nakji

Ah, the traditional mid-Christmas/New Year eastern seaboard blizzard. Sometimes I don't miss North America at all. Ok, I just clicked over there for the first time, because I am not a modernist cuisine-type AT ALL, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that there is some feeling (amongst the bullet points) from Nathan M that cheap pans may (sometimes?) perform better than expensive ones - something I have inadvertently found, mostly from spending most of the year cooking in my cheap-ass pans, but then using my parents and parents'in-law's expensive sets and burning everything when I visit Canada. What are your thoughts? Any idea what he's on about?

So...what else did we get? I got a 24 cm suribachi, which will help me immeasurably with my goma-ae. I also got another silicon spatula, a 2L Chinese claypot (!), and some 5 yr. balsamic.

W00T! Let's go do some cooking over in that topic. My Christmas menu came out flawlessly. There were a few dicey moments. First, my oven kept tripping the breaker on the (scary) wiring in my flat. So I had to move my oven to the living room to roast the turkey, because the wiring is better in there to handle the space heater. Then, the weight of the turkey actually bowed the wire rack to about 1 mm above the element - but it held, and roasted a perfect 5 kilo turkey in 1&1/2 hour. Star! I thought it was going to give out, but it held to do the pans of stuffing and roast my broccoli as well. Christmas miracle, I guess. Instead of vinegar, I put maple and chili on the pumpkin, and used some aged balsamic vinegar that was a gift from my husband on the broccoli. I switched the roast potatoes to mashed in deference to my sad oven and the small jar of black truffle salt I gave to my husband for Christmas, to accolades from all my diners. The gravy was a wash because I didn't get a good fond on the turkey pan, but I took a page from Julia's book and didn't apologize. The sweets came out nicely, too, with the shortbread, mince pies, fruitcake, and World Peace cookies all getting their due. At one point, I found my husband smearing spoons of brandy butter onto the shortbread. Next year, I'll ice them. A friend brought three more kinds of cookies, so everyone left with a tray. We had a savouries round about three hours after Christmas lunch which consisted of hummus and bread, and bacon-wrapped sausages and bacon-wrapped shiitakes. People protested, but they still ate. A very successful year alogether. I feel quite chuffed, although I have only just now finished the dishes.

I make my teriyakiwith equal parts of soy and mirin and a bit of sugar. Mirin is supposed to be subtly sweet. Sake and a bit of sugar would make a better substitute than sake and lemon, I think. But a normal bottle of cooking mirin can probably be had as cheaply and conveniently as sake at your local Asian market. I love having some in the kitchen to add at the end of sauteing vegetables like carrots or pumpkin. I've worked in kitchen conditions like yours for most of my adult life - two burners, no oven, an odd collection of pots I've picked up from people trying to empty their flats before leaving the country, a fridge the size of a large box of cornflakes, and one cupboard. Italian, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cuisines have helped me deal with the limitations. It's time consuming - I have to shop daily to get vegetables fresh, and plan my week accordingly, but two cooks have helped me a lot. Anything by Marcella Hazan (I picked up my first Marcella book in a used bookstore, I can't imagine what fool gave it away - maybe they'd memorized everything in it?) and Harumi Kurihara will help you plan meals that serve one or two, use a minimum of pantry ingredients, and can be cooked with simple equipment.

Amazing menus here! My prep starts tonight with some vegetable cleaning and chopping (celery and broccoli); cauliflower pickles; and turkey defrosting. I don't have enough room in my fridge, but fortunately we're going to get a cold snap tomorrow, and I don't have indoor heating, so I'm hoping that'll make for a slow and steady thaw. Christmas Eve is my work party - we're going out for hotpot, which should be quite merry - lots of stabbing into bubbling red pots; I can't think of anything more Christmassy. When I come home I have to bake my pre-prepared mince pies and tourtiere. I feel your pain! My battles for Christmas prep have been less elemental, though. In the last week both my oven and my fridge have crapped out on me: my kitchen blew a fuse on Wednesday; fortunately the lack of indoor heat came in handy and kept everything cold. I'm a little more worried about my oven - the element has been finicky - it stopped working on the weekend after an hour of baking, but then worked later. Fortunately if it goes Christmas Day, the shops will be open and I can pick up another one cheap. And, of course, there's always the Asian Christmas Plan B: KFC.

