prasantrin

What's the fruit at the bottom right-hand corner? Looks like some kind of custard apple-like fruit. Did they have any mangosteen? Or star apples? The rose apple is the one on the far left about the middle of the plate, right? In front of the banana, with shiny bright pink skin? I think I need to go to Penang, just to eat fruit! I really miss being able to eat lots and lots of fruit. And I agree, KFC in Malaysia is really good!

Are turon made with plantains? I always thought they were made with saba, which are a lot shorter and stubbier than plantains. Or are saba another type of plantain? The wrapping is actually a little more work than I wanted to do. I'm a lazy eater, you know!

I don't know about the US, but in Canada most Filipino restaurants are frequented almost exclusively by Filipinos, so its (to me) much less "Canadianized" than other cuisines can be.

Thanks! I wish I had picked up some of the black sesame extract from the Flavor Shop when I was in Tokyo. I think it would perk up the flavour. But I can always do mail order, the man said! If my experiment is successful, care to try my final product? You can be my official guinea pig!

Roast!??!?!? But anything fried is good! My plantains are turning yellow much more quickly than I expected. It's awfully warm in Japan right now. I think I'll take one and make piononos (after ripening a bit more), let one ripen even more and just fry them (or roast, because I really do need to cut down on my fat intake and my fat belly), and then maybe I'll freeze the third if I can find room in my teeny tiny fridge.

Let's say, hypothetically, that you drop your brass turkish coffee grinder used for grinding pepper into a pot of oil. How would you clean it? Surely not run it under water. Is there another way? Use brass polisher? But what about the innards that have some oil in them?

Oops! Thanks, Mark! I did as you suggested, and as far as I know (I was giving them to someone else), they were fine. I'll be doing it again soon, too! I have some new caramel questions. I picked up some caramels at Le Chocolat de H in Tokyo. The regular caramels suck, but the black sesame ones are awesome! I'd like to try replicating them, but have no idea where to start. Judging from the texture, the caramel recipe is much like the recipe Kerry did for the confectionary class (which is the standard one I use), but they add black sesame paste to it and also some whole sesame seeds. The matcha one is really good, too. Any idea of how to make matcha ones, too? The pics are here (I hope). Oh, one more question. . . when you add nuts to caramel, do you toast the nuts first, or let the heat of the caramel toast them?

€24?!?!???! What a bargain! Not that I have plans to go to Italy in the near future, but are reservations necessary for the restaurant?

If this comes to pass, I'll be very impressed with us. ← But the comment wasn't intended to be flattering, as I read it. It's saying by creating this "badge", you are also creating a two-tiered system whereby some blogs are judged "bad" just because they don't have the badge (not necessarily because they are bad). This could, however, work the other way where eG developed a bad reputation (for whatever reason), and any blog displaying the eG badge were seen in a negative light.

Unfortunately, as with most small Japanese ovens, mine comes from the top (from the back corner, really, but closer to the top than the bottom). It's gas convection, so there's a fan blowing around in there, but when I've done things like roast chicken or turkey, the tops of large chickens or small turkeys (which almost reach the roof of my oven) always end up getting dark quickly. I'll look around and see what I have that can do the job. I should be able to provide at least partial cover with some kind of pan or something hanging around. I'd love to smoke my meat, but I have nowhere to smoke it! (teeny tiny balcony)

Funny thing is, living in Japan when the guy told me they were Y450, I thought, "Wow! That's cheap!" I'd have bought more if they had any! Can I cook the plantains the same way regardless of the ripeness? I mostly just want to fry them or sautee them in some butter. Although I did find a recipe for Pionono I want to try, and that one said to wait until they're yellow almost orange. Another question about ripeness since you bring it up, I've been reading different things about when to know they're ripe. Some say they have to be totally black, but some say orangey with black spots, and some say yellow with black spots. I know I can use them at any stage, but what stage would be the best to bring out the sweetness of sauteeing (sort of caramelizing) them?

Perhaps I'll skip the aluminum foil and go with parchment or nothing at all! My pork belly will be a little on the lean side (judging by the picture), but maybe I'll just chance the fat rendering out. Or I could go on the opposite direction and get a super fatty pork belly, but then I'd have almost no meat!

