The Slanted Door’s Caramel Chicken

A loyal viewer of this blog informed me that this recipe still had not been converted from my old blog. This was one of the first clips I ever filmed and posted on YouTube, and probably the recipe I’ve received the most email regarding. People LOVE this dish, and while you may have to go out and hunt down some Asian Fish Sauce, it will be well worth the trouble. By the way, there is also a Basmati Rice demo posted in case you need a little help in that department.

The Slanted Door is a very popular Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco. It’s always packed with locals, tourists and visiting celebrities. One of the most popular dishes there is called “Caramel Chicken.” This stunning dish is an amazing combination of sweet, spicy, and salty flavors all sticking to succulent pieces of chicken. My version adds peanuts for a little crunch, and I’ve simplified the technique so you can easily make this at home, right on the stove top. Their version is cooked in a clay pot, which most of us don’t have lying around.

By the way, it’s been reported that this is Mick Jagger’s favorite dish when visiting San Francisco. Mick once asked, “Brown sugar, how come you taste soooo good?” So it’s fitting that’s what we’ll use to caramelize the chicken as you’ll see in the video. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2.5 pounds chicken thighs (boneless, skinless, about 8-10 thighs)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup fish sauce
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tbl grated fresh ginger
4 cloves garlic
2 jalapeno peppers
1 bunch green onions
1/2 cup roasted peanuts
fresh cilantro to garnish

Jerky Chicken – Because I just can’t call it “Jerked Chicken” and keep a straight face!

The “Jerk” style of cooking comes to us from Jamaica. The term “Jerk” actually comes from the term “Jerky,” which comes from the Spanish “charqui” (Char-key), which is basically meat dried over a slow wood fire. Today “Jerk” doesn’t refer to the cooking method, but the fiery spice mix that is rubbed on the meat before it’s grilled. The key ingredients in this spice mix are Allspice and dried Scotch Bonnet peppers (one of the hottest peppers on earth!). Other common ingredients include Cloves, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Thyme. There are countless combinations, so I suggest you buy a high-quality pre-mixed Jerk spice mix (that's what I did – after carefully checking the ingredient list to make sure I was getting the real stuff). If you want to make your own Jerk mixture, you can certainly do a Google search and you’ll have a couple thousand formulas at your disposal.

The beauty of this recipe is its simplicity. It has just 3 basic ingredients and since the spice mix is so flavorful and intense, we don’t need to add much. Also, please note the trick I show before applying the “wet rub” when I “score” the chicken breast with the knife. This is a great trick for several reasons that I explain in the clip. By the way, I serve this tasty breast over my famous “12 second” coleslaw, which I will demo soon. I also mention garlic-infused oil which I used to sauté the chicken, and I will demo that soon as well. In the meantime, if you don’t have any garlic-infused oil, just add a couple crushed garlic cloves to the marinade.

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tbl Jerk spice mix (usually allspice and dried Scotch Bonnet peppers, cinnamon, nutmeg, and thyme)
1/2 orange, juiced
salt to taste
garlic oil to sauté
*if you don’t have the garlic oil, just add some fresh garlic to the wet rub and sauté in plain vegetable oil

Roast Chicken Pan Gravy - Getting to the “Bottom” of Flavor

Yes, more gravy! This clip goes along with the already posted “Ultimate” Roast Chicken recipe clip, but was never posted, so here you go. Don’t think of this as a recipe. Think of this as a basic culinary technique that you can do anytime you’ve roasted meat in a heavy pan.

The ‘bottom” I’m referring to in the headline, is the bottom of the heavy Stainless Steel Lined Copper Frying Pan we used to roast our chicken. As a meat roasts, proteins caramelize on the pan’s bottom, and that sticky brown goodness is the base for any pan gravy. In culinary terms this is called a “fond.”

The procedure is basic. Remove the bird. Pour off the excess fat (mostly the butter we used under the skin) into a small bowl. Add some flour to the pan and mix with the fond. Add just enough of the reserve fat to form a somewhat dry crumbly roux, and toast on low heat for 5 minutes. Add cold stock, or any other liquid, and cook for about ten minutes to finish. That’s it!

I don’t normally strain the gravy, but if you want a “finer” gravy product you need to use a Fine Mesh Strainer.

Ingredients:
Pan full of beautiful pan drippings or “fond”
2 tbl flour
Reserved fat/butter from pan
about 2 cups of cold stock or other flavorful liquid
salt and pepper to taste

Chicken Marsala a la Ryan’s Cafe

Certain dishes have a special place in my heart and this is one of them. The first real restaurant job I had in San Francisco was at a small place called Ryan’s Café. It was run by a husband and wife team, Michael and Lenore Ryan. They were true “foodies” before that term had even been coined. This Chicken Marsala dish was the most popular dish on the menu and the first one that I was taught. I had cooked with wine a few times at culinary school, but this was the first time that it had really hit me what magic could be created by adding the right wine to certain ingredients. Every time I make this dish, I fondly remember that 23 years old cook (with full head of hair), so thirsty for knowledge, just drinking it all in, both literally and figuratively.

