I wish I had a better name for this post but alas I’m not that creative. Maybe “tasty hamburger” or “zesty burger” might’ve worked (hmm, “goodburger” =P) but I’ll stick with this one for now.

I’ve always been a big fan of marinated burgers (don’t get me wrong, I love the plain ones too!) but I’ve never tried making them myself. I usually end up buying some of the ones at Whole Foods whenever they’re on sale (which is next to never) so needless to say, I don’t have them very often. But I’ve had this on the list of “things to do” for the past 5-6 months so I figured what the heck, I might as well put the new cast-iron pan to good use and make burgers!

This recipe originally came from White On Rice Couple and it’s really amazing how good something can taste with just a few simple ingredients. The folks at White on Rice do a fantastic job with their food. They grow many of their own ingredients and are AWESOME with photography, I really should use some of their tips =P

Anyway, in addition to fish sauce and the other ingredients, I dashed in a little Worcestershire sauce and minced a shallot. I should probably make the recipe word-for-word just to compare tastes but I’ve always liked a little Worcestershire sauce with meatloaf so I figured heck, why not try it with a burger!

Savory hamburgers

Serves 4-6 (depending on burger size)
Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:
– 2 – 2 1/4 lb Ground beef (I use 90/10)
– 2 – 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
– 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
– 1 small shallot, minced
– 3 cloves garlic, finely minced then crushed
– 1/2 tsp sugar
– 1 tsp ground black pepper
– Hamburger buns

Method:
1. Combine all of the sauces and spices in a bowl, mix well. Add beef, try as best to get the marinade all over the beef (as evenly distributed as you can) and marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Roll the beef into balls and flatten into patties (roughly 1/2 lb). Make a thumbprint in the middle of the patty, this helps keep the patty uniform when cooking (the middle always rises).
3. Bring a cast-iron pan up over high heat. Lightly oil the pan and add in the hamburgers. Let cook relatively undisturbed (I usually move them slightly to avoid sticking) on each side for 3-5 minutes depending on how well done you like your burger. Time will also depend on the thickness of the patties.

I haven’t been cooking anything new lately (cooked a couple staple dishes I’ve already posted about) and I was away for a weekend in the Midwest but with Fall starting, I’m excited to try some new “colder weather” recipes. I’ve made a decent dent in the list of 100 recipes, coming up with about 15 so far. A new page for the project is in the works and hopefully I’ll have that done in the next couple weeks.

Here’s another dish that I can’t seem to ever get enough of. I order this about 60% of the time when I go to Pho Viet at Super 88, the grilled pork combined with the broken rice and a side salad…yum! I remember trying to make this a while back but completely forgot the recipe (Maybe it’s posted here somewhere, I’m a little too lazy to look =P) but I consulted some notes I had from a friend along with a recipe from Wandering Chopsticks, another fantastic food blog, and went to work!

Update : Found the notes from my friend!

Vietnamese Pork (Thit Heo Nuong)

Time : 45 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 lb of pork shoulder or butt, sliced thinly
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
4 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp Light Soy sauce
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp Honey (optional)
3-4 stalks scallions (white and green parts separated)
1 tbsp canola oil

Method:
1. Mix pork through pepper (with white parts scallions) and marinate for at least 30 minutes.
2. Cook in sauté pan or on grill. Cook green part scallions with oil in a separate pan and use as garnish over rice.

Caramel sauce (Nuoc Mau) is a staple in a lot of Vietnamese recipes, especially many of the quick (sub 1 hour) dishes. There are many techniques ranging from an ice bath for the pot to pouring boiling water into the half melted sugar, but my favorite is just mixing the sugar and water right away and leaving it be. Simple, quick, and low effort. I like that! And, you can make a ton of it ahead of time and store it all in a jar.

