tamiam
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Posts posted by tamiam
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I had a reason to be in downtown Portland on Friday (down from Seattle) so we made a point of finding the shop and picking up some bread and treats to take with us. Your pastries are delicious (even the next day, re-warmed) and so is the shop. Even the puppy treats smell like tasty cookies!
Didn't see you so we asked the woman at the counter to let you know some eGs had stopped by and were passing on some best wishes. Thought you'd enjoy hearing that she told us you are the hardest working boss she has ever seen. And by the way, she was very helpful as well. Black hair, fair skin, pretty....
So keep on doing it your way, since that is you and that is what you are going to do anyway. Its working just fine.
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A very sweet eG-er gave me a little butane burner to get me through my no stovetop dilemma, so I pad thai'd too. Glad I did because it was great. I modified the CI recipe, by increasing the cayenne to 1 tsp (which was perfect for my taste, the 3/4 t in their recipe went mostly unnoticed), and using a fresh herb mix that included cilantro and some kind of Asian mint because that is what I had on hand.
I take back what I said earlier about the tamarind paste being a pain. That might be because I got seedless this time around, so there was more tamarind pulp in my mix, or because I used a smaller sieve that was easier to work with. In any case it was not a problem at all, and is WAY better than the tamarind concentrate, which tastes all overcooked.
That was a really good dish!!
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Glad to report that we finally made it to Tamarind Tree, and really enjoyed it a lot. Their grilled items really stand out becasue they are so flavorful and tender. And I love that you get to soak your own rice paper wrapper for the platters. Though mine are nowhere near as neat and artful as the ones I saw being served as appetizers. They had two lying down, and two standing up with a bunch of dark green leafy lettuce sprouting from one end like a tree.
It is so cool to go to a restaurant where you can play with your food. And the market next door has lots of prepared foods for take out--there were many items wrapped in banana leaf, pickled goodies, and various stuffed buns when I looked, but I was too full to try any.
The presentation and decor at TT are several steps up from the hole-in-the-wall style of Vietnamese that I'm more familiar with, plus they have a full bar where they make lots of fusion cocktails. Prices are great--they bump up slightly for dinner. We will definitely be back. Thanks for the tip.
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Here is a little shortcut for the tamarind. I have taken to using indian tamarind chutney in my pad thai sometimes. This came out of a day when I had the stuff in my fridge (self made, for a bhel puri experiment -- but store bought is usually pretty good too.) Worked great, just remember to use less sugar in your sauce since the chutney already has some.
Using chutney sounds like it might work, as long as it didn't have too much of its own flavoring. Plus, you get to have chutney in the fridge for another dish. But I have to ask, what is Bhel Puri?
And Mamster, your idea of freezing cubes of tamarind water sounds like it could work too. I may give it a try once I get settled into a new home. If you try it first, please share what you discover.
P.S. I like the flavor dried shrimp add, even though they stink to high heaven. I find they don't last unless I refrigerate them, but then they aren't a common ingredient for me. Also, it is worth looking at both Hispanic and Asian stores to find a place where the turnover is good.
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Dang. I love pad thai, and I have the ingredients. Sadly I am also stuck with a broken and frightening cooktop. One burner won't shut off, and one arc-welded itself to my teapot the other night. I dind't even know that was possible, but guess what? It is. I dont want any electricity going near the cursed thing. And I can't replace it because the people who are buying my house prefer cash at close to having me install a new one. Can I live like this for another 3 weeks?
OK--enough off-topic ranting.
I am interested in the tamarind part of the recipe. I've used the hard sticky paste, where you have to soak it and sieve out the really big seeds. Tasted great, but somewhat of a pain. I've also used the tamarind liquid that comes in a jar. While it requires zero effort, I though that it lost the fresh taste that the paste has, and the color of my pad thai came out brown instead of orange-red. I believe there is also a frozen version, but I've never tried it, and of course, there are the brown pods....
Does anyone have experience with the various ways you can buy tamarind, how to prepare them, and which works best?
