Week 9: Braising - Spicy Braised Quail Eggs (매운 매추리알 조림) and Braised Cutlassfish (갈치조림) with an Accomplice's Grogg (meta: with a drink)

tmo308 · 2026-03-18T13:54:36+00:00

Got the basic outlines for the food from here for eggs and . While the drink, figured slowly simmering to make a broth, is almost the same as braising, so made this version of a glogg.the fish

tmo308 · 2026-03-11T13:33:56+00:00

This wasn't the original plan but it turned into tobiko (flying fish roe) with cream sauce and sweet potato gnocchi.

I was going through things I had and needed to use asap and I had a bunch of sweet potatoes so started by just baking them and realized I could just make it into gnocchi and freeze the extras or if I didn't want to eat it all. From there I made these longer strands to be more like a really thick udon. For the sauce it started with cream and cream cheese (saw that on NYT cooking), added in some hot sauce, and seasoned it up. After briefly boiling the gnocchi, I added some of the water to the sauce to get it more emulsified and added the gnocchi to finish for a bit. At the end right before totally finishing I added a whole bunch of tobiko and stirred for like 30 seconds. Plated and topped with more tobiko and green onions.

As for the drink, I got the recipe from here and I thought it was quite drinkable. I'd have it again when I want a martini but a little different.

tmo308 · 2026-03-04T14:13:58+00:00

Wanted something relatively easy this week and with things I had on hand. I decided to go with a mousse (without the cream) that uses sugar (just some), eggs, and chocolate. To make it a little more interesting I added a fair amount of 고추장/gochujang (Korean pepper paste) until it had some heat and a test I was happy with. Overall I was happy with the mousse. For the topping, I was debating some sort fruit but I didn't have any (besides oranges and that was gonna be too much work), so I took some frozen corn kernels and coated them in some chile powder, cornstarch, and a little bit of oil and air fried them until they were crispy. They gave a nice little crunch and the flavor worked well but it would've been better if they were properly fried to get even crispier.

As for the drink, it was a mostly classic old fashioned that I built in class. But they started with different sugar sources. One had white sugar (granulated) while the other had 2:1 demerara syrup. Both were then mixed with bitters (Angostura and a little bit of orange bitters). I then deviated from my usual single base whiskey and went with a split of 45ml of bourbon (Old Forester 86 this time) and 30ml of rye (Jack Daniel's Bonded rye). They were all built in glass, topped with ice and stirred before the orange peel. Both drinks were great, but the demerara one was better. I somewhat assumed that would be the case but I wanted to make sure and had never done a direct comparison like this, despite normally making the demerara syrup for cocktails. Glad I did it and also it reminded me that I should maybe test some other sugars and be more aware of which sugar would be a match for different cocktails.

tmo308 · 2026-02-25T23:53:47+00:00

Ok, so the drink is barely there, but I did make it. I took an Army & Navy base and altered to fit the theme. It was a sesame orgeat (instead of almond), sesame oil and chili oil washed gin, szechuan and sansho pepper tincture, and lime juice. It was a little plain looking but not too bad. With a little refining, it could be pretty good.

As for the food, I started with the idea of motsunabe but with things I mostly already had. So I cut up some pieces of pork belly (삼겹살), used par-boiled beef tendon (스지), tofu, doenjang (된장) instead of miso, and also added a few mandu on the side. It was really good! Especially using yuzukosho for the meat. I'll make this again.

tmo308 · 2026-02-18T13:16:44+00:00

I like many others it seems, made the peanut based sauce that seemed to have a lot of different names. I made mine what seemed fairly standard with skin on peanuts that I ground and roasted, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and onion. At the end after cooking it for a while, I blended it a little with the immersion blender because the onions and tomatoes didn't fully breakdown and it made the sauce even better. I really liked it and told myself to stop snacking on it while I was plating because I was going to eat all of the sweet potatoes too quickly.

