echocolate

Regarding kalbi, I have seen some recipes that say "grill for 5 minutes" and others that say "stew for 1.5 hours." To me, this seems like such a wide gulf. Which is it? A quick-cooking type of meat, or one that benefits better from a long, slow cooking? Tell me quick, I have some kalbi ribs from H-mart.

Is there a marked difference between SMBC and regular American buttercream? What I'm getting at is whether boiling the sugar in SMBC makes all that much difference in the end product, as compared to mixing confectioner's sugar & butter in American-style... Thanks !

Thanks, shaloop. Walnuts make the best nuts for this, I've found. Any other nut makes it too sweet. I wanted to make this cookie again tonight, but couldn't find my notebook, and couldn't find the bookmark, so allllll I had to do was go to Google and type: best chocolate chip cookie recipe blog and it came up number one! I got a kick out of that!

This is terrible! (I made larb last week myself, btw) Sugar chopped mint leaves? ...whatever that is...!! Ginger? No!

Prawncrackers, Is the chicken rice the same as described in this thread, or something different? Looks wonderful!

I tried making this cookie with chopped up Halloween candy the other day (Hershey bars & Butterfingers). The result was okay...texture was good, but it was all a little too sickly sweet. Dark chocolate is best for this recipe! What is your favorite kind of nut to put in cookies? I like walnuts. Pecans are good, too, but a little on the sweet side. Has anyone tried chopped almonds? What else? I brought this cookie (with dark chocolate chunks & chopped pecans) to a potluck and it was a hit. I got many requests for the recipe.

Hm, I see a lot of lime leaves & lemongrass references...I'm surprised! Just curious, does the HSSS recipe call for lime leaves & lemongrass? I don't have the book, but I'm about to order it right now.

percyn, I larb that picture! I think I'll make some larb tonight (after stopping by the local Mexican grocery for mint and for the onions and garlic I ran out of (which btw is a HUGE tragedy in our house...we cannot go a single day without having onions and garlic on hand)).

Actually, I misunderstood and thought that jook and joongzi were the same thing, so your answer was correct for me.

Oh, ok. I lost the cup that comes with the rice cooker long ago, so i've just been guessing, and putting in 2 cups of dry rice with 2.25 cups of water. One more question - for anyone who makes joongzi, do you use regular water or broth ?

Bruce, that looks good! I like the idea of mincing your own pork steaks. One note - it's been my experience that cooking the mint will take away the flavor. I've had better luck by adding it as a topping, uncooked. My husband and I cooked this dish for the first time about 4 months ago. We were surprised at how easy it was to make one of our favorite Thai dishes, and since then, we've had it a gazillion times. I dice up lettuce into small squares, and I have several little dishes sitting around the meat plate filled with chopped mint, cilantro, scallions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sometimes pickled carrots & radishes (Vietnamese style). Jasmine rice on the side as well. For the meat, I usually fry it with a chopped yellow onion. We have done both turkey and pork. I like the pork, DH likes the turkey. I think next time I'll mix one lb of pork and one lb of turkey and see how that turns out. I add 1/4 c. of lime juice and 1/4 c. of fish sauce, and a few hits of soy sauce and sriracha, mixed together, to the cooked meat.

I, too, prefer how the jasmine strands stay separated. But so many people have raved over Korean rice, and I live just 3 or 4 blocks away from a Korean grocery store - I'm willing to give Korean rice a shot. Anyone want to tell me the ratio of rice to water using a regular rice cooker? Thanks!!

Oh, that sounds SO good! I don't suppose you could share the recipe? Thai jasmine fan here....

OK.....I'm not sure which recipe you're talking about, but I'm talking about the one at the very beginning of this thread. There is no honey in that one. I think the recipe is just like Tollhouse recipe, except that a cup of sugar was added to it, and then the recipe was halved. That's why it's good that it's a half recipe - they get eaten faster. Also, it's important to use bittersweet chocolate. If you use semi-sweet, the cookies will be too sweet. I LOVE this recipe and have it memorized already.

