Peter Green

Don't worry, I'm in the Gulf right now, with way too much time on my hands. Tonight it's going to be a simple kai yang issaan I've had on the grill for a little while now. (I'd better check that).

Much as I would like to lay claim to hours of work prepping the dough.....I use Panni's Bavarian potato dumpling mix. One of my Germanic Vancouver friends had turned us onto it, and now we load up on a case of it each time we're home. It comes in 205 gm boxes, and we can find it in a number of the specialty shops in Kitsilano and the North Vancouver. As you'd guess,The dumplings are great, but what we really love is that it makes pretty much perfect gnocchi, and our family has a serious love affair with gnocchi. Cheers Peter

Okay, on the one hand, I hate it when the family isn't here to look after me. On the other hand, it gives me free reign to try dumb things. This last few days, I've had sauerbraten on the go. One nice piece of Australian rib eye roast sitting in vinegar, onion, and peppercorns. Some potato dumplings worked up, and I'm ready. After a week of turning and turning, I dredged it in flour tonight, browned it, and then put it as a pot roast in the marinade (removed), with some carrots, celery, and an onion speckled with cloves. (Yup, it's the Joy of Cooking recipe). Pull it out of the oven after three hours, work in some butter and sour cream, add in the potato dumplings, and... Voila. This worked better than I'd hoped. The meat pulled away, but still remained a little chewy. And you have that "my breath is gone" pickled flaour, but then all it takes is one bite of the potato dumpling to clear everything for the next sally. this should make for a great breakfast.

I'd agree, but I don't think it was so much that Doug thought it a creation, but rather a happy congruence of methods. If you look at Lao cooking, lime juice is pretty much part of the Holy Trinity (or should that be tripitaka) of cooking: galanga, lemon grass, and lime juice. I recall that everything was getting an extra douse of lime when I was there. It's just a sensible thing, as the lime will kill bacteria (okay, it may miss the odd liver fluke....but....) My favourite, that many people that eat with me in Bangkok cringe at, is the raw shrimp in marinade. What I have to explain to them is that, although the shrimp is still wonderfully raw, the lime and chili have pretty much cleansed it (at least I hope so.....maybe I should watch the first Alien movie again?) Cheers, Peter

Oh, man, that is my favourite quote of the week!

Is there any benefit of using "good" tequila, or do you lose the flavour?

And those are some of the wisest words I've read in a long time.

Geoff Lindsay's take on a Mediterranean salad is here in this post of mine. The watermelon, along with the blended oil and feta dressing makes for a fast (well, you gotta chop) and refreshing meal on a hot day.

Hmm....Sheena might have something on Nengmyun (Korean cold noodles) in her stuff. That's a fine idea.....as is ceviche.

I've worked from Binh Duong's Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking, and it's okay for seafood, but I find when I try, the recipes don't quite work for the street eats that I prefer. (edited) I should add that I really like his papaya salad, with the green papaya shredded in like cut noodles, crisp and dripping, rather than pounded in the Thai/Lao style. Every time I make it I think of that old film The Scent of Green Papaya.

When Doug Rodriguez ran his class at the WGF back in 2003, it seemed very much a Peru/Ecuador origin. And now, reading Shukman's The Lost City, with his description of a cevicheria on the coast, I can feel my mouth watering. Coriander, lime juice, some chilis, and shallots. Let the fish sit in that for a short spell, and then off you go. I love doing this, but my wife's teeth are getting sensitive to the citrus, which is what "cooks" the fish. You can play with infusions to do with this. Rodriguez worked one up in Bangkok that had coconut milk infused with the standard kaffir leaves, lemon grass, and galanga. This actually worked really well with mackerel. His recommendation was to take ceviche with something corn based. Popcorn would work. It'll cut the bite of the lime on your teeth. An interesting note, I've seen the basic recipe of ceviche used in duck and game as a marinade to take away some of the harshness from the meat before cooking. I gotta go. Now that I've written this, I've gotta find a fish now and do things.

As one of my friends said "it's when you realize after you sober up that you'd also chartered a helicopter that evening....."

Go for Thai style salads. Quick grill whatever you have, slice it thin, give it a marinade of chilis, nam pla, shallots, lime juice, and sugar, and then toss it all with whatever looks good in the way of fresh greens. I'm partial to tenderloins, pork or beef. If you use a cheaper cut, marinade it for an hour with some papaya. The sweat from the chilis will take your mind off of how hot it is outside. Plus, it's an excuse to drink cold beer. (it was 64 C down south of me a few weeks ago.....only in the 54 C range here)

I'd go with Cha Xiu Bao's comment. What I'd been told is that, like in Beijing, a lot of the larger fresh markets have moved out of easy access. However, if you can find a neighborhood that still isn't too built up, China abounds in alley markets that make use of any free space. Probably the best bet is to grab a copy of SH magazine (or one of the other tabloids) and look for ads for "local friends" or something like that. These are basically unofficial (unregistered) tour guides. They won't know all of the detailed history, but they won't be working for CITS, either, and are better at finding things. Also, if you're at the Ritz, ask the concierge if he can arrange for someone to take you around.

