I like to try recipes from cookbooks, unaltered.  This seems to be something that foodies decry as being a silly exercise in mindlessness, because all cooking should be improvisational.  I call bullshit.  I’m happy to improvise and come up with a meal from various cuisines, but if I’m cooking something I’ve never made before, I’m not just going to look at a recipe once and wing it.  I want to understand the intention, what the published dish is supposed to taste like.  In my mind, I’ll compare it with other things I’ve had.  Maybe I’ve had the dish in a restaurant, or I’ve enjoyed other meals in the same ethnic family.  Once I’ve tried it, I can move forward with a little more understanding.

For trained chefs, this is what cooking school seems to be all about.  You learn techniques and flavor profiles from a few different regions of the world and then they are challenged to regularly innovate on those ideas.  If you’ve ever read about someone going through cooking school, read any , or watch any episode of Top Chef, you’ll see that chefs are expected to cook from experience, not books.  However, ask them to produce a dish in a cuisine they haven’t mastered and they’ll usually turn up short.

For me, I still feel like I’m learning a lot about Asian food.  The ingredients and techniques are in some ways very different from those used in Western cuisine.  Since I haven’t taken the opportunity to attend any local cooking classes, like those taught by Tien as part of an adult education program, I take my chances learning a lot from books.  Without further ado, let’s get into the book at hand.

Whether you’ve made pho from scratch, or never heard of chap chae, Jaden Hair’s cookbook has something to offer.  Since I have had some experience cooking variations of many of the dishes in the book, some of the recipes worried me a little bit.

How good could “Quick Vietnamese Chicken Pho” be?  Pho (pronounced “fuh”) is supposed to use a richly flavored broth that requires long simmering, not some Rachel Ray 30-minute abomination.  My fears were unfounded, though.  The technique worked really well, infusing classic pho flavors like star anise and clove into chicken stock.  I think the real secret to success here is starting with a good chicken stock.  Trust me, making your own stock is easy and uses up stuff you’d probably just throw away otherwise.  You’re not too stupid to cook.  Apologies for no photos… it was really good and we ate it too fast to stop and take photos.

I’m sure nearly everyone in America has eaten egg rolls in their lives, but how many people think of making them?  Well, we did, using “[Jaden Hair's] Mom’s Famous Crispy Eggrolls” recipe.  I shared a video of my daughter rolling them, but here are some more pictures of the before-and-after, as well as our younger daughter enjoying them with “dip” (a/k/a hoisin sauce).  The proportions of this recipe are huge.  We made about 40 egg rolls, perhaps being a little bit conservative with the filling.  We went on to make a couple dozen pot stickers and a batch of fried rice with the left over filling.

Jaden includes a really great recipe for a peanut sauce that serves as the base for another dish, “Thai-style Chicken Flatbread”.  This one I took her inspiration and ran with it.  After all, it’s really just another pizza topping suggestion.  I made my own dough, since I had the time.  We served it with some brussels sprouts cooked with bacon (not from the book).  This one was pretty popular with everyone in the family.

One dish I wasn’t crazy about was “Clams Sautéed in Garlic and Black Bean Sauce”.  I was lucky enough to go to the store right after a shipment of clams came in.  They were beautiful clams, too.  Unfortunately, the sauce was  a bit spicier than we wanted, and the flavor just didn’t do it for us.  We ate it… all… and enjoyed it, but it’s not on our must-repeat list.  No finished-dish photo, but aren’t the clams lovely?

Chap Chae (or Jap Chae, Japchae) is a dish of sweet potato starch noodles with some vegetables and (usually) beef, flavored with sesame oil and soy sauce.  If you’re used to Italian pasta made from wheat, these noodles are weird.  They start out bumpy and greyish, then when you cook them they turn nearly clear, smooth, and the texture is springy and chewy.  They have very little flavor on their own, but they absorb flavor well.  This dish is one that I order in restaurants often, because I really love it.  The Steamy Kitchen recipe came through again, with a dish that we all loved.

