By Jackson Connor
Never one to shy away from dramatics, Anthony Bourdain's latest cookbook, Appetites, begins with an interpolation of a famous quote from Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Picking a fight with the dead Russian novelist,Bourdain responds, "Tolstoy clearly never spent any time with my happy family."
For any chef, the hectic, hedonistic life that exists behind the swinging doors of a professional kitchen is largely incompatible with raising a family. For Bourdain, a man who spends the majority of his year traveling to ever-more distant and terrifying parts of the globe, it took 50 years to find himself married and the father of a little girl.
Even as rumors of Bourdain's separation from his wife, Ottavia Busia, swirl around the tabloids, Appetites exists as a touching account of how a grizzled chef cooks tenderly for his family. Like so many old cooks who eventually find themselves settling down, no longer serving patrons at acclaimed French steakhouses, Bourdain's biggest critic these days is an eight-year-old, not Pete Wells.
Still, while Appetites features some fancy takes on home style favorites—macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, and roast chicken, among them—Sunday dinner at the Bourdain household is anything but traditional. Available in stores on Tuesday, and published under Harpercollins' Ecco press, First We Feast got a sneak peek at some of the recipes from Appetites, and picked out a few of our favorites. From China to Korea, here are some of the more internationally-inspired dishes Bourdain cooks when he's back from the road.
From page 58 of AnthonyBourdain’sAppetites.
This is known as Korean army stew, created, according to legend, from scrounged armyPXcanned goods during wartime. It’s the ultimate dorm food. Just looking at the ingredients might make it sound like a horror, but it very quickly comes together and becomes delicious. It captures the essence of great cooking over the last few centuries: improvisational, born of war and hardship, nostalgic, sentimental, and transformative.
To make the anchovy broth, combine the mushroom, anchovies, kelp, 4 cups water, and the salt in a medium, heavy-bottom pot, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain and discard the solids, and set thebroth aside.
Place the SPAM,kimchi, rice cakes, onion, scallions, garlic, hot dogs, and pork in small separate piles in a large shallow pot.
Add the soy sauce,gochujang,gochugaru, andcheongjuto the pot, then slowly pour in the reserved anchovy kelp broth. Add the baked beans and 1½ cups water. Bring the contents to a steady simmer over high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Cook for about 10 minutes, then add the ramen noodles. Ladle the broth over the noodles to help them break apart. Continue to cook for 2 or 3 minutes, until the noodles are cooked through but still chewy.
Serves 2 to 4
Ingredients:
1 driedshiitakemushroom
4 large dried anchovies, heads and guts removed, wrapped in cheesecloth
One 3 × 5-inch sheet dried edible kelp orkombu
½ teaspoon sea salt
12 ounces SPAM, cut into ½-inch- thick slices
1½ cups Napa cabbagekimchi(tongbaechu)
8 ounces sliced Korean rice cakes
1 white onion, peeled and thinly sliced
2 scallions (white and light green parts), thinly sliced
5 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
3 hot dogs, thinly sliced
8 ounces ground pork
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoonsgochujang(Korean fermented chili paste)
3 tablespoons medium/finegochugaru(ground Korean red pepper)
3 tablespoonscheongju(Korean rice wine)
3 tablespoons canned baked beans
1 package ramen noodles, preferably the Korean brand Shin, seasoning packet discarded
From page 90 of Anthony Bourdain’s Appetites.
This sandwich, loosely inspired by a pork chop bun served to me for television in Macau, is possibly the most delicious thing in the book. We had a hard time shooting it, because everyone in the room kept eating the models.
Pound the pork to ¼-inch thickness, using the meat mallet. If using a rolling pin, be sure to wrap the meat in plastic before whacking it (and consider getting yourself a meat mallet).
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, rice wine, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, five-spice powder, and sugar. Place the pork in a zip-seal plastic bag or nonreactive container and pour the marinade mixture over, turning the chops to ensure that they’re evenly coated with liquid. Seal the bag and refrigerate for at least1 hour and up to 12 hours.
Remove the chops from the marinade and brush off the garlic. Beat the egg in a shallow bowl and place the flour and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Season the flour with salt and pepper. You may need to add a tablespoon of water to the beaten egg, to loosen its texture so that it adheres evenly to the meat.
