mamster

Probably at one point everybody did, but nowadays I think Thais are as like as you or me to use commercial paste, and as prepackaged ingredients go, it's one of the best. You can go to a stand in Thailand and buy paste that someone else has made in the traditional style; they just scoop you a hunk off a big mound. It's like Baskin-Robbins only with curry.

Not to butter up the guest or anything, but that rocked.

Dave, I buy pork fat (in smaller quantities) at the big Asian grocery. It's basically free. Got any Asian markets in your neck?

A (vegetarian) friend of mine who occasionally posts on eGullet noted that while they mostly talk about expensive restaurants on New York, here on PNW "all they talk about is Vietnamese pork sandwiches." Sounds like an 88 lunch on Saturday.

Hey, Malawry, great installment as always. What did you learn about Thai curries? Just curious--I'm wondering whether Chef Somchet is a curry traditionalist or modernist.

Beats me, I was using the term loosely. Maybe we're dealing with a technical government definition that includes nitrites and a colloquial term that can refer to a variety of processes. I pulled up a meat smoking and curing FAQ, but that didn't help.

I like some of the Applegate products (especially the pepperoni), but nitrite-free bacon doesn't do it for me. As far as I'm concerned, nitrites are a key component of that inimitable bacon flavor. Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't many wonderful things to do with uncured pork belly, and I am salivating just thinking about twice-cooked pork.

As we all know, over the last couple of decades the American rate of obesity has been climbing right along with spending on nutritional campaigns. As someone concerned with healthy cooking, what do you think could get American eating habits back on track? Do restaurateurs play a role or have any responsibility?

There's Elephants, at 23rd and Burnside (right?) which is good but expensive. There's also the new Whole Foods, which can probably be described the same way. heyjude? Jim?

Tommy, you're a genius, but the truth must be known! First of all, you can make rice powder with any rice, but the best and most widely used in Thailand is sticky rice. Toast it up in a dry pan (a little further than golden brown but not burned) and grind it in a coffee grinder. Perhaps your spice grinder is a coffee grinder. Also, to my taste you can always improve a larb by adding thinly-sliced shallots rather than onion. Like most Thai salads, they key to great larb is seasoning it a lot--plenty of dressing, chiles, and rice powder. This is a really good larb neua recipe: http://www.recipesource.com/ethnic/asia/th...00/rec0054.html. Have they ever made a coffee grinder that's easy to clean?

My dream kitchen.

I agree with pretty much everything in your response, Jaymes--you catch more flies with honey. But I'd argue that you have to put this column into a context. And the P-I web site doesn't make clear that this is a column: it's Chou's weekly opinion piece. It's devoted nearly every week to the kind of cooking that she (crankily) defends this week. In that context, a bit of a "haven't you people learned anything?" rant is more forgivable. Furthermore, I think you'll find a lot of people writing for daily papers who are not on Hsiao-Ching's side, who continue to offer convenience food cooking and repeat culinary myths instead of testing them. Rachel, thanks for moving the thread.

I'm sensing a PNW larb-party in the works. Heck, with election day coming up, I'll vote for anyone running on the Larb Party ticket.

I'm going to defend Hsiao-Ching (who is a woman) by saying that she's held herself out for a lot of criticism by being the only local food writer willing to challenge her readers instead of pandering to them. It's hard to do that without coming off as condescending (which the piece was) sometimes. She also had the guts to look at press release in the mouth. Saffy, hearing about eGullet kids who cook is always a pleasure and a good omen. Congrats.

I usually get the tom yam with rice noodles, but actually I ate there last night and it was weak--too much sugar, not enough lime juice. Now I feel like I have to go back for further research.

I have the Thompson book, too, but so far I find it less useful than the Kasma Loha-unchit books and HSSS. Also, the design makes HSSS look convenient. Not that it's a bad book, but it wouldn't be my first recommendation for someone new to Thai cooking. A real review will be in my 2002 cookbook roundup next month.

