anzu

Only just read this thread. Miso bacon? Can you elaborate?

So do I!!! Do you think anyone would actually pay attention if one wrote to them asking for it, or started a petition?

I don't think I'm following you. Are you against tap water, or the way they're asking, or what? Personally, as someone with limited money that I'd prefer to spend on food rather than fancy water, I'd go for the tap water every time (and look back with nostalgia on places such as Japan where water is always provided for free, automatically, and topped up every time it gets low).

Tongue NOT in cheek, I should imagine. Do birds actually have cheeks?

Be careful what you wish for. I stayed with friends for a while in Hong Kong who ate dim sum for breakfast every day, and though it was great for the first few days, it actually got to be a bit too much (something I had never imagined possible with dim sum up until that moment). I started longing for something plainer, like a nice bowl of rice porridge... And on the subject of Chinese breakfasts, any of: Dim sum Rice porridge AKA congee, zhou, jeuk Fried noodles Hot soy milk with or without youtiao (deep fried dough in a long stick shape) Steamed zongzi AKA joong (ongoing cook-off in the Chinese forum, but I am too technically incompetent to give a link). Freshly made crepe topped with an egg (cracked onto the crepe and spread so that it cooks over the entire surface), some sauce added, and wrapped around a youtiao.

If you still don't get the taste you're looking for, maybe the following fact might help: The water in many parts of Europe contains a lot of calcium, and I'm fairly sure (well, relatively sure) that many coffee shops here are using plain tap water for making their coffee. Disclaimer: I'm not saying that hard water will make good coffee! I'm just suggesting that water quality might be one of the elusive factors that contributed to the 'European' taste.

Well, we probably all have some idea of the classic breakfast in France and the UK, and we might know what folks eat in Spain for breakfast. But what about places more off the beaten track? What's for breakfast in Kazakhstan, Belize, Cambodia, Chad, or...? (Thinking about this, I realized I don't even know what a classic Russian, Greek or Portuguese breakfast contains. )

How important is it that umeboshi are refrigerated? The only ones I can buy here are in little plastic tubs, clearly marked 'Keep refrigerated at all times', but they are being sold at room temperature and have been at room temperature for an unknown period of time already. Probably several months. Should I go ahead and buy them, or would I be wasting my money? Helen, ume as fruit leather sounds wonderful!! I've made fruit leather with unripe mangoes and with quinces, and gorged myself on an Iranian fruit leather made with sour cherries. That combination of sour and sweet is just irresistable. The only problem with them is the tendency to overeat. My husband once ate the equivalent of 20 unripe mangoes in one day.

A North America-wide usage: entree It comes from French, is related to the English words entry and enter, and this indicates where it comes in the order of serving. That is: before or while 'entering' the meal. Before the main course, not the main course itself. Think appetizers... So how to refer to what is termed 'entree' in America? Well, a lot of menus in other English speaking parts of the world will simply call it 'main course'. Anyone know when and where this started?

My guess (based on no knowledge whatsoever and instead on cynicism) as to why UK restaurant vindaloo will usually contain both potatoes and tomatoes: The two constitute a cheaper way of bulking up (is this a phrase?) the dish. Certainly a lot cheaper than having meat as the main ingredient. If you look at most of the meat dishes in your run-of-the-mill UK Indian restaurant, there is usually an awfully large amount of gravy and an awfully small amount of meat. So why not try to fill the whole thing out even further with potatoes, etc.? Not saying that this is the only reason, but surely it is one of the reasons? I'm not saying that this is true of all restaurants. I know I was going to all the wrong places while studying in the UK. At first anyway. (Stupid enough to take other people's recommendations as worthwhile until I finally wisened up).