Nobody's going to mention Aunt Jemima, Chef Boyardi, or Betty Crocker?

And, yes, they'll be coming for our salt. It's all they've got left. Cheers, Peter They'll have to pry my Himalayan pink salt from my cold dead fingers

I'd put money on the movement towards MolGast. The emphasis, as noted, isn't the flounting of the method, but of using the method to create new flavours. I think we'll also see people moving to "comfort foods" as an item. More braisings, more long cooks. Both of these go towards the integration of past trends, so it's not much of a limb that I'm going out on here. We've seen a lot of innovative work in the last few years, of people breaking things apart, and then re-approaching what can be done....but such trends are generally precursors to a certain retrenchment. We'll see what comes up in the workshops.

The Russians Aren't Coming, The Russians Aren't Coming (with apologies to Norman Jewison and Carl Reiner). The "final" schedule is out. Given a lack of time for planning, the Russians are off. It's a pity, but it does allow me to catch Stephen Snow from Fins in Byron Bay. It also means that it's not going to be shots of Russian Standard in the lobby in the late night. It sounds like Macallan'll take up the slack there, which is fine by me. Things are looking interesting, and my schedule is pretty much down pat. There'll be a few full days of three events (or more), but I'll have enough time for a decent lunch on Sunday, and then there'll be the week after. I'll be able to catch all of the chefs at some point now, with the only exception being Doug Rodriguez. It's a pity, as I really enjoyed his class in 2003. Hopefully he'll be part of the Gala, so I'll catch a bit of what he has. Wine is back, thank Heavens. The Italian Sommelier Association is going to do two classes (Friday and Saturday) which'll have me in a fine fettle, and the good Mr. Gago of Penfolds is back to do a vertical tasting of the Grange (and the note I have says they're releasing an '81 for this). Only 168 working hours to go.

I'm very fond of George C. Booth's The Food And Drink of Mexico. The first publishing was back in 1964, and is a good working source for seafoods and stews, plus a lot of the festival dishes. Plus, it's got a great selection of cocktails in the back I should try working with. Booth spends probably about a fifth of the book just describing the locales in Mexico where he took the recipes from. From that vantage it's also a fascinating look back at what Mexico was like coming from the 50's into th early 60's.

Quan Jude is a safe bet. It's a little touristy, but we enjoyed our meal there. I thought the place on Wangfujing was better than the old location near Tiananmen. My favourite place was Dark&Duck in 2004, but it's been plowed under and built over. I cribbed the below from the Beijing eating thread, it sounded promising: "For Peking Duck: 'Da Dong' Beijing Kao Ya is not one of the big factories, but a smaller chef owned very popular-with-the-locals eatery that features exciting traditional and contemporary Bejijng food. There is a whole 'spiel' on their menu about their less fat, 'Superneat' Beijing Duck. They carve and serve it with great finesse. You might also want to try the abalone mushroom with saffron sauce (saffron is the new 'in' ingredient in Beijing) or homemade pasta with lobster flavor." Fongyee's a good source for this if she's online. Cheers, Peter

What do you discipline your kids with!

I pinched this from Stickman's weekly column for July 29 "For our numerous readers in LA, here is some good news. The finest beer from these parts, Beer Lao, is available in your neck of the woods. For those in the LA area, the grocery store with the large spirit offering in front, on Hollywood Boulevard in Thaitown, is the place to visit. Yes, Beer Lao is worth going out of your way for! The Thai Temple is the pride and joy of Thai people in America . So, maybe this is the natural first city they would introduce this product?" If anyone's come across this yet, I'd love to hear about how well it's travelled. If it's as good as in Laos, then I am seriously envious of the folks in LA. Cheers, peter

Travel Advisory In the latest issue of Bayon Pearnik (#131) there's a very distressing report of adulterated spirits in Phnom Penh under Cockroach Corner on page 9 "Bottle of What". Basically, fake whiskeys and now vodkas are being distributed, which means that the bars may not know what they're getting (or if they do realize it, they're still going to try and sell it and not take a loss). If you're traveling in that area, check your drinks carefully, and if it smells wrong then shy away. This was a big problem in Egypt when we were living there in the 80's, and it can cause some serious damage (although at that time it was more a case of bottles being refilled with the local hooch rather than a racket this well organized). Bayon Pearnik is generally pretty tongue in cheek about everything, but they take their drinking seriously. (Warning, you may find Bayon Pearnik offensive. I think that's their intent)

See if you can find some sold in plastic bags, usually one per bag. Then use some tongs and scorch both sides (or, if you have a blowtorch, even better), and then get your kitchen scissors (scissors are most definitely kitchen tools amongst Koreans) and cut it into strips to eat with beer.

That was a disaster. I'll try again, but when I don't have a houseful of Asian women criticizing me.