What an amazing read so far: curing your own bacon! Sous-viding ducks! Smoking pineapples! That sounds like something Robin would say, actually: "Holy Smoking Pineapples, Batman!" I can't believe how fat those ducks look, actually - much larger than the skinny ones I'm used to seeing at the markets. And since I guessed correctly that those were prunes (but not Armagnac), I'd like to hear more about the Keemun. I have a small bag in my kitchen from a trip to Anhui province, and I'm pretty sure it's the only red tea I really enjoy. The smoky flavour cuts the sweetness, for me.

I've never seen the Java box - does it involve coconut milk in some way? Vermont is an old favourite of mine.

Ok, rabbit is out. Pork only, with potatoes and some all-spice. Basic pastry, I think. I'm going to assemble it unbaked, then freeze, for baking Christmas Eve. Question: does it need to be thawed before baking, or can it be baked from frozen?

My oven element just went, mid-cookie-baking day. I may have to completely scrap my menu. Or find a new oven.

Is that a happy break, Marlene? Nanaimo bars are scratched too: there's not a nilla wafer or a graham cracker to be had. I've replaced them on the menu with World Peace Cookies. I baked them last year, but they didn't seem to work, since everybody is still at war. Oh well. At least they taste good, and can be frozen ahead.

Nice, I have some relatively fresh black peppercorns I picked up in Borneo this year which will do nicely.

Are those plums in Armagnac? A tea enthusiastic, too. Hmm.

Oh, excellent. I don't have any candied ginger, but I suspect I could sub in some dark chocolate, eh? I assume the black pepper is fresh ground.

Has anyone ever added fresh ginger to gingerbread/gingersnaps? I'd like to make a batch for Christmas, and I really enjoy the burn that fresh ginger gives. I'm thinking of adapting Mark Bittman's Gingersnap recipe with a tablespoon or so of fresh grated ginger, and rolling the refrigerated dough in sugar before baking.

Can't the same be done for free by watching Youtube videos? I guess they're trading on the convenience of finding it all together, and quality?

I think I'm dropping the lemon bars, as lemon are too pricey right now. I'll put zest into the shortbread to satisfy the lemon urge. I'm wondering, should I freeze my tourtiere unbaked or already baked?

Has anyone else tried this? It's from Estrella Damm. My local pub was carrying bottles and my husband couldn't resist taking one home last night. It's in a champagne-style bottle, and has a label that is very reminiscent of Sapporo - a black field with a gold star in the centre. According to the accompanying booklet (!): So, perfect with a vindaloo? We actually had it with a well-dressed salad, and I thought it did pair well. The citrus and coriander notes came through nicely, although I thought no better than a bottle of (much cheaper and more widely available) Hooegarden.

Enjoy - the broth tastes even better if you include as much negi as possible in your hotpot assortment; and your beef should also have a goodly amount of fat on it, as well. My husband doesn't enjoy eating the fat- he picks it off after it's cooked, but we both agree it adds appropriate depth to the soup.

For Korean hotpot, or Chinese hotpot? For Chinese, I'm not so sure, but the Korean one I made, I did from memory. It wasn't perfect, but once the veg and meat start to go in, they make up for any shortcomings. I don't measure much, but if I had to guesstimate, I warmed about 1/3 cup sesame oil in the bottom of the hotpot pan. To that, I added three grated cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of Korean chili powder, two tablespoons of Korean chili paste (gochujang), a splash of soy sauce, a splash of cooking wine, and a tablespoon of sugar, along with about a quarter cup roasted and then ground sesame seeds. I heated that until the paste was bubbling and then topped it up with broth. I used chicken, because it's what I had; beef would be better. A bit of pounded ginger wouldn't go wrong in there, either. For dipping sauce, I cut equal parts peanut butter and gochujang with a little more grated garlic and soy to thin. Non-traditional but delicious, I feel.

