Who's home cuisine is this? Is there any point in keeping it a secret? I... don't know. I don't think its really a spoiler, but maybe it seems like one? So I thought id be nice.
buongiorno we are making some authentic italian food according to 1 dwarf who lives in a dungeon
OK first of all the key ingredient, roasted pork. Research seems to suggest they make "chashu" style pork, which is pork belly slow roasted in a sort of bbq style marinade.
First I have to remove the rind i guess. Its got this kind of hard skin layer on one side. I just kind of had to saw it sideways for what seemed like an eternity.
Next, im rubbing on some chilli flakes, powdered ginger, brown sugar, soy sauce and cooking sake. You could marinate this for a while but im not a restaurant i dont care
I couldn't find any cooking twine at the shops (does nobody practice food bondage no more?) so ive tried to roll it up and wrap it really tight with foil and stick it in a loaf tin. I think you are also supposed to sear the pork for proper chashu, but knowing my oven pork tends to get burnt pretty quickly on the outside and i dont like a light touch on the inside so im just gonna roast it straight up.
Alright the roasts been roasting in the oven for some time, nows a good time to start on the rest of the dish. The... the "pasta". The spaghet. This is why I don't call spaghetti "noodles". We've got traditional italian ingredients like ramen noodles, bean sprouts, cabbage, spring onion, egg and garlic.
First ill get the soft boiled egg out the way. I remember being told you shouldnt boil an egg in a soup, something about eggshell contaminants or something? Dunno if true but here we are. 7 mins and then it can cool off while we do the other stuff.
For the broth i've got this fancy chicken stock I oughtta finish up, as well as some miso paste.
Adding a big fistful of these hotpot/ramen noodles and hot water. These noodles take ages but they are designed for a nice slow cooked broth.
While thats all going on, I rinse the beansprouts and fry them up.
When they've shrank a bit I can chop the pak choi (leafy cabbage) and fry that a bit too. Hmm... am I forgetting something...?
?!!?!?! I ALMOST FORGOT THE ROAST!!! Its looking ok though. Will it stay together when I slice it? Well we will find out soon.
Since its very juicy im going to add some of the pork fat juice into the broth as well.
Once the noodles are done we can start assembling everything and emptying the pan so we cna cook up the final touches - some of those chopped spring onions and a couple cloves of crushed garlic!
**
Well it looks pretty cool. But... its criminally underseasoned. Despite all that garlic, which is kinda nice, it kind of has that sickly taste of pork fat a bit too strongly. Maybe I really should have seared it or cooked it uncovered for longer. I also should have used even more seasoning in the first place, I was a bit light on it because it was a faff trying to roll the meat up. I guess the vegetables also dont really add much of a pop of sweet or sour either. Maybe im just spoiled on restaurant quality noodles because I thought this would be an easy winner. I feel very full now.
