Our Picks

One thing I'm changing is the traditional pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.  Over the years there was a feeling among some family and friends that store-bought pumpkin pies were "better."  I never complained, but I never felt that way.  I've been experimenting with making sugared cranberries the past month, mainly in a cookie recipe.  But this week I tried using them as a garnish for a pumpkin pie.  The photos don't do it justice.  You get a tangy burst of cranberry juice with the sweetness from the sugar.  And I think it cuts through some of the richness of the pumpkin pie.  But a little slice goes a long way.

Tonight I made the chicken and fenugreek curry that I’ve detailed previously, served it with some leftover potato masala and dal, plus freshly made snake beans poriyal and spinach whole-wheat chapatis.

 
From the south of India, poriyal describes a stir fried vegetable finished with lemon and coconut.
The mise includes mustard seeds, dried chillies and curry leaves, red onion, green chillies and chopped snake beans (snow peas work well too), lemon juice and desiccated coconut.

 
The dish is cooked within 10 minutes. I heat oil and splutter mustard seeds and dried chilli, add onion and curry leaves, get the onion a bit browned, add the green chilli and the beans with a pinch of salt. Cover and sauté for a few minutes, squeeze on the lemon, stir in the coconut, and voila. 

 

Big restocking and stocking up at the wine sale. Most excited about the 3 that are new to me: aged rhum agricole, genever, and madeira.

Oh I haven't had gooseberries in years and years.  Majorly jealous.

I have the full set of Darto pans and like them a lot. I also have a larger Matfer coming as a Christmas present (because sometimes you need 12.75" for searing extra big things like roasts). I like the Dartos quite a bit. Like many, I learned about them from ChefSteps where they were used in a pan sauce video a while ago. There are a bunch of threads on these pans over on the ChefSteps forums, including a number of recent ones from people like Rotuts who picked up pans with the free shipping offer. My favorite aspect is the single-piece construction that eliminates rivets. I HATE cleaning around rivets... they never seem to get completely clean. I'm glad the Matfer has sanded/finished rivets so that it will be easier to clean.
 
As for seasoning, I always do it on the stovetop by burning off a very thin layer of oil and wiping down as the oil starts smoking. I follow the ATK/CI method of initial seasoning for new carbon steel pans of cooking potato peels with a lot of oil and copious amounts of kosher salt. After that, it's the stovetop oil method. I find that doing it in the oven can leave a spotty finish, even if I wipe the layer of oil very, very thin. Others apparently have luck with that, but I don't. The Darto pans come semi-pre-seasoned with that black layer of finish that makes them resemble cast iron. They still need to be properly seasoned, but the initial base layer gives the pans an attractive and uniform "black all over" look that I like. I bought my first two pans without the free shipping, and the price of getting them to me was as much as one of the pans. The free shipping offer is worth taking advantage of if you're looking for some carbon steel. The pans are quite heavy, and the handles quite broad (which might be an issue if you have small hands). I have smallish hands, but find them a pleasure to grab with a side towel. 
 
The small pan is really quite small, but it can be useful for cooking smaller items and toasting spices if you have a bunch of other big stuff on the stovetop. The handle can heat up quickly if you use it on higher heat, but that's to be expected since it's rather short. The 15cm size is a "maybe" for me, but the rest of them are in constant rotation. The 20cm pan is just the right size for frying two eggs and having them come out in a perfect connected circle. The 23 and 27 immediately became good friends. They sear almost as well as cast iron and have good nonstick performance with very little fat. I reach for them much more often than my All Clads for most cooking tasks, though I wouldn't want to be without quality stainless.
 

I'm just starting to learn about southern hemisphere fish but am enjoying the availability of fish & chips made from something that isn't a generic frozen lump.
I have enjoyed Trevalla and just tried flounder, which isn't something I usually think of for deep frying. Quite nice.
What are your favourites and why?

