American Thanksgiving with Korean Food

We celebrated American Thanksgiving this year with a homemade Momofuku Bo Ssäm. It was such a success that we might do it again for Christmas or New Years or Valentine's Day or St. Patrick's Day and you might want to, too!

We purchased an eight pound boneless pork shoulder from a local butcher and covered it in a cup of granulated sugar and a cup of salt. In a pan, we rubbed the sugar and salt all over, covered it in plastic wrap, and the meat cured overnight (or for at least 6 hours if you're strapped for time). The next day, we preheated our oven to 300°F (150°C), poured any excess liquid out of the pan, had the pork set fat side up, and popped it in the oven at noon. It baked for 6 hours, we basted every hour with juices from the pan.

A little alteration to the Momofuku cookbook's ginger-scallion sauce: 2½ cups of thinly sliced scallions, ½ cup peeled and minced fresh ginger, ¼ cup of grapeseed oil, 1½ teaspoons of soy sauce, 3/4 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar (instead of sherry vinegar), and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Any leftover sauce we had, Howard used for the rest of the week. It is that good!

The ssäm sauce felt too oily for us, maybe reduce the amount some more? It's was a mix of 1 tablespoons of fermented bean-and-chili paste (ssamjang), ½ tablespoon chili paste (kochujang), ¼ cup rice wine vinegar (again substituted instead of sherry vinegar), and ¼ cup grapeseed oil. We'd try to reduce the oil in half next time.

We bought kim chi and lettuce. Made steamed rice, a cucumber salad, and rice cakes as well.

I love these roasted rice cakes! I urge Howard to make them every chance I get. First you make the Korean Red Dragon sauce. Boil ½ cup of water and ½ cup of sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and stir in 3/4 fermented bean-and-chili paste (ssamjang) until it dissolves. Add in 2 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of rice wine vinegar, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil to combine. Set aside.

To make the final sauce that the rice cakes will be tossed in, use another small saucepan and boil ¼ cup mirin and ¼ cup of chicken broth on high heat for about 2 to 3 minutes. Add ½ cup of Korean Red Dragon Sauce and reduce on medium for 6 to 7 minutes.

Boil the rice cakes until they float. Drain the water. Heat a large pan over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil when hot. Then add the rice cakes. Sear the rice cakes for about 3 minutes per side. They get sticky, so use tongs or chopsticks to help flip them over individually. Toss the crunchy rice cakes in the sauce until they're evenly covered (they magically un-stick here). Garnish with sesame seeds and sliced scallions. Eat them right away, they're so addictive and yummy!

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living June 2014

Wow! We've been getting much warmer weather lately in Toronto, it's almost enough to forgive and forget the icy cold winter we just had. T-shirts! Shorts! Ballet flats! Dresses and skirts! I am all for the summer wardrobe.

How was the past month for you? Did you celebrate Mother's Day by cooking?

I don't know if many of you have gardening, but Howard and I have decked out our balcony. We bought bright teal patio chairs and built our first planter. Looking at all the blooming flowers and green leaves make me so happy. We even started an ambitious herb trolley in the living room. The hope is that we can stop buying bunches of herbs that we can never finish.

And have you started your grill yet? We found the rib sauce in this month's cover recipe to be tasty and easy to make!

Char Siu-Style Ribs
Shopping List: pork back ribs, shallots, hoisin sauce, garlic, grenadine, honey, ginger, Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, pepper, and five-space powder.

When I say that the rib sauce is easy to make, I'm not kidding. You just have to put everything in a blender. Purée the shallots, hoisin sauce, garlic, grenadine, honey, ginger, cooking wine, soy sauce, pepper and five-spice powder.

See? All done. You can even make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for up to two days.

I had Howard come help remove the membrane from the underside of ribs. For the first rib, we scored it and peeled the membrane off. By the second rib, Howard was a confident membrane remover and just yanked the whole thing off.

Next, you take the sauce and rub 1⁄2 cup all over ribs. We thought that it might not be enough marinade so we poured all of the sauce in. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. I made another batch of the sauce (because we used it all and because it was easy to do) to be saved for the grill.

Mmm saucy! Place the ribs, bone side down, in a roasting pan (we thought ahead and marinated the ribs in the roasting pan - no need to perform a messy transfer). Cover pan with foil and roast at 350°F (180°C) in the oven until the meat is tender, about 1-3⁄4 hours. Brush with pan drippings.

This step should not be skipped! It really helps give the ribs a nice finish and flavour. Place the ribs on a greased grill over medium heat. Grill the ribs while brushing the sauce on it. It'll start to caramelized in about about 5 to 8 minutes.

When everyone's ready to eat, slice the ribs and serve!

Having grown up eating char siu pork, we were pleasantly surprised. The char siu flavor wasn't super strong, but it was there! This was a nice subtle homage to one of the most popular take-out dishes at food courts and butcher shops. The consensus was that this would be a recipe to keep and maybe we can use the sauce for other types of meat as well.

We served our ribs with a garden salad, garlic bread, and quinoa - we were full to the max! Not to mention, we had cookie bark and ice cream for dessert. I always feel that ribs are associated with a feast-like spread. The only thing missing was grilled corn, the best summer treat!

