Cooking With Soy Milk

North Fork Chef: A cooking method that's gentle to fish

On restaurant menus it is common to list ingredients and describe the cooking method. Thus we see “pan seared,” “roasted,” “grilled,” “braised,” “sautéed” and many more. It is important to remember that there are only two basic cooking methods: dry heat and moist heat. Heat is transferred to the food directly, as in placing a cutlet in a hot skillet (conduction), or indirectly by the currents caused by the movement of molecules in a liquid (convection). Dry heat cooking methods include broiling, sautéeing, roasting and deep frying. They work best for tender cuts of meat, poultry and fish. A high quality steak is grilled at high temperature to make it palatable and flavorful, not to tenderize it. Moist heat methods include boiling, simmering and poaching. Braising is a combination method that requires browning at high temperature first and then adding liquid for long, slow cooking to tenderize. Simmering liquid such as water, stock or wine breaks down connective tissue in less tender cuts of meat, poultry and fish. In classic French cuisine a “court bouillon” is used as the poaching liquid. Court bouillon is water simmered with vegetables, seasonings and an acid ingredient such as wine, vinegar or lemon juice. But aromatic liquids such as water with herbs or intense liquids such as red wine reductions are also good for poaching. When cooked properly, poached foods retain the delicate flavors of the food without adding fat. Here are some recipes for poached foods:

Tea-Poached Salmon with Curried Peanut Butter Broccoli Rabe Heat a sauté pan and add 1 tablespoon canola oil. Add 1 cup chopped onion along with 2 tablespoons curry powder. Combine 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter with 1 cup soy milk and add to the cooked onion mixture. Cut one bunch of broccoli rabe into small pieces (both leaves and stems) and add them to the sauté pan. Toss the broccoli rabe with the peanut butter sauce, cover and simmer until just tender, about 5 minutes. Combine 1 bottle of merlot and 1 cup chicken stock in a saucepan. Add 3 peeled and quartered beets (reserve the beet greens and stalks), 1 chopped carrot, 1 peeled and quartered onion and 1 stalk of chopped celery. Season with 3 whole cloves of garlic, 1 bay leaf and 3 sprigs of thyme. Simmer until wine is reduced by half. Strain out the vegetables and reserve the beets. Reserve the reduced wine as a poaching liquid.

Savory Soy Milk Tofu (咸豆浆豆腐） + "Behind the Scenes" Cooking ...

4Th dish ( Savory Steamed Soy Milk Tofu ): This version is done with diced tomatoes, mushrooms, nori seaweed, cilantro and unsweetened soy milk. Steam the tofu in unsweetened  soy milk with ingredients (except nori seaweed) for about 5 minutes till slightly warm. Garnish with nori seaweed and dash of sesame oil to the steamed tofu before serving. The only item not steamed to cook is pasta (not shown here). After the pasta is boiled (cooked), it is first tossed into "essence" of shrimps (from the 1st dish), then tossed with the heap of steamed vegetables (2nd dish with bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, garlic, cilantro). Top with steamed asparagus. 1st, 2nd, 3rd dish become one main dish + 1 tofu side dish!

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