Smithy

Ah Leung, This has been a lovely blog. Tonight when I logged in I was amazed at the Asian supermarket you showed us. I found myself boggling with envy - the wide aisles AND the exotic ingredients AND the exotic cookware! How cool is that?! I'm also amazed at the amount of live-and-kicking food there is to be found there. Out here in Duluth, the grocery stores have gotten better by the decades, but it's difficult to find places with entire whole fish, live or dead. I've thoroughly enjoyed your discourse on California in particular and America in general. Your photos are of my home; your comments have helped me see my native land through new eyes. I know that the Chinese immigrants of an earlier era had a tough go of it. (Someday, if we ever meet in real time, we can trade stories.) I'm very glad to know that the American Dream is alive and well for you. I must say, I love going out for Chinese food but have never attempted to cook it at home. Now I think I'll have to go check out your tutorials more carefully, and take a stab at it! Thanks for a marvelous blog. It is a pile of work, and you've done it proud. Thank you for helping us begin a new year, and for showing us how to do it a new way! Since I don't know the Chinese for "thank you", I'll again just say "Gung Hay Fat Choy". I'll close with my family's standard farewell, taken from my grandmother's very serious but uneducated advice to her hotshot WWII pilot son: Fly low and slow, and keep your nose down in the curves -

What they said. With regard to lemons, you're right that the rind with a bit of "give" to it is less likely to be superthick...but then, you're running the risk of getting an older lemon on the verge of spoilage. I use the "heavy for its size" test, but with lemons I also check how lumpy the rind is. Large lumps seem to correlate with thick skins, possibly because those lumps are magnified by thick cell walls. Oh. Check the smell, also. You should be able to smell a good ripe citrus fruit, and pick the better fruit out by the stronger good aroma.

What she said, smoke that bird ← There's two of the three blogging smokers heard from! Well, when I sell the one I can look into buying the other. I'm afraid that would register as a net gain of cooking gear in a crowded household. At least the smoker would live outside.

How I used to love that sort of food! I still do, actually; I just can't afford to indulge in it often. That looks scrumptious. That also looks delicious. I had no idea Hong Kong and Macau were so close together. Guess that makes sense, given the goings and comings in the early days if James Clavell is to be believed. Still, I think I'll have to go re-read Tai-Pan and use a map this time. I'm don't quite remember where I read this (Fast Food Nation maybe), but the theory was that when New Coke was introduced, they were still using cane sugar in American Coke. New Coke came out with corn syrup in it. When that "failed," Coke Classic was introduced which was sweeted with...you guessed it, corn syrup! New Coke then was slowly phased out. So the theory goes that New Coke was introduced soley so that Coke could make the transition from cane sugar to corn syrup without Americans noticing the difference. Those of us who've ever had a Coke in a foreign country know there is a difference. ← Ahh, sweet enlightenment. I have always attributed my waning taste for Coca-Cola to a general reduction in my sweet tooth. Yet whenever I go to Egypt I love the stuff. I bet if I thought about it hard enough, I'd find that indeed, I started losing my taste for Coca-Cola when they made that shift to corn syrup. Thanks for that information.

Chefcrash, thank you for those comments. I remember now that my grandmother's roaster had an adjustable vent. I never understood why until now, and hadn't thought of that vent in years. This particular pot doesn't have a vent. I think my last turkey was around 12 or 13 pounds, and I cooked it at 325 for 3 hours or so, until the juices ran clear and the joints were tender. The flavor was (still is, in fact) really quite good. The skin was the only disappointment. Your turkey is a true work of art. Thanks for posting that photo!

I've lived in the South for almost 40 years, and I've yet to see anyone use a covered roaster. What are you implying -- that we like steamed turkey down here? ← No, but I thought Southerners swore by Magnaware for just about everything, and particularly roasting turkeys. Guess I was wrong about the last. Thanks for the input, folks. I'll make sure to use the eGullet-friendly link to eBay.

I have to say, taking a blowtorch to a finished turkey has entertainment value in its own right. Thanks for that idea! So, nobody here swears by their covered roasting pans? Not even Southerners?

