You mean to tell me that you’re going to make comically, cartoonishly, large meatballs and not put one on a plate of spaghetti?
This is one of the most popular recipes of all time on my blog. Normally, a restaurant chef would deep-fry the eggplant and then cook it with the sauce in a large wok over extremely high heat to keep it glossy and crispy. To avoid all that hassle, I’m sharing my favorite method for preparing eggplant without deep-frying while still making it crispy. The eggplant is then finished in a savory, sticky sauce—just enough to coat the eggplant so that it won’t turn soggy.
FOR THE SHORTCUT DAN DAN SAUCE (makes 2¼cups sauce, enough for 18 servings):
This is it. My favorite dish in the world and the grandmother of Sichuan cuisine. Translated literally as “pockmarked grandmother’s tofu,” its totally apocryphal origin story is identical to a half dozen other food origin stories: it starts with hungry crowds and a cook with few ingredients but plenty of creativity. The result is an inexpensive stew that uses simple ingredients—soft tofu, ground meat (traditionally beef, but frequently pork), fermented chile bean paste, a handful of Sichuan peppercorns, and plenty of red-hot chile oil—to create simple, soul-satisfying fare.
Chicken adobo is one of the most popular recipe searches on the Internet, and for good reason. It’s universally loved, easy to prepare, and after being cooked, it lasts for a week in the refrigerator and reheats perfectly. This recipe comes from Daniel’s sister-in-law Stephanie, a first-generation Filipina American who learned to make the dish from her mom, Susan Aquino (Tita Baby). Dark drumstick and thigh meat will yield the juiciest results, so they’re always the first choice, but if you prefer breast meat, you can follow the same recipe. Make sure to marinate adobo for at least twelve hours before cooking to ensure the flavor penetrates. This recipe also works well with pork belly, but you’ll need to increase the cooking time to an hour.
Viet cooks love to grill thinly sliced pork; it's no wonder banh mi thit nuong is one of the ubiquitous options at Viet delis.