Last, but not least (in this post), I’ll mention a couple of the vegetarian dishes in the book.  We made a big pot of jasmine rice and invited a couple of friends over one night and had the “Garlicky Tofu and Spinach” and the “Asian Style Brussels Sprouts”.  The tofu and spinach were cooked quickly until they were silky and smooth, with a delicious sauce rich with garlic and sesame oil.  Did I ever mention sesame oil is one of my favorite Asian ingredients?  Great stuff.  Anyway, the hardest part of the meal was the brussels sprouts, and only because I took the time to trim and slice them all by hand.  They are cooked quickly with some Vietnamese touches, like fish sauce and lime juice, just to start softening them.  They are bright and still a bit crunchy, offering a contrast to the soft tofu and spinach.  Best part about this meal?  I started when I put the rice in the rice cooker, and had all the food ready just as it was finished.

The theme of this book seems to be fast, flavorful food.  Jaden’s a mom, she does all the writing and photography for her blog and the cookbook herself, she’s obviously putting lessons from her own life on these pages.  The book is filled with so many beautiful photographs of her food, her travel, and her kids.  The great thing is that these recipes work.  It’s not just fast for the sake of being fast.  That said, the speed of Asian cooking usually relies on the cook’s diligence at the cutting board, prepping all the ingredients before-hand.  Take it as an opportunity to practice your knife skills, or an opportunity to buy pre-cut vegetables.

I’ll be doing another post soon with a recipe from the book.  It’s a versatile Korean recipe that you can bend to your will.  Stay tuned!

On a blog note, I’ve adjusted the line spacing (not everywhere yet, gotta track down a working Firebug), as it was mentioned in the survey that the text was a little dense and hard to read at times.  Let me know if you think it’s better, worse, or didn’t notice!

One of my adventures was to the Windy City with my wife and her friend since high school, Stephanie.  Stephanie lives in warm, sunny California, and wants everyone to move there.  Walking around Chicago with snow blowing everywhere, I wished for a moment that I was blessed with the warmth of the Golden State.

We drove downtown and found our way to the corner of Clark and Illinois, where Xoco is located.  If you’ve ever been to Bayless’s other restaurants, Frontera Grill or Topolobampo, Xoco (pronounced sho-ko, meaning “little sister”) is right on the corner of the same block.  Looking through the window you can see the preparation of chocolate and churros (see my earlier post on churros) for eager guests.

When you enter, the space looks very small, just enough for a small kitchen and a winding line to wait in before you order.  While waiting in line you can look at surreal images, like the one at right of children in a churro-cactus forest, or one of a woman riding a torta flying through the air (see that one in the gallery at the bottom of the post).  As you enter, there are only a few tables visible, but it turns out that there is another section of tables further back, but the total seating capacity is probably only 40.

We went in the mid-afternoon, around 3:30, since we wanted to be able to try the caldos (soups) that they start serving at 3PM.  There was already a line all the way to the door, which meant about 12 people in front of us, along with a handful of people standing near the door waiting for their carry-out order.  While in line, we saw the board displaying the numerous local farms that they source from.  This is a quick-service sandwich and soup place, but it’s still firmly rooted in Bayless’s strong commitment to supporting local farmers.  Our local Prairie Fruits Farm is listed as a source, along with Rick’s own family garden.

The ordering process got a little awkward as they handle carry-out orders separate from dine-in orders (but through the same register).  We had to wait for a table to open up before we could order.  Luckily, a table opened up just a moment after we were told to step aside.

We ordered heartily, including chips, sandwich, soup, dessert, and a delicious Goose Island beer.  You can serve yourself still or sparkling water from a pair of faucets as you leave the cash register.  We carried our water and beer and were escorted to our seats, a set of high stools at an interior counter.  It wasn’t the nicest view, but the other tables were filled.  Soon after we sat down, we got our appetizer of chips and guacamole.  We splurged for the pair of salsas for an extra buck.

The chips were fine, but nothing memorable.  The guacamole was good, nice and creamy with balanced flavors.  The salsas were great, but they are the same ones you can get in Frontera jars.  The biggest problem I had was the portion was way too small.  For $4 (5 with the salsas), I wanted more chips.

The tortas (sandwiches) and caldos (soups) are prepared to order in their small kitchen from fresh ingredients.  While in line, I saw the cooks tasting the food as they were prepping each order, which gave me high expectations for the results.  In our case, they really did deliver.

First is my wife’s torta cubana.  From the menu: “smoked Maple Creek pork loin and bacon, black beans, avocado, artisan Jack, chipotle mustard”.  I tried a bite and it was very tasty, and held together well as a sort of torta-meets-panini creation.  For $11, I don’t know if it would have filled me up, but my wife loved it.

