Momofuku

There's this one stall in the Empire food fair, that sells mainly chicken this, chicken that on rice etc. But on their counter, there's 3 gladware containers of XO sauce. XO sauce to the uninitiated, contains no extra old brandy whatsoever. It does contain, dried scallop, stinky dried shrimp, chili, pork products, copious amounts of garlic, ginger, and oil. It is the condiment to rule all other condiments. It is a meal unto itself when paired with a bowl of white rice. It is calling out to me from the fridge, when I am caught unawares with a naked scrambled egg. Having boughten a smallish container once last year, hoovering it down in a scant 2 weeks, I still think about it.

David Chang published his version of XO sauce in his  Momofuku cookbook. It was the only thing that caught my eye, (besides the poached eggs) so I returned it. So sorry, to all you diehard fans out there. I really do want to go to one of his restaurants next year, but the cookbook, meh.

Jennifer Yu of Use Real Butter blog illustrated XO here:


Chinese XO Sauce
[print recipe]
from Momofuku by David Chang

2 oz (1/2 cup) dried scallops
2 oz (3/4 cup) dried shrimp
1/2 cup garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
1 cup country ham, chopped (or use Chinese sausage)
1/2 cup grapeseed oil or other neutral oil
1 tbsp crushed dried red chile

Place the scallops and shrimp in a medium bowl and cover with at least 1/2-inch of water. Cover the bowl and let sit overnight. Put the garlic and ginger in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Empty the contents into a bowl. Drain the scallops and shrimp. Place the scallops and shrimp in the food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the scallop and shrimp to the garlic and ginger. Finally, mince the ham or sausage in the food processor. Keep the ham or sausage separate from the rest of the ingredients. In a 12-inch sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat for a minute or so. Add the ham and stir occasionally, for about 3-4 minutes until the meat begins to crisp. Add the chile. Cook (stirring) for another 2-3 minutes. Reduce the heat to a very low flame and add the remaining ingredients to the pan. Let the sauce cook over low heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing is stuck to the pan. The sauce should dry out and turn a deep golden color. Remove from heat. Store in a covered jar in the refrigerator (should last for months). Makes 2 cups.

I used Chinese sausages (lap cheong), skipped the dried shrimp, and used less ginger and more garlic.  Pumped up the chili by 3 times and added extra glugs of canola oil. If I wasn't too busy sneaking tastes of this sauce, I'd post the pictures one day. 

David Chang also makes poached eggs in the shell, also known as onsen eggs. If I had known about these eggs on my trip to Japan 5 years ago, guess who would've been skinny dipping with a basket of eggs! They are often served on top of ramen in Japan. Funny, I've only had hard boiled or softly boiled eggs here on ramen in Canada. But, here's the long and short of it:

Put a trivet in a pot so the eggs don't touch the bottom. Add eggs. Add water to cover the eggs by an inch. Turn stove on to lowest possible setting. Walk away. 45 minutes later, presto! 

It's quite a thrill to break open, what seems to be a raw egg, and get softly poached perfection. Lovely with a sprinkling of furikake and dollop of....XO sauce.