It's called "장모님 치킨 (Jangmonim Chicken)" and it's apparently a Korean sort of mom's spaghetti-and-meatballs sort of dish in Daehanminguk.
It hits all the flags on the route: spicy, crispy, moist, savory...its a total winner. The fire direction crew luuurves it (mind...I have to hold a bowl out of the spicy sauce for the Boy. He shuns anything complex like a vampire shuns the daylight...)
The recipe is on-line here. The chef is, I think, a little too aggressive on deep-frying; I've never had to cook the chicken as long as twelve minutes. Four minutes for the initial fry and then maybe another three of four for the second. It's all good though. Man, this is a kick-ass.
The critical bit is making sure you find Korean radish (조선무, Joseon-mu). I'm lucky in having an Asian grocery nearby (welllll...actually I'm spoiled for choice there: we have the Japanese-centric Uwajimaya, the Taiwanese-centric 99 Ranch, and the Korean-centric H-mart...) to make the "chicken-mu", the chilled and crunchy condiment that goes perfectly with the savory and spicy chicken.
Anyway, the critical part of this post is the recognition that soju goes great with this chicken, and I'm going to excuse myself to go drain the dram and get thoroughly plowed.
...or, in this case, simmering on the stovetop hob; feijoada completa.
If you're not familiar with this stuff it's a stew of beans and meat. Originally from Portugal it is made in most of the former colonies, and in particular in Brazil it has become a sort of national dish, the Brazilian version of spaghetti in Italy or bratwurst in Germany.
There's about a gajillion recipes for feijoada, but they always start with a bean-and-stock base. I make the Brazilian version that starts with black beans. Usually I start them simmering in a turkey or chicken stock; this year's batch, though, was made largely in a spiced beef stock supplemented with commercial chicken stock and water.
Once the beans have softened I added the meats. This year I went with the pig; smoked hock, salt pork, and a sort of Portuguese sausage called linguisa you can find nearly everywhere. After that has a chance to simmer down a bit I added a couple of oranges. It's simmering now to ensure that the hocks soften and disaggregate so I can pick out the tough hide and the bones.
I've sampled it a couple of times this morning. That's part of the fun. It seems like it's going to turn out a little saltier and smokier that usual. Should be interesting; we'll see. I've made some batches that were outstanding, some that were kind of meh, and once one that was just awful and tasted strongly of horse. I have no idea why.
So far the stew, and setting up the tree, are the only real "holiday" sorts of things I've done. The kiddos have knocked out the usual Christmas school activities - gingerbread-house-making and Santa-image-drawing - and my Bride has been shopping for presents, but me? Nada.
Unchurched as I am the religious symbolism is nil, and now that I have an income the whole greed factor is much diminished. My family is all too far away to visit without the ridiculous discomfort of commercial air travel, and my children are of an age and a disposition where Santa is no longer a fact and Jesus is not yet a necessity.
Making matters worse the contrast between the idealized "Christmas spirit" and the reality of trying to shoehorn human nature into either a saint's slipper or a Santa boot just points up how awful we are as groups. People as individuals can be delightful; people en masse are typically wretched; I can't remember where I read that the intelligence of any group can be reliably assessed by dividing the intelligence of the smartest individual by the number of members...but I find that to be depressingly true in general.
Add to that the increasingly loathsome din of modern commercial Christmas and the whole business is really a pain in the giggy. Makes me want to just sing...
...but that's just me snarking. I don't actually feel stabby about The Season. Rather casual, occasionally irked, but largely indifferent. It's nice to have the time off work, it's pretty with the lights and the decorations...but overall? It's just another day approaching the end of another year.
But I hope you are all having a good...whatever you celebrate this time. May your dreidels have always turned up gimel. May your Umoja cup be full to overflowing. May your Christmas star shine brightly. May your solstice candle burn brightly through the longest night of the year. May your Festivus pole...do whatever the fuck poles are supposed to do, and may you have enjoyed a full and weaseliferous Zappadan.
Y'know what? Screw it; if the Christians can move their Savior's birth to December to fuck over the Mithraists then you can damn well dance to whatever festival tune you enjoy.
Now that I have the requisite spices; made a stop at the little halal store on the way back to the shop yesterday.
My only quandry is the meat.
I loves me some lamb; somewhere buried deep in the bland Scots-English-French whiteboyishness that is my ancestry must be some Persian war-bride carried off by my Scottish mercenary great-great-great. A savory garlic-and-rosemary leg of lamb with spring potatoes and mushy peas? Roll me off to bed now, Sammy, I'm all good.
But the rest of the Family are lambophobes. My Bride will at least try the critter if I disguise it well enough; Bombay Curry, for example, or some sort of "made" dish where the spices and flavorings and sauces cover the essential lamby-ness of the meat. But the fractious Youth? Not a chance. It's a hot-dog-and-hamburger crowd down there below the salt. Any chance of getting them to eat these kebabs would be based on pure deception; I would have to swear that the original owner of the kebab mooed before becoming our dinner guest...
So while I yearn for some savory kufta kebab I'm pretty sure that I would be dining alone. But the beefyness of ground beef just doesn't seem to have the right flavor. Perhaps the chef's suggestion at the link, of a mix of fatty beef and lamb? Add in something even blander, like ground turkey? Hmmm.
Mmmm...I'm getting hungry just thinking about the savory deliciousness and it's only 11 in the morning...
