Delicious & Dragons

I think chicharrón must translate to “throw pork into a pot and forget about it for a long time”, because that’s just about what you do. You cut up a pork belly, cover it with water, then stew it low and slow until all the water’s gone, then crank the heat and fry it in its own fat until crispy. Served it with a spicy miso mayo nappa cabbage cole slaw. My worry wasn’t that it wouldn’t be delicious, because it was, but that the pork bits would explode in my face, because that’s likely to happen if your fry pork.

Did it in the past with Kombu, this time around it’s miso. No idea yet what to do with it. Maybe I’ll mix it into some butter and roast another kohlrabi with it.

Why not both? The thing about Pasta alla Nerano is, roasting zucchini slices at high heat with some olive oil really brings out their flavor. It’s a wonderful way to serve zucchini, really.

I felt like toying with my faible for cheeseburgers and simultaneously angering traditionalists, so I ended up stuffing cheeseburger ingredients into a bao bun. Fluffy steamed buns are hard not to like, so how does the unorthodox filling fare? You know what, it’s delicious, and I’m pretty sure I could tweak the recipe some more to get the flavors just right, but I actually prefer the traditional cheeseburger. There’s something about the composition of toasted bun, hard seared patty, sauce, onion and lettuce that’s hard to beat.

It’s somewhat rare that dishes I cook surprise me, but this one did. Take a kohlrabi root, peel it to a compact puck, salt it, wait until the seasoning absorbs, brush with melted butter and roast it low and slow for 2-3 hours, turning and continuing to brush with butter until it’s all nice and browned. What you get are some wonderfully chewy bites with concentrated savory flavor that you wouldn’t expect knowing the raw counterpart. What’s most fascinating is that there’s a natural acidity to it that gets concentrated while roasting and balances everything out really nicely, no need for marinades or anything. Crack of black pepper, some crunchy finishing salt and shavings of parmesan and you get a marvelous little dish.

After all the pizza baking I needed something refreshing. Pretty simple really, just chop up a whole bunch of ginger, bring to the boil with brown sugar and water, citric acid for balance, let it sit, strain, reduce to a syrup. Mix to taste with sparkling water and you have a drink that’s just right for a hot summer.

A crepe? Not a typical one, this street food staple has a mix of wheat and mung bean flour which gives the crepe a really interesting savory taste. I didn’t have the traditional fillings on hand so I went with the closest thing, egg, sausage, cucumber and, yes you’re reading it right, nacho chips. It just adds to the different layers of crunch.

Yes, yes you can. I have a soft spot for cheeseburgers you see.

So here I was, baking pizza with buffalo mozzarella and all, and I was lamenting the sweltering heat, thinking it was silly to bake on a hot summer day, and you know what the prince said to me? He said, no, that’s part of the game. I understand now oh prince. The sweat shall not deter me, the pizza will prevail.

The hot summer inspired me to try this just to see what it tastes like. Interesting stuff, bit more acidic, some more subtle flavors coming through. Won’t replace a nice cup of hot coffee in the morning, but worth a taste.