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I made such a mess of the kitchen the other night. I had help though. My trusty bf and I decided to go Asian and make spring rolls and wontons. With all the dipping sauces and marinades, it came to a grand total of five sauces. Ridiculous.

I’ll start with the food food, and then elaborate on the sauces, or mad science as I like to call it.

But yum, huh? Doesn’t that spring roll look good? I snagged the recipe from one of my “Foodbuzz Friends,” Filipinalovesfood. She recommended making them with pork, cucumber, noodles, mint, lettuce, and pineapple. I had never had a spring roll with pineapple in it before, but I loved it. Spring rolls are probably the “freshest” tasting food around. So that’s awesome right there. But when you add sweetness? I’m twice as sold.

And here’s the dumpling recipe. Also yum. We were so full from the spring rolls though, that we didn’t eat many dumplings. Most of them are sitting in my freezer right now, to be enjoyed for lunch later on this week.

Sauce, Sauce, Sauce, Sauce, Sauce

I’ve been quite interested in sauces, as of late. I actually have a copy of, “Sauces: Classic and Contemporary Sauce Making,” by James Peterson sitting on my coffee table. I’m curious about the structure of sauces - why they work like they do, what thickens and why, etc.

Like I said, we made a total of five sauces for this meal. Two were marinades - one from the spring roll recipe (for the spring roll pork) and one my bf just made up (for the dumplings). I liked them both a lot. Marinades are awesome. There are so many different possibilities. My favorite so far has been a lime-flavored marinade though. I was going to make that again this weekend actually. Anyhoo.

Then I made some peanut sauce for dipping. That was hilarious. I wasn’t paying too much attention to the recipe and I accidently used a tablespoon of sesame oil, instead of a teaspoon. Dammit. A little sesame oil goes a long way. So in an attempt to fix it, I just quadrupled the rest of the ingredients. I ended up with more peanut sauce than I would ever use in my life. My bf delicately suggested afterwards that sometimes it’s better to throw the mistake away and start over, instead of trying to fix what you have. Oh yeah. That would have been smart. I used about half a jar of peanut butter up! It’s a good thing I love it and have 2 1/2 jars left over in my cupboard still.

Also made a soy sauce-based dipping sauce. And a sauce to mix with the marinated pork for the dumplings.

I didn’t care for either of the dipping sauces, actually. Those are all personal preferences though. I’m not a big dipper. Or even a little dipper. I don’t use salad dressing. I eat chips plain. I’m just weird like that. My spring roll tasted perfect just as I had made it, I thought. I also don’t like soy sauce. I’m trying to like it, but it’s way too salty for me. I can put it in things, but when it’s the main ingredient, it’s nasty.

But, that’s fine. The science of a sauces is still fun for me. Here’s me playing with some corn starch and water. That s*it is crazy! Fun times, fun times.