Recipes Appetizers Finger Foods Nachos Gochujang Chili-Cheese Nachos Be the first to rate & review! Edward Lee—the Korean American chef of Louisville's 610 Magnolia and MilkWood and author of the cookbook Smoke and Pickles—has long known what the rest of the country is just learning: Sweet-spicy-funky gochujang makes just about everything better. Here, he uses the Korean pantry staple in his beer-braised, chipotle-spiced beef chili and also mixes it into sour cream for extra umami and flavor. To make the nachos, he drapes the chile and creamy dip over tortilla chips, then adds crumbled cotija cheese and slices of fresh serrano peppers. "I eat nachos only a few times a year, so when I do, I want to make sure it's worth it," says Lee. "This recipe is not for the timid. It requires a long night, beers, whiskey and loud music." Reprinted from ¡Buenos Nachos! by Gina Hamadey. Copyright © 2016 by W&P Design. Published by Dovetail (www.dovetail.press) By Edward Lee Edward Lee F&W Star Chef » See All F&W Chef Superstars Restaurants: 610 Magnolia, MilkWood (Louisville, KY) Experience: Chez es Saada (New York City) What’s a dish that defines you as a chef? My fried chicken and waffles. It’s a Southern dish, but we cook it in a very Asian way. The chicken is poached first in a vinegar and soy sauce blend. Then it’s cooled, dredged in buttermilk and flour and deep-fried. Who taught you how to cook? My grandmother taught me how to appreciate food and that food was more than just sustenance. She made very old-school Korean dishes, fermented chile paste and kimchi from scratch, pickles and marinated vegetables. Even as a toddler, I always wanted to spend time in the kitchen watching her. What was the first dish you ever cooked by yourself? Both my parents worked and were rarely home for dinner, so my grandmother cooked, but only Korean food. I was craving American food, so I’d steal food magazines from the Laundromat and save my lunch money to go food shopping. The first magazine recipe I really remember making was a steak dinner with roasted potatoes and a rosemary rub. I was probably 11 or 12. What’s your favorite cookbook of all time? Marco Pierre White’s White Heat. It was the first cookbook to show the life of a chef outside of the food, and outside of what the public persona of a chef was back then, which was a classic French image of being very precise and a student of the arts. For my book (Smoke and Pickles), I really wanted to show who I am and what I do. I wanted to show everything, the flaws and the perfection. Is there a type of cooking that you wish you were better at? For me there’s a mystery around Jewish cooking. I grew up in a predominantly Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn. I’d love to make an incredible knish one day. What’s your favorite value ingredient? A bag of pork rinds. I like to grind them up and use them anywhere you’d use bread crumbs: mac and cheese, shepherd’s pie, inside sandwiches or burgers. What’s your current food obsession? I am working with bhut jolokia peppers, the spiciest in the world. They’re grown in a little town in India, but people in America have started to grow them here. Where did you go on your last trip? I just got back from Vietnam. The street food is so cheap but also so diverse and so incredibly flavorful. I had a fish I’d never seen before, kind of like a lightly pickled herring in thin rice paper, with Thai basil, lettuce, very thin slices of pineapple and freshly grated coconut. The pineapple there is so different, incredibly musky, and the coconut is so fresh and has this sweetness to it. You can’t re-create that here, and that’s one of the reasons you travel. What’s your favorite store-bought ingredient? Red Boat fish sauce, which is really starting to take off. It takes just a few drops and it adds an entire new level of flavor. It’s as simple as adding a few drops to boiled ramen. What’s your dream restaurant project? I want to open a karaoke bar that only serves fried chicken. I have no talent for karaoke, but I do have an affinity for it. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Published on March 16, 2017 Print Rate It Share Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: © W&P Design Yield: 4 to 6 Ingredients 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided 2 pounds beef chuck roast, cut into 1⁄2-inch cubes Salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 small onion, fine chopped 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped 6 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons gochujang (Korean fermented chile paste), divided 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, finely chopped 1 tablespoons brown sugar 1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cumin 1⁄2 teaspoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup dark beer 2 cups beef broth One 15-ounce can diced tomatoes 1⁄2 cup sour cream 8 to 10 ounces mixed yellow and blue tortilla chips (about half a medium bag of each type) 3⁄4 cup crumbled cotija cheese 2 serrano peppers, thinly sliced Directions In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat. Season the meat with salt and pepper. Working in batches, brown the meat all over, about 3 to 4 minutes; using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a paper towel–lined plate. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the pan and heat over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and jalapeño pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add 6 tablespoons of gochujang, the chipotle pepper, sugar, cumin, coriander and salt; cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Add the beer, broth and tomatoes; using a wooden spoon, scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Bring the chili to a simmer and cook until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours. Let the chili cool to room temperature and season to taste with salt. The chili can be made up to 1 day ahead. In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and remaining 2 teaspoons of gochujang. Arrange the chips on a platter. Using a slotted spoon, scatter a layer of chili over the chips. Sprinkle the cotija cheese over the top. Dollop the gochujang sour cream over the cheese, garnish the nachos with the serrano peppers and serve. Rate it Print