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This photo shows the nifty keen faucet I have:
In the preceeding photo, you saw the faucet as it usually is. It's a Moen Legend High Rise. It is neat because the neck of the faucet rises to the occasion. That white thing at the end of the faucet, if you pull it out, does the spray thing. It's a wonderful thing, and unlike those pull-out things, does not wear out (the pull-out spray thing and a little overactive child with a fascination with all things mechanical mean frequent replacements). I had this same faucet in my former house, and in over 10 years of constant use, never had a problem, nor needed a replacement part.
That is like the funkiest coolest faucet ever!!
And, why did anyone bother even inventing 6" deep sinks? Is it an Sado-maso thing or what?
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I like your music idea--big improvement for little cash too. Little stuff I really like in a kitchen:
1. A sink that is deep enough not to splash, and big enough to wash a good sized pot or roaster.
2. Good lighting. If the light isn't good enough, you can install something on the underside of those cabinets that sit above the counters.
3. A block of wood or something to elevate the stuff in the back of those deep pantry shelves so it isn't lost back there for the next hundred years.
4. A knife block that sits flat inside of a drawer cuz there is no room on the counter and I don't care to have them hanging on a magnetic strip getting all dirty and posing a risk to the kids' cute little limbs.
and lots of daydreaming about the big re-do that isn't likely to happen any too soon.
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This is my favorite thread on all of eG. Even without photos, you all give me the absolute best mental images. Grazie.
My story is really about my boyfriend's employee. He and I are kind of the food gods in his workplace. This speaks more to their lack of experience/adventurousness than to any greatness on our part. But we do like to inspire folks to step out and try new things. A really good leftover-lunch of Spanish-style beans made with various sausages and smoked meats impressed one of the young newly marrieds. She asked for the recipe and went off to make it at home. It was the first time she had cooked dry beans, and she was kind of intimidated, but she decided to give it a whirl. Next day she said it came out OK, but not as good as ours. There were tough chewy parts and she thought she did something wrong with the beans.
Turns out that she didn't know you are supposed to remove the plastic sausage casing BEFORE adding it to the bean pot!!
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I would definitely give Vivanda a try. The food is lovely, the view is perfect, plus, you can wander Pike Place before or after.
And, if view is not your main concern, I'd head to the ID. Ours can't hold a candle to Oakland, San Fran, or New York, true....but it would be a real treat for most Midwesterners. Give the folks some culture!!
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Red House sounds like a great addition to the area. I'd like to try it too. Perhaps if several of us just happened to show up at the same time, we might enjoy it together.
We could speak in ig-Pay atin-Lay to arrange a chance meeting.
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Got home a bit late after a long, but productive day at the paying job. Could not bring myself to face any more short ribs, so I skipped school tonight. Looking at the number of posts, I suspect that some others also experienced temporary braise fatigue as well. I plan on doing Lab 3 later on.
Reheated the Monday experiment, and found it improved a lot. I could not tell my two "pots" apart, but both felt juicier, tenderer (Is that a word?) and the flavor had permeated through the meat.
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OK, the West coast-er just pulled the meat from oven. Since I did not have four identical or similar vessels, my experiment was done with varying pots. And I did not keep the kind of detailed notes that earns an "A" in this class. But my experience is very similar.
1/2" mire poix: I would say it is cooked fine, but has no real flavor. Someone above said tastes like meat after it has beenused in stock, and I think that applies here.
Full cover mire poix: The surprise. I expected this one to have the best texture of the bunch, which only shows that I do not understand the science involved. Unattractive appearance because the effect of browning is nearly gone and replaced by a dullness bordering on gray. Rubbery texture. No flavor to speak of, though the poor texture is the most noticeable aspect. Basically sucks--and this a good bit of learning although I dont quite understand it yet. Have a few ideas, and would like to hear more.
1/2" stock: Better browned and shiny appearance. Flavor can be detected through most of the meat. Still wouldn't serve it for dinner. A bit greasy tasting.
1/2" wine: Definitely the prettiest of the bunch. This is partly due to the color of the wine, and partly (I suspect) because this was cooked in my smallest diameter pot. The wine reduced into a thick shiny sauce. The crust on the outside makes an attractive contrast with the light colored meat on the inside. It wants for flavor beyond just wine, but the flavor runs all the way through. I also think it is more tender than the 1/2" stock experiment but this may be my imagination talking. Could the acidity of the wine have worked as a tenderizer?
