C. sapidus

Ted - if you like Asian food, many Chinese stir-fry recipes work best for two people. Larger amounts of food tend to cool the wok (skillet, etc.) so that the food does not sear properly. If you like spicy food, I can strongly recommend Fuchsia Dunlop’s Sichuan and Hunan cookbooks. Most of her recipes are sized to feed two. Many Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai recipes call for fattier cuts of pork, sliced thinly against the grain. This results in juicy meat that is not tough. Thai and Vietnamese meat salads are wonderful, and can be sized appropriately. Fried rice is also excellent for using up leftover meat (or anything else that may be hanging around your fridge).

Frege, here are a couple of threads: Induction / electromagnetic stoves, anyone gone ultra high-tech? Magnetic induction stoves, any cons to MI? For most efficient searching, use the "Search" link at the very top of the page (between "Help" and "Members"). Clicking on "Search titles only" will help focus your search. We struggled with a similar decision, and wound up with a six-burner Blue Star. If our kitchen was a little larger, we would probably have gone with a four-burner Blue Star and a double induction unit. Good luck with your renovation!

. . . and we haven't had crabs yet this summer. Continuing our mild dinner theme we made banh mi with grilled char siu pork, liver pate, carrot-daikon pickle, thinly-sliced cucumbers and jalapenos, Maggi sauce, and mayo. For bread, we offered a choice of hollowed-out mini-baguettes or roasted garlic ciabatta. Sliced cukes on the side, of course. We marinated strips of Boston butt for eight hours in five-spice powder, hoisin sauce, honey, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, black soy sauce, sugar, and Shaoxing wine. Here is the char siu hot off the grill, before resting and slicing. It turned out nicely - charred and full of flavor outside, tender and juicy inside. Gotta make something spicy this weekend, though.

That did the trick - thanks! Mmm, leek pie.

Yum! Yum! If I recall, reheated Celebration Rice was just fine for breakfast. If the recipe calls for coconut milk, then I would shake up the can unless you had a particularly thick layer of coconut cream. Yum! I have added urap to our list, and I agree about nasi goreng - good stuff, and yours looks scrumptious. We hope to cook from Cradle of Flavor this weekend.

Hi, Jessica: It sounds like your home turf overlaps with my sister’s (although the link in your first post just showed North America). I used to visit the East Village/LES twice yearly, usually Labor Day and sometime during peak rose season at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It has been way to long since my last visit, so I’m very interested to see your take on the ‘hood.. Your spicy soup sounds delicious, your store looks like great fun, and having a second fridge is da bomb. Blog on!

Looks delicious! I'm jealous that you can double the chiles, though. We have been chile-deprived lately to accommodate house guests. Making a spicy dipping sauce is not the same as having delicious chile flavors thoroughly permeating dinner. Some perfume company is missing a golden opportunity. I would buy five-spice chicken perfume for Mrs. C in a heartbeat.

Bruce, do you normally stirfry or poach the meat? . . . Susan, I have only made larb twice so I have not yet established "normal". Both versions so far have been stir-fried, but my next attempt will be poached a la David Thompson. We both seem to prefer a juicy larb. I am quite certain that you are right about personalizing larb. My goal is to try a variety of larb recipes until I get the hang of the dish. I have a taste memory of certain restaurant larbs that I would like to emulate and then improve upon. Eventually, larb will probably join fried rice, stir-fried shrimp, SE Asian dipping sauce, Thai-style grilled meat salad, etc. in the pantheon of wing-it meals. I'm funny about raw meat. I once had kitfo (Ethiopian steak tartare), and alternated between enjoying the delightful spicing and weirding out over eating raw meat. I have no such issues with sushi or ceviche, though - logic apparently does not apply when it comes to raw meat.

You know that I enjoy spicy food year round, but summer seems to call for grilled meat salads loaded with chiles, mint, cilantro, Thai basil, and lots of lime juice. Mmm, larb. Mosquitoes willing, as frequently as possible we spend summer evenings on the carport, tending the grill while cooled by the hilltop breeze and a 60-foot tall oak tree. A Dark & Stormy with extra lime or a nice hoppy beer helps, too.

