LindaK

A local restaurant recently offered a wonderful raw kale salad. The star ingredient for me was the dressing, a umami-bomb of elusive flavors. I asked the waitstaff if the chef would share the recipe, and was told was that the secret ingredient was fish sauce. That took me completely by surprise, both because the distinctive flavor of fish sauce wasn't obvious and because nothing about the restaurant or its menu speaks of southeast Asia. But it's certainly made me wonder about how I might use fish sauce outside of Vietnamese or other Asian cuisines, my only experience with it. A search here found a discussion about cocktails with fish sauce but otherwise, nothing. Is anyone else finding interesting and unexpected uses for fish sauce?

Braided brioche filled with sweetened creme fraiche and berries. Freeform loaf, nothing fancy, but very nice.

Hugh, as someone who live in St. Louis for quite a while and couldn't embrace the local love of Provel, I salute you. I'll pass the recipe to my friends back in STL, who did their best to convert me. I never thought I'd see Modernist Cuisine and Provel cheese in the same post!

I think Wonder Bread should be "laid to rest." When I was a kid, I loved Twinkies. We had Wonder bread in the house too. I used to pull off the crusts, compress the bread into a doughy ball, and use it like putty to make little objects. Sort of like paper mache. Never could eat it, though.

Many news reports of Twinkie shortages on supermarket shelves, even being offered on eBay. It's interesting that this one Hostess product, compared to other iconic products such as Wonder Bread, is getting all the attention.

Emily, that's interesting. Less time under pressure would certainly mean moister meat, right? Do you need to cut the meat into very small chunks for it to cook so quickly?

I've been using boneless pork butt, and it's always worked well in a traditional slow cooked recipe. Generally I trim it of any excess exterior fat, but it's well marbled meat. And I cut it into chunks of approx 4 inches. I'll look for bone-in next time. Janet's suggestion about using very little liquid may be the way to go. The recipes I've followed end up using 1-2 cups of water. Combine that with the juices extracted (if that's the right word) from pressure cooking and I've ended up with meat drowning in broth. Flavorful broth rather than flavorful meat. As a pressure cooker novice, I've taken to heart the cautions about using sufficient liquid. Sounds like I'm overdoing it. Per Nickrey's advice, I'll check out some of the Thai cooking topics to learn more about adding chile pastes afterwards. I fried it in a little oil before adding it to the juices, but it still tasted raw.

Yes, I understood that and reduced the liquid to a glaze. It didn't make up for the lack of flavor left in the meat, it just hid it. And I can't figure out how to integrate the chile paste into the reduction. None of these recipes use chile paste, just powder. I'm looking, but haven't found one yet that calls for chile paste. Yes, that's what I'm used to making, and you've perfectly described the shortcut I was hoping for. So far my efforts have fallen far short of the real thing.

All the rave reviews of pressure cooked carnitas in the Modernist Cuisine at Home discussion convinced me to give it a try. I’m still new to pressure cooking but have generally been pleased with my experiments, particularly with stocks. I’ve tried three times now, following the directions in Modernist Cuisine, the Hip Pressure Cooking web site, then finally improvising on my own. Each time I’ve been underwhelmed in the results. I’m hoping it’s me, not the recipes, so I’d really like to learn from those who have been happy with their carnitas. The biggest disappointment was the nearly flavorless meat. It was only a pale resemblance of the lovely porky flavor one gets with a slow roast. I kept cutting back on the amount of liquid I added, but regardless ended up with a lot of very flavorful broth and not very interesting pork. I can see how this would be okay for a braise, but that’s not the goal with carnitas. What’s the correct liquid ratio when making this? Or am I cooking it too long? I tried 25-35 minutes for approx 2 lbs of meat. And since all the recipes call for reducing the resulting liquid and using it to reheat the meat, I found it difficult to figure out when to add chile paste. On my first try, I added the chile paste to the meat at the start of cooking. Unfortunately, when separating the fat from the broth, most of the chile paste went with it. Next time, I tried adding it to the reduced broth, but without the long slow cooking time the chile flavors tasted raw. What’s the technique for getting this right? Any advice? I love the idea of quick carnitas and so really want to this one to work.

