Our friends, Jerry and Gabriel, are moving to Seattle in a few weeks. To give them a proper send off, we had them over for dinner last night. For SND, actually Monday night dinner, Hungry Bear and I made...

• Curry Cauliflower Soup with Honey
• Roasted Five-Spice Pork Tenderloin
• Cauliflower and Mushroom Sticky Rice Risotto
• Stir-Fried Water Spinach
• Chocolate Bouchons

Well, we didn't actually make the bouchons. We were up in Napa over the weekend and picked up some goodies from Bouchon Bakery. Sometimes it's just easier to pick up dessert than to make it yourself.

We made the roasted five-spice pork tenderloin by modifying a recipe from Susanna Foo. The main changes were adding an habanero pepper and increasing the quantity of Chinese five-spice. Not knowing how much heat Jerry and Gabriel could handle, I only used half an habanero without many seeds. It turns out my heat conservatism was unnecessary. They love really spicy food and added some of my habanero chili garlic sauce to the pork. If I had only known.

The tenderloin was moist and flavorful with the bold fragrance of five-spice. We all enjoyed dinner immensely and the next time Jerry and Gabriel are in town, I'll really crank up the heat for them!

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After last month's declaration that my mom's spicy lemongrass chicken was the dish I would eat for the rest of my life if I had to choose one item, Hungry Bear was a little sad. I had told her previously that her Hawaiian marinated seared chicken was my favorite chicken dish. Doh, how do you choose between your mom's cooking and your girlfriend's? It's a no win situation.

Despite my faux pas, Hungry Bear still made her Hawaiian chicken this past week. We hadn't seen some SNDsters for awhile and had a midweek "Sunday night dinner." We served the chicken over rice with a side of stir-fried vegetables. For dessert, we made a fantastic blueberry kuchen.

The chicken is very flavorful and tender, because it's marinated overnight in a citrus marinade. The marinade is a blend of strong flavors, particularly the Chinese five spice, fresh mint and mustard. I think the best part is the sauce created by deglazing the frying pan with some reserved marinade. The sauce contains all the caramelized bits left in the pan, and it's wonderful on the chicken and rice.

We have prepared the chicken two other ways — pan seared then finished in the oven, and barbecued on the grill. Both methods worked out fine and I really liked grilling the chicken, but Hungry Bear determined the best approach is just to pan fry the chicken thighs until they are done. The benefit is extra caramelized bits for deglazing!

The chicken was absolutely delicious. I just want to state for the record that my mom's spicy lemongrass chicken is my favorite Vietnamese chicken and Hungry Bear's Hawaiian chicken is my favorite non-Vietnamese chicken dish. I hope this latest declaration makes everyone happy and keeps me out of potential trouble.

SNDsters: Howie, Mark, Jane, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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A few weeks ago, I had a major craving for pulled pork after seeing this pulled pork sandwich from Simply Recipes. I love any big hunk of meat that is slow-cooked or braised. But after looking at the ingredients in the recipe, I was hesitant to make it because it seemed too vinegary.

I have a low tart tolerance and generally dislike anything with a lot of vinegar. And I have major issues with BBQ sauce, Tabasco and other vinegar sauces that dare call themselves hot sauces, but that's a sore subject for another time. When I have barbecued meat, I make sure the BBQ sauce is on the side. I want to taste the meat first and the sauce second!

Instead of making pulled pork with a traditional vinegar or tomato based sauce, I decided to create a Vietnamese pulled pork with my favorite Vietnamese ingredients. I used the flavors from my mom's braised chicken in caramel sauce with lemongrass and chili peppers (ga kho xa ot) as the inspiration for my pulled pork. My mom's ga kho xa ot is my favorite Vietnamese dish and it's the first thing I eat when I visit my parents.

I decided to make the pulled pork in the oven, since I don't have a reliable outdoor grill. My first attempt at making pulled pork turned out well and the SNDsters enjoyed it. I was pleased with the flavors from the dry rub, caramel sauce, lemongrass, chili peppers and fish sauce. However, I used bad cooking directions from a Food Network chef, who shall remain nameless. But let's just say, the results were far from "ultimate."

After searching for better roasting directions, I found a great article on pork butt selection and preparation. I learned the ideal cooking temperature was 225 to 250 degrees F and the target internal pork temperature was 190 to 205 degrees F.

Using these directions, my second attempt at pulled pork was a bigger success. I was extremely pleased with the texture of the pork and how easily it pulled apart. I oven-roasted a 7.5 lb pork butt at 250 degrees F to an internal temp of 195 degrees F and it took 9 1/2 hours. Yes it's a long time, but it's easy work and definitely worth the wait.

During the roasting process, the fragrance of Chinese five spice, which was used in the dry rub, filled my entire place. The pork developed a nice bark, primarily from the brown sugar in the rub. The pulled pork had a great five spice flavor on its own, but it was even more delicious after the lemongrass caramel sauce was mixed in.

I was extremely happy with the flavors of my pulled pork. There was a nice combination of sweetness and heat from the caramel sauce and fresh chili peppers. The saltiness of the pork comes from the kosher salt in the dry rub and fish sauce. The flavors are rounded out by the citrus of the lemongrass.

The pulled pork was served as a sandwich with a side of Vietnamese slaw (goi bap cai). Dinner was completed with an amazing sticky date pudding from Bakesale Betty. The slaw and date pudding will be written up in future posts, so I'll hold off describing them for now.

I created Vietnamese pulled pork to satisfy my desire for pulled pork without a heavy, vinegar based BBQ sauce. "Let the pork shine" was my philosophy. Give it a try and tell me what you think.

SNDsters: Eric, Tracy, Mark, Jane, Hungry Bear, Chuck

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