Marsala wine originates from the Italian city of Marsala, which is in Sicily. It is similar to the more commonly know Spanish Sherry, and like Sherry is a wonderful wine to cook with. It has a complex, slightly sweet flavor that makes it the perfect choice for this great chicken and mushroom dish I’m demonstrating today. Be careful when buying your bottle of Marsala. You don’t need anything too expensive, but make sure it’s just regular Marsala wine, and not “Sweet Marsala” which is a desert wine and too sweet for this dish. This same recipe can also be made the with Sherry or Madeira wine with very nice results.


Ingredients:
2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on
1 shallot minced
2 tbl fresh parsley
3 tbl butter
2 tbl olive oil
1 tbl flour
5 white mushrooms, sliced
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup Marsala wine
1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/2 tsp pepper

Spicy Mediterranean Chicken with Sausage Stuffed Cherry Peppers

A culinary tour of the Mediterranean! Succulent Chicken thighs, artichoke hearts, olive, pepperoncini, and sausage stuffed cherry peppers! WARNING: This is an intense food experience, not for the bland palettes of the world.

As I mention in the clip, if you want this dish to be less spicy and intense, drain the pepperoncini before adding. This is great on top of rice or pasta. By the way, I got the inspiration for this dish from my Uncle Bill, who stuffs the “Peppadews” (a great brand of jarred cherry peppers from South Africa) with sausage and grills them as an appetizer.

Ingredients:
6 Chicken Thighs
1 Onion
1 Cup Sliced Pepperoncini
18 Cherry Peppers (Pepperdew if possible)
6-8 Oz. Italian Sausage
Herb De Provence
Salt And Pepper
Cumin
14 Oz Can Artichoke Hearts
1/2 Cup Greek Olives, Pitted
Olive Oil
Chicken Stock
Fresh Herbs to Garnish

Zen and the Art of Chicken Teriyaki – A Kitchen Koan

When I first got to San Francisco, having come from a very small town in Western New York, it was like arriving on another planet. I was fascinated by the amazing variety of foods and cultures, and began exploring them all. Growing up, my family and I had made the occasional trip to the local Americanized Chinese restaurant which was always an exotic treat, but now I was getting the real stuff; Thai, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, I couldn’t get enough! At the same time I also became interested in the eastern religious philosophies, Buddhism, Zen, etc., which for a former alter boy was quite the experience. This was also when I learned about the Zen “koan.”

For those of you not familiar, a koan is basically a question, riddle, or story that has no obvious answer. It is used by Zen masters to teach or enlighten their students. Most of you have heard the most famous koan, “Two hands clap and there is a sound; but what is the sound of one hand?” What a great idea… teach students by making them even more confused! Well, since I’m doing Teriyaki today I decided to have a little fun at the end of the demo with a koan or two of my own.

A viewer to our site, Connie, had asked for a teriyaki recipe. So I did some research. I had enjoyed teriyaki many times, but always at Japanese restaurants. If I had made it at home, I probably just bought a bottle of teriyaki sauce and brushed it on some chicken. So, today’s clip is the true authentic version (which, of course, there are several sources giving different versions of what the “original” recipe is). I’m very glad I did it, but I’m not sure why. By the way, the term teriyaki comes from of two Japanese words "teri" and "yaki." Teri refers to the shine or luster of the glazed sauce, and yaki means to broil or grill the meat. Prepare to be enlightened… you’ve been warned.

Ingredients:
10 Boneless-Skinless Chicken Thighs
1 Cup Sake
1 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Mirin
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/4 Cup Chopped Green Onion

Spicy Chicken Thai Soup – Exploring the boundaries between culinary pleasure and pain

I almost called this “Cream of Endorphin-releasing” soup, but it didn’t quite have the same ring to it. Endorphins are those mysterious pain-relieving, pleasure-giving chemicals released by your brain when the body comes under some type of trauma. While intended as a support mechanism when the body is seriously injured, two groups of people have figured out how to intentionally induce the release of these precious substances; athletes and spicy-food aficionados (actually there is a third group that we really can’t discuss here). The “natural high” that you hear athletes talk about is a result of these endorphins. Today’s clip is in honor of the second group.

Most fans of spicy foods know exactly what I’m talking about, that post-meal euphoria that makes it worth every tear and bead of sweat. If you’ve never experienced these feelings, today’s recipe is a great one for you to try. By controlling the amount of red curry paste you add, you can tailor this to your own threshold of pain. I used 2 full teaspoons of this explosive paste. But, you can start slow, and add a bit more each time you make it until you reach that perfect, beautiful, burning bliss.

The only exotic ingredient would be the fresh lemongrass. I’ve found most large grocery stores do carry it, but if not, you can substitute a few tablespoons of lemon zest, or even some lemon verbena.

IIngredients:
2 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs (about 10)
12 oz white mushrooms
1 red onion
3 tbl fish sauce
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 limes
2 14-oz cans coconut milk
2 tsp red curry paste (you’ve been warned)
4 clove garlic
4 inch piece ginger
3 stalks lemongrass (or lemon zest)
1 tbl vegetable oil

1 quart chicken stock

note: traditionally this soup is served with a side plate of sliced jalapenos, cilantro leaves, and lime wedges

The "Ultimate" Roast Chicken

This dish will really get “under your skin!” The secret to this amazing roast chicken is the “compound butter” that we will put under the chicken skin. The butter will actually flavor the bird from the inside and create a delicious and crisp-skinned roast chicken.



Try with Easy Potato Gratin!