Hung on Top Chef

For a round up of how brother Hung did on Top Chef this week, take a read of:

• Jane McGivney's posting on the Huffington Post
• Baltimore Sun's take on the competition that took place in Aspen
• What Entertainment Weekly had to say about Hung's bitchery ways
• The scores he's getting on Blogging Top Chef
• Bravo's official Top Chef site . . . decide to Top or Chop Hung

They're stringing us along. That's good TV.

Comments

[Simon]

Andrea, here's a question for you, not a practical one but hopefully an interesting one.

Ignore for a moment the limitations the Top Chef competition placed on the competitors, and imagine instead that you've got access to your own pantry and the largest Viet supermarket in your area. You've got some elk loin, still on the ribs, some hind leg meat off the bone, and some elk shanks. And someone asks you to create an elk entree and to breathe some Vietnamese soul into it.

Does anything come to mind?

Apart from a very few ways of playing with venison, I have no knowledge of what Vietnamese might do with a creature such as elk, or with similar game meats...

[Amy Sherman]

The criticism that we've seen nothing "Vietnamese" about Hung's cooking made me cringe. Are we bound by our heritage? It doesn't seem like the other chefs are being asked to recreate food they grew up with.

[Andrea Nguyen]

No, we should not be culinarily defined by our birthplace. Just because you're of Vietnamese extraction doesn't mean that you should have to stick to your roots. Also, it doesn't mean you're born to be a good Vietnamese cook.

I think that what Simon's wanting to see is Hung being more clever, taking more risk, at the stove -- to reach into his past a bit and marry that with the present. When Wolfgang Puck started serving ethereal Wiener Schnitzel at Spago in Beverly Hills years ago, people swooned at the luscious crispy veal. He got lots of press about wanting to present Austrian/German fare that reflected his identity, what he liked to eat, his personal homey favorites. But in Puck's early career at La Tour and Ma Maison, he stuck with the French methods he had honed.

Hung is young and perhaps he'll grow with confidence over the years to weave more Viet flavors into his food. But that assumes that he's interested in Vietnamese food. Maybe he doesn't care whatsoever and thinks that fish sauce is rank? So Amy, you make a valid point.

Simon is looking for Hung get an extra edge ahead. Elk flesh is similar to beef, but darker and leaner. I actually think of it as a cross between beef and venison. With the cuts Simon mentioned, I'd prepare these dishes:

Rack: I'd rub it with a mixture of garlic, Maggi Seasoning sauce, and a little oil. Then coat it with lots of crushed black peppercorns and a touch of fresh green peppercorns from Phu Quoc island. Sear it over high heat and the roast it in the oven to medium-rare. Cut it into individual chops and serve it with water spinach sauteed with garlic and some rice.

Hind meat off the bone: thinly slice it, marinate it with lemongrass, shrimps sauce, sesame seeds, fish sauce and shallot to tenderize. Skewer and grill. Serve with a little spicy garlic hoisin sauce. Or, take the grilled elk and wrap it up in fresh rice sheets with fresh Viet herbs for an elk rice roll.

Shank: Stew it just as you would beef shank for classic bo kho -- with fresh tomato, lemongrass, and star anise. Garnish with Thai basil. Serve with baguette.

Now I need some elk! For info on what different game meats taste like and how to prepare them, check out this pdf:

http://exoticmeats.com/docs/ExoticMeats-What-things-taste-like.pdf

[Tana]

That is such a great question from Simon.

Who made the most recent, lengthy comment?

[Andrea Nguyen]

I did. Just forgot to sign in. I fixed it.

[Simon]

Actually, I wasn't commenting about Hung, I was wondering about how I might make elk if I wanted to make Vietnamese elk. I often wonder about such things. As I said, I have a few clues for venison, party type dishes, but not for an entree...

[Simon]

Andrea, just to avoid confusion or misunderstanding, let me explain my question a bit.

I know that we have deer in Vietnam, and it follows that we have folks who eat deer. And there may be other game animals there as well. But I do not know if there are distinctive ways that Vietnamese would treat game meats.

In the US, there are such distinctive ways, at least most of the time. Americans (and Euros) have a kind of toolkit of methods and ingredients and flavors they bring to cooking deer, elk, antelope, etc. There will be smoke and smoky flavors, strong red wines or the flavor of whiskey, juniper, sage or thyme or rosemary, or other powerful herbs, fruits like cherries or huckleberries or blackberries. Game isn't a separate cuisine, but there's a set of traditional flavors or tools to go with game.

Do we have anything like that back in VN, a different set of traditional flavors or tools? Or even, is game more commonly found in the cuisines of some of the ethnic minorities in the highlands, about whom I wouldn't know a thing?

Personally, I had thought about making a traditional Bo Tai Chanh and replacing the beef with elk loin. But then I thought, lime might not match with elk as well as it does with beef, and in our own "toolkit" we might have other fun things to match it with...

[Andrea Nguyen]

Lots of game meat are prepared in Vietnam and like you, Simon, I'm not well versed in their preparations. I looked in an old (1940s) classic cookbook from Vietnam. In "Lam Bep Gioi" by Mrs. Van Dai, the beef section includes recipes for beef, deer (nai), stag (huou), monkey (khi), goat (de), elephant nose (muoi voi)and bear ear (tai gau). Many of the exotic meats recipes refer back to beef recipe instructions, though there may be a slight variation here and there. There are a number of tendon recipes because the animals were tough. The elephant and bear parts have to be re-hydrated and then simmered with sea cucumber and Chinese herbs.

One interesting recipe for thit nai nuong cha (grilled venison) tells you to thinly slice venison heart and liver. Mince some lean venison and add some diced fatback. Then combine those ingredients with minced shallot; chopped mint; ground, toasted soybean; coconut milk; and a bit of fish sauce. Wrap the mixture up in lettuce leaves to create packets and grill. You could wrap it up in la lot and grill the bundles.

There's a de tai -- sort of like semi-cooked carpaccio of goat, with minced ginger. So you were on the right track with treating the elk like beef. I'd go with your hunch!

[Simon]

Re-hydrated elephant nose and bear ear, simmered with sea cucumber... Oh, that sounds like a party. :-)

One of the few Viet game dishes I've ever had is thinly-sliced venison or deer, pounded even thinner, then marinated with all the usual seasonings but also with a LOT of ginger. Throughout the party, the meat was being quickly cooked in an electric skillet at a low temperature, in butter. The scene resembled a party where all the guys are seated on the floor, gathered around a hot pot. I've eaten this same dish again a few times, and the combination of venison, ginger, and butter as the cooking fat is really very striking.

There is also a Viet goat/de dish that's popular with one crowd I know here, but it's a "special occasion" party dish and none of them know how it's prepared. They order it from a local shop that also sells the "roasted veal calf" dish, the one where a calf is said to be roasted whole and in its skin.

I agree about the elk shanks and those seem to invite an elk version of bo kho, but when I saw those shanks and that loin meat I couldn't help imagining an elk version of pho... just to see what happens. :-)