Banh Chung

Recently, I learned eating banh chung is a traditionally eaten during the Lunar New Year.  Previously, banh chung was simply something my Vietnamese grandma would always make around the holiday season and sometimes during other parts of the year.  No matter the occasion or time of year, though, I could never get enough of her banh chung.

Her version is a vegetarian one: glutinous rice and mung bean wrapped in banana leaves.  Personally I don’t mind the lack of meat because for me it’s all about the rice.  When you boil glutinous rice for several hours as you do for banh chung, it takes on a unique texture when you eat it at room temperature and the aroma of the leaves comes through.  The texture is almost between that of onigiri and mochi.  Slightly chewy but yielding.

The texture can take on a drastically different profile when the banh chung is flattened and fried in a pan until golden brown.  In this form, the texture is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  After going back and forth between which preparation I prefer most year after year, I recently came to the conclusion that I prefer the non-fried version.  I find that frying the banh chung kills the subtle flavors of the rice and leaves.

So for my banh chung, I eat it at room temperature.  This time around, I filled mine with leftover pork rillettes from CharcutePalooza that I had in the freezer, and instead of wrapping the banh chung in banana leaves I used lotus leaves simply because that’s what I had in my pantry.

Banh Chung (makes about 3 individual servings)

Mise En Place

1. 200 g glutinous rice, soaked overnight in water and a few drops of pandan extract
2. 200 g mung beans, soaked overnight in water
3. 200 g pork rillettes or some other protein
4. 3 lotus leaves or banana leaves, soaked in warm water
5. Fish sauce

Method (for 1 individual serving)

1. Drain mung beans and place in a pot with enough water to cover.  Simmer until tender and mash, about 25 minutes.  Season with fish sauce and pepper.
2. Drain rice and season with fish sauce.
3. Fold the leaf in half so it is doubled.
4. Place 1/6th of the rice in the middle of a leaf in the shape of a rectangle.
5. Place 1/3rd of the protein on top of the rice.
6. Place 1/3rd of the mung beans on top of the rice.
7. Place 1/6th of the rice on top of the mung beans.
8. Shape into a rectangle by hand and wrap tightly with twine.
9. Wrap again in foil
10. Place in simmering water, weighted down, for about 6 hours.

CharcutePalooza Final: Tapas

CharcutePalooza has been quite the experience.  Twelve months of brining, curing, grinding, stuffing, and smoking have come and gone.  With each challenge came a new technique or a refinement of a previous one.  These techniques opened up the door to new dishes and new flavors, though admittedly most of the composed dishes were rooted in something from my past.

Beyond the obvious things like sausage making, CharcutePalooza has drilled into me something I can utilize in and out of the kitchen: organization.  Organization doesn’t just apply to mise en place but starts the moment conceptualization begins on a new dish.  Corralling disparate ideas, flavors, and experiences and focusing them into a cohesive composed dish around a single charcuterie item each month was an exciting test of my organizational skills.  So to say I was ecstatic that the final challenge required the use of four distinct charcuterie items was an understatement.

The moment the final challenge was announced I knew wanted to do four separate Spanish-inspired tapas-sized dishes to be served as an entire meal.  After much deliberation I chose to make bacalao al pil pil, a rillettes and tortilla bocadillo, chickpeas with botifarra negra, and violet-lavender ice cream with bacon.  This selection was a result the experiences I had in Spain and the confluence and osmosis between shared ingredients as seen in the above scribbling.

The first tapa was a rillettes and tortilla bocadillo.  Tortillas (Spanish omelettes) and bocadillos (baguette-like sandwiches) are popular in Spain.  When combined, they make one of Spain's most beloved sandwiches.  One regret I have was not seeking out a quality bocadillo as the ones I had were pretty dry and bland.  To make sure I wouldn’t have that problem, I decided to lubricate my bocadillo with a nice spread of rillettes.

The fat and meat from the rillettes also added richness to the bocadillo which would normally be provided by the egg yolks in the tortilla.  However, this was an egg white tortilla.  Early in the planning stages I realized I would have a lot of unused egg whites as a result of making the ice cream.  At that point, I decided to make my tortilla an egg white tortilla from the orphaned egg whites.

Having imagined my rillettes potentially turning about to be no more than glorified pulled pork, I was a bit skeptical at first.  However, the rillettes came out surprisingly spreadable and not stringy at all.  Cooking the pork in a veal-pork stock contributed a lot to the flavor.  From that stock, I was able to use the cooked meat from the veal bones and pork necks in the rillettes itself.

