Great! Make again! Made with cumin potatoes, black-bean asparagus, and pu-erh creme brulee (the latter of which was a friend’s recipe, the rest were also from AUH: Sichuan)
Joe’s Rating: 7/5.5/6.5 (for chicken, potatoes, and asparagus)
Difficulty Rating: 3.5/2.5/1
Spicy and yummy.
Notes: you can prepare the paste and dressing in advance if you’d like. Also, chop the condiments before you start boiling the pasta (so you can serve it warm.)
Joe’s Rating: 7
Difficulty Rating: 7
I remember the fermented green chili-lemon kosho condiment feeling a bit involved, but satisfyingly salty and spicy. “Very Good!”
Notes: fry chicken with initial temp of greater than 325F. I made mine too dry [I guess fry hotter but shorter…?] Make condiment a bit less salty. Also, salty the cucumbers a bit lighter too.
Joe’s Rating: 7.5
Difficulty Rating: 7.5
Like many of the recipes in TMCC, this one relies on another recipe that takes a bit of time. Do yourself a favor and make those chile-pickled long beans the requisite 3-5 days in advance. The resulting dish is among the most impressive I’ve made, and hands-down my favorite Chinese dish that I’ve made.
Notes: I made a triple batch with a frozen lamb rib and back and this worked well. Otherwise I followed the recipe exactly, which worked amazingly well. The only thing I would consider changing is to use the breast (as the meat did not pull easily off of the bone) and also maybe cook it a little longer to see if it gets to this point. “Crowd Pleaser!” Serve with rice.
Joe’s Rating: 8.5
Unfortunately, this lovely dish is another example of one that I did not take a picture of. Great meal, especially served fresh. Noticeable BBQ flavors (used my favorite “Taste & Technique” cookbook indoor smoking method). Smokey-sour. Had to order the menma on Amazon, although in larger cities (e.g. Boston), I’ve since found it much more conveniently and affordable in Japanese specialty markets.
Joe’s Rating: 7.5
Yes please! This is one of the marquee recipes in TMCC, featured in the second interview profile of Danny Bowien “San Francisco” (I think… It’s actually been about 4 years since I’ve read it.) The “Chili Crisp,” a spicy numbing homemade version of the umami bomb with red label that is ubiquitous in asian markets, is the real highlight.
Cooking notes: consider cutting salt in the chili crisp for this recipe (subsequent use of this ingredient had a good salt balance). Also, consider using a more delicate (very soft) tofu next time.
Joe’s Rating: 6.5
Great bar snack with some bread. (6$) Watch out – this contains gluten! (and lots of other stuff). No image available. No cooking notes. Made about 4x times.
Lovely “crowd pleaser” according to my notes. Uses a classic overnight uncovered freeze to get a crispy texture. A bit of tripe adds some unexpected crunch and chew, although I remember it mostly being chewy.
Cooking Notes: use less salt probably (?) Spice rub rocks! Try cooking tripe less next time.
Excellent dish! I got a couple of gallon-sized jars on Amazon to make lots of pickles with (I think I originally got them for the book “Fermented Vegetables, but I got several more to serve Sichuan pickles at Fortnight Wine Bar. While I did not end up serving these at the bar, I did end up selling Sichuan-pickled long beans for 6$ as a bar snack, see below.) I recall these being tasty and numbing-peppery.
Cooking notes: Don’t forget the cilantro. Extra vegetables are OK.
Joe Cook Me 