Meez

Saturday night was tempura night. I made some quick pickles to go with: It's also nice to have something to nosh on while waiting for the next wave. For condiments, I put out some sea salt, soy, limes, and a Thai-inspired dipping sauce: Here is the first round: Ended up with shrimp, sweet potato, scallion, chile, ginger, and mint. I had some enoki that I totally forgot about, as well as some thin-sliced braised pork belly that I finally remembered at the end (sorry, no pic).

Wow, what a great party. I am convinced it's all happening in Vancouver and Seattle. I was looking at this picture and my 5 year old said, "Whoa, that looks like Darth Vader's helmet." Take it from me, that is high praise indeed.

I somehow always manage to come too late to these parties, and I just lucked into finding this one in full swing. I haven't even finished the first page yet, but let me say what a killer first paragraph that was.

Hey, my alma mater! So glad I checked into this forum. Put me down as definitely interested, but has some work to do to make it really happen; I'll confirm again if and when it is for sure. I have many fine food memories of A2: my first Thai (Jefferson Market), 4AM pizza from Bell's, bi bim bap everywhere, Spot's wings (still my favorite, even though I live near Buffalo), Cottage Inn deep dish Spicy Med with pepperoni, sausage, onions, extra cheese, and extra hot peppers, and one great date at Bella Ciao. Too many more to list without becoming tedious (probably too late ). Those hot dog stands that served them in halved baguettes. Great coffee everywhere, before it was cool. And of course, the almighty Zingerman's. Chicago dogs from that hot dog place. And Steve's smash-ins. And Kerrytown market. And Espresso Royale. Taco Bob's. Sorry.

Stouffer's french bread pizzas. Don't know if they were mentioned, but I've always loved these things.

So, what do you call that thing, Grub? "The Aristocrat."

I use both gas and charcoal, gas mostly for quick weeknights and a trusty Weber for smoking and grilling over wood or charcoal. If you like stirfries, I'd also recommend an outdoor wok burner. I just got one, and am having a lot of fun with it. I've done some stir fries and some deep frying so far, and am looking forward to big-pot boiling (details here). I think Raichlen and Schlesinger are both good bets; R's How To Grill covers pretty much everything and has lots of step-by-step pictures that are helpful to the beginner, while S comes up with really interesting combinations and has a great writing style.

Many thanks, Michelle. I'm a little embarassed, because I am actually familiar with the structure of Vietnamese and Thai both. I thought it would have a very sweet coconutty flavor, like coconut molasses or something, but it actually has an interesting tang to it, with a lot of depth. I've put it in meatballs and diipping sauces so far. Susan, yes, I am not cooking from recipes, but definitely with some inspiration. For example, I think there is a picture of a beef salad in Thomas' Thai Cooking that I had in my head, so when I had some leftover flank, I thought aha... A lot of my blog is devoted to exploring this very idea, that with a little knowledge of basic ingredients you can make lots of things easily. Tonight I made Thai fried shrimp There's some fried ginger and pork belly in there too, with some pickled red cabbabe, potato curry, and shredded carrot on the side. Dipping sauce too, not pictured.

Been meaning to get over here forever. It's easy to get stalled in the Dinner, Charcuterie, and Regrettable threads. Anyway, I'm trying to do more with Thai this summer; here are some recent meals. Beef salad Thai "bolognese" This is really just a pad thai type thing with some pork simmered in coconut milk, curry paste, and wine, as in a bolognese. It gets really tasty. There's probably a Thai name for this sort of thing, but I like the Italian crossover. Also, can anyone (Austin?) tell me what this label says, what it is and what exactly it's used for? The whole name is NUOC MAU DUA BEN TRE The English part says "condensed coconut," and I gather that's what NUOC MAU means. I've been putting it into sauces and things willy-nilly. It has a really interesting flavor.

Grind the pepper into a small bowl in advance, then season both sides of the meat in a single step. It would be even better if you used food handling gloves. Latex is more common, but vinyl is available if you have a latex allergy. The gloves are very inexpensive compared to the increase in food safety they provide. Jim ← I agree with Jim, and I also do a "clean hand / dirty hand" thing where I handle the meat with one hand and season with the other; works well if you have to get through a bunch of things that you want seasoned on both sides.

I think I'm gonna cry... That is just beautiful. I really have to stop lurking here and get in the mix.

Hi Chad. Just chiming in with the kudos. I really enjoyed your course, so this is great news. Sounds like the book will really be filled out.

