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phage

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Everything posted by phage

  1. Well, I'll have more room when I finish up the old kimchi (just got a new gallon of it). And the strange somewhat newer kimchi I got at a Vietnamese supermarket in Portland a while back - not terrible but just something else - a bit sweet, I don't know what all - though not as weird as the jar I got labeled "Vietnamese kimchi" that contains radish floating in a black liquid with a licorice flavor. Maybe I can get half the gochujang in the fridge, then have the other half out where I'll see it constantly and therefore be tempted to put it in everything I cook. Well, okay, not everything, but a lot.... --Phage
  2. My question is: How long will Gochujang last outside the refrigerator. I just bought a tub of chapssal gochujang (about 1.5 kilos, I think) and haven't opened it yet. It's pretty big for my refrigerator and I wonder how long it will last outside the fridge. I've heard gochujang gets to taste less good when it has been in the store a long time - I've had it that tastes too much like yeast (or Vitamin B). This sweet rice variety may be different though - anyway, has anyone left their pepper paste out for a substantial period of time, and what was the result. ~~~~
  3. Hmmm, I just made and ate a peach smoothie before turning my computer on and coming here..... Reminds me of the time we went to the big festival that alternated eachyear between Gongju and Buyeo. That year it was in Buyeo and the tents were filled with piles of delicous food and absolutely nobody was there eating. Alas, we didn't eat there either 'cause we'd just had a tasty meal at a restaurant in town. At least the Peach festival seemed to have some customers, if not jam-packed..... Yes, I'd like some of that sundae too. One of the things I miss most about Korea. The peach makkoli looked tasty. Though makkoli is usually made mostly from wheat rather than rice. Though there's usually some rudimentary rice in it. Unfortunately I didn't get to see all the photos, cause my computer stopped downloading them about halfway through. I think it has an electronic disease, though my anti-virus software isn't picking it up..... --phage
  4. The sad news is that Maria's Restaurant , the one in the decrepit building with only one parking place, right next to the railroad tracks, has gone defunct. The landlord sold the property to a corporation but kindly paid for all the diner's lunches on the last day, August 14th. This place had such tasty Mexican food - even the refried beans were flat-out delicious.... I drove by there the other day and they'd already torn part of it down.... But I've heard she wants to open up again somewhere in Grants Pass, after taking a break. Why does a little place like Grants Pass attract better restaurants than Medford, the metropolis of Southern Oregon? We were pleased to eat recently at Abu's Oasis Deli on NW 6th Street -less than a mile down from the North Grants Pass freeway exit - I recommend the sampler platters of Lebanese and Greek food that contain something of everything. A large one good for two people for 18.95 (w/meat or vegetarian) and the giant one for 29.95. Nothing that wasn't flavorful.
  5. phage

    RICE

    Trekking in Nepal once, someone served me a very tasty unmilled red rice - mmmm, but they apologized profusely for not serving regular white rice. Hopefully they haven't stopped growing it... When I discovered Jasmine rice, I ate that for a few years. Then I switched my allegiance to short-grain Korean or Japanese rice. I usually add some glutenous rice to it, say 15 to 20%. Brown rice is okay, but just like millet or barley, a nice change once in a while but not something I'd think of cooking very often. I ate a whole watermelon today (over the course of the afternoon) - now some rice sounds good to me, to anchor me to land.... --phage
  6. Yeah, the powdered stocks (dashida) are pretty good. Recently I bought a clam-flavored one that I really like. In Korea they have mushroom-flavored powder (same brand as the other ones) but I haven't been able to find it in America. I still have some left that I brought back from Korea last time...... And of course, if you want an even more flavorful stock, add some vegetables . - Phage
  7. Then again, should you not have a mortar of any kind, a blender will do the job as well.... If you're not all that familiar with cooking Korean food, perhaps you don't want to start out with kimjang. You can buy your kimchi and various banchan for now.... If you want to make a side dish or two, get some soybean sprouts and a recipe or two for cooking them. Thats not too bad to began and if you mess it up you won't have ruined a big investment. They are bigger than the usual mungbean sprouts. Someone suggested dwenjang (toenjang, twenjang, etc....). This is a pretty basic food item, served with many a meal - a good thing to get down. Get some seaweed and make miyok-guk - a typical breakfast soup. Or some ddeok-guk-ddeok (sliced ovalettes of ricecake) and make ddeokguk, another simple soup. Produce: Besides the soybean sprouts, get one of those big fat Korean radishes (mu) - they are good in soups and stews or you can shred them and make some banchan that you can eat right away. Shiitake mushrooms - you probably have some dried ones around - these are also used in Korean cooking. Same with sheets of nori which are also used, not only in kimbap (sushi), but just to wrap bites of food in. You might find tofu in a squeeze tube. This is good for sundubu. Kochukaru (chile powder) comes in two forms, course flake for making kimchi, and fine flake, used for seasoning dishes. *********** Another approach would be to look thru a Korean cookbook or food website - pick out the dishes that sound good to you, and then buy what you need. - Phage
  8. phage

