Stir-fry udon noodles with pork and cabbage and live your best life.

Plus: Thanksgiving Plate 2022, Houston's Boca, and a Cyber Monday Deal.

Hey everyone,

Hope you all had great Thanksgivings! Mine was jam-packed with activity since I have a niece and nephew in Boca who love their gay uncles and wanted to go to to the petting zoo and the beach (we went boogie boarding in the Atlantic) and who have an insatiable appetite for ice cream, including Dippin’ Dots.

I’ll tell you more about my Thanksgiving in a second, but before we get to that, I want to tell you about last night’s dinner. I was up at five in the morning yesterday (my flight boarded in Ft. Lauderdale at 6:30 AM!) which was two AM Los Angeles time, so I was kind of out of it by the time I got back to my apartment.

When dinner rolled around, I had a very specific craving: these wok-seared udon noodles I used to get from this place called Longtan in Park Slope (this was in the early aughts). I looked up a recipe online and found Claire Saffitz’s stir-fried udon noodles with pork and scallions and knew I found the closest approximation.

This recipe is such a cinch to make and such a great thing to have up your sleeve when you’re craving takeout but don’t want to deal with the rigamarole of using one of the delivery apps. You essentially brown cabbage in a pan with canola oil, soften udon noodles in a bowl with boiling water, brown pork in a pan, add scallions, ginger, and red chile flakes, add the noodles (tossed with toasted sesame oil) and cabbage back in with soy sauce and mirin, stir all around, and there’s your dinner (garnished with Sriracha, sesame seeds, and more scallions).

The only thing that could’ve been better would’ve been if the noodles themselves had been seared like they were back at Longtan. Next time, I may add a step where, after I soak them and drain them, I brown them in the skillet before adding all of the other stuff. We’ll see how that goes!

Okay, now for a Thanksgiving report. Here’s my family all gathered in Boca (that’s my brother Michael, niece Ella, sister-in-law Tali, nephew Jordan, mom, dad, me and Craig).

Once again, we went to the buffet at my parents golf club and it totally did the job. Here’s my Thanksgiving plate 2022:

Looking at it a few days later, it kind of looks like a bunch of brown and green gunk on a plate, but I guess that’s what Thanksgiving food basically is? Turkey, stuffing, gravy, stuffed squash, Brussels sprouts, and cranberry sauce. What more could you want?

Before the Thanksgiving festivities began, I went with my parents to that most sacred place, the restaurant where I first cut my teeth as a gourmet: Houston’s Boca.

Being the hamburger-loving family that we are, we all got burgers. my dad doesn’t like his sliced in half (he finds that offensive for some reason), so you’ll see his is unsliced, but here’s mine dissected.

It truly is a great burger and one that I’d love to try to recreate at home someday. Doesn’t seem like it could be that hard. You’d have to toast the bun in butter (what kind of bun do they use), get a nice sear on your hamburger patty, and then pile it up with American cheese, pickles, onions, tomato, and lettuce, and make some kind of “secret sauce.” I’ll put it on my to-do list.

And, being the New Yorkers that we are, we went to Carvel for dessert and all got “brown bonnets” in cups instead of cones because we’re neurotic.

Before we get to today’s links, I’m offering up a Cyber Monday deal. You can get my newsletter in your inbox twice a week, including Thursday’s paid subscriber’s-only dispatch for free for the next 30 days !!!

Just click that maroon button below:

Now for some links:

• Cool food clothing merch for the holidays (Eater);

• How to make the ultimate morning porridge (The Guardian);

• The Best New Restaurants in America (Esquire);

• The Kitchn makes the Stanley Tucci pasta inspired by my TikTok! (The Kitchn).

That’s all for today, folks!

Did you have good Thanksgivings? Let me know the best thing you ate in the comments.

Until Thursday….

Your friend,
Adam