nakji

Mark Bittman's column today in the New York Times Dining and Wine section is on alternatives to burgers made with supermarket ground beef. We've had discussions on this idea before - our lamb burger topic; our turkey burger topic; our veggie burger topic. We've of course discussed the superiority of grinding your own beef. But what about pork burgers? I really enjoyed eating bun cha in Vietnam - basically small burgers of pork grilled on an open grill with a fan, then dunked in a sour broth with rice noodles and herbs. I'd love to adapt that to a full burger size, served on a bun, with banh mi pickles and herb garnish. Does anyone else make pork burgers?

Discussion of the book itself over here. I bought this book the other day after circling it at my local bookstore for the last six months. At first I assumed it was more a "coffee table" style cookbook meant to be looked at and not cooked from, but discussion in the book topic inspired me to flip through it. I found a few recipes that looked interesting, so I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, my husband had a flip through all of the gorgeous pictures, and started making noises again about taking motorcycle trip through Northern Vietnam and Laos, as he's been threatening to do with his friends the last couple of years. If it gets off the ground, I guess I'll have to take a recipe notebook with me this time. There's a basil chicken I had in Luang Prabang that still haunts me, and I kick myself once a month for not barging into the kitchen and watching it get made. The first recipe I tried was based on Snadra's recommendation of the fresh corn and chili stir-fry. `I got the corn and chilis from the market without looking at the recipe (as I ever do) and missed out completely that it called for pork. So I displayed adaptability and used a bit of Hunan smoked pork I keep around for just such idiocy, thus "Sinicizing" the dish somewhat. Nevertheless, it was excellent. Only later did I read the accompanying notes and realize it was a Hmong dish. In fact, so many of the pictures of Yunnan province remind me of Northern Vietnam (for obvious reasons) that it's making me want to get on a plane. The other dish I made was the Dai Grilled chicken - a real hit. My husband loves Sichuan peppercorns, but I usually hate them. This recipe called for grinding them up, however, which I found a lot less intrusive than I normally do. Actually, the smell of the garlic paste that went on the chicken before grilling was heaven. I only had skinless chicken thighs - next time I'll use ones with skin to keep it more moist. My only complaint about the book so far is the size of it. Although it's about cooking in Asian kitchen, it's hardly meant for actually using in an Asian kitchen - there's not a flat surface big enough in mine to lay it open on. I'll have to copy out the recipes I like best and leave the book on my coffee table.

Allspice! Hmm. Interesting. I asked my friend who supplied me the tahini what he did to make his hummus so light and smooth, and he said he liked to put it in the blender, walk away for ten minutes or so, and then come back. I only blend mine for around a minute. How long does everyone blend for?

Guilty confession: right now I am craving, craving a Costco hot dog, piled high with onions and mustard, and a smear of neon green relish on top. Recently, in two separate novels, I've read a hot dog referred to as a "sandwich". Is a hot dog a sandwich?

Hmm, that's a good question. I assumed that I would just strain the stock, then continue to boil it down until it had reduced. I'm not sure that's the best method, though.

The eggs! Four kinds - two kinds of chicken; quail, and duck, as a matter of course. Not in a specialty shop - in any shop. There is one decent produce shop in my hometown where the owner grows a lot of his own product on his own farm. He grows many of the vegetable varieties I have access to in Asia, so when I visit, I always take my parents round and point out all the vegetables that I've learnt about. Then we take them home and cook them together. Fortunately my parents are well-travelled, so they love taking chances on something new. The last time, I discovered "Turkish" cucumbers are an excellent substitute for Japanese ones.

Ha! Pasta! I'll make a pasta primavera. Great idea.

I used to get a "dry patch" at the bottom of my wok where the heat was the hottest, but now I've been using it for a while, this has disappeared. I clean my wok while the dish I've cooked in it is being carried to the table, while it's still hot. I put it under a hot tap, and scrape all the bits away with a wooden spatula. Then a quick tong with a dry paper towel to dry, then back on the heat - when it smokes, more oil goes in and I smear it around with tongs and a paper towel. I've never used salt or soap, even after getting rice stuck on it in the beginning. My patina has really come along.

