Cooking with tendon

Posted on April 18, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Red Sauce Tendon

Cooking with tendon: red sauce method.

I am a huge fan of beef tendon, as I’ve mentioned in the past. So when I ran across this Facebook post from a Hong Kong chef reminiscing about his impoverished early days living on the stuff, I knew it was time to do my own cooking with tendon. Chef B was rather sketchy on the details but with further research I realized he was talking about the “red sauce” method of Chinese cooking in which the protein is braised in a mixture of light and dark soy sauce with rock sugar, Shaoshing wine and appropriate aromatics.

Some items are cooked right in the red sauce (the red, more like a mahogany color, is from the soy sauce) from the beginning, eg pork belly. Start with some sautéing to give it a nice crust, then add the sauce ingredients with additional liquid and cook down as it tenderizes. But tendon has a very long cooking time so I decided to use the Instant Pot. Pressure cook till tender, then finish in the braising liquid. Let’s see how that went.

Beef Tendon Uncooked

This is what tendon looks like before cooking. Photo borrowed from T&T Market. a Canadian chain.

I had a pound of tendon in my freezer, as I am sure you do as well, and assumed I would cut the long pieces into bite size bits so they would have maximum exposure to the cooking liquid. But they had bones in them! A bit more research made me realize those aren’t bones but the actual connecting strands and you need to cook the hell out of them. I started by poaching the tendon to remove any impurities (a step that may or may not be necessary depending on source) then it went into the IP with a cinnamon stick, star anise, onion and a bay leaf. Covered the pieces with water (totaling maybe 3 cups) then 45 minutes on high with 15 minute natural release. The “bones” had resolved into pleasantly chewy strips that were easy to slice. (Next time I might reduce cooking time to 40 minutes to give a little more chew.)

Now I made my red sauce: 2 T each light and dark soy sauce and Shiaoshing wine, plus a T of brown sugar substituting for rock sugar. (I had some mysterious balls from an earlier experiment but they turned out to be yeast.) I also added ½ c of the cooking liquid from the IP so all surfaces of the tendon could be exposed to the flavoring as the sauce reduced. (I also tossed in some sliced carrots in homage to Chef B’s presentation though I did not make them into florets after realizing I was about to repeat a carrot slicing mishap from my first day of chef school that sent me to the infirmary.)

I am more than happy with the result shown here, which like Chef B I will eat with plain rice. The flavor of the aromatics carried over well but I might add a squirt of vinegar for flavor balance, or maybe not.

Leftover Tendon

Leftover tendon after a night in the fridge.

P.S. Refrigerate your leftover tendon overnight and it will turn into a gelatinous block so dense you have to cut it with a knife. Collagen in action! Next time I make Pickled Tripe I might add tendon for a offal exacta.

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Recipe: Banana Upside-Down Bread

Posted on April 12, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Banana Upside Down Bread

Banana Upside Down Bread.

Banana Upside-Down Bread was inspired by a NYT Cooking recipe which describes the upside-down technique but is otherwise too fussy for the lazy cook. So we adapted it to own simpler version. We tinkered with bourbon and raisins after reading a Nigela Lawson recipe but the technique could be applied to any banana bread recipe, including your own or this one or the classic in Joy of Cooking. Makes one 9×5 loaf or equivalent.

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas (about 1 lb with skins)
2 ripe but not yet falling apart bananas with skins on
Brown sugar for caramelizing
For the batter:
½ c raisins of any variety
1/3 c bourbon
1 ½ c all purpose flour
2 t baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t Kosher salt
1 t vanilla extract
2 large eggs
¾ c brown sugar, packed
1 stick (4 oz) melted butter
½ c chopped walnuts (optional)

Method: soak raisins in bourbon for several hours or overnight. Start the batter by beating eggs then adding 3 ripe peeled bananas and mashing them thoroughly with potato masher. Add brown sugar and stir to dissolve; add melted butter and vanilla and stir with a wooden spoon to combine.

Banana Halves Caramelzed

Caramelized banana halves should look like this.

Mix dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt. Fold them into the batter and stir until flour is absorbed. Batter will be thick and lumpy. Finally, add walnuts if using.

Make the upside down bananas: slice two ripe bananas lengthwise with skins on. Arrange them with the meat side up on a sheet of aluminum foil on a broiler rack. Sprinkle on brown sugar and rub in with your finger. Broil bananas until sugar is melted and bubbly and caramelized. Cool to room temperature.

Banana Halves Parchment

Banana slices atop parchment paper. Two have had the tops peeled off, two to go.

