What do you do with a burdock root?

I was teasing this all Saturday on Twitter and here's the answer...konbu maki. It's my father's favorite New Year's food and one of my contributions to the cooks guild meeting that I attended on Sunday. I was unable to find kanpyo at the local Asian market so I had to secure these little flavor bombs with toothpicks.

But what's konbu maki? Seaweed wrapped pork rolls.

Konbu Maki

8 oz. nishime

konbu

1 lb pork butt

1 package kanpyo

1/3 c shoyu (soy sauce)

1/4 c sugar

2 T mirin

Gobo (burdock root)

Soak the dried konbu in warm water until it becomes pliable. Cut into 5-6" long strips. Soak the kanpyo in a separate dish.

Scrape the skin off the burdock root and slice into sections the width of the konbu. (I tend to quarter the thicker pieces and half the thinner ones). Par boil the gobo and pork butt (in separate pots) until the pork is cooked through (this is my timer). Slice up the pork so you have enough pieces for the konbu (the goal is to have one piece of gobo and 1 piece of pork in each maki).

Roll.

This is where you would tie the roll with the kanpyo (or use a toothpick if you don't have any kanpyo).

Put konbu maki in a sauce pan, add enough water to cover (use hot water to speed up the process), and cook until tender (2-3 hours).

Drain out water. Add shoyu, sugar and mirin mixture and simmer for another 30 minutes (or until reduced to a syrup).

Some notes:

• My grandmother (and other people I know in Hawaii) swear that Okinawan konbu makes the best konbu maki. All the people surveyed are Okinawan so we might be biased. The package of konbu I used was purchased in Okinawa.
• The original recipe does not call for soaking the konbu, I soak it to reduce the cooking time.
• The original recipe does not call for par boiling the gobo and pork butt, I do this to reduce the cooking time.
• Tie the kanpyo around the roll and secure with a knot (I use a square knot) then cut off the ends. I have seen recipes that call for pre-slicing the konbu but I think cutting as you go results in less wastage and a nicer presentation.
• My father suggested using tofu instead of pork...experiment at will.

Babs: "Honey, that smells so good...pork allergy be damned. Nom nom nom..."

Warm Wishes,

KP

Why start a project if you don't follow through? (Project Update)

Penguin date 7th of January 2011...the not eating out part of the project is not going well. This is mostly due to poor health and general laziness at Blackbird Tavern. But I want to focus on the accomplishments:

• Boxed mac-n-cheese has been eradicated from the pantry.
• Same for muffin/bread mixes (1 pouch of brownie mix and 2 pouches of taro pancake mixes remain).
• We are generating less trash because our food comes in less packaging.
• The holiday baking supplies have been put away.
• All the baked good bomb boxes have been mailed and delivered.
• The New Year's Eve food was well received and we're almost done eating the leftovers.
• I have the fixings to make a big batch of Japanese style curry this weekend.
• Thanks to The Kitchn I have a much better method for storing said curry.
• The green onions that I'm growing from the bunch I purchased at the store are almost ready to plant.

How's your January going? I'm going to make a pilgrimage out to McCutcheon's tomorrow so I can restock my parents' pantry with orange marmalade and strawberry jam.

Best Wishes!

KP

SiO2 or Al?

I was cooking up the last box of mac-n-cheese on Monday night and I started to think about how I'm going to need to make more things from scratch. Then I started to think about my freezer and batch cooking. I posed this question on Twitter but I thought I'd repeat it here with some detail:

What do you think is more environmentally friendly: using glass (Pyrex) containers or disposable (recyclable) aluminum containers for freezer to oven cooking?

Glass Pros:

• Reusable.
• Easy to clean (dishwasher safe).
• Microwave safe.
  

Glass Cons:

• Potential for thermal shock.
• Expensive.
• I will eventually have to move and/or sell/donate these containers when I return to Hawaii.
• Requires storage space.

Aluminum Pros:

• Inexpensive.
• Recyclable.
• Take up little storage space.

Aluminum Cons:

• Generally a one use item.
• Not microwave safe.
• Not sturdy.

Does anybody know how to calculate the amount of energy used to create a glass pan vs an aluminum pan? I did a cursory search and couldn't find anything useful. I imagine that the actual manufacturing energy is less for the aluminum but what about production of the raw materials? Yes, I can buy my glass pans used...but it's hard to find tight sealing lids for the older pieces and I will want lids for freezer storage.

What do you think? Do you have any additional pros and cons? Suggestions?

Warm Wishes,
KP

Happy New Year!

