I like to occasionally make beef jerky because it always seems like the stuff sold at markets is pricey. Plus, there’s never enough to satisfy me. A while back, I made a Vietnamese-stylelemongrass and chile jerky and used it for snacking and green papaya salads (goi du du). Most recently, I tried a jerky recipe that involved marinating the beef with red wine and fish sauce.

Yes, you read that right! But no, it wasn’t some kind of Vietnamese-French thing. The idea came by way of an enewsletter from Morris Grassfed Beef. I’ve been annually buying 1/4 of a cow from Joe Morris for close to ten (10!) years. It’s through their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program. With about 80 pounds of meat a year, the quarter share, called a “split half,” is too much for our household. I split it with a friend.

The grass-fed beef goes into all kinds of foods. For example, Joe’s delicious ground beef is used for thit bo la lot (beef in betel leaf) and chuck steak gets featured in bo kho (beef stewed with tomato, lemongrass, and star anise). I order extra bags of fragrant bones for pho noodle soup.

Each year, as I try to empty the freezer to make room for the new stash (it comes in midsummer), there are always a few cuts lingering. This time around I found a piece of London broil. This isn’t of my favorite cuts because it is extra lean – which makes it perfect for jerky.

Joe and his staff must have read my mind as the latest Morris Grassfed Newsletter had a recipe for “Dan’s Oven Beef Jerky” that employed London broil! The folksy recipe belonged to a gentleman named Dan Dungy.I loved reading Dan’s instructions, particularly when he describes that fish sauce is “readily found in the Asian food section of supermarkets in town.” As for the red wine, Dan called for “table wine or a bottle that has oxidized is fine as long as it hasn’t turned to vinegar.”

Moreover, his combination of the wine and fish sauce was framed as nothing special. That’s quite an indication of how far Asian ingredients have gone in terms of becoming part of mainstream American cooking.

Dan’s recipe was such a great use of whatever is at hand, that I had to try it. The results? Really good. In fact, my husband remarked, “This is kinda like old-fashioned American beef jerky from when I was a kid.”  The flavor is deep and releases as you chew on the meat. There is a winey, savory quality that initially reminded me of gamier venison.

Morris grass-fed beef is 100% grass fed with no use of grain to fatten up the cows. The result is beef that changes with the annual rainfall. The flesh has actual taste. Dan’s use of red wine and fish sauce heightens the beefiness of Morris Grassfed meat. I added a healthy dose of black pepper to give a kick to the jerky.

If you have a favorite source for grass-fed beef, try it out. It’s sold at markets such as Whole Foods. If you don’t, no worries. Just use whatever London broil at your grocery store. Any other lean cut (read: you don’t see white marbling in the flesh) will work.

As for the wine, use one with big flavor, such as cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel, syrah, or a blend. My husband found a cheapie blend in the back corner of his “cellar” (a closet).

RECIPE

Red Wine and Fish Sauce Beef Jerky

This recipe calls for cutting the meat thicker than the Vietnamese jerky with lemongrass and chiles. With thicker slices, Dan uses lower heat and as a result, it requires several hours of low-heat baking. Adapted from original recipe by Dan Dungy.

Makes about 12 to 16 ounces

1 1/2 to 2 pounds London broil
3/4 to 1 cup hearty red wine
4 to 5 tablespoons fish sauce
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon black pepper

1. Trim all fat and connective tissue from meat.  Slice the meat 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, making the pieces as big as you can. They don’t have to be perfect. Transfer the meat to a one-gallon zip-top bag.

2. Measure out the red wine and add fish sauce to taste. You want a savory back note but not too much. The flavor will concentrate down during the baking time.  Add the pepper. Pour into the bag and use your hands combine the ingredients, making sure that the meat is well covered.

3. Seal the bag, squeezing out excess air. Put the bag in a bowl or on a plate. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

4. Position a rack in middle of the oven and preheat to 200F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil. Put 1 large or 2 medium cooling racks on top to promote heat circulation. It’s okay if the racks extend beyond the baking sheet. Aim to elevate the beef as much as possible.

