C. sapidus

Kerry – I added that chicken recipe to my ever-growing list. mm84321 – “Very pretty” Stir-fried salmon grapao - with home-grown holy basil, Thai basil, bird chiles, banana chiles, and slivered lime leaves, plus shallots, garlic, black soy sauce, and fish sauce. Served with jasmine rice and salad.

Voice of experience here - using a wok as intended generates smoke. Even with a good hood, the family has learned to avoid chile fumes in the kitchen when I am cooking Sichuan or Hunan recipes. You may find that seasoning the wok is the least of your worries.

Thanks! "Recipe" might be a little strong, but search the web for "cheese custard pie" and "Joy of Cooking" and the basic recipe will pop up. Mix in a pound of crab and whatever cheese you have on hand, and enjoy. Everyone agonized about blue cheese with (blue) crab, but it was fantastic. Next time, more blue cheese!

Roberta, beautiful banh mi! I am very glad (and a little relieved) that you liked Vietnamese Kitchen. Cookbooks can be very personal, so I never know whether a book that works for me will work for others (although I was pretty confident in that recommendation). David, I look forward to your next banh mi, traditional or not.

I love a nice turn of phrase, and finding one in a foodblog is a double bonus. A commendable approach. Larb is always appropriate. I am enjoying this very much, please carry on!

More cooking than picture-taking the last few days. We had guests visiting from Montana so we cooked local specialties. I posted our crabcakes already. Crab quiche with smoked gouda, gruyere, and blue cheese did not survive to picture time, but I did manage to wrestle some BBQ pork from the boys and their ever-hungry friends. Pulled pork sandwich with mustard slaw and homemade BBQ sauce: Last night we sous-cheffed for Mrs. C, who made gazpacho with tomatoes from the farmer’s market, plus the first two tomatoes from our garden:

David – thank you! I look forward to seeing your banh mi. Thanks, Katie. I marinated the meat before work, so probably about 10 hours. I did have the meat directly over the coals. The grill was pretty hot, so I dipped the meat every 5 minutes or so. Next time I will let the coals burn down a bit further, and probably make more marinade so I can dip the meat more frequently. I do prefer char siu over fire rather than under the broiler.

Patrick – Pasta with sausage and fennel sounds delicious, thanks for the link Dcarch – another stunning meal Crabcakes for friends from Montana, with homemade tartar sauce, carrot and daikon pickle, bean salad, and baby romaine

Grilled char siu pork, for the banh mi cookoff

Younger son requested char siu banh mi for his birthday. Who am I to say no? We followed Andrea Nguyen’s recipes from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, except for charcoal-grilling the pork. We made the daikon-carrot pickle yesterday, and started marinating the pork this morning. Pork shoulder strips on the grill: Rolling the pork in the marinade every few minutes: Staying hydrated is critical when working at a hot grill. Gin and tonic: Glaze starting to build up: Rest the pork for a few minutes before slicing against the grain: Served on hollowed-out baguettes. Fixings included liver pate, daikon-carrot pickle, cucumber strips, thinly-sliced jalapenos, cilantro, Maggi, and mayonnaise.

Thank you, Patrick. I like this larb very much, but next time I may try adding lemongrass, garlic, galangal, sawtooth coriander, or a little fragrant broth.

Fourth of July pork larb with shallots, mint, scallions, cilantro, lime juice, fish sauce, jalapeno, cayenne, galangal powder, and roasted rice powder. I didn’t measure, but probably 2:1 lime to fish sauce. Juicy, savory, spicy, tart, herbal, and refreshing – I’m getting closer. Crunchy Romaine lettuce leaves, but no rice. I was hoping for leftovers, but all disappeared.

Wait - Heidi let you leave without doing a final foodblog? How did that happen? Much gratitude for what you set in motion, and best wishes on your new direction.

Funny - younger son has been lobbying for banh mi recently, so I will probably join in. We typically use Andrea Nguyen's rather flexible instructions from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Our favorite version includes char siu pork, liver pate, cucumber strips, cilantro, jalapeno slices, Maggi, mayo, and daikon and carrot pickle. I'm not much of a baker, so store-bought baguettes are fine by me. I look forward to seeing what everyone does with banh mi.

