Oscar Nominations, 'The Ted Bundy Tapes,' Chinese Heritage Cooking
Dana Stevens, a movie critic at Slate, joins us with a recap of this year’s Oscar nominations.
Joe Berlinger (16:28) joins us to discuss his new documentary series, “Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes,” which airs on Netflix January 24.
Chef Shirley Chung, (35:28) who competed on Top Chef and Top Chef All-Star Season 14, joins us to discuss her new cookbook, Chinese Heritage Cooking from My American Kitchen.
Featured Recipe:
GRILLED SKIRT STEAK WITH BROCCOLINI
Broccoli beef is one of the best known Chinese American dishes. This simple dish is very hard to execute perfectly because it requires extensive wok skill. I use a grill to make my version of broccoli beef, and I created the nice, charred “wok chi” flavor by giving the steaks nice grill marks. Broccolini is a closer cousin to Chinese broccoli, gai lan, than regular broccoli. It also grills a lot better. You might not want to go back to regular broccoli after you taste it!
SERVES 4
2 lb (900 g) skirt steak
Steak Marinade
1 bunch green onions
2 oz (56 g) ginger
2 oz (56 g) garlic
3 tbsp (45 ml) oyster sauce
2 tbsp (30 ml) soy sauce
2 tbsp (30 ml) canola oil
2 red onions
1 lb (450 g) broccolini
2 tbsp (30 ml) sesame oil
Kosher salt, to taste
1½ tbsp (11 g) ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Crunchy sea salt, to finish
Pat the skirt steak dry with paper towels. In a blender, combine the green
onions, ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce and cooking oil. Blend
until smooth. Pour this mixture into a shallow bowl and rub it all over the
steak. Allow to marinate for 1 hour.
Meanwhile, clean and peel the red onions. Slicing against the grain, cut
them into 1-inch (2.5-cm) rings. Clean the broccolini and put them into a
large bowl with the onions. Dress them with sesame oil, season with salt
and pepper to taste and set aside.
Preheat the grill on high heat. After the steak is marinated, wipe off
the marinade. Season the steak with all 1½ tablespoons (11 g) of black
pepper on both sides, and salt to taste. It is very important to grill the
steak over high heat so there is a nice char and a quick sear, just like
cooking in a wok. Skirt steak is very thin, so it cooks really fast; each side
will only take 90 seconds to 2 minutes for medium rare, which I think is
the best temperature to enjoy this cut of steak.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the grill, char the red onions, about
2 minutes on each side. When both sides are charred, but the onions are
still raw, place these into a salad bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The
carry-over heat will create steam to finish cooking them. Lightly grill the
broccolini for 1 quick minute, so they are still green and crunchy.
Allow the skirt steak to rest for a couple minutes before slicing. Set the
steak on top of the red onion rings and the grilled broccolini. Finish with
sea salt on the steak.
PRO TIP: Serve this dish with the Black Pepper Sauce on
page 163. Black pepper steak!!
PRO TIP: To cook a thin piece of protein, give it a harder sear on
one side. Cook until it’s almost done on that side only. Then give it
“a light kiss” by quickly cooking the other side for no more than
30 seconds. This way you will have a well-seared, caramelized
crispy side with a lightly cooked tender side. This cooking
technique works well on all meats and seafood
