I_call_the_duck

Ah Leung, Thanks again for the lovely pictorial. I've made spareribs with black beans before, but never with plum sauce. Are these the ones they usually have at dim sum? I've always wondered what makes those different than the ones I make at home. (And my mom also has those exact same dishes!) This is my 100th post. I officially have too much free time at work.

Fire! Cool. heh-heh. Ah Leung, I'm surprised you were able to snap a picture. I think most chefs advise taking the pan off the flame before adding alcohol, but I usually ignore it. The last time that happened to me (I think I was adding tequila to chicken), I was torn between admiring the flame and freaking out about burning my house down. Better have a backup the next time. (Edited to add:) The finished product of course, looked delicious.

Happy Birthday Irwin!! Tepee, that cake looks incredible!! I just may have to ask you to send me one for my birthday next month. How does one pronounce lempeng pisang? What if we call him (and other Asiaphiles) an egg? I found this site (not food-related but funny): "You know you're an egg when..."

I never did develop an affinity to caramel apples. These little guys just might make me change my mind...

I must have mentally blocked out all the times I've been tricked or I just ate everything, because I'm still trying to remember if any of my family members tricked me into eating something. But I did trick my older brother into eating sand. Back in the 70s, my sister made these terrariums that had different colored sand to make these pretty designs. One day we were putting sand in little baggies to take to school for an art project. Since we sometimes took some Nestles Strawberry Quik to school to add to our milk at lunch, I told my brother that the pink sand was Quik. He proceeded to lick his finger, dip it into the sand and taste it. I still remember him spitting it out in disgust!

IMHO, blueberry bagels have no business being called that. Same as cinnamon-raisin. They don't belong in the bagel family. Think of it as a really dense chewy piece of blueberry bread. Maybe you'll feel better.

Qing, I'd like to argue one point. I don’t think it’s fair to make this comparison. Chinatown is unique in that it is a small area that has consistently been inhabited by Chinese people for over 100 years. It is a city within itself, and becomes a destination for all types of tourists. That can’t be said for other ethnic groups. When, for example, many second-generation Irish and Greek residents moved out of their neighborhoods in Woodside and Astoria, Queens, new ethnic groups come in to take their place. So someone visiting NY from France isn’t going to say “Let’s go to Little Paris” because it doesn’t exist (at least to my knowledge). But you’re right here. I was thinking of this post last night and thought that I don’t usually go to Chinese restaurants for a “fine dining” experience. Chinese restaurants do have to rethink their approach if they are to consider themselves something other than a cheap meal. For luxury Chinese dining, I’ve only been to Shun Lee in NYC. It was a beautiful place and the service was great. I had a nice time, but foodwise, it was certainly not the best. I think everybody is just so accustomed to getting a lot for our money. But we can change that, can’t we?

Currently crunching on a Jonagold. I love Fujis too, but I didn't see them at my greenmarket this week.

Ah Leung, Thanks for the great pictorial. I love viewing them, because they remind me of forgotten dishes that I need to add to my repertoire. Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t like shrimp sauce, so if I want to eat it, I need to get him out of the house--not that the smell won't drive him away! BTW, other accepted abbreviations are "T" for tablespoon, "t" for teaspoon, and "#" for pound.

Wow, that's some list. Also not NJ, but I remember seeing them at the Union Square Greenmarket.

On the music side, the Neville Brothers are doing considerable fundraising for hurricane relief. Profits from their new album are going to the Red Cross. Call me naïve, but Emeril could have cancelled at least one appointment out of his busy schedule to make even the most brief of appearances in New Orleans. If he had a family emergency (e.g. death in the family), I’m sure he would have dropped whatever he was doing and take care of it.

Go for the knives. Good knives are a must for any kitchen.

Here's a better one...charity pies. My sister, the disappearing one (see previous post), decided one year that she would buy pies from some charity (at $25 a pop). I took this as a personal effrontery since I am a former pastry chef. But they were “charity pies,” as my sister reminded us several times from the day of her announcement to the actual day of. Well, considering that the pies were picked up the Monday prior to Thanksgiving, they were made that weekend, which would make the pies almost a week old by the time Thanksgiving arrives. And not only that, the pies were transported 200+ miles from Boston to NY, and sustained some minor injuries along the way. Of course, the pies were not very good (and my mom kept exclaiming, "you paid $25 for this?!". The crust was mealy, the fillings were bland. Needless to say, “charity pies” haven’t made an appearance since.

And how come they're all in Midtown Manhattan? Edited to add: I just read in the NYT column Food Stuff that Mr. Chow is opening a branch in Tribeca.

I first saw the sizzling platters in the mid-80s, when more and more HK-style restaurants opened in NY. Flushing’s Chinatown was growing rapidly at the time, and since it was closer to our home than Manhattan's Chinatown, we went to Flushing instead. The first time my family ordered a sizzling platter, we didn’t know that “sizzling” meant that a hot platter was brought to our table. It was a pleasant surprise. Our favorite dish was sizzling sable with black beans. I took delight in watching the "round-eyes" look in interest when they heard our dish hit the hot platter, particularly when they were eating some unidentifiable glop.

Another update on restaurants: NY Times article. According to this article, Cafe du Monde is expected to open tomorrow. Brooks, can you confirm? Things are looking up. Oh, and Brooks, when you're in K-Paul's, have a crab cake for me.