Maybe this belongs over on the cooking subforum, but my question relates - I think - more to the cookware needed. I recently purchased a very large beautiful covered roaster, thanks largely to the bad influence of certain individuals on eGullet who swear by this cookware. "Cook your bird in this," crowed the eBay advertisements, "and you'll always have a moist turkey!" I've now cooked 2 turkeys in said roaster. The first bird was about like my usual efforts: good, although slightly dry in the breast meat. (I know this is a common problem with turkey cookery; that's why I'm trying the cookware route.) The most noticeable difference was that the skin wasn't crispy. On the second attempt I rubbed the skin with an oil/spice blend, browned it slightly on the stovetop, then cooked it in the covered roaster, breast side down, until nearly done. I finished it with the breast up, just to allow the skin to crisp up slightly. This time the whole bird came out wonderfully moist. Still, the skin isn't crispy. My question is, how necessary is this huge tightly-lidded roasting pan to the results I got? Was it the tight pan or cooking the turkey breast-side down that made the difference, or was it sheer luck? What about the skin? I have an idea that the skin stays flabby because it doesn't get exposed to direct heat the way it does with a shallower pan and foil that can be removed, or a cheesecloth and basting. I'd just as soon relegate this pan back to eBay because it's too big for my sink. But if it's truly making the difference, I'll keep it.

A few years ago when the renters moved out of my old house, they left behind a bunch of foodstuffs. I scored a wonderful huge bag of rice that we've worked our way through. There was also a small bag of teeny dried fish. Desiccated sardines? Petrified anchovies? The label was in a language I couldn't begin to read. I kept that bag for the longest time, trying to work out what to do with the little guys. I think I finally just got rid of it, since I had no resources like eGullet back then to steer me in the proper path. Of course, when I go to move and finally clean out my pantry, I may still find them lurking back there... If the bag isn't puffed up of its own accord before you open it, and the sauerkraut looks and smells good after you open the bag, I'd say you're good to go. If there's a hint that this stuff is generating its own gases, I'd pitch it. (I had to do that the other day with some formerly fresh mozzarella. Boohoo!)

Congratulations! If I break my current baking stone, I'll remember your quarry tiles trick! As far as other "tricks" go: just leave them in there, and see how much more evenly your oven cooks things. Braising in particular benefits from high thermal mass - the current theory is that the even temperatures help somehow. If you have those tiles in the oven it will even out temperature swings. I bet that's a big help for bread baking, too.

In my household I see two factors at play relevant to this discussion. My husband got on the bandwagon against refined sugars and processed grains way back in the 70's when this wave blew through the USA. (His copy of The Sugar Blues is probably somewhere in the house.) In addition, he doesn't like the sweet and savory combinations one finds in other cultures. A whisper of cinnamon in a Middle Eastern chicken dish, for instance, drives him nuts. He wants his cinnamon on his desserts, not his main dishes, and he doesn't eat dessert anyway, so there you go. We have some less-refined sugar and raw sugar on hand, but to be honest I don't like the taste as well for most things. Molasses is something I only appreciate in very small doses. The upshot is that if I'm going to add sugar to adjust a seasoning, I use white sugar and do it when he isn't looking lest I get a double-barreled complaint. If he catches me at it, THAT's when I pull out his latest bottle of low-fat dressing and lovingly read out loud the label, or trot out his beloved "white wine balsamic vinegar" (I know, I know) and tell him what's really in that stuff.

Safeway stores have been around for decades, but as far as I know they stop right around the Rocky Mountains in the United States. (There may be Safeways in Denver, but I can't swear to it.) Strangely enough, they do go farther east in Canada; I can go northeast from here and find them in Ontario. The Safeways have gotten to be much more luxurious than when I was growing up, but I think that's true of grocery stores in general. I still boggle occasionally at how much more choice we have, year round, than we did when I was growing up. I was suprised when I moved to Minnesota and discovered you couldn't buy wine in the grocery store. How I miss that! In this state, you have to go to a liquor store, and you can't buy alcohol on Sunday or past certain hours. Wine here costs a lot more, too, supposedly because of the taxes but probably also due to the ease of restricting the market.