On the issue as to whether one should consider the gums Korean and not Japanese, I think one should simply consider them Japanese. There are the following issues to be considered: Is it aimed at the Japanese market and at Japanese tastes rather than the Korean market and Korean tastes? As a parallel, there are various flavors of chips (crisps) available in India right now that are made by foreign manufacturers but that are aimed at only the Indian market and are not sold (as far as I know) in other countries. Seeing as you can't even buy them anywhere else, I would call these Indian chips, even though other people might feel differently. Similarly, the food manufacturer Knorr here in Germany sells a lot of products that are aimed at German tastes and are less readily available in other countries. In Thailand, Knorr makes products such as Tom yam stock cubes and so forth. Knorr is now a company that has been taken over by Unilever (a joint United Kingdom-Dutch corporation). However, I don't think it would be helpful to say that 'Gulash sauce' (one of their German products ) or Tom yam stock cubes, (or the shiitake flavored stock cubes which they also make in Thailand), could usefully be termed British or Dutch products. There is also another aspect to consider: If the criterion were going to be rigorously applied about not considering a product Japanese if the company behind it is not Japanese , then a huge proportion of the sweets available for sale in Japan would have to be considered non-Japanese. It is not generally known and is most definitely not publicized (I only found out by accident while at an academic conference), but most of the sugar companies and sweet companies in Japan actually have Taiwanese ownership. This goes back to Japan's colonial relationship with Taiwan. Most of Japan's sugar was imported from Taiwan (I'm not so sure if this is still the case in present times). At the end of World War Two, and with Taiwanese independance from Japan, Taiwanese people stepped into the gap in the market that appeared concerning the import of sugar and the manufacture of products using sugar. And the whole issue would get even more complicated (and also too political) if you also consider that some of these Taiwanese owners may have been in Japan for three generations now but are still legally Taiwanese and not Japanese. So how could one possibly make a distinction between a foreign versus a Japanese producer in that type of situation? It's easier, I think, to simply call this type of product Japanese.

After using my wok for steaming a few times (and heating with oil again before putting it away), the seasoning near the rim - not the area that was in direct contact with water during steaming - started bubbling away in little bubbles from the iron underneath. This is not rust as far as I can tell, but instead it LOOKS as if the seasoning is peeling away from the wok. Is it rust, do you think? What should I best be doing to fix it and to ensure that it doesn't happen again? Deep fat frying would mean that I would have to heat the wok right up to the rim with oil (and my kitchen does not have an exhaust system, so that is not going to happen). BTW, the wok had, I thought, been seasoned pretty well right from the beginning (I inherited it from Chinese friends who were leaving the country). I realize a photo would probably help, but basically it shows up as black on black, and my photography skills are not up to dealing with making that sort of thing look clearer.

Kristin, I've been wondering since you posted it about how the flavors of mint and ume balance out. Doesn't the mint overpower the ume?

I ran out of time while posting earlier. Just want to clarify that the above was a discussion about souring agents in general in Goa and nearby regions. For this reason, Muslim cooking styles are also referred to in a thread that is discussing the cooking of a pork dish. At no point am I saying here that Muslims are going to be cooking a pork based dish (with no matter what souring agent). And besides, if they did, that would be their own business.

