877 recipes. Page 23 of 37
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Sukiyaki-thin slices of sirloin hit a very hot griddle for about 30 seconds, then a lemon soy sauce with grated onion and garlic is poured in around them. Being so thin, the meat soaks up the sauce and its own juices almost at once. In Sasebo, the leftover sauce and juices are stirred into rice once the meat is gone.
The eggplant goes into the simmering soy sauce cut side down and is left alone for the first two minutes, long enough for the spongy flesh to drink in the sauce.
Kecap manis, Indonesia's thick sweet soy sauce, caramelizes the moment it hits a hot wok and lacquers the egg noodles a deep, glossy brown. That sweetness is what sets Javanese mie goreng apart from Chinese-style fried noodles, and a spoonful of sambal keeps it from turning cloying. Shallots and garlic fried golden lay the aromatic base, and chicken thigh sliced thin cooks through in a few minutes over high heat while staying juicy. Noodles that are still wet drop the wok's temperature and leave the stir-fry soggy, and a weak flame in the last minute does the same. Java's street stalls serve it with a runny-yolked fried egg, prawn crackers, and a wedge of lime to cut the sweetness.
Along the Ariake Sea, tonguesole is called kuchizoko, and it is simmered briefly and hard in a generous mix of sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Unlike long-braised fish, these thin fillets cook in minutes and come out of the pot as soon as they are done, which keeps the flesh tender and flaky. Burdock cooked in the leftover liquid goes alongside.
Pork belly cut into 1 cm pieces renders enough fat to fry the kimchi and rice, so no cooking oil is added and every grain tastes of pork. That only works if the pork gets 4 to 5 minutes, until the edges are golden and the fat coats the pan.
Dried tofu cut into thin strips does not break up in the pan; it lifts on the chopsticks in strands, like noodles. Carrot, green pepper and onion cut to the same width make it colorful.
Pork makchang is boiled once before cleaning and blanched for another 7 minutes after. The gochujang marinade works into its wrinkled surface, and slow cooking over medium heat turns it into a sticky brown glaze. The blanching does not finish the cooking; the thick parts stay on until they pass 71°C, and then it is snipped with scissors and served with perilla leaves or shredded green onion.
Soft, collapsing eggplant with springy shrimp in between. Oyster sauce goes in with the soy sauce, which makes it more savory than a plain eggplant braise, and with only a pinch of chili flakes it tastes salty and a little sweet rather than spicy.
Bulgogi seared fast over high heat meets raw minari, a fragrant Korean water dropwort, on udon tossed in a gochujang, soy, and sesame oil dressing. The beef is patted dry before marinating so it browns at the edges instead of stewing in its own liquid.
Four fist-sized pork meatballs sit on a bed of napa cabbage and braise slowly in a light soy broth, staying moist and soft right to the surface instead of carrying a fried crust. The cabbage keeps the pork off the hot pot bottom and turns silky as it soaks up the meat juices.
In spring, when cockles are in season, their meat goes into this bowl with raw water parsley (minari) and a gochujang dressing. The cockles come out of the boiling water after 30 seconds; any longer and they shrink and turn rubbery.
Despite the japchae in its name, there are no glass noodles. Pork tenderloin, green bell pepper and onion are all cut into long strips of the same thickness, the starch-coated pork is seared first over high heat, and oyster sauce finishes it. With everything the same size, meat and pepper come up together in one pinch of the chopsticks.
Garlic scapes stay tough if they go into the pan raw. So they spend just 30 seconds in boiling water, get rinsed in cold water right away, and then cook with the gochujang sauce in a pan for about 3 minutes. Done, they bend easily but still snap when you bite.
Each piece of eggplant gets a deep cross cut that stops just short of the base, which opens it up like a pocket for a beef and tofu filling before it is steamed. Stuffing every piece by hand takes time, and the dish was traditionally kept for guests and feasts.
Pan-fried mackerel and stir-fried mukeunji, kimchi aged until deeply sour, turn a bowl of spicy mixed noodles into something closer to a full meal. Salting the fish and blotting away the liquid it releases keeps the fishy smell down.
These slim, finger-length Filipino pork spring rolls turn up at birthday parties, holiday tables, and town fiestas. They fry twice, first in lower heat and then in hotter oil, and that second round keeps them crisp long after they cool. Whole trays can be fried before a party and stacked up to wait.
Soy-braised beef, torn along the grain, goes over rice with whole shishito-style peppers (kkwari gochu) and enough of the glossy braising liquid to mix through. The peppers simmer whole for just 6 minutes, long enough to wilt without going limp, and keep a mild heat.
With 700 g of pork neck cooked in one go, there is enough for four people to wrap in lettuce. Gochugaru goes in alongside the gochujang, adding a drier, more powdery heat on top of the paste's.
Coconut milk and palm sugar in the marinade caramelize on the grill, giving the pork neck dark, sticky edges. The meat is sliced thin and folded three times onto each skewer, with small gaps between the pieces letting heat reach the thickest fold quickly.
The usual way galbi jjim goes wrong is that the liquid cooks down while the beef is still tough. Before reducing the sauce, check that a chopstick slides into the meat; if it doesn't, add a splash of water, cover and keep going.
Salted pollock roe, folded into a garlicky butter and cream sauce at the very end, leaves tiny eggs that pop against the soft coating on thick udon. Scraping the roe out of its membrane matters, since any large piece of skin left behind clumps in the sauce. The roe is added only after the heat is lowered and warms through on residual heat, because a long stint over high heat turns it dry and grainy. Soy sauce gives the cream a savory backbone, and the heat drops as soon as the edges bubble so the cream does not split. If the sauce tightens as it reduces, 2 to 3 tablespoons of the reserved noodle water loosen it. Seaweed flakes and scallion finish the bowl.
Two kinds of heat meet here: the chili burn of doubanjiang, a fermented chili bean paste, and the tingling numbness of ground Sichuan pepper. That numbing quality, called ma in Sichuan cooking, is what separates mapo tofu from other spicy braises. Soft tofu takes on the rusty-red sauce at its edges while the center stays silken, and spooned over steamed rice, the thick sauce runs down between the grains.
Leftover rice is kneaded with flour and chopped shiso until it holds together, then shaped into thick patties and pan-fried until golden. This Nagano griddle cake finishes with a quick turn in a sugar and soy glaze, just long enough to leave a thin, glossy sweet-salty coat. Because it starts from cold, firm rice, it is a practical way to use up leftovers.
Maesil-cheong (green plum syrup) in the marinade gives this gochujang pork neck an unusually tart finish. Perilla leaves, barely cooked, are mixed through the meat.