Korean Oxtail Soup (Gom Tang)

Korean Oxtail Soup, served with coarse salt.

TS:
We bought some oxtails one day. Now what?

We have used oxtail in applications that nod to Jamaica (Jamaican Oxtail Stew) and to Mexico (Shredded Beef and Tripe Tacos), but more often than not, we fall back to making our favorites, like a simple Clear Oxtail Soup, or Kare-Kare (Philippine Oxtail Peanut Stew) -- OMGTHEDELICIOUSNESS!!!

JS:
With oxtails, it is always the "Mendy's question".**

See, we're so enamoured with kare-kare and bulalo that we think them the apotheoses of oxtail, oxtail the best that it can be.

TS:
But, perhaps, this time we should made something totally new.

** Seinfeld reference



JS:
Okay then.

TS:
Well, we didn't venture too far when we made this Korean Oxtail Soup. I used the instructions from My Korean Cuisine as my guide.



TS:
First, I placed the meat in cold water and brought the water to a boil. Once the exterior of the meat has changed color, I drained the pot.

After draining, the meat is rinsed to get rid of any residual coagulated blood.



TS:
I put the meat back into the pot (which I also rinsed out), covered with cold water, and brought the mixture to a boil. The pot is kept at a light boil.

Oh, that pouch in there?



TS:
That pouch contained garlic, ginger, and black peppercorns.



TS:
Some more components: onions and daikon radish.



TS:
After about 2 hours of boiling, I added the onions and daikon. Oh yeah, look at all that fat on top. Try to skim that off every so often.

I boiled the pot for a couple of hours more.

At this point, one can make the broth ultra-milky. My Korean Cuisine recommends removing all the solids from the soup, separating the meat from the bone, rinsing the bones clean and adding only the bones back into the pot, then boiling for more than 14 hours!

Well, I had already invested about 5 hours into this soup, and being lazy as I am, I wasn't in the mood for picking meat from bone, so my Korean Oxtail Soup stopped here.



TS:
This soup is usually served unseasoned, with the diner adding salt at the table. I simply added some green onions for some freshness and crunch.

JS:
I must say I cannot help comparing this soup to our standard bulalo (Philippine Beef Bone Soup) or clear soup. I found this oxtail soup quite rich -- and I'm afraid that is not exactly a compliment. That is, it seemed to me slightly too bovine-y, as if the oxtails haven't transcended their nature and reached their apotheosis as food. The soup sits heavily in the mouth and on the tongue, and I felt that I needed to rinse the soup out after I finished eating.

Maybe I needed to eat it with some kimchi, which alas, we didn't have at that time.

TS:
Perhaps I'll reserve judgment until after I taste a "professionally"-made soup. But, in this instance, this soup was nice enough, but I'm afraid my heart still belongs to our favorites.


For a guide to making Korean Oxtail Soup:
My Korean Cuisine: Korean Oxtail Soup

eatingclub vancouver Korean
Korean Sprouts & Spicy Cold Cucumber Salad
Kimchi Fried Rice, an addiction
Korean Soybean Sprouts Pancake (Kongnamul Jeon)
Korean Pork Bulgogi (with Muu Namul, Kong Namul)
Korean Roast Salmon
Korean Fried Chicken
Korean Sweet Potatoes with Yangnyeom Sauce
Japchae / Jap Chae (Korean Glass Noodles with Vegetables)
Brown Rice Bibimbap (Korean Rice Bowl)
Korean Oxtail Soup (Gom Tang)

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Shrimp Scampi

TS:
It had been a while since we had nice, plump shrimp at home, and an even longer while since we've had nice, plump shrimp with lots of butter. That clearly needed to be rectified.



TS:
Actually, I've made this dish numerous times before, but I didn't know there was an actual name for it! I've since discovered that this is what people refer to when they say "Shrimp Scampi".



TS:
There's really nothing to it. Just shrimp, lemon juice, white wine, butter, garlic and parsley.



TS:
Since I had not a small amount of shrimp, I decided to par-cook them in batches first.



TS:
The shrimp set aside, it was time for the butter!

I heated some butter and olive oil, then added minced garlic. I then added the white wine and cooked out the alcohol. The lemon juice went in next, followed by chopped parsley.



TS:
The par-cooked shrimp were added to the pot, and more butter was added. I stirred the whole lot around gently until the butter melted and the shrimp were cooked through.



