Favorite Recipes

New York is a gourmet's paradise. Native cuisine from any and all parts of the world can be found here. If we would like to try Ethiopian broiled chicken, for instance, it won't be a question of how or where or if at all. It would be more like a when do we want to do it kind of question. If, on the other hand, we would prefer to cook, there are many ethnic foodstores that sell authentic condiments and ingredients. One does not have to make do with local stuff (although local stuff in New York is usually the real stuff brought in from abroad). So if we wish to make a full Irish breakfast, there will be Irish bacon and black pudding to be had somewhere nearby.

That's why New Yorkers eat and cook whatever they fancy. And we don't even have to make such a fuss about it. So here are recipes for some of my "little-ado", international favorites...

• Dice 2 1/2 lbs. of pork into 1 1/2 inch cubes
• Place in the pot where they will be cooked. (Save the bones for making broth later, if you like).
• Add the following to the diced pork:
• 1/2 cup vinegar
• 1 bulb garlic, peeled and slightly crushed
• 2 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon whole pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Add about 1/2 cup of water so that the mixture would come up to just about the level of the diced pork. Mix well.
• Cover and boil in high heat. When boiling, reduce heat to medium and let boil for another 30 minutes or until the pork is tender. Stir occasionally.
• Remove the sauce but set aside for later use.
• Continue to cook the pork in the pot uncovered until it fries in its own juice. Stir occasionally to brown evenly for about 5 minutes more. (Try not to let the pork break or stick to the pot).
• Put the sauce back in the pot and stir in high heat for another 3 minutes.
• Serve with white rice. (This will serve a family of 5).

(Adobo can also be cooked with chicken combined with the pork, or with just plain chicken cut up in little pieces about the size of buffalo wings . In some regions of the Philippines they would add diced fresh tomatoes to the mixture and in others they would put back only about 1/3 of the sauce that was set aside. The latter would not have so much sauce and thus tend to be crispy).

---

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE

(Adapted from an Irish dish to suit eating with white rice. Hence, a little more soup and some other ingredients were added to heighten the taste).

• Slice 3 lbs. of fresh corned beef briskets into thick 2-3 inch strips (thickness, about 1/2 inch).
• Place the corned beef in a large pot where it occupies only half of the space.
• Add water to a level just above the sliced corned beef.
• Boil in high heat uncovered, removing the scum as it simmers. As soon as it boils, throw out the water (be careful!) and refill the pot with tap water.
• Bring to a boil again, removing scums, if any.
• When it starts to boil, add the following:
• 1 large onion, sliced lengthwise
• 1 tablespoon whole black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground pepper
• Reduce heat to low and cover, let boil slowly until really tender (the corned beef should almost fall apart when pinched).
• When tender, add salt (or patis, for Filipinos) according to your taste, and add the following ingredients:
• 1 lb. red potatoes, whole or halved
• 1/2 lb. string beans
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 1/2 cup sliced carrots
• 1 whole cabbage, quartered lengthwise and with the tough core removed.
• Bring to a boil in medium heat, uncovered (to keep the vegetables green and crunchy).
• As soon as it boils, turn off heat and cover until ready to serve.
• Serve on top of plain white rice.

(An important tip: Get the corned beef in one single pack; if they are in two or more different packs, cooking time may differ for the individual packs - and so you may end up having some strips that are already very tender mixed in with strips that are still tough).

I'm planning to add a few more international recipes here. Please check back again later...

---

This page is hosted by 
Get your very own Free Home Page

---