Mom's Hong Shao Rou (红烧肉)

From Mom

Notes: on an electric stove, medium heat or sometimes medium-high heat worked better than medium-low for the parboil and initial stir-fry. Instead of a wok, a medium-sized Dutch oven worked as well.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs pork belly (try to buy a piece with less fat/more meat)
• 1 Tbsp neutral cooking oil (i.e., vegetable or canola)
• 2 Tbsp rock candy 冰糖 (may substitute with brown sugar)
• 4 pieces green onion, cut into 2 inch sections
• 6 slices/coins of ginger
• 2 star anise pods 八角
• 1 inch cinnamon stick
• 1 dried red hot pepper
• 10 Sichuan peppercorns
• 5 pieces dried sand ginger slices 沙姜片 (may substitute with dried galangal slices)
• 2/3 cup Shaoxing wine
• 2 Tbsp light soy sauce 生抽
• 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce 老抽
• 1 Tbsp Chinkiang vinegar (may substitute with others brands of Chinese black vinegar)
• 4-8 oz roasted chestnuts

Directions:

1. Get rid of stinky pork smell:
   Cut Pork belly into 1.25 inch by 1.25 inch square; put them into a large pot. Add tap water into the pot until the water is 1 inch above the meat. Put the pot on medium low heat until water and meat have been boiling for about 5 minutes. Take out the meat, wash them in warm water to get rid of all brown blood. Drain the meat to get rid of extra water.
2. Put a wok on medium low heat, add cooking oil, meat, and sugar; stir-fry them until sugar is melted. Add the rest of spices except cooking wine. Add cooking wine (2/3 cup or less or more) until the meat is about 1/2 covered by liquid. Cover the wok and bring liquid to boil, then turn heat to low (simmering with very small bubbles). After 10 minutes, do step 3.
3. Open the cover, stir the meat so that outer pieces are changed into inner locations. Add the chestnuts. Cover the wok
4. After another 20 minutes, repeat step 3; another 20 minutes, repeat step3. Check the liquid level to avoid the meat getting burned. The final product should have only a Tbsp liquid plus oil (more oil came out during cook). If there is too little liquid, add some warm water.
5. Repeat 3 in every 5 minutes until meat can be easily poked through by a pair of chopsticks. From the first coving the wok to the end, it takes about 55 minutes.
6. Turn off heat. Take meat into a plat/bowl but leave all spices in the wok. Take out big pieces of spice such as ginger, green onions. Hold a strainer over the meat plat/bowl, pour the gravy along with small piece spice into the strainer. Throw away the spice.

Thai Roasted Chicken Thighs

Adapted from The Woks of Life

Notes: Increased the amount of vegetables from the original recipe to absorb all the fat released from the chicken thighs while roasting (because the searing step is skipped).

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons Sriracha
  
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  
• 3 cloves garlic (minced)
  
• 2 teaspoons ginger (grated)
  
• Juice and zest of 1 lime
  
• Vegetable oil
  
• 6-7 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (3-3.5 lbs)
  
• 10 carrots (cut into large 1-in chunks)
  
• 3 large onion (cut into 1/6th or 1/8th wedges - do not separate)
  
• 2 cups thai basil leaves
  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium bowl, mix together the Sriracha, brown sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, lime juice, and lime zest. Marinate at room temperature for 1 hour.
   
2. Spread carrots and onions on 2 large baking sheets and drizzle sparingly with oil.
3. Place chicken pieces skin side up amongst the vegetables, and drizzle the rest of the marinade on the vegetables. Place in the oven to roast for 35-40 minutes (until skin is crispy), stirring in the Thai basil halfway through baking. Serve with jasmine rice.
   

Sicilian Pizza with Pepperoni and Spicy Tomato Sauce

Adapted from Serious Eats

Notes: recipe adjusted below for normal ovens and average pepperoni (Boar's Head Natural Casing Traditional Pepperoni 6.5 oz stick). Use weight measurements (rather than volume) whenever possible.

