Pork and Cider Stew

... a pork recipe? Yep! I had to try this stew when they were ranting and raving about it on the Chris Moyles show on BBC radio 1. The classic winter stew in our household is beef stew with gravy and herbed dumplings. However, this pork stew made a delicious change. It brings together the perfect marriage combination of pork and apples.

Meat Burgers

I can’t believe that we used to eat such revolting burgers (patties) or “meat” cutlets. As kids, we used to think that having those Dalepak lamb grills, were such a treat – ugh. Now, that I’ve grown up, my tastes are more refined and I’m more educated with food and nutrition – there’s no way, I’ll go near those alien things again.

Meat & Rice Dolmades - Greek Stuffed Vine Leaves

On one of our first dates, J took me to a Turkish restaurant in London. At that time in my life, my only real experience with food was traditional Chinese. I was skeptical about almost everything that arrived at the table, dolmades was one of them.

The only Chinese, leaf-stuffed dish is lor mai gai - chicken and rice, steamed in a lotus leaf wrap. You don’t eat the leaf wrapper in this dish. I was so inexperienced with eating other Worldly cuisines, that I assumed you shouldn't eat the vine (grape) leaf around the dolmades. It makes me laugh thinking about it now... there was me scooping out the filling of the dolmades, as J watched on, making weird faces. It makes me laugh even harder, when I recall seeing the waiter's face, as he took away the plate.

Pork & Cabbage Jiaozi

Jiaozi, gyoza, potstickers or in Cantonese, gow gee are all the same thing. They're an East Asian dumpling with a filling of minced (ground) meat and/or vegetables, which is encased in a thin, chewy skin.

The version I have made is with minced (ground) pork with Chinese leaf (napa cabbage). I have also made the recipe with chicken thighs, where I’ve home-minced (ground) it in a food processor. The resulting jiaozi are pretty good, and I often use them in a Szechuan noodle soup.

Lor Mai Fan - Savory Chinese Sticky Rice

Sticky rice is also known as glutinous rice. And although it may confuse quite a few people, glutinous rice does not contain gluten. It is simply called glutinous because of its sticky nature when cooked. When served plain, it is completely safe for a gluten-free diet.

Oven-Baked Crispy Bacon

I can’t believe that I’m writing a blog entry on baking bacon. It sounds ridiculous to me, but I really hope that someone out there will find it useful!

Unfortunately the US doesn’t sell the typical back-bacon that the UK is accustomed to. They only sell what Brits know as streaky bacon. In the UK, streaky bacon isn’t as popular as back-bacon, but when in the US, we have to make do. You can purchase imported back-bacon from Canada or the UK and there’s even a local farm here in Washington State that produces it. The UK import goes for around $12.00 for 454 g (1 lb), but is way too thick to get really crispy and isn’t smoked (like I like).

Char Siu Bao - Chinese BBQ Pork Buns

When we lived in London, there was a Chinese bakery, Tai Pan, that was about 10 minutes walk from our house. We would occasionally go there for a weekend raid, of course, we didn’t have room for dinner that night. They made everything on site, from the delectable char siu bao (bbq pork bun/barbecue pork bun) to the delicate daan tat (egg custard tarts), from the delicious gai mei bow (coconut bun, chicken tail bun) to the mouthwatering celebration cakes. I really miss that place.

Char Siu - Chinese Roast Pork

I remember my Father making huge batches of char siu, (Chinese roast pork) for the family business. Naturally, we’d have to sample some...

I’ve never tried making my own char siu until I wanted to make some char siu bao (roast pork buns, also known as barbecue pork buns).

I’ve attempted my own char siu 2-3 times, and the trick

Chinese-Style Stuffed Tofu

We decided to invite two couples over for dinner one night. It was the same two couples that relocated to the US, at the same time as we did. I decided to cook them a Chinese dinner. This is where the trouble began - they weren’t expecting traditional Chinese food.

My menu consisted of rice served with steamed lap cheung (Chinese pork sausage), steamed fish with ginger and spring (green) onions, stuffed tofu, braised shiitake mushrooms, stir fried choi sum (Chinese greens), jiaozi and Szechuan pork balls. For dessert - tang yuan