C. sapidus

Marlene: Thanks for the advice on reducing the juice; I’ll try that next time. Your recipe for ribs is in the dinner queue. I’ll also heed your warning about Le Creusets multiplying like enameled cast-iron rabbits. Saving for a mother-in-law addition should protect us for now. Bruce

OK, here is a less-hurried dinner: spare ribs with mango, lime, and coconut (tastiest cat-barf looking thing I ever et), accompanied by jasmine rice and stir-fried green beans. Off-topic story: we add canned green beans to our dogs' food to control their weight. Accordingly, our boys consider green beans to be dog food rather than people food. In a last-ditch attempt to counter this notion, I stir-fried fresh green beans with bacon and scallions (two of their favorite foods), seasoned with ginger, sesame oil, and vinegar (from Breath of a Wok). No dice; elder son ate two beans, younger son ate one. Bruce

Susan: Good tip on substituting pork butt in the pork/mango dish. We bought a huge Boston butt, used half in the Caribbean pork shoulder, and the other half is in the freezer. Pork Shoulder Hunks with Mango and Lime: The Sequel. Mike: We pulled the pork shoulder and stored it in small microwaveable containers, with the juice in a separate container. I nuked it and scarfed some down on the way to volleyball, and left the remainder semi-warm for the rest of the family when they came home from track practice. That’s probably not what you had in mind when you asked about “service”, but there it is. The ribs, together with the sauce, were refrigerated in a shallow Pyrex dish. I’ll probably re-heat it on the stove to facilitate smooshing up the remaining mango chunks and adjusting the seasoning. Bruce

I made the Caribbean pork shoulder and the ribs with mango, lime, and coconut on Sunday. The pork shoulder was a big hit with the boys; they were stealing pieces from the moment it emerged from the oven. The meat was tender, and the flavor was nice if a bit subtle for my tastes. Of course, I have never been accused of having subtle taste in food. Setting the oven at 300 F maintained a gentle simmer in the pot, although I have never calibrated our oven's temperature. The Boston butt was skinless, so no crispy skin, more's the pity. We served the pork shoulder for dinner tonight with mashed potatoes, pan juices, and raw carrots. Even after solidifying and removing the fat, there was a huge amount of juice. Has anyone tried using the juice for a reduction or thickened gravy? For the ribs with mango, lime, and coconut, I added two remarkably large serranos and the sauce was truly amazing The meat was tender if rather fatty (no country-style ribs to be found, so I used spare ribs). We will have it for dinner on Tuesday with jasmine rice and a string bean stir-fry to be named later. Are country-style pork ribs meatier than spare ribs? A picture of the ribs under artificial light was definitely more suited to the anti-dinner thread. I’ll see if the daylight is more complimentary. Susan (snowangel): thanks for your help! Bruce

Our first two braises from Molly’s book (actually, my first two braises of any sort) will be the Caribbean pork shoulder and the country-style pork ribs with mango, lime, and coconut. The beef rendang and several other spicy recipes are calling to me, but first I want our spice-challenged boys to develop the idea that braising = good eats. I would like to become proficient at braising so that we can make good food on the weekends for consumption on busy school nights. I also like the idea of lunching on the leftovers (if any!) at work. My wife is off to find country-style pork ribs and boneless, skin-on Boston butt, and I’ll gather the remaining ingredients later this afternoon. I do have a couple of questions for the seasoned braisers (so to speak) in the group: We don’t have any cast iron cookware, enameled or otherwise. I was thinking of using a 12” x 2” aluminum sauté pan for the ribs, and a 6-quart stainless steel Dutch oven for the pork shoulder. Do these choices seem reasonable? In a somewhat related question, Molly calls for 300 degrees F for the pork shoulder. Should I start around 250F and work up? Thanks for your help, and any other suggestions are welcomed. I have read through the entire thread and noted popular recipes from the book. I’ll also google the recipes for comments. If this braising thing works out, there is a Le Creuset outlet nearby Bruce

Melonpan: There are two pints in a U.S. liquid quart (and two cups in a pint, if that doesn't muddy the waters). To a first approximation, one liter = one quart. I worked in a lab, so I prefer the metric system, too. Bruce

I took the day off for final inspection on our kitchen (we passed - yay!). With the luxury of an of a leisurely breakfast, I made a variant of Mamster's Thai omelette. I cooked the omelette with red curry paste, julienned phrik chii fah, and holy basil, then garnished with sriracha and fluorescent-pink pickled ginger. OK, leisure is over, time to clean the fish tank, fix the doorbell, change the oil, finish doing taxes . . .

