C. sapidus

Chilorio (ancho chile-seasoned pork), with guacamole and salsa Mexicana on flour tortillas. Recipe from Mexico the Beautiful Cookbook, my first new (to me) cookbook in quite some time, so of course I had to give it a test-drive. No picture, but two other recipes from the book - puntas de filete a la Mexicana (Mexican-style beef tips) and ejotes con cebolla y jitomate (green beans with onion and tomato) - also hit the spot.

Robirdstx, I could get comfortable with that meal. Comfort food of a sort here, too. Stir-fried pork tenderloin with green beans, garlic, and mild chiles, served with jasmine rice. We marinated the pork with fish sauce, Shaoxing wine, and Chinkiang vinegar, stir-fried until partly cooked, and then removed the pork to keep it tender. The green beans and chiles were cooked with oyster sauce, fish sauce, sugar, and water, and then the pork was tossed in the wok to finish cooking just before serving. The same cook-rest-finish technique also works nicely with fish.

Chiang Mai grilled fish salad (miang pla tu): Skin-on walleye grilled over charcoal and then flaked. Tossed the fish with cilantro, mint, slivered ginger, minced chiles, peanuts, and a delicious dressing of lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, and roasted chile paste. Served on lettuce leaves with coconut jasmine rice. We will definitely make this again.

Pierogi, it would be ungentlemanly to turn down such a kind request - thank you! Roasted mushroom salad with spinach and bacon, tossed with a warm dressing of lime juice, olive oil, and Mexican oregano. According to da boyz, the forces of good (bacon) overcame the forces of evil (spinach). Creamy corn soup with chicken and Anaheim chiles, flavored with fried white onion, garlic, cilantro, and a crumbling of bacon.

Kim - Welcome back! djyee100 - Thanks! Your fridge-cleaning was pretty inspirational. dcarch - Gorgeous meals as always. Summer has arrived, by thermometer if not calendar, so we had one of our favorite summer meals - grilled beef salad. We marinated sirloin steak in soy sauce, black soy sauce, and lime juice, and then grilled the beef over charcoal. After resting, the beef was sliced thinly and tossed with mint leaves, thinly-sliced lemongrass, cucumbers, and red onion, with a dressing of cilantro, garlic, chiles, palm sugar, white pepper, fish sauce, and lemon juice. We served the salad over lettuce leaves, with jasmine rice. I should get back in the habit of taking pictures.

A clean-out-the-fridge meal for Mrs. C's return resulted in some odd but tasty combinations. Shrimp curry: Red curry paste, coconut milk, shallots, garlic, ginger, sliced Poblano chiles, turmeric, nutmeg, palm sugar, rice vinegar, and cilantro. Jasmine rice pilaf: Leftover chicken, fried onion and garlic, and chicken stock. Peas with tarragon: Sauteed in ghee.

Dejah, that looks scrumptious! I made charcoal-grilled char siu for dinner guests on Sunday. Charcoal grilling is my new favorite way to make char siu. Mrs. C made chicken, and we provided all of the usual accompaniments for make-your-own banh mi. All of the char siu disappeared, so no pictures. It was purty though!

I used four bird chiles, so the spice level was between "crying tiger" and "slightly weepy tiger" per the author's description. Still triggered complaints from the family, but their main criticism (and a valid one) was a lack of complexity in the flavors. My primary error was not taking the time to adjust seasonings before serving. As I mentioned, a touch of sugar and a slosh of fish sauce gave the leftovers a much fuller and more rounded flavor. White peppercorns instead of green, and cilantro stems instead of stems and roots

Adding more fish sauce and some Vietnamese dark caramel sauce greatly improved the leftovers at breakfast . . .

Patrick and Pierogi, thanks to both of you! I hurried through the grocery store so I am embarassed to admit that I don't remember what fillets I bought - cod, maybe? Crying tiger (seur rong hai) from Cracking the Coconut. I had to substitute some ingredients but still, this was . . . a bit disappointing. Plenty of heat, but lacked body. I should probably have fiddled with sweet-salty balance some more, but oh, well. The rest of the meal was coconut rice, green salad, and chunks of papaya, pineapple, and starfruit left over from Easter brunch. The crumbled pork rinds were a nice touch, though.

Menuinprogress, that's a gorgeous photo - I picture a line of beautiful plates stretching into the distance . . . Grilled chicken wings, brushed with a glaze of soy sauce, honey, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Grilled asparagus, marinated with olive oil and S&P. Braised fingerling potatoes with garlic and bay leaves, from All About Braising.

Southern Thai-style fish fillets, from Cracking the Coconut. Made a paste in the mortar with garlic, cilantro stems, white peppercorns, and coriander seed. Marinated the fish with lime juice, sliced limes, and half of the paste. Used the remainder to make a chile paste with lemongrass, bird chiles, and turmeric. Fried the fillets until partly cooked, and then removed to rest. Fried the chile paste and then added palm sugar, tamarind juice, fish sauce, lime leaves, white vermouth, and the drained marinade and sliced limes. Added the fillets to the sauce, and simmered until the fish was cooked through and the sauce reduced. Flavors were bright, strong, and well-balanced, and cooking the fish in stages worked nicely. Southern Thai cooking seems to marry elements from Thai and Indian cuisines, a delightful union I would like to explore further. Served with jasmine rice, eternal cucumbers, iceberg lettuce wedges, and surprisingly decent tomatoes.