Due to a lack of Spanish bakeries in my vicinity and also due to my unconditional love for shoti, I chose to use a toasted piece of shoti for the bread.  It’s crispy exterior and chewy interior made it a great great vessel for the rillettes and tortilla.

The second tapa was bacalao al pil pil: salt cod pil pil style.  Bacalao is king in Spain, and one of the most traditional preparations is the Basque pil pil style.

Salting the cod to make the bacalao was step one.  My fridge was quickly taken over by the smell of dried fish despite putting two boxes of baking soda next to it.

After rehydrating the bacalao, it’s placed in a pan with olive oil, garlic, and parsley.  As the bacalao cooks, it releases water and proteins into the oil.  Once the fish has been cooked, the pan is swirled to create an emulsion between the oil, water, and proteins.  This is what makes the dish “al pil pil.”

The third tapa was chickpeas with botifarra negra (blood sausage).  Legumes are very common in Catalan cuisine, and the legendary Bar Pinotxo in Barcelona’s La Boqueria serves up their signature chickpeas with botifarra negra for breakfast and lunch.  Thankfully, finding fresh pork blood wasn’t very hard as my local Vietnamese market always seems to have it in stock.

Ruhlman was right about blood sausage being one of the easiest sausages to make.  Once the blood was liquefied,  all that was required was to mix in some pork fat, onions, and seasoning and shove the mixture into the casing through a funnel.  Not being able to find any recipes for botifarra negra, I simply took the blood sausage recipe from Charcuterie but seasoned it with salt and pimenton de La Vera (Spanish smoked paprika).

From what I recall, Pinotxo’s version of the dish had the botifarra crumbled and distributed throughout the chickpeas.  I preferred to keep it in casing so I could control the amount of botifarra eaten with each bite and also reap the rewards of the Maillard reaction.  A balsamic vinegar reduction and raisins added the perfect amount of acidity and sweetness to cut through the botifarra’s fat.

The last tapa was a serving of violet-lavender ice cream with bacon.  After having a violet ice cream at DiverXO, I learned that violet confections are very traditional in Madrid.  In fact, there’s a shop called La Violeta that specializes in such candies.  Having grown up on Vietnamese desserts, which tend to have some element of salt, my palette is tuned to crave a little bit of salt with my sweets to balance thing out.  In this case, the bacon not only added salt to the ice cream but texture.

The reason for not making a pure violet ice cream was because I found it fairly difficult to source violet extract.  I was able to get a hold of some violet syrup, but it ended up tasting like cough syrup.  If I were to make this ice cream again, I’d probably wait until violets were in season and use fresh petals.

Of all the dishes, the ice cream unfortunately reminded me the least of Spain.  There wasn’t much violet flavor because I held back on the syrup, and putting too much lavender extract made the ice cream taste citrusy with floral and minty notes; the flavor was much like Fruit Loops.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the ice cream.  In fact, it tasted like one of my favorite ice creams: blue moon.  Because I opted not to add food coloring, I dubbed the accidental ice cream “yellow moon.”

And so CharcutePalooza has come to an end.  It was a fun and wild ride, and I’m very glad I participated.  I learned a lot, I cooked a lot, and I ate a lot.

 

Egg White Tortilla De Patatas Y Cebolla

Mise En Place

1. 300 g potatoes, sliced 2-3 mm thick
2. 480 g egg whites (about 12 egg whites)
3. 150 g caramelized onions
4. An 8” nonstick pan

Method

1. Whisk egg whisk until combined and add caramelized onions
2. Shallow fry the potatoes over medium heat until tender, about 5-10 minutes
3. Add hot potatoes to egg mixture and season with salt
4. Drain the pan of the oil but leave some for the egg mixture
5. Pour egg mixture into the pan and reduce heat to medium-low
6. After about a minute, gently work the pan by swirling it and tucking the edges in
7. Once the bottom is set (about 5 minutes), place a cover of plate over the top of the pan and flip the egg mixture onto the plate so the runny side is on the top side of the plate
8. Slide the egg mixture onto the pan, runny side down, and cook for another 2-3 minutes

 

Bacalao Al Pil Pil (adapter from here)

