Beef shank and carrots braised in red wine

INGREDIENTS
Makes 8 servings

• 4 lbs boneless beef shank, cut into 1" cubes
• 4 t kosher salt
• 1 C red wine
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2" piece ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 t five-spice powder
• 2 whole star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 T neutral oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes, broken up by hand, or 4 C diced fresh tomatoes
• 2 T fish sauce
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1⁄2" rounds
• + pho noodles or baguette
• + sriracha

1. Combine the shank cubes, salt,
2. 1⁄2 cup red wine, garlic, ginger, and five-spice in a bowl or sealable bag. Let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, but preferably overnight.
3. Toast the star anise and cinnamon in a dry pot over medium-high heat until a little smoky and fragrant, 1–2 minutes. Remove the spices and add the oil to the pot. Add the onion and sauté until translucent around the edges, about 5 minutes.
4. Use a slotted spoon to scoop the beef from the marinade and into the pot. Cook, stirring often, until the beef has firmed up, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the marinade and remaining 1⁄2 cup wine to the pan and bring to a simmer. Add the tomatoes, fish sauce, bay leaves, star anise, cinnamon, and 8 cups water. Bring to a simmer and cook for 11⁄2 hours, skimming any scum that surfaces during the first 10 minutes of cooking. Stir every 30 minutes thereafter.
6. Add the carrots and continue simmering until tender, 15–20 minutes more. Remove and let the stew stand for 1 hour. Serve on pho noodles or with a baguette and have a bottle of sriracha near at hand.

From lucky peach

Pork Chop Hill Sandwich

1 C GENERAL CLARK L. RUFFNER ****’S SAUCE
4 SOFT-BOILED FRIED EGGS
4 hamburger buns
1/2 C CUCUMBER MUCHIM, drained
1/4 C crumbled blue cheese

GENERAL CLARK L. RUFFNER ****’S SAUCE
4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
11/2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
11/2 fresh long red chiles, such as cayenne peppers or red finger chiles, stems removed, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stems and seeds removed, finely chopped
1/2 T gochujang
1/2 T honey
1/2 C white vinegar
+ a few drops of sesame oil
1 t kosher salt

SOFT-BOILED FRIED EGGS
8 eggs
+ vegetable oil, for frying
3 large egg whites
1/2 C cornstarch
1 C panko bread crumbs
+ Kosher salt

CUCUMBER MUCHIM
2 large cucumbers, sliced into 1/4" chips.
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced against the grain, then minced
1 medium shallot, finely chopped
+ a few drops of sesame oil
1 T sugar
2 t red chili flakes (this is a pretty spicy recipe, so if you’re not into it, maybe just do 1 teaspoon, but keep in mind it is just a small component of a sandwich, so don’t take the chiles out entirely or I will know)
1 C white vinegar
2 whole scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 T kosher salt

GENERAL CLARK L. RUFFNER ****’S SAUCE
4 T (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
11/2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
11/2 fresh long red chiles, such as cayenne peppers or red finger chiles, stems removed, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stems and seeds removed, finely chopped
1/2 T gochujang
1/2 T honey
1/2 C white vinegar
+ a few drops of sesame oil
1 t kosher salt

In a medium saucepan, melt 2 chunks of the butter over low heat. Once it is completely melted, increase the heat to medium, add the garlic, and sweat it while stirring for 2 minutes, or until it just begins to brown. Add the chiles and bell peppers and continue to cook until everything is super soft and melty, but the peppers aren’t caramelized, about 10 minutes.

Pour the stew into a blender, add the gochujang, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, and salt, and puree until smooth.

If you’re going to use the sauce now, return it to the pot and add the rest of the butter over low heat, a piece at a time, stirring until it’s completely melted and incorporated. If you’re not going to use it now, cool the sauce as is, and reheat and add the butter when you are ready to use it.

Fill a large stockpot halfway with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Set a timer for 7 minutes, but don’t start it yet. When the water is boiling, very gently add the eggs, being careful not to drop them too hard or they will crack and they won’t look as awesome, though they’ll be just as delicious. Start the timer! When the timer goes off, cool the eggs in a bowl with some ice water.

In a large saucepan, heat 3 inches of the oil over medium heat to 400°F on a candy/frying thermometer. (If you don’t have one of those, get one. Or look and see if the oil looks really weirdly wavy and a bread crumb sizzles instantly when you drop it in. Frying things at home is like living at McDonald’s! Childhood you is winning!!)

Once the eggs are cooled, peel them, but be gentle because they’re only soft-boiled and pretty delicate. We made 8 eggs so that you would end up with 6 or so nice ones, so it’s not the end of the world if you break a couple. Let the eggs hang out and dry off on paper towels.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the egg whites and cornstarch and whisk until the cornstarch is fully dissolved and the mixture is smooth.

Dip an egg in the cornstarch/egg-white mixture and let the excess drain off. Gently toss it in the panko and then put it on a plate while you repeat the process with the rest of the eggs.

When the oil is ready, turn the heat up to medium-high and fry the eggs in two batches, flipping occasionally, until golden brown, about 2 minutes.

Drain on paper towels and immediately season well with salt.

