Oxtails for Dinner: Khal Bi Style with Udon

I love oxtails!  I love oxtails!  I love oxtails!  Did I say I love oxtails?  When I was young, I'd be thrilled when my dad would order oxtail soup at restaurants.  My favorite part was the peanuts.  They'd be soft after the long cooking and just melt in your mouth.  I was also strangely fascinated by the gelatinous "eyes" on the ends of each oxtail segment.  Soup was much coveted because my parents never made oxtail soup.  Anytime oxtails were purchased, I knew they'd make oxtail stew, which was good, but definitely not at the same "like" level as soup. 

As an adult, I've had the opportunity to order my own oxtail meals in restaurants.  I have a hard time ordering anything else when I see oxtail soup on the specials menu.  A big bummer is when the oxtails haven't been sufficiently cooked.  Few things suck as much as tough oxtails.  In my mind, oxtails are supposed to be falling-off-the-bone soft.  Strangely enough, I've never made oxtail soup.  I'm not sure why, but somehow, a huge pot of oxtail soup that will take me several days to finish just doesn't sit well with me.  Ken's Pancake House in Hilo makes a good soup.  Its a Friday special.

A few years ago, I splurged on the Zuni Cafe cookbook.  Zuni Cafe is a restaurant in San Francisco which is famous for taking a basic dish like roast chicken and turning it into the kat's meow.  The first (and sadly, only) recipe I've tried from the cookbook is Red-Wine Braised Oxtails.  Its very "involved", but the reward is in the taste.  The meat is falling-off-the-bone tender.  After making it several times, I've come up with a few shortcuts so I plan to eventually post my recipe when I get more pictures.

When I went to Costco on Saturday, they had a whole bunch of oxtails.  Impulsively, I bought a pack, thinking I'd freeze them and eventually get around to making the Zuni Cafe-adapted recipe.  But The Help suggested I try to develop a copycat khal bi oxtail, like the one you can buy premade from George's Meat Market.  I groaned because this was not going to be a walk in the park.

Khal Bi Oxtails from George's Meat Market . . .la la la. . . heaven in a bag.  Stacey sure knows her way around oxtails.  Meat is exactly the way its supposed to be . . . silky and falling-off-the-bone.  The flavor is a sesame-laced teriyaki.  Best of all, its cooked so its just a matter of heating it up.

Realizing I had two main issues, the sauce and the cooking, I decided to tackle the sauce first.  George's Khal Bi Oxtails tastes a little bit like shoyu pork with a touch of sesame.  I pored through cookbooks and eventually settled on a sauce based on the recipe for "Ono Pork Butt" from one of the Moanalua High School Project Graduation cookbooks.  The second part, cooking method, came a little quicker since I threw in the towel and decided to just follow the Zuni Cafe recipe's cooking method (braise).

To get maximum flavor, brown all sides of each oxtail piece well.

Use a gravy separator to remove most of the liquid fat from the liquid.

Four hours later, I was very satisfied with my copycat recipe.  Because I had ample sauce (something the George's one lacks) I decided to serve the oxtails with blanched bok choy, thinking that the reduced, concentrated sauce would be nice with greens.  I was a little stumped on the starch, but at 3:30, I chose udon noodles.  Rice was too pedestrian, and saimin/ramen noodles would not be able to hold a strong sauce like this.  Udon noodles were substantial enough to handle the sauce.

If you are not lucky enough to have easy access to George's Meat Market, or if you are like me and want to eat more than two pieces without spending all the hard-earned DOE paycheck, please try my Khal Bi Oxtails.  And if you come up with a better cooking method that will produce meat that melts when you eat it, please share it with the rest of us.

Serve it in a bowl with udon noodles, blanched bok choy, and some liquid.

Here you see that some spicy shredded potato has been added to the bowl.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
 Khal Bi Oxtails with Udon

     1 large package oxtails (3-4 lbs)

     oil

     garlic, grated

     ginger, grated

     1 c shoyu

     1/2 c mirin

     1 c brown sugar, packed

     1 c water

     1/2 c sake

     blanched bok choy

     udon noodles, cooked as directed on package

In a 5-qt dutch oven, heat oil and brown oxtails on all sides.  Add garlic and ginger to pot.  Place oxtails with "eyes" facing up.  Add shoyu, mirin, brown sugar, water, and sake.  Cover and bake in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours.  Remove cover and bake 30 more minutes.  At this point, oxtails can be refrigerated overnight and hardened fat removed before proceeding, or use a fat separator to remove as much fat as possible.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake covered for 15 minutes or 30 minutes (if chilled overnight).  Remove cover and bake 30 minutes more. 