Kim - Thank you for your kind words, and sorry to hear about the storm damage and Benadryl coma. Hang in there! Patrick – Very nice! This was one of those “Did you make plans for dinner?” “Nope, did you?” “Well, let’s see what we have” meals Linguine Alfredo, green bean salad, sliced pineapple, and champagne mangos

dcarch – another amazing meal! I will keep an eye out for neck. Georgian grilled chicken – Russian Georgia, that is. A mystery spice packet from Russian friends, mixed into a marinade with olive oil and fish sauce (probably not traditional) and grilled over charcoal. Y’all may be getting sick of my grilled meals, but da boyz can’t get enough. Sauteed carrots and mushrooms – with sherry vinegar, garlic, chiles, oregano, and a little sugar. Eternal cucumbers, unpictured. Boys ate all the bread in the house, so we were short on carbs. Neighbor switched to a gas grill, so he gave me a perfectly serviceable Weber charcoal grill (nicer than mine, actually), a chimney starter, and a bag of charcoal. Sweet!

Kim - Thank you. PM sent, and apologies for the late reply. Percy - That steak fried rice looks great - why have I never made that? Grilled five-spice chicken – drumsticks slashed and marinated with ginger, garlic, five-spice powder, sugar, turmeric, oil, soy sauce, and toasted and ground star anise. One of my all-time favorite things to do with chicken. Salad and bread to fill out the food pyramid.

Sounds like I need to hit pok pok next trip to NYC. I would love to try all of those different herbs and spices in the article that Patrick linked. The larb spice mix sounded particularly intriguing. We do grow holy basil in the garden, and one plant usually supples a summer's worth of grapao.

Shane – Thank you muchly! I would recommend it over Sodsook, but it complements Kasma nicely. More home-style cooking compared with Thompson. Probably our most-used Thai cookbook, including tonight . . . Props on shelling peas for kheema – I can’t remember the last time we had fresh-shelled peas. Also, I need to look up that Vietnamese chicken salad. :laugh: Collaborative Father’s Day meal tonight Juicy strip steaks for the boys, with my usual garlic, black pepper, and soy sauce marinade Mrs. C made coconut rice and peanut sauce. Peanut sauce made a nice salad dressing, too. Mrs. C picked blueberries this morning, and saved the best for me Younger son and Mrs. C made blueberry crisp, a wonderful Father's Day present!

Robirdstx – Sriracha and melted butter sounds good. Our version of chicken + fire = good eats: Gai yang – This is probably my favorite easy recipe for grilled chicken. After briefly marinating with garlic, white pepper, cilantro, ginger, coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, and whiskey, the chicken is baked until nearly done and then finished over charcoal. For Patrick – Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook. Served with bread and salad. Sweet chile sauce would have been nice, but we were out.

Wow, lots of meals that look really good! Kim – Thank you! You can buy caramel sauce at an Asian market, or you can make it yourself. It is simply sugar browned to a color somewhere between blackstrap molasses and black coffee. Might be interesting on vanilla ice cream . . . Patrick – Yes, nam prik ong from Thailand the Beautiful Cookbook Lively evening. Friends were returning from Russia, so Mrs. C picked up their son (a shrimp fiend) and welcomed them home by making shrimp salad with mango, avocado, tomato, onion, celery, Greek yogurt, and pear pickle, served on hoagie rolls. Meanwhile, other friends stopped by to drop off their dog, and everyone hung out for a while. Eventually, everyone left and I made our dinner. Red curry with bay scallops and green beans – kinda improvised, with shallots, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, brown sugar, white pepper, chopped almonds, coconut milk, chile matchsticks, and slivered lime leaves. Family approved, surprisingly. Coconut rice, bean salad, and a delicious pickle of pear, bell peppers, carrots, ginger, and black peppercorns, home-made by one of Mrs. C’s co-workers.

BBQ chicken wings – marinated with lemongrass, garlic, white pepper, turmeric, and soy sauce Chiang Mai dipping sauce – for dipping vegetables, made with tomatoes, pork, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar Vegetable plate – eternal cucumbers, lettuce, cilantro, and scallions. Mrs. C skipped the wings and made a meal of the veggies and dipping sauce.

Mark – mmm, nice ribs! dcarch - gorgeous as usual! Caramelized minced pork from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen – onions, caramel sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and scallions. A favorite. Jasmine rice and a salad with lettuce, tomatoes and avocado.

Scrolling up from the bottom of the page, I instantly recognized Prawncrackers' pictures before I reached the always-welcome panda. Don't be such a stranger!

Steak twice in a row . . . Kebabs – strip steak cubes; and red bell pepper, onion, and grape tomato – brushed with a lemon juice and garlic mix on the grill. Served with pita bread. Ribeye steaks with our usual marinade of soy sauce, black pepper, and garlic. Mrs. C dry-fried mushrooms and made quinoa with barley. Eternal cucumbers.