Dickson Li

Quarantine Recipes

During lockdown I tried a few different recipes. Those that I appreciated most were easy to execute, and used ingredients that you would generally use for other dishes (they also tasted good, of course).

Easy to execute (complexity): Some recipes are simple in the cooking phase, but complex in the preparation phase (e.g. rolling kimbap with the right volume of rice). Others are easy to prep for but leave little room for you to screw up when frying (e.g. leave your steak on the grill for too long and you’ve got leather for dinner).

Ingredient generality: Nobody wants to buy groceries that can only cook you one dish.

I’ve ranked the dishes successfully done by High Ingredient Generality and Low Executional Complexity:

Name	Cuisine Type	Complexity	Ingredient Generality
Pad Krapow	Thai	Low	High
Spaghetti Bolognese	American? Italian?	Low	High
Sukiyaki	Japanese	Low	Medium
Gyu Don	Japanese	Low	High
Suki Nam / Suki Heng*	Thai	High	Medium
Japchae	Korean	High	Medium
Sous Vide Steak & Mashed Potatoes	Hmm…	Low	Low-Mid
Scallop Ceviche	Peruvian	Low	Low
Garlic Butter Mussels	Italian	Low	Low
Kimbap	Korean	High	Low
Roast Pork Belly	Chinese	High	Low