5. Drain the meat in a colander. Blot excess moisture from each piece with paper towel. Arrange the beef flat atop the racks. They can touch but try not to overlap them much. 6. Bake with the oven door slightly open by about ¼ inch. Wedge a wooden spoon or some other nonflammable or breakable object between the door and oven.

Let the meat dry out for 3 to 4 hours, turning it midway, if you like. The meat is done when it feels dry to the touch but still somewhat soft. The pieces will be about 50% of their original sizes. Once done, remove from the oven and set aside to completely cool. Transfer to a zip-top bag and refrigerate or freeze.

Have you tried making jerky with red wine and/or fish sauce?  How did you do it and what did you think of it?

source from: vietworldkitchen

source from: vietworldkitchen

The heat of summer calls for grilling and simple salads. This colorful, crunchy, tangy spicy cabbage salad is a meatless version of the classic cabbage and chicken salad (gỏi bắp cải gà) often served at home and in restaurants.  Made without the poached and hand shredded chicken, gỏi bắp cải(pronounced “goy bahp kai”) is more like a slaw. I love to pair it with grilled food, particularly pork or chicken that’s been seasoned a bit on the sweet-garlicky-savory side. The salad’s chile kick and vinegary tang provide wonderful flavor contrasts.

source from: vietworldkitchen

Travel for just a week in Vietnam and you’ll realise how few of its gastronomic specialities see the light of day beyond its borders. Every region lays claim to unique edible delights – well-known classics such as northern pho, Hue imperial banquet fare, and southern salad rolls are just the tip of the culinary iceberg.

1. Bun Rieu Cua

Thank the northern knack for turning humble ingredients into something sublime for this crustacean-flavoured soup. It’s made from paddy crabs, packed with tomato chunks, green onions and bun (rice vermicelli), and capped with a floater of sautéed crab fat. Some cooks add bean curd and oc (large snails, in which case the dish is called bun rieu cua oc). Green leaves and herbs, along with sliced banana tree stem, are mainstay accompaniments.

2. Banh

One of the tastiest relics of Emperor Tu Duc’s reign is banh, steamed rice cakes eaten with a drizzle of fish sauce. Whether eaten plain, dotted with chopped mushrooms, or stuffed with chopped dried shrimp, these dainty Hue bites make the perfect light breakfast or between-meal snack. Heatloving central Vietnamese often add a dollop of chilli sauce.

3. My Quang

Thick and chewy turmeric-yellow noodles are topped with shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, herbs and chopped peanuts, and are moistened with just a bit of rich broth. Named for its native province of Quang Nam, the dish comes with rice crackers for crumbling and is finished in characteristically central-Vietnamese style, with a dab of sweet-hot chilli jam.

4. Banh Trang Phoi Suong

A veritable hedgerow of unusual greens and herbs, many of which are gathered wild from riverbanks and rice paddies, features in this Trang Bang District do-it-yourself roll-up of thinly sliced pork and cucumber, accompanied by pickled garlic, daikon and carrots. Everything’s bundled into rustic rice papers, which have, as the name of the dish suggests, been ‘exposed in the dew at night’, and dipped in nuoc cham.

5. Canh Chua

This beautiful, tangy tamarind-flavoured soup embodies the Mekong Delta’s abundance: from its waterways come fish; from its fruit plantations, pineapple; and from its fertile soil, tomato and spongy bac ha or taro stem. The region’s rice paddies contribute the cuminlike herb rau rom. Accompanied by rice it’s an unpretentious yet appetising meal in a bowl.

6. Banh Khot

These small sweet-and-savoury prawn pancakes are made from ground rice and coconut milk batter that’s cooked in special half-spherical moulds, resulting in a crispy crust enclosing a soft centre. A speciality of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, they’re eaten rolled with herbs in a lettuce leaf.

source from: lonelyplanet

Food for the body is good, but food for the soul is great.

You have the opportunity to get both at these restaurants and cafés, which run vocational training programs for street kids. Good cause, good food, good idea. If you’re in the area, why not try one out?

