name : wesage : 24
location : hoboken, nj
occupation : food
explain yourself:
i love to eat food.
i love the thought of eating food.
i love reading about people who are eating food.
this blog is to document every chew, gulp, sautee, and taste i encounter. there's plenty of food out there, and i want to experience all of it.
[featured photos and video were captured on my iphone 3gs. others will be fairly and rightfully credited to their proper owners.]
who do you like:
midtown lunch
amateur gourmet
serious eats
VendrTV
Robyn Lee
Wine Library TV
what are you up to?:
Theme by nostrich.
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Fried Porkchop Over Ramen Noodle Soup
Thin pork chops, breaded with (you guessed it) panko bread crumbs, oven fried to a delicious crisp. Sauteed onions, mushrooms, and romaine lettuce with garlic, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. I poured already boiling water into the pan to ghetto deglaze, letting it cook on high for a minute, then pouring back into the pot and bringing to a boil. I tossed in the noodles and cracked an egg over the top. Once done, the soup went into a bowl, and slices of the chop across the top.
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Chicken Lasagna Roll Up
After making way too much noodles for a cheese lasagna I made days ago, I decided to put it to good use with the remainder of leftover breaded chicken I had. This incarnation (which will be revisited for a future italian/japanese hybrid in the upcoming days) will be dubbed chicken lasagna roll up. No, it’s not manicotti. Manicotti tubes are too small, and would pale in comparison to this generously stuffed chicken, mozzarella cheese, and homemade tomato sauce dish.
OK - slight own horn tooting above, but it still was really good.
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Chicken Fried Rice
Not so much a ghetto gourmet entry, as fried rice made at home should be a potluck affair. I think I can safely speak for my chinese people: there’s almost nothing that can’t go into this. Day old leftovers work perfect in this dish, giving them new life and different flavors when mixing them together. I used breaded chicken, french cut string beans, chopped onions and baby portobello mushrooms, and sauteed these in stages in a hot oiled pan with garlic. Before tossing in my basmati rice, I poured in some soy, oyster, and some white pepper.
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Oven Fried Panko Breaded Chicken Breast with a Fried Egg
I’ve had a box of Japanese panko bread crumbs sitting in my pantry for a couple of weeks that needed to be put to good use. With a perfectly good defrosted chicken breast sitting in my fridge, I went to work. Chicken went through a quick dry-wet-dry bath of flour, egg wash, and panko crumbs, and into a small pan with oil, already hot in a preheated 350 degree oven. I gave each side about seven minutes in that hot inferno, while I fried up an egg over easy.
Drizzling a good amount of the ever versatile oyster sauce, and I had a quicky, tasty meal ready to go.
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Porkchops and Onions Over Rice
A page out of mom’s cookbook, a simple pan sauteed dish. I browned the chops with a little salt and pepper, took off the heat to cut into strips. I tossed back in along with chopped onions, and poured on some soy and oyster sauce, and ketchup, which gives the dish a great sweetness. Pouring in a little water created a nice sauce which I cooked out to thicken it up without the need for added starches. Mom would normally also use dark and mushroom soy sauce, and extra sugar, none of which I had on hand.
I served this over basmati rice, which is also a new addition in my kitchen. Normally choosing brown or Carolina long-grain because they’re cheaper, Sam bought this when we went grocery shopping in support of my culinary experiments: and it paid off. Basmati is much lighter, fluffier, and brighter taste to it. I’ll be sure to spend the extra couple bucks for improved taste in the future.
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Oven-baked Rosemary Chicken and Potatoes
I put a good amount of the new organize dry spices and herbs I recently purchased to good use for this classic and easy meal. I cut along the bone on the thighs so the chicken would cook quicker. Seasoned with thyme, oregano, salt, black pepper, and cayenne. I gave them a quick hit in a non-stick pan, a few minutes on each side, which crisped up the skin, then oven baked. Sure, it’s the fattiest part, but also the tastiest. When I start popping pork rinds like candy, I’ll hear you out.
I cut the potatoes in small, similar sized bits, and seasoned with salt, pepper, parsley, and thyme. Tossing them into the same tray the chicken went into, they cooked quickly with a firm outer shell, and smooth inside. In the fridge, I had some leftover side veggies from a previous dinner out. Portobello mushrooms, carrots, and string beans with a light butter sauce.
Thighs and other dark meat chicken will normally come out juicy, but wh not give you a closer look.
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Thanksgiving in All its Picture Glory
Traditionally, Thanksgiving has always been an untraditional dining experience in my family. There’s always meats that make cameo appearances, a couple sides that you wouldn’t find in your old holiday picture book. Insert cliche Forrest Gump quote here.
What we have instead is an open buffet filled of assorted goodness, which highlights some year-round favorites like my mom’s bow tie pasta and spinach, to the new feature Vietnamese summer roll brought over by a second cousin’s roomate’s sister’s best friends’ babysitter. And like Thanksgivings of the past, the food was placed, I stuffed my face, and nearly had to roll myself out the door to travel the dangerous, tryptophan-drunk ride home. Pictures and captions only, as talking about the food at the time meant missing out on seconds. What follows is only a portion of what was devoured this Thanksgiving. Enjoy!
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A Salt and Pepper Pork Chops Sighting, Outside of Chinatown
Whenever Sam and I go out to eat with my family in Chinatown, it’s tough to find the right balance of the safe and the adventurous. Everyone has their own favorite. my sister loves the steamed fish, I love mixed seafood in the bird’s nest (don’t worry- it’s made of fried taro). But my dad’s caught on what to order that he knows will consistently deliver and be devoured: crispy salt and pepper pork. And even as an otherwise pork-less eater, Sam loves it! Ever the eager wanna-be, I wanted to try and recreate this dish as home, and here’s what we came up with.
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Aroma: Beef Chow UnFun
I’m no Chinese food snob. Sure, I am Chinese. And yes, I do enjoy Chinese food more often than others. I’ll eat the greasy, hole-in-the-wall place and enjoy it just like anyone else. Despite this, my meal from Aroma did not impress me one bit, especially considering it’s supposed to be one of the more “premium” Chinese places in Hoboken.
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Chicken and string beans, a staple/regular on my limited menu. Cubed and strips of chicken breast, pan fried with chopped garlic, olive oil, soy sauce, and a tiny splash of sesame oil, served on brown rice. After the picture was taken, a healthy dollop of sriracha, of course.
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