Kent Wang

In Chinese cuisine, there are certain vegetables with a hollow stem -- I think "water spinach" is one of them -- that one can use as a straw to suck up sauces or your beverage. My mom always had to stop me from doing that.

More restaurants should have local DJs produce mixes for the dining room. I'm sure there are many that will be willing to do it at little to no cost simply to get the publicity.

September 21, 2006 Austin Chronicle Restaurant Jezebel by Wes Marshall Visit this restaurant while they're still BYOB. "Restaurant Jezebel is hitting almost every note. The menu is ambitious, with combinations of flavors that I've never seen anywhere in the world. And the creativity is more than eclecticism for its own sake. It all works. The prices are at the upper end of Austin dining but so is the originality and service. Given the free corkage, which is supposed to continue at least until mid-November, the meal is a bargain. Even at the toughest time for the kitchen and staff, everyone was unfailingly pleasant and treated the diners as royalty." Austin Chronicle Byblos Falafel and Deli by Mick Vann Cafeteria-style Lebanese restaurant. "We've eaten almost everything on the menu and loved every delicious bite. This is true tabikh (Lebanese comfort food) and well worth the drive." Austin-American Statesman Cafe at the Four Seasons by Dale Rice "Until the final course, the Four Seasons meal was five-star. Unfortunately, dessert was not up to that standard, pulling the cafe's rating down a notch.... The problems with the desserts were underscored by the comparison to what preceded them: marvelous appetizers and entrees without a flaw."

Austin Chronicle repots:

What are your thoughts on using other sugars for making a simple syrup, for the purpose of mixing? Billington's, in particular, seems interesting as they make some truly tasty dark molasses and light muscovado sugars.

These horrid stories of waste have shattered my innocent view of the world. Now I know it is a cruel, merciless place.

Where do all the food items confiscated by customs go? I understand if they simply trash the more perishable items like fruit, but what about pates and charcuterie? Are customs officials holding awesome dinner parties?

From all the Japanese video games I have played I must ask: where is Class S, which is always the highest class? Maybe it is secret and you need to beat the game to access it.

How far in advance do you need to make a reservation? I've heard something like a week?

The article indicates that Nashi, Korean and Asian all refer to the same fruit. In Chinese we simply call it li.

My parents and I also visited Yangshuo in April to see Impression. I also agree that beer fish is nothing special. Really, I don't think the beer adds much to the flavor. I don't think I could tell the difference if they just used water instead. Mmm, this was a favorite of mine as well.

Does this kind of roe taste differently than other kinds of crab roe?

I call it Parmasand.

Sounds similar to pork intestines, am I right?

Korean pears are also commonly called Asian pears. California produces a lot of them and should be readily available througout America.

I also had a dish of "cured" crab, where raw crab is soaked in rice wine for several days. I believe the salt in the wine effectively cures the meat so that is it not technically raw. The texture of the meat is very unique, gooey. It's similar to raw the same way that smoked salmon is. Does anyone know more about this preparation? I believe it is a regional dish.

I've seen a recipe in a Cantonese cook book for live drunken shrimp that seems fairly authentic. Live shrimp are drowned in rice wine for a few minutes until they appear intoxicated and are then eaten while still alive. Live is a lot more extreme than just raw!

Quality Seafood is not strictly cajun as it has a lot of Southern dishes but I have never had a better gumbo or etoufee. As I wrote in that thread: I just went to Sambet's on Saturday after reading a positive review. I was disappointed that all they had were sandwiches, po boys and soups. It was also quite pricey, $9 for a muffaletta sandwich with a side of gumbo, and this is hardly a fancy place. The gumbo is darker than Quality Seafood's but is nevertheless not nearly as good. I'm just not into sandwiches that much. I have heard a lot of good things about Gene's but have yet to go.

Does native Chinese culture incorporate any raw meats? The Japanese of course have sushi, but even the West has raw oysters, carpaccio and steak tartare. Are raw meats becoming more accepted? I know that sushi is rather popular now, but how about the aforementioned Western raw dishes?

What a despicable practice. I wonder if the employees actually believe that these products are "not up standard" or if they know that they're lying.

Pre- vs post-salting Since I've been such a loyal customer of Texas Quail Farms, they kindly donated an extra pack of six bone-in breast pieces to advance the cause of science. I pre-salted three of the pieces and left the other three pieces unsalted. The pre-salted pieces weighed 245g all together before salting, 248g after salting. The other group weighed 239g. I left both groups to dry for about 48 hours. The pre-salted group shrunk to 209g (15.8% weight loss) and unsalted to 198g (17.2%). The difference in weight loss appears to be neglible. Pre-salted is to the left, unsalted on the right. As you can see, the appearance was the same between both groups. I salted the unsalted group before cooking. I seared the pieces in duck fat and then finished in the oven for a few minutes, allowing the meat to rest for 10 minutes before testing -- or should I say tasting? This time I had a friend join the tasting panel. I presented the samples as A and B instead of pre- and post-salted, reducing the effect of bias. We both independently reached similar conclusions. Pre-salted was much drier than post-, not unappetizingly dry but certainly not what one would call juicy. Post-salted had no traces of red juices as has been observed previously with brining. Pre-salted did taste better overall, with flavor evenly distributed throughout the meat. The center of the post-salted meat was a bit bland compared to the outer area. Post-salted was also substantially muskier in flavor, though I should add that this supplier's quail is much gamier in taste than any quail I have ever had, possibly due to the freshness. I actually preferred the more subdued gaminess of the pre-salted, though this may be a matter of taste. It's interesting that although the measured weight loss between the two groups was essentially the same, the post-salted group ended up being much juicier. This may be attributable to measurement error or simply the difference in the size and shape of the sample pieces. Is it really possible for the salt flavor to permeate all the way to the center of the breast? An alternate explanation may be that the drying process -- and not the salt itself -- is what develops the flavor. I'd also like to note that the post-salted group consistently browned better, as the pre-salted was drier. This seems counter-intuitive to the well-known notion that drier browns better, but I suspect that it's possible for meat to be too dry to brown. Searing the quail was quite disconcerting, actually, as there was nearly no sizzle. After this experiment I am recommending pre-salting over post-salting. However, if your meat is already very dry to begin with then post-salting -- or even not drying at all -- may be a better choice. I would like to do another round of experiments with wet-aging (packed and sealed in plastic) versus dry-aging. Pork chops are on hold until my preferred vendor, Full Quiver Farms, has them back in stock.

None of the above, really. I don't think we -- Chinese, anyway -- treat fruit any differently than Westerners. One thing to note is that fruit is rarely used in Chinese cooking, e.g. we do not put citrus on fish (a practice that I despise), no fruit sauces, etc.

September 14, 2006 Austin Chronicle Blue Star Cafeteria by Virginia B. Wood "The Blue Star menu is affordable and filled with inviting choices. My experience at Blue Star has been that not all elements of the well-conceived menu are executed as well as they could be, however. Unfortunately, my experience on both visits was that results can be very uneven, even on the same plate."

Holy cow, I have never heard of goose tripe before. I would've assumed they would have gizzards like ducks do. Such a strange shape, was it sliced or was the "tripe" naturally in strips like that? What did it taste like?

For the truly decadent, crab roe and mustard soup, served in a clay pot shaped like a crab.