As we see the tail of tiger retreating and the twitching nose of the rabbit waiting in the wings we know that 2011 is upon us. We're preparing food to take to a New Year's eve party but a year ago I was in Hawaii with my family preparing our traditional New Year foods: soba, ozoni, pig's feet soup, konbu maki, nishime, yokan (homemade this year), namasu and sekihan. Alas, I'm on the east coast and the nearest shinto shrine is over 200 miles away. So I participate in my new traditions: spending time with my friends, black eyed peas and Scotch whiskey (not necessarily a New Year's thing but it seems to happen when we get together). I hope that you and yours have a safe and happy New Year. Proceed with diplomacy. Be calm and gentle, but persistent.

Warm Wishes,

KP

Photo by Otodana "Decorating for new year."

As if My Innards Are Fighting a War With My Food

Life at Blackbird Tavern has been interesting, to say the least. DBF is on his second round of antibiotics...plus cough syrup with codeine...and I'm in denial that I'm sick beyond the help of OTC medication. Last week was a wash, I actually took a sick day for the first time in over a year, so we ate a lot of take out. It's difficult to write about cooking or finance or environmentalism when you're not practicing any of the above. Eating out means that I'm not cooking, I'm blowing the food budget and there's take out containers full of food that is probably bad for me.

What happens when you're sick? Do you have a pantry set up that allows you and your family to continue having a normal life when you can't cook? Do you go for the easy solution or do you stick to your diet plan? What's your favorite thing to eat when you're sick?

I'm going to have some hot tea and toast...hopefully I won't spend the next half hour laying on the couch thinking that I'm about to recreate a scene from Alien.

Warm Wishes,

KP

Merry Christmas from Blackbird Tavern

Merry Christmas from DBF and Kitchen Penguin! We hope you have a safe and happy weekend.

KP's Completely Arbitrary but Possibly Life Changing Project

We are 22 days into the month of December and I am 22 days into my project. What's the project? I don't have a catchy name so we'll call it "KP's Completely Arbitrary Project." (Can you think of a better name? Leave a comment.) It's a little bit like Sharon Astyk's Anyway Project and a little bit like Andrew Wilder's October: Unprocessed. Basically, I'm fixing DBF's and my health by changing how and what we eat. My kitchen is where I find my center in, what I perceive to be, the chaos of my life. Change happens slowly for me; I am like the river slowly eroding the rock...and meandering. I have no illusions of completely changing DBF's eating habits, he won't suddenly start liking salads, but I intend to improve upon the quality of the food that he consumes.

Twitter followers will notice that I've been doing a lot of baking this month. Well, it's December and I need to make gifts. I'm also trying to use up all my mixes because that's phase one of the project, "use up the prepared/pre-packaged foods." Thus far, I have used all the cake mixes and I'm down to my last packs of brownies and muffins. The challenge is using the big box of pancake mix that I bought right before Thanksgiving; in hindsight, I should have purchased a box from a store other than Costco. We also have a good collection of canned soup but I can always take those to the food bank. Cleaning out the freezer will be difficult because we're down to the store bought frozen entrees that I don't like, ie. orange chicken with too much peel. I don't want to throw out food and I can't donate frozen meals so these items might end up in other people's freezers.

Some Guidelines

1. Eating out should be avoided. That being said, I will not turn down a free meal but all unplanned free meals must have a planned meal as a back-up (ie. I cannot go to work without a packed lunch because they're having training in my office and I might be able to snag something). In an effort to be sociable, I can have one planned meal out once a week. Starbucks can happen two times a month.
   
2. Every effort should be made to make meals from scratch. I will eventually find something that I can't make myself or the equipment/materials to make the ingredient is cost prohibitive on a home scale. Balsamic vinegar comes to mind.
3. Comparisons of commercially produced products to the homemade equivalent will be documented. I really enjoyed doing the pumpkin pie test.
4. Food must be prepared for travel lasting less than two days. This is actually an extension of guideline #1 but I log a good number of frequent flier miles and I don't like ending lists on #4.
   
5. DBF is exempt from guideline #1 if he's spending his own money but I will offer to pack him breakfast and lunch Monday to Friday.

Phase 1 (Using Up the Open Mixes) will extend through the end of January since I keep finding more processed food as I clean the pantry.

Phase 2 will involve baking, lots of baking. I make an OK white bread and quick breads but I need to work on replacing the hamburger and hot dog rolls that I purchase from the store.

Phase 3 is getting into serious canning. I'll be making sauerkraut between Christmas and New Years but the major canning goals for 2011 are: apple sauce, tomato sauce, strawberry preserves, bread and butter pickles, corn (creamed and regular), and green beans. This will replace the majority of the canned goods that I purchase.

I'm still trying to figure this out so things will change. What are your food plans?

Warm Wishes!
KP