I have ruined several pots of chili and meat sauce overdoing the baking soda to brown ground meat. It messes up the acidity.
2 Likes
Have you ever reduced the sugar? That’s a lot!
No. I usually make a six ounce serving (so less than 2 Tblsp sugar). I suppose you could reduce it a bit and still get great flavor, but if you compare it to other Chinese fried sweet entrees (orange chicken, General TSO’s, S&S pork, etc.) it seems pretty much in line.
The sugar provides the sweet, sticky coating combined with the garlic, red pepper, ginger, and zests. Trust me… I have served this to a vast array of guests and ALL of them were blown away, contacting me later for the recipe.
1 Like
We get frozen wild Argentinian shrimp here that I quite like. Bonus is that it is often on special.
BTW, one thing that I shudder at when I see it at family (in-law) gatherings is shrimp rings with cocktail sauce. The shrimps, of whatever size, have no discernible taste at all on their own.
1 Like
Yeah, those are grody.
So do I. And it’s no big deal to thaw them at home.
2 Likes
I’ve used that one before and the family really likes it. Regarding his wine problem, I rarely have vermouth on hand, so I use chardonnay but pre-reduce quickly it in a sauce pan off to the side.
Like your friend, I like a lot more garlic so I usually grate 8-10 cloves on the microplane.
Regarding the batches, he did say “repeat” the instructions for the 2nd batch, which would include removal to the plate. But yeah, he could have been a lot more explicit about that aspect.
Looking back at the online recipe, the photos are much more explicit than the written recipe.
He explains why he doesn’t want you to microplane the garlic, just mince it.
1 Like
I know, but I’m pretty lazy sometimes, and getting lazier as I age, and grating is just sooo much easier than mincing. So I pretty much either grate or thin-slice garlic (not Goodfella’s razor-blade thin slices, though).
So far, I haven’t noticed the “gas attack” aspect that Daniel mentions. Maybe my oil is not hot enough?
That’s just as well. It’s odd to read “high heat” combined with “extra virgin olive oil” in 2024 in any case.
I try to start garlic in cold oil so it doesn’t burn before the oil infuses (can’t recall if someone taught me that or I read it somewhere) and I don’t have the gas issue either, so maybe it’s more sautéing technique than the microplane that’s the issue.
2 Likes
Whenever I Microplane garlic I get mostly mush that burns almost instantly in hot oil. If you don’t want to mince with a knife, use the FP. If you don’t have a FP, you can pick up an electric mini chopper (which works great) for around twenty dollars.
I do this too. It works.
I’m careful not to burn garlic so I just ignored that high heat part of the recipe.
4 Likes
Any thoughts about using Shaoxing instead of vermouth or white wine?
That’s what I have and I don’t want to buy white wine. If not, what non-alcohol subs might work?
I’m no expert but I think it’d be just fine.
1 Like
You’ll probably get more tannins/more oxidized flavor. Closer to sherry than the fruitiness of a white wine. Buy a small boxed white from TJ’s/Target instead maybe?
1 Like
I think you’d be absolutely fine - in fact, I often use a dry vermouth instead of white - although we always, always have plenty of white wine in the house.
1 Like
Thanks all! I don’t have a palate for alcohol in cooking.
This could probably be a subject for another thread about cooking without alcohol, but for the purposes of this recipe, the author says
“The answer was to re-create the oxidized-wine effect by switching to dry vermouth, a more flavorful fortified wine with pleasant aromatic and oxidized flavors.”
How would that effect the choice of substitutions? Also, this recipe calls for just 1/2 cup. Would the small quantity make a difference in your choice of substitutions?
Oh right, I forgot they found that desirable. I think it’s worth trying!
1 Like
If it were me, and I didn’t have any white wine, I’d just use a reduced amount of white wine/rice vinegar.
1 Like
