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Big Bunny

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    Instant Polenta

    in Italy: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    Maggie -

    I'm from Joliet. I spent my early life with my Italian grandmother,

    dairy maid from Piemonte, and German grandfather, steel-worker

    from Essen, in an Italian neighborhood, which included Grandma's brother

    and two sisters as neighbors.

    My mother's family were coal miners, originally from Kentucky,

    then southern Illinois, then up to Joliet.

    Nobody liked anybody else, but they could all cook.

    Grandma was born sometime in the late nineties, has been gone

    for over thirty years now.

    BB

    Instant Polenta

    in Italy: Cooking & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Big Bunny (log)

    I'm from Illinois.

    My Italian Grandmother would cook chicken in tomatoes until

    it not only fell off the bones, it seemed to start to dissolve them.

    This was medium hot with red and black pepper, and served

    over polenta. We wolfed it.

    Any left-over polenta was cut into circles with a cookie cutter

    and fried for breakfast - with Karo syrup.

    I will always be corny.

    Once, in a pinch, I made polenta with masa harina.

    It looked weird, but tasted ok. But, then, i'm a "cornaholic".

    BB

    edit - im -> i'm

    How To Store Ginger Root?

    in China: Cooking & Baking

    Posted

    This may go slightly off-topic, but it may help.

    I work downtown, surrounded by lots of "NY-style" eateries.

    They usually have maki and gari (pickled ginger). They also have lots

    of raw vegetables and "whatever" for 4.59/lb.

    That's kind of expensive, but if you have a brain-storm at work for what

    to fix for supper, it can be well worth the premium to save lots of time.

    I have never used pickled ginger to replace "raw" ginger in a stir-fry, but

    it would certainly beat powder, or doing without.

    Oh, yes. The New York style delis are also a more reliable source of ready-to-eat

    whole fruit than groceries in my area (downtown Baltimore.)

    BB

    Cooking shortcuts

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Ideally, I would use canned/store-bought stuff for my self, then switch

    to cooking more from scratch for company.

    Paradoxically, when I cook for company is when I need the convenience.

    If there is time for prep, that is not a major problem. Otherwise, fine herbes

    and olive oil can do wonders for canned green beans (I know, I know).

    I started using Mae Ploy coconut milk years ago, haven't fooled with a

    coconut since. Chaokoh (sp?) is good, too.

    I love to do things like pickles and liqueurs. One of my favorite books is

    Aglaia Kremezi's "Mediterranean Pantry". I make her cherry liqueur most

    years, did two batches with two kinds of cherries this year.

    I am fascinated by pickles in general, everything from Vlasic to home-made

    pao cai. I think that Irene Kuo even gives a recipe for fried pao cai on its

    own as a dish.

    Anyway, if the meal "works", it will be greater than the sum of its parts.

    Oh, yes! A good home-made sherbet of whatever is in season covers all sins.

    BB

    Updating the Kitchen Essentials

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Whatever you have to cook in, mise en place

    is very important - especially if you are

    as absent-minded as I am.

    I would be lost without about two dozen small-

    to-medium sized, inexpensive stainless bowls

    and saucers ... an odd assortment of useful shapes.

    I got this habit from Chinese cooking - it is just

    the way I work now.

    BB

    Recipe Storage

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Another old-fashioned approach.

    For years, I have used 240-page, 3-subject notebooks.

    I *can* improvise, but I am not good at it.

    It is a bit time-consuming, but I reformat each recipe to my liking,

    usually putting a menu together, then each time I cook the rx I

    add notes to it. The cookbooks stay pretty(usually), and the rx

    improves.

    Some authors have great ideas about food, but I find it difficult

    to follow their layout - hence developing my own system.

    Special recipes are copied onto 3-ring paper, and put in a

    binder, with a sheet protector.

    "Special" means that I think I've "got it" and it's good

    enough for company.

