Seared Short Ribs with Quick Kimchi and Sesame Salt by Alison Roman

“Short rib” is a misnomer. Imagine a rack of beef ribs. A string of bones connected by sinews with a thin layer of chewy meat on top. Now think of short ribs. Tender meat stands tall atop a long line of bones, with layers of fat interrupting the surface. In other words, short ribs are not shorter at all! Hence my confusion whilst shopping for short ribs. Do not be fooled, dear friends, by the height of the meat. A butcher’s vocabulary will always remain a partial mystery. 

Near our new apartment is a meat shop called Wild Fork. I’ve never lived so close to a meat shop before, and let me tell you, it’s a real treat! Wild Fork only sells frozen meat, so I had to let my short rib thaw in the fridge for two days before it was ready. On the day of cooking, Jordan took the meat out an hour or so beforehand to let it come closer to room temperature, then covered it with salt and brown sugar. By the time they were ready to sear, the brown sugar had turned liquidy and showed the color of molasses over the surface of the ribs. 

I’ll admit, I was nervous about attempting to sear a new cut of meat. Short ribs just look intimidating, there’s no way around it. With mild trepidation, I nestled the ribs meat-side down in my skillet and let the sugar form a dark crust while the meat cooked. Alison recommends 6-8 minutes per side, not counting the bone side. However, after the instructed amount of searing, my thermometer read 99 degrees in both ribs, which is far more rare than I’m comfortable with. If the cookbook picture of this recipe tells us anything, it’s that Alison doesn’t mind a bloody piece of beef. But sadly, I cannot wrap my head around that one. So I ended up turning the temperature to medium-low, covering the skillet with a lid, and cooking it until 125 degrees. While it was edible, I can’t say I loved the fattiness or the rareness. Our dinner guests said they enjoyed it, but I wasn’t thrilled. 

As per usual, Alison nails the condiments here. Quick kimchi, cucumbers, cilantro, flaky salt, and sesame oil are the perfect accompaniments. I made Melissa Clark’s Coconut Rice from Dinner, which paired well, but I missed having meat juices or a type of sauce to drizzle on the rice. 

Given the price of short rib, and my preference for less fattier meat, I don’t plan to invest in short rib again. I want more meat for my money. Next time I’ll try the sides in this recipe with a flavorful, less fatty beef or pork. 

143 recipes cooked, 82 to go.

Cripsy Kimchi and Cheddar Omelette by Alison Roman

Lately, I’ve come home from long days at work and felt like I have very little energy left to cook, much less write about my cooking. It has nothing to do with a lack of desire – I’m genuinely interested in cooking. I long to do it! And yet, my body, my mind, my heart feel so tired. It’s true that cooking often gives me energy and life; but not in this season. I just want to sit on my couch and feel mesmerized by the cars that fly by on the Dan Ryan Expressway. 

Last night, I came home from the train station, got dressed in my workout clothes, and walked to an exercise class. I know I just said I don’t have energy, but sometimes my mind can forget that and override feelings of exhaustion for just the amount of minutes it takes to get from my apartment to the gym. Once I’m at the gym, I might as well take the class. You get it. 

After I returned home, I had even less energy to cook dinner. So what did I make? Breakfast food. An omelette with cheddar and kimchi. All it took was beating several eggs, topping them with shredded goat’s milk cheddar and chopped quick kimchi, and then frying it in an even layer in a large pan. Since I made the kimchi the night before, the whole process took a total of ten minutes. And wow, it was delicious. 

Alison nails the ratio of egg to cheese to kimchi, so none of the ingredients dominates the dish. Each one plays an equally important role in flavor and texture. As I mentioned before, the quick kimchi is rather mild. Which in this recipe, works well so as not to overpower. I love a good runny egg, and Alison suggests frying the bottom while keeping it runny on top. You can cook it longer if you want to, but the eggs could quickly turn hard and rubbery. This omelette paired really well with ketchup. The heat from the kimchi makes hot sauce unnecessary. 

142 recipes cooked, 83 to go.

Quick Kimchi by Alison Roman

In the spirit of “quick” kimchi, I’ll also make this quick. 

At the end of the day, I just want kimchi to taste more like pickles. I see the word “fermented” and my taste buds expect a powerful, vinegary tang. Every time, I’m disappointed by kimchi’s overwhelming spicy heat and lack of counterbalancing acid. And while this quick kimchi isn’t overly spicy, which I appreciate, it still lacked a definitive punch, which I crave. 

However, the quickness of this recipe is a real win. Grated garlic and ginger, mixed with salt, red pepper flakes, fish sauce and rice vinegar. Massaging the heck out of a cabbage dood. It all happened so fast and I was left with not one, but TWO jars of mildly-flavored kimchi. Which shall be used this week for Alison’s short rib recipe, AND her cheddar kimchi omelette (it’s up next on the blog!). 

One side note - when I think of Alison’s recipes, I think of Bold Flavor. Of all recipes to have Bold Flavor, one would assume that her kimchi would have this quality. And yet, this is one of the most mild recipes I’ve made thus far. I’m not mad about it, but I’m interested. 

141 recipes cooked, 84 to go.

Kimchi-Braised Pork with Sesame and Egg Yolk by Alison Roman

I’ll cut right to the chase. I couldn’t find the courage to eat a raw egg yolk. If egg yolk is the reason you’re reading about this dish, then I understand we must go our separate ways. If you’re here for the pork ribs, then read on my friend! 

This recipe contains two ingredients that I had never cooked with before: kimchi and gochujang. Kimchi is made of fermented and spiced vegetables, popular in Korean cuisine. Gochujang is a spicy paste, similar in texture to tomato paste, but much hotter, also a Korean ingredient. It took a little time to find both of them, but I eventually did at Whole Foods. (An Asian-food market would have worked too, but the nearest one is a little too far of a drive.) 

Like most other braised meat recipes, the pork ribs are first spiced and seared to get some good color on the meat and render fat at the bottom of the pot. That fat is then used to cook chopped garlic, fresh ginger, scallions and the gochujang paste. Then the meat is added back to the pot, along with kimchi and water, the braising liquid. Everything is simmered for roughly 3 hours on the stove until the meat is nearly falling off the rib bones. 

For all of the intensity of kimchi and gochujang, I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of flavor in this dish. It felt like the spices were too mild to really make an impression. Which surprised me! I tasted a bit of both ingredients before adding them to the pot, just to see what they were like, and my first reaction was to worry that they were too spicy. I was genuinely concerned that I wouldn’t be able to tolerate the heat. But instead the opposite was true. My best guess is that there wasn’t enough gochujang, and possibly, some of the water could be subbed for broth. I’m still not certain that would do the trick, though. 

The real winner, in my opinion, was Alison’s topping suggestion for an apple-radish mixture. Rice vinegar, apples, radishes, and red pepper flakes -- four ingredients I would not have thought to put together -- created a tangy, crunchy companion for the tender pork. I found myself just eating the topping alone, it was that good. I made Melissa Clark’s coconut rice and toasted sesame seeds to complete the meal.  

Similar to the Pork and Red Chile Stew, Jordan was a huge fan. He ate all of the leftovers for four straight lunches without a single complaint. I would prefer to put this one in the “Good To Try, But Won’t Make Again” pile, but the jury's still out on whether or not Jordan will be okay with that decision. 

29 recipes cooked, 196 to go.