Ducksredux

just don't expect Zabar's prices at DiBruno's. Expect to pay at least 1/3 more for cheeses (and everything else). Kind of like the price difference between Zabar's and Eli's, or Fairway and Dean and DeLuca. But the cheesemongers at DiBruno's are much friendlier and more helpful than at Zabar's (and give bigger tastes) and there's rarely a huge crowd, let alone a bloodthirsty horde like at Fairway.

when I got some Rolf Beeler Reblochon aged probably only 40 days I could smell it two floors up... and it was in the refrigerator. That's why I just shrugged when my wife complained about the hing. She actually wound up quarantining the asafoetida, as well as my black salt and chunky chaat masala (MDH brand). Meanwhile she dives right into our baby's dirty diapers without complaint.

Old style bottle with rubber gasket and wire device for keeping lid secure works fine for me... ← Several days later and the stench is gone. Thank you all very much. You've restored domestic harmony and marital bliss.

My wife keeps telling me that our kitchen smells like dead rodents courtesy of the tiny bottle of asafoetida I have in the spice drawer. It's wrapped in 3 ziplock bags, but apparently that isn't good enough to keep it from smelling up that sector of the kitchen. Any suggestions on how to store it?

NYPD Pizza is pretty decent. If it were in New York I wouldn't avoid it, but I also wouldn't seek it out. If it were in NY it wouldn't be in my top 20. In Philly though it seems to be one of the best of a mediocre/bad lot. Their sauce is a bit too bitter, whereas their cheese and crust are not bad.

Hey, Ducksredux -- I came across a recipe on the beeb website, for a Duck Vindaloo, which made me think of you: Madhur Jaffrey's Duck Vindaloo with Spinach, Ginger and Green Chillies Of course, with the result I had with Waaza's Vindaloo recipe, I think I'd much rather try his Duck Vindaloo recipe, even over Jaffrey's -- but I think she knows her way around a kitchen too, heheh. At any rate, whatever you try, report back okay? Cheers. ← Frankly, I've been having such success with Julie Sahnie that I haven't been bothering with anybody else's recipes lately. Also, my wife doesn't like much heat in her food, and any heat that she does eat gets passed on in the breast milk to my 4 month old baby, who makes faces and eats much less. So I've been avoiding Vindaloo. Yesterday I made papadum with a store-bought sweet mango pickle, a mango pickle from Neelam Batra's book, and mint chutney from Sahni's book. Also: Aloo podina (?) chaat (book is way downstairs, but I think it's called this) Glazed beets Sweet saffron rice Cornish hens in apricot sauce all from Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking didn't use any ghee so none of the guests could complain about their cholesterol. I don't think I've ever made anything that tasted so good.

what kind, what brand? there are such a jillion many different kinds of pickle, so when someone just says "mango pickle" or "lime pickle" one has no idea what they mean. in mango pickle - the saltiest ones are the "south indian tender baby mango pickle" - vadumangai, where the juice is mainly brine, red chili, and a couple or other things. but there's also avakaya, sweet mango pickle, mango pickle with or without oil, mango pickle with or without garlic, shredded mango, chunk mango, different degree of ripeness, there are literally too many to list. so, to jason, dux, and others discussing mango or lime pickle - which kind? what name? what recipe, what region? the same brand (e.g. swad) will have several different kinds of mango pickle..... and tryska, what kind of garlic pickle? milagai ← I've actually been using the pickles a little bit the past few days. My wife made an astounding quantity of frozen boiled chicken breast so I've been mixing in a little pickle every day at work, desperate for any flavor at all. I took a closer look at the pickles and sure enough, there are a few differences. Shalini - Katki Diced Mango Pickle (Sweet) haven't opened this one yet. Ingredients are: Sugar, Mango, Salt, Cumin, Chili MTR - Mango Pickle (Tender) not opened yet. Ingredients: Mango, Salt, Chili, Spices Patak's - Mango Relish Fruity and Chunky Medium. Ingredients: Mango, Oil, Salt, Spices, Preservatives Ahmed - Mango Pickle. Ingredients: Mango, Oil, Salt, Acid, Spices Swad - Mango Pickle. Ingredients: Mango, Salt, Oil, Spices, Acid I'm going to try the Shalini pickle today, since it looks to be much less salty. And the next time I buy pickles I'll look at the salt content.

just like olives, no? my first several times eating olives i felt the same way. now i can eat a whole bowlful. don't throw the pickles away, gift them to a desi friend, or mail them to me 1. it is probably somewhat an acquired taste. 2. yes, you are not supposed to take a huge bite; but a tiny smidgen well-buried in a mouthful of rice+yogurt, or chapati+dal, etc. it's proverbial in india to giggle when people "eat achar like sabzi" i.e. eat pickle like it was a veggie dish, but they usually do this because they like it so much: i am guilty of eating punjabi mixed veg pickle (turnips, carrots, cauliflower in mustard seeds and a touch of sweet and hot and salt in the spice) just as if it was mixed veg subzi instead of mixed veg achaar. hth milagal ←

Howdy! Decided to be adventurous and buy 5 different brands of Mango pickle: Swad, Ahmed, Patak's, and two others. Have tried 3 so far and each is so incredibly salty that I can't bear to take another bite. I like salty food, but this is unreal. I threw away a ginger pickle a few weeks ago because it was way too salty. And when I ordered a mixed pickle at local restaurant it was also inedible. So what's the secret here? Is it an acquired taste? Should I be burying a miniscule amount of it in a huge bowl of rice?

