Theory
Googling my leftovers, I came across this recipe for bacon shrimp fried rice.
After some pondering, I concluded that I'm uncomfortable with all these ingredients being thrown into the pan together.
I can see the shrimp and bacon together.
I'd be content with a separate complement of steamed broccoli.
The rice, also, could be on its own.
The mushrooms are the unknown. They could go with the shrimp/bacon (probably my preference, although they should be minced, not sliced) or with the rice.
A premise of my critique is that the ingredients should not all be chopped into small pieces. Too much noise and not enough signal.
You can't have too many actors on-stage unless they're organized into clear groupings, patterns and hierarchies (cf. Balanchine). Without, it's just a mob scene.
Praxis
Serve the bacon and shrimp sauté on top of a bed of fried rice (use the mushrooms in the rice after all). Steamed broccoli goes on the side. Be artful, as always.
Bacon and shrimp sauté: bacon, minced onion, shrimp, soy sauce, sherry.
Fried rice: onion, garlic, mushroom, egg, rice, sugar, salt.
5 comments:
wilkommen, jomo!
Bienvenu, Jomo! I too wonder about this recipe -- I find too many finely-chopped ingredients in the wok all at once lead to a danger of overcooking. With stuff that requires different cooking times, it's better to do one at a time, remove from wok, then re-combine at the end. Thoughts?
i mentioned this to jomo at some point: there was this Times mag piece about a big-shot chef, who says the wife cooks at home. Her rule of thumb: three colors on the plate.
too many ingredients can be too many colors or too many colors runningeth over. add oil or bacon grease and you've got something not so good, at least visually.
here's what i'd do here: i'd brown a little bacon, then take it out (saving it to top a salad). i'd proceed with rest of the recipe.
I agree with the one-ingredient-at-a-time principle. It better retains the variety of flavors, textures, shapes and colors so that you can more mindfully compose them at the end.
And thanks for the warm welcome!
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