Meat Lollipop Recipe

In my last two bento, I included an item that I call a meat lollipop. A meat lollipop is nothing but a chicken drummette cut and formed into a funny shape. Before we get to the cutting, here’s what you’ll need:

• 2 pounds chicken wing drumettes
• A toaster oven with a bake and broil function. Or a regular oven, I guess.

Marinade

• 1/2 cup mirin
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1 cup soy sauce
• Two cloves garlic, finely minced (those using jarred minced garlic should use about a tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon finely minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Glaze

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1/2 TEASPOON oyster sauce. THAT IS IT. NO MORE. YOU WILL REGRET IT IF YOU ADD MORE.

First, mix the marinade in a large bowl. It doesn’t matter worth a rat’s ass what order you throw things into the bowl in. Mix the slurry thoroughly and set it aside.

Make your initial incision at the very end of the bone, above the joint. Totally separate the skin from the bone, and PUSH the meat/skin upward to form a lumpy wad on one end of the bone. Next, tuck the cut end of the meat into the big fat lump. Repeat until all the wings are lollified.

Now that you’ve got your meat lollipops, toss them into the marinade. Make sure that each one is thoroughly coated, and stow the bowl in the fridge while you clean up the mess you undoubtedly made thusfar.

Don’t preheat the oven. No, I know you want to, but don’t bother. It doesn’t matter in this. No, stop. Bad. Don’t. Just fwing the knob to 300°  and call it done. Now arrange your meat lollis in a glass or metal tray. Do not overlap them if you can manage it. Next, pour just a little of the marinade over them before putting them in the oven, on the middle rack. Leave them there for about forty minutes, adding a bit more of the marinade and turning them whenever they look dry.

Meanwhile, start on the glaze. Put the water, mirin, and soy sauce in a saucepan and set it to simmering. Once bubbles form, add the oyster sauce and sugar. Increase the heat slightly, and stir the mixture often until it bubbles slowly and coats a spoon. When it reaches this state, remove it from the heat and cover it.

When the forty minutes have elapsed,  take your lollis out of the oven and brush the hot glaze over them. The glaze should already be thickening/setting, so work quickly. Once they’re coated, stuff them back in the oven. Set the oven to broil, and rinse your glaze bowl.

For the love of god, rinse it. You’ll need a sand blaster later, if you don’t.

Bento With a Friend! :D

Today, I met with a friend to study for our Japanese quiz. To repay her for buying me French fries the other day (and offering me porn) I fixed her a bento lunch in one of my old, ghetto containers.

Because my friend’s tastes lean more on the cute side than mine (you have no idea) she got a cuter sort of bento, with lots of fluffy paper cups and bunny cutouts. What’s in it?

-Skewered leftover meatloaf
-A meat lollipop
-Many cucumbers
-Sliced/cutout apple
-Sugar-free (mostly!) oat bar
-Two onigiri, the larger of which is stuffed with tuna and a healthy dose of soy sauce
-A pink Peep bunny full of ranch dressing

My lunch is, in contrast, not cute at all. This pleases me most days. So, what’s within?

-More onigiri! Again, the plumper one is full of tuna
-A drummette/meat lollipop
-Cucumber slices, which are great for cutting the salt/heat of the previous items
-Granny smith chunks
-French fry nubs
-SOY EGG!

Meat lollipop recipe available upon request.

New Potential Bento Find in Dollar Tree

Found these at the Dollar Tree store. For a dollar, naturally. They were in the toys section, which I was browsing after grabbing a new nori punch. Since I only had a dollar on me at the time, I decided to pick these up instead.

The topmost items are, I guess, embossing stamps. Can’t think of a damn thing to do with them.

Second row is some little cookie/dough cutters. The uses for these are fairly obvious, and they’re what initially attracted me to this pack.

The third row, I didn’t think of a purpose for until I opened the pack and looked at them. Though they’re meant for storing Play Dough (not Play Doh) they’d make excellent sauce/small item holders.

So that’s my “I’m a cheap prick” post for the week.

Checkerboard and Sour Things? You Bet! Bonus: Recipe for coconut rice pudding!

I wonder what’s inside my handsome furoshiki today?