Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry Take 2

In my previous cooking post, I mentioned the importance of learning technique in cooking - something I was seriously lacking in. So tonight, armed with cobbled-up know-how from painful experience and elsewhere, I decided to revisit an old favorite, Pork and Cabbage Stir Fry.

For the first time, I actually knew what I was doing.

This is a simple formula I got from Hiro-kun's dad. Previous attempts to replicate it produced soggy messes. This time, I decided to focus more on technique and the right proportions and set out to create a better version (perfect may be pushing it).

I made sure to dry the meat before placing them on the well-heated pan. I made sure not to overcrowd the pan. I think I was successful because I noticed that the meat was browning - I have never been able to achieve this before. I was afraid the meat might overcook while I sauted the vegetables so I temporarily removed them from the pan, but later I found out this fear was unfounded. If anything, I wish I cooked the meat more. I used only half a head of a small cabbage, and it was just right. The cabbage cooked very quickly - too quickly for my expectations. In the end, I think they were slightly overcooked, but not so much so they still to tasted good. I put in the sauce last (concocted using miso paste, mirin, sugar, and my tastebuds). I added a sprinkling of black pepper in the end. I think I could use a tad bit more sauce. I was afraid of another goopy mess so I held back on the sauce this time. I think I also made the right decision by making the sauce more sauce than liquid. I added a sprinkling of black pepper in the end. When the dish cooled slightly, I could see there was some watery residue at the bottom, though I never added water.

All in all, I think this was a successful dish. The meat could use a bit more browning and a bit more sauce, and the vegetables slightly less cooked. These improvements I could work on and tweak next time. Amazing what knowledge of what exactly you are doing does to your work and methods. I'm inspired to study cooking science more. Alton Brown and a bunch of other cooking books, here I come...!!! (Now if only I had an unlimited budget...*sigh* I could be raiding Amazon US and Amazon Japan right now.)

Not-so-hot pork and cabbage stir-fry :(

So I challenged myself to another dish tonight. It's a simple pork-and-cabbage Japanese dish that I first had the priveledge of eating when I ate dinner at Hiro-kun's house. I got the recipe from his dad. It's very simple. Miso + mirin + sugar. I didn't get the exact measurements, but I adjusted it according my taste, and it turned out delicious the first time I tried it, albeit a bit soggy. So I decided to do round 2 this time.

I wanted to get it right this time, with crunchy cabbage and sticky sauce. The last time I made it, the stir-fried meat looked more like boiled meat, so I made sure the meat was dry and that the pan was hot. The first few strips seemed to cook and brown nicely, but after I put in all 270 grams of pork slivers, the pan was very crowded and probably due to the drop in temperature, the pork started to boil, not fry! :( Maybe it's really impossible to put in so much meat at the same time? Do I need to study the art of stir-frying after all? (Probably, yes.) I put in a dash of pepper on the meat, since it's the kind of thing I would do.

The next major problem was the vegetables. I was afraid the meat might overcook so I removed them from the pan while I sauteed the onions and red peppers (just to add color). Then the cabbage came. I wanted to cook the cabbages only lightly, but it was very difficult to work with them as my pan was too small and there was simply too much cabbage, even after I threw away lots (I was using a medium-sized cabbage). Arggh. Next I put in half the miso-mirin-sugar sauce, and tried to mix everything in before I added the meat. Here is where I did my greatest blunder. Thinking that the sauce was too dry, I added in more mirin. Big mistake. While it cooked, the water level seemed to rise higher and higher (seeping from either from the miso itself or the vegetables?) My stir-fry ended up looking more like soup :( It was even soggier than my first try. I have only my impatience to blame.

Still, the great thing about this dish is that it still tastes relatively nice soggy vegetables and all. But I'm very unhappy about it, especially since I probably have to eat the leftovers for about a week D:

The next time I cook this dish, I plan to keep Kentaro Kobayashi's (Bento Love cookbook) advice to heart: Don't overcook the cabbage and keep the sauce under control.

And I had this book all along. Drat.