Nutella Eclair 

As a (big) fan of gastronomy, it’s normal that I want to visit as many different restaurants as possible –

Had a rather heavy lunch, so a light dinner tonight.
 
Stir fried fresh ramen noodles with duck and leeks. Duck marinated with Shaoxing wine, garlic, ginger and chilli. A splash of soy sauce near the end.
 

 

I tried some Cholula Chipotle hot sauce at a local Mexican place and it was a nice blend of sweet and not too much heat. I'm not into super hot sauce, it was just a nice little extra flavor on some chips/guac. Bought a bottle at the local supermarket.

Tutti Frutti. Feeling fruity?

(I have searched and, to my surprise, can find no dedicated fruit topic. I know the search here is deeply flawed, so I could be wrong. Also I couldn't actually find a suitable topic category to put this in. None of the topic descriptions match.)
 
I'm just wondering what fresh fruit you have access to now. We all live in widely scattered places and climates, so I'll wager there are big differences.

This is what I have right now.
 

 
Bananas - available year round. Those are Cavendish bananas, but we get different varieties, too.
Longan (龙眼 lóng yǎn; literally "dragon's eyes"). I'm surprised to see these now. They are usually midsummer fruits, but then the weather has been unusually warm (not that global warming exists, oh no! All a Chinese plot.)
Loquat (枇杷 pí pa). Right time for them.
Strawberries (草莓 cǎo méi; literally "grass berries"). It has always confused me, but Christmas onwards is strawberry season in China. Back in England always summer.

I also have loads of apples.

What you got?


 

Rib eye roast, preseared and 8h @ 131F. Finished for 5 min in a hot convection oven at full blast ...
I was very surprised by the little amount of osmazome produced. It made for a very nice pan sauce with a bit of Philadelphia added. The beef was quite tender; next iteration will see only 6h.
Other than that, I liked it - will make my regular rotation for this cut.
 

I’ve been on a bit of a jag the past two weeks. 
 
Too many macarons (dark chocolate, pistachio and cherry, lime, spumoni, s’mores, and plain pistachio):

 
Lemon cake with lemon buttercream, filled with lemon curd and topped with candied Meyer lemon slices for my 9-year old’s birthday:

 
Pear frangipane tartlets from pears we grew:

 
Homemade Oreos:

It's Friday and still waking up from the Thursday partiyng.
 
It all started very tame with a special early dinner at a Palestinian restaurant serving the famous Palestinian Musakhan.
 
1- Starters
 
- Qudsieh (Hummos - Foul/Fava Beans - Chickpeas) Typical Palestinian dish with the name derived from Al Quds which is Jerusalem in English
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
- Mutabal (Aubergine Tahineh dip) Levant Dish
 

 
 
 
2- Main dish
 
- Musakhan which is a typical Palestinian dish with roasted chicken with the main spice being Sumac which gives the dish it's sourness mixed with caramelized Onions to sweeten it and a sprinkling of either Pine Nuts or Almonds as in our dish. The whole chicken and mixture rests on a Taboon bread.
You enjoy the chicken by tearing the Taboon bread and mixture and wrapping it around a tender and juicy chicken sliver while your taste buds explode in a burst of sweet and sour sparkles. The sweat pearls sliding gently on your forehead....... Forget about the makeup and aftershave......
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
- and a close up
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
3- Dessert
 
No dinner is complete without a Dessert. I have a red line not to be crossed....... Ughh sometimes...
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
And I chose these:
 
 
- Kunafeh bel Jebn two ways: Fine crust on the left and coarse shredded crust on the right both filled with the Palestinian famous Nabulsi white cheese.
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
- and I also had this small selection before getting the disapproving looks from my wife.
All clotted cream or cheese filled
 
 

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and after some strong fresh mint teas. We needed some more substantial libations and went clubbing as usual
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

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and morning came quickly and in the morning you hit breakfast before hitting the sack as the beach is calling in the afternoon and then the whole saga starts again.....
Weekends are hard work.......
 
