D2 THE BULLETIN• TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2015
FOOD
Grandma'schopsuey was a family favorite By Julie Rothman The Baltimore Sun
Marc Neermann, of Norcross, Georgia, was looking for a recipe for chop suey like his grandmother made
The Associated Press file photo
Different grades of maple syrup are displayed atMorseFarm Sugarworks in East Montpelier, Vermont.
in the 1950s or early 1960s.
The main ingredients, as far as he and his mother can recall, were beef and possibly pork, bead molasses, bean sprouts, water chestnuts and
Naple sltrup gradesexplained SAME SYRUP, NEW GRADES In late January, the U.S. Department of Agriculture revised its voluntary maple syrup grading standards to match international standards. Becauseof increased demandfor darker syrup for cooking and table use, the new classifications are meant to address producer concerns and customer confusion, and they include color and flavor descriptors. Everything sold retail is now considered Grade Awith these classifications. • Golden color with delicate taste (formerly Grade A light amber) • Amber color and rich taste (formerly GradeA medium anddarkamber) • Dark color and robust taste (formerly GradeA dark amber andGrade B) • Very dark and strong taste (formerly Commercial grade)
soy sauce. It was served over white rice.
Photos by Kirk McKoy/ Los Angeles Times /Thts
Along with its title ingredients, Grilled Apple Salad with Blue Cheese and Maple Vinaigrette features radicchio, fennel and bacon.
Qrilled Apple Salad with Blue Cheese and Maple Vinaigrette Makes 4 servings
Rosalia Case, of Ellicott City, Maryland, said her mother made this type of chop suey during the '50s and '60s and that it was a
family favorite for Sunday night dinner. Case thought her recipe might be very similar to what Norcross was searching for. She said her mother's ver-
'/ Ib bacon, cut crosswise into t/s-inch thick strips 1 head radicchio 1 Ig head fennel 2 tart apples, such as Mclntosh
or Granny Smith 2 TBS minced shallots
/4 C plus 2 TBS sherry vinegar 3 TBS olive oil
sion did not include water
/ tspchopped thyme
Freshly ground black pepper
/4 tsp chopped rosemary
4 oz blue cheese, preferably
have been a personal preference. She is not sure where
5 TBS maple syrup
Maytag
Salted
Maple Pudding takes about 20 minutes to
Maple Continued from D1
prepare, plus cooling
The smoked steelhead roe
with maple cream and pumpernickel bread at Son of a
time. The
Gun "has a bit of a cult fol-
following recipe yields
lowing," says Dotolo. Unusual sounding, perhaps, if you haven't tried it. But, Dotolo adds, "It kind of
m i ght
her mother got the recipe, but
Cook the bacon strips over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the strips are crisp, about10 minutes. Drain the bacon onpapertowels, reserving 3 tablespoons bacon grease. Remove anywilted outer leaves from the radicchio and slice it lengthwise into eight wedges. Trim the top off the fennel, halve it lengthwise, then slice it crosswise into half-inch strips, discarding the core. Core the apples and cut each into 8 wedges. Whisk together the shallots, thyme, rosemary, maple syrup, vinegar, bacon grease and olive oil. Season with /2teaspoon salt and a grind of black pepper, or to taste. This makesabout 1 cup vinaigrette. Brush the apple wedges with a little of the vinaigrette and place them on an oiled grill heated over medium-high heat. Grill the wedgesfor about 2 minutes on eachside, until slightly softened with defined grill marks. Remove andreserve in awarm place. Do the same with the fennel and radicchio. Divide the apple, fennel and radicchio among 4 plates. Crumble the blue cheese over the salads, and sprinkle over the bacon. Drizzle1 to 2 teaspoons of the remaining vinaigrette over eachsalad. Serve immediately.
— Noelle Carter, Los Angeles Times
chestnuts, but t hat
four to six
servings.
reminds you of bagels and lox.
it possibly came off a can of chow mein noodles or bean sprouts.
The recipe calls for round steak, but it certainly could be made with pork tenderloin
instead or even a combination of the two. Bead molasses is similar to
RECIPE FINDER Looking for a hard-to-find recipe or cananswer a request? Write to Julie Rothman, Recipe Finder, The Baltimore Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278, or email baltsunrecipefinder© gmail.com. Namesmust accompany recipes for them to be published.
ln the 1950s and
'60s, this type of dish was what
passed for Chinese cooking in this country. Though we've come a long way since then, this American-Chinese dish ls surprisingly good and simple to make without a lot
of fancy or pricey ingredients or timeconsuming prep work.
light molasses in color, texture and sweetness. It is commonly used in Asian dishes to add flavor and color. If you Requests have trouble locating it, you Patty Wolfe, of Bend, said can substitute light molas- that she grewup in central Inses or an Asian-style brown diana and in the early 1960s, sauce. I used a low-sodium her sister-in-law made a soy sauce and also added breakfastcasserole that was some water chestnuts for quite unusual at the time. As crunch. she remembers it, the dish In the 1950s and '60s,this was a bed of white rice that type of dish was what passed had several indentations filled for Chinese cooking in this with single whole eggs. It was country. Though we've come then topped with some kind a long way since then, this of sauce or soup, and perhaps A merican-Chinese dish i s cheese, andbaked. Wolfe said surprisingly good and simple it was "super-delish" and she to make without a lot of fan- was hoping someone might cy or pricey ingredients or be familiar with this dish and time-consuming prep work. be able to share the recipe.
The smokiness, saltiness and
sweetness lends itself to a really nice contrast."
