Abra

Thanks for the experiments, Kent! I can't imagine why the raw quail would get a mahogany color, can you? Russ, I'm looking forward to reading your story. Will you post the link here when it comes out? Susan, you wouldn't suspect me of using an injected bird, would you?

I haven't been to Stockholm in years. Do they still eat pea soup and pancakes on Tuesdays? If so, do. It was still traditional back when I was an au pair there in the 70s. It's one of the odder food customs I've encountered.

Ok, I closed my eyes and waved my hand over a seldom-used section of my cookbooks, and it landed on Barbara Kafka's Roasting. This isn't bad, because a) the weather here is miserable, which is perfect for roasting, and b) I have a pork loin rib roast in the fridge. So I'll be making her Garlic Roasted Pork Loin. I have duck confit in the oven and it probably won't be done in time to make the roast tonight, but I'll do it tomorrow for sure.

Pre-salting sure works for beef and lamb, so why not for poultry too? How much salt would you guys say you use?

It's been fun, thanks for sharing it all with us!

I always brine turkeys, but I use 1 cup of kosher salt in 2 gallons of water. I brine for 24 hours, and I don't rinse the turkey after brining. It's always perfectly seasoned, and the drippings make excellent gravy with no added salt. My caveat is that I don't stuff turkeys, so I'm not sure about the effect of the salt on the stuffing. But the gravy is excellent, so I assume the stuffing would be too, so long as you don't add salt or very salty ingredients to it.

I'll agree that the stuffed onions as rendered by lmf and Mr. lmf were beyond sublime. This is going on my holiday menu for sure.

I actually do like the Dutch/Scandinavian salted licorice, in the same way I like bak kut teh and maybe pak chan. I like salt and sweet together, as well as savory and sweet, and the licorice appeals to that taste too. What's that hanging up next to the bananas in the produce stand picture?

The link Mei gave to the pak chan soup shows the ingredients as Radix Angelicae Sinensis, Rhizoma Rehmanniae Preparata, Radix Paeoniae Alba, Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae, Radix Codonopsis, Rhizoma Ligustici Chuanxiong, Poria, Radix Glycyrrhizae Preparata . Mine was a little different - it included red dates, paeonia lactielora, and astragali, and didn't have chuanxing or paeonia alba. So maybe that's why it was good. Also, no bits of twigs, leaves, or herbs, because it was all in two filter bags that you boil in the soup then toss. I liked it, but then, I have weird food tastes. And no, the chicken wasn't herby at all, just spicy. And yummy. With the bobotie, is that rice? What are those dark bits in it? I see that one of you eats with two spoons, and one with two forks. Which is which?

Here's another of Mei's dishes, although, even without help from Herbie, she has no idea what it is. And she sent it to me! A year or so ago Mei and I did a food exchange, and she sent me all sorts of mysterious packets of spices and pastes from Malaysia, that I've been gingerly working my way through ever since. So today, in honor of the fact that she and Tepee both said "HUH?" when I mentioned the Taipan Chicken, I made it. It was really and truly delicious, and the preparation is very bizarre, to me. You rub the copious contents of the spice packet all over the chicken, then wrap it first in the plastic then in the foil layers, both of which were thoughtfully provided right in the package. And the stuff was so different from any wrap I've seen here it was amazing. The plastic wrap was non-sticky, and the foil was soft and non-crumply. When it's all wrapped up you pop it in the steamer for 2 hours. After which it's super tender and moist and releases a lot of juices and fat to put on your rice. I served it with a decidedly non-Malaysian pile of glazed carrots, and it was really killer. It tastes of white pepper and maybe sand ginger and other warm spices. If you can find some of this stuff, grab it. I know I'll be looking for it locally. Thanks Mei, I wish you'd been here for dinner!

Hey, will you tell me why sometimes it's spelled BaT kut teh and sometimes BaK kut teh? Is it one of those sounds that just doesn't quite exist in English? I'm making the Taipan chicken tonight.

Ok, time for some Malaysian food! Here's the dreaded Pak Chan soup. Called "the most vile thing ever" by Mei, and seconded by Teepee, I have to respectfully disagree. I fact, I had two bowls. I confess that I did add one spoon of brown sugar, but actually, I really like it, in the same way I like Bat Kut Teh which it kind of reminds me of. All dark and herbal and mysterious. So there, I did try something of yours! But wait, what about the spacecake report?

Me, I'll do smoked too. I've done lots of Thanksgiving turkeys in the past on a Weber kettle over indirect heat, but this will be my first year using the offset firebox smoker.

Wow, homemade spacecake and a chocolate anatomy lesson, all in one blog. Yun Mei, you're pretty far from home! Thanks for taking us along.

It's lovely, Lucy! But I'm wondering, was it worth it? You have stuffing wrapped in skin. Is it special because the skin is a continuous tube, or because it really has a ducky taste, or what? Tell more about the flavor and texture, s'il te plait.

Ok, now I have to make the pak chan just to see what it's about. I promise to pour it out without remorse if it's as bad as you say. And how the heck do I know what ayam taipan is? I mean, I know it's chicken, I'm guessing "Taipan style" whatever that is, but beyond that, well, you sent it to me! I'll make it so we can find out.

Oh sure, I made a lot of the things you sent, but that was a really full package! What I have left is tom yam paste, ginseng root and yok chuk soup, campuran herba & rempah untuk ayam taipan, nasi goreng belachan mix, and tepung cucur ikan bilis. I'm not even mentioning the pak chan soup, since you said it's "the most vile thing ever." For some reason, I haven't gotten around to trying that one yet! So, are you craving any of those dishes? I'll make it for you, just say the word.

I have three pepper grinders, black pepper, white pepper, and Grains of Paradise. I use the GoP mainly when I want a peppery flavor that's not specifically that of black or white pepper, something mysterious and warm.

Hey Mei, cool! Amazingly, I still have a few of the Malaysian foods you sent me way back when we did our food exchange, so maybe I'll have to make something for you, just so you can see the picture and eat it vicariously. This will be a really interesting blog, since you're in a "foreign" country to you, but we have members there to comment on your experiences with a native eye. I'm looking forward to this week!

These are utterly delicious Buttery Pan Rolls.

Klary, your madeleines look way better than mine do. I'm afraid that it's my pan, which is a new mini-madeleine. I'm thinking that the little ridges are too tiny to really make a good impression on the dough. Bummer! But the texture of these madeleines is very nice, and we too talked abiout wanting more orange flavor next time. I made my annual batch of quince paste at the same time I was doing the madeleines, so we were on the same wavelength.

Elie, that's just beautiful! I love the vin de noix idea. Since you altered the amounts - do you have the Le Creuset mold like I do, or a larger one?

Thanks, Chris! I'll get some more PRB to duplicate your lop yuk. Lee, we can get the drinking Shaoxing easily, so I'm sure some could find its way to you.

Thanks, Chris! Which soys did you use for the light and dark? I normally think of Kikkoman or Golden Mountain as "light" and I use Pearl River Bridge Mushroom or even kecap manis (deppending on the dish) as "dark" but those might not be right for this dish. Lee, I'll make sure you get some next time we see you, assuming it works out well.

Chris, will you post yor final tweaked recipe? It's cool enough now to hang meat here, and a Niman belly in my freezer wants to make itself useful.