This is fun, and, I would like to know---do I need to go to the store for any surprise materials manana?
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The recommendations here are interesting. I also tend to avoid the ready-made convenience foods. Most taste like (insert bad word for crap here). Even when I am feeling busy, I look at a few "convenience foods" on the store shelf and just walk away disgusted at the ingredients (sodium, partially hydrogenated whatevers, other unpronounceables that don't sound like food, etc.).
My pickiness is a good thing, as well as a challenge. It means I don't know what to eat when I can't cook. Perhaps this another another thread, but this is a really important time for convenience food.
Think of this situation: You are travelling, away from home in the kind of town with no restaurants you want to eat at, or ones that closed before you could get there. It might be for work, it might be a late night on a road trip. You have a microwave in the hotel room. If you are lucky, you might also have a small fridge. You want dinner, and you want it bad. The grocery carries mainstream items--nothing fancy. What should you get?
I've gone with pre-pack salad and a bottle of decent dressing that gets tossed when I'm done because it can't travel home. I've done Amy's frozen. I've done beef jerky and beer. Any other ideas?
Signed...Starvin' in Arlington (Oregon that is).
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In order to achieve that perfect balance of fall off the bone and structure, what is a good internal temperature to remove at? And what temp would you seek after a rest? Since the liquid and the pan retain so much heat, would it be wise to pull the meat out of the pot to rest?
Looking at other people's time and temps, plus that my meat was falling off the bone, but a bit dry, I suspect that my temp readings were not accurate. I was using a borrowed thermometer since I was not at home, and I forgot to calibrate it. More importantly there weren't many places to poke and not be near bone. My liquids were at a medium and steadt simmer I got shirnkage on the ends so that bone was exposed. No camera or I'd post for your evaluation.
I'd still like to understand ideal temps for various meats better, and to figure out whether to rest the meat in or out of the hot braising liquid. When doing this, I quickly realized that I truly did not know when to stop.
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I sampled using two pots; an uncoated cast iron dutch oven, and a porcelain (maybe Apilco) casserole. I browned all in iron, deglazed, then shared the deglazing liquid between the two pots.
Ran into the same trouble fitting my two pieces in the oven, but it worked. Glad I did not try 3 as I'd planned to. Became envious, wondering about all the really big professional ovens that everybody else must surely have to work with.
Since my store didn't have any beef ribs, I used pork. They are smaller, so my cooking was completed in little over an hour. I say that because I took them out at 160F/1:30 minutes, but thought they were overcooked. The iron pan heated up faster, and cooled more slowly, probably accounting for the fact that its ribs were more done than the porcelain.
In order to achieve that perfect balance of fall off the bone and structure, what is a good internal temperature to remove at? And what temp would you seek after a rest? Since the liquid and the pan retain so much heat, would it be wise to pull the meat out of the pot to rest?
Thanks for the class!!
Edited because I can't type
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I was a vegetarian for about 10 years. I originally chose not to eat meat because of (1) budget; I was really broke back then, (2) what to me seemed to be gross amounts of land and water and associated impacts devoted to the creation of cows and pigs, and the flip-side, that there is a net loss of food energy due to the mathematics of converting feed to meat. Along the way, I found that I didn't like the heaviness of tummy that a lot of meat produced, and I could make lots of good food without.
Long ago, I changed. Why? Because I have enough rules in my life without creating even more. Because I missed going to a Chinese restaurant and being able to order whatever I wanted. Because I truly missed a good hot pastrami on rye. And now, I eat whatever sounds fabulous. When I have it as a main dish, it is usually at a restaurant because I want it to be great. I don't cook much meat at home, unless I am making grilled burgers for the kids (they still don't do much for me), or using it as an ingredient more than a main (like using pancetta for flavor or tossing salt pork or a ham hock in my bean pot). That is partly because I forgot which cut is good for what, and partly because I am not very experienced at it. And the cleanup is messy. I'll be doing the braising seminar which should help me gain confidence.
