
• Remove and rest/cool while preparing dough and filling.

Pork filling

• Heat vegetable oil in skillet over med-high heat.
• Saute the green onion for 2 minutes until soft.
• Add diced char sui and stir to combine.
• Add oyster sauce, soy sauce, and sesame oil; cooking stirring constantly for one minute.
• Mix cornstarch and stock together and add to the meat mixture, stirring well until mixture thickens, about 1-2 minutes.
• Remove from pan and allow to cool.

Buns

• Stir sugar, oil and salt in to scalded milk and allow to cool to lukewarm.
• Once cooled, add yeast.  Set aside until frothy, about 10 minutes.
• While yeast develops, sift flour into a large bowl then add milk/yeast mixture.
• Mix together briefly with hands and turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
• Place dough in lightly oiled bowl and cover with damp cloth.
• Let dough rise until doubled (1-2 hours).
• Punch dough down and divide in to 20 equal pieces.
• Roll or press with hands each piece in to 2-3 inch circles.
• Drop 1 TBSP of cooled filling in center of a dough circle, gather the edges together and twist to seal. Repeat with all dough pieces.
• Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.
• Place each bun on a piece of parchment paper slightly larger than bun (buns will enlarge as steamed) and place a few at a time in steamer over boiling water in wok (don't crowd them).
• Cover wok and steam for 12 minutes.
• Serve warm.  They keep well in fridge and freezer.  To reheat thawed buns, steam for 5 minutes (or as Mr. ELEB did-nuke in microwave for 15 seconds).

The filling is delightful and the buns have just the right hint of sweetness and a good texture.  Even though they were ugly when I made them, the steaming sort of softened everything up so they didn't look so bad. Once we bit into them, we didn't really care what they looked like!  Do you like dim (deem) sum?

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