Cook the Books February! Asian Dumplings with Andrea Nguyen!

Ok, friends, so we somehow managed to make this whole Cook the Books Challenge work! Yay for all of us!

January is almost over, and the Cook the Books challenge has been so fun so far! We’ve got people in different states participating! We’ve got people who looked all over for citrus zesters and 2/3 inch pastry tips! I learned more about French music than I probably needed to.  This was my favorite choice from my French dinner party mixtape.

Double S sported out an outfit that probably broke the record books for the most stripes worn in a single outfit, because French people wear stripes we think! Meg introduced me to French 75s and now I wanna drink a lot of those.

I whisked so much I think I have le carpal tunnel syndrome.  I remembered that the French drop their h’s when saying words like “hamburger” and I lol-ed. I laughed, I cried, Around My French Table was better than Cats. What can I say?

In January, Dorie Greenspan took us on a tour of French cuisine, updating it, modernizing it, demystifying it, and personalizing it for us along the way. French food and technique form the basis of much of modern fine dining. Dorie showed us some of those techniques, and definitely made me a better cook along the way.  And the month isn’t over!  Stay tuned for my final review of the book on January 29th, and Meg’s round-up of the all the bloggers who participated in the challenge, which should be up on the 30th.  And hey, maybe I’ll even wring one more recipe or two out of this book before I put it on the shelf for awhile! Maybe crepes!?  Why the heck not!  But for now, onward and upward!

This month we’re going to take a journey (I’m making it sound exciting, aren’t I?) through years of traditions and technique, and through quite a few countries. For February, the Cook the Books Challenge book of the month is Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas and More, by Andrea Nguyen.

First things first, Andrea knows her some dumplings.  She’s a cookbook author, food writer, teacher, SAVEUR contributing editor, and active blogger at Viet World Kitchen.  Besides Asian Dumplings, she’s also the author of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern Flavors, which was published in 2006, and Asian Tofu: Discover the Best, Make Your Own, and Cook It at Home, which she published in 2012.  Check out her blog!  You can click on the Asian Dumplings link at the top and be taken here, where you’ll find even more dumpling recipes, her list of dumpling classes (if you live in the Santa Cruz or San Francisco area, you’re in luck!  She has some upcoming classes!), and helpful dumpling related videos.  Like this!  Take it away, Andrea!

I like her little dance at the beginning AND her Simpsons reference!

The Simpson kids, after a month of Cook the Books…

Dumplings are hot right now. There’s no denying it. Odds are there’s a dumpling food truck in your town you’ve been meaning to check out, or a column in your city’s food blog hyping dumplings, or a pesky friend at work who really wants you to eat dumplings.  The New York Times is talking about them.  Esquire is calling them a food trend.  Blokes in the U.K. are jabbering about dumplings, alright guv’nor?  And there are dumpling food trucks popping up too.  In New York City, you might find several Rickshaw dumpling food trucks out and about.  In Durham, North Carolina, of all places, you’ll find the very popular Chirba Chirba dumpling truck.    Portland, of course, has the Dump Truck.  Seattle doesn’t have a dumpling specific truck, but hey, we do have one of the only three US locations of Din Tai Fung Dumpling House, which is a foodie destination for Xiao Long Bao, holder of a few Michelin stars, and was once named one of the best restaurants in the world by the New York Times.    But hey, no big whoop.

Dumpling making at Din Tai Fung

So I chose Asian Dumplings for February because I love going out for dumplings.  But I have never made a dumpling.  I watched my parents make egg rolls in my youth.  I grew up eating German potato dumplings for Thanksgiving and I participated, but still.  I wanna learn how to make spring rolls!  I wanna learn how to make samosas!  I really want to learn how to make xiao long bao, aka soup dumplings!  I wanna learn how to make Korean mandu!  I wanna learn how to make pot stickers!  Do you?  Join us!  You will?  Sweet!

Ok, so the book itself.  It’s pretty great, you guys.  The introduction is 19 pages of essential information.  I’d highly recommend reading it as soon as you get the book.  It’ll make you excited and less concerned that you don’t know how to make dumplings.    In it, Andrea tells us a little about her background.  She first started folding wontons when she was a little girl.  Cute!  She later spent a year in Hong Kong and really began to experiment with dumpling eating and dumpling making.  There were no cookbooks or blogs (duh!  It was the 90s!  All we had were books!) dedicated to dumpling making, so, luckily, Andrea polished her recipes and wrote this book in 2009.  I like how Andrea demystifies dumplings right off the bat.  She tells us in the introduction that your dumplings don’t have to be folded a certain way and don’t have to look pretty.  So throw away your worries about how the heck you’re gonna fold a perfect dumpling!