    Congee

    The term "gruel" is not allowed at this time. ← Why not - isn't it a grueling experience, cooking the rice so long and trying to keep it from burning.... -- Phage
  9. mmmm, Dejah, that cake looks good! In reading all the responses, it seems we have various kinds of taro cake among the several cuisines - this is the kind that I had gotten recently: I did try stir-frying it with some vegies after cutting some into small cubes and they held together reasonably well... -- phage
  10. I've enjoyed eating taro cake in slices (fried or nuked), but I began to think - what do people do with it other than eating it as it is? Is it used in combination with other foods, cooked into dishes? Is it traditionally seasoned in particular ways? Anyone have a particularly tasty dish to recommend, using taro (or turnip) cake? Thanks, - Phage
  11. phage

    Congee

    Juk being the Korean word for porridge, and it is found in various forms. Pat Juk - is juk made from aduki beans. This can have small balls of rice dumpling in it. There's Hobak-juk, made with squash. Juk made with black sesame seeds and rice.... what else, I wonder.... So why not oatjuk (say that fast and I'll say....Gesundtheit!) You can also buy prepackaged dehydrated juk in Korea, and in Korean shops in America. Good for a camping trip, not so much if you are at home and have time to cook..... I've mostly cooked oatmeal as a savoury dish during the course of my life - gives a nice gummy pasty texture to wrap around the meat, vegs. or whatever I want to put in it.... If you're in the big market in Jung-gu, Pusan, or the market across from the train station in Gyeongju, you can try Korean porridge from the vendors' stalls. --Phage
  12. No, the seed they use in Sundaeguk are the ones called "Wild Sesame" or ggaennip (깻잎). They are a type of perilla related to the Japanese shiso. The leaves are the heart-shaped ones often used in Ssambap and with soy sauce and such as banchan, or deep-fried and stuffed with hamburger (oh those are the leaves - what else do they do with the seeds, I wonder?) The seeds are about the size of a mustard seed but a redder shade of brown. Not to say someone might use mustard seed somewhere, but I've never had them in sundaeguk. I'm going to Sacramento tomorrow - I'm looking forward to a tasty Korean meal and stocking up on kimchi, ddeok, and other items I can't get where I live....
  13. In Nohak-dong, on the west side of Sokcho and just on the edge of Seoraksan NP there are two villages of sundubu restaurants. I ate at several establishments and found the sundubu to be very basic - just tofu and a simple broth. Of course there were various seasonings and banchan with it so one would season it to taste. Away from Gangwon-do I've almost always had sundubu come with lots of seasoning, and clams and such - I guess that is properly Sundubu-jjigae, but not always labeled as such.... -- phage
  14. Aren't the rings intestines? No matter, I love both.... Tibetans cook a lot with lungs - it's been a long time since I've eaten Tibetan food so I've forgot exactly what they are like (other than they reminded me of big tasty chunks of fat which I could eat huge amounts of without getting sated.) There's one thing I find among the sundae offal that has a lot of blood vessels interspersed around each slice - what organ would that be, I wonder.... There's a place in MD that serves sundaeguk?! I haven't found any on the West Coast though I haven't been to L.A.'s Koreatown.... I've gotten pre-packaged sundae in shops in Northern California and it's always a bit dry and tasteless compared to what they have in Korea - and more expensive. Does anyone know if such a restaurant exists anywhere in the area between Seattle and Sunnyvale? I've had that happen too - but not all that much - I do often order it at restaurants, but I have got some wheels of it at home and I just break off a piece and put it in the soup a lot, not always the amount that one would normally use, but it does enrichen the flavour of whatever soup I'm making (These would be soups of more-or-less Korean style - don't know that I'd use cheonggukjang in lobster bisque....) * * * * * * * * * * * * The bloodless sundae sounds tasty (not that have any problem with blood, but I don't usually see it for sale where I live, or intestines either) Wonder if I could make it without the blood and guts (sounds pallid but hafta make do with what I have....) --phage
  15. A few items I wish hadn't gone..... - The old 7-up candy bar. This was the kind that was made from 7 candies held together with chocolate, and a brazil nut was the one in the middle. Each of the seven pieces had its own texture and taste. If you're not pretty old already you won't remember these.... They repackaged them in wrappers saying "New! Improved!" But they lied - they'd taken the nut away and made the bar into something pretty bland and uninteresting. Folks weren't deceived and so the company stopped making them altogether after a couple years. - Bigelow's Specially Strawberry Herb Tea. When the powers-that-be decided that everyone should eat raspberry instead, they dropped the strawberry flavor. - I haven't seen Woody's Cookin-In Sauce around in the last year - have they stop making it? It was the real concentrated BBQ flavoured stuff (add your own sugar - oh,, gee, that's a lot of trouble for people, better to sell the stuff with little flavor, but lots of sugar, salt, grease, and chemicals....) - VitaSoy Creamy Unsweetened Soymilk. Really tasty, like extra-rich milk. They still have plain unsweetened, not half as good. The least-common-denominator always prevails. ~~phage