I think there were 27 total, and I seem to recall a few extras that came out in the early 70s. Saveur just had an article written by a guy who worked on the first edition. I've had good luck on e-bay, but the prices can vary, from a few dollars each to upwards of $200+ for a complete set. I have about half of them, and I think it's fun to collect them a little at a time, but I'm afraid that the Saveur article might increase their demand for a while. As far as I know, the supplemental recipe books were only spiral bound, but I can not speak to a difference between the British and American versions. It is hard to pick out a favorite. My parents had the set, so I read through them growing up. I learned about clambakes from the American Northeast one, and thought that was just the coolest thing. I probably like the Provincial France one the best. Good hunting.

Whoa. That fryer is IT. I love wings; my faves outside of mine are from Mr. Spots in Ann Arbor. I've been to the Anchor Bar once and it was not the revelation I expected. Sauce is only OK, and their wings were actually too big: too much meat. I prefer medium or even smallish wings to get a more agreeable skin/meat ratio. I find that sauteeing a little garlic and black pepper in the butter before adding the sauce gives them a nice flavor, and lately I've been brining them and then drying them in the fridge overnight, which makes makes them uniformly seasoned and crispy. Thanks for the walk-through, Pork.

Beautiful. Maybe if it had been "Take Me to the River" things might have gone differently... In college, if I cooked for a date, I'd usually try to involve chocolate and caffeine at some point, usually in the form of a big coffee drink with whipped cream.

It's like Sesame Street: Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the letter P. Sure, why not? You wouldn't expect someone to be too carb-conscious with their birthday meal, but I'd clear it first. Sounds like a good excuse to eat pizza on a bed of fries. I'd also find out if she really wants all P things and is open to whatever, or if it is just a coincidence that her three favorite things start with P, and she really just wants those three things. Either way, sounds fun.

I just figured out two things: 1. there was a cook-off for composed salads, and 2. there is no statute of limitations for cook-offs. Lots of great salads here; I really love nicoise and cobb salads. Here is something I did recently and posted in the Dinner thread:

Don't know if anyone mentioned this, but I will never again click my stove dial to "high" and walk away when I mean to click it to "off." And I will never again try to cut a piece of ghee out of a plastic container while holding said container in one hand and using too much force with a semi-sharp knife in the other. Guess what, dumbass? The plastic doesn't stop the knife. The thing I hate the most is when I hurt myself while thinking, Man, this is a stupid thing I'm doing right now.

I do dig sandwiches. If you buy all your own stuff, like good bread as suggested before, they are really pretty economical and always excellent. Over the weekend I like to cook up an eye round roast, turkey breast, corned beef, or what have you (usually whatever is on sale), or make up a meatloaf or other terrine if I'm feeling ambitious, and put it on good bread. It is really not much effort to throw something into the oven or onto the grill, let it cool, and then slice it up and store it in the fridge for the week. Same way with cheeses. The bread I slice and freeze, so it stays pretty fresh. Leftovers are always a winner too, but for the most part I try to avoid the lunchroom scene at work (whole other topic).

The roasted cauliflower, of course, was an immediate hit, but so was roasted radishes. I forget whose post I got that from, but they also went over big.

My defaults are Tobasco (always); Frank's (when I'm contemplating wings); some kind of plain habanero (once in awhile, and brand does not usually matter); and a jalapeno sauce I make by putting pickled jalapenos into a blender and enough liquid to make it thin, sometimes more, sometimes less, and sometimes with lime, cilantro, or fresh chiles. This stuff I have around most of the time. I recently gave a friend a huge laugh. He had this stuff with the word "inferno" in it (or something like that) and offered me some to go on the chicken fingers we were snacking on. I'm like yeah, whatever, and proceeded to sprinkle it on liberally. He warned me, but I'm like "I'm used to this; I've been doing this most of my life, and besides, most hot sauces aren't really that hot." I quickly turned into Cheech from Up in Smoke when he was all freaked out and saying "Man, I never had no shit like this before." There was about 10 minutes there when I was actually kind of scared.

Just a quick handheld shot. Bi bim bap type deal

Back in college I used to drain off most of the water, add soy, cayenne, black pepper, and sesame oil, and then maybe sprinkle a little of the packet back in so you get this really hot, oily, and salty mass of noodles. Let it sit for a minute so the liquid is absorbed. Rarely consumed before midnight, and usually straight out of the pan. OK, maybe I still do that.

Wow, the bar is high around here. Great pics, everyone. Going light this week with black beans and rice on Mon and Tue and a bi bim bap type deal last night and tonight. Probably won't get a picture. Hitting the road tomorrow. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

Last night: Your basic beef braise With sauteed mushrooms, glazed shallots, and sitting on mashed potatoes and turnips with leek gratin and bacon mixed in. Alinka, the shot of the biscoti is so clear, when I look at the reflection in the chocolate, am I actually looking out a sliding glass door onto a deck? With maybe a hanging plant? Great shot.