Thứ Sáu, 12 tháng 2, 2010

Vietnamese ham

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Ingredients:

1 lbs pork loin or pork butt or shoulder, chilled
2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ground pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
30 ml cold water
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp potato starch (or corn starch)

Directions

1) In a large bowl, mix together fish sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, oil.

2) Cut pork into 1-inch cubes. Add pork cubes to the liquid mixture, mix well. Then cover with wrap and refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight, or freeze about 1 hour until the meat is extremely chilled without actually freezing it.

3) Take the meat out of refrigerator, using a food processor, grind the meat, add cold water to process easily, working as quickly as possible. Grind about 1 minutes, then cover and return to the refrigerator or freezer, to chill down again. Repeat grinding three times or more until they are very finely ground and always keep it as stiff as possible.
Cover and chill again.
Do not make the meat become warm if you do not want it tends to be mashed through the grinding plates, turn mushy and lose all of the juice in the meat. You will also notice that once meat has been minced, there is far more surface area for bacteria to develop, which is another good reason to keep it cold.

5) When meat grinding is smooth, chilled 1 hour more. Transfer meat to the bowl, slowly mix with mixture of the corn flour and flour floating. Mix well.

6) Partake into four parts. Package on each banana leaf wrapping like here

7) Boil water, steamed for 15 minutes to 30 minutes.


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Thứ Hai, 8 tháng 2, 2010

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

Spagheti
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup or more grated fresh Parmesan cheese
  • Salt to taste
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 6 slices thick bacon or pancetta
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 pound dried spaghetti
1. In a good-sized salad bowl, combine eggs, cheese, salt, and pepper to form a mixture heavier than cream but lighter than pancake batter. 
2. Cut bacon or pancetta into small pieces and fry slowly in olive oil. 
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta in three or four quarts of boiling water. 
4. When pasta is al dente, drain and quickly add to the bowl with the cheese and egg mixture and toss. 
5. Add the hot bacon and olive oil in which it was cooked, and stir to cook the eggs.
Serve warm.


Pasta