I LOVE lamb. In all shapes and forms. IMO, more so than the gamey-ness of lamb, I think that the reason that lamb is less popular than beef could be the cute factor. Now cows are beautiful in their own right, but some people may think it's a crime to eat a cute, fluffy little animal that goes "baaa"? "Lisa don't eat me, I thought you were my frieeend. My frieeend." - the lamb chop that talks to Lisa Simpson "Lisa, this is lamb, not A lamb." - Homer Simpson

hzrt8w: Thanks for the pictorial. I haven't had salted pork jook in eons, but I my mom minced the meat instead of having chunks since she could feed more of us for less. I was just thinking of making jook the other day, because as I was going through my freezer I unearthed a few packages of the neck and organ meats that come with chicken. After a little browning, I think that may make an interesting, if non-traditional jook. My family also fights over the turkey carcass each Thanksgiving, since everyone looks forward to turkey jook. Like Ben, I also do it on the stove top as opposed to a crock pot or rice cooker. I think mom uses bicarb, which she says makes the texture smoother. But I'll have to double-check. I also loved adding fuyu when she just made bok jook. Still do. Chopped choong choy and scallions are currently my choice of garnish. Torakris: my brother often cooks jook in his rice cooker. I guess it depends on what type of cooker you have, but it sounds like you should be able to with the one you have.

GG, that sorbet looks amazing!! A restaurant where I trailed for a potential job served their sorbet in a melon bowl. Very thinly sliced melon (canteloupe and honeydew) was lined in a small bowl, frozen and then unmolded prior to serving. Time consuming, but pretty.

Ooh, I hope I linked this properly. An AP article about Cafe du Monde. Landmark Cafe in New Orleans Set to Reopen

Yum! All those suggestions sound great. I may just have to try some of those out myself. In my pastry days, we made the following in fall/winter: maple ice cream pomegranite sorbet blood orange sorbet clementine sorbet. Banana ice cream is always nice too, or a nice chocolate with chunks of banana and walnuts.

Hmmmm....I didn't realize we shared a sister-in-law...boy, she really gets around! Is is just us, or does everyone have one? ← So that's where my sister goes when she disappears!! She has another trick too. She starts a dish and halfway through, will say "I'm tired," and go upstairs for a nap. Either that or she'll just wander off or talk to one of her friends on the phone while she's cooking. Each tactic leaves the rest of us to finish what she started. She'll come back down just as dinner is being served and say, "I was going to do the (insert dish here). Why didn't you call me?"

Speaking of the carcass, we use ours to make jook (Chinese rice porridge). We four siblings usually fight over who gets it.

What was your family food culture when you were growing up? Chinese. Cantonese homestyle cuisine. Was meal time important? Very important. My dad would start the rice at 6pm, not 6:15, not 6:03, but 6pm on the dot, when 1010 WINS News rang the hour. We were all expected to be at the dinner table at 6:30--it was our time together. Dinner still plays a central role in our family gatherings. Was cooking important? Yes. Ingredients were always very fresh. I never knew that vegetables came canned or frozen, or that chicken came pre-packaged until I got older. What were the penalties for putting elbows on the table? We got more of a tsk-tsk from but my mom, who constantly threatened to put a mirror on the table so we can view our bad table manners firsthand. She said her father did that to her. Elbows weren’t considered as bad a transgression as others. Major table rules: we made sure our parents (or elders) started eating first, we had to take a bite of rice first before reaching for a piece of meat/vegetable (we ate family style), we had to take the piece closest to us (IOW, we weren't to reach across the plate for a piece we wanted no matter how good it looked), give an elder a choice piece of meat, we had to finish every grain of rice in your bowl… It wasn't as bad as it seems. Who cooked in the family? My parents are/were equally good cooks. They would share the prep work, but my dad did most of the cooking. Were restaurant meals common, or for special occasions? We’d occasionally have dim sum on Sundays, but since we didn't have much money growing up, dinner was for special occasions. When we did go out on the rare Sunday night, it was always to Hop Sing in NY Chinatown. Did children have a "kiddy table" when guests were over? Never. You can’t have a family dinner without kids!! When did you get that first sip of wine? My parents weren’t big drinkers, so my first taste of wine was around the age of 13, when I had my first Communion. Inglenook port. That came in a gallon jug. Blech! Was there a pre-meal prayer? No, but us kids would say what would be best translated into “Eat rice Daddy, Eat rice Mommy.” (I think this was to show respect to our parents--any of you Chinese-Americans do that?) Was there a rotating menu (e.g., meatloaf every Thursday)? No, but rice was served at every meal. How much of your family culture is being replicated in your present-day family life? A lot. Because we had a hot meal every day, to this day I still have a problem having a cold meal for dinner, no matter how hot it is outside. I still prefer stir-fried veggies to salads, rice to pasta. I’m also coming to the realization that my parents won’t be around forever, and it’s more important to me now to make sure that I can replicate as many dishes as possible. It’s my comfort food, and I try to make it as often as possible. The meals I generally make are very much like the ones I had growing up—not very fancy, with a few fresh ingredients and a simple preparation—and absolutely delicious. This is a great thread!

Hest, you took the words right out of my mouth!