Mise En Place

1. 225 g bacalao (dried mass), rehydrated and cut into 1” cubes
2. 1 clove of garlic, minced
3. 5 g parsley, minced
4. Extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Place bacalao in a pan such that they do not touch each other
2. Fill the pan with enough oil such that it covers half of the bacalao
3. Heat the pan over medium heat until the oil starts to simmer
4. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 5 minutes
5. Flip the bacalao and cook for another 5 minutes
6. Pour off about half the oil
7. Swirl the the pan to start the emulsion and swirl until thickened

 

Chickpeas With Botifarra Negra

Mise En Place

1. 225 g dried chickpeas
2. 30 g sofrito
3. 1.5-2 feet of botifarra negra
4. 15 g raisins
5. Parsley, minced
6. Balsamic vinegar reduction

Method

1. Cook chickpeas in a pressure cooker at full pressure for 35 minutes.  Release pressure naturally and drain
2. Brown botifarra under the broiler on in a pan and portion as you wish
3. Heat the sofrito through in a pan over medium-high heat and add the chickpeas and raisins
4. Top the chickpeas with the botifarra, parsley, and balsamic vinegar reduction

Yellow Moon Ice Cream Base (adapted from Ratio)

Mise En Place

1. 650 g heavy cream
2. 240 g milk
3. 170 g sugar
4. 225 g egg yolks (about 12 extra large egg yolks)
5. 75 g violet syrup
6. 5 g lavender extract

Method

1. Whisk sugar and yolks together
2. Bring cream and milk to a simmer over medium heat
3. Slowly pour the cream and milk into the sugar and yolks while whisking continuously
4. Pour the mixture back into the pan and stir continuously until nappe
5. Pour the mixture into a bowl set over ice water and stir until chilled
6. Stir in violet syrup and lavender extract

Pate Chaud: Vietnamese Pork Pie

As challenging and fun making pate en croute sounds, I sadly didn’t have enough time this month to take a stab at it.  Thankfully, English pork pie was offered as an alternative for the September CharcutePalooza challenge.  I didn’t know what an English pork pie consisted of until I read the recipe in Charcuterie.  Once I read the recipe, though, I was completely familiar with it and realized that I’d been making pork pies for the past few years and eating them since childhood in the form of pate chaud.

Pate chaud is essentially the Vietnamese version of a pork pie.  Instead of Western seasonings, the pork is typically seasoned with fish sauce.  Depending on the cook, miscellaneous things like wood ear mushrooms may be added for a crunchy texture.  However, my grandma’s vegetarian version that I grew up on consisted of Morningstar Griller soy meat, mushrooms, peas, carrots, and Maggi (sort of like soy sauce) baked inside a handheld puff pastry shell.  The soy meat never bothered me because to this day I still prefer her version over any meat-based pate chaud I’ve ever tried.

My goal for this month’s challenge was to use the English pork pie recipe and technique in Charcuterie as a foundation and impart my grandma’s influence on it in order to make a respectable pork pate chaud.  Typically my grandma uses frozen peas, but I saw some nice snap peas at the market and had to use them.  Also, my grandma and I usually use premade frozen puff pastry dough, but making my own pastry dough from scratch this time was a good experience.

With the exception of a slightly soggy bottom (probably due to underestimating the amount of water released from the mushrooms) the pate chaud came out pretty good.  The pastry was understandably less flaky than the puff pastry that I’m used to, but it was flaky enough to hold its own.  One regret was not forming the pate chaud into its traditional handheld portions.  This would’ve made freezing and reheating portions much easier.

In all honesty, though, I still prefer my grandma’s vegetarian pate chaud.  There’s just something about the combination of soy meat, mushrooms, peas, carrots, and Maggi that I just love.

 

Pate Chaud Meat Filling

Mise En Place

1. 675 g pork, freshly ground
2. 100 g peas, diced
3. 100 g carrots, diced
4. 100 g shiitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
5. 5 g black pepper, freshly ground
6. 80 g mushroom-pork stock, reduced slightly more than normal and chilled
7. 40 g Maggi, European version with red top is preferable

HEADCHEESE – parsley root, doenjang mustard, smoldering cinnamon

Having been exposed to headcheese at a young age through banh mi, I fortunately don’t have an aversion to it.  I also have no qualms about handling a pig’s head as I’ve cooked with it in the past.  Although I’ve used pig’s head for tamales, congee, and barbeque in the past, I’ve never made headcheese.  This month’s CharcutePalooza challenge provided a great excuse to finally make some.

