Kent Wang

Genetic engineering or careful breeding?

January 26, 2006 Austin Chronicle Revelatory Vegan. Marveling at Nu Age Cafe's ambitious but uneven menu. by Kate Thornberry Review of unique upscale vegan cafe. "I imagine that most people's experiences at the Nu Age will be similar to my own; some dishes fantastic, and others so-so. But what a treat it is to have a place like this in town." Austin Chronicle Food-o-File by Virginia B. Wood Major changes for this year's Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival. Austin American-Statesman Fino by Dale Rice Review of new upscale pan-Mediterranean restaurant opened by Asti owners. "That atmosphere might be outstanding, but it's the food, service and teamwork that are the ultimate keys to a restaurant's success, and those ingredients are mixing so well that Fino might be the best three-star restaurant in Austin." This thread is for food media DIGEST entries. If you want to discuss one of these news items, please start a separate discussion thread. ←

I devein not so much to remove the vein but to butterfly them and increase the surface-volume ratio so that the shrimp absorbs more of the seasonings. Of course, to take advantage of this you must devein/butterfly before cooking.

Most of the flavor comes from the brains. I believe I saw one Iron Chef where shrimp brain was the secret ingredient. Instead of making a stock, try scooping the brains out. Then you can put the brains directly into your risotto, bisque, etc.

Me too! Even the people in the cooking club at my college don't quite get it. I'm still the only one that makes their own stock. Then there are the roommates that aren't careful with your equipment, like using your knives for all kinds of purposes!

Room?! The head is where all the flavor comes from!

How about those Rabbit-brand candies, or some other Chinese candy, pastry or snack?

Did you have a huge grin on your face all throughout dinner?! What was her reaction?

When rinsing out a glass of Messina Hof Private Reserve 2001 port wine, the water turns a light blue and stays that color for about fifteen minutes and eventually fades. What is going on? Is this evidence of a dye that's been used? This is hardly a world-class wine, just one from a local Texas winery that I happen to like.

Maybe it's a matter of taste as well; I don't really like edamame very much. I am using salmon furikake manufactured by Ajishima Foods. Contents are salmon, sesame seed, seaweed, sugar, salt.

Edamame turned out poorly as the beans are just too big, relative to the cake. Something like capers or peas would be the ideal size. Are there are any Japanese peas that fit the bill? I then tried wakame which was really heavenly. I am feel that I am very close to finalizing this recipe. 1lb crab meat 4 Tbsp tempura batter 3 Tbsp Kewpie mayo 3 Tbsp furikake 4 Tbsp wakame, reconstituted 1 egg 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 cup panko

Positively perfect!

Sturgeon is one of my new favorite fishes. I blackened mine. Blackened sturgeon, haricots verts with carmelized shallots and garlic.

You should probably start a new thread about that, to attract the attention of the Houstonians on this forum. The Houston Press website is another good resource.

People think I'm nuts when I tell them I'm driving over a hundred miles just to go to a restaurant, winery or food festival. Such a thing exists?!

I've been trying to get restaurants to fax me the menu in advance so I can use a dictionary and Google to look things up.

Very cool. My dream is to retire early and go to the CIA just for self-education, without any plans to go into the industry after graduation. Have you met any luck ducks like that?

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I'm currently forced to experiment only with salmon and tuna instead of crab meat while I wait for my fishmonger to get claw meat back in stock. Here is my current recipe: 1lb crab meat 1/4 cup tempura batter 1/4 cup Kewpie mayo 2 Tbsp furikake 1 egg 1 tsp baking powder 1/2 cup panko Yes, for the tempura batter I'm just using the stuff in the box whose component ingredients are just cornstarch, flour, baking powder and powdered egg. Should I replace this premade batter with flour? There is a lot of mayo in it. Do you think this is un-Japanese or un-crab cake? I do like the Kewpie mayo a lot more than typical American mayo (e.g. Helmann's). I want to bring this dish to a potluck so a dipping sauce is unpractical for serving purposes, but maybe I can put a dollop of a thicker sauce on top of each cake. I am looking at the Japanese salad dressings thread for inspiration. The wasabi-mayo sounds like a good idea. It's just mayo and powdered wasabi, or is there anything else? I suppose if I use that dressing, I'll remove the mayo from the cakes themselves. Edamame is an excellent idea.

Yuzu is a citrus that is an essential component of ponzu sauce.

I have never heard of these before, and a quick search on Google shows that these always have potato as an additional filler. Is that true? In any case, I do see the similarity and will try to tweak the recipe to set it apart from the kani korokke.

My first few batches were with Gulf of Mexico blue crab meat. My preference is actually claw meat, which my fishmonger is currently out of. Petite tête de chou, thanks for the suggestion. I just bought two kinds of furikake and am dying to try them out later today or tomorrow.

If you want to prepare it yourself, you really just need to buy good soy products. After that, there's not much to it other than stir-frying with some soy sauce. Do we already have a thread identifying good brands of soy products? If not, this would be a good place to start.

More like eel. I remember having snake soup as a child for some medicinal purpose, but I really enjoyed it.

Add Tien Jin and NG House to the list of restaurants serving traditional cuisine. I've only been to each of those once and have been satisified. Now if only I knew more Chinese so I can read the menus!

I've experimenting lately with making a Japanese version of crab cakes, using tempura batter, Kewpie mayonnaise and panko. What other Japanese ingredients can I substitute to make it more Japanese? Here is my current recipe that I've adapted from a recipe I found in RecipeGullet 1lb crab meat 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup tempura batter 4 Tbsp Kewpie mayo 2 tsp Tony Chachere Creole Seasoning 1 egg 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp oyster sauce 1/2 cup panko 1. Mix first eight ingredients together. 2. Form cakes, dip in panko, fry. The panko is an especially nice improvement over plain ol' bread crumbs. Also, the removal of the bread for tempura batter 1) increases the percentage of crab meat in each cake and 2) results in a smoother consistency. I'd like to replace the Tony Chachere with a more Japanese seasoning, but what? What do you think about oyster sauce? Is it a Japanese ingredient or only Chinese? This recipe is nearly all crab meat with some filler and could use some more substantive ingredients to add some textural interest. I usually like to have some chopped celery and capers in my traditional crab cakes, but what Japanese analogues would you use? How about wakame? Do you think this is an all together silly exercise? I just thought of the idea when looking through my pantry. For the record, I am Chinese and have very little experience with real Japanese food.