Susan (Florida version): that is one fine-looking pot of rice. I'll have to look for the "grains standing up firmly" next time. Susan (Minnesota version): yes, a shower will wash off the "honeydew". Outdoors, rain probably does the same thing. Bruce

Kent Wang: As I understand it, the heat transfer drops very sharply with distance so lifting the wok would essentially stop heating. I have never tried induction, though. Many induction hobs use a ceramic surface, so breakage could be an issue with using the pao technique. Do you use an "eared" wok, or one with a handle? Bruce Edited to add info about ceramic surfaces.

We made a mostly-Thai dinner yesterday for a long-time friend and his family. The menu included: Spinach salad Tom yum goong Green curry beef Jasmine rice Coconut rice Kabobs for the kids Grilled pineapple with vanilla ice cream I made the green curry paste in the mortar, doubling the chilies because the locally-available green phrik khii noo are pretty tame. I think I’m getting the hang of this dish, but I’d love to try it with the small green eggplants that Austin has recommended. Elder son ate a goodly amount of the green curry. It was a bit spicy for him, but he doesn’t like to mix foods so he eats the rice separately. I’m also getting the hang of jasmine rice. Compared with basmati rice, jasmine rice seems best with less liquid and about 5 minutes shorter cooking time. Elder son made a nice sweet/sour/salty salad dressing for the spinach salad. My wife made some wonderful kebabs with beef, pearl onions, Thai eggplant, zucchini, and variously-hued bell peppers. For the tom yum goong, I simmered shrimp shells in chicken stock. It gave the soup a nice flavor. Unfortunately, I overdosed the soup with chilies. Despite immediately removing the chilies (after maybe 30 seconds!), the flavor balance was off. Live and learn – it was my first time making this soup. Next time I will try to find shrimp with their heads on and make a shrimp broth a la David Thompson. For dessert, my wife grilled pineapple with a coating of coconut milk, sugar, lemon zest, and ground cloves. It was delish, especially with vanilla ice cream. After living in Hawaii, she was able to give excellent advice on choosing a good pineapple. No pictures of the groaning table, but here is what the leftovers looked like for breakfast. The small glass bowl holds all of the surviving green curry. Susan (snowangel): the sticky deposits on your kaffir lime look like scale insect residue. Scale insects suck the plant juices and leave the sticky residue behind. Scale insects are very difficult to eradicate, and it probably isn’t necessary unless the plant is struggling. Bruce

Austin: I found fresh phrik chii faa in the local Asian market. The chilies looked like your picture and had a nice taste - sweet, with almost no heat. They are in the freezer for future use. I posted pictures of leftovers from our mostly-Thai extravaganza on the Thai cooking at home thread. They made a lovely breakfast. Bruce

Ah Leung: I'm following your choice with great interest. I have a 20-year old round-bottom carbon steel wok with two wooden handles. One of the handles broke as I was removing some extremely hot food the other day. I stuck the handle back together, but it probably isn't terribly safe. I'm really bummed, because the wok is beautifully seasoned - nothing sticks to it. If you want to consider a non-traditional (and unfortunately quite expensive) wok burner, check out Cooktek's induction burners for woks. The MW-3500 produces the equivalent of 31,000 BTUs. Induction works with any wok that a magnet will stick to (carbon steel, cast iron, and some stainless steels). Salt and pepper shrimp is wonderful. Our gas cooktop produces 22,000 BTUs (infernoo has nothing to worry about from us), and the wok sits down inside a removable ring in the grate. Even so, we have to cook the shrimp in fairly small batches Good luck -- Bruce