I hate to say this, but given the source it's probably really dried marigold petals. It's actually difficult to get Real Saffron in Egypt unless you know exactly where to look, whom to talk to and what it really looks like. I've brought back Egyptian "saffron" in the past and know whereof I speak. It adds nice color but little else. An easy test is to drop a bit of it into boiled water and see how much color and smell you get from it. Saffron threads are very fine; marigold petals a bit fatter for their length; saffron threads will give you odor and color; marigold petals the color only. I still blush at the memory of bringing back a large bag of "saffron" from Egypt and sharing the bounty with a friend who is a good and curious cook. Eventually I realized my mistake, but by then he'd probably lost all respect for me. Sell it on eBay! SB ← Absolutely! I still remember opening up my treasured can of baker's ammonia (a.k.a. hartshorn), bought one year from King Arther Flour for the express purpose of baking some Norwegian cookie or other. By the time I got around to it, all the contents had sublimated from the sealed can.

I have some wonderful photos titled "flying into old Hong Kong airport". It makes one realize just why they moved the landing strip for jumbo jets someplace else! What a crosswind! and if you landed too long, there was a lot of water out there. Good for you for pursuing your dream of flying! You're right about Cessnas: they're easy to fly and great planes for starters. In many ways they're great planes for continuing on - tried and true technology, and all that sort of thing - although there are now other airplanes that take advantage of newer technologies, that are even more wonderful. I look forward to reading about your fly-in breakfasts and lunches. There are some fine restaurants up and down the Valley there, at various airports, and once you cross the Coast Range you have even more options. It's too far off-topic to go into here, but I have strong opinions about proper flight instruction, based on my 20-odd years of doing just that. If you want, feel free to PM me with questions - either about your ground school or about potential instructors, when you get that far. Be aware that the ground school itself may seem daunting without a few flight lessons. Some of it may seem like taking cooking lessons when you've never eaten food before. I grew up in the San Joaquin Valley - next depression south - but boy, that looks like home. Thanks for posting the photo. I notice that, despite the lack of rain, there are trees that look to be nearly drowning at the river banks. That's just one more example of the time-honored American expression: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." As a central Californian, I remember well the celebrations we had for Chinese New Year when I was in school. I haven't yet seen it written this way in your blog, so I'll add my version of the greeting: Gung Hay Fat Choy! Thanks for blogging during this auspicious time.

I have toyed with the idea of doing a foodblog along the lines of "I'm cleaning out my cabinets. Help me make something with this stuff." It sounds like I'm not the only person in this boat! Saffron is lovely in certain breads or in risotto. Most recently I've been mixing it with paprika and whatever other spices grab my fancy (always garlic and salt) and oil, smearing that on a chicken and roasting said chicken. Try it, you'll like it! ...and if you don't, you can send that saffron to me.

With that blend of spices (I'm a big fan of cumin) I lean toward lamb or pork. Use it as a rub. Since I also adore cumin on tuna or on boiled eggs, I wonder how this seasoning would work in a tuna salad or in scrambled eggs? The chili might be a dealbreaker for those, depending on how strong it is.

Every braise and stew that I've tried has come out well in this pot, and I've had good success with gumbo as well, although I'm a bit timid with the roux yet. Yesterday I made boeuf bourguignon using Julia Child's French Chef recipe with a Paula Wolfert twist. It took a cut of meat that probably would have been a tough roast and turned it into a tender, flavorful meat, with a fabulous sauce that had us all swooning with pleasure. I'm very glad for the LC pieces I've picked up. I've also used it for roasting chickens with good success. Edited for spelling.

Excellent video! I can't decide whether I liked the sound track or the video effects better, but the sum is delicious and inspiring, and the music is really making me smile. (I never thought about adding a squeeze of lime and a scrape of cheese.) Thanks for the fun tutorial! Is that clay in the video something you'd put in the fireplace?