Thanks for the tip, Snadra! Sadly, China's not on their delivery list, either. That's okay, though, as the consolatory trip to Singapore I'm planning is looking a lot more likely. I'll put that book on my shopping list as it sounds right up my alley.

Temperatures are approaching zero (Celsius) and South of the Yangzte there's no central heating, so I really needed something to warm up with last night. I made Korean-style hotpot, with a broth of chili, gochujang, garlic and sesame oil and seeds. Beef rolls, assorted mushrooms, mustard greens, negi, potato, and napa cabbage for dipping. I let it boil until my husband and I could barely see each other through the steam (romance! hardship!); all we were missing was a bottle of soju to really kill the cold. Snow's predicted tomorrow; I'm going to have to lay in a case.

In Hanoi, chili sauce (usually homemade, not bottled) was on the table, but I never saw hoisin. Doesn't mean it wasn't out there, though. Could be a HCMC thing, too. I had pho for lunch today in Shanghai, as the weather turned cold and rainy. My husband and I were debating which was the more perfect soup: pho or tonkontsu ramen. I argued that pho was more balanced and less likely to result in a heart attack at the table, but he thought that was actually a point in the ramen's favour.

I recently had a dish of these steamed and finished with chili, garlic, cilantro stems and lots of good Shaoxing wine - gorgeous! I'm not sure how long they were steamed, but the "trap-door" part was coming loose naturally, which I expect is a sign of done-ness? I thought they were as excellent eating as mussels.

What kind of forgotten skills does it address? For example, does it discuss or give directions for properly preparing a chicken from feathers and feet? I would find that quite useful. I usually get my chickens post-feathers, but including feet and head. I have not yet found a useful method for properly butchering the bird down to a roastable form. Mainly I just flail at it with my cleaver until it fits in the pan, but there's gotta be a better way. No Dorie love for me this Christmas, Amazon "sellers" won't ship it to China, and Chapters.ca is a non-starter as well. I'm looking at going to Singapore at CNY just to hit the bookstores.

I'm in dire straits for preparation this year. Once again, I'm playing hostess to a crew of 20-or so - mostly young, expatriate Brits, along with some more from Canada, Israel, Pakistan, the Philippines and Kenya. So - a diverse group. Pork is okay, everyone having made their peace with it already. I don't have the 24th off, so I basically have the weekend before and Christmas morning to prep. I have no functional helpers, except for my husband, who requires heavy direction in the kitchen. I've decided to hew as close as possible to a traditional British-style menu, since it seems to have the chance of pleasing the most. On the table: Cranberry sauce pickled cauliflower (Harumi's recipe) gherkins/onions Warming sesame-miso soup on the stove for the non-drinkers Some sort of chutney for the tourtiere - help? Mains: *Turkey (pending availability - rolled pork belly roast as plan B) *Bacon-wrapped sausages *Roast potatoes *Simple onion stuffing (To simplify prep) *Roast broccoli with garlic, lemon and balsamic (in place of brussel sprouts - unavailable) *Pureed pumpkin with chili, Chinkiang vinegar (Nod to locale) *Mince pies *Christmas cake *Shortbread Silly hats from M&S luxury cracker selection Canadian touches: *Tourtiere *Nanaimo bars (the only thing that I really want to eat) *Lemon squares (for my husband) How will I manage to get it all together? I'm pretty sure I can get all of the baking done the previous weekend and freeze it, save the nanaimo bars - can you freeze nanaimo bars, I wonder? The tourtiere I can also make ahead. What worries me is getting the turkey done, which I can do in the morning, but also the roast potatoes; roast broccoli; AND the stuffing prepped. International potluck contributions so far volunteered: *Adobo (yay!) *Hummus (double yay!) Everyone else will no doubt bring beer/wine. I have several Gluhwein infuser packets for the inevitable bottles of Great Wall Cabernet. I'm also going to ask people to bring mandarins and fresh-roast nuts, because they're easily acquirable. One or two hardy souls might be counted on to find a bit of cheese somewhere to bring along.