  16. Well, I’ve eaten most of the “wouldn’t-eat” foods of people who have written so far. Some of them I really like. Balut, okra, insects, eyeballs (fish ones, at least), internal organs, durian, snakes, natto, tea with rancid yak butter, fermented fish guts, silkworm pupae, vegemite, meongge or sea squirt, etc. Usually I avoid Brussells Sprouts but am not totally adverse to them. And, someone mentioned three-bean salad. Now, that is TRULY an odd concoction. I'd only eat it in a pinch. But, two things I just won't eat: -Raw Eggs, plain, right out of the shell.... -BREAD. Spaghetti. Pizza. I'm allergic to wheat so forget the bread unless it's made from spelt, or with something that needs a lot of xantham gum to cohere. Won't eat anything else with wheat - cookies, pies, cakes, biscuits, gravy, (I'd weigh a lot more by now if I didn't have to avoid these items.) Can't eat the majority of prepared foods, so I usually cook from scratch. It's healthier and I've become a better cook. ++phage
  17. Yes, this is found all over Asia in one form or another - HaluHalo from the Philippines, (something) from China, and of course the Hawaiian Shave Ice. What goes in Pat Bing Su varies - there's a kind of ddeok or rice cake that comes in little cubes, there's agar-agar, there's even creamed corn..... But the beans are in pretty much all of them, and I would disagree with Nakji about the appropriateness of dessert beans - Asians are very creative in their use of beans and have devised many tasty things to do with them. One year I bought a #10 can (around 6 lbs) of these sweetened azuki beans and used them all up in pat bing su. This summer though i haven't got around to getting out my binsugi and shaving ice with it - maybe still have time before it gets colder... I'd attach a photo except that it is thundering here and so I have to turn off my computer..... --Phage--
  18. Thanks, everyone, for your comments and observations. Now I've opened another jar of the red stuff - this is a glass jar. It doesnt' taste anything like the stuff I had before (it's much milder-flavoured) - and looks more like the tofu in the posting just above. Here's a photo of the new stuff: .................................................................................... I'll try cooking with it. Cooked with peanuts sound real tasty. Guess I'll just get rid of the other stuff. I'm going in a few days to a city that has Asian stores and will restock on the sesame-chile fermented tofu, maybe try some new brands. Anyone try cheonggukjang? - the Korean fermented soybean product - it's another well-ripened ingredient that's good for making soups.... ==Phage== (P.S., how do I center a photo without adding all those dots.....?)
  19. Here are some photos of the extreme tofu. The jar. "Shanghai Bean Curd in Brine". Inside the jar. I'd already scraped off the dry stuff so this is actually what was underneath: Here's some of the tofu placed in a bowl. Looks tasty now, doesn't it - like chocolate caramel raspberry something-good.... Now here's a closeup. Looks like some fatty beef in this photo. I haven't eaten any of it for a week or two - got a bit tired of the overstrong taste. That's saying something for me 'cause I do like flavorful fermented foods. Maybe I'll break out a bottle of the regular fermented tofu - that I know I'll eat. But, I didn't end up sick from this. I hafta conclude it's just stuff that's way past it's prime, edible but not too palatable. So, I'm still left with this question: do folks in Shanghai enjoy eating tofu at this level of fermentation, or would they consider this to be too far gone for their taste. Wish I could ship y'all the odor too so you could tell better.... ==Phage==
  20. How do you like to prepare/eat it? What do you like to eat it with? ← Fermented tofu is a good flavouring agent - use with rice, vegetables, meat ... whatever strikes one's fancy. I like the kind with chile and sesame oil. The recent thread on fermented tofu at http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=46375 goes into more detail. I've eaten fermented tofu at rare intervals over the years. The previous time (a couple years back, maybe) I didn't like it much, but I realize now I likely just got the wrong brand or type. Now I'm trying different types and finding quite a variety, finding my preferences. Okay, now as to my health, a day after eaten some of the batch mentioned in the original post. I feel fine. I had some more of it tonight - spread it on corn tortillas - okay, but not really the ideal combination, it seems, but then I just wanted something quick after an extra-long tiring day..... And, actually, I prefer it aged, but less-aged than that batch. I did "peel" the red gelatinous coating off the cube - don't know if it's edible but seems less tasty. It has the funk but not the creaminess.... -- PHAGE