My understanding is that the tomatoes are functioning as an additional souring agent (additional, in this case, to the vinegar). There are versions with and without tomatoes (just as their versions with and without potatoes for that matter). All those without tomatoes, that I know of at least, have something else again to make the dish sourer. This may be tamarind in a lot of cases, at least one recipe calls for pickled onions, and there are also versions with a larger quantity of vinegar. One of the reasons for sourness (apart from taste, of course) is that dishes such as these (the sorpotel mentioned upthread falls into this category as well) are traditionally cooked for festive occasions, might be cooked in advance and then re-heated once each day to prevent spoilage as there is/was no refrigeration. You therefore need a high proportion of ingredients which will retard spoilage and bacterial growth. Here also a few facts about which souring agents are most popular and why: The very name of tamarind (the name comes from tamr hindi, is Arabic in origin and means Indian date) already points to the fact that tamarind, while arguably not actually Indian in origin, has nevertheless been associated with Indian cuisine for a very long time. Tomatoes are, obviously, a New World import which have been adopted with great rapidity across India, along with chillis, potatoes, and so forth. They do, however, have a far shorter history of use in Indian food, and there are still communities particularly in southern India who will avoid these 'foreign' foods on particular occasions (i.e. in the preparation of foods for certain Hindu festivals). Vinegar is the souring agent, of these three, that has least penetrated Indian cuisine. Speaking very broadly here, it is most closely associated with Portuguese influence (although there ARE exceptions here, and historically vinegar has also been present elsewhere in India, and has been used by both Hindus and Muslims). There is yet another alternative souring agent that can be used in vindaloo, and that is dried kokum (Garcinia indica). This is usually available in Indian grocery stores if you feel like hunting it down and experimenting. Now, I'm getting a bit vague here, because I can't truly remember the details about which community prefers what, but: preferences for souring agents vary in Goa (and nearby regions) according to the religious background of the person cooking the dish. If I remember correctly, Christians tend to use a lot more vinegar in their dishes, Hindus will tend to use more kokum and tamarind. In addition, vindaloo is made not only in Goa, but also, for example, in Kerala. This means that regional variations as well as religious variations start playing a role in what goes into a dish. Most dishes in India have not been standardized in the way that, for example, hollandaise has been. Most people still do not cook from cookbooks, and it is really only in the last few years that cookbooks documenting local and regional cuisines have begun to appear. What this means is that there tends to be a lot more variation in a dish than you might expect if comparing to Western cuisine. If you want to use tomatoes, use them. I'm sure others can talk about this also, and probably bring more knowledge to the subject than I.

A few years back I was learning Persian from an Iranian lady (originally from Teheran). She absolutely adored food and cooking (the topic of food came up with a most pleasing frequency in the classes ). She would bring food to class - regional specialties, and breads such as nan-e-barbari that she'd baked specially for us that very morning. She swore by Najmieh Batmanglij's books, and in fact urged us all to buy them. I would trust her opinion, as this lady was from Iran, a good cook, and a good home cook.

To each question in turn (I should point out here that I have diabetes and so am not entirely ignorant on the subject): No. No. and No. And although there are a few people out there who would claim otherwise, just ignore them. There is an awful lot of bad science in the world, and it is best ignored. You might (with genetic predisposition) be more prone to diabetes if you are overweight. Put plainly, if there are already people in your family who have diabetes, you MIGHT be more likely to suffer from it yourself. It will not necessarily happen. If you are overweight, you MIGHT be more likely to suffer from diabetes. Again, it will not necessarily happen. If the two factors of family history and being overweight are combined, then it would probably be wise to try to engage in a more active lifestyle and lose some weight, so that the chances are lessened of your becoming diabetic. (And in this case, I would really recommend seeing a doctor first and having a proper talk about the whole issue.) But drinking diet soda definitely has nothing to do with it.

Or , if you are from certain regions of Spain: Dool-the (the th as in thin, not the th as in that).

Fresh apricots or dried?

Black black, ume, and coffee! Not all at the same time I hope! Just kidding... UME. Definitely my favourite. But I can't even buy it here.

Grub, don't add panch phoron to the vindaloo! at least, not unless you are trying for new and unique taste mixtures... Or were you actually joking? Also, you should most definitely be roasting the whole spices for the vindaloo, this brings out their flavour and the dish will really suffer if you leave out that step entirely. It is only when you have over roasted them that they might be bitter. Stand over the pan as you roast the cumin and coriander (separately!), and you will be convinced of how great the roasting makes them. In addition, the spices can be ground far more easily once they have been toasted. This is particularly true for the whole coriander. Grinding is easiest and most effective if you have let them fully cool again before you grind. Going from your photos, you were grinding the onions, etc. together with the whole roasted spices (?). It is a lot easier to grind the spices to a powder, and to grind the onions and other wet ingredients to a paste as two separate processes. The spices are most easily ground if you have a separate coffee grinder that you use only for grinding whole spices. Finally, after years of putting it off, I finally bought a separate one, (until now, it was a case of trying to get all the spice taste out of the grinder and still having coffee that had a lingering taste of spice. Not so bad, of course, if cardamom was the last spice that I ground!). Do consider it if you are cooking, or intend to cook, Indian food often. I figured that if you are a panch phoron enthusiast, you would probably know that the same mixture gets spelt different ways. It was partly for the benefit of others who might read this thread, as I seem to constantly run across people in Indian grocery stores who are very hesitant about buying something which is labelled a little differently from the way it is spelt in their cookbooks, as they are not sure if it is the same thing. (Kasoori methi and Qasoori methi is another example). Apologizing in advance for real nit-picking, but the dish with cashews that you mention will definitely not have raw cashews. Raw cashews are poisonous, and are always cooked before they are sold. You know, you're really leading me astray here. I usually cook meat only about once every two weeks, but after all this discussion of vindaloo, I just had to go out and buy some meat and cook it! Gautam, you are Bengali, I am not. You will therefore, I am sure, have a wider repertoire of uses of panch phoron than I. Would it not perhaps be a good idea if you lead off a discussion of panch phoron, favourite recipes with it and so on (in another thread if need be). It is, after all, a popular spice mixture that many people enjoy. In addition, many who are relatively new to Indian cooking tend to enjoy both the taste as well as the fact that they can buy it already mixed together and that they therefore do not need to buy five separate batches of spices. That way, I hope, all of the readers of this forum would benefit.

