Kind of depends on where we order from. There's one "good" place with actual authentic stuff that will deliver. I like to order their spiced, salted fried chicken with fried basil, pork dumpling with leek, and cold smoked duck. When we order from the Chinese-American places, my guy needs his pu pu platter. My order varies between mu shu shrimp and "house special" fried rice, but I'm also a sucker for a good egg roll and crab rangoon. That one's tricky, because a few places will cheap out and put shredded carrot in the cream cheese instead of krab. That's always so disappointing.
It's been forever since I've been in London's Chinatown but my memory is that often the waitstaff could be abrupt, as you said (Wong Kei, anybody?). You might want to post your question to Chow.com in their regional forums. You may have better success there. If you were looking for beginner friendly Japanese, I'd point you at Tokyo Diner. Good luck!
Goat cheese, caramelized fennel, and lemon zest = "New World" Sauvignon Blanc (ones from Australia, New Zealand, South America, etc.). But, prosecco will also cut through the richness of your toppings, so it would work as well.
Oh, forgot - I really like the blender hollandaise and mayo recipes in JOC. Consistent, good results.
A lot of people swear by ATK cookbooks. I have 2 that I got as gifts. I reach for JOC every time over them.
Also, as a baker, check out and try the old school, yeasted JOC coffee cake recipes. Good stuff!
-Caesar salad
-bread stuffing for poultry with sausage
-chocolate mousse (there's a couple in there; I like the one that just uses the egg whites)
But, your mom is right: while the recipes are all solid, I find I use it more as a resource for times, temps and techniques more than as a recipe compendium. My copy is from the 70s and it provides basics on everything from mother sauces to cooking muskrat.
Another vote for the butter the bread camp - that's how mom did it; that's how I do it. Our butter usually was sitting out on the counter most of the time in a keeper, so there weren't spreadability issues.
I'm not sure how long I've been here or how I got here. I went through my old comments and my browser got hung up somewhere around summer of '08. Happy to be here though!
Oh, so gonna eat there when I get out there in July...
As a kid, on the nights I was responsible for dinner I got pretty good at the meatloaf recipe from the back of the Quaker Oats cannister. That was my "thing".
These days I think the dish that I make that is "mine" because it makes us happiest is roast chicken. I spatchcock it and put it on a bed of red potatoes, carrots, onions, and fennel. The chicken is good but the vegetables, all infused with the chicken fat and juices, are the best part!
I was just going to come back to suggest goat cheese too, but someone beat me to it!
@msecondo - Pecorino does work well with both, I swear it. We do a salad of asparagus in a lemon dressing topped with shaved pecorino for Easter every year that my family loves. Pecorino was always my mom's go to cheese for Caesar salad instead of parmesan, so I tend to make it that way too. Our family really loves the combo.
Pecorino. It's wonderful with lemon and asparagus.
@riggert - Ah-ha! I knew it! Thank you.
I agree. Be patient. As long as you don't see mold growing on it or see odd colors (greens, reds/pinks), it's fine.
Alternately, you might check out Michael Ruhlman's blog. He also did a post on sourdough starter and I think he mentions that you can use a piece or red cabbage or grapes to jump start a starter.
I've done the vegetable puree thing as well. My favorites are roasted butter nut squash and roasted beets (not together). The beets, particularly, make for a strikingly colored risotto. I will have to give your version a try!
Yeah, I agree with @Florida9 - I thought that somewhere in the recipe there would be judicious use of a smoke gun or something.
I cook a brick of ramen noodles in a cup of boiling water until the water has reduced to a couple tablespoons and the noodles are cooked through. Then I stir in a large spoonful of peanut butter and a teaspoon or so of red curry paste. Stir them through the noodles in the remaining liquid until the noodles are well coated and eat!
I broke down and bought asparagus today. It's going in a pilaf with some petite frozen peas. Tomorrow is the first day of spring and we're supposed to get hit here in New England with another 4-8 inches of snow. I'm sick of it. So tonight it's a roast chicken with asparagus and pea pilaf with some chimichurri thawed from last summer's freezer stash.
No sugar. Ever.
Tomato paste if I need to boost the tomato flavor and, if it's too acid, braising some meat in it (or adding glug more of olive oil or a pat of butter). Never, ever sugar. I want my flavor balance to come down firmly on the side of savory.
Tröegs DreamWeaver Wheat or Sam Adams Cherry Wheat
Not working for me on Firefox.
Why on earth would anyone add raisins to anything when there are dried cherries or cranberries in the world?
That said - oatmeal dough + Ghiradelli bittersweet chips + dried coconut + pecans, FTW!
Microwave it. Seriously.
I will also add that Ghiradelli Double Chocolate is awesome. Don't know how it compares to the Ghiradelli one you tried, but I hope it is included in a future test.
I had the Nobilo Sauvignon Blanc last night and can confirm it is a tasty find for the price! Not sure I like it better than my go to Oyster Bay, but I wouldn't turn it down if it was available.