Okay, WOW! I just made the whole batch of cookies, and these are SO good! I can't figure out what it is about the recipe that makes them so incredible. I mean, the recipe basically looks just like Tollhouse cut in half. Mine is not to question, but to scarf down the rest.

I just finished watching the repackaged show. The Iceland episode was the 2nd episode I'd seen of the "No Reservations" show (the first being Vietnam). I remember being highly amused at the misery poor Tony was put through, and this time around, watching the show again with the commentary made it ten times funnier. I'd forgotten all about the elves in the hallway & the blue lagoon. Not to mention the icestorm where they're all stuck in the cave, and the guides get lost in their super-duper jeeps with satellites. And near the end of the show, the hot dog winds up being the best food in Iceland. Too funny! I'm very much looking forward to next week's new ep!

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the advice, everyone. I had to postpone the dinner party to this Sunday night, and will start thinking about/hunting for cheese this week.

Isn't that the truth! My husband and I frequently cook spicy & exotic dinners, and wish that we could invite someone over to share with us, but we know few who will tolerate such taste bud "attacks"! Your beef curry looks very, very good... reminiscient of a meal I had in Chicago in a little hole-in-the-wall by Grant Park a couple of summers ago. I live in a small town in Illinois and have given up hope of buying kaffir or lemongrass in the local grocery stores. Even the curry pastes are hard to get - one store offers a tiny 4 oz. jar of paste for $2.99. But I lucked out and found a local Asian "store" that is in someone's garage and might not even be legal , and there I found a 12 oz jar of Mae Ploy for $1.79 ...I like the sound of that! I completely forgot to ask the owner about the kaffir & lemongrass - on my next visit, I will certainly do that. She also sold me a block of tamarind paste, and jars of coconut milk that were 0.79 cents each (in the regular grocery stores they are $1.89 each). I have thought about making my own paste, but the ingredient list is overwhelming. Many, many kudos to those of you who have made your own.

*grin* What a special memory to have every time you roll out a pie crust! Today I bought a cheesekeeper for $2 at Salvation Army Sal Armani. A nice one, with a heavy glass dome lid and teakwood bottom.

We're thinking we might make pastrami instead of corned beef. We have too much meat to eat at once (8lbs) and we were wondering if either pastrami or corned beef slices keep very well in the freezer for using in Reuben sandwiches later. I would hate to have the texture change and have to give away 5 lbs of meat 'cause we can't eat it all!

Do you use the same spices (pickling & all) in the brined corned beef as you do in the pastrami? I guess I knew they were both brisket, but thought they were spiced differently.

Many thanks, Melkor! I may post pictures of our progress & results later on.

Has anyone made corned beef? My husband & I would like to make our own corned beef for St. Patrick's Day, but we are unsure as to how much pink salt to use. I'm ordering Prague Powder, and the seller says that 1 oz. of prague powder will cure 25 lbs of meat. However, the Charcuterie book says to use 1 oz of pink salt for every 5 lbs. of beef brisket. (We have an 8 lb brisket.) Do you think 1.5 oz would be an OK amount to put into the brining solution? Perhaps 1.75 oz?

I'm having an engaged couple over to my house in 2 weeks. I think I will serve: Hors d'oeuvres, salad, entree, and dessert. Problem is, I think I'd also like to have a cheese plate, too. Where would this fit in the natural progression of a dinner? I think I've heard most people refer to it as an after-dinner thing, so would it be before or after dessert? Or maybe in place of dessert?

My pet peeve is when people think that the word "butter" is a perfectly acceptable substitute for the word "margarine." But out of politeness, I have never said anything - just swallowed my disappointment after eagerly looking all around for the butter they asked me to pass, and realizing they meant margarine. In fact, after reading this thread yesterday, I called a wholesale grocery store to inquire into their prices for butter. The man quoted me 54 cents a pound and I nearly fell over in shock, until I realized a few minutes later that he meant margarine. I went down to that store today in person, and sure enough, the margarine is 54 cents a pound. The butter was $2.44/lb, and I can get that cheaper at Aldi ($1.99). (I wandered around the store for a while longer and also saw some white truffle oil for sale, which I filed away for future reference, 'cause I have no idea what to do with it. )