To a large, heavy-bottom frying pan, add the peanut oil and heat over medium-high.
While the oil heats, dredge the chops in the flour, batting off any extra, then in the egg, then in the bread crumbs.
Test the oil with a pinch of bread crumbs. If they immediately sizzle, carefully slide the chops into the hot oil, working in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding the pan and bringing down the temperature of the oil. Cook for about 5 minutes per side, or until golden brown. Remove the cooked chops from the oil and let drain on the lined sheet pan. Season lightly with salt.
Toast the bread until golden brown.
Assemble the sandwiches and serve with the chili paste alongside.
Ingredients:
4 boneless pork rib chops or cutlets (about 6 ounces each)
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup Chinese rice wine
¼ cup black vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
4 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon five-spice powder 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar,packed
1 large egg
½ cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups panko bread crumbs Salt and freshly ground blackpepper to taste
1 cups peanut oil, for frying, plus more as needed
8 slices white sandwich bread Chili paste, for garnish
Special equipment:
Meat mallet or heavy-duty rolling pin
Sheet pan or platter lined with newspaper
From page 165 of Anthony Bourdain’s Appetites.
There are many ways to make tasty fried chicken, and I like them all, but I’m particularly enamored of the Korean way, which requires some planning ahead but is extremely satisfying. The blanching and freezing technique was lifted from Danny Bowien at Mission Chinese, who does this with his chicken wings. The freezing step makes this dish into a two-day affair, and you’ll need to clear some room in your freezer, but it’s essential for extra-crisp results.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the chili oil, salt, and gochugaru. Add the chicken and toss to coat with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
Add frying oil to a large, deep, straight-sided frying pan (or other vessel suited to frying chicken) so that it is no more than half full. Bring to 300˚F over medium heat, monitoring the temperaturewith a deep-fry thermometer.
Place the potato starch in a shallow bowl. Working in batches, remove the chicken from the marinade, letting the excess drip off, then toss into the potato starch to coat.
Set the cooling racks over each lined sheet pan.
Working in batches, carefully transfer the chicken to the hot oil. Blanch in the oil for 6 to 8 minutes per side, turning the chicken as necessary. The chicken should be opaque looking, and about 75 percent cooked through. (If you’re unsure, cut into a piece of chicken to inspect the doneness from the inside.) Use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove the chicken to the cooling rack, and continue until all of the chicken has been blanched.
Once it is completely cool, transfer the chicken to a clean sheet pan (or remove the rack and discard the newspaper from one pan), wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, and freeze for 8 hours orovernight.
The next day, combine the gochujang, garlic, maple syrup, soy sauce, fish sauce, cheongju, hot sauce, and, if using, the MSG in the food processor and blend well. This is the sauce that youwill brush the chicken with as it comes out of its finishing fry.
Pull the chicken from the freezer and unwrap it about 1 hour before cooking.
Add frying oil to your pan or pot so that it is no more than half full. Bring it to 350˚F over medium heat, again monitoring the temperature with the thermometer. Set up your lined sheet pans with the cooling racks. Working in small batches, fry the chicken for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating in the oil as needed, until golden brown. Let drain and cool slightly on the cooling rack, then use a pastry brush to coat each piece with the sauce. Serve with the radish pickles and cold beer.
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients:
For the marinade:
1 cup roasted chili oil
¼ cup kosher salt
1 tablespoon medium/fine
gochugaru (ground Korean red pepper)
For the chicken:
4 pounds chicken legs, separated into thighs and drumsticks
About 4 quarts peanut or soy oil, for frying
1 cup potato starch or tapioca starch
For the sauce:
1 cup gochujang (fermented Korean pepper paste)
8 garlic cloves
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons fish sauce
¼ cup cheongju (Korean rice wine)
¼ cup Frank’s RedHot sauce
2 teaspoons MSG (optional but recommended)
To serve:
Korean-Style Radish Pickles (page 251)
Special equipment:
Deep-fry or candy thermometer
2 sheet pans lined with newspaper
2 cooling racks, each approximately the same size as the sheet pans
Food processor or immersion blender