Stir together the garlic, ginger, shallot, sesame oil, sugar, chile flakes, vinegar, scallions, and salt until thoroughly mixed. This marinade can be used to pickle just about anything. Just soak whatever you’d like in the brine for at least an hour before using, and save it in the brine, refrigerated, for up to a couple of weeks.

In a small saucepan, heat the General Ruffner’s sauce over low heat until warm. When the eggs are fried and drained, put them in a mixing bowl with the sauce and gently stir to coat them without breaking them.

Open the hamburger buns and put some muchim on the bottoms. On a cutting board, quickly cut the eggs in half lengthwise and place them on top of the muchim. Make sure that as soon as you cut them completely in half, you turn them up so that the yolks don’t run everywhere.

This is going to be messy but completely worth it. Top the sandwiches with a little blue cheese and the tops of the buns, and attack.

From lucky peach

The #2 Best New Sandwich

• 4 sub rolls, split lengthwise
• 1 head of roasted cauliflower or grilled cauliflower
• 1 C RAISIN & SCALLION RELISH
• 1/2 C SMOKED FRENCH DRESSING
• 2 C Basic Potato Chips

RAISIN & SCALLION RELISH

• 1 C golden raisins, roughly chopped
• 1 C sliced scallions
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T vinegar
• 1/2 t kosher salt

SMOKED FRENCH DRESSING

• 1/2 C ketchup
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 T Dijon mustard
• 1/2 C Mayo
• 1/2 C white vinegar
• 1 T honey
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 C canola oil
• + a smoker
• + a handful of mesquite chips for smoking

RAISIN & SCALLION RELISH

• 1 C golden raisins, roughly chopped
• 1 C sliced scallions
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T vinegar
• 1/2 t kosher salt

SMOKED FRENCH DRESSING

• 1/2 C ketchup
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 T Dijon mustard
• 1/2 C Mayo
• 1/2 C white vinegar
• 1 T honey
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 C canola oil
• + a smoker
• + a handful of mesquite chips for smoking

Combine the raisins, scallions, olive oil, vinegar, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Let sit for 20 minutes before using. Store unused portion in the refrigerator for up to a week.

So you’re going to smoke some ketchup now. It will not get you high, but it will make everything you put it on taste like a really awesome hot dog. A smoker is actually just an enclosed space where you can gener­ate smoke from wood chips, letting that smoke pass over your food and then escape. There is “hot smok­ing,” like with barbecue or kielbasa, where you are trying to maintain a specific temperature so that the food cooks slowly while you smoke it, and there is “cold smoking,” like for smoked salmon, where the food should stay cold so that it doesn’t cook while smoking. But we are smoking ketchup like crazy people, and we don’t really need to worry about the temperature of our smoker. So, to that end, you could put a lit charcoal briquette on a baking sheet, put a small pile of wood chips on top of it, put a dish of ketchup a few inches away from it, and cover the whole thing with a box, using a stick that’s taller than the box to hold it up at one end like you are trying to catch a cartoon rabbit. Do a Google Im­ages search for “cartoon rabbit trap” and you will see a few examples. But if you have time to just google that anyway, maybe google “how to set up a smoker” and let the Internet explain it better than I can.

Put your ketchup in something made of nonreac­tive metal, place it in the smoker, smoke it until the smoke runs out, remove your dank-and-smoky ketchup, and cool it down.

Or you could buy liquid smoke. Nobody likes to talk about liquid smoke, but it’s honestly not such a bad thing. It’s made by quickly chilling smoke so that it condenses and mixing it with water. You then put that liquid in things. If you use too much, your food will taste like cheap ham because they use hickory smoke for liquid smoke, and hickory smoke alone makes everything taste like cheap ham. If you use liquid smoke, just pour a few drops into the cup of ketchup (be careful because that stuff is powerful!).

Or if you don’t want to set up a smoker or use liquid smoke, you could add 2 teaspoons of Lapsang sou-chongtea leaves to the ketchup. It tastes like a camp­fire in the best way possible. It’s probably your best bet if you don’t want to use a smoker or liquid smoke.

Put the smoked ketchup along with the rest of the dressing ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. This will keep in the refrigerator for a week or so.

Heat the oven to 400°F.

Place all of the bread, cut side up, on a sheet tray. Pile a quarter of the cauliflower on each of the bottom pieces. Put the tray in the oven and cook for 6 minutes, or until the bread is toasted and the cauliflower is warm.

Top each sandwich with some of the relish, a drizzle of the dressing, a handful of potato chips, and the tops of the rolls.

