C. sapidus

Fibilou – Great spread, and nice job on the bagels and crepes. This started as a healthy breakfast and evolved. What it lacked in visual appeal it made up by being abso-freaking-lutely delicious (definitely a close-your-eyes-and-enjoy breakfast). Had I been dining in a restaurant, I would have licked the plate anyway. Roasted Poblano and Anaheim chiles, sauteed chayote, garlic and Jalapenos, finished with feta cheese, lime juice, cilantro, butter, and a touch of cream. OK, I’m suitably fortified to do my taxes now.

Priscilla: I hope you like the five-spice chicken, it is one of our favorites. Meredithla: Few things are funkier than funky chicken. Nice plan B! Infernoo: That pork looks insanely good. Ann_T: Your pictures are always so beautiful. We had stir-fried hot and numbing chicken (nice texture, OK flavor) over jasmine rice . . . . . . and Napa cabbage soup with dried shrimp and bay scallops.

Sheetz: Nice dinners, the pork shoulder looks particularly scrumptious (I am on a five-spice jag at present). Prawncrackers: Welcome, and thanks for sharing your xiao long bao. Tonight’s dinner was hot and numbing chicken (ma la zi ji), from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. Marinating the chicken, deep-frying it twice, and then stir-frying it took a long time. Unfortunately, the results did not justify the effort. The crunch of the bell peppers contrasted nicely with the plush texture of the chicken, but the flavors were underwhelming.

Kim – Thank you! I used Mai Pham’s recipe for grilled five-spice chicken (clickety) from Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table. You can use whatever chicken parts you like, just adjust the cooking time. The most important tip is to keep the grill temperature moderate. High heat will turn the delicious marinade into charcoal. Your Easter dinner is gorgeous, especially those beautifully layered potatoes. One of these days I may have to break down and get a mandoline. Best wishes for a speedy and successful recovery.

I’m pretty good at tuning out the world when I have a nice plate of food in front of me. One notable exception springs to mind, a rare post-kids date with Mrs. C. About half-way through the meal, a group was seated at the next table. The restaurant was crowded, so switching tables was not an option. Why would we want to switch tables? A gentleman in the group was wearing an unprecedented amount of aftershave. From the moment that he sat down, everything that we ate tasted like aftershave. Blech. In a strange way, I’m glad that this happened. We will probably never forget the date, and the memory still makes us giggle. Overall, the amusement probably outweighs the loss of half a meal. I mostly felt bad for the gentleman – condemned to travel through life like Pepe le Peu, oblivious to his olfactory effects on others.

Same here. Cook three meals, kick back for three meals, and take our Lear jet to a restaurant once a week (hey, you said that money was no object ). The hard part would be finding a personal chef that makes the kind of food that we like. Um, and learning to drive the Lear jet.

Goulash and burritos and enoki and bacon and pork belly and kimchi stew and red curry and duck and ribs and more ribs and caipirihnas, oh my! I haven’t made goulash forever, and should. We grilled 5-spice chicken wings and sliced up some eternal cucumbers. Mrs. C is out of town, so I made coconut rice as a treat for the boys. We also snacked on very ripe Peruvian mangos while dinner was cooking. A plate of wings . . . . . . and wings on the plate.

Thank you, Susan. I have not done many oven braises, so I appreciate any information on internal and external temperatures. I thought that 300 F sounded high, but I usually follow the recipe fairly closely the first time. I do recall reading that braising temperatures should be lower than what Molly Stevens specifies in All About Braising, but the consensus(?) on what temperature to use slipped out of my brain. The recipe called for "stew meat", so when Mrs. C went to the store and described what we were doing the meat guy went into the back and cut what looked like a well-marbled roast. I was expecting something more fatty and gristly, and probably should have a) dialed back the temperature and b) checked the braise more frequently. Ah, well, live and learn. Anyway, it didn't keep the three of us (Mrs. C is out of town for a few days) from consuming mass quantities.

Ah, thank you Miz. D. And now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Wow, too many gorgeous dinners upon which to comment, but I’m enjoying all of them vicariously. We had meat and potatoes, Hunan style. Details on Chinese eats at home, what did we cook?