That doesn't look like any pinyin I've seen. In fact, muoi (with a hat on the "o") is the Vietnamese word for salt - maybe you've got a Vietnamese pack of salt on your hands? Muoi bien is probably "prepared salt" or similar. I live in Jiangsu province, near Shanghai. The (Chinese) salt I've bought at the supermarket is plain iodized(not sea or kosher) salt. Not sure if that's what's commonly used, but that's what's commonly available. Pepper comes in black and white at the supermarket, so again, I assume there's demand for both. All of the sugar I've seen in my area of mainland China has been made by the Tai Koo sugar company, from Hong Kong. It comes in white and brown, although I've no idea what people use for cooking. One thing that's worth thinking of is that China is as big geographically as the US, and there are all sorts of regional differences. Being honest, though, all of the staple products I buy in my local supermarkets look just like the ones I used to buy in Canada - I haven't noticed a big difference. Fuschia Dunlop specifies potato starch in all of her recipes as well, rather than the cornstarch thickener I was brought up using, but I just leave that step out of recipes anyway.

I'm interested to hear advice about red shiso as well. I put some seeds into a pot a couple of weeks ago and just have baby sprouts right now. I'd like to keep them happy so I can replicate bun cha and other applications for this herb.

I think you'll enjoy that whole, book, not just for the pickles! Check out our topic on cooking with it. I pulled an eggplant out of the jar today to check, and it was perfectly done. Now all I need to do is get some other antipasto ingredients lined up for a proper plate. Jicama with lime! How exotic sounding. There's something very nice about the combination of crisp and tart. I have eaten all the onions in my small-batch onion jar, and am dealing with some cucumbers from my CSA bag. I'm wondering if I can re-use some or all of the vinegar from the onions with some new cucumbers. Does anyone else ever do that?

The taro is still eyeing me evilly from my crisper. I got a new bag today: More fresh peas; fresh spinach; a Korean zucchini; qing cai; some baby cucumbers; long thin green peppers that may or may not be banana chiles; and some onions and potatoes that have been held over the winter. Plus 5 kg more of "organic" rice, which comes once a month. The zucchini was made into a simple sauteed panchan with sesame oil to go with tonight's barbecued pork belly. The cucumbers I'm going to pickle. The green peppers/chilis will be stir-fried with pork and black bean sauce from "Revolutionary Cuisine". The qing cai will probably just get stir-fried along with that. The peas, however, I don't know about. It's only about 300g of pods, so the podded weight won't yield much. I've already made risotto. What can I do to highlight these gems?

One pickle I really enjoyed in Japan was daikon sticks pickled with yuzu zest, which is what made me think of it. What was her method to use the lemon juice - in place of or in addition to vinegar?

The small batch pickle topic got me thinking about these kinds of cookbooks again. I have only one - a small booklet I picked up in Vietnam but published in Australia simply called "Vietnamese Cooking". In it there are several recipes that are workhorses in my kitchen - chicken and cabbage salad; nuoc mam; caramel pork; and banh mi pickles. I think the thing cost me $3, but I can't even count the amount of times I turn to it for basic dishes I ate every day in Vietnam. Anyone else have any author-less gems?

When I return to Canada, more and more I'm shocked at the poor quality and variety of vegetables and meats available in my hometown. It seems like everything comes pre-cut and pre-washed in a plastic bag. There's a farmer's market that turns out some very nice produce in season, but the rest of the year, the Canadian climate works against that kind of bounty. That's why I'm so happy in Asia...it seems like I could try a new ingredient every day and never get tired. And here, vegetables are grown for their flavour and freshness, not their ability to traverse large distances and stay fresh-looking on a shelf. I know what you mean about not being rich...but I can feed myself as if I was shopping at Whole Foods as a matter of course here, for a fraction of the cost.

That's a very good tip. Did you use that pickle on banh mi? Cabbage kimchi is one thing I usually don't make at home, but I really enjoy making mul kimchi out of fresh napa. We have some discussion in our "Making Kimchi at Home" topic.

I tried the cauliflower pickles, and they rocked. Well, they look nice. What did you serve them with?

