C. sapidus

Robin: Your meal looks delicious, and tuna is tricky – it continues to cook after you remove the heat. I overcooked my first batch of tuna goreng, too. I think that “red onion” and shallot is the same thing, but I can’t remember where I got that information. Susan: We have a Weber gas grill with heavy stainless steel grates, and usually preheat on high for 20 minutes or so. If possible, I try to flip the sate onto an unused part of the grill to get a good char on both sides. Looking forward to seeing what you make!

[Elvis]Thankyou, thankyouverymuch[/Elvis]. Seriously, I appreciate your very kind words. I actually wish that I could take pictures like Anne_T and Chufi, where you get delicious food, plus a sense of place and natural light. Just in case you were curious, “pornographic edibility” has zero Google hits, so you may be the first to use this phrase in the internet age.

GreekCook: Thank you, and apologies. Shalmanese: What, no dessert? No seriously, that is an amazing and ambitious meal. I’m exhausted and hungry just looking at the pictures. When did you start cooking, and how many contributed? I’ll start lobbying now for an invite to your 40th.

Michael: Thank you! I have never even seen rojak before, so credit to Mr. Oseland if it looks plausibly Malaysian. Dejah: Aw, shrimp paste isn’t so bad. Yup, we whatevered the shrimp paste in the house, on the middle back burner with the hood fan on high (after warning the family, of course). I had the grill out tonight, so I should have experimented with outdoor whatevering.

Thanks, Peter! Applejack is a traditional American apple brandy made from distilled hard cider.Klary: Beautiful dinner, and gorgeous picture of the Amarone. Saturdays are wonderful, aren’t they? In support of Crouching Tyler’s Cradle of Flavor project (click), we made beef satay . . . . . . and rojak.

Tonight we made beef satay (sate sapi) with crisp jicama and pineapple salad (rojak). The satay is a family favorite, but this was our first time making rojak. The boys weren’t crazy about the sauce, so Mrs. C and I finished most of it. Rojak has a fascinating combination of flavors and textures: pineapple, jicama, Granny Smith apple (sub for guava), cukes, mango, and papaya in the salad; roasted shrimp paste, tamarind, chiles, shallots, garlic, palm sugar, and kecap manis in the sauce. We substituted ripe-ish mango and papaya for green mango and papaya, so our rojak lacked some of the tart counterpoint for the spicy-sweet-salty sauce. I forgot to add the peanut topping until most of the rojak was gone – oops. We have a few Thai and Chinese dinners planned, so I will sit back and enjoy what everyone makes from CoF this week. Sate sapi Rojak

nonblonde007: This probably isn’t what you are looking for: clean-out-the-fridge red curry scrambled eggs. These are different every time, a great way to play with Thai curry flavors, and one of my absolute favorite things to eat. Today's version: mash Thai chiles, ginger, shallot, garlic, shrimp paste, palm sugar and salt in the mortar. Crack coconut cream, fry the paste, season with fish sauce and roasted chile paste, lower the heat, scramble the eggs low and slow, and top with basil chiffonade. Lime wedges would have hit the spot, but we were out.

Continuing the pork theme, we made grilled lemongrass pork riblets (click), chile-soy dipping sauce, jasmine rice, and a green salad with cilantro-lime dressing (I remembered the cilantro this time ). After dinner, Mrs. C improvised a tasty concoction of hard cider, applejack, and lime juice.

Grilled lemongrass pork riblets (suon nuong xa), from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. Marinated overnight with caramel sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, oil, and black pepper, these disappeared quickly. I’m not sure what cut of meat we used. Described as “pork riblets”, these were quite meaty with a bit of a fat cap and very little bone. The pork emerged juicy and tender after 20-30 minutes over a medium grill. Definitely worth making again. ETA: We also made a simple dipping sauce of Thai chile muddled in light soy sauce. Suon nuong xa

Ah, I get it now. I have read that rice is central to many Asian countries, but the concept just doesn't seem to stick in my brain. I guess we all have our biases. How's this: The other morning, I finished the kari terung with my leftover rice.

Looks like a delicious dinner to me, and things always go slower the first time. The satay looks particularly tasty - it looks like you got a nice crust without overcooking the insides. Raw veggies are great for this. If you want to stick with the book, try stir-fried Asian greens with garlic and chiles (tumis sayur) - quick, delicious, and adaptable to whatever greens look good at the store. Asian markets often have fried shallots in big plastic jars. We usually keep some on hand. So, what's next?

Thanks, I appreciate your perspective as always. Guilty as charged, perhaps with the additional malfeasance of eating a side dish without a main dish. I did eat rice while finishing the leftovers this morning - does that atone?

