Randwiches by Jenn de la Vega

05/27/2026

For , I visited a bunch of Asian markets to explore the thinly sliced beef cuts. Check out some of my highlights and the dishes I like to make with them.

In my bio or on the web: https://www.foodandwine.com/h-mart-best-beef-cuts-11979349

1. Homemade hot pot
2. Mille feuille nabe (pork pictured, but you get the idea)
3. Gyudon
4. Pancit Canton

05/26/2026

Big thanks to for donating a bunch of ground pork to gala ☄️ I adapted the cherry chocolate meatballs from my cookbook to make a party-friendly sweet chili version. You can make it at home, too, either in party size, general use (like on top of spaghetti), or big meatbol slider size. These also work with any pesto of your choice, just omit the chocolate and sweet chili sauce at the end.

Meatball Mix
Makes Ten 3-ounce meatballs, sixteen 2-ounce, or thirty-two 1-ounce meatballs.

2 pounds ground pork
2/3 cup panko, breadcrumbs, or finely crushed chips
1/4 cup dried shallot, onion, or garlic
1 large egg
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons grated ginger
1 teaspoon whole fennel seed, crushed
2/3 cup sweet chili sauce
2 ounces dark chocolate
Olive oil
Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes

1.    In a large mixing bow, crumble the ground pork, making sure not to smash it. Place the bowl in the fridge.
2.    In another bowl, mix the panko, shallot, egg, soy sauce, brown sugar, heavy cream, cocoa powder, salt, ginger, and fennel. Mix well to combine.
3.    Fold the wet mixture into the chilled pork. Once everything looks like it is coated, break the pile in half and stack it on top, pressing down. Repeat this until the whole mixture looks uniform. Be careful not to overwork the meat that it starts to stick to your hands or get warm.
4.    Cover and chill the meatball mix for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
5.    Preheat the oven to 400F.
6.    Form the meat into 3-ounce balls for sliders (10 pieces), 2-ounce balls for general use (16 pieces), or 1-ounce balls (32 pieces) for party snacks.
7.    Place the meatballs on a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the internal temp reads 165F or slice one in half to check if it is still pink inside. Note: smaller meatballs will take less time.
8.    Remove the meatballs from the oven and toss with sweet chili sauce. Sprinkle each with Aleppo pepper and a generous shaving of dark chocolate.

05/24/2026

Baste it, taste it and tweak it again. Showdown is a cookbook about feeding the conversation along with the person. This week, we sat down with Greenpointer and self-described “meat-head” Jenn de la Vega to talk …

05/18/2026

Safe in my Skin will be playing in the SHORTS: UPROOTED film block on Saturday, June 20th, at 11:45am.

I traveled with the crew to Livingston Manor where we lived together for the duration of the shoot. spent a lot of time with me and we had a few animal encounters while I was prepping the meals 🐢 🦌 🦫

05/17/2026

Get on the thank you train! donated a bunch of bacon to gala after party and I used it to make bacon wrapped dates. It’s super easy and a perfect party trick at home. I keep a bunch of them in the freezer and bake off what I need when people come over. Here’s how I do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Cut the bacon strips into 1/3 portions.
3. Split large dates in half and remove the pits. Gently squish the edges together to make them little batons.
4. Wrap each date half with bacon. Make sure the seam is on the bottom and press down slightly. At this point you can flash freeze them for up to 3 months.
5. Place them a finger width’s apart on a wire baking rack nested in a sheet pan. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the bacon is cooked.
6. Let cool slightly, dab on a paper towel before serving.

Enjoy!

05/14/2026

From the archive, a recipe for bulalo on 🥩 It’s one of my favorite Filipino soups, you can check out my recipe or try the one over at Kabayan in Queens.

I was 34 with no clips and it was a miracle I published my first cookbook (kinda backwards!). I quit my day job and took this on, an online residency to explore writing recipes, essays about Filipino-American cookery, and take a closer look at the intentions behind catering. At the same time, I was also a resident at Kickstarter, where I was figuring out the logistics of a new creative life.
smithphoto helped me shoot the photos in the Kickstarter kitchen (rip!!). I needed that space and time to develop all of my little systems. Grateful to report that it is paying off and I’m still going 🎀

05/06/2026

I got to collaborate with on their spring tasting event at the end of April. They asked me to develop four bites to pass around while some of their favorite brands showcased their products and samples.