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 17.5 ounces bread flour (500g; about 3 1/2 cups)
  
• 1/2 ounce salt (14g; about 1 tablespoon)
  
• 1/4 ounce instant or rapid-rise yeast (6g; about 1 1/2 teaspoons)
  
• 0.35 ounce extra-virgin olive oil (20g; 2 tablespoons), plus 1/4 cup olive oil (60ml; 40g) for the pan
  
• 11.5 ounces room-temperature water (325g; about 1 cup plus 7 tablespoons) 
  

For the Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 9 medium cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  
• 1 tablespoon (about 4g) dried oregano
  
• 1 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes, or more to taste (halved from original recipe because it was too spicy)
  
• 1 (28-ounce; 800g) can whole peeled tomatoes
  
• 1 teaspoon (about 4g) sugar
  
• Kosher salt (be conservative; pepperoni and Pecorino Romano will make the pizza salty)
  

To Assemble and Bake: 

• 1 pound (450g) sliced deli-style mozzarella cheese
  
• 6.5 ounces natural-casing pepperoni, cut into 1/8-inch slices (aka as thin as possible without breaking the casing; this will ensure that they crisp in the oven because I made them too thick once and it came out mealy. If using better pepperoni, try 12 oz).
  
• 2 ounces (57g) ground Pecorino Romano cheese (halved from original recipe because it was too salty)
  

Directions:

1. To Make the Dough Using the No-Knead Method: Combine flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Add 0.35 ounce olive oil and water and stir by hand until dough comes together and no dry flour remains. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours (I typically do 24 hours).
2. Pour remaining 1/4 cup olive oil into a 13- by 18-inch rimmed baking sheet and spread over entire inner surface with your hands. Transfer dough to baking sheet and turn in oil until thoroughly coated. Spread gently with your hands. (It will not stretch to fill the pan; this is fine.) Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature until dough has slackened and started to spread out toward the edges of the pan, 2 to 3 hours. Carefully remove plastic wrap from pizza dough. Using oiled hands, and working as gently as possible to maintain air bubbles, push and stretch dough into the corners of the pan by pressing out from the center, lifting each corner, and stretching it beyond the edge of the pan. It should pull back until pan is just filled with dough. Set aside for 20 to 30 minutes while you make the sauce.
3. For the Sauce: Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Add garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook, stirring, until softened and aromatic, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes. Using a pastry cutter or a potato masher, break up tomatoes into fine chunks. Stir in sugar. Bring to a bare simmer and allow to cook for about 15 minutes to let flavors meld. Place sauce in blender and blend for a few seconds (not perfectly smooth, but to break up the tomatoes). Season to taste with salt (be conservative). Set aside and allow to cool slightly.
4. Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lower position and preheat oven to 550°F (or max; use fan bake if possible). 
5. To Assemble and Bake: Parbake dough for 5-10 min (to prevent top from being soggy). Remove from oven, then work quickly to spread slices of mozzarella cheese evenly over surface of pizza (I like to overlap them to prevent sauce from breaking through). Spoon sauce on top of cheese and spread with the back of a spoon. (I like to use all the sauce, but Kenji says you will not need all the sauce; use as much as you like, but be sparing.) Spread pepperoni slices evenly over surface. Sprinkle with half of Romano cheese. Transfer to oven and bake until pepperoni is crisp and curled and bottom of pizza is golden brown when you peek by lifting the corner with a thin spatula, about 35-40 minutes. With some ovens, you may need to loosely tent the top of the pizza with aluminum foil and continue baking until the bottom is golden and crisp. (Don't let it crisp so much that the pizza is too crunchy - check by taking out the pizza and seeing if there is a crunch or not when you cut into the pizza).
6. Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle with remaining half of Romano cheese, use a pizza wheel to cut it into slices, and serve immediately.