Slow and Steady

BY KEANE STRAUB PHOTOS BY DONG KIM

There’s no arguing that filling the home with the scents of slow cooking adds to the overall eating experience once you do tuck in. Along with deepening flavours, slow cooking can also help stretch ingredients further, and free up time better spent with loved ones, or doing something just for yourself – just remember to set a timer to check on things when needed! This month we turn up the heat and pump the brakes to explore flavourful stews, braised meats, and comforting soups with recipes shared by four Alberta chefs. These all come together with ease, delight the senses, and free you up to take care of those things we tend to put on the back burner.

Chef Tu Le of Edmonton’s Jack’s Burger Shack (and its pop-up Charcoal Dragon) calls his style of cooking “a mash-up of Vietnamese cooking with Canadian ingredients and influence.” He owes this to being an immigrant, he adds, and credits his mother for much of what he’s learned.

While the menu at Jack’s leans into Western influences – the ‘All Shook Up’ burger is a subtle nod to Elvis, complete with peanut butter – Chef Tu hasn’t forgotten where he comes from.

When we asked for a slow-cooked recipe he was quick to reply with a recipe for Sot Vang, a Vietnamese-style beef stew. “My mom would make traditional Hanoi pho every weekend but once in a while my dad would spend the day and make Sot Vang,” he explains.

A relatively simple dish, it’s all about good seasoning and slow cooking. “Season the meat and brown it well - this adds a deep flavour to the stew. And really, you can’t overcook this dish, it’s like an Italian Sunday gravy in that you can start it in the morning and leave it on until dinner.”

Sot Vang

Serves 4-6

750g stew beef, cubed (can be substituted with short rib, chuck flats, or oxtail)

To taste salt and pepper

2 Tbs (30 mL) canola oil

1 large onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbs ginger, minced

2 Tbs (30 mL) tomato paste

2 cups (500 mL) water

5 cups (1¼ L) beef stock

1 cup (250 mL) dry red wine

2 Tbs (30 mL) fish sauce

2 Tbs (30 mL) light soy sauce

1 Tbs (15 mL) honey

2 cinnamon sticks

4 star anise

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 carrots, cut into rough chunks

Fresh cilantro, for garnish

1 white onion, thinly sliced for garnish Baguette or cooked rice noodles

1. Season beef liberally on both sides with salt and pepper and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil in large pot or Dutch oven on medium high heat. Add beef and brown on all sides, remove beef from pot.

3. Add onions, garlic, and ginger to pot and cook until fragrant.

4. Push onion, garlic, and ginger mixture to one side of the pot, add tomato paste to the other side and cook until paste darkens in colour.

5. Add browned beef, water, stock, wine, fish sauce, soy sauce, honey, cinnamon and star anise to pot, and bring to a boil.

6. Lower heat to low and allow to simmer for 2–2½ hours.

7. Add potatoes and carrots and simmer for another 1 hour. Adjust season with salt and pepper to taste.

8. Garnish with cilantro and onion and serve atop rice noodles or with baguettes for dipping.

Grilled and Braised Pork Sparerib

East meets west with creative twists at Calgary’s Clay Pot Asian Kitchen, and Chef Paul Yung says he has his wife, Polly, to thank. “She challenges me every day to make creative and flavourful dishes with her advice and suggestions, and she’s the main motivation behind my obsession with culinary arts.”

Sake-cured salmon and tuna atop shrimp crackers make for a refreshing change to western-style nachos, and Chef Paul takes it even further by tapping into Alberta, and specifically, their love of good beef and pork: think smoked beef brisket on a bao bun, and grilled and braised pork spareribs.

“Albertans love BBQ pork. The recipe I’m sharing adds Asian flavour to a traditional favourite Western dish. The St. Louis-style cut spareribs guarantees the meat to be tender and juicy.”

Another straightforward dish, Chef Paul emphasizes the importance of cooking times at different stages. “Adding the different ingredients at the appropriate time helps to bring out the best flavours.”

Serves 4

2 racks of St. Louis-style cut spareribs

¾ cup plus 1 Tbs (200 mL) canola oil

4 cups (1 L) chicken broth

4 cups (1 L) water

2 tsp (10 mL) sesame oil

1/3 cup plus 4 tsp (100 mL) honey

Sparerib spice

¾ cup plus 1 Tbs (200 mL) hoisin sauce

1/3 cup plus 4 tsp (100 mL) chuhou paste (available at Asian supermarkets, or replace with oyster sauce)

2 tsp minced garlic

1/3 cup plus 4 tsp (100 mL) light soy sauce

3 Tbs plus 1 tsp (50 mL) dark soy sauce

225 g rock sugar (available at Asian supermarkets, or replace with 200 g soft brown sugar)

2 Tbs plus 2 tsp (40 mL) cooking wine

1½ tsp 5-spice powder

1. Cut the spareribs into individual pieces between each rib bone.

2. Add the canola oil to a big pot on high heat. Sear the spareribs until they turn light brown.

3. Mix in the chicken broth and water until boiling.

4. Add all the sparerib spices to the pot, and stir. Turn down to medium heat and cover the pot with a lid.

5. Stir again when about 20 percent of the liquid is left in the pot.

6. When the level of liquid is down to 5 percent, add sesame oil and honey to cook until caramelized.

7. Garnish the dish with your favourite seasonal vegetables to complement the spareribs.

Seafood Soon Tofu Stew (Soon Dubu Jjigae)

At Edmonton’s NongBu, owner John Ahn’s goal is to share his knowledge of both the old and new of Korean cuisine. “My mother is a time capsule of old traditions and flavours from a different era of Korea. She produced amazing meals without the aid of flavour enhancers or packaged sauces,” he says. “We want to give our customers a real home-cooked experience with every visit.”