Plantains--I've been lucky enough to purchase 3 big plantains, still green, but starting to yellow. Three big plantains are quite a lot for one person, so once they are ripe, can I freeze them in their skins, like one freezes ripe bananas? If I do that, would it change their texture so much that I wouldn't be able to slice them up and fry them? Also, if I open up a plantain and cook part of it, can I preserve the rest for a day or two, or should I cook it all right away? I'm a plantain newbie, and I'm afraid to waste my Y450 worth of plantains!

Wait a minute. . .where the heck are you eating now? I thought you had left Korea and were now eating your way through England or China or somewhere like that (ya, those are really similar countries. . . ).

Thanks! I'll give it a try with a skinless piece of belly, unless my meat guy gets in some belly with skin by next week (not likely, but a few more days won't kill me). The temperature of the oven will only be 200F, quite low, but if I wanted to take precautions against too much fat rendering out, could I put a few layers of aluminum foil on the top where the skin would be? I would only cover the top of the belly, itself, not the whole pan. I can't lower my oven temperature because it goes from 100C down to 45C with nothing in between. (Japanese gas convection oven, but it keeps a pretty steady temperature) So I'm stuck with 100C (I know it's slightly more than 200F, but it's not so much more!). I do have a probe themometer, so I'm all set in terms of checking the internal temperature.

All of the recipes I've found for making bacon ask for skin-on pork belly which is very difficult for me to get. Would it be so bad if I used pork belly without skin? Are there any changes I would need to make the recipe? I'm planning on using this one http://www.saveur.com/article/Food/Home-Cured-Bacon

I was so jealous I refused to speak to you for almost a week! Humph! But now that I'm over the angry part of the jealousy, I just want to add that you and Rachel are so lucky to be able to enjoy each other's company and food! That spread was certainly something else--and the ham!!! I must admit I feel a bit tempted to try that pigs-in-a-blanket deluxe! If only I could get Pillsbury crescent rolls in Japan. . .

Why didn't I think of that?? I've got some vodka left from my vanilla-making experiment, too! Any suggestion as to how much peel per, say, 100ml of vodka? I think I have about 300mL of vodka left, so I could use it all up! That would probably work for sudachi, too, wouldn't it?

You could try this method for Oaxen reservations, and this one for Mathias. It might be the easiest way for you to get reservations right now (though it may cost you more than if you were to make reservations the regular way--it is for charity, however).

The good news is, Flavor Land it was! The bad news. . . no yuzu essence But they did have yuzu oil, so I picked up a bottle of that! I hope it can be used in food. . . So thank you so much sng sling for the recommendation! And my yuzu caramels thank you, too!

It wasn't so bad considering this is Japan. I picked them up in Ameyoko-cho at the Center Building basement, and things there are always cheaper than in mainstream stores. I think the basils were Y250 each (big bags of the stuff. I also got some real Thai-type shallots for Y350 a bag, and cilantro for Y300 for a big bunch. And my best buy--plantains!!! Three big ones for Y450!!) I might try making basil oil if I can part with some of my leaves. They're so precious, I don't want to use any without serious thought!

But it has already been stated that "the eGullet Society will not serve as an enforcement or adjudication body." So then anyone can display the badge and not fear having it revoked since the Society really doesn't care if the code is followed or not, or at least that it what is implied by stating the Society will not be enforcing it. But still, anyone can display the badge implying the code is being followed, and yet not follow the code at all. In those cases, the badge would be providing false assurance, would it not? Would that not then taint the eG name (assuming the name has not already been tainted)?

An oldie but a goodie. . . I picked up some Thai basil (both gkaprow and horapa) in Tokyo, and I've got far too much to use before it goes bad. Can I freeze the whole leaves? They'll be used primarily for making Gkai Pad Gkaprow, so I don't really care about appearances, but I'd like them to retain most of their flavour. Or should I try to dry them?

If the Society will have no further role in enforcing the "code of ethics" it has created, then why bother attaching the eG name to it? I know of no other organisation that has a code of ethics that does not, in some way, follow-up on whether the members remain true to that code or not.

Pizza dough in the food processor? Hmmmm. . . I wonder how one would do that. . . hint, hint. I've been spending too much money on pizza, and need to start making my own!