Pretty good pork chops

Pork theme continues, this time tried to do a good old skool pork chop. I got 2 of them with bone in.

1. Brine it with some salt for about an hour.
2. Season it with cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, and olive oil.
3. In a preheated cast iron skillet, brown both sides.  Took around 5 minutes.
4. Put it in 400 degree oven to roast for ~6 minutes to cook the meat through.
5. Take it out of the oven, let it rest for 5 minutes covered under aluminum foil.
6. Enjoy!

How to Tonkatsu Perfectly

After many tries, finally found a Tonkatsu (aka Japanese pork Wiener Schnitzel) that works for me.  The key is adding a table spoon of oil to the egg wash, and frying it twice at different temperatures.

1. Pork tenderloin, cut 1 1/4 inch thick pieces. Most recipes call for pork chops, but using tenderloin here since I had some on hand.
2. Use back of kitchen knife or tenderizer and flatten out pork to size of your hand.  Around 4X4in ish size and ~1/4 in thick depending on how big the original tenderloin is and how thick you cut the pieces.
3. Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides.
4. Lightly dredge it in plenty of flour, make sure it is all covered, pat out an excess.
5. Beaten eggs with 1 tea spoon of oil added to make egg wash.  Coat the pork pieces in it. 1 Egg will coat ~5 pieces.
6. Panko it gently, don’t press into it.  Make sure it is covered.
7. Fry for 3 minutes in 300 degree oil to cook the meat.
8. Take it out and let it rest for a couple of minutes.
9. Turn up the temperature, fry again in 355 degrees about a minute or until golden brown. The 2nd frying makes it really crispy.
10. Enjoy!

I used the Waring DF55 home fryer with corn oil for this recipe.  I do have some refined olive oil that I will try next time to see if it makes a difference in taste since 355 is well below smoking point for both oils.

Twice fried on top of the cooling rack, 1st time fried bottom.

Finally got to eat.

Making some Tea Eggs

Another day of winter break, another day of making something from childhood.  While you can get these tea eggs at 7-Elevens in Taipei, a little bit harder to find it here.  Once again, easier than I thought it would be, since the local Chinese supermarket had something already mixed up so I don’t have to mix 7+ spices in the right proportions and put it in a bag myself.

Pretty easy.  Put the tea flavor packet and the powder into a saucepan with eggs (should be submerged).  I added 0.25 cup soy sauce, and 1 tea spoon mirin.  I also could have added some more white pepper powder and additional tea leaves, that will be next time.

High for ~20 minutes, make sure eggs are fully cooked.  Use a spoon or tongs to crack the egg shells but leave it intact on the eggs.  Ideally marbled look.  Then turn down to low heat and simmer for another 1.5 hours.

Chinese marinade beef

Decided to make some Chinese marinated beef.  Luckily, instead of having to come up with the marinade all by myself and finding all the spices and whatnot, Lee Kum Kee already has it in a bottle called Selected Five Spice Marinade.

Process was pretty simple. 1 pound shoulder beef, 0.75 cup LKK marinade, 0.25 cup soy sauce, 1.5 cup water, table spoon mirin, 1 lump (~60g) of rock sugar.  Throw it all into a small sauce pan.  Bring to boil, then simmer for ~2 hours.