Dave: Thank you for the lovely visit to your village. The food reminds me of a visit to my half-French cousin's house in California. They served a simple, delicious meal, accompanied by ample quantities of well-chosen French wines. Two decades later, I can still remember their grilled zucchini. Fresh ingredients cooked well, and a refreshing story told well. I am sorry to see it end.

Continuing to cook mild for house guests, we grilled five-spice chicken thighs, sliced cucumbers, and made a green salad. Jasmine rice, steamed broccoli, and nuoc cham dipping sauce/salad dressing were hiding out of the (blurry) picture. I made the five spice powder this morning, and it tasted so much better than store-bought. The nuoc cham featured our first garden chiles of the summer – Santa Fe Grande and Thai Hot Dragon.

Fuchsia Dunop's Land of Plenty is an awesome cookbook, and one of my favorites. I prefer it slightly to her Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, although you can't go wrong with either one. The deciding factor would be whether you like the mouth-numbing (and to my taste, mouth-watering) flavor of Sichuan peppercorns.

Three more: Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook by Panurat Poladitmontri et al. True Thai: The Modern Art of Thai Cooking by Victor Sodsook et al. Mexican Everyday by Rick and Deann Groen Bayless

I love the “Mexico bug” that’s going around, and welcome back to Marlene. For July 4th I smoked pork spare ribs with a Memphis dry rub . . . . . . and made collard greens with smoked ham hocks. Mrs. C baked skillet cornbread, made devilled eggs, and mixed up dark & stormys. Our house guest made stovetop beans and a second batch of ribs in the oven. Watermelon for dessert, plenty of leftovers for tomorrow, and fireworks in the driveway between thunderstorms.

LisaK, this was a rerun of sorts but we liked it: a clean-out-the-fridge breakfast of chorizo-fried rice; stir-fried broccolini with chorizo, garlic, and chiles; eternal cukes; and a dipping sauce of ginger, lime, chiles, garlic, fish sauce, and sugar. Copious coffee, of course. That oughta hold me and elder son (well, maybe not elder son) until the ribs are done this evening.

Spice rack pictures from our foodblog (click and scroll down a bit).

Blueberry freezer jam and butter on potato bread.

Our boys love cucumbers, so our “everyday salad” is sliced cucumbers sprinkled with a little salt. Lately we have been serving tossed salads (various kinds of lettuce and/or spinach, cukes, scallions, excess herbs, maybe some slivered green mangos, tomatoes, feta cheese, or nuts) with dressings from Rick Bayless’ Mexican Everyday. So far we have tried lime-cilantro dressing and roasted garlic, chile, and balsamic vinaigrette. Perhaps I’m odd, but I’ve never been crazy about vinaigrette so I’m playing with different additions. I love using variations of nuoc cham as a salad dressing. Nuoc cham is simple to make: mash up garlic, chiles, and maybe ginger in the mortar; mix in fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar; dilute with water and adjust seasonings to taste. We don’t do this everyday, but we frequently make Thai or Vietnamese salads with grilled or stir-fried meat or fish and some combination of lettuce, cukes, tomatoes, green mangos, red bell peppers, basil, mint, cilantro, shallots, chiles, ginger, etc. Add rice, and you’ve got dinner.

"Major char" For our next attempt with the Javanese grilled chicken I plan to 1) pay attention and 2) turn down the heat and cook the chicken longer. Kecap manis has a lot of sugar, so lower heat should cook the chicken without carbonizing the sugar. If that doesn't work, I'll try painting on the kecap manis towards the end (like one would with sugary BBQ sauce). Ya done good!

David: That lamb looks worthy of a killing. Shaya: Aww – happy half-birthday to, um, zippermouth. Roasted banana ice cream sounds scrumptious. We will have house guests for much of July. Since they are not terribly adventurous eaters, we decided to have a last fling from Thai Food: stir-fried beef with coriander, cumin, chile jam, and deep-fried shallots; trout braised with caramel, celery, and fish sauce (not pictured); grilled banana chile salad with poached chicken and shrimp; cucumber relish; and jasmine rice. More pictures and information on Thai cooking at home (clicky).

