Various herbs and spices have been used for thousands of years to restore balance to these elements, which is how Chinese five spice powder came into being, forming an iconic flavor profile of Chinese cuisine. Today it’s used in a variety of roasted, stewed, and braised meat dishes, but it’s probably most recognizable in the West as the main seasoning in Char Siu (Chinese barbecued pork). The Spices I’ve been thinking about making my own Chinese five spice powder for some time, but the catalyst that got things going was receiving a gift of Vietnamese Cinnamon....

Why This Recipe Works? Simply marinating the chicken with salt and Chinese rice wine seasons the chicken to the core while infusing it with loads of umami. Slowly pan-frying the chicken with the skin-side down renders out the fat, turning it into a potato chip crisp sheet of concentrated chicken flavor. Because the ginger scallion sauce uses oil as the base, it won’t make the crispy chicken skin soggy. Ingredients Chicken - I highly recommend skin-on boneless chicken thighs or legs for this....

On my trip to Bali late last year, I picked up a bundle of a few dozen vanilla beans for about $5 USD. If you’ve ever dropped a Hamilton on a jar holding a lonesome vanilla bean, you can probably imagine how excited I was about my find. Delighted with the luxury of being able to use an entire bean without thinking about cost, I’ve been scrapping the seeds into everything from breads to soups to jam....

A gossamer structure of vegetables held together with a nearly invisible layer of crisp tempura batter, Kakiagé (かき揚げ) is quite possibly my favorite kind of tempura. With a taste as delicate as its texture, all it needs is a sprinkle of umami rich finishing salt such as mojio or fleur de sel to season it. To the uninitiated a good Kakiagé can be a true revelation on how simple ingredients can be transformed into something magnificent....

Why This Recipe Works? Preparing the fillings by cutting them to the right size (⅓-inch sticks or minced up) ensures the hosomaki-style roll doesn’t get overloaded. Placing the rice in the correct position on the nori and leaving borders at the top and bottom edges ensures the roll will close properly. Creating a “speed bump” of rice and placing the filling next to it helps keep the filling in place while giving you a target to aim for as you roll the maki sushi....

Texturized Vegetable Protein (TVP) is a great example. It’s a convincing meat substitute found in many read-to-eat foods that’s often made from denatured soy proteins. The soy protein is a byproduct of producing soybean oil and in many commercial operations, the process of extracting soybean oil (and many other oils such as canola and corn) involves introducing a solvent called hexane. Hexane is a petroleum byproduct of gasoline production and is a cheap industrial solvent that the EPA classifies as a neurotoxin....

I don’t know if health concerns had anything to do with eggnog’s waning popularity, but the artificially flavored travesties sold in stores these days would turn even the most ardent ’nog-lover off of the creamy, eggy concoction. Recently I’ve seen aged eggnog making a comeback in the craft cocktail scene, but who has time (or the refrigerator space) to prep this holiday tipple in summer for consumption during the holidays?...

While a light brown egg may look great floating in a bowl of midnight brown shoyu ramen, they get lost in lighter color broths like miso or shio. This is probably why some shops use a white soft-boiled egg that’s been seasoned with salt. It’s stunning to see a perfectly white orb with a liquid ochre yolk arranged alongside a stack of green scallions and melt-in-your-mouth chashu. The problem with this approach is the impact is purely visual....

Why This Recipe Works? Most recipes only call for char-roasting the green chilies, but I roast the tomatillos and aromatics as well. This brings out the sweetness and umami in the tomatillos while giving the garlic and onions an earthier flavor. Marinating the pork before browning ensures that the meat is well seasoned, and it allows the spices to toast, bringing out their aroma. Using homemade chicken stock in the green chili sauce doubles up on the umami in the sauce....

Why These Sauces Work? Balanced flavors - Each recipe is carefully crafted to achieve a harmonious blend of tangy, savory, and spicy notes, which complement the delicate taste of gyoza dumplings to season them while providing a refreshing contrast to the meaty filling Versatility - The three distinct sauces can cater to various tastes, from the simple Traditional Gyoza Dipping Sauce to the umami-rich Miso Gyoza Sauce and bold Chinese-style Dumpling Sauce....