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned rosewater lassi. Yum! Bruce

I made mamster's thai omelet (kai yat sai) this morning. Oh, my, I may have found the breakfast for the rest of my life. Eggs, key lime juice, fish sauce, white pepper, and cilantro, topped with a little sriracha. Infinite future variations. A vista opens. No pictures – I goofed up the flipping part. More peanut oil next time should help. Note to self: remember to get more eggs on the way home. Bruce

Austin: I need to look over my recipes, and may have questions later in the week. Your insight would be greatly appreciated. One of our guests is not a big fan of cilantro, so I’ll probably serve that on the side. I’ll try to take some pictures for the Thai Cooking at Home thread. ChefCrash: Cayennes and Jalapenos will turn red when fully ripe, so you might try leaving them on the plant a bit longer to develop more consistent heat. We usually pick chilies after they have started turning red. Our potted chilies are usually hot, but pots drain well and dry quickly. The chilies that we grew in the ground last year were eaten by a rampaging cherry tomato plant. Bruce

ChefCrash: heat, sun, drought, and time to ripen make chilies hotter. Chilies also tolerate dry soil better than plants such as tomatoes. A lot of rain make tomatoes watery and dilute their favor; perhaps this also happens with chilies (we usually grow ours in pots, so I don’t know). Are your plants in full sun? Were the mild chilies fully ripe? Did the lack of heat correspond with a cool spell? Also, when you said the “same plant”, did you over-winter the plant indoors or was the plant grown from seed? Seed-grown plants can vary considerably because pollen from a mild chile (even a bell pepper) may have fertilized the hotter chilies and produced milder offspring. Interesting problem. I would love to hear more. Bruce

Austin: Thanks for the follow-up. I found dried phrik chii faa at Temple of Thai. I also ordered Hot, Sour Salty Sweet and David Thompson’s Thai food in hopes that the recipes will identify the appropriate chilies more clearly. Thanks again for freely providing a wealth of information. We are having friends over for dinner on Saturday. The menu is evolving, but they expressed interest in Thai food so we will probably make green curry with beef (gang khiaw-wan nuea), hot and sour prawn soup (tom yum goong), and coconut rice (khaw man). With burgers or grilled chicken for the kids. Bruce

Austin: That is an awesome primer; it has everything except a tasting feature (I often wish that eGullet had a tasting feature). At a minimum, it sounds like I need phrik khii noo and phrik chii faa to make Thai curry pastes (my current obsession). Phrik khii noo: These are easy. I can get fresh or frozen phrik khii noo at the Asian grocery, save and grow the seeds, or grow Thai Hot Dragon Hybrid. Phrik chii faa: This one is tricky because I have never seen it locally. How long are phrik chii faa? Are they thin-skinned (like a drying chile) or are they meatier? Are any Mexican chilies reasonable substitutes - perhaps something like Mirasol? Phrik yuak: These look like cubanelle or banana peppers (long wax chilies). I wonder if the taste is similar. I would probably default to Poblano chilies, which are readily available, have a wonderful (if non-traditional) flavor with mild heat, and can be stuffed or used as a garnish. Phrik karieng: How long are these? Are they thick- or thin-skinned? Except for the color, very hot Cayenne or de Arbol chilies might be the closest approximation. Is the flavor of phrik karieng significantly different from that of phrik khii noo? Sorry for all of the questions, and thanks in advance for any help -- Bruce

So, is Jaymes’ recipe more of a table salsa, or is it suitable for huevos rancheros? My go-to recipe for salsa ranchera is from Diane Kennedy’s Art of Mexican Cooking. This thread and docsconz’s culinary trip to Mexico inspired this morning’s breakfast: huevos rancheros topped with flame-roasted chile Poblano rajas and crumbled feta cheese. Salsa ranchera is better with fresh tomatoes, but canned San Marzano tomatoes substitute nicely. Gratuitous huevos picture:

I cook what I like, with allowances for family preferences. Chiles and garlic are cheap, and few of my favorite foods require expensive ingredients. I’ll take a flavorful sauce over a big hunk of steak any day of the week. I usually avoid foods that require expensive ingredients because so many wonderful dishes don’t. This is a preference rather than a sacrifice. We occasionally go to “nice” restaurants, but I’m usually much happier eating inexpensive Thai, Mexican, Ethiopian, or Indian food. Life is good when the things you love don’t require a lot of jack. I’m a cheap date unless I get a hankering for crabs. I aspire to cooking the foods that I love, and then dining with similarly-afflicted companions. Fortunately a reasonable proportion of friends and family have compatible tastes. Unfortunately, our boys have not yet developed an appreciation for the finer things in life (chilies, fish sauce, ginger, lemon grass, etc.). I’d join Abra’s tribe, but I hate clutter. Bruce

Austin: There is no urgency on the chilies, so don’t make yourself crazy. When you have time, I would love to see your pictures from the market and accompanying descriptions. As you probably know, many western-style herbs prefer well-draining soil and a Mediterranean climate (sunny, fairly dry, and moderate temperatures). Thailand’s hot and rainy seasons would be tough on such plants, so information from local growers would be most valuable. Richter's carries a wide variety of herbs, and searching their question and answer page for “tropic” yields some potentially helpful information. Growing herbs in the tropics and protecting basil from torrential rainfall may be particularly relevant for your situation. Richter’s also has some promising information about growing oregano. I am happy to provide whatever I know about growing herbs as a small repayment for your generous advice about Thai cooking. Bruce Edited to fix links

Austin: Thanks, you are very helpful! I will order a Thai Hot Dragon plant, and keep an eye out for a smaller, hotter version. David Thompson’s cookbook is on my list, but I’ll have to make do with what I have for now. Can you describe some of the other Thai chilies (size, color, shape, heat, flavor), or reasonable substitutes that may be available in the U.S.? Besides prik khii noo, are any particular kinds of Thai chilies used most frequently? The Asian grocery in town carries prik khii noo, but I would like to grow my own chilies because better-stocked groceries are nearly an hour away. Background: we are saving for an addition to our house. When the addition is done, we will have enough sunny windows to over-winter potted chile plants indoors. Chile production shuts down for the winter, but the plants start cranking out chilies as soon as the weather warms and we can set the pots outside. If I can find a few good chile plants, we will be able to keep them going indefinitely despite freezing winters. This is why I’m trying to identify worthwhile varieties to grow. Thanks again -- Bruce

Doc, you are absolutely killing me. Salsa negra. Tamal Ranchero with banana leaf wrapper. Mounds of moles and Mulatos. Piles of Pasillas. Rice with rajas of Poblanos (never mind, I can make that). Lamb a la Pasilla. I’m torturing myself looking at the pictures. Not to mention learning from Mr. Bayless. IT'S. JUST. NOT. FAIR. But please don’t stop.

We grow chile plants in pots and want to choose the most useful types for Thai cooking. Some Thai recipes specify the type of chili, but others call for “red” or “green”, which is not terribly useful. Different Thai cookbooks specify different substitutes, so I am more confused than usual and would greatly appreciate some advice. Should I just grow the hottest chili available in the appropriate color? I have grown Thai Hot Dragon chilies; they have been productive and very hot. Do they look like prik khii nuu? How about Thai Giant chilies? In Thai cooking, is there any use for Piquin chilies? How about Cayenne chilies? A few recipes call for a medium-heat yellow chile. Would a Yellow Wax Chili come in handy? We also grow several chile plants for Mexican cooking, usually Serrano, Poblano, and Anaheim chilies. Some recipes call for Serrano chilies when Thai chilies are unavailable. Traditional or not, I like using mild Poblano chilies rather than red bell peppers as a vegetable in Thai curries. Thanks for your help! Bruce