Tonight on the local TV news there was a lavishly illustrated report about the dangers of deep-frying turkey. It had many scenes of fire department personnel using fishing poles to lower turkeys into overly full deep fryers, and the whole thing would go up in flames. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it; I'm just saying it looked cool.

I find it very easy to tell with "neutral-flavored" oils such as canola, at least by taste. A dot of even mildly rancid canola oil on the fingertip is not a taste soon forgotten. In general, though, buy high-turnover oil from a trusted source and keep it out of the light; if it doesn't taste weird to you and your guests, you don't have a problem.

I'd speak up for the noodle soups at Orrapin Noodle Experience on QA. I would not speak up for the new Thai Kitchen a couple doors down; it's a really pretty space serving amazingly bland food. Thaiku in Ballard (the former Fremont Noodle House) is great. Best miang kham I've had in town, although they need to add dried shrimp, and also the best khao soi (Chiang Mai curry noodles).

Larb is from Laos originally, but it's extremely popular in central Thailand, so while it might not be home cooking to a Bangkokian, it's definitely something they're familiar with. mb7o, I'm going to make your recipe, but do you know if any place in Seattle serves har mok? Actually I was just going to mention that BH's crab salad is even better than you all think it is. What a great dish.

Hi, Kiz! You need to get that Aussie of yours onto the Australian forum. Malawy, hope your Pepin report goes well; I'd be interested to hear who other people choose. Do you pick from a list, or are you given free rein?

I haven't found a lasagna I like better than bolognese. If you're not making your own noodles (which is incredibly easy, it turns out), use the no-boil noodles. Make a bolognese sauce (make tons and freeze it) and bechamel, grate some parmesan, and you're basically there. The layering is fun and it bakes quick.

When the conversation runs to cooking with Boy Scouts, I think the question on everyone's mind is: how do you slice Boy Scouts really, really thin?

The URL is http://www.nwbookfest.org/.

We did it too! Laurie, heyjude, the Rt. Hon. Jude, and I took the Brasa bar by storm last night. We ordered six dishes, and our waiter took the initiative and split them up into two courses. First, the curried mussels, the spinach salad, and the squid. It was a serious mollusk-fest. These mussels are incredible--has anyone else gotten them? Big, perfectly cooked mussels in a coconut milk-based curry broth. We ate all the mussels and then attacked the broth with the (really good) bread. The squid was also excellent, both rings and tentacles over a thin layer of spicy sauce. Tentacles are where it's at. The spinach salad had a nice creamy but properly tart dressing with chunks of bacon. The entrees didn't quite live up to the standard set by the apps, but do they ever? We got the pan-seared fish (opah, our waiter told us), and it was well cooked, but it's not a great fish to start with and the spice crust was just too heavy on the cumin. The accompanying fried onions are brilliant, though, better than similar ones I've had at Cafe Campagne and elsewhere. We also had some nice mashed potatoes, and the steak frites; I thought neither the steak nor the frites were exceptional. We finished up by splitting a Brasa sundae. This is a well conceived dessert, served in a very tall glass. The problem with a classic ice cream sundae, they must have reasoned (and I agree), is that the first couple of bites of ice cream and hot fudge are wonderful, and then soon the fudge runs out and you have a huge amount of plain ice cream. To avoid this unfortunate outcome, the Brasa sundae just keeps changing as you go down. I didn't take notes, but there were some strawberries, caramel (and maybe also caramel ice cream), a brownie, chocolate shavings, and several flavors of ice cream. Does anyone else know about Greenland ice cores? The idea is that you remove a long cylinder of ice and look at the chemical and biological composition of the various strata and learn things about past climatological and evolutionary trends. Well, the Brasa sundae is what you'd get if you took an ice core on Planet Ice Cream (or maybe the Land of Dairy Queen in the commercial). Total for four with cocktails (also good; I had champagne mixed with Clear Creek pear brandy) and a generous tip: $85. We are STEALING your FOOD!