The Far East, courtesy of Chef Ramsay

Do you remember the show Hells’ Kitchen? It aired on Fox and featured world-renowned chef Gordon Ramsay as he would go around bashing people’s attempts at cooking. The show was entertaining because of Ramsay’s rage, rather than the food being prepared. I never enjoyed watching it, and, because of my laid-back personality, I was never particularly fond of Ramsay either.

But recently that has changed. Ramsay has an expansive YouTube channel where he posts videos of himself cooking elaborate yet easy-to-make dishes. He is not temperamental as I once perceived, but rather, he creates a gentle atmosphere where learning and fun are combined in the kitchen.

So, here’s to looking at you, Chef Ramsay. The dish I made tonight is a culmination of a few tricks I learned after watching your videos.

Here are a few cooking tips that Chef Ramsay preaches:

•   There's always something more to learn in the kitchen, whether it's ingredients or techniques.
•   If the meat doesn't sizzle when you put it on the pan, take it off. 
•   It is so dangerous working in the kitchen with a blunt knife; working with a sharp knife is 10 times quicker, more efficient
•   For a whole head of garlic, crush and shake in a bowl to take off all the skin, leaving only cloves
•   To get seeds out of chili pepper, hold it upright and rub in between your hands, tap it and continue to rub again. Then cut the top off and dump the seeds right out. 

Anyway, tonight I had the pleasure of cooking for a good friend, Mr. Jack Loftus. He’s a man with keen erudition and a palate open to all flavors. While cooking for Jack, I made sure to keep reminding him of how much longer it would take and, of course, how sorry I’d be if it didn’t turn out good. To this, Jack would reply, “Yonah, I don’t care, it’s free.” Now that’s my kind of customer. You can check out what Jack is up to over here: http://jdloftus.blogspot.com/

So what did I cook? Well, it is an Asian-influenced dish of ground beef and pork alongside white rice noodles. ‘Twas packed with flavor that flocks could smell for miles.
 

The ingredients I used were: olive oil, salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, lime, serrano, poblano and long hot peppers, scallion, sesame seed oil, fish sauce, brown sugar, white rice noodles and ground beef and pork.

Start by, of course, preparing.  If there is one thing I did differently tonight, I did not specifically measure out any ingredients. I'm at a point in my cooking career where I can tell how much flavor to add to chopped meat. It's basically a staple of easy cooking, so I've been cooking chili a little while. 

Chop up ginger; this is interesting because it's basically a piece of wood. Skim off the skin and make sure to practice #knifesafety. Continue to cut your garlic, pepper and scallions. 

Now, season your meat with salt and pepper and throw it in a pan filled with a tbsp. of olive oil. Cook it until it's well-cooked. Make sure to chop and mix continually so the beef is very fine. Then, take it out and use a filter to take out any liquid, then let it sit. 

Grab your noodles and, instead of throwing them into a boiling pot like you would regularly do, pour boiling water atop the noodles in a large bowl - make sure to have the noodles entirely covered. Let that sit for about 10 minutes, mixing time and time again. When you take the noodles out and drain, pour some olive oil on top to keep it from sticking together. 

In what should be a quick process, drizzle a dollop of sesame seed oil and olive oil into a hot pan. When it heats up, throw in your garlic, ginger and peppers. Next, add in brown sugar to caramelize the spices. Not too long after, grab your meat and dump it back into the pan. After a minute or so add in fish sauce, lime juice, and grate lime zest too. Lastly, add in your chopped scallions for flavor and crunch. Take the dish off the stove no more than 30 seconds later. 

I tried to prepare the meal in a way that finished together at the same time, I hope it works out for you too. I also put some fish sauce on the noodles because, as you'll see, they don't have much flavor. 

But, the ground beef had a wealth of contrasting flavors. The spices were very hot, but when the ginger and lime's tanginess come around, your mouth isn't too bothered. 

A very good meal, I must say; you could make it too!