Beef Chop Suey
Another cult favorite? The
foie gras loco moco at Animal. Its take on the Hawaiian comfort food layers rice,a
j
beefburger,Spam, foie gras and a quail egg bathed in a sweet-spicy sauce punctuat-
tk '
Makes 4 servings
I / fP:;:ii////l '.'',lrrri
3 TBS cooking oil 1 Ib beef (round steak) cut into
Salted Maple Pudding
small pieces '/ tsp pepper
Makes 4 to 6servings
ed with notes of Sriracha and maple syrup. '/4C (/s stick) butter, cut into /4"I have a kind of attachinch pieces ment to maple syrup," says 3 C whole milk
1 C maple syrup 1 tsp kosher salt 1 (4-inch) vanilla bean, split
1 TBS bead molasses 2 C boiling water or beef stock 1 14-oz can bean sprouts,
rinsed and drained
1 tsp salt 2/ TBS soy sauce
3 TBS cornstarch t/4 C water 3 C celery, cut in1-inch pieces White rice, cooked lengths Chow mein noodles 2 Ig onions, cut in chunks
2 eggs 3 egg yolks 5 TBS cornstarch
Susan Feniger of Southern California restaurants Bor-
Place the butter in a strainer set over abowl. Place the bowl over a larger bowl of ice water to form an ice bath. In a heavy saucepan, whisk together the milk, maple syrup, salt and vanilla bean. Cook over medium-high ern. She says she used to heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture comes to aboil, 5 to 7 minutes. make maple syrup when she Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, eggyolks and cornstarch. was in college in Vermont. Whisk /t cup of the boiling half-and-half into the egg mixture to temper the eggs, then slowly stir the egg Feniger describes collect- mixture into the hot liquid. Increase the heat to high andcook, whisking constantly (and scraping the sides and ing the sap and staying up all bottom of the pan), until the mixture thickens andcomes to aboil. night, boiling the sap down Immediately removethepanfrom heat and pour the mixture over the butter in the strainer. Strain the custard, to a syrup. "It was pretty inthen gently stir until the butter is completely incorporated. This makesabout 3 cups custard. credible. I've always been a Divide the custard between serving cups or ramekins. Place asheet of plastic wrap over the surface of each big fan." custard to prevent a skin from forming, andset aside until cooled. der Grill and Mud Hen Tav-
Heat oil in large skillet. Add beef cubes, salt and pepper and cook until browned. Stir in soysauce. Removemeatfrom the pan, set aside. Add celery, onions, bead molasses and boiling water or beef stock to the pan the meat was browned in. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Add the rinsed and drained bean sprouts. Cook 3 minutes, thenaddset-asidebeefcubes. Mix cornstarch and /4cup water. Add to mixture in pan andcook 5 minutes. Ladle over cooked rice andsprinkle with a generous amount of chow mein noodles on top.
At Feniger's Mud Hen Tav-
ern, she's used maple syrup quite a bit over the years. "Kind of f rom th e Street
Maple-Bourbon Smoked Duck
Makes 6 to 8servings days," she says. (Feniger transformed Street,her ear- 2 TBS mustard seeds 3 (4-inch) rosemary sprigs, lier restaurant, into Mud Hen 1 qt apple cider lightly crushed in 2013.). "You've got that 1 qt water 2 (5- to 6-Ib) ducks, thawed Southeast Asian sweet-salty '/ C kosher salt Apple or hickory chips, soaked t/s C(1 stick) butter thing going on." 1 C maple syrup, divided Maple infuses a number '/ C bourbon of dishes, including chicken and wafflecroquettes served Toast the mustard seeds in a pot over medium-low heat just until with a spicy maple sauce and they start to pop, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cider and water to the pot, smoked pork belly flavored and stir in the salt, t/2 cup maple syrup and bourbon. Add the crushed with an espr e sso-maple rosemary sprigs and bring the mixture to a boil. Remove from heat brine. and set aside until the brine cools to room temperature. The restaurant even feaPlace the ducks in a large nonreactive bowl and pour the brine over tures a cocktail called the them. Place a plate over the ducks to weigh them down so they stay Old Maple, which, though it submerged in the brine. Cover and refrigerate overnight. doesn't contain actual maple, The next morning, remove the ducks from the brine and dry them combines a mixture of rye with paper towels. Place the ducks, uncovered, on a rack and refrigwhiskey, walnut bitters and erate until about an hour before cooking. agave. About an hour before cooking, prepare the smoker or grill to cook "It almost tastes like maple over low, indirect heat: Set up a drip pan beneath where the ducks will syrup," Feniger says. smoke, and fill with water (or the liquid used to soak the wood chips). M aple syrup i t self i s Shortly before cooking, adjust the heat as needed to maintain a temg oing through a bit o f a perature between 250 and 300 degrees and add the soaked chipsto renaissance. start smoking. Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the remaining "Maple syrup has such a maple syrup; this will be used to baste the ducks as they cook. distinct flavor," says Shook. Baste the ducks and place them (breast-side up) over the drip pan "The generation I grew up in, in the prepared smoker. Adjust the heat as needed (add several coals it was Aunt Jemima." to both sides of the grill as needed if using a kettle grill) to keep the smokerbetween 250 and300degrees;replenish thechipsasneeded to keep smoking for the first hour. Baste the ducks every 30 minutes "I have a kind of or so to keep them moist. attachment to maple Cook to an internal temperature of 135 degrees, 2 to 3 hours (timing will vary depending on the size of the ducks and heat of the smoksyi'up. er). To crisp the skin, open the vents of the grill or smoker to increase — Susan Feniger of Southern the heat, and continue to cook the ducks for 5 to 10 minutes more. California restaurants Border Remove and set aside15 to 20 minutes to rest before carving. Grill and Mud Hen Tavern
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