From lucky peach

Pork Curry

• 2 1/2 lbs pork shoulder, sliced into 1" cubes
• 1 recipe MARINADE
• I recipe MASALA
• 2 C water
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• + salt
• + steamed rice, pão, or dinner rolls for serving

MARINADE

• 6 cloves
• 1 t whole black peppercorns
• 2" cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 1/2 star anise, broken
• 4-7 green chilies*, stems removed and sliced lengthwise
• 2" piece ginger, crushed
• 15 cloves (50 g) garlic, peeled and crushed
• 2 medium onions, chopped into rough chunks
• 2 T red wine vinegar
• 7 large Indian bay leaves (They're larger than Turkish bay leaves and have several large veins running lengthwise. If you can't find them, substitute regular bay leaves.
• 2 T coarse salt

MASALA

• 1" piece ginger, peeled and chopped roughly
• 8 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 medium onion, chopped roughly
• 1 t whole black peppercorns
• 7 cloves
• 1/2 star anise, broken
• 1 1/2 T whole coriander seeds
• 1 T cumin seeds
• 1 1/2 t black mustard seeds
• 6 Madras chilies**
• 6 Kashmiri chilies
• 6 Bedki chilies
• 1/2 t ground tumeric
• 1 golf-ball-size lump tamarind paste
• + water

1. Marinate the pork: place the pork in a large pot (you’re going to add a significant amount of liquid masala later and cook in the same pot, so make sure there’s plenty of room). Grind the cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, and star anise in a spice grinder or in a mortar and pestle. Use your hands to mix together the spices and remaining ingredients with the pork, then set aside while you prepare the masala.
2. Make the masala: dry-roast your ginger, garlic, and onion in a pan over a low flame. Once they start to wilt and sweat a little bit, add the whole spices, then the chilies. When the whole mixture has become aromatic, remove from heat.
3. Let the spice mixture cool, then scrape it into a blender along with turmeric and tamarind. Add one-half cup of water as you start to blend. Continue adding water and blending until the mixture forms a smooth liquid, roughly the color and texture of tomato soup (if you didn’t manage to find the Kashmiri chilies, your liquid might not be quite tomato-red; add a few teaspoons of paprika). The idea here is to combine the spices as completely as possible so that there are no dangerously large pieces of any spice.
4. Once the masala paste is finished, add it to the pork and mix with your hands. Add water (about another three-fourths cup) to the empty blender and pulse once or twice. Add this water to the pork. (It’s okay if there’s not enough liquid to completely submerge the pork.)
5. Add 2 tablespoons of vinegar and salt to taste, then cover and place over a high flame until the entire mixture comes to a boil. Once it boils, lower heat immediately and continue to simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. The curry is ready when the meat is tender. Serve with steamed rice or, even better, with pão or any dinner roll. This dish improves with time and can keep in the fridge for a week.

From lucky peach

pork belly

• 3 or more lbs skinless pork belly 
• 1 T + 1 t salt per pound of pork 
• 1 T + 1 t sugar per pound of pork 
• black pepper

1. Season the belly with the salt and sugar. Hit it with a couple turns of freshly ground black pepper. Let it sit overnight, covered, in the fridge
2. Throw the seasoned belly in a roasting pan. Blast it in a 450°F degree oven for 30 minutes. Scale the heat back to 275°F and let it ride out for another hour or two, until it’s tender but not mushy.
3. Let the belly cool to room temperature. Wrap it up tight in plastic and put it in the fridge until it’s thoroughly chilled through—a few hours at least, and up to a couple days. At that point, slice it into nice, thick slabs, then either brown it in oil or warm it through with a little stock or water in a covered pan. Deploy as needed. 

BLUE CHEESE DIP

• 2 T DRIED CHIVES
• 2 T ONION POWDER
• 1 T KOSHER SALT
• 2 T GARLIC POWDER
• 1/2 T BLACK PEPPER
• 1/2 T SUGAR
• 1/8 T DRIED DILL
• 1 C SOUR CREAM
• 1/4 C MAYONNAISE, PREFERABLY KEWPIE
• 1 T WHITE VINEGAR
• 1/4 LB GOOD BLUE CHEESE, SUCH AS STILTON, CRUMBLED

1. MIX THE DRIED CHIVES, ONION POWDER, SALT, GARLIC POWDER, PEPPER, SUGAR, AND DRIED DILL IN A SMALL BOWL.
2. WHISK TOGETHER THE SOUR CREAM, MAYO, AND VINEGAR IN A MEDIUM BOWL. ADD THE SEASONING MIX AND STIR UNTIL COMPLETELY INCORPORATED. STIR IN THE BLUE CHEESE, SMASHING IT A LITTLE ALONG THE WAY TO BREAK IT DOWN.
3. LET THE DIP SIT FOR AT LEAST 3 HOURS IN THE FRIDGE TO DEVELOP FLAVOR. IT WILL KEEP IN AN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER IN THE FRIDGE FOR UP TO A WEEK.

From Lycky Peach

Ranch Dip

• 1/4 cup onion powder
• 1/4 cup dried chives
• 3 T kosher salt
• 2 T garlic powder
• 1 T sugar
• 21⁄2 t Colman’s mustard powder
• 1 t black pepper
• 3/4 t dried dill
• 1⁄2 t gochugaru (Korean red chili powder)
• 2 limes, zested
• 2 C sour cream
• 1/2 C buttermilk

1. Mix together the onion powder, chives, salt, garlic powder, sugar, mustard powder, pepper, dill, gochugaru, and lime zest in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together the sour cream and buttermilk in a medium bowl. Add the seasoning mix and stir until incorporated. Let sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours to develop flavor.
3. The dip will keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

From lucky peach