Vietnam

Hoi An

• Streets International has just one restaurant for now, but they envision taking this venture and replicating it on a global scale. The revenue of the commercial ‘teaching’ restaurant will ultimately support and fund the associated training facility, housing, medical and other community services for the street kid participants. The founder and president of Streets, Neal Bermas, has ties with the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan. The kids participating at the Streets restaurant will undergo the same training – and 18-month curriculum – as students at ICE. As they move through the program, they’ll work in every area of the restaurant, from front-of-house duties to cooking to management. They’ll also have a great support system with medical care, English lessons, and basic life skills courses. And when they’re finished, the kids will graduate with certification that will allow them to apply for jobs in top hotels.

Hanoi

• KOTO (Know One Teach One) is a stunning 4-storey café-restaurant overlooking the Temple of Literature. It offers local specialities, home comforts, real coffee, fruit shakes and free wi-fi.
• Hoa Sua is a shady retreat by day, a dignified diner by night, and an opportunity to experience the perfect blend of East and West. Hoa Sua trains a steady stream of disadvantaged kids for culinary careers.
• Café Smile, part of the Hoa Sua family, is a relaxed café-restaurant renowned for its cakes and pastries. But it also serves delicious Vietnamese and western dishes.
• Café Ket Noi, yet another branch of the Hoa Sua family, employs staff from ethnic minority groups. Head here for a bite to eat, or a coffee or beer.

Cambodia

Friends International operates four restaurants run by former street youth in training. Three of these are in Phnom Penh and one is in Laos. At these restaurants, students learn hospitality skills in a real restaurant environment. When you dine here you not only get a great meal but also help these students gain the skills and confidence to work in the hospitality industry.

• Friends the Restaurant, near the National Museum, is famous for its frozen shakes and daiquiris, its Asian and Western tapas and its incredibly friendly staff. After you’ve had your fill pop next door to the Friends and Stuff store to snap up a snazzy silk skirt or lamp made in the school just behind the shop front. Treat yourself to a manicure and know that your dollars are training someone with a career to keep them off the streets.
• Romdeng, also run by Friends, is set in a beautifully decorated colonial mansion with a leafy garden and swimming pool.
• Café du Centre, the third Friend’s restaurant, is a French-style bistro in the gardens of the French Cultural Centre.
• Lotus Blanc serves fine French and Asian cuisine to support vocational training for children formerly surviving by scavenging the dump.
• Boddhi Tree Umma, opposite the harrowing Tuol Sleng Museum, will feed you up like the Buddha with a roasted aubergine, goat’s cheese and mango chutney sandwich. They also offer guesthouse-style suites that allow you to stay off the beaten track and can include cookery courses and market tours. Staff often come here after family crises to be trained in this positive environment.
• The Green Orange Cafe in Battambang provides a safe alcohol- and drug-free space for children of all ages to meet and socialise. Green Orange staff are from the area and the café provides much needed employment to the village of Ksach Poy, as well as raising funds for other community projects.  By using local ingredients, the Green Orange Café (named after the famous Battambang Orange) seeks to benefit the local economy in an environmentally responsible way.

Laos

Check out Makphet in Vientiane. It’s run by Friends International and helps keep kids off the streets or detention centres.

source from: lonelyplanet

If you have ever tried “Cơm Việt” (Vietnamese plain boiled rice), you will find the difference from the boiled rice in other countries!

In an ordinary meal of Vietnamese people, together with a variety of different dishes, Com or plain boiled rice is an indespensable one, the most popular food at the main meals of the day (lunch and dinner).

Different cooking method makes “Cơm Việt” different!

In Vietnam, Com is made from different kinds of rice, typically fragrant rice is used, such as Tam Thom and Nang Huong. The main ingredients of Vietnamese plain boiled rice are commonly as follows:

- 1 cup of rice.

- 2 cups of boiling water.

- 1 teaspoonful of salt.

