Blog of Cookery

This dish, Agebitashi, is an appetizer of deep fried eggplant. It's not terribly difficult to make, and is pretty damn tasty. Also, the longer you let it sit before serving, the less you'll get that "eggplant numbs my tongue" feeling that is common.

Agebitashi means "fried soaking" in Japanese, and we're going to do both. You'll sometimes hear you need to soak aubergines before cooking, but I think this might be a bit of a myth. Scoring and salting them is also common, usually to try and reduce bitterness. I say, just buy fresh produce and don't worry too much. We're going to do some scoring, to absorb more goodness, and the sauce will take care of the salt. Some recipes call for "Japanese eggplant", but I couldn't find any and just used regular ol' ones and it seemed to turn out fine.

If you're vegetarian, you can skip the bonito flakes and dashi broth (bonito fish broth). If you're gluten intolerant, you can substitute gluten free soy sauce.

PREP TIME: 20 MINUTES

MARINADE TIME: 2 HOURS - OVERNIGHT

COOKING TIME: 15 MINUTES

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

Small saucepan

Large saucepan

Collander or draining rack

Medium tupperware or casserole dish

Bonito flakes (optional)

INGREDIENTS:

One large eggplant

2 cups vegetable oil

One small daikon radish

Small piece of fresh ginger

One scallion (green onion)

For the sauce:

3 tbsp soy sauce

3 tbsp sake

1 tbsp sugar

3/4 cup dashi broth (optional, substitute kombu - seaweed and shiitake mushrooms boiled for stock, which also tastes good added to the above, just not as lazy!!)

(For the lazy dashi broth method, you can buy dashi packets at PAT Central or Lazy Moose, like the one below.)

​METHOD:

In a small covered saucepan, mix the dashi packet with 3/4 cup water, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 3 tbsp sake and 1 tbsp sugar. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit.

Wash your eggplant. Cut off the top, and cut in half lengthwise.

Score the eggplant at an angle across its width, at 1/8 inch intervals. Use a really sharp knife to make this easy. Slice the skin open, but don't cut deeply, just enough to cut the skin.

Cut the eggplant into 3 inch pieces, about 6 pieces total.

In a large saucepan, bring 2 cups of vegetable oil to boil.

Carefully place 3 pieces of eggplant into the boiling oil, skin down, and cook for 2 minutes.

Remove and place skin up in the collander to drain. Repeat with the other 3 pieces. Let the eggplant cool for 5 minutes or more.

Once cool, place the eggplant skin up in a tupperware or casserole dish that fits them snugly. Pour the sauce into the container and let sit for at least 2 hours.

When you're ready to serve, place one or two of the eggplant pieces in a small bowl. Peel and grate the daikon on top, and grate a small amount of ginger on that. Pour the remaining sauce around the edge, and garnish with chopped scallions.

MARINADE TIME - 1 HOUR TO 1 DAY

COOKING TIME - 10 MINUTES 

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Large mixing bowl

Skillet

Sealed container or bag

Large pot

INGREDIENTS 

One large fillet white fish cut into small pieces. Many recipes suggest tilapia or cod. I used basa and it was great.

One bunch fresh dill

One whole scallion

Vermicelli noodles

For the marinade:

2 tsp turmeric

1 tbsp freshly chopped ginger

1 tbsp fish sauce

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

1 tsp sugar

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

METHOD

In the bowl, mix together the marinade - fish pieces, turmeric, ginger, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, flour, and oil. Place the mixture into a sealed container or bag and let sit in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably overnight.

Chop the scallions into one inch pieces.

Sauté the fish in a skillet with some oil, dill sprigs and half of the scallion pieces at medium low temperature.

 In the large pot boil water for the vermicelli.

Cook the vermicelli according to instructions. Rinse, drain and place into a bowl.

When the fish is cooked through (don’t overdo it!), spoon it onto the vermicelli. Usually a few minutes per side.

Garnish with the rest of the fresh uncooked dill and scallions.

Enjoy!

You can find various beer can chicken recipes online. A good, simple one is Jamie Oliver’s version, which is the first one I found. Since then I’ve gone off and adjusted to my own tastes. The real differences will come in the rub and the baste, so it’s fun to try different things out each time. Don’t overthink it! Most people assume the main thing that makes this dish “beer can chicken” is the presence of a can of beer that flavors the chicken. I disagree. I’ve found that, despite popular opinion otherwise, the amount of beer left over after cooking is the same as before you begin. I suspect that none of the beer actually “steams” its way into the chicken, and so now I actually just drink the beer and refill it halfway with warm water. The main benefit of using the beer can is to prop the chicken upright like a rotisserie. By setting your oven on bake and placing the chicken on the lowest rung, the thickest part of the bird is situated at the bottom, closest to the heat source. The overall result is an evenly cooked chicken. By filling the roasting pan with vegetables and some water before cooking, you can also easily prepare a whole meal of nicely roasted veggies along with the chicken! So easy. Let’s do it!

COOKING TIME - 2 HOURS INCLUDING PREP

WHAT YOU’LL NEED

Mortar and pestle, or a way to crush and mix the spices

Roasting pan or casserole dish

Large mixing bowl

One tall metal can of something (beer, pop, doesn’t matter). Make sure the can is NOT COLD, or you risk inhibiting the cooking of the chicken, which is risky.

Pastry brush

INGREDIENTS

One whole chicken (free range, organic preferred, obvs!)

One whole carrot, chopped

One whole potato, chopped

One whole cooking onion, chopped

One celery stalk, chopped, if you got it

For the rub:

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp ground black pepper

1 tsp celery salt

1 tsp onion salt

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

olive oil

For the baste:

(This is what I used, you can use whatever tastes good. Just mix these ingredients until you get a flavor that gets you hot!)

Ketchup

Spicy mustard (Kozlik’s, of course!)

Hot horseradish (just a tiny bit, otherwise it just tastes like shrimp dip)

Balsamic vinegar

Sriracha (or chili sauce of your preference)

Worcestershire sauce

Soy sauce

Kurozu (Japanese black rice vinegar, more on THAT later! Black malt vinegar will also work. I will make a whole post on the arcane dark sauces)

METHOD

Preheat your over to bake at 400 degrees F. Leave only the bottom rack.

Make sure the chicken is defrosted first (God forbid it was frozen!). Place it in the mixing bowl.

In the mortar and pestle, grind together all the spices for the rub.

Pour some olive oil over the chicken, and use your hands to spread the spice rub all over the chicken. Get in there! Make sure it gets inside, beneath the wings, everywhere! Get dirty, you scoundrel.

Drink a beer, then take a room temperature can and fill it halfway with warm water. DO NOT use a cold can! Place the beer can in the roasting pan or casserole dish.

Carefully place the chicken butt-end down overtop the beer can. The legs should almost touch the bottom. You don’t have to jam the chicken all the way onto it, just enough so it is sturdy and doesn’t fall over. You actually don’t want the can to go all the way through, as it could inhibit some of the interior cooking.

Be careful not to crush or crease the beer can too much, or it will lose it’s stability and risk toppling over during cooking.

Fill the roasting pan around the chicken with the chopped veggies, and then add just enough water to cover 1/3 of them.

Place the roasting pan onto the bottom rack of the oven.

Roast the chicken for 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Remove the chicken, use the pastry brush to spread the baste all over, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes. Crispyness!

When it’s done, remove and let sit for a few minutes before cutting. Get your friends together so they can laugh at the sight, but then be amazed at how good it tastes. You’re done! Serve that bird up right and have a meal!