Slow-Cooked Goat Tacos

One of my favorite cooking magazines is Gourmet Magazine. I have often used their recipes, either in pure form, or as a basis for my own adventures in cooking. When looking through the July 2008 issue, I came across a great looking goat taco recipe using anchos and guajillos – two of my favorite chilis. I didn’t think much of it at the time, largely because goat is not that common. However, as luck would have it, the next day I was at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market and visiting my friends at Eco-Friendly Foods as I do every week. Lo and behold, they had goat! And not just any goat, but fresh (!) goat shanks and goat shoulders. So I picked up a goat shoulder in preparation for some delicious goat tacos. In a kismet moment, there were also tomatillos at another vendor, and I have been growing jalapenos in the garden, perfect for making some fresh salsa verde! It had been a long time since I had made some really traditional Mexican food, my favorite Mexican cookbook being Rick Bayless’ Mexican Kitchen. I used his recipe to make some delicious salsa verde for topping the goat tacos.

The recipe from Gourmet was an excellent blend of spices, utilizing the depth of the anchos and guajillos, as well as the slight gaminess of the goat. The estimated cooking time of 5 hours was not far off, but first braising the goat in the sauce on the bone, then shredding the meat and braising again allowed the flavors in the sauce to penetrate the meat fully, creating a deep, slow, burning spice in the meat. The taste was authentic and rich, a flavor I had not experienced in years, indeed, not since I was in Mexico.

Served with the accompaniments of shredded lettuce, salsa verde, avocados, sliced onions, lime juice, crumbled cheese, and a few chilis, it was a delicious balance of hot, sweet, tangy, rich, and tart that was a pleasure to eat. Surprisingly, a Falanghina was quite the lovely match for the combination – not too dry and not too sweet, but a nice balance to the spice and depth of the tacos.

Not For the Weak of Stomach

There are many cultures that have some form of cook-your-own food at the table. In Japan you have shabu-shabu, in Korea you have barbeque, in France you have fondue, and in China you have hot pot. Two different regions of China are particularly famous for their hot pots, Hunan and Sichuan. In the United States, we often see something called “hot pot” in Chinese restaurants, but it bears little resemblance to the boiling cauldrons of delicious goodness that is hot pot (火锅).

In China, hot pot restaurants are often on the second floor of buildings, in big halls, with tons and tons of tables. When you sit down you are presented with an unintelligible menu (unless you are fluent in reading Chinese that is) of often hundreds of items. But it all starts with the selection of soup. My personal favorite choice is the dual bowl, which looks like a Yin Yang. On one side there is a white soup, usually made with ginger, mushrooms, tons of garlic, and a chicken broth; and on the other side there is the red soup, made with the same chicken broth as the white soup, but with the noted addition of tons and tons and tons of red chilis, oil, more garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, various spices, and lots more red chilis and oil:

From my experience, each individual hotpot restaurant has slightly different flavors. Some are hotter, some have more Sichuan peppercorns (which have an intensive nutty flavor and a numbing quality), and some have more cumin or other spices. Today I had an excellent specimen which was wonderfully sweat-inducing spicy, but also had tons of spice, and more garlic than I’ve seen in a long time. There was a balance to the hotpot at this place that made you want to keep eating forever, even when your stomach is so full you want to keel over.

After you choose your broth, you choose a selection of meats, vegetables, and noodles that are brought to your table in massive quantities as the delicious hell-broth boils at your table. Today I had a combination of lamb, spinach, Napa cabbage, black mushroom, tofu, sliced white yams, and finished it all with handmade fresh noodles.

Someday I hope I can find a hotpot restaurant in the United States, but until then I will have to indulge my obsession only when in China…

Feasting at 小王府 (Xiao Wang Fu’s), Beijing, China

I arrived in Beijing, China yesterday, for what is probably my 20^th trip here over the years. Whenever I come to Beijing, I regularly make it a point to take a trip to 小王府 (Xiao Wang Fu), particularly the lovely version in日坛公园 (Ritan Park). This park is a great little place in the center of the old Embassy district, and though the Xiao Wang Fu’s restaurant is much more expensive than a basic Chinese restaurant, it is worth it for the consistent quality and the relaxing atmosphere.

As with all really good Chinese meals, there should always be a huge variety of dishes, with a significant number of flavor profiles. It is traditional that one person orders for the entire party, and in this instance I cannot take credit for the lovely meal that resulted. I arrived late to the party, a dinner with ex-colleagues and good friends, due to the jetlag, and ordering was well underway. In all, between six of us, we had nine dishes, a typical ratio in China. Unlike American culture, it is inappropriate to “clean your plate” as it were, as that would indicate the host has not adequately provided for your hunger. The spicy, sweet, tangy, rich, and smoky dishes we all shared were wonderful as usual, and what I have come to expect of Xiao Wang Fu’s.

Dishes included Gong Bao Ji Ding (typically known in America as Kung Pao Chicken…though the Chinese version bears little resemblance to what you find in the U.S.), Yu Xiang Rou Si (a spicy, sweet, and tangy pork and shredded vegetable), Pork Ribs in Black Bean Sauce, Spicy Peanut Turnips (a cold appetizer), Twice-Fried Green Beans with Pork, Stir Fried Spinach with Garlic, Fresh Shrimp with Chestnuts and Celery, and two “main dishes” (a.k.a., noodles): Old Beijing Noodles and Stir-Fried Noodles. And of course it was accompanied by the ever-present Yanjing Beer!