Kate Berry Archives | Saveur

Bun Cha (Grilled Vietnamese Meatballs with Rice Vermicelli)

Kate Berry — Mon, 18 Mar 2019 22:20:48 +0000

Photography by David Malosh; Food Styling by Pearl Jones; Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio

SAVEUR’s chief content officer Kate Berry was born in Southern Vietnam, though she is particularly fond of these Northern-style grilled meatballs, which she tasted for the first time in a restaurant here in the States. According to the classic bun cha recipe, the slightly flattened meatballs are cooked over a wood or charcoal fire, but she finds that a stovetop grill pan is a great substitute for achieving the dish’s requisite char and smoky flavor.

Bun cha is usually served with a light and brothy dipping sauce; Berry suggests swirling the grilled meatballs directly in the condiment—fortifying it with their flavorful juices—before pouring the liquid liberally over the noodles and topping with fresh herbs. A side of crunchy do chua—Vietnamese carrot-daikon pickle—lends the rich pork an extra layer of freshness and crunch; find our recipe here. If cooking the meatballs on a wide-set grill, thread the meatballs on a skewer to prevent them from falling through the grates.

Yield: 4–6

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the meatballs:

¼ cup fish sauce, preferably Vietnamese-style
3 Tbsp. turbinado sugar
1 large shallot, coarsely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely grated
3 lemongrass stalks, outer layers removed, coarsely chopped
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 lb. ground pork

For the dipping sauce:

¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. fish sauce, preferably Vietnamese-style
⅓ cup turbinado sugar
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. coconut water
¼ cup fresh lime juice
4 garlic cloves, grated
1–2 red bird’s-eye chiles (optional)

For serving:

Leaves from 1 head soft lettuce, such as red or green leaf or Bibb
2 medium cucumbers, thinly sliced on the bias
Fresh herb sprigs, such as Thai basil, cilantro, mint, shiso, rau ram, or sawtooth
Rice vermicelli noodles, cooked according to package instructions and chilled

Instructions

Make the meatballs: In a medium bowl, whisk together the fish sauce and sugar until the sugar dissolves. To a small food processor, add the shallot, garlic, and lemongrass until finely chopped (or finely chop using a chef’s knife). Stir the chopped aromatics and black pepper into the sugar mixture, then add the pork, stirring with clean hands to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
Meanwhile, make the dipping sauce: In a medium bowl, stir together the fish sauce, sugar, coconut water, lime juice, garlic, chiles (if using), and ½ cup cool water until the sugar dissolves. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat a grill over medium heat, or a well-seasoned grill-pan over medium-high heat. Place a clean, large platter by the grill or stove.
Divide the chilled meatball mixture into twenty 2-ounce portions (a scant ¼ cup per meatball). Gently roll each portion into a ball, then press gently between your palms to slightly flatten on 2 sides. (This will make the meatballs easier to grill; do not fully flatten into patties). Grill the meatballs, turning once, until deeply charred on both sides and cooked through, 5–10 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to the platter; serve the bun cha hot, with the reserved dipping sauce, lettuce leaves, cucumbers, and herbs on the side.

Do Chua (Vietnamese Carrot Daikon Pickle)

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID MALOSH; FOOD STYLING BY PEARL JONES; PROP STYLING BY SOPHIE STRANGIO

The post Bun Cha (Grilled Vietnamese Meatballs with Rice Vermicelli) appeared first on Saveur.

Welcome to the New SAVEUR

Kate Berry — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 21:40:20 +0000

Big news, readers and friends!

This week, we’re relaunching SAVEUR.com with a completely new look and feel.

It’s taken months to get here—we debated everything from the placement of buttons to the reorganization of all our content—but we’re thrilled to bring nearly 30 years of award-winning storytelling onto a platform that’s more immersive, intuitive, and designed to serve as your daily destination for food inspiration.

Now, our vast archive of 7,000+ recipes is easier to navigate and read, thanks to a clean layout that spotlights the essentials. The refreshed site is also buzzing with cooking columns, travel features with expansive photography, how-tos, and kitchen product recommendations—as well as bigger editorial packages like our guides to Thanksgiving and holiday gifting (plus, keep an eye out later this month for our ode to the 1990s, the decade we debuted).

The SAVEUR editors have you covered from breakfast (Rise & Dine with senior culture editor Megan Zhang) to easy global-influenced weeknight dishes (senior editor Benjamin Kemper’s One Pot Bangers) to weekend fun (Dinner at Kat’s from our editorial director Kat Craddock)—along with regular dispatches from our culinary correspondents Peter Som, Katie Parla, Shane Mitchell, Shannon Mustipher, Romy Gill, Fatima Khawaja, and more. In other words, the new SAVEUR.com is a reflection of how we live and eat now—pulling inspiration from a recent trip, a dish enjoyed at a friend’s dinner party, a recent find at the farmers market, or a meal eaten out at a new restaurant or favorite old haunt.