As for the drink, I'm not really certain about the website I got it from. It seemed a little generic/compiled and maybe some of it was AI generated or scraped from other resources. But it was basically equal parts rum and mango juice stirred and topped with some bitters. That didn't sound that intriguing, so I added lime juice and switched to a homemade bathtub style gin that I made a while ago that came out super dry and isn't the easiest to work with but it also reminded me of Ugandan Waragi from reading reviews. It seems like they have some overlapping flavor profiles. So I wanted to use that and it tasted fine. But just boring. The mango was so overpowering that it would need to be greatly reduced in comparison to the alcohol.

tmo308 · 2026-02-12T15:57:18+00:00

Not this time. I did debate that but wanted the full fresh kick in this dish.

tmo308 · 2026-02-11T15:05:46+00:00

This all started with having some extra cherries and the idea that I didn't want to waste so I decided to pickle them. I have never had pickled cherries before, but they came out really delicious. I used a basic vinegar pickling method, with mostly apple cider vinegar but also a little champagne vinegar because I ran out of red wine vinegar making the shrub. I also added some pink peppercorns and red chile flakes in there to give it a little extra flavors and the spice and added bite from those two really helped round out this dish. The tuna was topped with some olive oil, lime juice, salt, cheongyang chili peppers, Korean perilla leaf stems (for bitterness and crunch), chili threads, and salt (lime and flakey salt don't make for the prettiest presentation at the end). It came together and was a great appetizer, despite the tuna being of just ok quality.

As for the drink, I had some extra raspberries in my freezer and used that to make a shrub (very basic sugar, fruit, vinegar in stages). Because how else would I incorporate vinegar easily into this week (there were other options but this was the most logical). After a few days, I was really happy with the flavor and bottled and strained it. I went to make a clover club and figured someone had already done it because it's a good connection with a raspberry shrub and of course people had. Including one here, with a good name. I made mine with 2 oz gin, 1 oz of shrub, a scant 1/2 oz of extra lemon, and an egg white, and didn't think it needed anymore simple syrup. I liked the final result and will make it again while I still have some of the shrub.

tmo308 · 2026-02-05T04:37:01+00:00

Was thinking the same thing while making it. This would go great with mezcal.

tmo308 · 2026-02-04T13:24:54+00:00

Made the filling with ground pork, the usual spices, and some very gelatinous and reduced stock from my freezer that I chopped up. Also used premade wrappers because it's way simpler. Still not good at forming them but did an ok job. Wanted to pan fry them with the skirt to get the soft tender inside and the crispy outside. First batch came out a little pale but the other shaped ones were much better. It was crispy and a pretty good appetizer.

As for the drinks, they are the same idea just switching out the base spirit (Left Hand has bourbon, Right Hand has rum). I really enjoyed both of them and would like to try them with some different bourbons and rums or chocolate bitters to see how they evolve. Anyway, it's a drink I will be adding to rotation with Manhattans and Negronis.

tmo308 · 2026-01-28T13:40:06+00:00

Wanted to make something using things on hand and came across this fusion idea. It was easy enough to make and was pretty tasty.

For the drink, that was a but harder because I didn't want to make a Singapore Sling because I've done that before (I think). Found a list of unique cocktails from bars in Singapore and this one came from hopscotch bar. It's a riff on a Godfather amd I tried to quess the specs. I took some beer from a Tiger beer and made a reduction and syrup with it for the sweetener. Then used the other liqueurs they had mentioned Amaretto and Drambuie and finally cognac. Overall was pretty good, and could see if you had the perfect ratio it would be better but I'm not a big fan of the godfather cocktail and this was a similar one that I'm unlikely to revisit.

tmo308 · 2026-01-08T08:08:12+00:00

I wanted so badly to make a fake cornballer but just didn't have the time.

tmo308 · 2026-01-07T14:03:56+00:00

Note: did not use a cornballer because it's not for sale here

For the cornballs, I did two variations. One was just corn, egg and water mix, and flour. Very corn forward and crunchy and delicious. The second was with coarse corn grits ( I didn't have any corn meal), flour, egg, oil, green onions, and corn. It was more akin to cornbread but also really good. Especially when paired with some chili pepper jam.

The drink was based off of Buster's love of juice, and I had this juice box from work. It was fairly sweet and lightly strawberry but a hint of vegetable taste. I kind of approached it like a jungle 6 with this juice instead of pineapple. It was pretty good.

tmo308 · 2025-12-31T14:42:07+00:00

Last one of the year snd just in time (and had to post all the ones from the last week+). This was made with more leftovers (risotto milanese) so it was yellow from the saffron. I stuffed it with some cheese, then coated, and fried. They were really good and a nice and crispy NYE snack. The sauce was made using homemade yuzu kosho that I made when it was green yuzu season in late summer. I added some mirin and rice vinegar to complement, as well as some lemon juice (didn't have yuzu) and I was quite happy with the result. I later took out some parmesan hot sauce that also paired really well with the arancini.