This first episode has me hooked but a little confused. I liked it a lot, but am not sure of its broad appeal. It's sort of like Lucky Peach, only in video format. Loved the ramen tour in Japan but especially loved Chang in the kitchen. Give him a package of instant ramen and he produces gnocci. Brilliant. I can't figure out what the show aspires to be. Cooking? Travel? It begins with a voice-over by Bourdain: “This season we go inside the kitchen, the world, and the mind of chef David Chang. This show is a chance to explore that mind in all its tangled glory." Yet there is not even a bit of introduction to Chang, whether his bio, his restaurants, etc. There's an assumption that the viewer knows enough to plunge into the show without needing context or recipes. Fine for some of us, but I hope it doesn't discourage a broader viewership.

Attention fans of David Chang. He's featured in Season 1 of a new show on PBS that premieres Friday, Nov. 9: Mind of a Chef. Produced and narrated by Anthony Bourdain. Looks like there will be multiple episodes in Japan and Spain, along with guests such as Harold McGee, Juan Mari Arzak, Ferran Adrià, Rene Redzepi, and Wylie Dufresne.

Beautiful texture in that brioche. It looks like you used grated or chopped chocolate, rather than make a chocolate dough, yes?

Take a look at some of our older topics on poached eggs, such as Poached Eggs Redux, Cooking more than one poached egg at a time, Poaching eggs in the microwave.

The recipe for chile paste that I used (from Rick Bayless) included a scant tsp of ground cloves. I don't know if this is typical. Overall it was a nicely balanced flavor that worked well with the meat and beans. Better the next day, too!

Long ago I learned an inverse trick for resuscitating stale bread: soak then squeeze dry a paper bag. Insert bread, place in medium temp oven for 5-10 minutes, depending on loaf size. Pity that any baker would ruin a crusty loaf by putting it in plastic.

Thanks, that's very good information. Why salt water? Long ago, someone here tipped me off to the freezing water trick.. I've never salted the water, but it's worked perfectly without. I have a half dozen of them in the freezer now, waiting to be useful.

Chili seemed like just the thing to have ready in the fridge or freezer during a storm. I've got a pot simmering now. I'm embarrased to say that this is my first time using a chile paste from dried chiles in a chili. What a difference from powder! No going back. I used a Rick Bayless' recipe with all ancho, but next time I'll try a mix of several. It smells heavenly. The recipe made more chile paste than I needed. Anyone know how well it keeps?

Not an option on the 11th floor. Neither is a generator, or running an inverter from my (non-existent) car. My 15-year old Caloric gas range has electric igniters on the burners, but I'm presuming the gas will still flow and I can light them with a match... fingers crossed! (Oven would be more problematic.) Yes, the gas will still flow, and you can light your burners with a match. But be careful that you don't burn yourself when it ignites. I keep long matches around for such emergencies. Presumably you could do the same with your oven, but I've been afraid to try, not being able to see precisely where the gas flows from and not wanting gas to build up before touching the flame. Better to eat cold food than do anything dangerous.

Good advice, rotuts, thanks. Just to clarify, I don't expect to do much SV, this is mostly for freezing. So I will look for the 3 ml bags for sure.

Check out this old topic for lots of ideas: pierogi recipes

A vacuum sealer virgin here, and I think it's time for me to buy one. I've read through all the topics but while I've learned a lot, I don't see much of a consensus about what product is most reliable or easiest to use. I would like to be able to seal liquids and don't want to spend a fortune. Any new wisdom or recommendations? What features do you think matter the most to a new user?

Elizabeth, this blog is just the getaway that I need! Love the bus ride, love the octopus, laughed at "eat where the cops eat" advice, and nodded at the "ambrosia" vs "cannonball" description of the Bolón de Verde. So true for so many fried foods, from wherever. I hope you find great meals for the rest of your trip. I'm looking forward to lots of great seafood. Thanks for blogging!

Bostock. Created as a way to use stale brioche. Thick sliced are topped with a butter/egg/ground almond mixture, with some sliced almonds for good measure. Bake. The brioche absorbs the topping and it comes out of the oven as a slightly puffy, crunchy-edged marvel of deliciousness. This is the first time I've made bostock at home. Easy. The only problem is that now I have a good idea of just how many calories are in a slice...

The New York Times gave this a good review today: In Myanmar, True Comfort in the Food

PanCan, that looks really good. I had no idea brioche could be rolled so thinly. Whisky creme ganache, inspired! As it happens, I had a similar thought yesterday for a savory brioche as a way to use up a small piece of extra brioche dough as well as some leftover caramelized onions. I layered the dough with the onions and a little grated gruyere cheese, though I only folded it three times. I took a picture when it came out of the oven: This was delicious but oh so rich. Luckily the rest of dinner was just a simple soup.