Tag Archives: Boiled

Corned Beef and Cabbage

The way we used to eat corned beef and cabbage when I (Nate) was growing up was to take one of those cryovac’d corned beef briskets, cube them up into chunks, and toss them into a pressure cooker along with carrots, potatoes, and the spice packet. Then we’d cut up a head of cabbage and boil the life out of it in a separate pot.

The end result was very tender brisket, but the veggies were falling apart and the cabbage was tasteless. We’d eat all of that with cheap French’s yellow mustard.

In Annie’s house, “corned beef” meant the hash that came out of a can. Her mum would fry it up with egg and serve it on bread.

It wasn’t until Annie came to Hawaii to study that she found out what “real” corned beef was. Her host family served it to her out of a slow cooker, cut into thick slices. Then she introduced that style to me.

Now, our local Lunardi’s grocery store sells fresh corned beef. Annie bought a 7-pound brisket point and flat cut. She simmered it for several hours, adding the potatoes and carrots at the last hour. We boiled the cabbage until they were just cooked, still retaining the green color.

I like the fresh corned beef because it is less salty than the cryovac’d ones. The veggies arent’ mushy but retain their texture and flavor.

Someday I may attempt to corn my own beef brisket.

Aloha, Nate

Singapore Curry Laksa

Most of the Malaysian/Singaporean restaurants here in the Bay Area are not quite authentic because their chefs use local ingredients and adjust their recipes to suit local tastes. Here in San Jose, we’re lucky to have a branch of the Singapore-based restaurant chain Prima Taste. Prima Taste ships all their sauces pre-made from Singapore, and so preserve the flavors.

We’re also lucky that an Asian grocery near our place carries the Prima Taste brand of sauce and seasoning packets, for a pretty good price. This is their Singapore Curry Laksa.

You have to buy all the fresh ingredients – the noodles, bean sprouts, fish cake, shrimp, and egg. But to make the soup you just add the contents of the spice packet to water and bring to a boil, then assemble all the ingredients. In no time, you’ll have a delicious bowl of fragrant laksa.

Aloha, Nate

Won Ton Char Siu Loh Mein

When Annie makes won tons, it’s no small matter. She makes enough to feed an army — and have leftovers to feed them another night!

Ground pork mixed with minced shrimp, garlic, ginger, onion, green onion, water chestnut. Seasoned with salt, pepper, soy sauce, chicken bouillon, and sesame oil. The package of won ton wraps contains about 90 skins.

Filled and folded.

Making use of the last of the char siu.

Aloha, Nate

Bun Rieu

UPDATED Bun Rieu Recipe here

This is a Vietnamese soup noodle dish that features a shrimp, tomato, and tamarind flavored broth, pork meatballs with spiced minced crab meat and minced shrimp, tofu, rice noodles, and shiso leaves. Annie makes this about every 6 months, and the huge pot never lasts more than two days. It is intensely flavored, and savored to the last drop!

Aloha, Nate.