Oh, it smells a little like, uh, farts, yeah? Never figured out how to get around that.

Were you at a beer tasting, or just an exceptionally well-stocked party? I'm drinking Erdinger white and Qingdao in almost perfect rotation these days. I think I'd drink the Erdinger all the time, but for budgetary restrictions.

Great tip. My freezer's pretty small, so conserving space is important for me. I don't really freeze anything other than ice cubes and stock, but even still. Like I said, I mostly use my stock for soups and risotto, so I usually don't mind thawing a whole lot of it at once, but lately I've been using stock to finish stir-fried vegetables, so having cubes would be handy. The main problem for me: ice cube trays. I have exactly one, which is purposed for ice. Apparently, in China people think iced drinks are bad for your qi, so they're not readily available in every shop. I guess I'll have to make a run out to one of the big supermarkets.

Did she use lemon juice or lemon zest, or both?

I discovered my posh local supermarket sells chicken carcasses stripped for 8 kuai - around $1. That, combined with a pack of chicken feet should make for some decent stock. I'm trying to figure how to best store it, though. I don't want to put it into ice cubes, since I usually use stock for either a risotto or a soup. But I don't want to use up all my plastic containers, either. Is it crazy to put into ziploc freezer bags once it's cooled?

Do you store your teapot out, or in a dark cupboard? If you're worried, I'd keep it in a well-lit place. Things in my kitchen grow mold when they're left in the cupboard, but are otherwise fine when left out. If it's clean, with no oil or food related detritus on it, it should be okay.

Then I must share Harumi's recipe: Take one head of cauliflower and break into smallish florets. It should yield around two cups. Heat 45 ml of oil (sunflower or similar) in a frypan and saute four or five fat cloves that have been thinly sliced. When it has turned golden and is fragrant, add your cauliflower and two roughly chopped red chilies to the pan - I used small red Chinese chilis. Harumi says to seed the chilies, but if you like it hot, leave them in if you don't mind how it looks. Note - this isn't a sweet pickle, but it's addictively sour. You should saute the cauliflower quickly on a high heat. I did mine in a wok until the edges of the florets were crispy, the florets were still firm - about 2 minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon of chicken stock granules, 100 ml of rice vinegar, and one teaspoon of good soy sauce. Toss it about and serve. These are even better overnight, but our batch didn't last any longer than that. I wonder if small-batch pickles are getting more popular? Or do people who pickle still mostly can everything? I'd love to be able to can, but I don't have the space. How do you do your daikon - I often do mine Korean style - salted and sugared, then drained and sprinkled with chili powder, but it doesn't really keep. It's more of a salad. I'd love a recipe for pickled daikon cubes of the kind that come with Korean fried chicken. ETA photo

My husband and I really like to eat pickled vegetables, especially as a pre-dinner snack with a glass of beer or a bit of whatever the local tipple happens to be. I don't have a lot of space in my flat to keep canned pickles on hand - although I wish I did. So I've gotten in the habit of making quick pickles that last a week or so in the fridge; I like to search out recipes that make one or two bottles of something that I can have on hand for just such occasions. Sometimes I make fermented pickles like kimchi, but mostly I rely on brine or vinegar quick pickles. I made two today - one of my favourite recipes makes a small batch, although they're not particularly quick - is from Marcella Hazan's Italian Kitchen book. They're thinly sliced eggplants layered with salt, garlic, chili, and mint. Then you weight them and turn them upside down for 12 hours, then you vinegar them and do the same again for another twelve hours, then you cover the lot with olive oil and keep them in the fridge. Whenever I give them to anyone, they go crazy for them. They're really excellent on a sandwich as well. I also made a small batch - around 200g of pickled onions - these are in a vinegar solution flavoured with a cinnamon stick and a red chili. I'm looking forward to trying these with cheese. The recipe is from "The Korean Table". And last week I made a batch of hot pickled cauliflower with garlic and red chilis. The recipe was from "Everyday Harumi", and used vinegar. Instead of salt, however, the recipe uses chicken boullion powder. I'd post a picture of these, but we ate them so fast, they didn't stand a chance. Anyone else like making small batch pickled vegetables?