So with that, I went poring through my favorite Vietnamese cookbook, Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen and immediately found something perfect for weeknights. I keep most of the ingredients around normally so all I needed to do was pick up some chicken thighs from Whole Foods, and fortunately enough they just opened one up in Dedham, super close to work! Now I have absolutely no excuse NOT to cook anymore, there are two Whole Foods, a Super Stop & Shop, and Lambert’s Rainbow Fruit on my drive home. And another Super Stop & Shop and Trader Joe’s not too far out of the way either. Though I’ll probably find some reason to be lazy one of these days, it’s in my blood =P

This goes well with a simple veggie stir-fry, I usually like some form of bok choy (or pea pod stems) quickly stir fried with some ginger and garlic.

Vietnamese Ginger Chicken with Caramel Sauce

Serves 4
Time : 40 minutes

Ingredients
- 1½ lb boneless chicken thighs, cubed
- 2-inch piece ginger, peeled, thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 scallion, green parts, chopped

For the caramel sauce:
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp water

Method:
1. Combine 3 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp water in a saucepan. On medium heat, melt the sugar, stirring occasionally. The mixture will slowly start to turn golden brown. Remove from heat once caramel becomes light brown. Should take about 15-20 minutes.
2. Add everything but the scallion into a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and then simmer for about 10 minutes, covered.
3. Remove lid, simmer for another 5 minutes, taste sauce. Add more fish sauce if necessary
4. Stir in scallions and immediately transfer to serving bowl.

Notes:
Adapted from Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen

Pork belly isn’t exactly the healthiest of foods around (alright, it’s downright evil to your diet) but it’s definitely one of my guilty pleasures. I mean, look at the ~1 inch thick bits of fat on each piece, that’s more fat than there is meat most of the time! But either way, it’s darn tasty, whether it be bacon or prepared in the Chinese way, crispy pork belly (siew yuok?).

This recipe is one I’d been DYING to find for a long time. I’ve seen some variations, A friend of mine showed me one way with pork cutlets, but one thing I was always missing was the caramel sauce. Being a complete idiot at the time (Ok, maybe I’m still an idiot), I didn’t put 2 and 2 together and a) look it up or b) realize that it was just sugar and water.

Fast forward a few months and I see this post on White on Rice Couple, a California based blog that I absolutely adore. Great photography does wonders to make tasty dishes look even more mouth-watering and soon enough, I was drooling crazily and staring forlornly at the half eaten sandwich on my desk. So inspired once again, I set off, recipe in hand, and tried not to screw it up.

Vietnamese Braised Pork and Boiled Eggs (Thit Heo Kho Trung)

Serves : 4 Time : 90 minutes

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 ½ tbsp water

- 2 lbs pork belly (cut in 1” cubes)
- 6-8 eggs (boiled and peeled)
- 3-4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- ½ tsp salt
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 ½ cups water
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method:
1. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan. On medium heat, melt the sugar, stirring occasionally. The mixture will slowly start to turn golden brown. Remove from heat once caramel becomes light brown.
2. Heat another large saucepan over medium heat. Add oil and garlic. Stir until garlic becomes fragrant.
3. Add pork and cook for 10 minutes. Add fish sauce and salt.
4. Slowly pour in about 3 tbsp caramel. Adjust the sauce as necessary.
5. Cook pork in caramel for about 5 minutes, then add water and turn heat to low. Braise the pork for about an hour. Add boiled eggs about 10-15 minutes before the pork is finished.
6. Serve over rice

This is something I’ve been meaning to try cooking in a long time. I mean, almost 6 years long. That’s when I was first introduced to Vietnamese food and of course, the first thing I had was the big bowl of beef noodle soup, with all the fixings. I was instantly a fan. Hot soup, lots of noodles, lots of meat, and the tasty bits (tripe and tendon, maybe not so tasty to most) is hard to beat on a cold winter night. Well, unfortunately (or fortunately in some eyes), it was the middle of July.

