I've had the chance to try different recipes of ga kho back at home. When I think about "thit kho" (caramelized meats) from my family's meals, it covers a lot of dishes. Whether it be fish steaks, poultry, beef, hunks of pork, or sausage; everything has a version of the caramelized cooking method.

And why not? Caramelization creates a delicious sauce that is savory, sweet, spicy, salty, and thick enough to nicely coat whichever meat you decide to cook.

My cousin came over while I was preparing this dish and asked, "what stinks?!" It was fish sauce and vinegar. A lot of folks shy away from fish sauce because of the smell, but they should give it a shot! I don't sit around whiffing fish sauce, but it's a vital flavor component of the dish.

If you are really afraid of the odor in your house you can always cook it outside or as a last resort substitute soy sauce instead, but the flavor will not be the same.

And if you're strapped for time and cash, this ga kho recipe is the perfect solution (recipe adapted from Food Wishes).

Ingredients:

the marinade
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoons brown sugar

the meat
1.5 lbs chicken drumsticks (you can use any cut desired)

the sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon ginger, minced
1 shallot, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced

last second additions
2 sprigs of scallion, roughly chopped 1/2"-3/4" long
1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
1 thai chili, thinly sliced

vegetable oil for frying

Method:

1. Marinade in about 2 tablespoons fish sauce and 1 tablespoons brown sugar for a least 1 hour. Rotate and redistribute marinade after the first 30 minutes.

2. Combine for the sauce: 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup fish sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup water

3. Then add to the sauce 1 tablespoon minced ginger, 1 minced shallot, and 3 cloves minced garlic.

4. Heat a pan on high heat, then add some vegetable oil. Add the chicken and rotate as it browns. This should only take a 1-2 minutes.

5. Turn down the heat to about medium so the chicken can cook through.

6. Add some of the sauce, just enough to color and kind of baste the meat as it cooks.

You could add the rest of the sauce now too, but I find it makes more sense to cook them separately so you can control the doneness of the chicken and thickness of the sauce independently.

7. Remove the chicken. Add the rest of the sauce and cook on medium high heat until it just reaches desired consistency.

8. Add the sliced jalapeno and scallion to cook just slightly as the sauce finishes. If you want more bite to the jalapeno, slice it thicker and don't let it cook too much (same with the scallion).

Serve with rice.

The holiday season is upon us and when it's cold outside, nothing's as nice as cozying up with a nice, hot beverage (while donning your Snuggie). When you want a cup of hot cocoa, making it at home is really not that hard. It sure beats the packaged instant mixes too.

Using chocolate will give a bit of a richer taste, but you also use cocoa powder and add cream for a similar effect. 101 Cookbooks has compiled a nice list of user-submitted suggestions for drinkable chocolate.

What you need:
4 cups milk
2 ounces cocoa
1/3 cup sugar

heavy whipping cream
cinnamon sticks
whole nutmeg

Method:
Add the cocoa (or chocolate), sugar, and half of the milk to a pot. Heat gently at 50% heat until it starts to boil, then add the remainder of the milk.

Whip with an electric beater until you get soft peaks:

Pour the hot cocoa into a glass and top with some whipped cream. Sprinkle with some cocoa powder, or cinnamon and nutmeg shavings.

This recipe is for Weekend Wokking, a world-wide food blogging event created by Wandering Chopsticks to celebrate different ways ingredients are used across cultures. The host this month is Erbe In Cucina (Cooking with herbs). If you would like to participate or to see the secret ingredient, check who's hosting next month.

This Vietnamese Boiled Cabbage recipe is incredibly simple. What makes it different is the dipping sauce that goes with it!

Ingredients:
1/4 to 1/2 head of cabbage

fish sauce
1 hard-boiled egg
lime

Method:
Boil the egg(s), about 8-10 minutes.
Chop the cabbage into large pieces (about 1.5" x 2").
Boil the cabbage for about 2-4 minutes until tender.
Mash up about 1/2 a hard-boiled egg in fish sauce. You can add a squeeze of lime juice and some chile pepper too.
Serve with rice.

Ok my first attempt at the Filipino Lechon Kawali (pan fried pork belly) did not turn out as expected... haha. I figured since the pork was already cooked, this final pan-frying was just to brown it and puff the skin in hot oil. I placed it in the pan to fry and seriously started to worry for my safety. Oil was flying EVERYWHERE. I had a lid-shield nearby but the oil was still splattering all over the stove.

I'm not really sure where it went wrong. The skin didn't blister/puff before it got burned. Again I'm still trying to figure out why.

This second time around I chose some pieces with less meat and baked it instead of trying to fry it. Frying also left the house smelling like oil for a few days.

I prepped the meat the same way as I did in step 1, but this time I rubbed in kosher salt on the top and bottom of each piece of pork. It was probably 1 tablespoon for each 0.7lbs of meat.

Bake at 300F for about 30 minutes.

Then broil the pieces until the skin blisters. You'll hear some nice hissing. And I actually saw the skin puffing! It was like little puffy clouds given off of active yeast.

At this point, the skin was puffed but I could tell it still had a good amount of moisture in it. I set it to bake again at 350F for maybe 15-20 more minutes.

It came out beautifully!

I still haven't given up on the frying method though. I'm also exploring some methods learned from the GF's mom to infuse some more herbage. There are so many variations on this dish. I cant wait!

However, this one came out delicious and is some pretty hefty junk food/comfort food. Serve with a ton of rice if you know what's good for you.

I've been wanting to take a whack lechon kawali for a long time now. The first one I tried was made by the GF's mom about 18 months ago and it was soo addicting. Lechon kawali is a Filipino dish literally meaning pan-fried pork. Technically, it is first braised, then pan-fried pork belly.

I've looked around for recipes and finally decided on one. For the most part, im trying to follow (and try to quantify) Market Manila's lechon kawali recipe.

What you need:
-2.2lbs. (1 kg.) liempo (pork belly)
I've only had ones with a very low meat to fat ratio so I'm trying to make one with a ton more meat.

-1/2 medium onion
-15 peppercorns
-5 garlic cloves
-2 bay leaves

Prep time: 3 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 25 minutes

First, boil enough water in a pot to cover the liempo (pork belly), about 2-3 quarts.

Split the belly in two. I split it for easier frying. If you want to leave it whole, by all means leave it.

After the water hits a boil, add the belly for about 1-2 minutes just to clean it. Pour out the water and rise the pot and pork well.

Add the onion, peppercorns, garlic, and bay leaves.

Bring to a boil then reduce to heat to about 60% or enough to keep the water at a simmer. I kept adding water to keep the level slightly above the meat. This smells amazing while it cooks!

We're supposed to let it dry, and I also do not want to try to do that in the oven. I have noticed a lot of lechon kawali I'ved had has the meat part dried out. Maybe it's because over drying before frying, or because it was over fried... But I'm going to just follow the recipe and find out .

I lightly wrapped it in paper towel and put it in the fridge overnight. This will get deep fried tomorrow. Check back soon for the finished lechon kawali.