Photo by chinesedumplingrecipes.com

Andrea also tells us about which regions recipes in this book will come from,which is East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia, and she mentions the great influence of Chinese cooking techniques and traditions on all of these dumplings.  Although we’re talking about a huge chunk of land here, Andrea stresses that dumplings are simple.  Here’s her definition: “For the purposes of this book, Asian dumplings include savory and sweet dishes that are made from balls of dough, or are small parcels of food encased in pastry, dough, batter, or leaves.”  In other words, there are endless possibilities here!  Don’t be overwhelmed!  Try what excites you!  Here are some of the types of dumplings Andrea will be teaching us to make:

XLBs, or Shanghai Soup Dumplings

Gyoza, or potstickers

Samosas

Lumpia, fried spring rolls popular in the Philipines

Korean mandu

Wontons! Fried wontons! Where my St. Louis people at? You know I’m going to need to make crab rangoon!

Spring rolls. Yes, she will teach you to make that impossibly thin spring roll skin…if you dare!  And I’m a sucker for punishment so I prolly will dare!

Steamed buns

Siu mai, ubiquitous in the dim sum repertoire.

So I think the most overwhelming thing staring us in the face for this month is the actual making of the dumpling wrappers.  Well, my fears were assuaged as soon as I got further into Andrea’s introduction.  She talks about how the wrappers are of course much more delicious if made at home than if bought at the store, and she also promises us that they are easier to prepare and to work with than you might think.  And this leads me to tell you about the most helpful part of her introduction, the “Essential and Handy Equipment” section.  Don’t skip over this one, folks.  She mentions some tools that will make things easier, so I went out and got them.

Yep, a wooden dowel rolling pin, a steamer, and a tortilla press.  Although Andrea promises that the skinny, lightweight rolling pin will make producing nice delicate wrappers much easier, I was afraid of my own laziness when it comes to dough, so I got a cast iron tortilla press as well.  This one, to be exact.   Hey, yeah, you’re cooler than me and maybe you won’t need one.  But dough and pasta rollers and all of that scare me and often make me give up and just go flop on the couch and watch my stories.  So I nipped that potential in the bud, yos!  Andrea tells us more about working with a tortilla press here.  Cheat away!

Then there’s the ingredients.  Like Dorie rightfully told us in Around My French Table, most of the ingredients for the simpler items here can be found at any grocery store.  She points out and describes, in case you need it, the ingredients that might take more time to find, like banana leaves, dried shrimp, dried mushrooms, fish sauce, and various flours and starches.  In the dough, the flour is a key variable.  Andrea uses regular old AP flour, bread flour, rice flour, glutinous rice flour, and tapioca starch/tapioca flour, and wheat starch.    She provides photos of the types of flours and recommended brand names, which is helpful when you’re browsing a huge Asian grocery store.

If you’ve been out for dumplings, and dear lord I hope you have, you know that the dipping sauce can really make the dumpling, and that each dumpling has its own set of traditional or expected sauces used as an accompaniment.  Don’t worry, Andrea has a whole section on sauces and chutneys.

Ok, so here are the details if you want to join us in dumpling making in February.  First, get the book and make some dumplings!  Fun!  Then, write about what you did, and send us a link to your post: cookthebookschallenge@gmail.com.  For this month, please send us your link by February 22nd.  Meg and I will then ooh and ahh and marvel at what you all made!  Then, on February 26th, Meg will post her review.  On February 27th, I will post my review and a roundup of all the posts of all the participants.  Non-bloggers, please post what you did on my February 27th roundup.  For more info, click here!  Fun will be had by all!

Cook the Books! What Else Did I Make In January?

So we’re almost at the end of our first month of the Cook the Books challenge! What a whirlwind it has been! Remember, when we introduced you to it all at the end of December? We were so young and innocent back then…

I’ve told you about a few things I’ve made so far. Cheese Topped Onion Soup. Deconstructed B.L.T. and Eggs. But wait, there’s more! I’ve really gotten up close and personal with this book!

Since the month is quickly coming to an end and we will all soon start thinking about dumplings, I thought I’d tell you a little about all the other stuff I’ve made in Dorie Greenspan’s seriously awesome book, Around My French Table. If I wouldn’t have already ordered this book and now have my very own tattered and stained copy, I certainly would have bought it for myself by now.  Yep, it’s that good.  Here’s what I’ve made.

Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup. Page 98.