For the headcheese challenge, I wanted to focus on texture because headcheese typically lacks in that department.  Placing some headcheese on top of a cracker didn’t sound very fun, so I thought about battering and deep frying pieces of headcheese.  However, I wanted to preserve the integrity of the gelatin in the headcheese and prevent it from melting in the fryer.  After all, where’s the fun in eating headcheese if it doesn’t have any gelatin?

The use of agar-agar came to mind as a way to keep the gelatin from melting under high heat.  My mom used to make jasmine-coconut agar jelly when I was young, so working with agar wasn’t too foreign to me.  The application of agar in a hot preparation, though, was a first.  I already knew agar-based gelatins held their gel state at room temperature, and a little research revealed that agar-based gelatins melt at 85 Celsius.  I decided to use agar threads as they’re readily available at most Asian grocers and 3 times cheaper than agar powder found online.

Since I received some negative responses about showing a pig’s head in previous head-related posts, I’ll spare readers the sight of the suckling pig’s head I bought from Marketplace Oakton.  I feel pretty spoiled having suckling pig’s head so readily available and for only $0.99/lb.  After poaching the head and separating the liquid, I added enough agar to bring the liquid to a 1% agar solution.  I’m not sure how apparent it is in the picture above, but I think I added too much liquid to the mold.

During my research into how much agar to use per unit of liquid, I stumbled upon Grant Achatz’s pheasant with burning oak leaves and sweet potato with smoldering cinnamon stick recipes.  I’ve had the fortunate opportunity to eat at Alinea a few times, so I was familiar with the “tempura on a skewer that serves as an aroma source” style of preparation.  It didn’t take long for me to realize that preparing the headcheese in a similar fashion would be interesting and fun.

When thinking about what to pair the headcheese with, I looked to classic combinations like pickles and mustard.  Initially, I wasn’t sure what I’d use for the pickle, but upon seeing fresh parsley root at Marketplace Oakton I knew I had to use it.  It was only natural to use the leaves in the poaching liquid and make a quick pickle out of the roots.

The previous week I worked with doenjang (a fermented soybean paste akin to miso) for the first time and made some doenjang jigae.  Being on somewhat of a doenjang binge and with mustard on my mind, I was reminded of my cousin’s miso salad dressing I had as a kid.  The miso salad dressing tasted like honey mustard, so I figured an agar-based doenjang mustard gel would work nicely.

A common element between the mustard, pickled parsley root, and headcheese was allspice.  Since allspice and cinnamon go hand in hand, the choice of a cinnamon stick skewer made sense.  The tempura batter specified by Achatz was super light and when fried provided a nice crispy texture.  Using a blowtorch, I set the top of the cinnamon stick ablaze to release its aroma.

To plate the bite, I used an old wire whisk (a great idea from Martin over at Alineaphile) to achieve some semblance of the original served at Alinea that comes nestled in the “squid” by Crucial Detail.  The squid is “designed to hold a delicate course in an upright position.  Six thin wires distribute weight evenly and allow air flow around the dish.”

Overall, the tempura headcheese was a success and a lot of fun to research and implement.  Deep frying headcheese and having the gelatin not melt tickled me pretty good.  I also achieved my goal of highlighting texture for this challenge.  The fried tempura batter provided crispiness and the pickled parsley root provided crunchiness.  Everything worked from a flavor standpoint as well.  The combination of headcheese, pickle, and mustard was immediately familiar, and the addition of doenjang added a sweet note to the bite.

I don’t know if I’ll be making these again any time soon due to the amount of time required, but I’m confident enough to try Achatz’s pheasant and sweet potato recipes now that I’m familiar with the general strategies.  I’m also walking away with a great tempura batter ratio.  Out of all the CharcutePalooza challenges thus far, this one has been my favorite as I’ve learned the most from it.

