142 recipes. Page 5 of 6
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The chicken thighs get only a light golden sear, which keeps this cream sauce pale and mild rather than turning it into a brown stew. Onion, garlic and mushrooms softened in butter give the sauce its sweetness, and the cream is reduced just until it coats a spoon thinly. Baguette or boiled potatoes soak up whatever sauce is left.
Dough stretched paper-thin with oiled hands is wrapped around curried ground beef and beaten egg, folded into a square parcel, and pan-fried until both sides turn golden. The result is layers of crisp pastry around a moist, savory center. Unlike plain roti canai, this Malaysian stuffed flatbread makes a full meal on its own, cut into pieces and dipped in curry sauce or chutney.
Finely grated Gruyère folded into choux paste and piped small bakes into savory cheese puffs. The eggs go in until the paste drops slowly from the spatula in a V, not by count, so some beaten egg may be left over. Only trapped steam holds up the hollow centers, and opening the oven door before the shells set will collapse them.
Perilla leaves have a strong scent, so the pork and tofu filling is seasoned simply, with only soy sauce and black pepper. A thin layer goes inside each leaf, which is folded, fried, then cut in half again into single bites.
Slice into the breaded chicken and melted garlic-parsley butter runs out from the center. The butter is frozen into a firm cylinder before it is wrapped, so it survives the cooking. The pan only browns the crust, and the oven at 190°C finishes the inside.
Butter, sugar, eggs, and flour go in at nearly equal weights, giving the dense, close crumb of a classic pound cake, and lemon zest and juice turn it bright. Rubbing the zest into the flour first spreads its oils so the aroma is even throughout. A crack running down the top is the sign of a good rise, and a thin powdered sugar glaze, poured once the cake has cooled, sets into a sweet, glossy film.
Each perilla leaf is folded around a thin layer of beef and tofu, and a bite goes through the egg coating to the leaf's aroma before it reaches the meat. Packing in more filling would bury that aroma under the beef, which is why it is spread thin, right to the edges of the leaf.
Marsala wine brings a nutty, slightly sweet depth that, together with browned mushrooms, carries this pan sauce, and a little cream rounds it off. The flour on the pounded chicken does more than coat it: it leaves browned bits in the skillet that the Marsala lifts into the sauce. Once the cream goes in, hard boiling will split it.
Pork sausages roast first, then Yorkshire pudding batter is poured in around them and puffs up in the oven. It comes out with crisp brown edges rising high and the sausages set into a soft middle. Gravy goes alongside.
Ham, imitation crab, king oyster mushroom and scallion, all cut to the same length and threaded in turn, make up kkochi-jeon, a regular on ancestral rite and holiday tables. One bite brings the salt of the ham, the spring of the crab stick, the firm grain of the mushroom and the scallion's green smell all at once.
Thin chicken cutlets in a Parmesan-laced crumb crust are shallow-fried in olive oil and finished with a squeeze of lemon while still hot. An even thickness matters, because a thick spot stays underdone in the middle while the crust overbrowns.
The flower crab is not picked; it is halved shell and all, floured, dipped in egg and fried, and you end up eating it the way you would any crab, holding the shell and pulling the meat out. Before frying, minced ginger is rubbed into the gaps between meat and shell and left for a short while to tame the fishy smell and season the thick meat inside.
Lemon juice and briny capers cut through a butter pan sauce, giving thin chicken cutlets a bright, sharp finish. The base of that sauce is the browned layer left in the skillet; white wine loosens it so none of that flavor is wasted. The lemon juice is added off the heat, because boiling dulls its fresh aroma. Cold butter swirled in at the very end emulsifies the sauce so it clings to the light flour coating instead of pooling. Mashed potatoes or pasta make good company for the extra sauce.
Monjayaki never sets into a pancake. A very loose flour-and-dashi batter cooks down with finely cut cabbage on a hot griddle, and diners scrape it up a bite at a time from the edge with small spatulas, pressing each bite briefly onto the hot griddle to crisp it. Most closely tied to Tsukishima in Tokyo, it is about eating the crisp, browned base and the soft center together. Dried squid, dried shrimp, and tenkasu add savory crunch to the Worcestershire-seasoned liquid.
Sage leaves and prosciutto pressed onto thin chicken cutlets turn crisp as they cook, the sage almost frying in the ham's fat. The Italian name roughly means it jumps into the mouth. Flour goes only on the bare side, giving it a light crust while the prosciutto side browns directly. A quick wine and stock reduction finished with cold butter turns glossy and softens the salty edge of the ham. Pounding the meat to about 1 cm keeps thin spots from drying out.
Ground chicken and pressed tofu make a filling with little fat, and against that mild filling the perilla leaf's sharp aroma comes forward. Sliced straight out of the pan, the pieces lose their juices onto the plate. Serve them whole or cut them just before eating.
Chicken tenderloins have a fine grain, so a short 4 to 5 minute fry in 170 degree oil leaves them juicy instead of dry. The coating goes on in three layers: flour, egg beaten with milk, then breadcrumbs pressed firmly. Milk thins the egg so it coats smoothly and the crumbs grip evenly. They are at their best straight from the paper towel, while the crust still crackles.
Fresh shiitake caps are stuffed with pork seasoned with soy sauce, scallion and garlic, mounded slightly, then coated in egg and fried. The easily skipped step is a very light dusting of flour inside each cap, which acts like glue between mushroom and meat.
Bechamel spread thickly over a ham and Gruyere sandwich, then covered with more cheese, bakes in the oven and puffs golden under the broiler. Dijon mustard inside adds a sharp bite that cuts through the salty ham and rich cheese. Only half of the Gruyere is tucked inside during assembly, with the rest saved for the top. Add a fried egg on top and this Paris cafe classic becomes a croque madame.
Butterflied flat along the belly, the shrimp cook evenly and hold a thin flour-and-egg coat better than whole ones would. The trap with saeu-jeon is color: the coating turns pale gold and the surface turns pink well before the thickest shrimp are opaque at the center. Translucent flesh in the middle means more time in the pan, while firm, opaque shrimp should come out right away so they do not toughen. Lemon wedges on the side add a bright finish.
Behind a thin crumb shell sits hot, creamy bechamel, carrying the salty flavor of finely chopped jamon. With a filling made mostly of butter, flour, and milk, the cured ham, though small in amount, carries the salt and aroma of every bite. In Spanish bars they come out as tapas, two or three to a small plate.
Four shiitake, finely chopped, go into the ground beef, and the mushroom's grain turns up in every mouthful of meat.
Breaded, pan-browned eggplant slices layered with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan bake into a casserole that should still cut into clean layers. Salting the slices first draws out water and some bitterness, and without it the eggplant goes soft under the sauce. Restraint with the sauce matters just as much, because a pool of it around the dish softens the crust. A five-minute rest after baking lets the layers settle before slicing.
Finely mashed tofu worked into the ground beef keeps these bite-size patties from turning dry. They belong on ancestral rite and holiday tables, and because they taste and feel much the same once cold, they also pack well in a lunch box.