Octaveman: You lucky dog – lots of Thai recipes call for kaffir lime zest or juice, and we can’t get kaffir limes around here. Send them to me? Tonight’s dinner was from Thai Food. I have considered the portions in this book rather small, so I wanted to test Mr. Thompson’s assertion that a curry, soup, salad, relish, and rice would feed four. Not to kill the suspense, but the combination fed four quite nicely (especially since two of the four had been eating blueberries all afternoon ). I was really happy with how dinner turned out, and the boys liked everything except the grilled banana chile salad (which might have been my favorite if I could choose a favorite). Stir-fried beef with spices (neua pat nahm prik pao kaek) – This is street food rather than a curry, but I wanted something simple. Thinly-sliced chuck steaks were marinated with fish sauce and toasted, ground coriander and cumin seeds. We stir-fried the beef quickly, lowered the heat, and mixed in roasted chile jam and deep-fried shallots. Delicious, nutty, just the right amount of spice. Grilled banana chile salad with poached chicken and shrimp (yam prik yeak pao) – Grilled banana chiles and shallots mixed with sliced shallots, mint, scallions, and a dressing of palm sugar, lime juice, roasted chile powder, and fish sauce. We poached and then shredded chicken in half-strength chicken stock, poached the shrimp in the stock, and then used the stock for the braised trout (below). Next time I will probably commit fusion and use Poblano chiles. Trout braised with caramel, celery, and fish sauce (dtom kemp la keun chai) – We fried the spice paste (cilantro stems, salt, garlic, white pepper), added palm sugar, heated until the sugar caramelized lightly, and then cooled the pan with fish sauce. We then poured in the chicken/shrimp stock (from the dish above), slipped in the trout, and added boiling water to cover. We simmered the mixture very slowly until the trout was done, and then finished the dish with cilantro, white pepper, and sliced shallots. The chicken and shrimp-enriched stock really made this dish. Cucumber relish (ajat dtaeng gwa) – eternal cukes, shallots, and thinly-slivered ginger and chiles in a sweet and sour syrup. That’ll be tomorrow morning’s breakfast. The ginger was a bit overpowering - I'll use less next time. Edited to 'splain better.

Kim: A month without a computer – ouch! LittleLea: Welcome to the fun – your dinner looks scrumptious. Doddie: Thanks for the information. Beautiful meals all around, really. After working around the house today we made a simple summer dinner: grilled chicken with chipotle rub; white corn from a local farm; and a salad of romaine lettuce, scallions, and roasted Poblano chile with a dressing of roasted garlic, roasted chile, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Blueberries for dessert. Mrs. C and elder son picked about three gallons at the same farm where they got the corn. She hopes to recreate last year’s amazing freezer jam, and I’ll probably make a blueberry crisp or crumble.

Doddie: Why thank you so much, and back atcha! So, do tell about the chicken afritada – it looks delicious – and I’m interested to hear about Philippine mangos, too. Shaya: Beautiful dinners as always. Tonight we made chorizo fried rice with canned tomatoes, canned red curry paste, eggs, fish sauce, scallions, and a whole (albeit small) head of garlic. Eternal cukes, reasonably good supermarket tomatoes, and lime wedges on the side. Speaking of citrus, my birthday presents from Mrs. C arrived: dwarf kaffir lime and Meyer lemon trees. We had a potted kaffir lime tree at the old house, but it was infested with scale insects so we left it behind. I’m really looking forward to having a constant supply of kaffir lime leaves again.

Thank you, Susan. Our Asian market usually has green mangos in stock. We used butterhead lettuce for the salad - Rick Bayless suggested that it matched up well with the cilantro-lime dressing.

Shalmanese: Fuchsia Dunlop has a recipe for red-braised saffron milk cap mushrooms in Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. Great blog so far, and I’m looking forward to your dinner party.