 

Doenjang Mustard Gel (adapted from here)

Mise En Place

1. 30 g yellow mustard seeds
2. 30 g brown mustard seeds
3. 60 g doenjang
4. 1 g white peppercorns
5. Pinch allspice
6. 70 g white wine
7. 70 g vinegar
8. 45 g shallot, minced
9. 3 g agar

Method

1. Combine all ingredients and refrigerate overnight
2. Transfer all ingredients to a saucepan or pot over high heat and bring to boil
3. Quickly transfer all ingredients to a blender and blend for ~2 minutes
4. Quickly transfer mixture into a small mold (must set to at least 3 mm thickness) and refrigerate until completely set, ~2 hours

HEADCHEESE – pickled parsley root, doenjang mustard, smoldering cinnamon (adapted from here)

Mise En Place

1. Headcheese, cut into a 2 cm cubes
2. Pickled parsley root, cut into 2 cm X 2 cm X 3 mm rectangular prisms
3. Doenjang mustard gel, cut into 2 cm X 2 cm X 3 mm rectangular prisms
4. Cinnamon stick, pared down thin enough on one end to skewer the ingredients
5. Flour for dredging
6. Tempura batter

Method

1. Skewer the pickled parsley root onto the cinnamon stick, followed by the doenjang mustard gel, and lastly the headcheese
2. Dredge the ingredients in flour and shake off any excess
3. Coat the ingredients in tempura batter and let any excess drip off
4. Holding onto one end of the cinnamon, dip ingredients in 190 Celsius oil until golden, ~2 minutes
5. Drain on paper towels and season with salt
6. Take a flame to one end of the cinnamon until smoldering

Homemade Ramen With Hot Dogs & Corn

Often times when my dad was too busy to cook a proper meal, he would make a bowl of Sapporo Ichiban instant ramen and fortified it with a hot dog and canned corn.  The corn my sound odd, but its sweetness goes well with the saltiness of the hot dog and instant ramen broth.  Once I became old enough to boil a pot of water and make instant ramen by myself, I carried on his tradition whenever I needed something to eat in a pinch.  Eventually, I’d come to add my own personal touch to instant ramen by using Mexicorn instead of plain canned corn.

With this month’s Charcutepalooza challenge being hot dogs, I was motivated to make one of the most treasured fast foods from my childhood completely from scratch.  Not only would I make the hot dogs from scratch, but the noodles, broth, and Mexicorn as well.

By now, grinding meat has become second nature.  However, emulsifying meat was new territory.  I was pretty paranoid when the meat was being blended in the food processor.  Fears of the emulsification breaking ran wild through my head as I’ve broken a mayonnaise once.  Thankfully the emulsification came together without a hitch.

I did have issues stuffing the hot dogs, though.  I lost the small plastic propeller from my sausage stuffer Kitchen Aid attachment which caused the meat to extrude unevenly.  Although I was successful in the end, stuffing was a bit harder this time around.  To smoke the hot dogs, I again used the method of starting the stovetop smoker on the stove for 10 minutes and then transferring it to the oven for about an hour until the hot dogs came to temperature.

The task of making the ramen noodles from scratch seemed ambitious at first, but once I got started I realized how easy it is to make a basic noodle (as long as you have a pasta roller and cutter).  Making the noodles simply amounted to mixing the dough in a stand mixer, portioning the dough, running the dough through a pasta roller, and running the dough through a pasta cutter.

One notable thing about the ramen noodles was the addition of xanthan gum.  Inspired by Tom’s modernist ravioli, I added 3 grams of xanthan gum to my 300 gram batch of flour.  True to his word, my noodles didn’t stick together at all even in the absence of a dusting of flour.

When I gulped down my first spoonful of soup and happily slurped the chewy noodles, I was taken back to my childhood.  I could picture myself sitting in the kitchen in Southern California filling my stomach with instant ramen packed with umami.  Only this time, the umami came from a broth consisting of homemade dashi and homemade pork stock rather than an MSG-laden packet of soup base.  Also, the smokiness of the bonito flakes in the dashi complimented the smokiness of the hot dog quite well.

Overall, the dish and challenge was a resounding success.  Not only did I get to relive a moment of my childhood, but I learned how to make an emulsified sausage, ramen noodles, and dashi (which I will be using a lot in the future) from scratch.

 

Ramen Noodles

Via norecipes.com (with an addition of 3 grams xanthan gum)

Ramen Broth

Via citrusandcandy.com

Mexicorn

Mise En Place

1. 250 g corn, cut from the cob
2. 130 g bell peppers, skinned and diced

Method

1. Melt a pad of butter in a pan over medium heat
2. Add corn and bell peppers to pan and saute for a few minutes
3. Salt to taste

Shrimp Etouffee With Tasso Ham (Two Ways)

When I learned that April’s CharcutePalooza challenge would be tasso ham, I was both frightened and excited because I had no idea what tasso ham was.  However, once I read that tasso ham is a typical Cajun ingredient, I felt a little more comfortable as I’m somewhat familiar with the cuisine.  At that point, I decided to make an untraditional version one of my favorite Cajun dishes: etouffee.