The key to any great ramen is in the broth, and Tantanmen is no exception. Ramen broths are usually made by boiling pork and or chicken bones for hours to get all of the flavor and collagen out of them. This is how you get the rich umami and unctuous mouthfeel of a good ramen broth. But I’ve found a few kitchen hacks to significantly reduce the time required to make a ramen shop quality Tantanmen in under thirty minutes....

Why This Recipe Works Coarsely grated onions and cabbage serve as a reservoir of flavorful juices that gush out when you bite into the hamburger steak. The vegetables also add natural sweetness and umami to the hamburger steaks, which boosts their flavor. Adding gelatin to ground meat is a classic trick used in many Western dishes like meatloaf or cabbage rolls, and the added collagen thickens the juices just enough so they don’t all leak out while cooking....

Before I delve into the cookie, let me just say that I’m an unapologetic omnivore and will probably never completely cut animal products out of my diet. That being said, I do tend to eat a mostly plant-based diet on a day to day basis. There are many reasons for this, but first and foremost, I like vegetables. So why don’t I do more vegetable dishes on No Recipes you ask?...

Why this recipe works Ingredients for Chicken Katsu Chicken - Both breast meat and thigh meat will work for this. Because breast meat is leaner, it’s easy to overcook and dry out; this makes it tricker to fry. Thigh meat includes more fat, which makes it much harder to overcook, and it’s the more flavorful cut of chicken. I recommend using the highest quality chicken you can afford. Seasonings - I like to season my Chicken Katsu with salt, white pepper, and onion powder, but you can get a little creative here and use other spices such as curry powder, garlic powder, etc....

Gobi 65 is a delectable cauliflower-based variant of Chicken 65, the Indian equivalent to Buffalo Wings, from Chennai. Like many Indian dishes, there are several colorful stories about where the “65” comes. Whether you believe it was invented in 1965, got its name from the number of chiles in the dish, or believe that “65” was the menu number for the original dish, one thing everyone can agree on is that it goes great with an ice cold beer....

With the help of a pressure cooker, this may very well be the dish with the best bang for your buck. It comes together in about 10 minutes but tastes like it’s been caramelizing and simmering all day. For your pittance of effort you’ll be handsomely rewarded with a soul-satisfying bowl of lentils with an unbelievable amount of smile-inducing umami. Charring ginger and garlic aren’t traditional Indian techniques as far as I’m aware, but it’s a very quick way to create a bundle of flavor, a technique I borrowed from Vietnamese Phở....

After having the fantasic pappardelle at Crooklyn Improv, I found myself craving the broad ribbons of home made pasta. As I was contemplating the merits of different sauces that I could pair with my pappardelle, I came across We Are Never Full’s luscious Sausage Ragu. It had to be a sign. While many in the US associate ragù with a brand of jarred pasta sauce, it actually refers to a whole class of meat-based sauces in Italian cuisine....

Sanma, or Pacific Saury, is a long needle-nosed fish with a shiny blue-tinted skin, which puts it in a class of fish called aozakana, or “blue fish”. Aozakana includes other similarly colored fish such as mackerel and sardines. The meat is darker and more oil-laden, and thus has a stronger flavor than other fish. While I wouldn’t go so far as to call them “fishy” (fresh fish should never be fishy), they are more intense than halibut or flounder, which also means they contain more umami-triggering glutamates....

It’s a supremely comforting dish to eat, but the smell of caramelizing sugar and butter makes it equally comforting to make. I’ve spent this summer travelling around the US, working in kitchens in Colorado and New York. If you follow me on social media, you probably know I had a little mishap in Colorado that led to some helicopter rides, a dozen x-rays, a CAT scan, and a 2 ½ hour surgery to put the pieces of my right wrist back together....

I’ll tell you right now that if you’re looking for a quick pasta dish, this isn’t it. Bookmark this dish for a weekend project and go check out my spaghetti with meat sauce recipe. It all started when my lazy Sunday supper took a turn from an improvised dinner to an exercise in measuring, documenting, and photographing. It’s a process I always go through when developing a new recipe for this blog but it’s one I’d hoped to avoid that day....