Meating of the Minds

Feeling anemic? Let’s meat! Thanks to the good people of Dickson’s Farmstand Meats (dicksonsfarmstand.com), Chris and I have several pounds of this and that in the freezer that we definitely want to eat before our trip. To chase away the Monday-ness of Monday, we cooked up a carnivorous feast for our friends last night. We enjoyed the dishes below with a yummy green papaya salad and a transcendental homemade peach pie, which isn’t pictured because it disappeared faster than the 1/30 of a second shutter speed my camera was set to.

Monday Meating

Cocoa Peanut Spareribs
I’ve wanted to make these ever since I slid my chompers into the succulent flesh of a rib at Sapa, Patricia Yeo’s restaurant in Chelsea that sadly closed a few years ago. New York’s loss is Boston’s gain as she is now making magic in the South End at Ginger Park.

I found this video of her making Sapa’s signature dish and typed out the recipe from multiple viewings:

http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Make-Cocoa-And-Peanut-Glazed-Spareribs-215138618

Ingredients and method:

1. Take two pounds of St. Louis cut ribs and skip every other bone when cutting such that there is more meat on the bone.
   >>For us, this was a moot point as we used country-style spareribs. We marinated first and cut later.
2. Rub with five-spice powder, equal parts sugar and salt and coat ribs, marinate 8-12 hours.
   >>We marinated for 36 hours and Chris added about ¼ cup dark soy sauce so the dry ingredients would stick to the meat better. Also he used light brown sugar.
3. Take the ribs out of the refrigerator, cut them into two-inch chunks, except the part with the bone, and let them defrost for 30 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a pan and brown the ribs. Put the ribs in a rectangular baking dish.
5. Mix 1 cup smooth peanut butter, 1/5 cup cocoa powder, 1 cup hoisin sauce, 3/4 cup
   miso, 1 cup red wine vinegar and 3-4 cloves garlic in a bowl. Blend the mix with an immersion blender, throw in a jalapeno and a few Thai bird chilies and add water if the mixture is too thick. Pour in pan over browned ribs, then add a cinnamon stick, star anise and cloves.
   >>We didn’t have jalapeno so I used two fresh bird chilies. I will definitely throw another one in next time. Also, I thought the sauce was a little hoisin heavy, so I’d definitely decrease that next time.
6. Wrap pan with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 1.5 hours.
   >>We stirred it after an hour and baked it for another 30 minutes. When the ribs were more or less cool, we popped them in the fridge so they could get even more flavorful overnight.
7. Heat in a dutch oven on the stovetop over low heat the next day, and top with fresh cilantro.

Kalbi
Cribbed this from an Eating Club co-founder who couldn’t make it on account of the juice cleanse – it does take the odd timeout to be able to eat like a member! Normally I use Asian pears for the marinade but since they aren’t in season, I used kiwi.

Ingredients:
2.5-3 lbs kalbi

Marinade:
2 ripe kiwis, diced
4-6 cloves minced garlic
4-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1/3-1/2 cup light soy sauce
¼ cup dark soy sauce
4 tablespoons salt
6 heaping tablespoons of coarse cane sugar (also called natural brown sugar or for limeys, demerara sugar)
4-5 tablespoons sesame oil
10 good cranks of freshly ground white pepper

Marinate overnight. Place kalbi in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes a side. Of course, if you have a grill, fire it up!