But anyway, I kept asking some of my Vietnamese friends about making Pho but the hours of preparation and the list of ingredients had my mind spinning and eyes glazed right from the start. So I put it off for a year, then another five. But finally, about a month ago, I was in an ambitious and productive mood, so I figured, what the heck, I’ll give it a shot. 6 hours later, I had my Pho, and was dozing on the couch.

It ended up tasting pretty close to what I’ve had in restaurants and I felt that, with a few adjustments, I might be able to get the taste of the broth closer. I used some beef neck bones (with meat) instead of some of the leg bones (My stock pot wasn’t big enough) and they turned out pretty good (not to mention all of the extra meat that ended up in the soup). I did take the beef brisket out a little early, it was still a little tough when I got around to eating it. Ended up feeding 5 people healthily (If I followed the recipe exactly I could’ve probably fed the 6-8 that was mentioned) but unfortunately, I couldn’t fit anything else in the stock pot.

The recipe’s from Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. It’s a very well detailed book (although I’d like it if there were more pictures…actually, I wish every cookbook would have at least 1 picture of each dish that’s listed) and I found it really easy to follow. Andrea also has a blog at Viet World Kitchen and I try to keep up with it whenever I have the time.

Anyway, enough with the chatter, onto the recipe!

Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup (Pho)

Serves 6-8
Time: 5-6 hours

Ingredients:

Broth:
- 2 medium yellow onions
- 4-inch cube of fresh ginger
- 5-6 pounds beef leg bones (in 2-3 inch pieces)
- 6 quarts water
- 5 star anise
- 6 whole cloves
- 3-inch cinnamon stick
- 1 ½ pounds beef brisket
- 1 ½ tbsp salt
- ¼ cup fish sauce
- 1-inch chunk of yellow rock sugar (1 oz)

For the bowls:
- 1 ½ to 2 pounds thin rice roodles
- ½ – 1 pound thinly sliced beef eye of round, sirloin, or tri-tip
- 1 yellow onion, sliced paperthin
- 3-4 scallions, chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- Black pepper

Garnishes:
- 3 cups bean sprouts, rinsed and drained
- 10-12 sprigs thai basil
- 2-3 thai chillies, thinly sliced
- 2 limes, wedged

Method:
1. Char the onions and ginger directly over the cooking grate (or you can grill them). After 10-15 minutes, they should soften and become fragrant. Peel off the charred skin after rinsing.
2. Put the beef bones in a stock pot and add water, just covering the top of the beef bones. Bring to a boil to release the impurities. Dump out the water and rinse the bones.
3. With the beef bones still in the stockpot, pour in 6 quarts water, bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat and simmer. Add the onions and ginger to the pot. Wrap the star anise, cloves, and cinnamon stick in cheesecloth or a cloth tea bag and add. Add the beef brisket, salt, fish sauce, and rock sugar. Cook uncovered for 1 ½ hours.
4. Sample the beef, it should not be too tough but it should still be a little chewy. Remove and let cool. It can be set aside in the refrigerator if you like. Meanwhile, simmer the broth for another 1 ½ hours.
5. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth to catch the bones and spices. Remove any bits of tendon (my favorite part) from the bones and add to the cooked beef on the side. Taste and adjust the flavor with salt, fish sauce, and rock sugar. There should be about 4 quarts of broth. Bring the broth back to a simmer.
6. Meanwhile, cook the rice noodles and drain. Slice the cooked beef and set aside, along with the tendon bits and the raw beef slices. Ready the onion, scallions, cilantro, and pepper as well as the garnishes. Set the garnishes on a plate separate from the bowls.
7. Add some noodles to each bowl, then place some of each type of beef on top of the noodles. Place some yellow onion on top and drizzle some scallion and cilantro. Finish with a sprinkle of pepper.
8. Bring the broth to a boil, make any last minute adjustments and ladle the broth over the noodles. Serve immediately.

Notes:
- Other types of goodies can be added, beef tripe, beef/fish/shrimp balls, wontons, etc.
- Serve extra Sriracha and Hoison sauce on the side.

