Jason Perlow

I still have a food service sized 1 gallon container of it that I am about 30 percent through. Haven't had to buy it in a while.

I think there is a key difference in how fried rice and noodle dishes are practiced in restaurants and done at home. Totally different. You certainly don't have "Wok Hey" in most home kitchens, that alone is going to affect the outcome of what you are making and how you approach cooking it. Also I think we are arguing over the difference between freshness and leftovers. Already cooked meats/proteins from a meal from the night before is certainly fresh, unused chopped up (uncooked) vegetables are also fresh.

There are airtight containers that are sold primarily for storing cannabis. They work well for tea storage and come in different sizes. http://tightvac.com/ http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=tightvac&sprefix=tightv%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Atightvac

The Actifry is a nice addition to our kitchen. The key in using it is to cut your potatoes as thin as possible in order to get them crispy because obviously you are not using much oil at all. We've used french fry potato cutters as well as mandolines to make chips. Both work well. If they are cut to like McDonalds french fry thickness and you arent using a lot of oil, you might want to use a toaster oven after cooking them in the Actifry to give them extra crispness for about 5-10 minutes depending on how you like them. I would not go thicker than a McDonalds/fast food french fry thickness.

Shaoxing wine is relatively interchangeable with medium-dry sherry. No idea where you would get a meshuval version of that. Chinkiang black vinegar might be tough. Maybe try a combo of regular white wine vinegar and balsamic. You will get the acid but the taste will definitely be different. This is always a problem with cooking Kosher chinese food. The condiments just do not exist for the most part although the situation is much better than it was 10 years ago.

I wrote this blog entry a couple of years ago on fried noodles. Obviously, the same techniques are applied to fried rice. We always have leftover protein in the fridge, whether it is cooked chicken, beef, pork or seafood. Typically we don't throw in already cooked vegetables, but we always have leftover bits of fresh stuff that were not used in other meals. We never "plan" a fried rice or fried noodle meal, it just happens. Or we end up at an asian market that has stuff like Char Siu or lap cheung and the lightbulb to make fried rice or noodles that night goes off ("hey, we have X sitting in the fridge") http://offthebroiler...ng-your-noodle/

There are rules to fried rice? I thought it was always considered a leftovers dish in Chinese homes. I happen to like the dark soy fried rice, I grew up on it. The yang chow version is also good. What I absolutely hate is the "yellow rice" version that comes out of cheap takeout places and uses some kind of artificial coloring and adds no flavor. Curry rices are different animals entirely.

BBQ brisket was served tonight reheated in some jus mixed with BBQ sauce, accompanied by collards and sweet potatoes cooked in the Actifry.

I will echo other's comments about sodium content in shoyu... most Low-Sodium shoyus are just regular ones that are watered down. You might as well use less of a more potent shoyu, like a tamari. San-J makes a very good tamari. Whole Foods sells it, it's excellent for general purpose use but it imparts a very strong flavor. I never use it completely on its own. If you can get a Marudaizu-grade Shoyu I would look at Kikkoman or Yamasa. The problem with Kikkoman is that they have shoyu products made in the US and also the ones in the Japan. The stuff sold for cheap chinese restaurants and for general food service applications and in US supermarkets has alcohol added to it. The Marudaizu Shoyu is made in Japan. You may need to go the Internet route if you want one. Marudaizu means "Whole Bean" so in other words they use the entire soybean to make the shoyu, not dregs. There is some good info about Soy Sauce here. http://www.amazon.co...Marudaizu Shoyu They aren't cheap but marudaizu shoyus are only made of water, soy, wheat and salt. No alcohol in it. San-J Tamaris are soy, water, alcohol and salt only, no wheat, which is why they are big with the gluten-free crowd. If you have access to a Korean supermarket, like H-Mart, they have various Korean-made Whole Bean organic shoyus which only have soy, water, wheat and salt in them, and are cheaper (typically half the price) than the Japanese marudaizus. You need to check the labels on them. I've used them plenty of times and they are very good. http://www.hmart.com...p?t=1120&m=1179

The Costco one was fairly dry. The larger Penn Dutch one had a bit more fat in it so it was juicier. The butcher in charge of the meat department at Penn Dutch told me I could get a larger, whole brisket with deckle if I wanted, more in the 10lb-12lb range, but I have to give them advance notice. I think that is what I will do next time. One of the ways I was able to keep both of these briskets from completely drying out was by doing a foil wrap on them midway through the cooking process and pouring beef broth in for it to braise. Worked better for the bigger piece than the smaller piece. But then again BBQ sauce will cover up a multitude of sins, and dry brisket when thrown into a chili or soup recipe is never wasted

First attempt at BBQ brisket on the Big Green Egg. Also beta tested a friend's new BBQ social networking site and cook log system, BBQPad in the process. Cooked two small brisket flats, one about 4lbs and the other about 6. The 4lb one came from Costco and the larger one from a local independent supermarket, Penn Dutch. The Penn Dutch one was definitely juicier, so I'll provision from them from now on.

I can't take the credit for making any of these dishes, I was out on a business trip to Southern California earlier this week and I had dinner at my manager's house. His wife put on an INCREDIBLE spread of Persian dishes, only SOME of which I photographed here: Ghormeh Sabzi Tabbouleh Huge plate of kebabs, served with Sumac Ta Dikh, the burnt underside of the pot of saffron rice. A delicacy Persian pastries and cookies Persian pastry roll Persian tea and coffee service

https://plus.google.com/101127849472046131831/posts/aQNUoLnXqTj the final spread

Chicken with Avocado/Tomato/Habanero salsa over baby arugula

Those are regular red chiles I had just picked from our hydroponic garden, as color props.

Pastrami, Onions & Cheese on Pumpernickel Boule (for 2)

An obscenely large hamburger built for two.

Aright, you sold me. I just ordered the bottomless portafilter for the Rancilio V3 from Seattle Coffee Gear. Comes with a triple shot pan in it too.

Wok shot of same. This was improvised with black bean, mushroom powder, lots of mushrooms, oyster sauce, tamari soy, mustard greens, basil. Chiles and garlic. Five spice, white pepper. Leftover veggies that wanted to be eaten.

Last night's "moo goo gai pan with black rice"

Simple aioli with garlic pasta with local Key West shrimp. Outstanding.

The other thing I want to say is I now know what a Al Qaeda bomb maker feels like. The wiring on this thing was hairy. I got it right the first time, though.

So I took the PID leap, and installed an Auber Instruments controller with pre-infusion and steam control today. I went with the Auber because the guy who sells the Watlow devices at PIDKits.com never returned any of my emails so I gave up and went with a known quantity. The results have been nothing short of freaking awesome. So far I have been experimenting with different grind levels and temperatures, and pulling manual and computer-controlled shots. What temperatures and grind level combos seem to work the best for everyone? I've only been using double shot portafilters because the single shots are stupid.

an ad-hoc "Moo Goo Gai Pan" with black rice

Appetizing gone wild. Vegetable frittatas, Bagels, schmears, lox, accoutrements. Family visiting for a wedding event this weekend.