Braised Kurobuta Pork Collar, Dry Pho Flavors
This dish is still evolving, however, the flavors were there. This is probably a dish for Amasia or the Pineapple Room. We used the homemade hoisin sauce in the pork broth, along with some cinnamon, cloves, star anise and fennel seeds. The pork was placed on top of rice noodles, and garnished with mint, basil, cilantro, pickled red jalapenos, thinly sliced shallots, and sriracha. We had all the fixin's for pho, except without the broth, so that’s why I called it dry.
Someone asked me where I got the recipe for the hoisin sauce, and I told them I looked on the can for the ingredients and then by trial and error I tried to get a similar flavor profile by using all the ingredients that I had in the kitchen without the additives and preservatives. This happened to me in Lima Peru. They didn’t have ko choo jang paste, so I did it the same way and the new recipe actually turned out to be a better one.
Chilled Somen Noodles on Frozen Ume Granite
It’s the middle of summer in Hawaii, and the weather is perfect for cold dishes like this one. Cold noodle dishes like this were a favorite childhood snack of mine. Of course back then we would put ice cubes in the bowl of noodles and soup. I didn’t know what the term granite even meant yet. We had this dish after menu development today, and it was a perfectly cold, acidic, noodle dish that cleared the palate and refreshed ourselves.
~AW