Especially hidden in sauces and stuff. Adds so much umami! I use them tons.
I make a lot of Korean marinades for grilling. Gochujang paste is easy to find and you can make a marinade in 5 minutes mixing it with other stuff. I am partial to a yogurt based marinade for chicken and I use a pear based one for beef.
What mosdef said. A little acidity, a little sweetness, but mostly because Koreans have been doing it forever.
I couldn’t find an Asian pear, so I used a Bosch pear. Whatevs, it served its purpose!
Pork was delicious, I gave most of it away to a firefighter friend and he fed his shift with it on Tuesday. Potato buns, Asiany-flavored slaw, and some leftover marinade poured into a half-empty jar of store bought BBQ sauce and shaken well.
I hope there weren’t many fires on Tuesday because those dudes were prob sleepy af after crushing so many BBQ sliders.
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I’m at the point where I just auto-add an anchovy when I make Italian sauces. Such an easy way to punch up the flavor.
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Anchovies + tomato paste + Worcestershire sauce = umami bullion.
To your point, great for sauces, mayos, marinades, dropping into stews.
I like to batch it out into an ice cube tray and then KERPLUNK a cube into weeknight dinner sauces.
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Maybe I’m lazy, but I just use fish sauce instead. Similar results, and I’m not left with wondering what to do with a half a tin of anchovies (or if I want to use that frozen half tin of anchovies that’s been in the freezer for a few months).
Fish sauce is good for sure. I also just toss a spoon of MSG into stuff all the time.
Having msg at home is critical for elite cooking.
Not the biggest horse racing fan, but that doesn’t stop the Derby from being today’s dinner inspiration. So, we’re doing burgoo.
In its spirit of using up whateverall is wearing out its welcome in your fridge or freezer (which seems to be the one and only unifying theme of the myriad burgoo recipes across the internet), we’re doing this primarily with some pork belly, some cubed beef chuck that had been in the freezer for way too long, and some chicken thighs. In the cheesecloth are some old lamb loin chop bones that I’d been saving in the freezer to make into stock, but I never really got a critical mass. So, into the pot they go here to soup up this soup. We got potatoes, corn, beans, and okra to add later.
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You don’t really need a justification for eating horse.
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Lazy Sunday, perfect time to crack open a can of San Marzanos and make a batch of some slow-cooked sauce.
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Mother’s day breakfast, eggs en cocotte (from Serious Eats, natch) with a base layer of duxelles (their recipe calls for crimini, but I used a mix of crimini, chanterelles, maitake, and shiitakes, because, after all, mushrooms are - - wait for it - - fungible), topped with egg, cream, and grueyere. There is a fine line between the white setting and overcooking the egg which I crossed, but it was delicious nevertheless.
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Wife wanted tandoori lamb for mother’s day, so I did what I could. Tandoori lamb and chicken, persian rice (tah dig), and some vegetables.
I sous vided the lamb and chicken and finished on my gas grill to try to get some char.
Presentation not so good, but it came out awesome. First time sous viding lamb. Was the best I’ve made.
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Got Kenji’s book on woks, it’s incredible.
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Tofu larb w broccoli slaw and a bunch of other veggies. Topped w smashed avo, shoyu egg, kimchi, and sesame seeds.
First try at shoyu eggs, I added some gochujang and Japanese bbq sauce to the brine, which I liked, but overall not enough flavor. Will double the soy sauce and reduce water volume next go around. Also I overcooked them, a major disappointment when I cut into one today. 6 minute boil from cold, then ice bath - next week, 5 minutes.
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Doesn’t feel like a wok is worth having if you don’t have a high BTU gas stove. I have a dumb electric stove 
Madness. A wok is a great tool for all kinds of things and most Chinese homes don’t have a restaurant-style high temp burner.
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Yeah, I agree. I even just have a cheapo non stick grocery store wok and it is superior to other pans for stir fries.
biggest knock on the wok is that it’s not easy to fit in the kitchen. cabinet and shelf space is too precious, and a wok takes the place of two other pots. i have an induction stove so my only option is a flat bottomed wok, which also feels like it’s not going to be as good for some reason. i’m probably wrong though, just need to jump in and buy it