I was surprised to see in Gourmet's recipe that they say "NOT dark beer". The only carbonnade recipe I've tried uses stout, and I had always thought that was a specific element of the dish. Any comments either way?

Abra, I picked up a heavy-duty baking stone from Williams-Sonoma last year. It's nearly an inch thick and seems a bit more durable than the first cheapo I bought a few years ago and promptly cracked the first time I tried to steam bread. Here's their current online offer. Without having specific measurements I can't tell you for sure that it's the same stone as mine, but it's about the same price. I'm not positive about travertine, but I seem to recall that it's more porous than something like quarry stone. Is it glazed or sealed in any way? You definitely want to avoid anything with a coating on it, as you can't be sure if the coating is food safe or not. ← It's not glazed or sealed. Just polished. Hardly any filling as well. It's pretty much solid limestone. ← Do you really want to put bread or pizza dough directly on hot limestone? Won't the steam cause a bit of etching on the stone and affect your food?

I'm happy to see that some cookbooks now say, in the introduction or earliest chapters, exactly what they'll mean by something like that. Using the convention I seem to see most in my cookbooks, I'd take that instruction as meaning "take 1 pound thighs and remove the bones". It could be taken the other way, though. Another ingredient listing that used to drive me crazy, but that I now find useful, is "divided": for instance, "1/4 cup butter, divided". I used to think, "what, they want me to chop it up?" But after a few times of pitching in the entire amount, only to realize later that I was supposed to save some for another part of the recipe, I've learned that it's a flag to people like me who don't mentally process a recipe without doing it once step by step.

Has anyone tried using the Britta water filter with calcium=rich well water? If it works to get heirloom the beans cooked to perfection in 90 minutes, I'll convert . ← I haven't tried it, but after doing a bit of reading and thinking about this I'm thinking that it might, under some circumstances, help. (How's that for a definite answer?) Whether it would help or not depends on the pH and alkalinity of your well water. What's interesting to me about these filters is that they don't exchange calcium and magnesium ions for sodium ions, as my household water softener does. They exchange for hydrogen ions. In plain English, they add a bit of acid to the water instead of adding sodium. My household water is well on the basic side (pH 8.7) so it could stand a slight adjustment downward. If your well water's pH is closer to 7 - that is, more neutral, the Brita system might end up shifting the water down below 7 and into the acid side, and slow down or stop the cooking rate. (See my earlier question about when to add acids.) I suppose you could counteract that by adding baking soda to the cooking water, but then...well, you might as well have used a water softener in the first place. Sorry if that's too geeky. I'll be happy to explain or elaborate further, if someone else doesn't jump in first. I may just go buy a Brita water filter and try it for myself. Edited in an attempt at greater clarity.

Can you tell where the time difference comes in? If you're bringing the beans to the boil on the stovetop before putting then in the oven, I'm guessing that at least some of the time difference is due to using more gentle heat with the clay on the stovetop. Am I right? Is the process slower during the oven portion as well? Finally, I'd still like to know when is the appropriate time to add tomatoes or tomato sauce or paste to the beans. Do I need to wait until they're completely cooked? What about other acids?

Scenes we don't have to imagine, because we've BEEN there... This bears repeating and further exploration. How much acid does it take to interfere with bean cookery? I've read about not adding tomatoes or tomato sauce until the beans are done. My question is whether some folks' drinking water is naturally too acidic to cook beans properly without adding some baking soda. (Our well's pH is way high, so this is strictly an academic question for me.) I'm glad for this extra bit of information. Since chickpeas are one of my favorites, I might have tried them first. I'll stick to the anasazis or white beans first. Then I'll go see what I can learn about starch density. Thanks for bringing this up, FG. I wasn't into beans when you first brought this up, so I missed it too.

I tried one as a product test for a cooking club I belong to. My husband and I both thought the results were horrid. We tried the smoker bag for poultry, cooked a chicken in it according to instructions, and were rewarded with something that tasted more of pine tar than of a nicely smoked piece of chicken. It's a shame, really: it seems like a such a good idea. But the house stank for days, and the chicken finally had to be mixed with other chicken in a pasta dish just to even out the flavor.