Anyone who starts out their blog with green curry is OK by me (not that you need my approval or anything). Cool tip on the rice, too. I need to try that. I am insanely envious that you were able to take a Thai cooking class from Kasma Loha-unchit. Palm sugar: I have tried both kinds, and prefer the type that comes in a jar. The brand that I buy is sealed with a waxy layer, which would keep out floating flies (or at least preserve them nicely). I am not certain, but aren't the soup-filled dumplings called char siu bao? Your kitchen looks beautiful so far, and I eagerly await the big reveal. Your house looks way cool, too. I hope the mere threat of the sword is effective on the CONtractor, and that no actual dismemberment will be necessary. If hubby does use the sword, take pictures for use in future home renovation projects. Blog on!

More from Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: slow-braised beef with potatoes (tu dou wei niu rou). I made this on Sunday, and heated it up for dinner tonight. Star anise, cassia sticks, and ginger provided a heady aroma, dried chiles and chile bean paste added a warm glow, and a little rice vinegar sharpened everything up. These fragrant and mildly spicy red braises have become family favorites. The recipe called for braising in the oven at 300 F, but the liquid was bubbling too vigorously. Although I lowered the temperature to 275 F, the meat turned out a little dry. Next time I will probably start the oven around 250 F and adjust from there.

Susan: Thanks! I like Ms. Dunlop's latest book a lot, and I also liked her previous book on Sichuan. The three recipes we have tried from the new book have turned out wonderfully. Yes, we tasted Tuesday’s dinner. I cooked the meat a bit too long, but the flavors of the sauce were amazing. I like the way that Ms. Dunlop gives directions. Rather than giving cooking times, she typically gives endpoints like “stir-fry over medium heat until it smells wonderful”, or “cook over a high flame until the liquid is nearly gone”. The author also writes more freely in this cookbook. Most recipes have an associated story, many offer fascinating cultural background, and several are hilarious. Ms. Dunlop seems to like her veggies, and includes a wealth of varied vegetable dishes. Many of the meat recipes do involve a deep-frying step, though. If you are a big fan of Sichuan peppercorns, you may prefer Ms. Dunlop’s Sichuan cookbook because few of the Hunanese recipes use Sichuan peppercorns. I highly recommend either of Ms. Dunlop’s cookbooks.

Doddie: I would love to dig in to your steak and sprouts! Tryingsomethingnew: Mmm, shaking beef. Percyn: Quite the meatfest – everything looks good, especially the yakitori. Except for the soup, tonight’s dinner was from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Hunan cookbook: dry-braised rainbow trout; stir-fried bell peppers with black beans and garlic; root vegetable soup; and jasmine rice. Details on Chinese eats at home. Mrs. C made the soup from beets, carrots, turnips, slaw, rice vinegar, dill, and vegetable stock. The boys inhaled two bowls each, with a dollop of sour cream.

Kinda quiet around here – is everyone still recovering from CNY? Tonight we cooked our first meal from Fuchsia Dunlop’s Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province. The fish was delish – rainbow trout fried and then braised with chile bean paste, chile flakes, ginger, garlic, vinegar, dark soy and a cup of chicken stock, all cooked down to a glaze and finished with Thai basil, scallions, and sesame oil. Mrs. C would been satisfied with the stir-fried bell peppers, flavored with garlic, salted black beans, vinegar, chicken stock, and sesame oil. While cooking dinner, I enjoyed the intoxicating aroma of beef braising slowly with ginger, cinnamon, star anise, and chiles. That will be Tuesday night’s dinner. The soup was delicious, but not Chinese. Tangerine Island dry-braised fish (ju shou gan shao yu); stir-fried peppers with black beans and garlic (dou chi chao la jiao); beet, carrot, and turnip soup; and jasmine rice.

Wow, delicious dinners and fun experiments with ham. Ling, would you use Leporati parma all of the time, or do you think that different types of ham would work better with different dishes? We made Thai red curry with bay scallops. This was my favorite red curry so far, and bay scallops stand up to strong flavors better than regular scallops. The boys snacked on a very spicy salsa while I cooked dinner, and then they scarfed down the red curry with no complaints. Life is good! More information on Thai Cooking at Home (clickety).

Tonight’s dinner was unusual for me. Not the meal itself, but how the meal came about. Mrs. C accidentally thawed a bag of bay scallops and I had leftover red curry paste in the fridge. A little googling turned up this recipe (clickety), which looked perfect. This was my best red curry so far. I added mace and white pepper to the red curry paste from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet. Vigorously frying the curry paste for about five minutes in cracked coconut cream mellowed the raw flavors into a seamless whole. Previous red curries had been a bit light, but caramelizing the palm sugar (per Gabriel Lewis’ suggestion) deepened the color and flavor. After adjusting the seasoning with fish sauce and Chinkiang vinegar, I added the scallops and cooked them until barely done. A pot full of red curry with bay scallops.

