January 9, 2017 • Dumplings

小籠包

I have a problem where if there’s a difficulty setting in a game, I’ll always go for the hardest mode - without a challenge I end up getting really bored. The problem is that I always end up punching above my weight and fail miserably. On that note, I decided to go for the holy grail of dumplings this week - the 小籠包 (soup dumpling, xiao long bao, XLB) and almost failed miserably.

faceatious

diary of a shitty chef

Shitty Chef

Los Angeles

no post found

Sous Vide Rib Chop

Oct 10, 2017

Sous-vide is so hype right now. There’s so many sous-vide circulators out there in the market that are pretty popular. But honestly if you ask me, sous-vide cooking really deserves the hype. According to Google it just means “under vacuum” in French - referring to the vacuum sealed bags that seal the food for a sous-vide bath. You simply drop the sealed food into water, and water is brought up to and kept at a constant temperature by a circulator (one of the phalic things I linked above).

Lettuce Wraps

Jul 7, 2017

For the month of July, I made a ton of lettuce wraps with a wide variety of proteins. These low carb dishes were relatively healthy and extremely delicious. Pork Belly Wraps I got a 3lb Kurobata Pork Belly from the butcher and marinated it with garlic, soy sauce, mirin. I wanted a nice beautiful crispy skin though, so I scored the skin, patted it dry, and sprinkled a generous amount of salt on the top.

Fire-Pit Roasted Tomahawk Steaks

Jun 6, 2017

A tomahawk steak is just a fancy term for a ribeye steak with the bone still sticking out. Honestly there’s nothing special about it besides it looking really fucking cool if theres a huge bone on it. Mine ended up being little dinky bones so in reality, all I did was roast ribeye steaks but we’ll call it tomahawk steaks since it sounds cooler. Oh and I roasted them over a fire-pit in Zion National Park in Utah.

Dry Aged Beef Wellington

May 5, 2017

Guest chef this week: Tiffany Hwang This week the talented and beautiful Tiffany Hwang was my guest chef and made an amazing Beef Wellington. This dish requires an ridiculous amount of prep, so be prepared to lose at least half of your day if you plan on making this. However, the end result is a beautifully baked dish that wraps steak, mushrooms, and prosciutto with a beautifully crisp and browned pastry that really screams to the world you’re not about that barbaric seared slab of steak peasant life anymore.

Dry-Aged Prime Rib

May 5, 2017

You might’ve seen huge chunks of steak sitting in see-through fridges before at high-end steakhouses. They’re going through a process called dry-aging which is exactly as it sounds - aging the beef in a relatively dry environment. The end result is a succulent flavor-concentrated cut that’s more tender than any steak you’ve ever had. It’s not easy to dry-age steaks though. You need to dry-age for at least 20-30 days to have any noticeable result with the sweet spot for most people around 30 days.

A5 Wagyu & Other Beefs

May 5, 2017

Reminisce for a moment on the best steak you’ve ever had. Remember back on the savory umami goodness of the tender meat, blushing with its fatty juices and salty richness. What made it so good? It’s all due to the Maillard reaction, a chemical reaction that no one cares about unless you’re a boring food blog writing without any interesting content and need an intro paragraph. Luckily this ain’t yo grandmas food blog so the takeaway there is to just always sear your fucking meat.

Shellfish Platter

May 5, 2017

Oysters Kumamoto Oysters Miyagi Oysters Clams Littleneck Clams Manila Clams Crab Stone Crab Claws Shrimp Tiger Shrimp Red Shrimp Scallops Sea Scallops Oysters Scallops Shrimp Clams and Claws Shucking an Oyster Shucking an Oyster p2

Szechuan Lobster Pan Roast

Apr 4, 2017

Las Vegas is usually known for the strip. Curiously though appropriately named, most of what any tourist visiting would want to do is bookended between Mandalay Bay on the south end and Encore on the north end unless you’re a peasant. Then maybe you’ll end up at Stratosphere or Circus Circus farther up north as I did when I was a traveled there with my family as a kid. There are some hidden gems off the strip though, my favorite of which is the Oyster Bar, a small dining counter in Palace Station Hotel which sports waits up to 3-4 hours long at times.

Fried Garlic Crab

Apr 4, 2017

There was once a famous crab named Jon Snowcrab. He had defeated all the other crabs in his castle to earn the right to leave and travel the world. So he set off on an epic journey across the eastern coast of the American continent and documented his amazing travels on this cool app called Snapchat. Snowcrab tells his family bye He rafts across the sea Makes friends in the ocean And finally finds land Looks back out towards home Fuck, should've just taken a ride in this Basic bitch brunch Snowcrab eeds a drink Kind of misses home I miss Jon Snowcrab - he unfortunately didn’t last very long out in the wild.

Louisiana Seafood Boil

Apr 4, 2017

Have you ever heard of a Louisiana seafood boil? You’ve probably at least heard of The Boiling Crab. It’s basically a bunch of seafood boiled or steamed and then topped with cajun/lemon/garlic/butter sauce. It’s so fucking good that meals are partially eaten in silence because you’re too savagely decapitating sea creatures and ripping their shells off to bother conversing with the 5 other people you came with. I also find it mildly interesting that everyone has their go-to order at boiling crab.