Cooking Adventures, and Disasters Averted
Yesterday I pulled a rack of pork ribs out of the freezer.
While we were at Eurofresh, I found was looking at the various sauces in the aisle full of interesting Asian things, since I'm not a big fan of standard American barbecue sauce. I found Kikkoman Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sauce. I figured it if would be good with pork in one form, it would also be good with ribs. Meanwhile Ron succumbed to the allure of bottled mole sauce while at Eurofresh. Chicken tenders were on sale, so that was a no-brainer for cooking with the mole.
Today I coated the ribs with some of the Cajun seasoning that I got as a sample with my last Penzey's order, then coated with the Tonkatsu, wrapped in foil, and threw in the oven at 325, along the lines of Alton Brown's Who Loves Ya Baby-Backs.
I've never made chicken with mole sauce, but that didn't discourage me. Hmm. Recipes on-line call for simmering bone-in chicken, but I decided to skip that with tenderloins. Then I discovered I was out of onions. Oops. Oh well, forge on and saute the tenders, then add the hominy (we had decided at the store it would sound good. If it isn't "proper", too bad). Then I pried open the first jar of mole, poured off the pepper sauce on the surface, and . . .
. . . discovered that most of the jar is a rather solid mass. Calling Ron for conultation, we chiseled the mole concentrate out of the jar into a smaller pan, and thinned it with an equal amount of chicken stock - which makes since, since properly we'd have had it from cooking the chicken. Still winging it, since the mole sauce assumes you know what you're doing and has no instructions (I actually consider that a compliment).
While chiseling out the mole, a chunk about the size of an egg yolk or a bit large hit the floor, to be pounced on by Eowyn. I yelped "CHOCOLATE!", pounced on her, and pried her mouth open for Robin to extract said chocolate-rich mole. Then I fed her quite a good helping of cold leftover oatmeal, on the theory it would help ease the affect on her digestive system of any mole she did get.
Eventually the mole concentrate dissolved, was added to the chicken and hominy, covered, brought to a simmer, and put into the oven with the ribs. Things are smelling good.
In another disaster averted entry, a second plunger has been added to the shopping list, so nobody has to run for one - because it's never on the floor where where you think you need it.
While we were at Eurofresh, I found was looking at the various sauces in the aisle full of interesting Asian things, since I'm not a big fan of standard American barbecue sauce. I found Kikkoman Tonkatsu (pork cutlet) sauce. I figured it if would be good with pork in one form, it would also be good with ribs. Meanwhile Ron succumbed to the allure of bottled mole sauce while at Eurofresh. Chicken tenders were on sale, so that was a no-brainer for cooking with the mole.
Today I coated the ribs with some of the Cajun seasoning that I got as a sample with my last Penzey's order, then coated with the Tonkatsu, wrapped in foil, and threw in the oven at 325, along the lines of Alton Brown's Who Loves Ya Baby-Backs.
I've never made chicken with mole sauce, but that didn't discourage me. Hmm. Recipes on-line call for simmering bone-in chicken, but I decided to skip that with tenderloins. Then I discovered I was out of onions. Oops. Oh well, forge on and saute the tenders, then add the hominy (we had decided at the store it would sound good. If it isn't "proper", too bad). Then I pried open the first jar of mole, poured off the pepper sauce on the surface, and . . .
. . . discovered that most of the jar is a rather solid mass. Calling Ron for conultation, we chiseled the mole concentrate out of the jar into a smaller pan, and thinned it with an equal amount of chicken stock - which makes since, since properly we'd have had it from cooking the chicken. Still winging it, since the mole sauce assumes you know what you're doing and has no instructions (I actually consider that a compliment).
While chiseling out the mole, a chunk about the size of an egg yolk or a bit large hit the floor, to be pounced on by Eowyn. I yelped "CHOCOLATE!", pounced on her, and pried her mouth open for Robin to extract said chocolate-rich mole. Then I fed her quite a good helping of cold leftover oatmeal, on the theory it would help ease the affect on her digestive system of any mole she did get.
Eventually the mole concentrate dissolved, was added to the chicken and hominy, covered, brought to a simmer, and put into the oven with the ribs. Things are smelling good.
In another disaster averted entry, a second plunger has been added to the shopping list, so nobody has to run for one - because it's never on the floor where where you think you need it.