What are you finding problematic about this statement? panch phoron = panch poron = panch phoran, etc., as people's romanization of Hindi (or Bengali) is unfortunately most unsystematic, and you will find food labelling with all sorts of variations that are far from a systematic transliteration of the original script or from how it will be pronounced. This is particularly the case with aspirated vs. unaspirated sounds ((i.e. the h gets left out far more often than it should, but sometimes get put in there when there should be none). There is also, as everyone knows who has some awareness of Indian languages, a difference in the way Hindi and Bangla deal with 'a', hence the variation between 'a' and 'o' in various transliterations. So, I am not trying to make a statement about how the spice mixture should be spelt correctly, nor how it should be pronounced, nor am I trying to change the structure of Hindi or Bangla. I am trying to point out that the same product will often be labelled somewhat differently, but will still be referring to the same thing. And if you are asking why the statement is there at all, read upthread and you should get the answer. It is not being equated with turmeric, chilli, or vindaloo, it that is what you are implying. And to Grub: what on earth are the other ingredients in this dish they are calling sorpotel, but mysteriously contains cashews where it should not? I'm curious now.

Suzysushi, Indians are not vegans. Most Indian vegetarians will not eat meat or eggs, but they will gladly eat dairy products. Not only are these products acceptable, but if the product originates from a cow, it has the added virtue of having sacred connotations for Hindus. The numerous Indian sweets based on reduced milk, ghee, and so on contain those products in part because milk and its products have such a high status in India. India does have a significant Jain population, who generally follow stricter dietary guidelines than a Hindu vegetarian would. Most avoid, for example, eating plants which must be killed in order to harvest them (potatoes or carrots would be an example). They are still not vegans. Every Jain person I know, and I know quite a few, happily eats dairy products. Quite a few will wear leather footware or use other leather items and choose to ignore the fact that this item involved the death of a cow (or, quite likely, a water buffalo rather than a cow). Also, maybe the term 'wealthy' should be considered. People tend to think of India in terms of many individuals being poor, but one can also approach the issue of eating styles and wealth from another angle. It was a long time ago, and so I can't remember either the author or the book, but I remember reading a history of India in which it was put forward that vegetarianism was able to become so widespread in India due to India's wealth. This is referring to a wealth of resources rather than wealth in monetary terms. The climate is such that people can easily grow a wide variety of lentils and beans, not to mention a huge range of vegetables, and therefore one is able to follow a vegetarian diet without any nutritional lack. The same would hardly be true of countries with less hospitable climates.

Germany imports them from Madagascar around Christmas time. They are sold at amazingly cheap prices (around 2.90 euros for one kilo). It wasn't until we came to Germany that we ever really ate our fill of lychees. We were in Barcelona a couple of years back just before Christmas. I think the lychees were also from Madagascar, and they were around the same price. India, of course, grows its own lychees. They are sold with each of the lychees still attached to a length of the branch (or twig rather) they grew on, with the branches bound together to form a bunch.

Oh that dish sounds vile.