One of my fixations at any of the local Vietnamese restaurants (besides Pho) is the marinated grilled pork over rice. I don’t know what’s in the marinade (well, I sort of do now) but it just was that tasty with rice and a small salad! So one day, I was able to convince a friend of mine to show me the way her mother cooks the pork chops, homestyle! And wow, the food did not disappoint!!!

As with a lot of Southeastern Asian cuisine, fish sauce is a staple. The pork is marinated along with some sugar and honey to diffuse the saltiness. Add that to some stir-fried scallions and some other veggies and you’ve got a nice meal (plus leftovers!)

This dish is also meant to be grilled but a frying pan would have to work this time.

The recipe can be halved to make slightly less

Vietnamese Style Grilled Pork

Serves 6-7 with rice and vegetables
Ingredients
2 lbs pork chops (12-14 thin sliced pork chops)
6-7 stalks scallions, chopped (whites separated, green for garnish)

Marinade
Sprinkle of kosher salt
2 tbsp black pepper
5 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1-2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 shallots, minced
1/2 cup water (or stock)
white parts of the scallions
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Method
1. Marinate the pork for at least 20 minutes
2. Heat the frying pan over medium heat. Add a little oil, cook some of the pork with some of the juice.
3. When pork is close to finished, bring the heat to high to evaporate the juice and caramelize the shallots. Rub the pork in the reduced sauce to get a singed look to the pork.
4. Repeat 2-3 for as many batches as necessary.
5. In a small frying pan, heat some oil and saute the green parts of the scallions for a minute to garnish the pork.

Anyway, ended up going to Super 88 (no pics, boo!) with Linh to grab lunch and groceries and she put forth an idea that we could do a mini-potluck and invite a couple other friends. So Jason and Zac ended up over for dinner and some hearty Rock Band.

I’ve never noticed this in the Asian grocery stores but the meats are soooooo much cheaper than in the regular grocery stores. I mean, the quality (Not too sure on that word anyway based on some of the news that’s been coming out of the meat industry) doesn’t seem all that different and you get better cuts, not to mention all the special bits you’d never find at a Stop & Shop

And Super 88 has such awesome lunch selections. Stuffed myself with some Crispy Basil Chicken from Wisteria and a Japche Tukboki from Misono Wok. Forgot to pick up a Vietnamese Sandwich but I doubt I needed it at that point.

So I’ve actually got two recipes today, one courtesy of Linh. Pictures are at the end.

Thit Kho (Vietnamese Pork Stew)

Ingredients
1 lb Pork (Sliced, any type you want)
1/4 Medium Yellow Onion
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Crushed Black Pepper
2 tbsp Caramelized sugar
2-3 tbsp Fish Sauce

Method
1. Throw all of the ingredients into a stew pot, mix together well
2. Add water to the same level as the pork
3. Cook on high heat and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer on medium for 20 minutes
5. Taste frequently (add more seasoning if needed), should be a salty sauce with sweet pork.

Thai Chicken with Basil – Kao Pad Krapao

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Thai chili peppers (Bird chillies)
8 – 16 oz Chicken Breasts/Thighs
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp chopped shallots
1/3 cup thai basil
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

Optional:
1 small red bell pepper
1 small yellow onion
Cold cooked rice (for a fried rice-like meal)

Method
1. In a wok or large frying pan, add oil and stir-fry the garlic under medium-high heat.
2. When the garlic sizzles and turns golden, add chillies and chicken.
3. When the chicken is lightly browned, add the vegetables (probably after about a minute)
4. Mix in the sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and rice (optional).
5. Add shallots, basil leaves and cilantro. Cook about another minute or so, then serve.

Here’s the picture. The Thit Kho is on the left, and the Basil Chicken on the bottom right. Linh made some string beans as well to add a little healthiness to the whole meal. I ended up using too much chili peppers and Jason wasn’t able to handle it too well. But it still was tasty!