Menudo & Pho

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            FOOD FUNNY
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Thanks once again to Anna Welander for this one:

Technical/engineering schools such as MIT and Cal Tech pride themselves
on their excellence in teaching mathematical skills. They only got in
trouble once in a beginning calculus course in which there was a Friday
night exam. It seems that many of the students thought they knew the
material so well that they drank beer all afternoon before the exam. By
the bad grades on their exams, they learned that alcohol and
differential calculus don't mix. By now, most everyone knows... you
should never drink and derive.

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            TODAY'S RECIPES
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This dish is often served for breakfast in Mexico, where it is
believed to have restorative powers for those who have overindulged
the night before.

Menudo

2 lb (1 Kg) beef tripe
2 pig's feet
8 cups (2 L) water
6 ears of corn
6 scallions (spring onions), green and white parts, chopped
1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Garnishes: chopped fresh oregano, lemon and lime wedges,
hot pepper flakes, chopped onion

Combine the tripe, pigs feet, and water in a large pot and bring to a
boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer covered for 3 hours.
Allow the pot to cool and remove the meats. Cut the tripe into thin
strips and remove the bones from the pig's feet. Return the meats to
the stock. Cut the corn from the cobs and add it, along with the
scallions, coriander, salt, and pepper, to the stock. Bring to a boil
and cook for 5 minutes. Serve with garnishes for diners to help
themselves to. Serves 6 to 8.

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If Vietnam had an official national dish, this would be it. Typically
a breakfast dish, it is also to be found on most luncheon and dinner
menus. It's actually as much of a salad as a soup, and is usually
served as a one-dish meal.

Pho (Vietnamese Beef Soup)

5 to 6 lb (2.5 - 3 Kg) beef bones, cut into 2 inch (5 cm) pieces
1 lb (500 g) stew beef, cut into 1/2 inch (1 cm) pieces
4 onions, very thinly sliced
A 1 inch (2 cm) piece of fresh ginger root, scraped and thinly sliced
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise*
1 tsp (5 ml) whole black peppercorns
Salt to taste
1 lb (500 g) fresh bean sprouts
1/2 lb (250 g) dried rice noodles
6 scallions (spring onions), thinly sliced, including the green parts
1 lb (500 g) rump steak, sliced paper thin into pieces about 2 by 4
inches (5 x 10 cm)
2 lemons, cut into wedges
2 hot red chillies, sliced into thin rings
Nuoc cham (see below)
Vegetable platter (see below)

* Available in finer supermarkets and Asian specialty shops.

Place the bones and stew meat in a large soup pot and add 10 cups (2.5
L) water. Add half the sliced onions, the ginger, cinnamon, star anise,
peppercorns, and salt. Bring to a boil and turn the heat to a very low
simmer. Skim the foam from the surface and cook covered for 6 hours.

Soak the noodles in enough water to cover for 2 hours. Drain and cook in
enough boiling water to cover until just tender. Do not overcook. Drain
well and set aside. Blanche the bean sprouts by pouring boiling water
over them in a colander. Rinse under cold water and set aside.

To serve, divide the noodles among individual serving bowls. Top the
noodles with bean sprouts, sliced scallions, sliced onions, and the
paper-thin slices of beef. Ladle the broth over the beef and noodles.
The heat from the broth is enough to cook the beef, which should be
slightly pink. Serve with lemon wedges, sliced chillies, nuoc cham, and
vegetable platter. Serves 6 to 8 as a main dish.

This sauce is served at virtually every meal, and is the Vietnamese
equivalent to the Western custom of providing salt and pepper with every
meal.

Nuoc Cham

2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small, hot, red chili pepper, seeds and membranes removed
2 Tbs (30 ml) sugar
1/4 fresh lime, juice and pulp only
4 Tbs (60 ml) fish sauce*
2 to 4 Tbs (30 - 60 ml) water, according to taste

* Also known as nuoc mam, it is available in finer supermarkets and
Asian specialty shops.

Purists insist that the garlic and chili pepper be ground together in a
mortar and pestle, although acceptable results can be obtained by
processing all the ingredients in a food processor. The traditional
procedure is as follows:

Combine the garlic and chili pepper in a mortar and mash with the pestle
until a paste is formed. Squeeze the lime juice into the paste, then
remove the pulp from the lime and add it to the mixture. Mash to a paste
again, and add the fish sauce and water, stirring to combine. Makes
about 1/2 cup (125 ml) to serve 4 to 6.

This vegetable platter is almost as common a sight on Vietnamese tables
as is the nuoc cham. An assortment of greens and sliced vegetables is
served alongside many traditional dishes, allowing the diners to serve
themselves.

Vietnamese Vegetable Platter

1 head soft leaf lettuce, such as Boston or Bibb (not iceberg)
1 cucumber
1 cup fresh mint leaves
1 cup fresh cilantro (coriander leaves)
1 cup fresh bean sprouts

Separate the head of lettuce into individual leaves, rinse, drain, and
set aside. Peel the cucumber partially, so as to leave stripes of green
skin down its length. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, and then into
thin slices, forming semicircles. Arrange the lettuce leaves in a mound
in the center of a platter. Arrange the mint, cilantro, and bean sprouts
in mounds around the lettuce. Arrange the cucumber slices around the
edge of the platter, overlapping them slightly.
Received on Tue Apr 24 08:32:10 2007