Celebrating with Lobster

Sometimes I just don't feel very American.  Its not that I'm anti-America (truth is, I love being an American), but there are many times that I feel the rest of the United States levies a special penalty against me (and everyone else who lives in the 808).  For example, many retailers in the continental U.S. will not extend free shipping offers to Hawaii addresses.  In fact, many take advantage of the opportunity to gouge us.  This is why I try to limit my online purchases to websites that offer reasonable shipping charges to Hawaii:  Amazon, Origins, Crocs, PT's Coffee, Petco, Arcata Pets, Apple, Verizon, just to name a few.  There have been many times where I've had a full cart and attempted to check out, only to go into cardiac arrest when the shipping charges were added.  Okay, enough of my rant!

Today, most of my fellow Americans will be celebrating Independence Day/Fourth of July.  In Hawaii, typical celebrations involve some type of beach activity.  Up until the County banned tents in Bayfront last year, people would camp out for days prior to July 4th just to get prime temporary real estate for viewing the fireworks (lit on Coconut Island).  Liliuokalani Gardens is always packed on this day, as it offers an even closer view of the fireworks.  This is when you know summer has arrived.

Summer means its time to dress down and beat the heat with cool and refreshing foods.  A throwback to my Seattle days is having strawberry shortcake for dessert.  Every street fair had a strawberry shortcake booth.  Not long after my Seattle days, I took a summer trip to visit Aunty Janice in Lanham, Maryland, just outside the Beltway from Washington, DC.  The Maryland trip turned out to be a conduit to the most awesome seafood . . . raw clams & oysters, crab cakes, soft shell crab. . . but no lobster.  I guess I needed to go further north for my all-time favorite seafood.

Its apparent I won't be going to Maine soon.  In fact, I don't think I'll be leaving my house anytime soon.  No, I'm not under self-imposed house arrest like I was last year.  I was told that the lazy, good-for-nothing hard-working police officers have set up road blocks all over Hilo to entrap ticket drivers who may have consumed too much alcohol.  This being a holiday, I began celebrating early in the day (cranberry juice with Ketel One Citroen).  I don't think my employer would look kindly at a DUI on my record.

Nope, I won't be going anywhere today.  I'll be staying at home and relaxing.  I have a whole menagerie to keep me company.  And I also have a decadent lobster salad sandwich waiting for me.

 click on recipe title for printable recipe
Giant Lobster Roll

     2 lbs lobster claws* (this will yield about 2 cups of meat)

     1/4 c mayonnaise

     salt & pepper to taste

     optional vegetables:  cucumber strips, lettuce, etc.

     12" baguette, filone, batard, ciabatta, hoagie, etc.

Combine lobster meat with mayonnaise.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Split bread.  Heap lobster onto bread and top with desired vegetables.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but its a reminder to people to keep things simple.  The lobster is very flavorful, so adding fillers is discouraged.  In fact, some purists may even opt out of the vegetables.  These people will also likely pooh-pooh the use of bread other than hot dog buns, which are traditionally split down the top-middle and filled with the lobster salad.
*purchased at Costco.  Comes pre-packaged in 2 lb. bags.  As you might have noticed in the 2nd picture, lobster pieces come scored, simplifying the shelling process.  Most claws just have 1 piece of cartilage in them.

Okazuya Food: Teriyaki Fish

Ever since I did the corned beef hash post last week, I've spent time reminiscing about the okazuya's I have frequented in Hilo and Honolulu.  If I had my way, I'd eat okazuya food for lunch everyday.  Because of the variety of foods, lunches could be different everyday.

Over 20 years and several boyfriends ago, I lived in Makiki (Honolulu) and enjoyed a carefree life, eating what I wanted, when I wanted.  On weekends, we enjoyed picking up okazu from a place called Kaneda's.  Kaneda's was located on School Street in Liliha.  For those of you familiar with Honolulu, chances are good that you know Kaneda's.  In addition to being an okazu-ya, they also did party catering.  They may even have been able to accommodate small functions on-site, but I don't know for sure.  All I know about Kaneda's is they sold something that really reminded me of home:  teriyaki fish.

