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Tonight's dinner is basically the first meal I have made in about 10 days. A week ago Wednesday I went to the hospital at 6:30 AM and was diagnosed with an issue with my pancreas and gallbladder. Apparently the pain and vomiting I experienced non stop on Tuesday night was me passing a gallstone. Ultrasounds showed a large stone in the gallbladder and the MRI on Thursday showed that the pancreas was fine. There were no stones blocking the ducts, it was just unhappy with the gallstone that passed. I went down to surgery at 12:30 PM on Saturday to remove my gallbladder and I was home in my own bed by 4:00 PM same day. Haven't had much of an appetite so basically been feeding Moe out of the freezer and drinking homemade chicken broth that I had in the freezer. The initial diet after the surgery should be low fat. More chicken/turkey/fish than beef and pork. So I decided to make my Swedish Meatballs using ground turkey breast. I seasoned the meat the same as I would do if using beef or pork. I normally would have added a 1/4" of oil in the frying pan, but rather than do that, keeping with the low fat, I rubbed olive oil on my hands when shaping the meatballs and didn't have to add extra fat to the pan. After they were browned, I made a roux, using some butter and flour and then chicken broth. Let the meatballs simmer in the sauce and added a little cream near the end. Served over noodles. They were actually quite good. Moe really enjoyed them.

I don't post here much because we rarely take pictures of our dinners, but we did this time. "Turkish eggs, with a base of spinach and yogurt, and Aleppo butter sauce.

Halibut, butternut squash and cauliflower rice

Improvised red curry scallops with broccolini, served with jasmine rice. Tamarind, palm sugar, and fish sauce to balance flavors. For the curry paste, I supplemented pre-made red curry paste with Holland chiles, ginger, shallots, garlic, white peppercorns, and frozen lemongrass and blended everything up in the Preethi.

Attendees Chocolot Kerry Beal alleguede curls RanaMN Melani RobertM DianaD Lisa M citowolf - Celia D Lambrecht gourmet +1 Sue PEI (possibly with Jane) GRiker Rajala Kate Jared A

I I'm not a great guacamole fan or a feta aficionado, but I'm coming to steal your clock plate.

I apologize if I came across as high-minded or as suggesting that changing a recipe was wrong. Not my intention or inner attitude. I merely meant that adding a trace amount of smoked salt doesn't magically turn a dish into anything that can be described as a smoked dish.

Abendbrot … bread with cold cuts.

Sad to admit, I've not used blocks because neither of the nearby Japanese markets carry them, or at least they weren't available the times I looked, and because the only blocks that I was familiar with were large and very expensive. I've since learned that smaller, more budget-friendly blocks are available. I may have to go into San Francisco's Japan Town to get good quality blocks. I'm hesitant to buy online until I become more faiiar with quality and what to look for. Maybe you have some thoughts about buying online? I've been buying bagged and shaved katsuobushi, and have definitely noticed qualitative differences, and some are smokier than others. I've been trying different brands and have noticed that price isn't an indicator of anything. Same thing with the kombu, although I'm narrowing down that ingredient to a couple of brands and styles. It seems that kombu from certain areas are more highly regarded than from other locations. Any kombu suggestions? Thanks for your help and support.

Grilled head-on, shell-on jumbo shrimp served with pasta with charred tomatoes and charred scallions.

Kerry, add Jared A. He can’t post.

If you are making dashi from scratch severely times per week, I assume you buy your katsuobushi blocks at a reputable source and slice it yourself. Have you noticed the the katsuobushi blocks itself has a smokey scent ? Because the very definition of katsuobushi is that the skipjack has to be cooked, smoked and fermented. So, it’s not a revelation that the two flavors go well together. Maybe your block was not of a decent quality. If you want a pronounced smoke flavor, look for arabushi designation. Get a proper one, preferably and you are set in the smokyness department (unless you are looking for that overpowering artificial smoke flavor found in certain commercial preparations). That salt does wonders for an umami-rich preparation shouldn’t be a surprise either. So, if you’ve discovered something new for yourself - good for you 👍

Chorizo and egg tacos with guacamole. Sauteed chiles, shallot, garlic, and cumin seed with the chorizo before scrambling the eggs. Feta cheese and Mexican oregano to finish. Made guac in the mortar with shallot, chile Serrano, and lemon juice

I must respectfully say this sounds like a pretty narrow-minded take. It sounds as if you are suggesting that anything (in this case food-related) that a culture produces should be left in it's most pure form. Surely you don't mean that? Every culture has things that are wonderful in and of and by themselves, yet to think that we should not add anything to them or change them would leave our culinary world (to say nothing of the other facets of it) woefully boring. I, for one, am thankful that spices, techniques, and ingredients that were not 'indigenous' to my culture have been adopted and adulterated into the mind-boggling variety of foods that are available in our shrinking world.

Any number of components of dashi may be smoked...see here....https://okume.us/pages/dashi-materials So I don't know if the "innovative and creative genius" applies here.

Coconut, ginger, rice, turmeric soup with greens (in this case, baby spinach)

I like to experiment, try new things. The whole thing came about almost accidentally. I wanted to cook some salmon, was tired of baking, broiling, pan searing ... the dashi was in the pot ... 1 + 1 and I thought why not poach in dashi, see what happens. This time, the second time I poached salmon in dashi, I decided to salt it first. Didn't see the Diamond Crystal, but the smoked salt was handy, so I grabbed it ... why not, I thought (Actually I thought WTF ..} But isn't cooking about experimenting? Don't you at least sometimes stray from tradition? In anycase, I'm cooking for me, and I liked it and shall cotinue experimenting with the concept.

While on the subject of fruit, allow me to suggest not ordering bananas in restaurants. That is dumb in any language. Bananas are 香蕉🍌xiāng jiāo in Mandarin. Two flat high tones. Use a falling tone on the first part, and you ordered a rubber, 橡胶 (xiàng jiāo). Fortunately.this doesn't mean a prophylactic device but still sounds weird. It's just the material.

I use kasuobushi, the salted salmon added an additional and subtle layer of smokiness. And a different flavor of smoke as well. It was accidental and I'd like to experiment more with adding additional smokiness to my dashi ... see where the concept takes me.

I'm no expert on Japanese cuisine. Hopefully members like @Duvel will chime in... but in my layman's study, it is quite common to give dashi a smoky flavor by infusing katsuobushi flakes into the dashi briefly. Miso soup uses this technique. So it is not an uncommon thing for dashi to have a smoky flavor - but traditionally is done by infusing dried, smoked fish flakes.

What wasn't clear is why? Dashi is known to be a light but umami rich broth. Do you think the Japanese wouldn't have included smoked salt if it improved it?

So what's your point? It's smoke-flavored, smoke enhanced, smokey ... dashi ... . so sorry if the description in the title upset or confused you. The description in the body of the post was quite clear about what was done.

I love this so much. I think it looks really amazing on the smaller tart and would like to give it a try. It looks to be somewhere between a foam and an Italian meringue, but I'm not sure. Any ideas on how to replicate it? Their online shop give a bit of a description, if you're interested. https://shop.mamounia.com/fr/la-boutique-pierre-herme/patisseries/tarte-infiniment-citron-gourmandise-raisonnee-6-8-pers_195.htm

Never order an apple in a restaurant anywhere but especially in China. 🍎苹果 (píng guǒ) does mean apple but look at the tones. First rising on the píng then a falling - rising on the second. Screw up the second and use the wrong tone you could insult the chef. 平锅 (píng guō) means "pan" and you are implying you are better than they are. Don't forget. They are armed and dangerous.