Line a 9×5 pan or equivalent with parchment paper covering bottom and sides. Rub on a little butter or neutral oil to prevent sticking. Place the banana halves skin side up in the bottom of the pan and lift off the skins, peeling gently so the meat stays on the pan. Pour over the batter, taking care not to disturb the banana halves.

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the top of the loaf. Cool the upside-down banana bread to handling temperature, then carefully unmold onto a serving dish. (Remove the loaf with parchment paper from the pan, invert the serving dish on top of the loaf, then flip the dish and carefully peel off parchment paper to reveal the finished product.) Serve at room temperature or warmed, maybe with some vanilla ice cream.

The finished product.

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Food for Thought: Made with Lau

Posted on April 7, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers

I had a large bag of carrots and googled “Chinese carrot recipe” hoping for a new way to prepare them.  Dad’s Stir Fry Carrots was the top hit. It’s on Made with Lau, a two-time James Beard Award winner which shares the skills of a Chinese restaurant chef with 50 years experience. Though I am usually a reader vs watcher, I was drawn in by the freeze frame of the video in which Daddy Lau is brandishing a giant carrot with the caption “OUR KIDS LOVE THIS”.

The videos are the main draw of Made with Lau, presenting recipe prep and technique in subtitled Cantonese with occasional English interjections from his son who is his documentarian and #1 fan. In Dad’s Stir Fry Carrots, for example, you’ll learn the proper way to de-string snow peas and the trick for cutting your carrot slices into flower shapes. The ingredient list for this was a little daunting so I went for Dad’s Scallops and Asparagus Stir Fry; early asparagus is on sale now and I have scallops in my freezer.

Cooking with Lau

Daddy Lau cooks with grandkid.

In this video, Daddy Lau is preparing the dish for his grandkid’s first birthday, with the little one in a high chair just behind him and occasionally reaching out as Lau chops and stir fries just inches away. Viewers expressed concern about the child’s safety, but she evidently made it through the experience with everyone singing happy birthday at the end. Okay, let’s try this at home.

Cantonese cuisine is known for its respect for fresh vegetables, which means even the simplest recipe can be time consuming on a one-off basis. Scallops must be blanched with cooking wine, asparagus is soaked then blanched with oil (along with a few carrots, on a slightly different timetable) and the wok must be smoking hot, with the flame then reduced to medium to stir fry the aromatics without burning (another tip), then returning to high heat as vegetables are added. Of course, this process would be trivial with a lot of practice and a mise en place of precut veggies.

My result is at the top… not as pretty as Daddy Lau’s but a treat regardless, with the flavors of the scallops and the asparagus blending just as designed. I highly recommend you check out Made with Lau.

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Recipe: Tahini Salad from Ali Baba Cave

Posted on April 2, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Tahini Salad

Ali Baba Cave Tahini Salad, sans parsley and mint.

Tahini Salad from Ala Baba Cafe  is the secret ingredient in the miraculous shawarma wraps served at this long gone and sorely missed spot in San Francisco’s Lower Haight. I was delighted to find a snapshot of the menu and learned that the shawarma wrap was served with “hummous, parsley, onions, potatoes and tahini salad”.  Tahini salad? Luckily that was also served, as a side dish, and we learn it contained “tomato, cucumber, parsley mint and tahini sauce”. I was so excited I left out the parsley and mint in this test run, but the salad was still delicious and the wrap I made with it was as good as I remembered, Makes about a pint, enough for several wraps or side salads.

Ingredients:
1 whole cucumber, peeled and cored (or use Persian cucumber which requires neither)
2 plum tomatoes
1 t dried spearmint or 1 T finely chopped fresh
¼ c chopped parsley*
For the sauce:
6 T tahini (mix of solid and liquid if separated)
1 clove garlic
¼ c lemon juice
¼ t kosher salt
about ¼ c water (see below)

Method: emulsify sauce ingredients in mini-chop, adding enough water to make a pourable/spreadable but not watery sauce. Chop cucumber and tomato into small dice and combine with sauce along with parsley and mint. Give the favors a few minutes to meld, then serve as a side salad or spread on the interior of a shawarma wrap.

*If using chopped parsley in your shawarma wrap you can reduce or eliminate it here.

Shawarma Wrap Assembly

Shawarma Wrap under construction, sans parsley and mint.

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Recipe: TikTok Doner Meat at Home

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers

TikTok Doner Meat made at home.

There are many variations of the viral TikTok Doner meat recipe and I made my own from a consensus of likely ingredients. The result is a little lightly spiced for my taste (apparently doner is a regional variation of shawarma meat, with the latter being more seasoned) so feel free to increase any of the spice quantities. Makes enough for 4-6 servings in pita or lavash.