My parents often received fish from friends and family.  Dad had friends who went fishing.  Mom's brother had lots of friends who went fishing.  Sometimes it would be fish with head and tail (reef fish like menpachi, kole, aweoweo) and other times it would be a fillet of a big fish (aku, ahi, ono).  I like most reef fish (yes, even with all the bones), but the big fish never appealed to me.  I won't touch aku (skipjack tuna) in any form, and I'll eat ono (wahoo) only if I have to.  There are only two ways I enjoy cooked ahi (yellowfin tuna):  broiled (must be the belly portion) and teriyaki.

Teriyaki ahi is "da bomb".  Because most of the ahi was given to us, we ended up with all kinds of odd-shaped pieces, hardly worthy of sashimi.  Mom would often make teriyaki fish with the odd pieces.  I thought that was something only our family made, as nobody else seemed to eat ahi like that.  Until I discovered Kaneda's.  Same teriyaki taste, same look of the finished product.  Yummmm.

Kaneda's closed sometime in the 90's.  I can't remember what kind of business took over their location, but I'm sure they don't make teriyaki fish.  But no worries . . . teriyaki fish is very easy to make.  The only forethought it requires is the overnight marinating.

Marinating the fish in a plastic bag (yes, Terri, this is a no-no) with the air sucked out gets the marinade evenly into all the odd shaped pieces of fish.

After marinating, the color of the fish will change to a dark maroon.  Drain marinade and pat fish pieces dry prior to dusting with flour.  Be careful not to burn the fish when frying.

Teriyaki fish (or any type of teriyaki) goes amazingly well with ranch dressing salads.

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Teriyaki Fish

     ahi, sliced 3/8" thick

     shoyu (same amount as sugar)

     sugar (same amount as shoyu)

     ginger, grated

     flour

     cooking oil

Make a simple marinade using equal parts of shoyu and sugar.  Add ginger.  Add fish.  Marinate overnight in refrigerator.  When ready to cook, drain marinade and dry fish slices with paper towel.  Dust fish in flour and pan fry in shallow oil until golden brown.  Watch carefully, as it can burn quickly.  Drain on paper towel layers.

 

Spicy Shredded Potatoes

Those of you who grew up in Hilo have likely experienced this:  you are driving along Komohana Street, somewhere between the 4-Way Stop and Komohana Gardens and you are suddenly hit by the unmistakeable aroma of what can likely be attributed to gobo kimpira (sauteed burdock root).  Sometimes I catch a whiff of it on Kinoole Street in the area between the old Food Fair and Hokama's Chevron.  Yes, I'm showing my age now.  In all my years of living here, I have not been able to pinpoint which house it is that is always cooking this, but maybe someone out there might have the answer.

 Gobo kimpira is one of those Japanese side-dishes that compels you to eat multiple bowls of rice.  I didn't know such a dish existed until I was in the 4th grade and a classmate brought some for a recess snack (yeah, I know, kinda out there as a kiddie snack).  The balance of sweet-salty-spicy was perfect in every thread.  Mmmmmm.  But this post is not about gobo!

Prior to that defining moment, my only experience with gobo was watching my grandma whittle shavings off the tip with a small paring knife.  I have no idea what she did with the gobo shavings, but I certainly don't remember kimpira.

Part of the "charisma" of kimpira is the way the gobo is shredded.  Too thick, and the maker appears clumsy and lacking knife skills.  Too short appears as thought the maker didn't take enough time to cut the gobo correctly.  While I am quick to criticize, I have never made gobo kimpira.  I'll leave that to the okazu-ya pros and Japanese grandmas out there.  But this post is not about gobo!

Somehow, I have not been able to bring myself to buy gobo.  I wouldn't know how to select pieces, and I often wonder who first ate gobo.  Those roots are mighty long and thin. Was there really nothing ABOVE ground to eat?

There are times now, when I drive on Komohana Street and get hit with the gobo kimpira smell.  Often, its inconvenient to go to an okazu-ya at that very moment to get a scoop of it.  I remembered seeing a recipe for kimpira made with potatoes instead of gobo.  I called Mom to ask her if she knew which cookbook to look in. . .I own close to 300 cookbooks so I needed some help.  Unfortunately, she said she never heard of such a thing.  I guess she really didn't take me seriously because she added, "kimpira is made with gobo, not potato!". No help there.