TS:
Look at the amount of that butter-y sauce at the bottom of the bowl!

Be sure not to waste that golden elixir. Spoon it over rice, toss it with pasta, soak bread in it, or fill up some glasses and drink it straight up! ;D

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What do you know, there's a shrimp scampi recipe in America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. I'll just copy that down for y'all.

Recipe
Shrimp Scampi
from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
Serves 4 to 6

2 pounds extra-large shrimp, peeled & deveined
salt and pepper
1/8 tspn sugar
2 tablespoons oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoon dry white wine or vermouth
pinch cayenne pepper

Pat the shrimp dry with paper towels, then season with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the sugar.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a 12-inch non-stick skillet over high heat until smoking. Add half the shrimp to the pan in a single layer. Cook until the shrimp are curled and pink on both sides, about 2 minutes. Transfer the shrimp to a bowl and cover with foil.

Repeat with the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and shrimp.

Add 1 tablespoon of the butter to the skillet and melt over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds.

Off the heat, stir in the lemon juice, parsley, wine and cayenne. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Return the shrimp with any accumulated juice to the skillet. Toss until the shrimp are well coated with the sauce.

Chayote and Bean Thread Vermicelli with Mussel Coconut "Bisque" Sauce

TS:
A while, while, while back, we had a party. Besides numerous other dishes (of course), we also cooked off 8 pounds of mussels à la Congolaise.

I don't exactly know how these flavors are Congolese. We had seen this descriptor on a local restaurant's menu for a dish cooked with tomatoes, coconut milk/cream, "smoky chili" and citrus.

Congolese? Really?



TS:
Congolese or not, the flavors work.

So, I sautéed some onions and garlic along with tomato paste until the tomato paste was nicely cooked.

I may or may not have added a little bit of smoked paprika as well.

Then, I poured in some white wine and after a little bit, coconut milk.

The 8 pounds of mussels jumped into the creamy pool.

When they were cooked, I finished the whole thing with just a little squeeze of lime juice, and a generous amount of cilantro.



TS:
Why am I going on and on about mussels when this dish doesn't seem to have a mussel in sight?

After the guests had left, I noticed the serving bowl was devoid of mussels, but filled with the "Congolaise" sauce. As you may have already imagined, cooking 8 pounds of mussels will yield you quite a lot of exquisite mussel liqueur.

I couldn't waste that!

This was pure shellfish-y gold. It was so rich and flavorful that I had to christen it a "bisque".



TS:
What to do? What to do?

Wanting to do something different with some chayote on our counter besides our usual, I got to thinking and set to work.



TS:
I brought the mussel-infused coconut-tomato "bisque" to a boil then a simmer, reducing it somewhat, then dumped in my peeled chayote batons.



TS:
It seemed to me, though, that I still was not taking full advantage of the broth-y goodness in the pot.

Noodles! That's what this needs. Taking the path of least resistance, I opted for bean thread vermicelli. No pre-cooking required. I just placed them in the pot until they were cooked. A few minutes, tops.



TS:
With the bean thread vermicelli, this dish seemed to have taken a decidedly Asian turn.



TS:
So, why not use up the rest of the culantro, aka saw-tooth herb, aka ngo gai, aka Mexican cilantro, that I still had leftover from making Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)?



TS:
For a dish of dubious origins and muddled pedigree, this was absolutely mind-blowing!

The "bisque" was so rich and satisfying -- I do not know how that amount of liquid could have packed that much wallop of mussel-tomato-coconut flavor.

I love chayote and having it in this new, unusual way was a delight. The bean thread noodles absorbed all that bisque-y goodness and the culantro gave the dish a bright, verdant flavor.



TS:
The moral of the story: next time you have mussel liqueur from 8 pounds of mussels, you know what to do. ;)

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Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia) (Istanbul, Turkey)

TS:
Another "must-see" in Istanbul, the Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia in Greek).


The unassuming exterior.

TS:
The Aya Sofya looks quite small and, frankly, quite dull from the outside. But inside...


People, people, people everywhere.

TS:
I don't know how that "tiny" structure outside could house this interior!

In a nutshell, work on the present structure began around 532 A.D. and there were numerous instances of damage and periods of reconstruction.



TS:
It was the largest basilica in the world for around a millenium and had quite an architectural influence.



TS:
Originally built as an Eastern Orthodox church, it was later converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral, then to a mosque.