And the last of the brunch leftovers bite the dust: huevos rancheros redux (with requisite runny yolk photo).

Two new ones: Crying Tiger: Thai Recipes from the Heart by Supatra Johnson Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook: Recipes from Hunan Province by Fuchsia Dunlop

We have the opposite problem - our kitchen and dining room are open to each other, and no one ever leaves. We can't get them out if we try. It must have something to do with the layout of the rooms. I do understand wanting to maintain nice old floors.

People arriving late: Informal meals are so much less stressful. We put the food out when it is ready and let guests serve themselves. If people arrive early, we usually put them to work. If people arrive late, they may miss out on the good stuff. Either way, no problem. We always assume that the number of guests is an approximation. If extra people show up, we break out the cheap folding chairs and card tables. If fewer people show up, more leftovers for us. Again, no problem. I do understand that your guests may expect a more refined experience, dining with the founder of the eGullet Society and all. Getting crumbs on the floor: You have a dog, put him to work! I spilled rice on the floor at a recent party. The dogs were locked in the bedroom because several guests had toddlers. We released the hounds, they made short work of the rice, and then we returned the dogs to the bedroom. Easy peasy.

Gabriel: I do like your idea of reducing the cooking time for chicken. I am pretty comfortable with how long to cook meat in stir-fries, but I definitely have room for improvement when cooking meat in liquid. I usually use chicken thighs, which have a wider window than chicken breasts. Thanks for the tip about caramelizing palm sugar for fried curries. I have not tried that yet, but I usually have a jar of Vietnamese caramel sauce, which should have a similar effect. Coconut sticky rice and mangos sounds delicious. We have found good mangoes in the store recently, but the boys eat them pretty quickly. What kind of crab did you use in your curry?

Percy: Looks delicious as always. We had leftover sauce and roasted Poblano chile rajas from yesterday’s brunch, so I made huevos rancheros with feta cheese and oregano. Slapdash plating, but good eats.

It's called fish fragrant because that particular sauce/aroma is generally used for fish dishes, Dejah-Mui. ← Really? I wouldn't have thought that - with the Sichuan chili bean paste, vinegar, etc? ← I have read two explanations for fish-fragrant. Fuchsia Dunlop says that the combination of flavors was “thought to have originated in traditional Sichuanese fish cooking.” Barbara Tropp speculates that yu hsiang (fish fragrant) derives from the Yu (Chialing) River of Sichuan and the Hsiang River of Hunan; therefore “fish fragrant” should be translated as Sichuan-Hunan. Me, I’m staying out of it. And yes, Dejah, with all due respect, you probably should be embarrassed to ask me about anything to do with the Chinese language. I have made Ms. Dunlop’s fish braised in chili bean sauce (dou ban xian yu). The sauce includes chile bean paste and Chinkiang vinegar, along with ginger, garlic, stock, sugar, soy, and scallions. It was delicious, by the way.

Alinka: Welcome back! David Ross: Beautiful fish, and welcome to Dinner! What a fascinating combination – Asian flavors using mostly non-Asian ingredients.For dinner, I scrounged leftovers from today’s brunch. First, I heated up potato rendang. O, for a lute of fire to sing its praises (I stole that line from Henry Mitchell, late garden writer extraordinaire). To make the rendang, we reduced coconut milk, Thai and Holland chiles, lemongrass, galangal, ginger, shallots, garlic, turmeric, and basil from this . . . . . . to this, adding fingerling potatoes along the way. I also had a plate of Mrs. C’s brunchy dishes - devilled eggs (curry and pesto), savory bread pudding (ham, cheese, and apples), and a blueberry-maple bread pudding. For the brunch, we also served Thai red curry with shrimp, huevos rancheros with roasted Poblano chiles, grilled five-spice chicken, grilled veggie kebabs, and various store-bought accompaniments. Guests brought Russian blini, Russian salad, and monkey bread. The five-spice chicken and red curry disappeared completely, so no pictures (someone really should develop a five-spice chicken perfume). I have leftover sauce to make huevos rancheros this week. The party was a lot of fun, and no one left hungry.