Since I was determined to find the recipe, I began looking through the likely suspects.  Thirteen was the lucky number . . . found it in the thirteenth book I pulled, some Japanese church cookbook.  I made a few changes to the recipe ingredients because I wanted the kimpira to have a stronger taste.  What I like is that the cooking can be controlled to keep the potato crunchy.  What I especially like is that I don't need to run down to KTA to buy gobo!

I shared some of the potato with Aunty Betty (of corned beef hash fame), and she loved it.  She did issue a caveat, and that was to not use the word "kimpira", as it sets up an expectation of taste.  She was right.  The potato was actually very similar to the shredded potato in the Bi Bim Bap served at Sato's Lunch Shop (Hilo, circa 1990s).

So here are some tips for making spicy shredded potatoes.

1.  Use the julienne disc of a food processor, if available.  An alternative to this might be a Japanese crank shredded.  This magical tool is used to make those wonderful curly potatoes for your copycat version of Pietro's raw potato salad.

2.  Do not omit the step of soaking the potato shreds in ice water.  This step removes the surface starch.  If left on, you will end up with a gluey mess instead of discrete strands.

3.  Use a salad spinner to partially dry the potato shreds before patting dry with a paper towel.  You'll save on the amount of paper towels you use.

Okazuya Food

I'm really not sure what I was doing.  I SWEAR I hit the "publish post" button, but I guess I didn't.  I must've lapsed a lot because I found several of these "drafts" just hanging in limbo.  So without further ado, here is where my head was in July 2010. . .

Lately I've been really ono for okazuya food.  On my recent trip to Honolulu, I passed by Fukuya and wondered if they still make that awesome fried hash.  Fried hash and chow funn from Fukuya were treasured parts of my weekend fare when I lived on Oahu.  Unless you've actually had fried hash from Fukuya, you might have a difficult time grasping what it is.

Fried hash is NOT a corned beef hash patty like the kind offered at most okazuyas.  In fact, I can't definitively say there is actually potato in Fukuya's fried hash.  Same goes for corned beef.  What I can say is that fried hash is your typical "patty" shape.  Its roughly a 2" diameter disc thats about 1/2" tall and pan fried just a shade past golden brown.  Its almost like a sweet potato mochi patty I had at some meeting, but I cannot say with conviction that it contains mochiko either.  Sad.  If anyone out there knows how to make Fukuya's fried hash, please let me in on the recipe.  I promise I won't open up an quasi-Fukuya here in Hilo.

So far, this blog has been filled with many doubtful thoughts, so I'm going to go the other way and tell you what I do know.  I know that my Aunty Betty makes THE BEST corned beef hash.  Aunty Betty lives in Mt. View, and on occasion, when work took me to Ka'u, I would stop at Aunty Betty's on the way home and have lunch with her.  Aunty Betty would ask me what I wanted to eat, and I would always request her corned beef hash.  No okazuya can touch her hash.

What separates Aunty Betty's hash from others is the way she prepares the potatoes.  Most people boil potatoes and mash them.  Then they add in other ingredients.  This is how Mom does her, and I will admit here that for most of my life, Mom's corned beef hash was great . . . until I had Aunty Betty's.  Aunty Betty doesn't cook her potatoes before adding in the other ingredients; she grates raw potatoes and then combines the raw potato shreds with corned beef (canned, of course), egg, parsley, salt and pepper.  Then she plops them in an oiled pan, flattens the plops and cooks them until golden brown.  Same thing with the other side.  The result is a slightly scraggly patty with potato shreds which still have body.  Mmmmmm.

Unlike my previous posts, this post doesn't have a recipe after the jump.  I've just included pictures of Aunty Betty's Hash.  Well, not exactly Aunty Betty's Hash.  I made the hash, using Aunty Betty's method.  I've been eating her hash for nearly a decade, and no matter how I try, her hash still comes out better. 