Carpets once covered the marble floors.

TS:
Its interior reflects this complicated history.



TS:
Various types of mosaics reflecting different periods adorn the interior surfaces, with some having been painted or plastered over. The mosaics have been or are being restored.



TS:
Giant medallions inscribed with Islamic calligraphy hang on columns.


Scaffolding.
Apparently, there used to be much more scaffolding around in previous years.

TS:
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, "father" of the Republic of Turkey, transformed the site into a museum in 1935.



TS:
That's as small a nutshell as I could manage.


Hmm, this is just... um, not "pleasing to the eye".


On display:
A copy of a record of decisions passed by a general synod (a regular supreme religious assembly) that was held at Hagia Sophia in 1166.


Şadırvan, a fountain for ritual ablutions.

Nobody seemed to be taking notice of this structure.


But, it's nice, no?

update
Coincidentally enough, I chanced about Martha Stewart's Istanbul Show videos on her website! There's a short description, as well as a video of her visit.
Martha Stewart: The History of Hagia Sophia

For more information:
Wikipedia: Hagia_Sophia
Turkey Travel Planner: Ayasofya (Hagia Sophia)

eatingclub vancouver in Turkey (September 2010)
Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) (Istanbul, Turkey)
Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia) (Istanbul, Turkey)
Topkapı Sarayı (Palace) Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
Turkey Flora
Hierapolis Ruins and Travertines (Pamukkale, Turkey)
Güray Pottery (Avanos, Turkey)

For Turkish dishes:
Turkey (the country, not the fowl)
Turkish Çay (Tea)

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Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) (Istanbul, Turkey)

photo courtesy of GO3

TS:
Oh my, this must be some sort of record, me posting about our trip so fast! ;)

Before I continue, I must thank our cousin -- GO3 -- for a couple of the photos here. I must be too used to doing macro shots that I've forgotten how to take regular pictures of larger-than-a-plate sized objects! Or, I actually just do not know how to use a camera.

Of course, it didn't help that it was quite dark inside the mosque, not to mention that there was the overwhelming smell of feet. But, I'm getting ahead of myself.


View of the Blue Mosque on a sunny day.
Only four minarets showing here. There are six.


Entering the courtyard.




The courtyard.

TS:
As you can see, it was raining. We first went to the Blue Mosque the day before, when it was nice and bright. We caught the tail end of a three-day holiday in Turkey and perhaps because of that, there weren't many "Western" tourists. The visitors seemed to be "local" to my untrained eye and ears. Being a working mosque, shoes are not allowed inside.



TS:
For the locals, this was nothing unusual. We and the other visitors were shoeless inside the mosque, necks craned up, with me trying to take usable pictures of the interior.

The following rainy day, we officially joined a tour which included a visit to the Blue Mosque. So, we thought we'd just enter the mosque again.

On this day, however, there were more people, and more "Western" tourists. They really seemed to be having a hard time donning off their shoes (and putting them back on at the end of the visit).

Upon entering the mosque this time around, I felt stifled from the heat of all the bodies inside. More disturbingly, the overwhelming smell of feet that I previously mentioned, well, overwhelmed me. I had to get out!



TS:
Good thing I already visited the mosque the day before.

Oh, why is the Sultanahmet Mosque nicknamed the Blue Mosque? Blue tiles line (mostly the upper levels of) the interior walls. Still a little puzzling, though, this moniker, as the interior doesn't really scream "blue" at all.

update
Coincidentally enough, I chanced about Martha Stewart's Istanbul Show videos on her website! There's a short description, as well as a video of her visit.
Martha Stewart: Exploring the Blue Mosque

For more information:
Wikipedia: Sultan Ahmed Mosque
Turkey Travel Planner: Blue Mosque (Sultan Ahmet Camii)


photo courtesy of GO3

eatingclub vancouver in Turkey (September 2010)
Sultanahmet Camii (Blue Mosque) (Istanbul, Turkey)
Aya Sofya (Hagia Sophia) (Istanbul, Turkey)
Topkapı Sarayı (Palace) Museum (Istanbul, Turkey)
Turkey Flora
Hierapolis Ruins and Travertines (Pamukkale, Turkey)
Güray Pottery (Avanos, Turkey)

For Turkish dishes:
Turkey (the country, not the fowl)
Turkish Çay (Tea)

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