Andre Chiang's Escabeche (50 Best #3)
Updated: Jul 28, 2020
Before I start I wanted to say thank you to everyone who have been supportive of the first couple posts. I am hoping we continue to grow a great community based around great food and having fun cooking.
I've been procrastinating this dish for a little while because the recipe presented by the 50 Best doesn't appear to be correct. It seems to leave a few ingredients out and skip a few steps. In addition the name Escabeche is used to describe many different dishes and seems to differ depending on what source you use. So this will be my interpretation of Andre Chiang's dish from pictures, descriptions, and a base recipe.
Escabeche
3 Red Chilies (this depends on how spicy you want it)
4 Scallops (I used 10-20s)
4 Mussels
8 Pink Shrimp
8 Crayfish (If you live somewhere these aren't common its usually possible to find them in the frozen offerings of most fishmongers. They work just as well as fresh)
1/2 cup Carrot (Sliced into half moons)
3 cloves Garlic (Sliced)
1 qt Fish stock (you want to use a light flavored fish stock instead of something to strong)
7.5 grams Loose Black Tea
1 piece Ginger (just use one slice roughly the size of a quarter)
15 grams Brown sugar
15 grams Rice
1 cup Water
1 bunch Enoki Mushroom (garnish)
garnish Chives
To taste Salt and Pepper
Drying the Scallops
The first step in this recipe is to dehydrate the scallops. This can be done by leaving them in an oven at 85F or a dehydrator overnight. However, if your oven is a cheap home use oven like mine and won't allow the temperature that low and you don't have a dehydrator its not a problem. If that is the case then just leave the scallops as is and add them to the dish fresh. It will not make a big difference.
Ready to Begin
The first step is to cut your chilies in half long ways and set them to cure for about 30 minutes in a mixture of kosher salt (90%), black pepper (5%), and szechuan pepper (5%).
Next cook the shrimp and crayfish in salted fast boiling water (you can slice a lemon into it and add some peppercorn for flavor if you want) for about 2 minutes or until cooked. Once they are cooked immediately transfer them to ice water to stop them from overcooking. Leave these off to the side for now.
The Soup
Add 1 tsp of grape seed oil to the bottom of your pot and allow it to get hot. Then add the sliced garlic and shallot and let that cook until it starts to brown. Add the sliced carrot. Continue to cook for another few minutes until the carrot begins to soften. Add the fish stock, the cured chili peppers and a bay leaf. Turn the heat down and allow this to come to a simmer so the carrots can fully cook.
While that is coming to a simmer in a separate pan cook your mussels with the loose tea, ginger, rice, brown sugar, and 1 cup of water. Add all of the ingredients into the pan cold and allow the mussels to open up while the water comes to a boil. This should take about 5 minutes for the mussels to cook. Once they are done remove them from the tea mixture and set off to the side. Using a fine mesh strainer strain the water from the tea leaves and rice into the fish stock you have on the stove.
If you did not dehydrate the scallops then sear them in a separate pan and then add them to the soup. If you did dehydrate the scallops add them to the soup now. Add the mussels, crayfish, and shrimp. Bring the soup back to a simmer to reheat the seafood.
Serving
Cook your noodles in fast boiling salted water. Place them in the bottom of your bowl. Ladle some of the broth in around the noodles and then place the seafood over the top. That's it. You're ready to eat!!
My Opinions
Cooking this dish was actually a lot of fun because it went outside my comfort zone as its something I've never made. The addition of the tea into the broth adds a very nice flavor profile that I had never thought of trying. Its definitely something I'm going to incorporate into future dishes.
Overall I really liked the dish and think I did Andre Chiang's dish justice but that is for y'all to decide. Oh and Ziggy really approved of the scallop I accidentally dropped.