Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

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Sue
Posts: 5486
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:45 am

Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Sue » Sun Mar 17, 2013 10:56 pm

From to time time in my recipes you might see me list carrots, prepped in a roll cut. If you are not familiar with that knife skill, I will demonstrate it here for you along with some other photos of my recipe:
Braised Pork Ribs in Chee Hao Sauce
http://www.recipezazz.com/recipe/braise ... sauce-8651

:idea: You may well wonder what the point of it is, and why I ask the carrots to be chopped that way. What it does is maximize the surface area of the cut carrots, which allows things like braising liquids to penetrate them more fully, and in turn, have the flavor of the carrots more fully penetrate the flavor of the recipe.
It really has nothing to do with making them not roll of your cutting board. ;)

Braised Pork Ribs in Chee Hao Sauce
"You won't get this at any takeout. You might wish you had a Chinese grandma to make this for you on a chilly day, or you can become the Chinese grandma yourself and make it for those you love. It is essentially a homestyle Chinese stew, and it's definitely a food of LOVE."
Ingredients:
3 pounds bone-in pork country style ribs
1 large knob fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thickly
5-6 cloves garlic, split
2-4 fresh red Thai chilies
1/2 tsp. five spice powder
2 tbsp. chee hau sauce
2 tbsp. rice wine
2 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. oyster sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 stalk lemongrass
1 tbsp. sugar
1 pound baby bok choy, cut in half lengthwise
8 ounces fresh carrots, roll cut
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced (garnish)
Steamed long grain rice
Sesame oil

Method:
Step 1
Season meat with salt and pepper, then sear meat on all sides in a large skillet before placing into a dutch oven.

Step 2
Meanwhile, flavor broth by smashing lemongrass and simmering in the broth.

Step 3
Pour broth over meat in the dutch oven, and cover with aromatic vegetables (ginger slices, split garlic cloves).

Step 4
Cover oven with a tight fitting lid, then braise in an oven at 325F. for 45 minutes.

Step 5
Add onion and carrots to pan. Cover dutch oven and braise at 325F for an additional 45 minutes.

Step 6
Remove from oven and layer bok choy on top of all of it, replace the cover and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until bok choy is tender.

Step 7
Serve meat and vegetables over steamed rice with a little of the pan liquid (skim off unwanted fat), garnished with sliced scallions and drizzled with toasted sesame oil, if desired.

What You Will Need

If my Dutch oven were bigger, I would have added more veggies. If you can fit them in there, especially carrots, add them. You won't regret it.
You will want to buy chee hao sauce (alt. sp.: chee hau, chou hou, etc.) which is a thick sauce available at Asian grocers which is very similar to hoisin, but more pungent. If you substitute hoisin, be sure to up the amounts of ginger and garlic liberally.
You can also cook this in your slow cooker, just braise it in there all day. You know the drill.

Photo Tutorial:

Here I am prepping the vegetables for my braised ribs recipe. I am beginning to ROLL CUT the carrot. The first cut is simply diagonally across the carrot, sliced all the way through.
Image

For the next cut, I move away the piece I just cut off. Then I ROLL the carrot halfway around, so that the diagonal slice is pointing straight up. I then angle my knife diagonally across the carrot and chop again.
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I then continue rolling the carrot halfway around and chopping off another piece, and in doing so I can see the end of the carrot taking on a faceted appearance.
Image

Each roll cut piece of carrot should look something like this, with multiple angled cuts exposing a maximum surface area of carrot:
Image

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed learning a new knife skill (if you didn't know how to do this already). 8-)

:idea: And NOW if you wish to continue watching along as I prepare my braised ribs, take a peek:

For my recipe I have chosen to use country style pork ribs. If you are not familiar with this cut of pork, what it essentially is, is the pork shoulder blade roast which has been thickly sliced into meaty, albeit fatty, ribs. Cooking the ribs in the braising liquid ensures that this tough cut of meat renders away most if not all of the fat and makes the tougher meat extremely tender.
DID YOU KNOW? These ribs when cut into thinner slices are locally known in the US Midwest as "pork steaks" and are a regional favorite for barbecuing in the St. Louis area. Moreso than even St. Louis style ribs, St. Louisans love their pork steaks, which are cut from the shoulder blade roast, and also the pork butt. People are divided as to which they love more and it can be quite the debate.

But---before I braise my ribs in the oven, I give them a quick cruise through a searingly hot skillet, to jump start the flavor building process on the meat, which searing and browning always does. It also serves to give the finished meat better color.
Image

After the ribs are browned, I place them into the Dutch oven along with the seasoned broth and aromatic vegetables (Thai chilies, garlic, and ginger slices), and roast for 45 minutes.
Image

Then the carrots and onions are added to the pan and continued to roast for another 45 minutes.
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After that the bok choy is added on top, the pan covered again, and roasted for 20-30 minutes or until the boy choy is tender, depending on size. (I forgot to take a photo at this point, sorry, but you get the idea).

When it's done, I recommend serving 1-1 1/2 ribs per person over rice with some of the cooked vegetables, a little bit of the pan sauce (fat skimmed off first), sprinkled with sliced scallions and drizzled with a touch of sesame oil.

Muy bueno! :D
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I hope you enjoyed my presentation. I feel very privileged to have shared my cooking experience with you and hope both the cooking information and recipe will allow your cooking experience to be all that much more pleasant and enjoyable.
Thanks for reading! 8-)
~Sue

QueenBea
Posts: 23095
Joined: Sun Jan 08, 2012 9:10 pm

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by QueenBea » Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:00 am

Awesome tutorial Sue. Thanks for posting this!!

Kchurchill5
Posts: 16044
Joined: Fri Oct 07, 2011 11:55 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Kchurchill5 » Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:15 am

Great Job!

Cassie
Posts: 35
Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2013 11:57 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Cassie » Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:15 pm

thank you for posting this wonderful tutorial :!: :)

SingleDadChef
Posts: 117
Joined: Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:56 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by SingleDadChef » Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:00 pm

second awesome here!

Shadows1
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Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:41 pm

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Shadows1 » Wed Mar 20, 2013 2:12 pm

Nice job!

Gerry
Posts: 4676
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:57 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Gerry » Wed Mar 20, 2013 7:55 pm

Great tutorial Sue. My kind of reccipe too, did a copy and print!! :D

Derf
Posts: 5589
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:53 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Derf » Mon Apr 22, 2013 2:25 am

well done :!:

Bergy
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Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:53 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Bergy » Sat Jul 20, 2013 11:56 am

The roll cut carrot is a new one for me. Lovely tutorial Sue

Sue
Posts: 5486
Joined: Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:45 am

Re: Knife Skills: Roll Cut Carrots and Chee Hao Ribs Recipe

Post by Sue » Sat Jul 20, 2013 5:39 pm

I do it with a lot of tubular veggies including zukes. I think I picked up the technique watching Sarah Moulton years ago.

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