RRO, I am almost looking forward to heat and humidity so that I can implement one of my life's goals - eating Thai salads all summer (and yours looks wonderfully crunchy and full of flavor). Shrimp marinara with linguine - with lots of fresh basil, oregano, and garlic, simmered with a split Thai bird chile. Elder son almost didn't miss the meatballs. Salad with vinaigrette - baby lettuce, tomatoes, jicama, carrots, scallions, and blue cheese in the salad; red wine vinegar, grainy mustard, minced shallots, and a touch of honey in the vinaigrette. Forgot to take a pic, but it was purty.

RRO - I am greatly enjoying your worldwide pancake tour. Probably another cardiologist's dream, but hit the spot: ham and fried egg over toasted English muffin slathered with butter and blue cheese.

Dejah has been posting so much beautiful Chinese food I had to join in with a meal from Land of Plenty. Tai bai chicken: I love this dish, but holy moley, this batch turned out spicy! I normally use roundish dried chiles that are fairly mild, but this time used pointed chiles from the Indian market. Younger son talked smack about my "weak-kick chicken", urging me to "make it spicy next time (as he shoveled rice into his mount and drank about a gallon of water). I do not mind at all if he gets macho about spicy food. Dry-fried green beans, a perennial favorite, and Mrs. C made jasmine rice with chicken stock, onions, and herbs.

Ann_T, well thank you, ma'am, and likewise. Larb and one of those gorgeous rhubarb galettes would be a great way to start . . . Heidih, thank you! I am always amazed how a soup can be so satisfying when it is mostly just chicken stock, soy sauce or fish sauce, and something oniony. Beautiful pizzas, and steak salad with blue cheese sounds perfect now that the evenings are getting longer and warmer. From Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen: Jalapeno-baked fish with simmered tomato-jalapeno sauce, served with sliced avocado and green salad. We used skin-on haddock, which turned out moist and tender after about eight minutes in the oven. I thinned the sauce with extra chicken stock to correct over-enthusiastic salting. Even thinned, the sauce was delicious over rice. Classic white rice, enhanced with roasted chile Poblano rajas.

patrickamory - I am so glad that you were amenable to arm-twisting. Your food looks absolutely delicious, but I do have one question: Is your "deep-fried beef" the "semi-dried beef" (neua dtaet dtiaw, p. 505) in Thai Food? How did you oven-dry the beef? I have to try that recipe for crying tiger, it sounds killer.

How about "Very Secure"?

Between Deja's stew, Kim's Stroganoff, and Ann's roast, I could happily enjoy several meals worth of beefy comfort. Dejah, five-spice fennel sounds intriguing - how did it turn out? I am giving up on the Thai Cooking at Home thread for now, so I'll post tonight's meal here - all based on recipes in David Thompson's Thai Food: Stir-fried beef with spices: sliced sirloin marinated with ground cumin, coriander, and fish sauce, stir-fried, and then simmered with roasted chile paste, fried shallots, white pepper, cayenne, and chopped flat-leaf coriander. Soup of minced pork and celery: Dead simple - chicken stock, soy sauce, sugar, scallions, shiitake mushrooms, ground pork, cilantro, and white pepper. We added sliced glalangal, just because we had some. Jasmine rice and salted cucumbers.

I have posted a few dishes from Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen on the Making Mexican at Home thread, starting at post #242 (click). Short verdict: we have been very happy with the cookbook. Mr. Bayless' flavors are spot-on as always, and I particularly appreciate the fact that making a big batch of sauce on the weekend can yield fairly quick weeknight meals.

Tom kha gai (coconut chicken soup)! The name translates to "boiled galangal soup", according to my sources. If you have more time on your hands, galangal is a key ingredient in many Thai curry pastes. I look forward to seeing what you do with yours. I am enjoying the blog very much so far. Gorgeous pottery, and much sympathy on the canine destruction. Perhaps you could loop Cruella De Ville videos for the Dalmations when you are away from home?

The Weber Smoky Mountain, a.k.a. Weber Bullet, is a less expensive option. Since the BBQ police are out in force, I should mention that the WSM uses a pan of water rather than an offset smoke box to maintain low temperature. Some feel that offset smokers are superior to water smokers. Perhaps, but many use the Weber Bullet successfully in BBQ competitions (and we love ours).

What Andrew Fenton said. Plus, check out Pork Ribs -- Baby Back and Spare.

Dejah, the plates are fun, but your char siu is beyond gorgeous, and I can't wait to see your baos. How did you get such a beautiful crust? If this week goes according to plan (most haven't lately), I hope to contribute to this thread with Wednesday night's dinner (fingers crossed).

I swear - pretty much every one of your posts gives me a hankering. Not just the chiles (although that's a good start), but your flavor combinations always sound enticing.