Five Spice Country Caviar

Bong Bong, you read it correct. We will have Country Caviar aka Boogers aka Red Neck Edamame aka Poppers aka Baldies. The only food with more nicknames than Ghostdini. Shouts to the homie Tyler for bringing em back. I had em at his crib this weekend and went bonkers.

I haven't had a good boiled peanut in at least 5 years. Since I went to beijing, I always went for the vinegar peanuts, but I had some of these watchin football Saturday and I'm fiendin!!! No lie, I woke up with the chills runnin to the fridge for boiled peanuts like a chino lookin for his black tar.

Boiled peanuts are in my blood. My grandpa used to make em and sell em back in the day so this one's for you big homie! When I get home, I'll put some out for you. I know you bored of all those oranges mom be puttin out!

Old Beijing Vinegar Peanuts

When I was in Bejing 3 years ago, I ate these every single meal. No lie, no exaggeration, they're that good. We're not doing french fries or anything like that at the new restaurant because we're gonna do different types of homemade peanut dishes as sides. This is one version. Vinegar, cilantro, fried peanuts. Can't beat it!

Hand Pulled Chicken Bao

This recipe took a while, but it was worth it. Boiled a whole chicken, hand pulled all the chicken off the bones, let it cool, then tossed it in some chili and green onion infused oil that has been marinating in my fridge for a couple days (intentionally! haha), then mixed it with a sweet sauce I made. Turned out awesome and will def be on the menu!

Dessert Bao

Decided to make a dessert bao yesterday. It'll be on the menu at the new restaurant. The photos would not take forever cause the glare from the buns was crazy after being fried. The photos look like shit but they were dope. Fried bao with sweet sesame filling. The black stuff oozing is the sesame. Also made it with sweet peanut which was real good too. The flavor and taste is there, just need to work on preseentation for the opening!

Sichuan Peppercorn and Salt Turkey

Yesterday, I did a Chinese style Turkey preparation. Seasoned the turkey with sea salt and white pepper like usual. Then, I toasted some spices (sichuan peppercorns, anise, dried chili pepper, garlic, salt, and white pepper) and put them in the cavity. I put the turkey in 400 Degrees oven for 30 minutes. It got nice and crisp real fast. I took it out, then poured hot chili oil on top of the turkey. I had also put a turkey neck into the oil just to give it extra flavor. Pouring the oil gave the turkey a nice crispy skin and then I covered the turkey and put it back in the oven at 320 degrees.




That's all she wrote. I took the drippings, mixed it with some milk and flour, gravy was off the hook. I still prefer the Hen-Rock turkey cause its sweet, savory, and more holiday tasting, but Ning really liked this Chinese turkey better. Definitely has better texture, straightforward flavor, you really taste the turkey and its got bite. Try it sometime!

Biscuit Stuffing Recipe

By request, here it is:

Get dried biscuits, crumble them all up

Take a giblet, sautee it in a lot of duck fat. Let it simmer on low for like 3 minutes, don't let the fat burn. (if you want a protein based stuffing and BALLIN out of control, get some duck leg and sautee it in the duck fat. Or, you could use country sausage. Don't use no italian sausage or anything like that. duck or country sausage.)

Remove giblet, add minced shallots, sage, crushed red pepper, minced carrots, and rosemary

Let simmer, then deglaze pan with hennessy.

Add agave nectar or brown sugar (or whatever sweetener you want). Hit it with a dash of soy sauce.

Add about a half cup of water.

Then put in the biscuits (i had like 8 crumbled up biscuits) crumble and stir, stuffing should be slightly moist and fluffy.

A Hen-Rock Thanksgiving

I made turkey a week early for yall this week! The prep photos are from last year. Long story, someone took my camera so I didn't have the camera to take prep photos. I did the same prep last year so I'll use photos from last year's prep and this year's results. The theme of thanksgiving this year was Iron Chef Hennessy. Every dish got hen-rock!!! As the alkaholiks once said, "I wish Hen-Rock came in a 2-liter, me and OE is like Tarzan and Cheetah."

I brined the turkey in Hennessy, salt, pepper, agave nectar, bitter orange, and water. Let it brine for 1 day. Then I drained the turkey, patted it dry and stuffed it with biscuit stuffing!



Here was the final product. Don't front on the skin! I like it a lil crispy, but if you don't like it dark, use a foil cover.



I love to brine with henny and bitter orange, gives it a savory and slightly sweet flavor. Last year's was actually better cause I had a more robust brine and seasoned it again before putting in oven. This year, I just brined it and put it in with salt/pepper. Still very good, but I would do it like last year.

Surprisingly, the favorite of the night was my duck fat and henrock ox tail soup. Used a lil french technique. Used duck fat to sautee everything, made the soup with fresh fennel, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, oxtail, henrock, and some seasonings. I love oxtail but usually there are always people who won't eat it, but people really liked it this time.



Dessert was Henrock Candied Yams with Sharm's Christmas Marshmallows. LOL. I asked for marshmallows, I got christmas trees. It was funny, all the grocery store had was holiday themed marshmallows. This recipe is very easy and good. Sautee butter, put some minced ginger down, let it sautee, add brown sugar (or agave nectar) and cloves, let melt, put henrock in to deglaze pan. Then chop all your yams, put in a baking pan, pour mixture over it and bake on 350 for like 20 minutes. Take it out, mash it up, return to pan, put marshmallows on top and bake until marshmallows melt but not burn.