Last weekend, I decided to see what Dorie could do with Asian food. Let’s start positive. The Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup may end up being my single favorite thing from Dorie’s book.

Dorie mentions that, due to the history of France colonizing Vietnam, it’s common to find little Vietnamese restaurants in even the smallest towns in France.  And that the “bones” of Vietnamese cooking are present in a lot of French cooking, as evidenced by the French use of Vietnamese spices, condiments and seasoning.  Dorie mentions that this soup her combo homage to two soups she gets at her local neighborhood Paris Vietnamese spot, pho and la sa ga, a coconut milk soup.  She gets it right, because this combination is delicious.

This soup was very easy to make. The flavors were spot on; it was like a slightly heavier/creamier take on pho, which sometimes you want, especially on a cold night. Double S really loved this one too and made me promise to add it to our dinner repertoire.  Done and done!

Making a bouquet garni, cuz I’m fancy now.

Yep, those are the awesome large soup bowls I picked up at Dong Vinh.

I got/had all the optional garnishments Dorie suggests, but seriously?  The soup is so good it doesn’t need any garnishing, other than some fresh mint and basil prior to serving.

But here’s a brag for the homemade chili garlic sauce and chili oil I made last fall!

Shrimp and Cellophane Noodles.  Page 322.

I also tried Dorie’s, admittedly barely Chinese, take on shrimp with cellophane noodles. Dorie mentions how freely French chefs will add ingredients or techniques from other cultures in their attempts at fusion, and this recipe comes from that spirit.

I eat and cook a good amount of Thai and Vietnamese food, mainly noodle dishes and pho. There are great markets near my neighborhood and at many other local neighborhood in the Seattle area as well, that it make it easy to get the few more obscure ingredients you might need.  This one called for dried wood ear mushrooms, cellophane noodles, and  a few spices you probably already have at home, including Chinese 5 spice.

Re-hydrated mushrooms.

I made the called for tomato puree with my own garden tomatoes I froze last summer.  Wow, I’m glad I decided to preserve tomatoes by freezing.  So easy!

The only thing I needed some guidance on here were the cellophane noodles. This is one of the recipes in the book that was not further illustrated with a photograph and it suffered for that. Although I’ve bought noodles many times at Asian markets, I never called them or heard them called “cellophane noodles,”  so I Googled “cellophane noodles” and the first photo that came up was a picture of the very thinnest cellophane noodle. That kind of noodle is what I ended up using and I wouldn’t recommend it.

I’d also recommended to thoroughly read the recipe. Duh doy.  I must have just thoughtlessly assumed the whole package of noodles would go into the recipe. When I saw all the (delicious) sauce being absorbed into the very thin noodles and becoming a sludge of rice like substance, I checked the recipe and saw that the recipe only called for 3 oz of noodles and I had jut put in a 16oz package.  Mother effing shit!  That kinda ruined the recipe. The sauce had an interesting flavor that came from the Chinese 5 spice and the other added spices. I’d make it again if I ever had a package of more fitting (read: quite a bit thicker) cellophane noodles. The shrimp absorbed the sauce, and the sauce is delicious.  When buying Asian noodles, think of them like the more familiar Italian noodle.  Here, you want a cellophane noodle about the size of a spaghetti noodle, as the sauce is supposed to sit on top of the noodles like good old fashioned spaghetti.

My picture looks ok, but this was taken before all the sauce was absorbed up by the noodles.

Salmon and Potatoes in a Jar. Page 182.

I like pickles and pickling, mason jars, out of the ordinary food experimentation, and large projects. Thus when I saw the recipe for Salmon and Potatoes in a Jar, I knew I had to give it a shot. What I didn’t know was how easy it was!  It wasn’t a large project by a long shot.

Dorie mentions that this dish is a take on gravalax and tartare.  Double S is Scandinavian, so I thought she’d like this one.  Dorie was also not wrong on how much this dish impresses.  The presentation is killer!  Double S was already planning what future dinner parties we could attend and take this as an appetizer that will get us accolades from our friends.  Plus this is the Northwest and we have access to great local salmon.  Bonus!  I got a one pound fillet of sockeye salmon at my local farmer’s market.

The salmon sits overnight in a half salt/half sugar rub, then the next day you add some fresh spices and onion and carrots, and top with olive oil. The rub preserves the fish. The onions flavor everything.  And you are left with a flavored oil you can use for many other things.  Dorie suggests dressings and marinades.

The salmon is mellowed out by the process, so this recipe could fly with those who do not like “fishy” fish. It was great on good fresh bread and with a slightly tart and fruity white wine.

