Multipurpose Meat Paste Food

MULTIPURPOSE MEAT PASTE

Steps:

• Slice each breast and thigh across the grain into 1/4-inch-thick strips. When cutting the breast tenders, remove and discard the silvery strip of tendon. Keep any visible fat for richness, but trim away any cartilage or sinewy bits, as they won't grind well.
• To make the marinade, in a bowl large enough to fit the chicken, whisk together the baking powder, tapioca starch, sugar, fish sauce, and oil. Add the chicken and use a rubber spatula to mix well. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or up to overnight. The chicken will stiffen as it sits.
• Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and use a spoon to break it apart. Working in batches, grind the chicken in a food processor until a smooth, stiff, light pink paste forms. (This step takes several minutes and the machine will get a good workout.) Stop the machine occasionally to scrape down the sides. When you are finished, there should be no visible bits of chicken and the paste should have a slight sheen. Using the rubber spatula, transfer each batch to another bowl, taking care to clean well under the blade.
• The paste is ready to use, or it can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days. For long-term keeping, divide it into 1/2- and 1-pound portions (a scant 1 cup paste weighs 1/2 pound), wrap in a double layer of plastic wrap, and freeze for up to 2 months.
• To make giò the old-fashioned way, you must first hand pound the meat and then add the marinade ingredients. Use a large Thai stone mortar and pestle, which can be found reasonably priced at Asian restaurant-supply and housewares shops. My 9-inch-wide mortar has a 5-cup capacity bowl that is 6 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches deep. The 8-inch-long pestle is about 2 inches wide at the base. Select a pestle that fits your hand comfortably. (Stone pestles, heavier than the wooden one mentioned in the chapter introduction, make pounding easier.)
• To minimize physical strain, I sit on a low kitchen stool and put the mortar on a solid table or box, with the rim of the mortar slightly below my knee. You may also sit on the floor with the mortar between your legs. Place a thick towel under the mortar to protect the work surface. Regardless of your setup, you want to sit astride the mortar and efficiently use your upper body strength to work the pestle. It takes about 35 minutes to produce a full batch of paste, so you may want to halve the recipe. To yield giò that is close to the traditional version, pound pork (see Note, above), which works better than chicken. The beef mixture used for making Beef, Dill, and Peppercorn Sausage (page 161) is also a good candidate for hand pounding.
• Cut the meat into 1/4-inch-thick strips as instructed in the recipe. Blot the meat dry with paper towels to prevent it from sliding around the mortar.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the marinade ingredients. Set aside near the pounding station. (Hand-pounded giò doesn't traditionally call for leavener and starch, but I find that they guarantee a silkier result that is neither too dense nor too firm.)
• Put about 1/2 pound of the meat (or a quantity you find manageable) in the mortar and start pounding with a steady rhythm, pausing only to remove any gristly bits that come loose. After about 4 minutes, the meat should have gathered into a mass and, perhaps, even stuck to the pestle, allowing you to use the pestle to lift the meat from the mortar and pound it down again. Keep pounding for another 2 minutes to make the meat cohere into a smooth mass that resembles a ball of dough. Use a rubber spatula or plastic dough scraper to transfer the meat to a bowl. Repeat with the remaining meat.
• Add all the marinade ingredients to the meat, stirring with a fork until the marinade is no longer visible. In batches, pound the meat for about 3 minutes longer to combine all the ingredients well. You should hear a suction noise as air is mixed in. The finished paste will feel firm and look ragged, and small nuggets of meat will be suspended in the paste. Transfer the paste to a clean bowl and repeat with the remaining meat.