People choose veg for different reasons. In changing my habits, I don't feel my own principles (those ever-shifting little buggers) were violated by adding small amounts to my diet. For people who believe humans don't have the right to farm or eat animals, or people who adhere to a religious prohibition, I think it would be harder to shift back and forth because they would hit up against a basic core gut feeling or principle.
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Holy cow, very creative with bed springs. I'm going to try cedar planking this summer. Our place "up north" has both salmon and cedar in good supply. Thanks for the tecnique description.
You can buy pre-packaged cedar planks for use in the oven (thicker, several uses thick), or the grill (thinner, 1-2 uses thick). Soak in water for a few hours, oil lightly, then place your seasoned fish or meat on it and grill. Mmmmm!
Being a total cheapskate, my alternative is to find UNTREATED cedar at the hardware store. You want boards that are of even thickness (i.e. not roof shingles). Since fish cooks so fast and you want it to get smoky, look for boards that are thin enough to get hot and burny. I've had good luck with cedar fence boards. For about two bucks you can cut a bunch of cooking planks! I made some great Xmas presents out of these, some homemade rub, tongs, and mits one year.
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Rocky...I am interested in your teapots. Any chance you could post a link or a photo?
Also, at Ross near Crossroads they had a bunch of those small pretty Asian iron type of teapots that usually cost fifty bucks or more. These ones were more like twenty to thirty. I am curious if people use this type of have them more for looks (they are really attractive!)
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This is such an amazing discussion. I never knew how many people can't hack cilantro. I happen to love the stuff. When I was growing up, fresh cilantro was considered quite a delicacy, and I still love it today. I just wish it wouldn't bolt so fast in the garden because then I would have more, more, more.
And, as a fennel/licorice/anise hater...thanks, I feel so validated by the rest of you. I am not alone!!
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They were all out of pumpkin butter at the TJs in Kirkland WA yesterday. Boo hoo.
I use it like apple butter--schmear it on toast and waffles, put it inside of muffins where the jam would go. The can says to use it as a soup base, but it seems too sweet to do that for my taste.
Any other ideas?
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Anise, fennel, and anything licorice-flavored. Bananas, mayonnaise.....not herbs, but yuckkkkk, even the smell gets me.
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I think the person eating the food should be able to do whatever it is that makes them enjoy it the most. We all have different tastes--after all, if we didn't there would be no interesting choices out there.
My biggest restaurant pet peeve is when the server places the food and before anyone can taste it, starts trying to sprinkle pepper or grated cheese all over it. How should I know if it will needs enhancement until I've tasted it first? Duh!! And why don't they send it out tasting its best in the first place?
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We went to Cafe Destino on saturday. It is a cute place, more coffeehouse than restaurant, at the newly re-done park on the riverfront. It is fun to watch the dogs playing outside while reading the paper and drinking too much coffee. It has a nice looking outdoor seating area which ought to be great in the summer, jazz on Friday nights, and the staff was fun to talk with.
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Thanks Abra and ImportFood.....I now have a list of 3 places to try in my soon to be homeland. Also in the back of my mind is a tale of a small, maybe four table place in Big Valley, that is supposed to be very special. If anybody knows the name or has a report, I'd be much obliged
Stopping because I seem to be getting off topic here.
Any Oregon Coast don't misses?
in Pacific Northwest & Alaska: Dining
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We spent a great beachy weekend in Gearhart (just north of Seaside) last month. Ditto what someone said about a good breakfast at McKeown's in Seaside, though most of the rest of Seaside has more of a food circus carnival atmosphere.
We also had a unexpected treat eating at the nice restaurant in Gearhart (there is only one restaurant besides the golf club, so it is easy to find even tho I cannot recall the name). It was one of those amazing nights where even though hardly any people are visible anywhere, the restaurant was packed and you wonder where they came from. The menu was eclectic, with large leafy salads and much seafood. Decent wine list with an Oregon emphasis-natch!
One disappointment is that the Lazy Susan seems to have changed ownership or expanded. The wood shingle place in the back is still there, but the fabulous Eggs Benedict are no longer on the menu. And the large place on the streetfront is also named Lazy Susan, but has a compeltely different atmosphere.....tho I did have a nice seafood salad, chowder, and bowl of clams it just wasn't the old Lazy S' from memory.