    BB

    Dried Mushrooms 101

    in Cooking

    Posted

    essvee: Amen to "Fragrant Harbor Taste"

    fifi: The almost-rote way to prepare dried black mushrooms is

    to soak them in hot - not boiling - water for 15-30 minutes.

    They sometimes need to be cleaned a bit - the stems are always

    discarded - some authors throw the soaking water away - some

    use it in soup.

    Because of their "meatiness", they are a mainstay of Chinese

    vegetarian cooking.

    I usually cut them in two, next to the stem, remove the stem

    but waste as little as possible - then julienne/dice or whatever

    the recipe asks.

    That slippery, gummy feel is just part of their "thing." Chinese

    cooking thrives on various, often unfamiliar, textures.

    BB

    Dried Mushrooms 101

    in Cooking

    Posted

    In Chinese cooking, 'black mushrooms' which have been dried,

    then reconstituted are a 'different animal' from the fresh.

    They are delicious, turn up everywhere in Chinese dishes.

    From the Chinese point oF view they have it all - flavor,

    fragrance and texture.

    BB

    sharpening stones

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by Big Bunny (log)

    You are am over my head on that.

    I have 'Sharpening Hand Tools' by Max Alth - Storey Pub.

    He seems to say that people choose one or the other, but says

    nothing about stones being specifically one way or the other.

    Mainly, he says that 'oil people' soak their stones in 10 or 20

    weight oil before use - never vegetable or cooking oil

    - clean them with alcohol, gasoline or kerosene.

    'Water people' use them dry and clean them with soap and water.

    I get the impression that the 'schools' are reversible, but I this

    is only one source. Is the stone very expensive?

    BB

    edit - replace ambiguous comma with 'or'

    sharpening stones

    in Cooking

    Posted

    I have a big, old stone that I bought in an Asian grocery

    years ago. It came unpackaged and unlabeled.

    I have always used running water - I prop it up under

    the faucet - and it works fine.

    BB

    Winter Beers in the Snow

    in Beer

    Posted · Edited by Big Bunny (log)

    Here in Baltimore I haven't found a six-pack of Anchor's seasonal.

    At Brewer's Art, I had a Storm King on Wednesday. It was very

    good, but I was eating sausage at the time - can't remenber the

    flavors well.

    At Dougherty's they have lots of Sierra Nevada's seasonal,

    I can never remember names.

    It is good, very herby, with a pronounced celery/fennel aftertaste.

    I may get back to BA tonight. They have several more I'd like to try.

    BB

    edit - pakk -> pack

    Your 10 Favorite Cookbooks

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted · Edited by Big Bunny (log)

    I enjoy collecting cookbooks as much as I enjoy eating, maybe more.

    My rule is to try at least two recipes from each book. Of course, a lucky

    trip to a used book store or a cut-out table will lead me astray.

    For about two-and-a-half years, I have been delving fairly seriously

    into Vietnamese cooking. Because there are relatively few books, I

    have studied each more carefully. I like it when I "feel" that the cook

    is actually talking to me - definitely get this from Routhier and Pham.

    My real cookbook is my journal. I like to work from recipes written

    in my own style. Everything goes into a note book - often several

    versions of the same dish. Then I cook from that.

    edit - remove unneeded word

    Kingfisher?

    in Beer

    Posted

    Apparently it's not just me.

    Kingfisher used to be crisper and more flavorful.

    BB

    I've never had a decent bottle of the stuff in my life. Always skunky. We have a large number of Indian restaurants in and around Princeton, and Kingfisher is on every menu, and, try as I might, I've not been able to even remotely like the stuff.

    You may be right. I'm not sure, though.

    I'm 61, have drunk beer since I was 4 (Midwest German Grandfather.)

    I like Asian food, thought Tsingtao and Kingfisher were excellent before

    The micro "revolution." My tastes probably have been "upgraded" by the

    availability of better beers.

    On the other hand, there has been plenty of time for the beers to change, too.

    BB

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