Jackson Jambalaya

If you ever watched the PBS TV show “Yan Can Cook”, you should already know Martin Yan Can Cook. This dish is one of the reasons I know that statement to be an unquestionable fact.

For a ten-year segment of my work career, I was VP of Quality for a process equipment manufacturer in Chicago. We fabricated stainless steel equipment for the pharmaceutical, chemical and food processing industries. Also, high end commercial cooking equipment for factories, restaurants and institutions. Not that it matters, but we made the equipment that is used to make Crackerjacks, Fiddle Faddel and most of the candy bars you might eat to get the chocolate monkey off your back. A part of my duties in that job included serving as the technical representative for the company at conventions and equipment shows where we marketed our products and design services.

These included multiple weeks on the team representing the company during the national restaurant show (NRA) in Chicago, Las Vegas and a few other places. The NRA show in Chicago is where I met and enjoyed time discussing business and equipment design with Martin Yan, the chef who hosted "Yan Can Cook" on Public Television in the 1990s. I believe Martin still has a show on food network, or one of those cable channels. During my time in the business, I also met and became friends with Chef Paul Prudhomme, Gram Kerr - The Galloping Gourmet, more than one of the chefs at Commander's Palace, Jaques Pepin and others.

Not that its important, but I also spent an hour or two chatting with Kareem Abdull-Jabar who was working as a celebrity guest in the booth across the aisle from our booth one year in Chicago, talking about basketball and being tall, because he claimed to know nothing about building or using commercial cooking equipment. He was particularly impressed with the number of folks stopping by our booth and how nice and thick our carpet was under his tired feet (Carpet and padding thickness might be the biggest secret to holding folks in your booth at a trade show).

Kareem was a great athlete I am happy to say I met and had a chance to talk to. Martin was a very knowledgeable food professional, but more importantly to me, he was a very nice person. His job for a several year NRA runs was to cook various Chinese dishes for various big vendors at the show. With his personality, he was always well received. He drew big crowds, and I am sure was worth whatever they paid him. The first year, I sought him out and shook his hand, then talked for a while when he dropped by our booth toward the end of the show. The next year, he called me by name when he saw me in the booth as we were setting up for the show. He was that kind of guy. I have several of his cookbooks; all autographed and owe most of what I know about cooking Chinese food from watching him on TV several years before we met when his “Yan Can Cook” show played on Texas PBS, (during a QA/Regulatory Manager job in the medical device business) and later, from carefully following his recipes in those books.

My offering this week is an old Chinese buffet special – Sweet and Sour Pork, with mention of Sweet and Sour Chicken thrown in at the end because “Man cannot live by Sweet and Sour Pork alone” in spite of my effort over the years to prove that statement wrong. Where does Martin fit in? The Sweet and Sour Sauce is his recipe and one I have used several many times over the years.

The protein used in this dish can be fried pork, chicken, or shrimp, depending on what you have in the fridge and what you want for dinner.

Here is how I do this dish.

Ingredients (for two nice servings):

Maybe a quarter pound of pork. I have used almost every cut of pork, Chops, Loin, Butt, Shoulder, whatever. If they are tough, I tenderize them.
1/4 cup milk for pork marinade
1 egg for pork marinade
1/2 teaspoon black pepper for pork marinade
1/2 cup AP flour, plus one heaping Tablespoon corn starch, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt for coating pork pieces
1/2 cup oil, for frying the pork
1 carrot, thin sliced on bias 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick
1/3 of a large green bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small onion, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/3 cup rice (I like the flavor of basmati, so I usually go with it. Any long grain is fine)
2 teaspoons finely minced ginger
A small can of chunk pineapple – separate the juice and fruit
recipe for Sweet and Sour Sauce (below)

Directions:

Cook the rice and set aside. I use whatever measure of rice is needed for the dish I am making, then two times the measure of water as rice. For two servings I would use 1/3 cup (dry measure) rice, 2/3 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt and a Tablespoon of butter or vegetable oil.

To cook the rice, place the ingredients in a microwave proof bowl with a lid. Bring to a boil in the microwave; being careful as it is heating up, because quickly after it comes to a boil, it will boil over. The butter slows the quickness of the boiling over and any oil will do this. As soon as boiling is noted, reduce the microwave power to 20% and set the time for 15 minutes. It will not boil over during this reduced heat period, only simmer, and at 15 minutes, you will have perfect rice, with all of the liquid gone. Take it out and fluff with a fork.

For the sweet and sour sauce, you'll need:

1/4 cup pineapple juice (whatever comes from the can) – part of the sweet element
1/4 cup ketchup – also part of the sweet element
3 Tablespoons brown sugar – also part of the sweet element
1/4 cup Rice wine vinegar – the sour element - start with a tablespoon less than this and adjust after tasting. I use the full 1/4 cup but you may want less.
1 teaspoon finely minced ginger – nice flavor
2 pinches red cayenne pepper – nice flavor
1 1/2 teaspoons Corn Starch – thickener
salt – maybe a pinch, but I never add any salt

Directions for making the sweet and sour sauce:

Add the ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for a couple of minutes until the corn starch thickens. Taste and adjust sour or sweet element if desired. Adding more rice wine vinegar will take it toward sour and adding more brown sugar will take it toward sweet. Add more red pepper if more heat is desired. I have never added salt to this sauce, so be careful to not make it too salty by adding salt. The sauce is complete when it is thick enough to coat a spoon. This recipe makes enough for two servings. Set aside away from heat when the sauce thickens.

You can cook the dish in a wok. I have two, but I am lazy and normally use a large sauté pan. Add a bit of the oil used to fry the pork to the pan when it is hot or heat the pan until the oil is hot. The cooking goes very quickly if the oil is hot. Onions go first into the hot oil – maybe 15 -30 seconds. Then the carrots and the peppers – cook these for another 15-30 seconds.

When the carrots begin to change color, add the pork. 

I like to remove as much of the oil as I can, using a paper towel to soak it up before adding the pork. After the pork is in the pan, add the pineapple bits to the dish. You can leave the pineapple out if you like, but you need the juice to make the sauce, so I always add it.

and plate over the warm cooked rice.

As I stated earlier, chicken or shrimp can be used in place of the pork if you like. You can also skip the breading the meat for frying, but it won’t be as good.

Thanks for looking at my post.
God Bless you.