RICH AND CRISP SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Fill the steamer pan halfway with water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Meanwhile, put the paste, fatback, and pepper in a bowl. Use a rubber spatula to mix well, making sure the pork fat is evenly distributed. Deposit all the paste in the center of the banana leaf and use the spatula to spread it into a disk 6 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick. Wet your palm with water and rub it in a circular motion to smooth the top. Wet your fingers and smooth the sides.
• Lift up the leaf, place it in the steamer tray, and place the tray in the steamer. Cover and steam for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Turn off the heat and uncover. When the steam has dissipated, transfer the sausage on the leaf to a rack and let cool completely. Fresh from the steamer, the sausage will be white and slightly inflated. As it cools, it returns to its original size and the outside turns pale yellow. (The steamed sausage may be well wrapped and refrigerated for up to 1 week. Return it to room temperature before proceeding.)
• You may deep-fry or bake the sausage for the final cooking. Traditionally it is deep-fried, which yields great color, while baking, of course, is easier. Cut the sausage into 3 fairly long pieces that will yield nice slices when cut. To deep-fry, pour oil to a depth of 1 1/2 inches into a wok or Dutch oven and heat to 350°F on a deep-frying thermometer. (If you don't have a thermometer, stand a dry bamboo chopstick in the oil; if small bubbles immediately gather on the surface around the chopstick, the oil is ready.) Add the sausage pieces and fry, turning with tongs for even coloring, for about 4 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Using tongs, transfer to paper towels to drain, blot with more towels, and let cool for 1 to 2 minutes. To bake, place the 3 sausage pieces in a toaster oven set to the highest heat (broil) and cook, for about 4 minutes on each side, or until golden and crisp. The pieces will hiss and pop, so monitor closely to prevent charring. The color isn't as even with baking as it is with deep-frying and the sausage takes longer to cook, but there is typically less hassle for the cook. Remove from the toaster oven, briefly blot with paper towels, and let cool for 1 to 2 minutes.
• To serve, slice into 1/4-inch-thick pieces and serve piping hot.

GRANNY WISTRAND'S MEAT PASTE

Steps:

• Chop the steak and bacon.
• Place all ingredients in a bowl
• Place bowl in large pot with water that comes approximately half way up the sides of the bowl.
• Cover with lid and steam for 3 hours.
• Mince or blend all ingredients until smooth.
• Pour into jars and seal with melted butter or sealing wax.
• Store in fridge .

ROASTED CINNAMON SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 375°F. Invert a baking sheet and cover the bottom with heavy-duty aluminum foil.
• Put the paste in a bowl and sprinkle on the sugar and cinnamon. Mix vigorously with a rubber spatula to distribute the dark specks of cinnamon evenly.
• Transfer the paste to the prepared baking sheet. Use the rubber spatula to spread the paste into a 1-inch-thick rectangle (to mimic the bamboo) or disk. Wet the palm of your hand with water and rub it in a circular motion to smooth the top. Wet your fingers and smooth the sides. To prevent the paste from puffing up too much and cooking unevenly, use a skewer or toothpick to poke holes in it, spacing them about 1 inch apart and making sure to touch bottom.
• Bake the paste for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is dry and light brown and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. During baking, a puffy, shiny skin forms. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. As the sausage cools, the skin deflates, crinkles, and darkens.
• To serve, cut the sausage into 3 long sections and then crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Store left over sausage in an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

CLASSIC SILKY SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Fill a 4- or 5-quart pot two-thirds full with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and cover to keep warm.
• Shaping and wrapping the paste is like rolling a very stubby cigar. Put a 12-by-18-inch piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil on your work surface with a short side closest to you. Center the piece of banana leaf on the foil. Use a rubber spatula to deposit the paste near the bottom edge of the leaf (the edge closest to you), roughly shaping it into a fat 5-inch-long log. Do not get any paste on the foil. Roll up the leaf to encase the paste, creating a cylinder 3 inches in diameter. Place the cylinder at one of the short ends of the foil and roll it up, letting the foil naturally overlap to form a silver tube. Finish by sealing the ends closed and then folding them toward the center. Because the paste expands during cooking, you need to tie the package with kitchen string to secure it. In general, a cross tie followed by another loop around the sausage-much like tying a very small roast-works well. There is no need to be fancy, but to ensure the shape and compactness of the paste, make sure the string is taut.
• Return the pot of water to a boil. Drop in the sausage and boil for 40 minutes, replenishing with extra boiling water as needed. During cooking, the foil will darken and the sausage will puff up, push against the string, and eventually float. Don't be alarmed; it will deflate afterward.
• Use tongs to remove the cooked sausage from the pot. Let cool completely before untying and removing the foil. Keep the banana leaf in place. Put the sausage in an airtight container or zip-top plastic bag and refrigerate until serving.