Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Have pity on a poor benighted American.

What is ginger-garlic paste? Is it something I buy or something I make. If buy, where? If make, how? A recipe would be helpful to know the ratio of ginger to garlic.

You state that the chickens of that part of India are leaner and more gamy-tasting. What would be an acceptable substitute that might be found in an suburban supermarket?

The recipe calls for 6 Kashmiri chilies - is there an American equivalent ?

When you say to blend the ingredients of the spice paste, I presume you mean in a blender rather than just stirring them together?

3 slit green chilies - do you mean a hot chili like a serrano chili, a jalapeno, or something different (like a cowhorn,a poblano, a cubanelle, etc.)?

Obviously, I'm very interested in trying this or I wouldn't be asking so many questions.

Now that's totally unfair!

Just look at that picture! You show fresh baked biscuits with butter and honey oozing over them - of COURSE I'm going to say they're great, even without tasting them.

And for the "I've never been able to make a successful batch of biscuits" comment, my go-to recipe is CI's Best Drop Biscuits."

Around fifty years ago, I made this recipe with the help of my mom. It was one of the first things I ever cooked. In the years since, whenever I've thought back to that time, I wondered if my memory was playing tricks on me. 'A pie made of Ritz crackers, surely not. I must be mistaken.'

And yet here it is. Wow.

I guess if I had to choose, I would have to say braise. Over the last few years my wife and I have found ourselves preferring braised dishes (especially chicken, for some reason).

Many, MANY years ago, I made a recipe for lemon pie that was a lot like this. It also used the lemon juice to "cook" the pie. I lost the recipe a long time ago and have never seen anything similar until now. Thanks for posting your wife's recipe!

"2 tablespoons finely chopped preserve Sichuan Vegetable"

Um... you know what size cans this stuff comes in, right? What do I do with the rest of it? And yes, I know it's PRESERVED vegetables, but can it be kept in the fridge, frozen, or what?

Um... Nick, small typo. You wrote "paired," but I think you meant "pared."

I haven't been to New Orleans since I attended a conference there in '97 and with two exceptions (Mother's and Central Grocery) I can't even remember the names of the places we ate. But what I do remember was my constant amazement at how GOOD everything was. While you're making reservations and planning your itinerary, leave yourself some time to just walk in to an interesting looking place and try it. New Orleans is a great food city.

Um...Joshua?

"As it tries to stay warm and toasty in the frigged air"

Ah, I think you mean frigid... the other is a little, um, risqué for this website. (Maybe for Fleshbot...not that I would know anything about that...)

@schmede - In the video, he's using a Global chef's knife. I think I remember him mentioning that it was one of his favorites when he was talking about knives earlier this year.

Oddly enough, I had a rice cooker many years ago, but could never get the hang of it. Maybe I need to try it again.

I don't really use that many appliances (other than the stove). If I had to pick, I'd have to say my Oster blender - but not for the blender attachment. I have a mini-food processor that goes on it that I use for prep - to chop onions, carrots, celery or whatever needs it. I know you can buy mini-prep machines, but I already had the blender...

In fact, I use it more than the KitchenAid food processor I bought recently. The KitchenAid is heavy and the only place I have to store it makes it difficult to get out easily.

"And though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate..."

Kenji, you hoopy frood...I'll bet you always know where your towel is.

Oh, and great article!