Shalmanese

I ended up making a version with both and I couldn't really taste the difference between the two so I'm sticking with white sugar from now on. Used the batch to braise some chicken wings with fish sauce, ginger, garlic, spring onions and chillis, grilled the braised chicken wings and then used the leftover, strained braising liquor to make "Kho Baked Beans" which are surprisingly addictive. The nuoc mau replicated the molassesey notes and it's an interesting fusion twist on a classic.

In Australia, Lemon, Lime Bitters is a local classic and a really excellent mocktail.

Is it better for Nuoc Mau to be made with refined white sugar or an unrefined sugar (like palm sugar)? What do they typically use in Vietnam?

I somewhat agree. I prefer my meats to have some gnarliness and variation in texture to them. I deliberately braise my meats slightly under what's normally considered ideal so there's still a bit of fight left in them. And, while I dislike overdone steak, I do enjoy a good ribeye where variations in the fat/meat/bone distribution leaves pockets of slightly too rare meat among all the medium well.

The Chinese do a dish of egg & garlic chive dumplings which can use up a prodigious amount of garlic chives.

Tables which are either so big that your dining partner is too far away to comfortably talk with or too small such that it's a jigsaw puzzle to keep all of the diningware on the table.

Have people stopped watching this?

I've seen a couple of mapo dofu recipes that tell you to simmer the tofu in water before adding it to the dish. What does this do? At home, we've always just added it directly to the dish.

Molly Steven's braising cookbook has a recipe for lamb shanks which are brined with a giant bunch of mint and then cooked with more mint.

I realize the title is not extremely descriptive but I'm talking about a cooking style in which a dish is initially cooked in a water-based liquid until the water evaporates completely and then the leftover fat in the pan fries the dish as a finish. This technique pops up in a surprisingly wide range of different cuisines including: Chinese: Potstickers Malaysian: Beef Rendang French: Glazed Carrots Mexican: Carnitas Modern American: Cooking Issue style Mushrooms What are some other examples of recipes that utilize this technique?

I made 21 courses for 21 people in 21 hours on my 21st birthday, while drinking 21 drinks.

You can simulate responsiveness by moving the pan across multiple burners.

When you SV, is much fat rendered out from the skin?

Surely there must be a way to make duck legs in the method of pork carnitas (all searches for duck carnitas reveals a completely different type of method). I'm thinking if you place duck legs skin side down in a shallow pan, add some braising liquid and cook, covered for ~1.5 - 2 hours. Remove the lid, cook for another 15 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated, then fry the skin in the rendered far until crispy and serve. Has anyone ever tried to do this?

Since deciding to switch to duck fat as my primary cooking fat, I find myself disassembling 2 ducks about once every 3 months. Confit and braising are delicious but they can get repetitive. What are some other preparations of duck legs? One that I've found that I'm going to try is a chinese style in which the duck is salt cured, then steamed gently, then floured and deep fried. I'm going to try this tomorrow with the 4 duck legs I have but I'm also looking for other interesting ideas.

Yay! I'm glad you enjoyed it

Tunnel boning involves removing all the bones without breaking through the skin (except at the wingtips and legtips). Unlike butterfly boning, you end up with a tube of meat rather than a flat piece. I ended up marinating it in a mix of cilantro, garlic, jalapeno, cumin, lime, rum & oil overnight, The next day, I made a mix of himalayan red rice, chipotle, pineapple & cilantro and stuffed it and then roasted it at 450F until done. The tunnel boned chicken was easy to carve and juicy but I don't know if I would do it again, except as a technical exercise in butchery.

OK, I nominate a simple stir fry of the onions, asparagus & chickweed, maybe just some sesame oil, light soy & white pepper. Also, Chinese White Cut Chicken for the breasts (http://sundaynitedinner.com/chinese-white-cut-chicken/). Served with just a little bit of rice. I'm hoping this is sufficiently outside of your comfort zone to count . It'll also provide you with some chicken poaching liquid to be used creatively throughout the rest of the week.

Purely as an exercise in curiosity, I decided to figure out if I could tunnel bone a chicken. Turns out, I can: I now have a whole, 4lb chicken that is completely boneless, what can I do with it?

I render fat from whole ducks. First, take off them breasts and legs and trim them well. Take off as much fat/skin as you can from the carcass and chop into small pieces. Meanwhile, dismember the rest of the duck into as small a pieces as possible. Put that in a non-stick pot and cook until the cracklings stop bubbling, remove the cracklings, add the duck pieces and fry until golden brown (30 minutes). Drain the fat (you should get 2 cups), either add the cracklings back into the pot or eat seperately and then cover with water and aromatics to make duck stock.

True Lemon?

In China, this used to be considered the ultimate poverty food, gruel essentially. Now, it's been repurposed as upscale comfort food .

If your blender supports it, it's possible to use a mason jar in a blender.

I'm currently living in the Mission around 16th & Valencia and your choices as far as shopping goes is either tiny mexican grocers with somewhat dubious product quality, hideously expensive yuppie stores (Rainbow, Bi-rite) or Safeway in Duboce Triangle. I miss the little greengrocer I lived next to in Seattle which had the perfect balance of quality, affordability & selection. What are some other neighbourhoods (or micro-neighbourhoods) that have that? So far, I've tried Hayes Valley (food desert), Upper Haight (only expensive stuff), 24th & Potrero (same deal as north Mission except no yuppie stores), SOMA near the Caltrain (gigantic safeway & Whole Foods but nothing else). Does the neighbourhood I'm looking for exist in SF?

I'm making a Grand Marnier, Duck Stock & Lingonberry Preserve sauce to go with duck breasts, polenta & kale tonight.