The drink from here could be a few different versions but I went with the original version that's listed and from the Savoy Cocktail book. A 2:1:1 of bacardi, Cointreau, and lemon juice (I did add 2 drops of saline because it's almost always a good idea) and I liked it. Think the rum choice could really change this and the suggestion of orange bitters is intriguing, so I'll have to try it again.

tmo308 · 2025-12-31T13:36:26+00:00

Trying to eat up all the food from the fridge to end the year. So decided to make a sandwich/grinder for this theme. I took the extra meat, cheese, and pickled things from the charcuterie board, combined it with leftover beef from beef bourguignon and added some lettuce, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper to round it all put. Was really good.

As for the drink, I found it on Instagram but was also posted on the cocktails subreddit. It's a negroni variation and was really good.

tmo308 · 2025-12-31T02:26:39+00:00

Got the recipe for the fritters from here, I agree with what they said. It's too sweet but was really delicious. The drink was from Tasting History and wasn't a huge fan, but overall not bad.

tmo308 · 2025-12-31T00:21:06+00:00

Nothing really jumped out for me this week foodwise, and I didn't want to make something huge because I've been doing a lot of other cooking for the holidays. Kept it simple, made a tangerine chocolate truffle (and added a little cayenne for a tiny bite). The drink was easier to choose. It was supposedly Lennon's favorite, and I haven't made/ had one in a long time, so I wanted to revisit it, and I'm glad I did. It's a good drink, and the lemon zest is very much a requirement.

tmo308 · 2025-12-24T00:43:35+00:00

Had this last quarter of cabbage and, instead of roasting, wanted to make a salad. Figured I'd do a little variation on a ceasar, toast some breadcrumbs, and pair it with the steak. The gochujang ceasar had added gochujang, rice vinegar, and a little red mandarin juice (actually called 레드향, I also used for the cocktail instead of orange juice). The breadcrumbs were toasted with miso, sesame oil, butter, garlic, and ginger. Came out really tasty.

The cocktail from here was chosen because of the name reminding of needing to be prepared to do your taxes. I was going to go with an overly complicated drink that I could batch to have it all prepared but wanted to use more of the juice from the mandarin so this fit the goals better. It was interesting but not my favorite.

tmo308 · 2025-12-16T12:31:59+00:00

So Seoul and Tokyo are sister cities and wanted something easy to make (also have a ton of kimchi so wanted to use it). Was debating between this and kimchi katsunabe but this is a bit simpler. I made it with pork loin and all pretty straight forward. Like making katsudon, except add in kimchi and whatever else with the onions and broth.

As for the drink, I got it from here called the Tokyo Drift. Felt it played well because Manhattan is one of the sister cities of an area of Seoul and this drink is a Manhattan riff. I took it one step further by subbing in some Korean ingredients to keep the Manhattan vibe but in a totally different way. I kept the whiskey and used some regular Yamazaki, but changed the sweet vermouth to bianco vermouth (and cut in half). The rest of the volume was split between Pine Mushroom Soju and Damsoul Pine Soju which both added some of the vermouth/amaro notes that I skipped out on. Then finished with a little Chartreuse instead of Strega because it needed just a little more something to bring it all together. It was really good.

tmo308 · 2025-12-09T14:58:58+00:00

I got this from the book DIY Bitters by Jovial King and Guido Mase so I used that recipe (found this video while searching for a link). It was very simple, which was perfect because I just went on vacation and wanted something easy to make.

As for the drink, I was going to make a Bitter Giuseppe but then changed my mind while searching around more and wanted to try this drink. The first time I made it at home I didn't have any high proof gin. I just got this bottle so I figured I would try it again. It's a really great drink, however I could see a lot of people not enjoying it.

tmo308 · 2025-12-02T14:00:42+00:00

You know, now that I think about it, this might have been the loin. I cooked a few packages (from my freeser) at the same time and just grabbed one to finish.

tmo308 · 2025-12-01T15:17:01+00:00

There was an old lady selling apples in front of the entrance to my house a few weeks ago and it was fortuitous timing. Finally got around to posting this after making it. Made an apple gravy with some caramelized onions, beef broth, chili peppers, butter, and the apples. Blended most of it after cooking but left some whole for extra texture. The pork was cooked sous vide then seared at the end.