Cafe Salle Pleyel Hamburger.  Page 240.

My efforts with the hamburger had mixed results, but I don’t think it was the fault of the recipe. The only problem I had was that the burger fell apart, both as I grilled it and on the bun.  Bummer.   I used frozen meat (which has a tendency to fall apart), and I added more cornichons than were called for because I love cornichons. This of course made the patty wetter than ideal. I loved the flavor of the meat but not the texture, which was more like meatloaf. If I tweak my technique, this is a definite keeper.

Oh and fresh grated good Parmesan Reggiano on a burger, brilliant.  I’ve never been a fan of a big honking piece of orange cheese on my burgers, other than the occasional piece of blue, but fresh grated parmesan was an eye opener.  Plus, I liked how even a small essence of ketchup, which I’d otherwise never put on my burger, from the dried tomatoes, was welcome.

I made the onion marmalade and used some more of Dorie’ recipe for mayo, which I still had on hand from the Deconstructed BLT and Eggs.  Still awesome!

And then for the big January dinner party with Meg and our lucky significant others!  Total. Success.  Here’s what I made!

Lime and Honey Beet Salad.  Page 121.

The beets turned out fantastic. One thing I like about this cookbook is how Dorie provides a spotlight for a lot of the vegetables she uses in the cookbooks, with tips for assessing ripeness and potential deliciousness, as well as various cooking techniques. I’ve made beets a thousand times, but I ended up roasting the beets for this salad using Dorie’ slightly different technique for roasting, and I liked the subtle smokiness the technique added to the salad.

Photo by Meg.

Short Ribs in Red Wine and Port.  Page 254.

The short ribs were amazing. The meat turned out a pretty close approximation to the idea I have in my mind of the word tender. Dorie mentions that she has tinkered a lot with the spice mix she uses for this one. Well, I loved the one she finally decided on here. These leftovers are going to be amazing. Dorie herself a predicts the lovely lucky situation you’ll be in with leftovers of this beef, and shares recipes using the leftovers. I liked that choice. Also, here’s a plug for Bob’s Quality Meats if you’re in the greater Seattle area.

Dorie highly recommends making these a day ahead if at all possible.  I did so, and I agree.   The flavor was amazing.  The smells will make you sad that you are not eating them on the night you braise them!

Plus, again, a jaw-dropping dish that isn’t hard to make.  Once you brown them off a little in your broiler, you’re just waiting, whilst delicious smells waft through your house.

Tres bien!

The Go-With-Everything Celery Root Puree.  Page 354.

The purée was good. You got a real hit of celery flavor with this dish. I may have added slightly more celery root than she calls for though, due to the sizes of the roots I purchased. I would perhaps attempt to balance the celery and the potato more if I made this one again. I like how she adds a whole onion; it makes a delicious addition to the dish.

This was another really easy dish to make, once you had the ingredients.  After the veggies are boiled, just whirl it in your food processor to a state of creamy deliciousness.

I served the puree topped with the short ribs and the gravy.

Double S and I, plating with stern concentration!  Photo by Meg.

Vanilla Eclairs.  Page 473.  I made chocolate and vanilla cuz I like to go over the top.
Finally, and the dish I was most scared to make, came the eclairs. They ended up tasting delicious, but too small to be eclairs. I’m now sure if I somehow made a mistake when making the dough, or if I didn’t have a big enough pastry tip.

The pate a choux, right before it hit the mixer.

Dorie mentions the need for a 2/3 inch pastry tip for a pastry bag. Problem is I couldn’t find a tip that large in any store. The pastry creams and chocolate ganache were phenomenal though.

I couldn’t have done this one without Double S.  She piped out all the pate a choux, and cut and filled the eclairs.  Double!!!  S!!!

We all had a debate as to whether the chocolate or vanilla eclairs were better.  Shocker: It was a tie!

These were so good. Photo by Meg.

I’m kind of in awe of this book so far. There have been only a very few many minor misses in the dishes so far, and most were caused by something I need to work on in the kitchen, like paying more attention to detail.

I’m gonna try to squeeze in a few more recipes before I start thinking about dumplings.  Speaking of dumplings, stay tuned for my introduction to February’s Cook the Books Challenge cookbook, Asian Dumplings, on Friday January 25.

And as we’ve told you, if you’ve cooked along with us this month, please send us a link to your post at cookthebookschallenge@gmail.com by January 25th, or (if you don’t have a blog) tell us what you made in the comments section on Meg’s round up post, which will be up on January 30th.