by Britny Perilli, Staff Writer

Movies are fantastic portals to other worlds. What few people realize is that they are also perfect for exploring different culinary worlds as well! There are films where food, cooking, and the culinary world is the focus of the story and those with some killer dishes being served up in a scene–both are equally important and delicious. Whether you are looking to host a movie night with the perfectly inspired meal or looking to try something that made you think, “I’ll have what she’s having,” CineBites is here to help.

Starting off, we are featuring two recipes from films about cooking: 2014’s Chef (dir. Jon Favreau) and 2023’s Hunger (dir. Sittisiri Mongkolsiri).

Chef

“There are chefs that cook food that they believe in and people will try because they're open to a new experience and they'll end up liking it.”

The culinary world is not usually a friendly place and films about this world are more than happy to remind us of that. From showing the long, stressful hours on the line to the crushing weight of diners’ and critics’ expectations that are placed on chefs, movies about being a chef are rarely ever a light-hearted affair. And yet, Chef mangages to somehow show the truth of the life of a chef–but it isn’t just the horrible truth. Instead, it also revels in the joys of coming up with new dishes and showing love and appreciation through sharing them with those around you. For Chef Carl Casper (Jon Favreau), cooking once was about family, passion, and freedom, and Chef is about him finding his way back to that place by opening up a food truck.

There is hardly a scene in the film that doesn’t have food present in some way, shape, or form and it all looks delicious. From the early scenes with the finest fine dining dishes to an important molten chocolate cake to a plethora of Mexican and latin-fusion dishes, Chef should come with a warning: don’t watch on an empty stomach. With all the recipes created and tested by the fantastic Chef Roy Choi, the film’s dish that captured our hearts and our stomachs was the cubano. Be warned, this is a time consuming recipe, but if you need a bite in a pinch, replace the Mojo Pork with pulled pork bought from the store and cook in the marinade.

Martin’s Mojo Pork Cubano

For the Mojo Pork
3-4 lbs pork shoulder

Brine

2 cups orange juice
2 cups water
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup spiced rum
1/4 cup salt
1/8 cup sugar
1/2 cup minced garlic
1 tablespoon each fresh thyme, fresh rosemary, fresh oregano, fresh sage, and peppercorns
1 bay leaves

Marinade

2/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup cilantro
2 tablespoon mint leaves
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2/3 teaspoon black pepper, ground
2/3 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the Cubano

¾ lb thinly sliced Roast Mojo Pork (or pulled pork cooked in marinade)
Six 6-inch-long soft Cuban baguettes or hero rolls, split lengthwise
Softened butter, for brushing
6 oz thinly sliced grilled ham
½ lb thinly sliced Swiss cheese
3 half-sour dill pickles, thinly sliced lengthwise
Yellow mustard, for brushing

Steps

Prepare the brine in a large bowl, pot, or plastic tub, and then brine the pork by submerging it in the liquid and refrigerating it for 12 hours
When 12 hours is almost up, blend the ingredients for the marinade
After 12 hours, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry (don’t rinse it) then marinate the pork for at least 2 hours

Note: Typically, the marinating process for raw meat shouldn’t last more than 12-24 hours. The pork can be marinated in the same container (after the brining liquid is discarded), but if the marinade doesn’t fully cover the pork inside the pot or tub, then place the pork in a plastic bag with the marinade. The pork can also be rotated during the marinating process to ensure thorough coverage.

Roast the pork in a low-temperature oven (250-300 degrees Fahrenheit) until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees Fahrenheit, which could take up to 10 hours depending on oven temperature and the size of the cut
Baste the pork with the marinade throughout the cooking process

Note: The pork will still be slightly pink, but be sure to check the temperature in two to three different places on the pork, getting the thermometer as close to the center of the cut as possible without touching the bone.

Once the pork is fully cooked and removed from the oven, let it rest for 15-20 minutes before thinly slicing
Grill a buttered sandwich roll until golden brown
Take the thinly sliced Mojo Pork along with ham, cheese, pickles, and mustard and layer them on one slice of the sandwich roll in this order: pork, ham, swiss, pickles.
Spread mustard on the other slice of bread, close the sandwich, brush with butter, and press on the grill using a heavy, cast-iron pan or simply press with a metal spatula until crisp, golden, and melty
Serve cut in half and enjoy.

Hunger

“The real winners are always the ones that hunger the most.”

Despite being a dark, borderline thriller that cuts deep into the upper echelons of the culinary and “foodie” world, Hunger knows how to make your mouth water . . . while also kind of making your skin scrawl. This Thai film wants you to earn each and every delicious food shot and does so by forcing you on the line, Ayo, our main character and a talented cook, under the piercing gaze and smothering personality of Chef Paul, much like 2022’s The Menu (dir. Mark Myold). And we have to take a moment to honor Chef Paul’s Bloody Meal–a dish and a scene so beautiful, haunting and disgusting that it gives Fresh (dir. Mimi Cave) a run for its money.

At its heart, Hunger is an exposé of the drive to be a chef. For Chef Paul, it is about power and domination, forcing the rich to crave and “hunger” for his food and nothing else. For Ayo, well, you’ll have to watch the movie to find out. While there are no shortage of fantastic dishes highlighted in the film, the one that encapsulates it the best is Ayo’s family’s noodle dish.

Ayo's Cry Baby Noodles

Ingredients

½ cup of chinese sausage (or 1 can of spam)
¼ cup of fish cake tofu (or regular semi-firm tofu)
1 package of wide-cut rice noodles
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
½ cup of dried shrimp
2 eggs
1 tablespoon XO sauce
1 tablespoon miso paste
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbsp minced ginger
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 green onion for garnish

Steps

Dice sausage (or spam) and fish cake tofu into small bite size pieces
Prepare rice noodles according to instructions on package
Heat vegetable oil in wok and fry dried shrimp for 60 seconds, then remove
Fry sausage or spam for 2 minutes then set aside
Add garlic and ginger, fry for 30 seconds
Add eggs, then lightly scramble, before adding back in sausage and combining
Add cooked rice noodles and stir fry for 2-3 minutes
Add XO sauce and miso paste, as well as other sauces, making sure to coat the noodles evenly
Add fried shrimp and fish cake tofu, and stir fry for 1 minute
Serve with chopped green onion and enjoy.