This time we had to make do with the Turkish Simit bread filled with cheese - ham....... etc
 
 

 
 
 
 
Good night and Good Morning to all  😎
 
 

Once, during Prohibition, I was forced to live for a few days on nothing but food and water.
-W.C. Fields

Tsukemen at Rokurinsha, Tokyo Haneda branch. Is there a better way to start the day ?
 

Thinking a greens soup since it is Green Thursday, I wandered out to see what I could include. Found some mallow, wild fennel, dandelion, and mustard. A bit of the raw mustard had a perfect sharpness. 

Somewhat unusually, I cooked dinner tonight for three young guests - sisters.
 

Hunan style cumin beef (湖南式孜然牛肉)
 

Sweet and Sour Ribs (糖醋排骨)
 

Clams steamed in Shaoxing wine with garlic and black salt fermented beans (豆豉)
 

Thai red chicken curry


Fresh straw mushrooms steamed with garlic, olive oil and water.
 

 
While the three sisters declared themselves happy with all the dishes, their runaway favourite was the mushrooms which tasted better than my unappealing photograph shows. Four people, five dishes plus rice. The formula for Chinese eating. One more dish than participants.

@David Ross expressed an interest in side dishes......here’s one of my favourite dals. 
 
I used 1.5 cups of chana dal (skinned and split chickpeas) washed in several changes of water then brought to a boil with about a 2cm covering of water. Once boiling I skim scum, lower the heat and add half a chopped onion and half a tsp of turmeric, cover the pot and simmer for about an hour. I like them to hold a bit of shape, but still turn creamy if you stir enough. These are nearly ready.

 
The mise for seasoning. In the dish black mustard seeds, cumin seeds and asafoetida, curry leaves, dried Kashmiri chillis (you can use any dried chilli, these are my current favourite), chopped tomatoes, red onion, garlic, ginger and baby spinach.

 
I heat a combination of ghee and mustard oil (about 3 tbs total) and throw in the asafoetida, then mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves and broken chillies. Have a lid handy the curry leaves will spatter and try to escape. Then in go the onions until soft and beginning to brown, garlic, ginger and tomatoes. I give this about 5 minutes until the tomatoes soften, add the spinach and a lid to steam it for a few minutes.

 
Pour the seasoning into the dal add salt to taste, a pinch of chilli powder and a few grinds of black pepper, simmer for a few minutes to meld the flavours.

 
 
This keeps well in the fridge for several several days and goes with most Indian meals.
Seen here with mushroom balti, green beans poriyal, steamed rice and my favourite and ever present tomato chutney.

An eventful day of sightseeing and travel up North.




 
The road sides are scattered with stalls. At some sections, every hundred meters or so. They are selling honey, fruits, churchkhela, homemade wine, and in this case also brooms. We were surprised by the vast number of those stalls, it's hard to imagine the sellers making much profit with so much competition.
 
We stopped for lunch based on online recommendations. Chveni Ezo.
Lovely and specious outdoor sitting, we sat under a walnut tree. Some pleasant Georgian music was quietly playing in the background. The place was near empty from diners at the time, but well stuffed. 

 
 
We ordered two glasses of draft german wheat beer (the Georgian wine and beer will wait). 
 
A fresh, hot, crisp and tender tonis puri. Pillowy and fluffy like a good pita bread, crisp like a ciabatta. So very good.

 
Lobio - a bean stew, traditionally served with mchadi - a corn bread, and pickles, served in a stoneware pot. I was impressed, this was a very good bean stew, rich and thick, boiling hot. Flavored with bay leaves and parsley. Maybe also celery. Just enough fat to give richness. I guessed the beans to be cranberry beans, or similar (later, we will visit the market and see that indeed, the beans sold are similar).  The corn bread was dry, and lightly corny. I mostly skipped it in favor of the bread, but as you sure know, cornbread and beans are a great combination.