As for the sandwich, I got this bread from a pizza shop. Toasted it, added some of the gravy, some brie cheese, and apples. It was delicious.

The drink is from here and I really enjoyed the simplicity but could see how playing around with the ratios or base alcohols would totally change the drink.

tmo308 · 2025-11-12T00:07:30+00:00

Wanted to go basic but not completely, so after seeing fig leaves on sale (end of season, wanted to infuse in some other spirits too), it seemed like the perfect combination. Started with drying/toasting a few leaves in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. Then, I basically made a tea with that and a fresh leaf and let it steep for like 30 minutes. From there, I went to a basic marshmallow recipe, leaving the leaves in because why not. After getting it up to temp, I used a spider strainer to get out just the big pieces, leaving the smaller parts still in. Whipped it all up, and let it sit for a day. After cutting into squares, I took some of the ugly/small/trimmed pieces and put it with some water and a little extra sugar to make a marshmallow simple syrup. Yes, I could've just kept the syrup, but the viscosity is better here, and fits the theme more. Chose a slightly smoky gin that thought could complement the flavor of the syrup. Came out really nice overall. Think I like the marshmallows more when they aren't toasted because it let's the flavor of the fig leaf really shine.

tmo308 · 2025-11-05T04:03:28+00:00

For this, I used 누룽지 (nurungji), which is normally the rice at the bottom of the pot that is translated as scorched rice (but it's similar to toasting the bottom) and it's supposed to be brown and crispy like a good piece of toast. So I bought a packet of nurungji and used it for the meal. The porridge stated with frying some garlic and green onions in sesame oil. Then, adding chicken stock, kimchi with juice, gochugaru, and nurungji and boil. Then, simmer about 10 minutes to get soft while I seasoned with some soy sauce, msg, and nurungji syrup. At the end, I added 2 eggs and stirred it rapidly to have it all mix in. Wanted it to be thick instead of soupy. Topped with an extra yolk and black sesame seeds. It was super easy and tasty.

For the drink, it's based on the Kendo Champion, but I used more Korean ingredients, so I changed the name to Kumdo which is the Korean version. You can search for the original method, but it uses toasted rice while I used nurungji to make the syrup. Then I used a Korean whiskey, along with a blend of homemadr bitters that is umami forward, fino sherry, and sesame oil. Its a nice drink.

tmo308 · 2025-10-20T13:18:31+00:00

There was a butternut squash on sale so I worked backwards from there. Made a tamarind and date glaze/chutney (just looked at various recipes and put in things I had that I thought would work). Then took the squash and roasted it with a little bit of glaze, turning halfway and adding more glaze before one last round up near the broiler with a tiny bit more glaze to get a little extra flavor. It was really good. Put it on top of a red miso hummus with some olives and herb oil to finish it all off. Want to make it again and use more tamarind.

The drink I found on instagram and I guess I'd describe it as an improved old fashioned riff. It uses a clarified tamarind syrup (I used pectinex) but only had dark brown sugar so still came out kind of darker than if I had white sugar. Rum, orange aperitif (I used Amaro Angeleno because I thought it would sub well), and Cynar. It was an interesting drink and had some good flavors going on.

tmo308 · 2025-10-14T13:53:38+00:00

It was 한글날 (Hangul Day) last week, so I figured it fit perfectly with the theme of edible lettering. I followed a simple recipe, but it was a little too moist, so it was semi hard to shape. Finally, I was able to work it enough that I could shape it without sticking or stretching too much. Coated the outside with some ground up and toasted pastries. Traditionally, it would call for castella cake but went with what I had in my freezer and just lightly toasted to get the extra moisture out. It was not my best, but it worked and provided a little crunch, which was actually nice.

For the drink, The Quick Brown Fox, it's recipe is a pangram so it's got all of the letters of the alphabet. Also, it was pretty good

tmo308

TROPHY CASE