Ingredients:
2 lbs ground beef or lamb or a combination
1 large onion, finely grated and drained to produce about ¾ c
4 or more garlic cloves
4 T Greek yogurt
3 T olive oil
1 t smoked paprika
1 t garlic powder
1 t ground cumin
1 t dried oregano
2 t salt
1 t ground black pepper

Method: preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine all ingredients in food processor and process to a smooth paste (don’t worry about overprocessing because the paste consistency is needed to make this method work).

Divide the meat into 4 portions. Cut a sheet of parchment paper to the length of the roll x about 8 inches and a second to fit on top.

Pressing with your hands, mush out one of the four meat portions toward the corners of the sheet, then place the second sheet on top. Using a rolling pin, roll out to create a very thin layer of meat but within the boundaries of the paper. Roll up like a jelly roll into a cylinder and place on a sheet pan. Repeat with the other 3 meat portions. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or so.

Rest the cooked cylinders till they reach handling temperature then roll out to release strips which are close to slices from meat on a vertical spit in form and texture. To serve TikTok doner meat, warm up and crisp slightly in a skillet or microwave then serve as a component in a middle eastern platter or in a wrap or pita.

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Recipe: Carolina Slaw

Posted on March 24, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Carolina Slaw

Carolina Slaw.

Carolina Slaw is a familiar topping for pulled pork, but it’s also a  change of pace as a side dish. When we think of Carolina BBQ we think of mustard, of course, but this is not particularly mustard-y. The original recipe is here; we’ve noticed Southern Living slaw recipes tend to be heavy on the sauce so we’ve halved the ingredients then further reduced the sugar. This will give you about a quart of slaw, enough for half a dozen servings; you don’t want to let vinegar slaw sit too long in the fridge because it loses flavor after a couple of days.

Ingredients:
Half a head grated cabbage (about 1 lb)
1 large carrot, peeled and grated
¼ c apple cider vinegar
2 T sugar
2 T neutral vegetable oil
1 T Dijon mustard
1 t dry mustard
½ t celery seeds
½ t kosher salt
¼ t freshly ground black pepper

Method: combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking to emulsify. Cool to room temperature then pour over slaw mix in a bowl. Toss to mix thoroughly. Chill at least 2 hours before serving, but no more than overnight.

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Why we’re still celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

Posted on March 18, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Corned Beef Cabbage

Corned Beef and Cabbage with Mustard Sauce.

St. Patrick’s Day has to be my favorite food holiday, after Thanksgiving. In both cases the feasting is centered on a dish which can be repurposed in various ways for several days. As a bonus, there are usually store discounts that make you feel clever as you gorge yourself. In the current celebration that would be cabbage, which was 39 cents per pound or better than half off the usual price. It lasts months under refrigeration so the only limitation on my shopping was refrigerator space. Three huge heads will give me cole slaw and other cruciferous delights for weeks.

Corned beef is certainly not on sale with rising beef prices, but I had frozen a point and a flat in previous years and cooked up a classic corned beef and cabbage. It would be very hard to mess up this dish other than taking it off the stove before tender (or neglecting to take the spices out of the little envelope they come in, I guess). Add the brisket and the contents of the seasoning packet to a stewpot, cover with water and simmer away for maybe 3 hours, adding cut up potatoes and carrots the last half hour then removing everything and cooking the cabbage in the seasoned salty water at the end. I wanted to enjoy a tangy sauce made with Coleman-style dried mustard and tried this from an AI search:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 large egg, beaten
1 tablespoon sugar (white or brown)
1 cup corned beef cooking liquid (stock)
¼ cup vinegar (cider or malt)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method: beat egg in a small saucepan and whisk in sugar, then mustard, flour, salt and pepper. Whisk in corned beef cooking liquid and vinegar and heat over low flame till it begins to thicken, 5 minutes or so, stirring constantly.

Verdict: this wasn’t what I was looking for, but I know how to fix it: more mustard powder and less (or no) sugar next time.

Corned Beef Sandwich

Today’s corned beef and swiss on rye.

Today I had a classic corned beef and swiss on rye, with yellow mustard and a bit of horseradish, toasted to warm the beef and melt the cheese. Could not be improved on except maybe by baking my own bread; I used deli rye from Rock Hill Bakehouse, a local brand.

What’s next? Using the same sandwich ingredients plus sauerkraut and sauce to produce a Rueben. Corned beef hash, of course. And when the meat is gone I still have the tub of vegetables cooked in its liquid which I can heat up and enjoy with a splash of A-1 (not AI). Slåinte!

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Recipe: Parsley Buttered Potatoes

Posted on March 16, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Parsley Buttered Potatoes

Parsley Buttered Potatoes.