Since etouffee is traditionally served over rice, serving it inside a baked bao would qualify as untraditional.  The idea of stuffing a bao with etouffee came to me in a somewhat convoluted fashion.  When I started thinking about the ingredients for etouffee, the taste of celery from the holy trinity kept persisting in my mind.  I think this happened because I’m not a fan of raw celery, and that prejudice may have unconsciously carried over to cooked celery.

Regardless, the combination of celery and pork took me back to grandma’s baked char siu bao.  Her version of the classic Cantonese barbeque pork bun uniquely contained sauteed celery, and that became the catalyst for my etouffee baos.

Out of all the CharcutePalooza challenges thus far, tasso ham required the least amount of time to prepare and could be done in a single day.  After curing for a few hours, the pork had to be smoked.  Since I didn’t have any existing smoking equipment, I opted to buy a small stovetop smoker.  In hindsight, I probably would have been happier spending a little extra more money on the larger model.

The smoker came with some alder wood, which I read is commonly used to smoke seafood.  As such, I decided to use that as the source of smoke and make my etouffee a shrimp etouffee.  After reading through the manual, I was surprised to learn that the smoker is designed to create a 375 degree smoking environment.  Since the hot smoking recipes in Charcuterie call for a 200 degree smoking environment, I started the process on a medium heat stove for about 10 minutes in order to get the wood smoking and then transferred the smoker to a 200 degree oven.  It took about an hour for my 1-inch thick slabs to get up to temperature.

With the tasso ham done, I turned to making pork-shrimp stock for the etouffee.  Using the pressure cooker method, I was able to make a nice pork stock from fresh meaty pork bones in about an hour.  Once the pork stock was strained, I added it back to the pressure cooker with the heads and shells from the shrimp I peeled for the etouffee and boiled it at pressure for about 10 minutes.  I made sure to squeeze every ounce of shrimp head goodness when straining the stock for a second time.

As the pork-shrimp stock cooled overnight in the fridge, something odd happened.  What looked like tiny mountain ranges of amazing pork and shrimp fat congealed at the top.  Usually the fat congeals flat, but not this time.

With all my mise en place finished, I started making the etouffee.  Despite having set out to eat the etouffee in bao form only, I simply couldn’t control myself.  Once it was done, I had to have a plate over rice right then and there.  Luckily for me, my Asian heritage pretty much guarantees that I’ll have leftover rice in the fridge 6 out of 7 days of the week.  The spices from the tasso ham melded nicely with the sauce and the smokiness from the alder wood definitely went well with the shrimp.

With my plate of etouffee over rice devoured, I turned to thickening the sauce a little more so I could fill the baos without making a huge mess.  I could have easily just used more flour in the roux when making the etouffee sauce, but I wanted to experiment with xanthan gum for the first time after being inspired by the use of it in pasta in this post.  One gram of xanthan gum thickened the sauce enough to the point where I could easily portion the etouffee onto the bao dough, but it did make it a little clumpy.

In the end, the etouffee baos were good, but I preferred the etouffee traditionally over rice because it had a higher sauce to starch ratio.  Although this is something easily remediable for next time, this meant there was simply more flavor in each bite when eaten eaten over rice.

As for the tasso ham, the smokiness heightened the etouffee a lot.  Being a fan of American barbeque, especially Chicago style rib tips, I can definitely say that I’ll be using my new smoker a lot this summer.  The only issue is that it makes my home smell smoky and savory for a good 4 or 5 days, which isn’t a necessarily a bad thing.

 

Shrimp Etouffee (adapted from here)

Mise En Place

1. 75 g (~0.17 lbs) onion, diced
2. 75 g (~0.17 lbs) bell peppers, diced
3. 75 g (~0.17 lbs) celery, diced
4. 175 g (~0.39 lbs) tasso ham, diced
5. 490 g (~1 lb) shrimp, peeled
6. 355 g (~1 cup) stock
7. 113 g (1 stick) unsalted butter
8. 16 g (~2 Tbsp) flour

Method

1. Melt butter in a large pot over medium-high heat
2. Add the flour once some of the liquid has evaporated from the butter.  Stir to make a  thin roux.
3. Add the onion, bell peppers, and celery and stir until softened, about 5 minutes.
4. Add the tasso ham and shrimp.  Simmer until thickened, about 5 minutes.
5. Serve over rice.