But for those of you who still do the double-cooked potato method, here is a trick Mom taught me for getting those patties really nice.  After you flatten them into patty shapes, dust them lightly with flour before frying.  The flour will hold the patties together.  Trust me, the patties look really nice, but still, when it comes to great hash, scraggly looking or not, NOBODY can touch Aunty Betty's hash.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Yesterday's post was limited (due to time) to the slideshow of Uncle John's "27th" birthday party. I was told that Korean tradition is to reverse the digits of the guest of honor when they reach a certain age. Only time will tell if I'm lucky enough to have my birthday candle digits reversed.

There was a ton of food yesterday, with Uncle Hanok, Aunty Suyogi, and Uncle Hal,  doing the majority of the cooking. I wonder what Aunty Suyogi would think of my Chap Chae. I will need to make it for her one of these days. It was apparent, even to my forgetful tastebuds, that her Chap Chae was not as sweet as mine.

My contribution to the party was a pineapple upside down cake that almost didn't exist. Knowing Koreans aren't big on dessert, I knew I needed to bring some kind of dessert. After 15 minutes of pondering, I narrowed it down to chocolate cream cheese cupcakes or madeleines. Both are good eaten the day its made (unlike most cakes), and I knew I had ingredients on hand.

I was leaning towards the chocolate cream cheese cupcakes, which some people call black bottom cupcakes. The version I make uses devils food cake mix, cream cheese and some chocolate chips. Aaaaah, thats what I didn't consider . . . I only had butterscotch chips in the pantry. The Help volunteered to get some, but I declined the offer. I actually had just made devil's food cupcakes for D1 to take to a sleepover at a friend's house less than a week ago.

Before I could get off my butt to get down the madeleine molds, I caught sight of a lone can of pineapple rings in the pantry. Thats when it hit me! Pineapple upside down cake would be the dessert I would carry to the party.  Uncle John loves pineapple upside down cake!  Well, Uncle John loves dessert.

With the exception of chiffon/sponge cakes, I seldom make any cake from scratch. My cake mix brand of choice is Duncan Hines, the only one sold in Hilo WITHOUT pudding in the cake mix. As luck would have it, I had a box of Duncan Hines Yellow Cake Mix in my pantry as well.

Things seemed to be going well, until I got further in the recipe. . .1 box of instant vanilla pudding. By this time, there was no turning back, as I had opened up the cake mix, drained the pineapples & cherries, and melted the butter. I had a choice of pistachio, chocolate, or lemon instant pudding. I chose lemon for obvious reasons (if I didn't say anything, maybe nobody would know since the cake would still look "normal".

The cake baked up as normal with a warm golden brown caramel color. There would be no snitching a piece to sample, as the only option was to take the cake whole/uncut to the party. I had to leave the cake in the oven 5 minutes longer than usual because I bought a new cake pan which is slightly shorter than 13" on the long end (its by Nordic Ware and comes with a cover . . . got it at WalMart).

Upon arrival at Uncle John's party, the cake was met with "oohs" and "aahs". UL remarked, "you're stealing your aunty's thunder", as AE is known for a light flavorless colorless pineapple upside down cake, often made with crushed pineapple and lacking cherries. To her credit, she tries to create a healthier dessert (substituting applesauce for the vegetable oil) and boldly sacrifices flavor for uhhh, yeahh.  Anyway, back to my cake story. 

After we sang Happy Birthday to Uncle John, dessert was served. Mmmmmm. Nobody noticed the off-taste with the lemon pudding. In fact, everyone kept saying it was delicious (like they would've actually told me it tasted like shit). The Help, who is likely the most honest when it comes to food, said it was as good as or better than the version made with vanilla pudding. The Reans surprised me by eating several pieces, the comment du jour being, "dis good. Not so sweet" (you gotta do your own Rean accent). Aunty Sunny even asked if I would make this cake for Denise's birthday.

In terms of consumption, the Hamano uncles don't disappoint. Uncle John ate 3 pieces of cake. I think Uncle James ate the same amount! Is Uncle John losing his touch as the dessert king? When I made Crystal Coffee Cake in May, I'm sure Uncle James ate more than Uncle John.  This is amazing, considering Uncle John's history of sugar intake.  Uncle John once put away 16 roasted marshmallows after having two servings of both dinner and dessert.

The baking time provided for the recipe is if you are using a conventional 9 x 13" pan. If you are like me and bought the heavy Nordic Ware one with the nice raised plastic cover, add 5 minutes to the upper end of the cooking time.

Uncle John's Birthday Slideshow

Slideshow made with Smilebox