C. sapidus

Interesting – I’m the opposite. If I don’t plan the week’s meals, I wind up with stuff that doesn’t get used. If I plan meals, shop from a list, and make something on Friday that uses leftovers, we have little or no wasted food. I think the key is your statement that “this requires a certain skill, improvisation, and fantasy.” You clearly have the talent to improvise and produce wonderful meals. Me, I’ll keep plodding along with a shopping list – I’m better at organization than improvisation. Yes, I have not been deluged with offers of cash for my “free” time.

I seem to be in the minority here, but my main holiday craving is Bourbon sweet potatoes with orange sauce. Sweet potatoes, orange juice, Bourbon, lots of butter, brown sugar, warm spices, and chopped walnuts. What's not to like? Make a moat of sweet potatoes and a lake of orange sauce, and eat enough to last until next holiday season. No marshmallows. Ever. Mom made her holiday cranberries from scratch. They were tart, not too sweet, and had plenty of texture - a wholly different food from the gelatinous blob that comes from a can.

Do you go to several different grocery stores? Yes. Mrs. Crab goes to Costco and/or Sam’s, we go to the farmer’s markets together, and I shop at various international markets. Do you clip coupons? No, but I used to dutifully make a pile of coupons that I never remembered to use. We use discount cards at the grocery store and look for specials. What do you usually buy at the grocery store? Mrs. Crab gets the bulk items – meat, paper goods, Jamaican beef patties, etc. We get produce and bread from the farmer’s market. I pick up produce and specialty items at the Asian or Latino markets, and fill in anything missing at the regular grocery store. Do you tend to buy more meat or more produce? More produce, probably somewhere between 3:2 and 2:1 (two produce drawers, one meat drawer). If we find a great deal on meat, we stock up in the freezer. Are you too ashamed to make purchases from the "reject bin?" Nah. Don’t usually see things I need, though. Do you make a list? Absolutely, I plan meals for the week and make a shopping list. Produce is flexible, depending on what looks good in the store. I also keep a mental list of ingredients needed to make certain things. For example, today I saw pomelos and bought one to make the pomelo salad from Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet. I have wanted to make that for a while. How many refrigerators and pantries do you have for food storage? We have a regular refrigerator and a dorm fridge in the kitchen, and a freezer downstairs. Our pantry space will expand when we renovate our house. Do you enjoy grocery shopping as much as I do? Probably not, but shopping has become more interesting as I learn about new ingredients. I get a particular kick out of finding unusual ingredients in our little Asian market.

When I first started earning a pittance, eating meat regularly simply wasn’t an option. Most nights, I dined quite happily on Mexican vegetarian and egg dishes: huevos rancheros; huevos al albanil; requeson revuelto con salsa de jitomate; arroz verde; chayotes or hongos al vapor; calabacitas guisadas; papas chirrionas; and camotes. For a change of pace I would make fettuccini Alfredo, spaghetti and sausage, spinach curry, or frozen pizza. Chilies, garlic, onions, cilantro, herbs and spices, and a little feta cheese sprinkled on top provided enough satisfying flavor that I never felt meat-deprived. I would probably still eat this way if the rest of the family wasn’t so carnivorous. Can you find inexpensive foods that satisfy you while fitting into your schedule and budget? Fried rice is a great way to use up leftovers.

Percy, thanks. Yes, the depth flavor is what I crave in this dish. It is like quick and easy mole, thickened with eggs rather than ground pepitas, etc.

Thanks a lot, Maggie - I need another time-consuming obsession like a fish needs a bicycle. Anyway, here goes. Please be gentle – this is my first time. A Thai chef mis-measured through haste His fish sauce, bird chilies, shrimp paste An excess of shallot Offended the palate His curries, the dog wouldn’t taste . . . and in a similar vein, but more in keeping with the spirit of limericks: An amorous lad from Thailand Did not know his gal preferred bland His meal of larb gai And curry Chiang Mai Left him alone, pestle in hand A love-stricken man from Bangkok Put chilies galore in his krok His date took a taste, Departed posthaste, And left the chef holding his saak *Krok and saak = Thai mortar and pestle. Yeah, I know, if you have to explain the joke, it isn’t funny. Probably doesn’t rhyme, anyway.

My ultimate comfort food is bricklayer’s eggs (huevos al albanil) from Diane Kennedy. Toasted pasilla and guajillo chilies are steeped in boiling water and pureed with garlic and white onion (I used shallots). Fry the chile paste until dry, and then lower the heat and mix in the eggs. Serve on flame-warmed flour tortillas topped with feta cheese and Mexican oregano. Huevos al albanil (Bricklayer's eggs)

Ludja is spot-on about Maryland. In the 1860s, the tobacco trade promoted close commercial and culinary ties between Baltimore, Virginia, and the Eastern Shore. Western Maryland, too cold for tobacco, developed closer ties with Pennsylvania. I agree that Appalachian cookery strongly reflects Southern influence, but I'm not sure of the history.