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living March 2014

Hello! Some of you may have noticed this little badge on the side of our blog and wondered what it was all about. I am happy to say that A Baked Creation was chosen to be a part of Canadian Living's Blogger Network. We will be working closely together on various projects this year and I can't wait to share them with you!

First, this is what I'm hoping to be a regular segment while I am a part of the team. I will be cooking the recipe from the upcoming covers of the magazine, giving it a test run, and sharing my thoughts and tips with you. I hope that sounds good to you, we're basically your guinea pig and troubleshooter before you pick up the magazine and get cooking yourself.

What I loved about this recipe was that it wasn't using anything I wasn't familiar with. Most of the ingredients are a staple in my fridge and pantry so it was only a matter of picking up a few items to get the meal ready.

Souvlaki-Style Pork Tenderloin with Mixed Vegetables
Shopping List: pork tenderloin, dried oregano, salt and pepper, extra-virgin olive oil, sweet potatoes, red onion, garlic, chicken broth, zucchini, sweet red pepper, lemon, and plain Greek yogurt.

By the way, I must be one of the slowest prep cooks in the city. But take the time to cut all the vegetables into little cube-like shapes, it will help with the suggested cooking time!

My sweet potatoes looking like a bowl full of cheddar cheese here. And can I say how much I love sweet potatoes? I've been making beautiful orange potato wedges for dinner these past weeks.

Love how colourful this plate is! Turns out that red onions are actually purple.

Fresh lemon juice for the recipe and we even added a splash to the garlic yogurt sauce.

Time to put this dish to the test! I placed it in front of Howard who was surprised and impressed at how easy it was to create a souvlaki-style meal. Not knowing beforehand what I was cooking, Howard really enjoyed the garlic yogurt sauce (he's a huge fan of tzatziki and could probably use it with most meats we cook) with the pork, it even prompted him to find out how one makes tzatizki from scratch. For a guy who refused to eat Brussel sprouts the night before, he happily ate his vegetable medley this time.

One of my favourite part of the recipe is that this makes enough for four, meaning we had enough left over to pack for lunch the next day! We are always looking for dinner recipes that carry over to lunches that we can take to work.

So give it a go! Brighten up your winter nights with this easy-to-make meal.

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Summerlicious: Daishō

Daishō

190 University Avenue, 3rd Floor

Toronto, ON M5H 0A3

Summerlicious in Toronto is one of those wonderful times of the year where we make an effort to go out and try restaurants with our friends. It's nice for those of us who are wallet conscious because the prix fixe menus are set at affordable lunch and dinner prices.

This year, when the restaurant list and menus were released, I was surprised (might have even gasped) to see Daishō on the list. Still relatively new, the opening of the three floors of momofuku eateries in Toronto had caused quite a buzz. But, it was nice to see that they were participating in this annual event!

We made dinner reservations (they had a 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm seating) for the later one to accommodate everyone's arrival after work. Upon arrival, we informed the host that our party was present, but were told that no tables were available yet. So we went down to nikai to wait the suggested fifteen minutes. We went back up to check (since no one was going to come down and inform us that our table was ready) and waited approximately another five to ten minutes until we were finally seated at the bar. How does one get a regular table at Daishō? This was our second time there and we were seated in the same spot, while it's fun to sit high up, I'd still prefer the chairs where my feet and rest on the floor!

To start, we were given an amuse bouche, a shot of chilled pea soup. It was tasty and woke up our taste buds for sure! I'm not even a fan of peas, but that soup left me wanting more. Going clockwise starting from the top left corner: Two burger buns, hot sauce, falafel bun, and shrimp bun. I had the burger bun, which was reminiscent of a McDonald's hamburger, included onion, cheddar, and special sauce. A bite of Howard's shrimp bun which had good clean flavours, the shrimp was accompanied with spicy mayo, pickled onion, and bibb lettuce. The gigantic one we were all eyeing was the falafel bun with yogurt, chickpea, and cucumber. Our friend gave us the nod and thumbs up as she gobbled it up. The falafel bun was the one that came with the little dish of hot sauce, but that didn't stop us from dipping our respective appetizers into it.

Howard tried the pork chop with corn, chanterelles, and nori. Unlike any pork chop we've had before, it was tender and was almost like a slice of ham cooked very well.

I rather enjoyed the trout with shrimp, pepperoncini, and herbs. There was definitely a good kick to it and the trout and shrimp didn't overpower each other.

We were served a palate cleanser of cucumber granita before dessert was served.

Howard's crack pie dessert with whipped cream and powdered sugar. If you haven't had their famous crack pie before, we would recommend that you share it. It's incredibly sweet and if you have too much, your teeth will start to cringe from all the sugar. But a bite or two? Lovely!

I tried the fried strawberry pie with vanilla, spiced sugar, and cookie crumb. A bit disappointed that the ice cream had melted so much by the time it arrived. And there wasn't anything special about the strawberry pie. As one of our friends put it, it's a strawberry spring roll!

An assortment of cake truffles.

Aside from waiting for a table, service was attentive and friendly. The buns at momofuku are always a standout and the main dishes were well prepared and cooked. Sadly, the portions were a bit on the smaller side for dinner entrées and the desserts weren't that inspiring (as you can purchase them from milk bar). Still hungry, we left and debated eating at noodle bar, but the dinner was already one of the higher prix fixe prices, so we decided against it.