Today I am going to be talking about more of a concept, and less of a recipe…though there WILL be a recipe, don’t worry. 🙂 My mentor at culinary school was previously a garde manger chef(pronounced gärd-ˌmäⁿ-ˈzhā) There are a LOT of different definitions of garde manger in the culinary world, but this mentor (Chef Matthew Bennett) gave me a TOTALLY new perspective on not just this corner of the food world, but on cooking as a whole. In most kitchens, Garde Manger refers to the preparation of cold food, such as salads, some charcuterie and ornamental foods. When I was working at Mile High stadium for my externship in 2013, the Garde Manger area was just cold foods, with a stress on the artistry of preparation.
The concept of Garde Manger that Chef Bennett taught, was that it’s cost control in practice. In other words, it’s both the usage of whatever you have on hand, and also the ability to look at a set of ingredients(a “basket” for you Chopped fans out there) and being able to create something from that set of ingredients. I have found this is a skill that I possess in spades, so Chopped is a plan in the next couple of years for me, heh heh.
The reason that I am talking about this today, is that I had a total Garde Manger moment on Monday evening. I knew that I needed to cook something different, so I decided on some kind of stir-fry. I decided to buy a pork tenderloin, since I have been eating a lot of chicken lately. Then, I went to the produce section, and just started picking out vegetables that I thought could go well in a stir-fry. I started with some crimini mushrooms, as I am a huge fan of mushrooms in a stir fry. Then I grabbed a head of broccoli, because I know it is good for you, and I am looking for ways that I can choke broccoli down. 😉 Next up was a new ingredient for me, daikon. I had used it in my Asian cuisine class, but hadn’t used it at home…time to change that! Next were some baby carrots, and finally a big bunch of bok choy. If you aren’t familiar with bok choy, it is a very standard vegetable in SE Asian cuisine, so I knew it would work here. I also knew that I would need some kind of liquid to do a really good stir-fry, so I grabbed a cup of chicken stock…now that I have all of the ingredients, time to build the dish.
I started off by cutting the pork tenderloin into 1/2 inch pieces, then sauteing the pork loin over high heat in a large saute pan. One tip about pork in this country, you don’t need to cook it very long for it to be safe. Trichinosis, the roundworm sometimes found in pork has been eliminated in this country, so you can cook your pork to medium rare, which leaves you with a very tender pork. Once I cooked all the pork, I let it train on paper towels on a plate, and then started chopping all of the vegetables. I cut the carrots into quarters, the same way as I do for the carrots and endives that I discussed before. Then I cut the florets off the broccoli and washed them in the sink. next I took all the stems off the mushrooms, washing them well and sliced them thinly. Then I removed the leaves from and chopped a couple of stalks of bok choy into 1/4 inch pieces. Finally I peeled and grated the daikon, finishing the prep work on the vegetables.
Next, I began to cook way too much long-grain jasmine rice. This is a bad habit of mine, I tend to over-do the rice, as it is an easy filler. I used two cups of uncooked rice, when I should have probably just used one…lesson learned. 🙂 About 8-10 minutes after I added the rice to the boiling water, I started on the stir fry. I began by dissolving 1 Tablespoon of corn starch in the chicken stock in a large saute pan. This is to create a thickened sauce(side note: I should have used 2 tablespoons of corn starch, for a thicker sauce, I didn’t calculate for the liquid the veggies would kick off, oh well). Then I turned the heat to high, and added the carrots. I let the carrots cook in the boiling chicken stock for 2-3 minutes, then I added the broccoli, allowing them to cook for about a minute. Next, I added the daikon allowing this to cook for 2-3 minutes again. Finally for the vegetables I added the mushrooms to the pot, allowing them to boil for 2 minutes. Now that I have the veggies cooking in the stock, it is time for me to build the flavor profiles of the sauce.
I first turned off the heat to the veggies wouldn’t overcook, then I went to my fridge looking at the standard Asian ingredients I had on hand, and thought, “What would taste good in here?” I started off by adding about a tablespoon or so(I didn’t measure from here on out, these are guesstimates) of oyster sauce. I know that sounds like a disgusting ingredient, but oyster sauce is where a LOT of the standard Asian flavors come from. Next, I tossed in a couple tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce(I forgot we were out of the standard soy sauce, or I would have used that). Next was about a tablespoon of Sriracha. I am always careful with Sriracha, as too much of it can blow your palette, but I could have used more 🙂 I finished off the flavors by adding a tablespoon and a half of hoisin. Hoisin is another Asian ingredient that doesn’t receive enough fanfare. It add a fantastic hint of sweet and sour that can’t be found with any other ingredient. I tested the flavors, and added salt until I really felt it pop on my tongue, you will know it when you taste it. To end the cooking, I turned the heat back up to high to allow the flavors to meld together, added the sauteed pork tenderloin back to the pot, stirred well, and let the flavors come together for about 2-3 more minutes. Then I turned off the heat and let the dish sit until the rice was done cooking, then tossed the two together in a very large bowl…and enjoyed 🙂
A final side note here, one of the main reasons that SE Asian cuisine is so fantastic, is that they are so good about hitting all of the flavors the tongue can perceive. When you have a well-prepared SE Asian dish, it will have some sweetness(hoisin), some sourness(also the hoisin to a lesser degree, I should have added more sour here in the form of rice vinegar), some bitterness(both the broccoli and the bok choy), and some saltiness(soy sauce is the SE Asian salt shaker, heh heh). Also umami(if you believe in it, which I do) is captured with the crimini mushrooms. Because of this, the dish has a fantastic blend of flavors that you really can’t find in other cuisines. I hope you enjoyed this lesson on garde manger…now go out and throw together a dish that you think will work, you just might surprise yourself 🙂
Ingredients:
1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 inch cubes(I think I will use 2 lb next time)
1 cup uncooked jasmine rice(don’t overdo it like I did)
2 cups water for rice
as needed: salt for water
veggies:
1/2 bag of baby carrots, cut into quarters
1-2 large broccoli crowns, florets cut off and washed
1 large piece of daikon, peeled and grated
2-3 large stalks of bok choy, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/2 lb crimini mushrooms, stems removed, washed and sliced thinly
sauce:
1 cup chicken or beef stock
1-2 tablespoons of corn starch
1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Sriracha
1.5 tablespoons of hoisin
as needed: salt