Suvir recommends using frozen curry leaves if u don't have fresh, but 33% more than the recipe calls for. So if you are stocking up and don't intend to hit the indian market too often then definitely buy a ton of curry leaves and freeze most of them. They're a pain in the butt to try to find elsewhere. I dunno, maybe other Asian markets carry them but I've never found them. Also, it's really tough to find a whole list of stuff in a market where nothing is labeled, so get someone there to help you find the stuff. Look for the guy on a cellphone who has no cart or basket. And make sure you go armed with the Indian and English names of the stuff you want (Amchur = Mango, Kalonji = Nigella, etc.) because sometimes it's hard to find someone who speaks English or who knows the English names. I would never have found Mango powder if I hadn't found someone who told me it was Amchur. One thing I like to do is to follow someone down the pickle aisle and take one of whatever s/he takes. They're so cheap so just buy a dozen things and see what you like. And check the expiration date on pickles!!! Some will be on the shelf YEARS after their sell-by date. Also, if you know anyone else who cooks Indian ask if they'll go in with you on a bunch of spices, cause some are only sold in bulk, and I mean BULK. I have enough Kalonji seeds to last a few hundred years. So far I've used a 1/4 tsp. Are you near Philly? I could give you all the Black Salt, Kalonji, turmeric, amchur powder, chunky chaat masala, ajwain, white poppy seeds, star anise, saffron, and asafoetida you'll ever need. Other things you might need/want: Mango pulp for lassi: Kesar mangoes are ideal, I think Rosewater for lassi and/or naan Basmati rice: Julie Sahni recommends Dehradun basmati from Uttar Pradesh rather than Patna basmati from Bihar The spices I regularly run out of are: Tellicherry peppercorns Cassia cinnamon sticks Cumin seeds (black) Mustard seeds (black) Coriander seeds Green cardamom pods Bay leaves Cloves I also always need/use garlic white onions cilantro/coriander ginger

No, the pan isn't enamel, it's cast iron that has been coated with enamel. It's 13" wide at the bottom: Le Creuset 5 qt Buffet Casserole I had no problems when I needed to fry the onions, but when I turned down the temperature to simmer the meat covered it seemed like I could either get a bubble every once in a while or a boil and nothing in between. And then when I took the cover off to simmer to reduce the water it took hours! Is it supposed to take hours to simmer off a little water? That's why I was thinking maybe my pot is way too wide... maybe the tiny flame that keeps it simmering isn't strong enough to heat up the entire pot, therefore it only simmers in the middle and is lukewarm (bacteria-breeding temperature) at the sides. Any validity to this theory do you think? I have deeper pots that aren't nearly as wide that I could use Le Creuset Soup Pot, but I don't know if it's better to have more surface area being heated or less. Thanks so much for the modified recipe. I love the idea of adding a tarka at the end. I guess I'm surprised that the duck needs that much extra help, but the more flavor the merrier. I'll definitely give this recipe a try later this week. Maybe I can even find a duck that hasn't been frozen. Does the type of frying oil make a huge difference? I've been using peanut oil because that's what I have on hand. I agree with you that the number of chiles makes the dish "glow" rather than hot, but my wife, who's a big baby, thinks it's too hot to taste with only 5 chiles, so I'll have to either uninvite her or cut back on the chiles somewhat. (She usually orders korma "extra mild") Grub, your success and perseverance continue to inspire me.

Eh, first post, nervous... So... uh I completely flubbed this Vindaloo. My attempt should perhaps be called Vindapoo. I'm trying to figure out where I went wrong, but I think maybe in multiple places. I decided to use duck instead of pork, since I dunno I grew up kosher and now I'm not but Rabbi Weiser is still in the back of my head telling me that god will cut off my soul if I eat pork. So I got a 5lb frozen duck. Defrosted in water in the sink for a couple of hours. Took me about a half hour to skin it, and then about 45 minutes to hack off about 600 grams of meat. The chunks of meat were uhh not exactly uniform in size, as some of them had been pretty severely massacred. For the marinade I think I burnt a pepper or two, but not the spices I don't think. Not sure if I used the right pepper - they weren't labeled - but they sure looked like Sanam. Maybe I shouldn't have used apple cider vinegar? Figured I might as well put the duck carcass to work so I made a stock with no mirepoix and let it simmer for like 5 hrs. So about 20 hrs later I fried the onions in this massive 5 qt cast-iron enamel-lined buffet casserole. Maybe way too big? Got the onions nice and golden and added the meat. Couldn't get much of the marinade off the chunks, cause I didn't want the onions to burn while I was straining them or whatever. So then it took like 45 minutes before the meat was semi-dry. Added in the rest of the marinade (not much). After a bit I added in some duck stock, but it took forever to burn off. Covered the vindaloo in the stock and simmered for an hour covered. After an hour there was still a ton of liquid (maybe cause my casserole dish was so wide?). I simmered it for a couple of hours uncovered but the liquid was reducing too slowly. At that point I tasted it and decided that the stuff didn't taste very good so I might as well hurry it up. Took the meat out and turned the heat up so it'd reduce quicker. Got annoyed after a half hour of that and put the meat back in and served it. The meat was a bit stringy but not tough at all. The meat had some flavor but the sauce little. I also managed to burn Suvir's spinach and potato red onion thingee and make his cumin rice way mushy. My wife bought ice cream to cheer me up.