 
Kharcho soup.

 
Shkmeruli - fried chicken in garlic sauce. They didn't skimp the garlic.

 
Mushroom khinkali.

 
Everything was very good and we were stuffed.

Temari sushi. 
 

As I mentioned in the Breville Smart Oven Air thread, I'm currently living in a basement suite without much of a kitchen, and it looks like I will be here for another year. This was getting me down, so when I spotted a Breville/Polyscience Control Freak on eBay that was soliciting "offers", I made a ridiculously low ball offer. To my surprise the seller came back with a counter offer of just $175 more... I pushed my luck and made another counter offer for $75 less... and what do you know, it was accepted! I've been eyeing this for a long time, but the $1800 price tag as always been a deterrent... until now  Winning this item is what inspired me to cash in my Airmiles for the Breville Smart Oven Air. I figured that while I don't have a "real kitchen", the oven + the control freak would be the best kitchenette ever
 
Just got the unit in the mail so I haven't had a lot of time to test it out. But so far I'm happy. It was a "demo unit" for a butcher/kitchen supply shop, but was you can see, the cardboard is still around one of the knobs, so I don't think it was ever plugged in. 
 
I put it next to the Tasty One Top for size comparison. I bought that last year thinking it would a good cheap man's Control Freak.... it looks so sad and pathetic next to the Control Freak . The Control Freak is seriously a beast! It takes up more counter space than any induction unit I've seen, but it seems to be built solid. And the carrying case is also very solid! Not a caterer, so I'm not sure how much I will be travelling with it. But might come in use for small trips.

I haven't tested the probe yet. But I did pan control to 135F. The cooktop reading hovers between 134 and 135. I left my infared temperature probe at home, so can't measure pan temperature... but as you can see the water in the pan matches the pan read out! I also notice that it's not clicking on and off like the One Top... it's more subtle in its power changes. Also there are very fine bubbles at the bottom of the pot, and they encircle the entire diameter of the pot... doesn't look like a huge hotspot like on the One Top! 

I'm going to be playing with this over the next couple days, so if anyone has any questions feel free to ask them. I know there aren't a lot of these around, and it's hard to find answers on them.



 

Mixed up some masala so I can contribute something to this thread

The recipe is from a former colleague from India - Uttar Pradesh. She mixes up a big batch and used to replenish my own stock whenever I asked.  When I moved, she scaled the recipe down for me.
I managed to crop out a few items - saffron, salt, sugar and turmeric

Jinhua ham (金华火腿 jīn huá huǒ tuǐ) is a dry-cured ham from Zhejiang Province in eastern China, specifically from the town of Jinhua. It is made from the rear legs of a breed of pig native to China. Production starts in winter and takes up to 10 months. The traditional process is at least 1,000 years old, and consists of salting, soaking, and ageing the hams.
 
Traditionally, Jinhua ham is added to stews and braised dishes to deepen the flavour. It is also used extensively in stock making. It is also a key ingredient in the dish known as “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall”, a type of shark’s fin soup, a dish recently banned from official banquets by the Chinese communist party and falling from favour elsewhere.
 
However it can be used in many ways. I have used it with spinach in pancakes, in omelettes, on pizza, with noodles etc. But most often I just eat it straight from the pack. Delicious.
 

Jinhua Ham
 

Jinhua Ham Slices
 
 

Building on the broadness of the term "curry," I'll share this most inauthentic contribution - Curry chicken salad with apples and cashews

I used the spice mixture I posted about the other day, Trader Joe's mango & ginger chutney subbing for my usual Major Grey and a handy sous vide chicken breast from the freezer.
To compound the inauthenticity, I enjoyed this with some Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread made with cassava flour) that I bought at the farmers market 
On the more authentic side, my Indian friend taught me the flavor enhancing power of toasting spices so even here, I lightly toast the spice mixture before adding it to the dressing.