Familiar menu items like Pork Bulgogi and ‘any dish with Kimchi in it’ are Ahn’s faves, but when it comes to slowing things down to produce a comforting dish, Soon Dubu Jjigae (Seafood Soon Tofu Stew) is where it’s at.

“This is a comforting stew perfect for chilly days,” explains Ahn. “Take your time to bring out the natural flavours of your ingredients. The result is a cleaner and more comforting taste.” Adding more elements to the broth like shrimp shells, extra squid, and the ends of green onions makes for more depth of flavour, especially if you cook it longer to further reduce it.

Serves 4

Soup Stock

6 cups (1½ L) water

1 small sheet kombu seaweed

50 g daikon radish

3-4 dried anchovies

1 Tbs (15 mL) sesame oil

¼ medium onion, chopped

8 medium shrimp, chopped

100 g squid, chopped

Baby clams, in shell or just the meat

To taste salt

600-800g soft silken tofu

2 eggs

Green onions, chopped

Sauce

2 Tbs (30 mL) gochugaru fine (Korean chili powder)

1 tsp gochugaru coarse (Korean chili flakes)

2 Tbs (30 mL) soy sauce

1 tsp (5 mL) fish sauce

1 Tbs garlic, minced

1. In a pot, bring water to a boil. Turn off heat and add a washed sheet of kombu seaweed. Allow to steep until you get a nice green tint.

2. Remove kombu and add daikon and dried anchovies. Bring to boil and then reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 20–30 minutes.

3. In another pot on medium-high heat add 1 Tbs (15 mL) of sesame oil. Add the sauce ingredients and the diced onion. Stir until the onions start to sweat and become soft. 4. Add the soup stock, stir in to eliminate chunks.

5. Add shrimp, squid, and fresh clams to the broth. Season with salt.

6. Add silken tofu. Use a spoon to scoop out the tofu and add to your broth in large chunks. DO NOT STIR. You don’t want to break up the tofu too much. Boil for 5 minutes.

7. Crack eggs into the soup and turn off heat.

8. Garnish with chopped green onions.

Chicken Manchurian

Chef Mayur Kunte calls himself a lifelong foodie. Growing up, occasions both big and small were marked by feasts, and while his mother was a strict vegetarian, Chef Mayur says she made the best lamb, chicken, and fish dishes. “It amazes me to date as she never tasted a single thing, but the (dishes she made) had perfect taste every time she cooked.”

Inspired by the street food culture in Mumbai, Chef Mayur established Mumbai Bites in Calgary. The menu boasts a wide selection of kebabs, curries, and small plates, and among them Chef Mayur says his favourite is the Ragada Pattice. “I love it for the simplicity and textures this dish offers.”

And he says that simplicity is a major component of comfort food. “The easier the recipe is to execute, more fun it is to make it, and excitement will flow throughout the cooking process. When you keep a recipe simple, it will be consistent every time you make it.”

Chicken Manchurian is easy to prepare at home, says Chef Mayur. “It’s simply delicious, and for me, it brings back memories from my college days when I was a young, aspiring chef.”

Serves 4

1 tsp (5 mL) oil

1 Tbs garlic, minced

1 Tbs ginger, minced

1 tsp (5 mL) Szechwan sauce (or ½ teaspoon Sambal Oelek and a little dash of white vinegar)

¼ cup (60 mL) water

1¼ tsp salt or to taste

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp white vinegar

2 Tbs (30 mL) dark soy sauce

1 Tbs cornstarch mixed with 2-3 Tbs water (should resemble 10% cream)

300 g boneless chicken, cut into chunks

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup all-purpose flour

Oil for frying

1 Tbs green pepper, diced

1 Tbs cilantro

1 Tbs green onion

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot and add garlic and ginger. Sauté for 1 minute.

2. Add Szechwan sauce and continue to sauté. Add water and continue to gently cook the sauce.

3. Add salt and pepper, and then add vinegar and soy sauce.

4. Let the mixture cook for 10-15 minutes.

5. Add a little cornstarch slurry into the boiling sauce. Whisk to break up lumps and cook the sauce till it thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Add more cornstarch/water if necessary.

6. Lightly coat the chicken with egg and then flour. Heat oil and fry until chicken is completely cooked. Add the chicken chunks into the pan with the sauce.

7. Add the diced peppers, green onion, and cilantro, and transfer to the serving bowl.