  21. I dug a little deeper tonight and found that under the crust top, the fermented tofu was moist and in a red liquid. I took the bull by the horns and tasted it - it's something like very aged cheese that has gone past its prime - I've eaten that before with no ill effects. By tomorrow I should know whether I've survived this. The block are in large pieces,compared to the fermented tofu I've had before. There's a kind of gelatinous coating on it that I didn't eat. I don't expect to die, but still, I wonder if this is the way it is designed to be, or is this just beyond its prime. Has anyone actually eaten this before? --PHAGE
  22. I posted this in the Fermented Tofu entry, but that topic forthwith faded as most people interested in it had already read it.... So I'll try again - this stuff is still cluttering my refrigerator and I'm waiting to see what y'all say before I taste it.l I live in America and have tried different kinds of fermented tofu. I go through it much too fast so I bought several jars.... One of the jars was a ceramic pot called: Shanghai Beancurd in Brine, 16 pieces, 17.6 oz, made in China. I opened it up and this was so funky, so far beyond any of the regular fermented tofu I've had, as limberger is to creamcheese. In fact in seems rotten. Perhaps it's been in the store for years and IS rotten. Its pretty dried out. Has anyone tried this brand - how fermented can this stuff get and still not kill me. Should I call in the guys in the decontamination suits, or is this a rare delicacy of "uber-fermented tofu?" --Phage
  23. I never saw anyone in Korea eat rice with chopsticks, only with a spoon. They used to laugh at me when I used chopsticks. And everyone dips their spoon filled with rice into the jigae, I never knew that was considered rude! ← Yes, I was always admonished to use a spoon with rice, and shown to dip the rice spoon into the soup. Except when Koreans would pour the whole bowl of rice into the soup and then eat it all together. I prefer the texture when you dip, but then there is gukbap, where the rice comes already in the soup. Sundae-gukbap and gul-gukbap (Blood sausage or oyster rice soups) are among the most common varieties. Another source of Korean food data is the Galbijim wiki (http://wiki.galbijim.com/Main_Page) - it replaces the wikicities one and will ultimately be as comprehensive as you can make it be by what you add..... - Phage
  24. I have a SoyaJoy soymilk maker - bought it a couple years ago from http://www.soyajoy.com/ I have used it a number of times though I'd hafta say not enough to save me any money yet. But it has been interesting to try different combinations: - make milk, then process another batch of beans, using the first batch of milk as the liquid. You get double-strength soymilk that way. - Add things to the soybeans: sesame seeds, roasted rice, someone already mentioned pandan. Make Korean corn or barley tea, then use that for the liquid instead of water. Peanuts or other nuts, grains. - You can get away from the overly-sweet commercial soymilk by not adding any sugar at all. - add anchovies! (do as I say, not as I do - well, it COULD come out interesting..... I got a number of 1/2 gallons of soymilk at the Grocery Outlet for only 50 cents each, the week before last. Still have one left in the freezer. I seldom pay anywhere near full price for soymilk, which is one reason I don't use the machine as much as I might. For a couple of months I used soymilk mixed with grape juice a lot - when I get it just right which is not always, the juice curdles the soymilk in such a way as to make it thicker and creamier. And so very tasty. Works only occasionally with other juices. A little tofu mold came with the machine. I still haven't used it for that.... With this machine I hafta soak beans 10-12 hours, then put them in with the liquid and the rest of the process is automated. Cleaning the machine afterwards is a bit of a hassle. But a brush comes with the machine so I can scrub the filter holes clean. In regards to the original post who said their soymilk curdled - did it ferment into "soy-yogurt", coagulated into unpressed tofu, or just rot into something foul. I've always wondered how to make soy yogurt that didn't taste like pudding or candy. - Phage
  25. I live in America and have tried different kinds of fermented tofu. I go through it much too fast so I bought several jars.... One of the jars was a ceramic pot called: Shanghai Beancurd in Brine, 16 pieces, 17.6 oz, made in China. I opened it up and this was so funky far beyond the regular fermented tofu I've had, as limberger is to creamcheese. In fact in seems rotten. Perhaps it's been in the store for years and IS rotten. Has anyone tried this brand - how fermented can this stuff get and still not kill me. Should I call in the guys in the decontamination suits, or is this "uber-fermented tofu?"
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