Stephanie got what I would have had if I didn’t get the soup–the torta ahogada.  This “drowned” sandwich has “golden pork carnitas, black beans, tomato broth, spicy arbol chile sauce, pickled onions”.  I wanted to steal this sandwich, but opted only for a bite.  The carnitas were cooked and seasoned perfectly (maybe could have been crisped a bit more).  The brothy sauce at the bottom of the bowl can be ordered as mild or spicy as you like, and it is the perfect foil for the torta’s extra crunchy bread.  I did my own take on this sandwich after we returned home from the holidays, but that post will have to wait for now.

I had the pork belly vermicelli soup.  The menu says “crispy-tender pork belly, toasty-tender noodles, woodland mushrooms, zucchini, avocado, salsa negra”.  If that’s not a close enough look, here’s a spoonful of pork belly with the noodles, fideos, it’s hiding.

This was simply amazing.  The soup stock  had a depth of flavor I haven’t had in any other quick-service restaurant soups.  It had the mouthfeel of a long-simmered stock, almost thick and chewy, but it still tasted fresh and vibrant.  I didn’t see any salsa negra, so I assume it was the source of the sesame seeds floating in the broth as well as the spicy kick it contained.

The pork belly itself was thick and meaty, cooked until tender, and browned enough on the outside that it still held up to a little chewing instead of dissolving into so many porky threads in the soup.  The noodles were alright, sort of like a rustic spaghetti.  They added to the bulk of the soup, but I would have been just as happy if they weren’t there.  The vegetables offered nice variation in each bite, and each offered a flavor and texture that the soup needed.  The avocado was cool and creamy, the zucchini still tender-crisp and bright, and the mushrooms were dark and deliciously chewy.  The arugula on top wilted into the soup and performed as a slippery sidekick as it draped itself on many of my bites.  For $12, this soup is a meal that should not be passed up.  I would have loved a bit of one of their toasted bolillos to dip and crunch on as I ate.  Maybe Rick will read this and add it as an option al lado.

We all gorged ourselves on our main dishes, accompanied by Goose Island Matilda, a Belgian-style beer brewed in Chicago.  It was an expensive 22 oz. bottle ($13), but shared among three people, it paired perfectly with the rich food.

Of course, with the fresh chocolate being made here, we couldn’t pass up dessert.  We were given the option to order chocolate and churros with our meal and they would serve them to us later after we finished our food.

The pacing at the end of the meal was the low point.  As we were finishing, a couple staff members checked if we had ordered chocolate or churros.  After being left with nothing in front of us for what felt like forever, a plate of three churros arrived.

They are, dare I say, perfect churros.  Crispy, soft, light, warm, coated liberally with sugar, cinnamon, and ground cacao.  I could have eaten a dozen of these, even after the huge portion of soup.  What I wanted, though, was my chocolate in which to dip it.  I ate slowly, bite by bite, savoring each bit of the churro, but no chocolate arrived.  Finally we saw the chocolate man come with his tray of dark cacao goodness.

No table-side preparation, really, just pouring already-prepared chocolate into mugs.  There is a wide array of choices on how you want your chocolate prepared.  We tried three different choices, the authentic, made with water, the classic with 2% milk, and the almendrado, made with almond milk.

The chocolate was good, and had all the fresh vibrant flavor you’d expect from Bayless’s bean-to-cup operation.  If you click through the gallery of photos at the bottom of the post, you’ll see pictures of their chocolate grinding away in the same machine that local chocolate maker, Dan Schreiber, uses.  The almendrado, made with almond milk, was perfect for my wife, who loves chocolate and almonds.  The main difference between the authentic (water) and the classic (2% milk) is the milk tempers the bright flavors of the ultra-fresh chocolate.  Neither is “better”, just different.  My only disappointment was the portion, which seemed undersized for the mugs they serve it in.  The photo above is before drinking any, and it shows that my mug was only about 2/3 full.

Overall I HIGHLY recommend Xoco.  Try everything you can and bring your friends.

If you haven’t entered the Taza chocolate contest, do so now.  The entry deadline is now this Saturday, January 9, at noon Central time.  The winner will be announced shortly after.

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It’s my favorite chocolate bar when I’m not having good dark chocolate. Yeah, it has real bacon in it, and I like it with a peaty Islay Scotch, which pairs well with the smokiness of the bacon and the salt in the chocolate.