Wow. Just wow. Mrs. C took the boys and their friends to a movie, so I had the evening to run errands and cook while listening to inappropriate music loudly. The end result was a one-dish dinner: Asiah's eggplant curry (kari terung). Details on Cooking with ‘Cradle of Flavor’, One Recipe at a Time (click)

Tonight we made Asiah’ eggplant curry (kari terung), from Malaysia. I used five Thai chiles, which gave the curry a good kick, nicely moderated by the coconut milk. This was absolutely delicious - sweet, spicy, fragrant vegetable candy. When the curry was finished I did as Mr. Oseland described in the book, “ate it without benefit of rice, devouring the eggplant like it was candy” (minus the rattan mat). Ingredients: Prepped and ready to go: Frying the shallots, garlic, chiles, and spices: Finished curry:

Thanks for the time estimate, and good luck finding candlenuts. Good point! I found two more Cradle of Flavor dishes from the archives. I encourage everyone to make any of the rendangs in the book – they take a while but are so worth it. Potato rendang in progress: Potato rendang leftovers: Indonesian beef rendang in progress: Lousy picture of the only bite of beef rendang that survived a dinner party:

Chris Amirault: Great pictorial – Ayam Panggang Sulawesi was already on my list, but it just moved up a few notches. How long did it take, start to finish? ETA: Thank you very much, James. You are absolutely welcome to drop by for dinner next time you are in the neighborhood.

We drove out to Glade-Link Farms last weekend. Two adults and two children filled a large tub of strawberries in maybe half an hour. The strawberries were orders of magnitude better than anything else available to us. We ate lots, gave a basket of strawberries to friends, and made strawberry soup and strawberry crisp (click) with the remainder. Most places open very early in the morning, so the mid-day heat is avoidable. I can understand not wanting to drive out from DC, though. For us, the 20-minute drive was definitely worth it. Can you get good strawberries at DC-area farmer's markets?

Stephanie: Ohh, I looove roasted garlic Octaveman: Nice job on the chicken with lemongrass – how did you keep the lemongrass from falling apart and getting stringy? Megan: Welcome back! We have missed your beautiful, healthy meals. Kbjseq: Nice dinner – the browned Brussels sprouts sound especially good. Tonight we made grilled chicken, Sinaloa-style (pollo a las brasas, estilo Sinaloense); quick-fried chayote with lime and garlic (chayote al mojo de ajo); and green salad with lime-cilantro dressing, all from Authentic Mexican. We served the chicken with flour tortillas, roasted Poblano chile rajas, and Frontera chipotle-garlic salsa. I spatchcocked the chicken and marinated it with freshly-squeezed OJ and pureed onion, garlic, thyme, oregano, bay leaves, and S&P. The chicken turned out very nicely, with crispy skin and juicy meat, even the breasts. Speaking of breasts, we have a family of dark-meat lovers so I usually cook parts rather than whole chicken. As I was cutting up the leftovers, the phrase “freakishly large breasts” popped into my head – those things just didn’t look natural. I will make this recipe again, but with legs and thighs. The lime-cilantro dressing was remarkably good considering that I forgot to add, um, cilantro. Sinaloa-style grilled chicken; chayote al mojo de ajo; and chile Poblano rajas

Jen: Welcome! I haven't tried Ca Kho Rieng, but it looks and sounds delicious. I can imagine how smoky bacon would complement caramel sauce, fish sauce, and galangal. Thanks for the cucumber homage and I love the Schlitz iguana. ETA: I forgot to post wok-seared shrimp from the other night (also from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen).

Peter:I’m a little leery of raw meat, but that Buffalo larb looks incredible. Cool idea. Did you add any spices or seasonings to the chicken balls before frying them? I am surprised to hear that the traditional approach involves grilling the mince in banana leaves – I thought it was traditional (at least for Thai larb) to simmer the mince in stock and seasonings. That’s another great idea – I’m definitely going to add kaffir lime and lemongrass to my next batch of roasted rice powder. By the way, re-reading my post above I forgot to list a key ingredient in my larb – roasted chile powder! Trust me, I did remember to add chiles.

A good crabcake has a simple appeal: maximum lump crab meat for minimum effort. Either you like crab meat or you don’t. This assumes that you have had a good crabcake (most aren’t). As Busboy mentioned, good crab meat is expensive so many places cut corners. It also seems like a lot of folks prefer crab-flavored hush puppies. I prefer to get messy picking crabs, but that option is not always available or socially appropriate. Busboy: Date, time, and directions to your house, please.

Yeah, what David Ross said. Stephanie: Thanks, and beautiful fajitas! Anne_T: Awesome as always. After picking amazing strawberries and filling up on strawberry crisp this afternoon, we had a light dinner of Larb Laab Larp. Larb gai

I have long loved larb, have eaten loads of larb, but for some reason had never actually made larb before. That changed tonight. We started with the larb gai recipe in Crying Tiger and adjusted the flavors to taste. Sliced shallots, roasted rice powder, fish sauce, lime juice, cilantro, mint, sliced cucumbers, scallions, ground chicken. It turned out very nicely, but it was not ultimate. I stir-fried ground chicken in the wok with some fish sauce, but simmering the chicken in stock and seasonings would probably have been an improvement. Clearly, more research is needed, probably involving pork. Larb gai.

Thanks, Alanamoana. Strawberry crisp and ice cream would have been delicious, but the boys and their friends finished all of the ice cream the night before. It's like living with locusts. Anyway, strawberry season has a few weeks left, so maybe we can try again. Rustic – yep, that’s about right for my desserts.

I’m a rare visitor to the dessert thread, but today we picked fresh strawberries . . . . . . and made strawberry crisp. I started with the blueberry crisp recipe in the King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion. For the filling, I cut the sugar in half, substituted 3 tablespoons of cornstarch for ¼ cup of flour, and sprinkled in ground cinnamon and cloves. When the crisp was done, we sprinkled on a little ancho chile powder, which added a nice hint of “what is that extra flavor?”