With the dry noodles, I soak them in hot water. When they are soft, rinse them under cold water then drain them well before frying. With packaged fresh ones, bring to room temperature, then separate and warm them up in the microwave before stir-frying. Make sure the pan you're using is well oiled and hot before you add the noodles. You don't want to stir them too much or they will break up and turn into a clump. I find the dry ones hold up better for someone new to stir-frying these noodles. ← Susan, Dejah: I have printed out your suggestions and folded them into the noodle chapter of Thai Food. Thank you!

Thank you! I really appreciate your advice and encouragement. Interesting – I don’t think that I have seen kraphrao leaves here. Do you know if they are exported, or what other names they might be called? That is excellent advice. I am better at “adding and tasting” when I make something familiar, but I need to work on “adding and tasting” when I try something new. Eventually doing so will become second nature, but I have to fight my tendency to follow the recipe when cooking something for the first time. Wow, the power of corporate symbols. I take it that scallops are not native to Thailand? Are scallops used frequently in Thai cooking? I’ll look out for wider rice noodles next time. Few fresh Asian noodles are available locally, but we have a wide assortment of dried noodles. Can I soak or blanch dried rice noodles before stir-frying them?Thanks!

. . . one of the greatest movie lines, ever. Two years ago we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. Mom had hosted for the past 40 years, so we were uncertain how she would respond to the idea of changing family tradition. When we gently broached the subject, Mom threw her arms in the air and shouted, “Yay!” Pretty demonstrative for a reserved daughter of Britain. I can’t remember everything we served, but roast capon, Bourbon sweet potatoes with Bourbon-spiked orange sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, curried butternut squash soup, pistachio shortbread, and mulled wine linger in memory. Last Thanksgiving our kitchen was gutted for renovation, so my brother and his wife gracefully hosted. This year we will take a road trip to honor my mother-in-law’s last Thanksgiving in Wisconsin before she comes to live with us. In Wisconsin, I usually make two batches of the Bourbon sweet potatoes: one with walnuts and one without for a nut-allergic nephew. The Wisconsin relatives have their traditional holiday spread, so I am happy to fill in with side dishes or desserts. In various years I have made quiche, baklava, flan, or grilled salmon with basil cream sauce. I usually cook an after-Thanksgiving meal in Wisconsin. One year I made dum aloo and sookha keema for a visiting Indian physician. In other years I have made Mexican bricklayer’s eggs or Thai red curry. Fortunately, the relations are quite tolerant of my culinary whims. This year we will drive to Wisconsin in a rented van packed with the boys, our two old dogs, a granite mortar and pestle, and a cooler full of Thai chilies, fish sauce, shrimp paste, lemongrass, and palm sugar. I haven’t decided whether to make a Vietnamese or Thai meal. Next year, we will host Thanksgiving again. The house addition should be finished so out-of-town guests will have room to sleep off a big meal. We hope to begin establishing family traditions that the boys will treasure, or perhaps complain about on eGullet in 2026.

Stir-fried noodles with chicken and yard-long beans (pad si ew) adapted from Thai Food. On the pictured batch I forgot to stir-fry the egg with the noodles, so I stir-fried the egg separately. I used fresh banh pho noodles, cutting them into smaller segments after the first batch to minimize clumping. Is there another type of noodle that is more appropriate for this dish? A key step was adding enough chicken stock at the end to distribute the soy sauces uniformly and avoid salty spots. Garnishing with Sriracha and cashews after picture-time provided a little heat and crunch. I also added fried shallots when eating leftovers for breakfast. This was my first time stir-frying noodles, so it was a learning experience. I liked the mix of flavors, textures, and temperatures – resilient noodles, seared chicken thighs, cool bean sprouts, firm yard-long beans, and the salty-garlicky-chickeny sauce. I’ll probably try pad Thai and a few other Thai noodle dishes, but the family seems to prefer fried rice to fried noodles. Pad si ew with yard-long beans

NYC Mike: Have you tried Sriracha or sambal oelek? For sweet and salty, you could try kecap manis. If you want to make your own, here are some fish sauce-based chile sauces from Kasma Loha-unchit, and and nam prik from Chez Pim. Is that the sort of thing you are looking for?

jmolinari: Thank you, and condolences on the spousal spice incompatibility. In our family, younger son has the lowest spice tolerance. Sometimes we spice to his tolerance and adjust seasonings at the table with slivered chilies, a spicy dipping sauce, or Sriracha. Other times we will spice the dish normally (hot) and he can dilute it to taste with rice or coconut rice. For Thai meat salads, we usually set some of the meat aside for the boys, and then spice up the salad properly. Another possibility is Thai fried rice, which is delicious, typically not spicy, and a great way to use up leftovers. Thai Food has several pages of fried rice recipes. Also, Panang and Mussaman curries can have a lot of flavor without too much heat. sarensho: Sounds good! I expect that oyster sauce would lend some nice umami to a vegetable stir-fry. I look forward to trying it. NYC Mike: I'm happy to share recipes (respecting eGullet copyright policy, of course). Are you looking for curry pastes (e.g., red, green, Panang, etc.) or chili pastes (like table sauces or dipping sauces)?