What's everyone doing for dinner tonight? Cooking and eating in or eating elsewhere because you're still recovery from Sandy? Tonight I put together a shrimp and corn chowder on the fly from pantry and freezer ingredients since we were fortunate enough to keep our electricity during the hurricane, but really haven't had a chance to restock at the grocery store. How about you?
What's everyone doing for dinner tonight? Cooking and eating in or eating elsewhere because you're still recovery from Sandy? Tonight I put together a shrimp and corn chowder on the fly from pantry and freezer ingredients since we were fortunate enough to keep our electricity during the hurricane, but really haven't had a chance to restock at the grocery store. How about you?
Hi. Enjoying your upgrade while on my computer but, just wanted to let your IT folks know that I'm also an Android phone user (T-mobile MyTouch4G) and I've been getting a lot of 404s on all new content that has been posted since the site upgrade while trying to view the site through the mobile version. The software version on my phone reads Android version 2.3.4 if that helps.
Thanks!
After a long weekend spent eating mostly fried food, pizza and diner food up in NH with friends on a get away, I found it incredibly restorative to roast a chicken and eat it, along with some roasted beets and fennel and have a nice dinner at my own dining room table. What did you make tonight?
Remember that recipe for Brazilian style cheesy poofs that was posted on this site a while back? I know they're definitely best out of the oven, but - how well would they freeze? Just on the off chance BF and I don't eat the whole batch in one sitting...
Anybody have any thoughts on a beer that would pair well with osetra caviar? BF gifted me with some and I'd like to share it with him, but he's not a sparkling wine or vodka man. So, I'm looking for a beer he might like that would work with the caviar. One caveat - he detests wheat beers and his usual tastes run to IPAs and stouts. Thanks!
If I were going to make individual boules to turn into bread bowls for soups or chowder, about how many ounces of dough would I want for each bowl, roughly? My usual recipes make about a pound and half of dough. Would quartering the dough give me bowls that are too big?
Tomorrow BF is taking me to O Ya for birthday dinner! I'm very excited! Has anyone been that could give me recommendations on dishes?
I bought a small spaghetti squash and sort of reflexively put it in my fridge on Monday. Do I need to put that sort of squash in my fridge? Have I just ruined it? It looks ok as of this morning.
I was just struck by a random thought this morning as I sit here with my coffee. Has anyone tried using whole wheat or rye flour for making a roux? If so, does it thicken comparably to AP flour? I have no specific purpose in mind and I know it would taste different. I just thought I'd ask to see if anyone had tried it and what their experience was.
For your amusement:
What's everyone doing tonight for dinner? We're having pan roasted veal chops, rubbed with garlic, lemon zest, sage, rosemary and parsley, saffron rice and roasted broccoli. I think I'm having chardonnay with this, but haven't completely decided...might be in a red mood, but only have Zinfandel in the house right now.
What's everyone up to for dinner tonight? I've got cheese enchiladas going to use up various bits and bobs of cheese from the fridge to begin to make room for the inevitable parade of holiday leftover food that will soon need room for storage.
Hi. I have a recipe for a tuna "pizza" that calls for prepared/bottled unagi sauce. My supermarket doesn't carry it and I'm not sure if I'll be able to get over to the local Asian market in the near future. I have hoisin sauce. Is that a reasonable substitute?
What's everyone up to in the kitchen today? So far I've accomplished breakfast tortilla stacks from some leftover sausage, beans, cheese and fried eggs. I've done curried red lentils and greens over brown rice for my lunches this week. And, I've got small black turtle beans soaking to use later in a chilli-mac that BF requested. Anyone else cooking today?
Last night I was catching up on a backlog of Avec Eric episodes via Hulu. In one of the episodes, Eric Ripert poached a piece of halibut in a veloute (his words) of water (thickened with a flour water slurry), vermouth, lemon juice and orange juice. His technique for making a veloute aside, what is the advantage of poaching in a veloute over court boullion or stock? Finished texture? I'm interested in trying this.
I thought I was in the bechamel for lasagna camp...until last night when I made it with a full, whole milk ricotta. The kind with no stabilizers or gums (which is harder to find in the supermarket then you'd think). It set up beautifully, no sloshing/sliding of layers. I've had other lasagnas that deteriorated into sliding messes, even after sitting for 30 minutes from when it came out of the oven. And this one came out so rich! So, from now on, if I can get a hold of this particular ricotta (or make my own), I'm in the ricotta for lasagna camp.
Have you ever stumbled across an ingredient or technique that you normally would not use and been converted after trying it?
In an effort to clear some space in my chest freezer, I removed a bag of frozen scallops and have thawed it. The ingredient list on the bag just lists scallops, nothing else, but they still look a bit "wet". I was going to just do a simple saute with them, but now I'm not so sure. What would you do with them, Serious Eaters? And, no, I'm not going to throw them out and drive to the store for fresh ones :)
via CNN:
All McNuggets not created equal
"All McDonald's nuggets are not created equal.
U.S. McNuggets not only contain more calories and fat than their British counterparts, but also chemicals not found across the Atlantic.
CNN investigated the differences after receiving a blog comment asking about them.