So, how can you make the boiled rice really delicious? If you have chance to see how Vietnamese people make a good pot of boiled rice, you will notice that its process is not so difficult. Firstly, pick the rice over, taking out all the bits of brown husk; fill the outside of the double boiler with hot water, ans put in the rice, salt and water, and cook forty minutes, but do not stir it. Then take off the cover from the boiler, and very gently, without stirring, turn over the rice with a fork; put the disk in the oven without the cover, and let it stand and dry for ten minutes. Then turn it from the boiler into a hot dish, and cover.

Other rice–made foods…

Beside the above-mentioned recipe of “Cơm Việt”, the Vietnamese people created many other rice-made foods, such as: rice ball, fried rice, rice gruel, steamed glutinous rice. Among them, making a rice ball (“Cơm nắm” in Vietnamese) is so interesting! “Cơm nắm” is a Vietnamese rice dish pressed into cylinder or sphere shape, which is sold in small alleys in Hanoi by vendors. This dish is very familiar with Vietnamese people. “Cơm nắm” has become a cheap but delicious rustic gift. When being fed up with nutritious food like vermicelli or “phở”, people often look for a frugal dish like “Cơm nắm” served with roasted sesame and ground nut.

Do you think it is easy to make a rice ball? A lot of people may say “Yes”, and you can obey the following simple process to make perfect a rice ball. To begin with, you boil the rice in a rice cooker. Please bear in mind that you have to make rice balls while the rice is hot or else it will not stick together. Next, you wet your hands and put a pinch of salt on your palms. Then, you put rice on your hand and wad up the rice and shape like cylinder or sphere. “Cơm nắm” is served with not o­nly sesame but also other things, such as stewed fish, simmered pork or salted shredded meat. However, salted roasted sesame (and ground nut) is still the first choice. The dish is so delicious that you surely would like to taste more than once… The rice is white clear, soft and used to be wrapped in a green banana leaf, which is so attractive. However, its cover is replaced with a plastic bag or paper. The salted sesame is roasted light brown and grated, which has an appealing fragrance. “Cơm nắm” is cut into slices and served with this sesame or/and ground nut. The sweetness of rice combining with the buttery taste of sesame is so unique that can not be found anywhere in the world.

Being in Vietnam, you are strongly recommended to give you the chance for enjoying “Cơm Việt” with dishes of pork, fish, shrimp and vegetable cooked in oil, as well as vegetables, pickles, etc. Have good appetite!

source from: vietnam-beauty

Italian cuisine is always a special attraction for connoisseurs and almost every region in Italy has its own varieties with characteristic shapes and fillings. However, there are some dishes that you will find almost everywhere, and these have become standards among the many Italian communities scattered across the globe.
You may not have heard of “ravioli” before but if you visit Park Hyatt Saigon from 6th to 20th March, you will be able to taste for yourself this delicious Italian standard thanks to Italian Chef Michele Gulizzi at Opera restaurant.

Ravioli is a very popular form of pasta, comprising a rectangular or circular piece of pasta that are filled with a wide range of delicious of ingredients. Its name derives from the Italian verb “to wrap” because when it is made, filings are wrapped in a layer of pasta. The fillings for ravioli can be either meat, fish-based or vegetable such as spinach or nettles, often combined with a soft, creamy cheese called ricotta. They can also be also potatoes, squash or even tofu.

There are many versions of ravioli and for this promotion, Chef Gulizzi will create such sumptuous dishes as Double Pappardelle, Eggplant, Smoked Provolone, Cherry Tomato Sauce; Saffron Ravioli, Ricotta and Gorgonzola Filling, Zucchini Flowers; Scallops and Smoked Bacon Tortelli, Mascarpone Cream; Black Fagottini, Sea Bass Filling,

Artichokes, Chives Emulsion; Thyme Cappellacci, Slow Roasted Wagyu Beef Filling, Beef Jus and Triangle Shaped Pasta, Mushroom Filling, Fontina Cheese Fondue, Truffle Sauce.

So come and enjoy authentic Italian food created by an Italian Chef at Opera restaurant. Prices range from US$10++ to US$16++.

