scott123

Irwin, let me see if I'm hearing you correctly. If someone were looking to recreate 'old school' New York style American geared Chinese restaurant spare ribs/red cooked pork (char siu) then the marinade/basting sauce would include: Red food coloring soy sauce dried apricots sugar water And nothing else. no garlic no ginger no spices Is this correct? And if so, are you absolutely certain of this?

I'm even more shocked that the topic of grilling has yet to be mentioned. Elvis has left the building and his favorite sandwich has gone with him.

Consider too the less than humble minced garlic clove which begins quite harsh, mellows with a few seconds of cooking and then gets bitter if cooked too long.

Are you in an area where fresh legumes can be obtained? Fresh beans require no soaking/prolonged cooking. Also, if you can get dried beans from a place with a good turnover that will shorten the soaking/cooking time as well.

Thanks everybody!!!

Chefdg, did your mornay begin with a blond roux? For me, a blond roux is shortbread minus the sugar. I can smell the toasty shortbread notes as I stir it. Just as I get no uncooked floury taste while eating a shortbread cookie, I get that same flavor eating a blond roux (without being added to the liquid).

You can also get a nice even color with a cheaper pan by adding more oil and stirring the roux vigorously to prevent the bottom from coloring before the top.

Come on, is Chincoteague really that obscure? Or is just that there's nothing good to eat there?

The flour particles in roux, once added to the milk and brought to a certain temperature, will gelatinize. Simmering will cause these particles to swell/burst, creating a smoother sauce. The question is, how much additional simmering is required to achieve this? Experience has shown me that prolonged simmering gives milk a 'cooked' flavor, the extreme of which is evaporated milk. For this reason, I simmer my bechamel for no more than 5 minutes. For the many years I have been doing so, I have never found my bechamel to lack a smooth texture nor exhibit any flavor of raw flour. From speaking with other chefs on the topic, I am finding that this is not the norm. A great number of them simmer their bechamel for 30 minutes or more. Taking the roux out of the picture, a 30 minute simmer will adversely affect the flavor of milk, will it not? It is my contention that a properly made roux, vigorous whisking and 5 minutes of simmering will produce a velvety smooth sauce every time.

13.2 lb. capacity Stainless steel 1g/.1oz. increments This is a phenomenal deal. You won't find these specs at Bed Bath & Beyond. Does anyone know if the KD-600 measures in decimal pounds?

A few years back one of the local restaurants sold me an orange liquid (probably food dye) that tasted like a liquid mozzarella cheese. I think a lot of people would have called it cream, but it had a noticeable sharpness to it. And not soured either. Sharp, like liquid cheese. Is there any chance this was malai?

I've been to Chincoteague/Assateague a handful of times now and have yet to find superb food. Any type of cuisine, price range is fine.

I've been trying to recreate a butter masala gravy for a few years now. If you could describe the dish you ate in the restaurant and post the recipe you tried, I'm sure we could get to the bottom of the mystery.

Recent research has shown that marinades have very little penetration even when the meat is soaked for prolonged periods. I'd take them back to the butcher, have him add 20% beef fat, and then grind them. And then I'd proceed to find a different butcher. Any butcher that will sell a bottom round "steak" is not worth his/her salt.

I think the tail is an abomination, period. It "makes a good handle"? And the segment just before it doesn't? It's "pretty"? I find it hairy and insect-like. And the worst part of all, if you do take the time to get the extra piece of meat, 1 out 10 will have the 'vein' intact. I don't know about you, but I'm not a big fan of shrimp shit.

Welcome Lakshmi. I'm not sure that there is a website that will provide you with the exact recipes you're looking for. I have more than a hundred links that I'd be happy to share with you, but I can't vouch for any of them. Much like your experience with Bawarchi, none of the websites that I've come across have produced the results I've looked for. And I can't steer you towards any cookbooks either. I know of some good Indian cookbooks, but not cookbooks that will faithfully replicate typical Anglo-Indian restaurant food at home. They may exist, mind you, but I've been earnestly looking for 10+ years and come up with nothing. This isn't to say that the code can't be cracked. It's just that it's a little more complicated than finding the right recipe source. It's more about acquisition of knowledge. Understanding the history of a dish, regional influences, classic flavor combinations, geographical impact, the reasoning behind using a particular ingredient, potential variations - these all put you in a better position to make better culinary decisions. Where do you find this kind of information? Right here. I think you're better off, as Suman suggested, posting your questions about your favorite dishes to the forum. The experts here might be able to clue you in to special ingredients/procedures that the restaurants might incorporate.

It has been really tough to cut the maple syrup out of my diet since I started low carbing. The sugar free maple syrups are pretty vile. I'm hoping to get my hands on a decent sugar free maple extract so I can make my own.

Lou, I haven't dined at your restaurant, but I do have some observations on dining in the area. I think ambience/atmosphere is attracting more customers than great food is. Every day I drive past Callaloo in Morristown, the place is overflowing with people, who, I can guarantee you, are not there for the food. It seems like the places with the biggest draw have some sort of gimmick. Either it's fun/festive like callaloo or sleek and exclusive like pazzo pazzo. Good food isn't rewarded with hoards of clientele. Bells & whistles generate the buzz.

I am attempting to create a low carb tortilla from corn bran. The corn bran that I buy is ground field corn with most of the starch removed. I don't believe any heat is involved in the processing. I am not that concerned with making the trace amount of starch more digestible. My goal is to give my 'dough' the lime flavoring obtained via nixtamalization.

So what you're telling me is that if I buy besan/gram flour from my local Indian grocer, you are absolute certain that it will be made from chana dal (aka split kala chana) and not what I call chickpeas (aka garbanzos). I've heard chickpeas (garbanzos) referred to as kabuli chana. Are these never ground into flour?

Which of the beans below is used for making Besan? 1. Channa dal 2. Chickpeas Besan is made from #2 correct? Is channa dal made into flour and, if so, what is the flour called? Are yellow split peas ground into flour? And the name of that? Is channa dal soft enough to be ground into a flour with a food processor or is something sturdier required? Will a blender do a better job?

4 bucks for a coconut grater?!?! And it works?

The hull would just be some extra dietary fiber. Nothing wrong with that. What goes in, comes out. And I'm sure the reason why corn is so commonly found during autopsies is that it's a popular food and because the hull doesn't digest, it's quite recognizable. I don't think corn stays in the stomach for days at a time, if that's what concerns you.

Is this true? I certainly hope it is because one of the things I miss most is pasta made with semolina. I asked a friend if semolina counted as a "whole" wheat, and she thought not, but she, like me is not a nutritionist. If there is anyone out there who knows one way or the other with a high degree of confidence sure would appreciate getting the skinny ( )....on semolina Semolina flour that is used for pasta is a whole grain. If you look at the fiber count for it, it's comparable to whole wheat flour. That being said, I don't agree with the former post regarding whole grains being "good" carbs when it comes to losing weight. The caloric/ketogenic impact is only slightly mitigated by the fiber, giving you a substantial net carb count overall. Once the weight is lost, many people find whole grains a welcome addition to their maintenance diet, but if you are trying to lose weight by avoiding carbs, I would stay away from the semolina.

I did a little research on corn last night. Apparently the popcorn variety of corn has a harder hull than field. And that, as we all know, is eaten in it's entirety. I'm not sure that the hull would add a pleasant taste to a tortilla but I doubt that it would be inedible.