Do we really need a recipe for parsley buttered potatoes? They were a favorite of my mother, so humor me. And there is indeed some technique involved if you want something more than potatoes with parsley and butter. Serves 4.

Ingredients:
1 lb potatoes (small red potatoes preferred; do not use russets)
Salt for boiling the potatoes
¼ c unsalted butter
½ c finely chopped parsley (Italian preferred)

Method: if using small red potatoes, you can wash and leave the skin or peel a horizontal band around the potato if you want to get fancy. Otherwise peel and cut into uniform size pieces approximately 2 inches across. Boil in heavily salted water until just tender, about 20 minutes. (You can easily pierce a piece with a fork, but it won’t break apart.)

Parsley Buttered Potatoes

Sauté parsley buttered potatoes until just a bit of brown appears, like this.

Drain the potatoes and return the pot to the stove, adding the butter. Let the potatoes soak up some of the butter (this is the technique part) by sautéing over medium heat until just a bit of brown appears, turning the potatoes to expose all sides to the butter. Sprinkle on parsley, mix thoroughly and serve as a side with short ribs or similar rich food.

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Recipe: Variations on a Banana Sandwich

Posted on March 13, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Banana Sandwich Assembly

Southern Living recommends  lengthwise slices so they stay on the bread. Their article has lots of interesting banana lore while claiming without evidence that only Duke’s mayo can be used.

The banana sandwich is a depression-era improvisation which is still popular down south, though we had never heard of it until reader Rob Smith gave us a heads up over in the comments on our Best Mayonnaise Taste Test post. And guess what, it’s really good. The sweetness of the banana and the mayo complement each other beautifully and the soft white bread is like a billowy cloud, holding the ingredients together without adding its own texture. Makes 1 banana sandwich.

Ingredients:
2 slices cheap white sandwich bread
½ banana, not green but not overripe, sliced lengthwise into strips
1 T or more mayonnaise

Method: spread the mayo to all edges of both bread slices then layer banana on top. Close it up, slice in half for easier handling, and enjoy.

Variation: Banana Sandwich with BBQ Potato Chips

Banana Sandwich with BBQ Potato Chips

Banana Sandwich with BBQ Potato Chips.

Rob Smith recommends adding barbecue-flavored potato chips to the sandwich for “sweet savory with a hint of spice”. We tried and, sorry, not a fan. If you do this crumple the potato chips so the sharp edges don’t tear up the delicate white bread.

Variation: Elvis-Style Banana Sandwich

Reader Chuckeye Dave reminds us this was the King’s favorite sandwich. The internet tells us he added bacon and peanut butter  to a banana sandwich and then fried it in butter. We think it makes more sense to use that good bacon grease so that’s what we did and we like it. Makes one sandwich.

Ingredients:
2 slices cheap white sandwich bread
½ banana, not green but not overripe, sliced lengthwise into strips
1 T or more mayonnaise
1 T or more creamy peanut butter (it needs to be soft so it won’t tear the bread)
2 slices bacon, toasted crisp
Bacon fat from cooking bacon

Method: assemble banana sandwich per above and spread peanut butter on the open slice of bread (the one without the bananas). Layer on the bacon strips and close it up. Fry both sides until brown in the bacon grease in the pan. Slice in half and serve.

Banana Sandwich Elvis Style

Banana Sandwich Elvis- Style.

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Recipe: Sautéed Broccoli Rabe

Posted on March 8, 2026 by Burnt My Fingers
Broccoli Rabe

Sautéed Broccoli Rabe

Sautéed Broccoli Rabe is purpose-built for Philly Italian Pork Sandwiches, but stands on its own as a side dish. Do not consider substituting broccolini, a similar-looking vegetable which is sitting next to broccoli rabe in the produce section and is probably cheaper. Broccoli Rabe comes from a different side of the crucifer family and has a pleasantly bitter bite that’s closer to turnip or mustard greens than sweet tasting broccolis. Makes enough for half a dozen pork sandwiches or 3-4 servings as a side.

Ingredients:
I head broccoli rabe, about 1 lb
¼ c good olive oil
¼ c chopped garlic, 6-8 cloves
Pinch cracked red pepper
Pinch kosher salt

Method: cut off the ends then chop broccoli rabe stalks into 1-inch lengths. Sauté garlic in olive oil till it becomes fragrant and browns slightly; add broccoli rabe, red pepper and salt and stir to combine. Continue cooking over low to medium heat until it begins to wilt and cook down, then cover and cook to desired doneness: just slightly crunchy if serving as a side dish, fully tender if using as a sandwich garnish.

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