Contact:
Le Ho Thanh Phuong (Ms.)
Marketing Communications Manager
Park Hyatt Saigon
Phone: +84 8 3824 1234   Facsimile: +84 8 3823 7569
Email: phuong.le@hyatt.com

Phan Thiet City is famous for its stunning beaches, white sand dunes and many tourist attractions. It has also gained a reputation for its cuisine, especially seafood specialties, and for its trademark fish sauce.

Vietnam is internationally acknowledged for its diverse seafood, with squid being one of the most popular items on many menus. Phan Thiet City has built its image on a particular squid dish known as sun-dried squid, which has attracted many chefs and revelers to the city.

Muc mot nang is fresh squid that has been dried in the sun for one day. The squid, grilled with chilies and lemon and served in fish sauce, is available anywhere in the city but one of the best places to try this tasty specialty is Cay Bang Restaurant.

Another local favorite is steamed bo hom fish, nicknamed “Thiet giap bien” (sea armour) because of its square shape and the patterns on its body. It is sweet, juicy and nutritious, especially when combined with the flavors of aromatic herbs, salty fish sauce and sweet Phu Long griddle cake. Revelers can enjoy bo hom at many of the eateries on Pham Van Dong Street along Ca Ty River.

While steamed bo hom fish is typically a low-priced dish, steamed mu fish, mixed with fravegetables and fish sauce prepared with lemon, sugar, garlic and chilies, is more expensive and provides high nutrition. Toan Duong Restaurant near Doi Duong beach and Sao Bien Restaurant are two of the more popular venues for this dish.

In addition to distinctive seafood Phan Thiet is also known for recipes made with dong. The dong is a reptile shaped like a lizard found in and around the sand dunes. It is served grilled, steamed, fried or minced with citronella and chilly at seafood restaurants around Hon Rom resort. Ca Ty Restaurant is famous for its grilled dong.

Cay Bang Restaurant is located on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City.

Toan Duong Restaurant is located at 164 Le Loi Street, Hung Long Ward, Phan Thiet City (near Doi Duong Beach).

Ca Ty Restaurant is at 40 Phan Boi Chau Street, Duc Nghia Ward, Phan Thiet City.

Sao Bien Restaurant is at 22 Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, Ham Tien Ward, Phan Thiet City.

Italian cuisine is always a special attraction for connoisseurs and almost every region in Italy has its own varieties with characteristic shapes and fillings. However, there are some dishes that you will find almost everywhere, and these have become standards among the many Italian communities scattered across the globe.

You may not have heard of “ravioli” before but if you visit Park Hyatt Saigon from 6th to 20th March, you will be able to taste for yourself this delicious Italian standard thanks to Italian Chef Michele Gulizzi at Opera restaurant.

Ravioli is a very popular form of pasta, comprising a rectangular or circular piece of pasta that are filled with a wide range of delicious of ingredients. Its name derives from the Italian verb “to wrap” because when it is made, filings are wrapped in a layer of pasta. The fillings for ravioli can be either meat, fish-based or vegetable such as spinach or nettles, often combined with a soft, creamy cheese called ricotta. They can also be also potatoes, squash or even tofu.

There are many versions of ravioli and for this promotion, Chef Gulizzi will create such sumptuous dishes as Double Pappardelle, Eggplant, Smoked Provolone, Cherry Tomato Sauce; Saffron Ravioli, Ricotta and Gorgonzola Filling, Zucchini Flowers; Scallops and Smoked Bacon Tortelli, Mascarpone Cream; Black Fagottini, Sea Bass Filling,

Artichokes, Chives Emulsion; Thyme Cappellacci, Slow Roasted Wagyu Beef Filling, Beef Jus and Triangle Shaped Pasta, Mushroom Filling, Fontina Cheese Fondue, Truffle Sauce.

So come and enjoy authentic Italian food created by an Italian Chef at Opera restaurant. Prices range from US$10++ to US$16++.

Contact:
Le Ho Thanh Phuong (Ms.)
Marketing Communications Manager
Park Hyatt Saigon
Phone: +84 8 3824 1234   Facsimile: +84 8 3823 7569
Email: phuong.le@hyatt.com