Almost all of the ingredients we used could be found on Misfits Market. Here’s what I came up with:

1. cherry pomegranate glazed bison meatballs with shaved chocolate and Aleppo pepper
2. white chocolate mousse with strawberry jam, freeze dried strawberry, and matcha
3. Odds & Ends upcycled goat cheese and arugula ravioli with garlic confit pesto
4. salt & pepper pistachio salad with Asian pear and a mustardy-maple vinaigrette

Huge thanks to my team for keeping the whole operation so smooth: .lebowski

05/04/2026

Presenting afterparty menu! Open bar and snacks curated/ cooked by yours truly 😚 Big thanks to our generous in-kind sponsors for making this happen. We still have a few tickets for tonight at 8pm. Ask me about discount codes! Happy to sponsor a few artists tonight if you can get dressed in time 👠

Come see some of my favorite Tank artists as we honor Stan Zimmerman, celebrated producer, director, and screenwriter; best know for Roseanne, Golden Girls, and Gilmore Girls.
If you can’t make it, we have an online auction and accept tax-deductible donations at http://thetanknyc.org/gala

05/02/2026

It’s been 9 years of SHOWDOWN 🔥 My first pub day as an author was May 2nd, 2017. What a ride, I can’t believe it’s been that long and how many more books I ended up working on since then.

My folks have 20ish copies of Showdown left to ship in my Fourthwall merch shop (in my bio)! Order on the web here: https://jdelavegs-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/books

Here are some highlights from my lil tour:
1-2. BK pub dayyyy
3. Ty 🫡
4. Catching in LA
5. !
6. Shooting in ’s apartment
7. Some buffoonery in Texas
8. COA summer fundraiser in Long Beach
9. with
10. Pool time in Austin
11-12. A food styling workshop & signing at Barnes & Noble
13. Lemon whoopie pie in Lancaster, PA
14. SF
15. I love banana pudding okay
16. Grandma Litaaaa
17. Jersey City slideshow
18-20. Book bts shot on my old roof and

04/28/2026

Tickets are on sale for ! Daddy’s Little Meatball will be debuting as part of the NY Making It Here shorts program 6/6 at 8:45pm. I’ll be there cheering on the team ☄️

Please enjoy a few things I saw around set and at our wrap party.

04/27/2026

Birthmonth was a blur. Thank you for being my friend 🌺

04/24/2026

Last summer, I developed a few cool pop-up dishes with Malaysian condiments. You can get the recipe for my peanut satay queso on Mamalams.com 🧀

Swipe to hear some bts at our shoot, Cass had the zoomies 😂

04/20/2026

Tis time to name our next hot dog at 🌭 It’s my birthmonth, so I’m using my favorite dish ever as inspiration: nachos! Nacho cheese blended with fermented Fresno peppers, topped with pickled jalapeño, and a few seasoned tortilla chips for crunch.

Reply here with your name suggestions! Our dogs follow a tradition of pop culture and video game puns like Kraut Cobain, Dark Seouls, and Grim Fandoggo. Submit as many as you want.

The names go to rolling polls on my Instagram stories with a final vote that ends 10/22 at 10pm ET. The weiner receives $10 USD to get a hot dog wherever you are. Good luck!

04/17/2026

Daddy’s Little Meatball is headed to ☄️ I have been catering the sets of .world collective for the past couple of years and could not be prouder!

For DLM, I worked out of an apartment in Chinatown, carting food to locations around the neighborhood. On the last day, we all stuffed into the apartment together (it was freezing!) to have our final lunch. It was warm and inviting, I really can’t believe I get to do this!

I’ll write it up soon, but here’s a sneaky peek at what the crew ate:

🍴 Black bean and pepita vegan balls with pesto, rye berry and apple salad, and sesame potato salad

🌶️ Mole tofu, sofrito rice, vegetable noodles, and cinnamon black beans.

04/15/2026

04/12/2026

Back again in with little test kitchen learnings about spaghetti 🍝 I ran a side by side battery between the cheapest Barilla and the more expensive Rummo pastas. Big thanks to my taste testers!

04/10/2026

Birthmonth perseveres 🍸

03/31/2026

Kiki’s Delivery Service is remastered in 4K and playing theaters now! The official English language edition of the cookbook is also coming out October 27th, 2026. Rest assured, I tested the recipes for herring pot pie, all the delicious breads, and cookies from the movie.