This is a starting point and certainly still a work-in-progress (you can’t survive this long if you’re not constantly evolving). But our small, passionate team is excited to open the door, welcome you in with a drink, and see what we can cook up together. On that note, be sure to stay up to date on our latest offerings by signing up for our newsletters—and tune in to our first-ever podcast, Place Settings, which features conversations with innovative chefs, creatives, and makers who are transforming the food space through their unique connection to a place.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Send us a note at editorial@saveur.com.

Kate Berry
Chief Creative Officer
@kateberryberry

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Bò Kho (Vietnamese-Style Beef Stew with Lemongrass, Ginger, and Garlic)

Kate Berry — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 23:20:56 +0000

Photography by Linda Pugliese; Food Styling by Jason Schreiber; Prop Styling by Elvis Maynard

SAVEUR’s Chief Content Officer Kate Berry and her mother Kim Nguyen often make this comforting and aromatic stew to celebrate the Lunar New Year and other festive occasions. The family emigrated to the United States in 1975 at the fall of Saigon, when Berry was a baby. Now based in Huntington Beach, California and New York City, respectively, mother and daughter stay connected both to their heritage and to each other, through shared cultural experiences like this hearty braise.

Over the years, Nguyen has adapted the recipe, which has long been enjoyed as a breakfast food throughout Vietnam, to her own tastes and to the ingredients available to her in Orange County. Berry did the same when she began making the dish in New York with her own daughter, Quinn. While Nguyen favors super-meaty beef shanks, Berry opts for a mix of quicker-cooking short ribs and collagen-rich oxtail. Nguyen sweetens the stew with palm sugar while Berry finds that ordinary cane sugar makes a suitable substitute. And while Berry acknowledges her mother’s impressive knife skills, she admits that, when it comes to mincing the aromatics—a heady mix of fresh ginger, garlic, and lemongrass—the speed and convenience of a food processor is better suited to her busy city life.

Adaptations aside, the two women, both avid gardeners, never skimp on the traditional accompaniments—a bountiful mix of fresh herbs, scallion, and lime. With a few variations, the flavor of this special dish, shared thousands of miles apart, remains the same.

Yield: serves 6-8

Time: 6 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

For the bò kho:

½ cups finely chopped ginger
¼ cups plus 2 Tbsp. fish sauce
¼ cups plus 1 Tbsp. sugar
¼ cups finely chopped garlic (about 10 cloves)
6 lemongrass stalks, 3 finely chopped (¼ cup), 3 cut into 4-in. pieces and smashed
2 lb. oxtail, cut into 3-in. pieces
2 lb. boneless short ribs, cut into 2-in. pieces
¼ cups vegetable oil
6 cups beef stock
¼ cups plus 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
6 makrut lime leaves
5 medium shallots, coarsely chopped
4 star anise pods
3 lb. carrots, peeled and cut into 1-by-3-in. pieces
1 medium sweet onion, coarsely chopped

To serve:

Freshly ground black pepper
Wide phở noodles (optional)
Thinly sliced red onion
Coarsely chopped scallions
Cilantro sprigs
Thai basil
Lime wedges
Crusty bread (optional)

Instructions

Make the bò kho: In a large bowl, combine the ginger, fish sauce, sugar, garlic, and chopped lemongrass and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the oxtail and short ribs, turn to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3–8 hours.
Drain the meat, discarding the marinade, and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Use more paper towels to pat the beef dry. To a large pot set over medium-high heat, add the oil. When it’s shimmering and hot, add enough beef to fill the pot without overcrowding and cook, turning occasionally, until browned all over, 15–20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a plate, then repeat with the remaining beef.
To the empty pot, add the browned beef, beef stock, tomato paste, lime leaves, shallots, star anise, and the remaining lemongrass. Turn the heat to high, and when the liquid boils, turn the heat to low and cook, partially covered, until the meat is very tender, 2½ –3 hours.
Add the carrots and onion, add water as needed to keep the vegetables submerged, then turn the heat to medium-high; when the liquid boils, cover and turn the heat to medium-low. Cook until the vegetables are tender, 15–20 minutes.
To serve, remove and discard the lemongrass stalks, then ladle the bò kho into large bowls (over phở noodles if desired). Top generously with black pepper and garnish with the red onion, scallions, cilantro, Thai basil, and lime. Accompany with crusty baguette if desired.

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