Oh do tell. And we hope to see Thai food on eGullet shortly thereafter.

Thank you. I stir-fried the snow peas with mashed garlic and salt, simmered for a minute or so with a little stock (or water), light soy sauce, and sugar, and then finished with white pepper. This has become our default vegetable stir-fry because it is so quick and tasty. Baby asparagus are very good stir-fried this way, and probably broccoli or yard-long beans, too. Tougher vegetables can be blanched first. Red curry with thin-shaved beef sounds delicious.

Try grinding some raw rice. I do that when switching between grinding spices and grinding coffee. More than you ever wanted to know: CoffeeGeek guide to using a pour-over filter (link).

Get a Melitta pour-over filter: 10 cups of coffee for the low, low price of $12.99. Best bang for the buck around. Caveat: I have only used the 2-cup Melitta units, but they make very good drip coffee. Link: Melitta manual coffee makers

More from David Thompson’s Thai Food: red curry of scallops; stir-fried snow peas; and rice. The curry paste was rich, fragrant, and delicate enough not to overpower the scallops. I held back half of the fish sauce for final adjustment of seasoning, and probably should have done the same with the palm sugar. We found fresh scallops at a roadside stand. My wife (who may be biased) said they were the best scallops she had ever eaten. Red curry of scallops (chuu chii hoi shenn)

End-grain hardwood cutting boards work just fine with Japanese knives. End-grain is very forgiving because the knife blade can penetrate the cutting board between the wood fibers. When the blade is removed, the fibers seem to resume their original position, more or less. Some folks here swear by soft plastic cutting boards, but I haven't tried them. Japanese knife blades tend to be very hard, which allows them to be very sharp. Harder steel is also usually more brittle. Japanese knife blades are often thinner and lighter than German knife blades. You can reduce the chances of damaging the blade by not cutting bones or hard-frozen hunks of meat, and not twisting the blade when cutting. We are slowly replacing our old Chicago Cutlery set with Japanese knives.

Another potential problem with pot fillers: what happens if they start leaking? If your sink faucet leaks, the water runs into the sink. If your pot filler leaks, the water runs into your range. We installed a small prep sink (basically a bar sink) on the same side of the kitchen as the cook top. Our pass-through galley kitchen gets a lot of traffic, so we wanted to avoid collisions between children, dogs, and big pots of boiling water. Even though the prep sink is small, we have found it to be incredibly useful. Good luck with your renovation.

I made the soy-braised chicken thighs with star anise and orange peel. We had ketjap manis around so we used it. The chicken was tender and juicy, and the sauce was very nice if a bit bland for my taste. Next time I’ll use a few more chilies and perhaps reduce the sauce further. I had to increase the temperature from 325F to 350F before the braising liquid started bubbling. Our oven seems to run cooler compared with others who have cooked from this book. For what it is worth, the oven thermostat and a separate oven thermometer agree exactly. Anyway, here is what it looked like.

HKDave: Excellent! Thank you for the suggestions and translation. I’ll print out your reply and keep it with the recipe. You have given me several ideas to try. I was surprised that the recipe called for light and dark soy sauce, but no fish sauce. I’ll add the salty ingredients while tasting next time. If the dark soy is mostly for color, I can probably cut that back if necessary.

I plan to cook a few things from David Thompson’s Thai Food this week. Tonight we made stir-fried minced beef with chilies and holy basil (neua pat bai grapao). More details on the Dinner! thread, post #17199. Does anyone know if “grapao” is the same dish that is often called “kapow” in American restaurants? Beef or chicken “kapow” usually bears a three-chile designation in restaurants, but the flavors and heat have typically been underwhelming. If “grapao” is the same as “kapow”, I like Mr. Thompson’s flavor-packed version better. The sauce was quite salty, a bit much so for my taste. I added some sugar to balance the salt, but next time I’ll use unsalted broth and less soy sauce. Perhaps scaling the recipe from one to four servings goofed things up. Does anyone have another suggestion?

Tonight was the perfect example of why we keep frozen meatballs and frozen veggies around. My wife is at a conference, the fridge is empty, and two of the boys’ friends unexpectedly showed up for dinner. The friends are nice kids but picky eaters. No problem: spaghetti and meatballs (jazzed up with garlic, cayenne, and herbs); and peas and corn microwaved with butter. Kids scarf down dinner, and suitably recharged, burst outside to play hide and seek and run and scream. Originally, I had planned to grill drumsticks that were marinating in drained yogurt, onions, ginger, garlic, cayenne, cumin, S&P, and lime juice. That would not have gone over well with the picky eaters. Eh, the drumsticks will be even better tomorrow for lunch.