American McNuggets (190 calories, 12 grams of fat, 2 grams of saturated fat for 4 pieces) contain the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product. They also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, "an anti-foaming agent" also used in Silly Putty.
By contrast, British McNuggets (170 calories, 9 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat for 4 pieces) lists neither chemical among its ingredients."
Not that I've had a McNugget since I was 10 or so, but still - yikes!
Anybody know what cut of meat to get at my American supermarket for beef and scallion rolls? My recipe says "suki yaki" beef (which I know is thinly sliced, I just don't know what part of the animal it's cut from!).
A recipe was recently posted on Yahoo for Rick Bayless's Oaxacan Black Mole with Braised Chicken. The recipe calls for dried mulato, chihualcles, pasilla and chipotle chiles, and, although the recipe gives some variations if you can't find chihuacles chile, I'm wondering if this recipe will still be ok if I have to sub in other dried chiles. We have dried chipotle and pasilla (sometimes), but the only other dried chiles we get regularly in our markets are labeled ancho, New Mexico and japones. Any recommendations on substitutions?
I'm looking for a thermos that holds about 2-3 c. of liquid and will keep it reasonably warm until lunch. Also, it needs a tight fitting seal so that it doesn't leak all over my tote. Does anyone have any suggestions? TIA!
This article was posted in yesterday's "Stray Links", but I thought I'd bump it up here for discussion in case anyone missed it:
Upstart startups vs. Veterans: Who Has The Best Recipes?
Apparently Chris Kimball called out Amanda Hesser to a throwdown. Readers will vote on who they feel has the best recipes (between sugar cookies and pork recipes) on Slate on May 5. From the article:
"Readers will have the chance to weigh in on May 5 on Slate, which has agreed to host and certify the vote. For many, the choice may be less about theoretical models and processes than about trust developed over time. If Cook's recipes consistently work for readers, they will use them no matter how they were developed. The same is true for Food52. "
Thoughts? Will you be among the voters?
So, I was thinking about making the crack pie recipe that was recently published for Easter, but BF steadfastly refuses any dessert that is not chocolate. Is there a way to adapt the flavor of the pie to make it chocolatey? Cocoa powder, perhaps?
Thanks!
Can a metal mesh splatter guard be used as a pizza screen or would it be too flimsy?
A Southwest-style meatloaf you can't refuse: crushed corn chips, home-mixed taco seasoning, jalapeños, and shredded cheddar, with a baked-on tomatillo topping. More
The ingredient list for Matt and Ted Lee's cheese spread reads almost like a 2nd grader's cafeteria prank. Cheese, ketchup, worcestershire, horseradish, Tabasco, and beer—how could that taste good? Yet this recipe, from their new cookbook The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen, is one of those magical recipes that just works. The balance of tart, spicy, sweet, and malty is totally on point, making for a dip so multilayered that it's impossible to stop eating. More
Kale salads and sauteed greens with chile flakes only go so far to satisfy my curious cravings, so I'm always looking for a new way to get my fix. Marvin Gapultos's recipe for Kale Greens in Coconut Milk is just the ticket: the greens are given a long-ish simmer in a potent mixture of thick coconut milk, shrimp paste, shrimp stock, and Thai chiles, emerging supple and succulent. More
Braised short ribs are one of those no-brainer wintertime comfort foods. Easy to prep, slow to cook, and luscious to eat, the well-marbled cut of beef tastes great simmered in just about anything--from tomato-based Italian broths to beer and beef broth. In Charles Phan's Vietnamese Home Cooking, Phan presents a French-influenced stew laced with lemongrass, ginger, star anise, and Thai chiles. Alongside the short ribs, he braises (not-surprising) carrots and (more curious) daikon radish to add sweetness and texture to the beef. And a bonus? The brothy, rich sauce is wonderful on its own should you "accidentally" eat all of the beef out of the stew first More
A moist muffin crumb is flavored with sweet-tart key limes and topped with coconut. More
These cookies are big, hearty, salty, and sweet. More
This is a four ingredient, ten minute, better-than-homemade-sweet-potato-pie dessert. Could you ask for anything more out of a recipe? More
The Little Italy Mercado is one of San Diego's largest and liveliest farmers' markets. Every Saturday, Date Street is transformed into an outdoor market with plenty of great eats on offer. More
Nothing can take the place of traditional chiles rellenos, but this grilled riff on the original is a satisfying vegetarian meal in its own right for those balmy spring evenings you'd rather spend on the patio. They are a fresher, somewhat lighter alternative to the original that is still full of cheesy goodness and many of the classic flavors. Get the recipe here, but a question for you: What are your favorite classic dishes to riff on the grill? More
"I sought a dish that used not only the feet but also the hocks, which are some of the most succulent and tender bits on the animal." How often are you alone in your kitchen with a pair of pigs'... More
Getting delivery some time in the next half hour. BF is getting shrimp "katsu" with steamed rice and veg. I'm getting a couple cooked item maki rolls ( 'cuz...delivery...). Also getting some gyoza and shumai. Boy is bringing me home sake to go with.