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jmolinari

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Posts posted by jmolinari

    Cooking from "Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint"

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Last night i made a trial batch of ramen noodles.

    They came out very well. One thing i did notice is that the book says to mix in the mixer until a ball forms. No way this dry dough was going to form a ball on it's own. It was just too dry. It says to add water if it looks to dry, but having read the noodle recipe on Marc's No Recipes that the dough stays gravelly i didn't,

    Rolled it out with the KA pasta roller to a thickness 4 (book says to go to the thinnest, which would be absurd), then used the spaghetti cutter.

    Perfect noodles:

    photo.JPG

    Cooked for 1 minute in boiling water, and strained very well.

    Threw together random things i had on hand to eat them. Here I ate them with chili pan mee sauce from Lucky Peach and katsuobushi shavings.

    photo.JPG

    Delicious. Nice and chewy and good flavor. I do think i'll increase the rye content from 7% to maybe 10-12% as i'd like to taste it more. Maybe toasting it a little darker would help too. Hopefully that won't affect the integrity of the noodle.

    Overall, i'm happy with them. I am starting to get the impression that the book didn't do a lot of testing of the recipes. 2 recipes this far, and both had some pretty major issues (yield in one and directions in the other regarding dough appearance)

    PS: monday i was watching Bizarre Foods and they were at the ramen lab in NJ. The Ramen Lab guys demonstrated the "premiumness" of their noodles by squishing them and showing they would fall back apart into individual strands...thought i'd try it with mine. I have no idea if this means anything whatsoever, just thought it was fun:

    • Like 2

    Cooking from "Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint"

    in Cooking

    Posted

    So i started yesterday making components for the shio ramen. STarted with the sofrito.

    Reading the recipe something didn't look right. It said the yield is 2.5 cups. Yet, you add a quart of oil, which we all know doesn't reduce:) Anyhow...i proceeded as directed.

    Started the onions and apples at 225 in oven. After an hour realized it was going no where quickly, i raised temp to 250. Let it cook for 3 hours at 250...onions and apples still just barely bubbling away at the 3 hour mark, looking not all that different. Raised temp to 275 for 2 more hours. One onions and apples were brownish, added ginger and garlic. Let it keep going for 3 more hours at 275.

    Everything soft and tasty.

    It made about 8 cups worth of sofrito...which makes sense.

    Not sure i'll ever need more, but if i were to make more i would 1/2 the recipe and start cooking at 275 instead of 225.

    photo.JPG

    That was the longest lead item, so that's out of the way.

    • Like 1

    Frozen Chopped Lemon Grass??

    in Cooking

    Posted

    It's chopped very finely so i don't use it in dishes i want to remove the lemongrass from.

    It's may be similar to preground spices, but unlike preground spices which become sawdust very quickly, the frozen lemongrass stays rather strong for a very long time. it may be less intense than fresh, but it's still remarkably strong tasting and very very convenient for weeknight stir fries.

    Cooking from "Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint"

    in Cooking

    Posted

    So, my first outing to a huge asian market for ingredients was met with challenges.

    1) I wasn't able to find dried squid (other than the tasty squid jerky)

    2) I wasn't able to find sardine bushi

    Instead, i decided to simplify the dashi recipe by combining 2 pre-made, high quality dashi tea bags. These have no MSG, and the ingredients basically list dried fish, seaweed etc.

    I got a dashi tea bag of konbu/kasuo dashi and one of iriko (sardine) dashi. I figured i'll combine these 2 and have a katsu, konbu, iriko dashi and it should be tasty.

    I didn't have 5 hours at home this weekend to make the soffritto.

    I have home rendered Guinea hog lard for the pork fat, and will sub the chicken fat for duck fat which i also have.

    The pork will be guinea hog pork belly of which my freezer is full.

    Chicken soup will be pressure cooked to speed up the process.

    All in all, this ramen almost makes itself :)

    • Like 1

    Cooking from "Ivan Ramen: Love, Obsession, and Recipes from Tokyo's Most Unlikely Noodle Joint"

    in Cooking

    Posted

    Definitely not me. Got the Kindle edition a couple of days ago and it made fascinating reading but....... And I don't quite know how to put this without risking my hide...... At some point my monkey-mind said, "Wait just a minute. This is a bowl of noodles we are talking about."

    I will follow along with encouragement and enthusiasm with those willing to take the plunge but deep down inside I'll be begging the Emperor to get dressed.

    Yep..but what a bowl of noodles it is. I ate at his popup in Atlanta. My brain is still melted.

    To each their own..but can't every complicated dish be reduced to "it's just XXX" ?

    The way i look at it is that many of the components can be made in bulk and frozen. Fats, chicken broth, soffritto, menma, katsuobushi salt.

    The egg is quick and easy.

    Noodles will realistically be purchased.

    That leaves the dashi as the most complex non-storable part.

    It may be my ramen fanatic, but to me this is the best cookbook all year. I've been waiting since it was announced.

    • Like 1

    Let's Discuss Vacuum Bags [MERGED TOPIC]

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    I'd like to bring this up.

    I also read this

    http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145126-vacuum-sealer-bags/?hl=%2Bvacuum

    Thanks to Syzygies for explaining so much about bags.

    I'd like to know if anybody buys from these sites and what do you think of these bags

    http://www.thevakshack.com/Home.html

    http://www.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/About_Us.html

    Do you buy multiple sizes and rolls, what are your preferences.

    Thanks

    i have, they work great, and are super cheap. BUT they are much thinner than the Foodsaver bags. Even if they claim to be the same mil thickness, they're not.

    I use the "quart" and "gallon" size.

    I got mine on ebay. Take a look there. The bags are from italy, funnily enough.

    McDonald's 2013–

    in Ready to Eat

    Posted

    Mickey D's will be introducing a new menu item soon (Sept. 9th): wings!

    " 'Mighty Wings' landing at McDonald's "

    The wings will be sold in packs of three, five and 10, starting at $2.99. And customers can choose from nine sauces, ranging from creamy ranch to chipotle barbecue.

    Is anyone in the test markets and have you tried them?

    I am, and they are actually quite tasty. Crispy, (they're battered in some fashion), very meaty. The sauces suck though.

    Popcorn...Revisited

    in Cooking

    Posted · Edited by jmolinari (log)

    One you pop popcorn with duck fat, you're ruined for anything else.

    My favorite topping is a 70/40 mix of smoked paprika and calabrian chile powder and salt. Adjust ratio as desired.

    Also working on an nduja popcorn, but it seems to burn before the popcorn is popped...so it needs work.

    Tipping for Takeout and Delivery

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted · Edited by jmolinari (log)

    I think you've got the right attitude, Goatjunky, here's the way I look at things.

    -Somebody has to take the order,

    -give it to the kitchen,

    -pick it up from the kitchen,

    -gather all the things like napkins, disposables, sauces, condiments, etc.

    -package it,

    -give it to the customer,

    -take the customer's money or card,

    -give her/him back a reciept, and smile.

    While this isn't worth, 20-25% of the bill, it is worth something, say 7-10%, and it is still customer service, anyway you look at it.

    Couldn't the exact same thing be said for every service establishment? Starbucks does the same things, even McDonalds, dunkin donuts, etc.etc.

    i'm getting a little fed up at all the tip jars i see at every place that has a cashier.

    • Like 2
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