Pre-order yours in my bio or on Bookshop: https://bookshop.org/a/55436/9781974763412

03/28/2026

I feel extremely humbled 🙏 Thank you for interviewing me about crafty. was my first feature length project by my long time friend Caroline Golum. I got to see the film last night in a sold out showing at .

You must catch it during its short run here in NYC! There is no other film like it, I promise you. The synth music by really makes it shine. What a team!

03/25/2026

Goofin’ off at ’s party at .nyc for her latest book: Party Tricks 🍸 It was so great to catch up with folks and I’m coming back for more spice bags!

Anna is a master of dips and delicious little bites. I especially loved the pickled celery in the Gibson and little cheese toasties.

03/22/2026

Is it (cheese)cake? Many conclude that it isn’t. For my latest Patreon newsletter, I dove deep into the viral Japanese trend to see if I could learn anything useful. I looked into it with an open mind and saw a relationship to a few desserts you know and love, but none of them cheesecake in the Western sense.

Plus, some new anime I’ve been watching, music I like, and recent recipes. I’m coming up on 365 recipes soon! That’s a whole year’s worth of learning 🥳 Join my paid tiers and gain access or ask me nicely for a trade (and I will find a way).

Http://patreon.com/randwiches

03/20/2026

For , I simmered on about sinigang. I surveyed my family and a few chefs about what makes this Filipino soup so special. Chef gave me a sensory photo of hers, which she serves as part of her weekly evening pop up dinners. Chef of recounted the joy of fresh lemons and pork neck bones of her childhood. Chef Vicky Rose Pacheco famously combined corned beef and sinigang at to much acclaim.

I quoted the great Doreen G. Fernandez and godparents of Fil-Am cuisine Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan. But I would be remiss if I didn’t shout out other sinigang that shaped my view of it. My grandma Adoring used lots of fish and shrimp in her sinigang. Nanay Javier mashed her aromatics, even the tomato, in a pot before stewing her meat. While I worked with .dimayuga on Filipinx, she wrote TWO recipes: one pork and another vegan soup supplemented with black tea for tannins. In ISLAS, adapted Yasmin Newman’s out of print 7000 Islands recipe using green mango as the souring agent (slide 3). And in the newest cookbook in my collection, shared a plant-based version with tofu and fragrant mushrooms.

Among the people I spoke to, pork spare rib sinigang (slide 2) was the most popular choice. The most luxe: yellowtail belly. The most unexpected: beef and watermelon! I have experimented with smoking bbq pork ribs with the tamarind packet seasoning with much success, too (slide 4).

What goes in your sinigang? I want to hear all about it.

03/17/2026

I saved about 8 pounds of beef trim from flank steak I cleaned. If you can imagine, it was for 120 people! I vacuum sealed 3 bags in the throes of production. Now that I have a little more time, I thought about processing all of it at once, but I simply do not have room 😭 The complicating factor is that I’m also testing a cookbook, so there is other food I need to make and store here.

From the first bag, I made 2 quarts rich beef broth, 1 pint tallow (that was individually frozen into tablespoons), and pulled a little less than a quart of usable meat. I’ve been throwing beef into noodles and omelettes. But the best use of it was dumplings!

I chopped up the shredded meat a little more, stirred in soy sauce and a big tablespoon of grated ginger. I guess after working on a few Asian cookbooks, I finally can make pretty dumplings. I was squealing at how “auntie” these looked! I did the fry-steam, where you sizzle them in oil until the bottoms crisp. Then you pour water in and cover it to steam (scary, tbh).

My current dipping sauce: soy sauce infused with kombu, xtra spicy, and another glob of ginger 🥟

03/16/2026

No waste!

03/16/2026

A fun vehicle for leftovers: jeon! These are sweet potato and ground pork jeon adapted from . Amid recipe testing, I’m left with imprecise measures of ingredients. I am often looking for fast ways to use up every little ramekin for my meals. Think of it like inbox zero for my fridge.

In my mind, it feels like the process of tortang talong, where eggplant is dipped in egg and fried. The difference here is the addition of mayo in the egg dredge. Fascinating! The leftover egg can also be drizzled from a height into hot oil to make Thai khai jiao.