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Beebs

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Posts posted by Beebs

    Christmas Cookies Redux

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Does anyone have a good recipe recommendation for soft, chewy vanilla sugar cookies?  Not the crunchy kinds for cookie cutters & decorating.  A quick google search brought up lots of chewy sugar cookie recipes, but there's so much variation - some call for buttermilk, others cream of tartar, or cornstarch.....

     

    TIA!

    Winter Teas: What do you drink when it's cold?

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    One tea bag "Chai extra" (cinnamon bark, star anise, orange peel, black tea), steeped for 10 min in hot red wine. Repeat until comfortably warm ....

     

    I bought a box of Stash Chai teabags yesterday, just to do this!  I usually do a whole bottle with whole spices, but this would be when I want it instant gratification.

    • Like 1

    Stinky Food

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    BBM this is the one Im interested in tasting...Was it on a stick? is it stinky like Natto? I love Natto...

     

    This one wasn't on a stick, just piled in a paper container. It was super crispy, but wasn't particularly stinky, definitely not as stinky as the stewed ones.  You can tell you're eating stinky tofu, but it was very mildly pungent.  I don't believe the particular stuff we had was the norm for deep-fried stinky tofu, it was shatteringly crunchy - as in, I had tofu crumbs all over my front.  The cousins we were visiting actually picked it up, but they told us the vendor is really popular and this stinky tofu is the best, it's their favourite.   

     

    The stewed stuff is stinkier than natto, but I'd say it's got a similar taste to natto - you'd probably like stinky tofu!

    Stinky Food

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I had my very first taste of authentic stinky tofu in Taiwan this year and it was a revelation. We went to a popular eatery in Shenkeng Old Street, an area famous for stinky tofu - the whole area had this amazing pungency that hit us in the face as soon as we hopped off the bus.  We had two kinds - a spicy stew with pork blood cubes, and another stir-fried in sweet soy sauce.  They were both absolutely delicious, smelled much stinkier than it tasted.  Kind of earthy, mushroomy, slightly cheesy, a bit of tangyness.

     

    The next day we had a deep-fried version with spicy sweet sauce and pickles - really crispy, almost a flaky-fluffy texture.  

     

    I also ate durian on the same trip. Tasted great, but digesting it the next day wasn't the highlight of the trip.

    • Like 1

    Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1)

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    Apparently is is - you can buy things like that for camping.

     

    I don't do camping - but how would you reconstitute it?  Just add water?  And is the turkey dinner in small bits mixed together, or would you have actual freeze dried slices of turkey and scoop of mashed potatoes?

     

    (Turkey dinners on the brain, because Canadian Thanksgiving coming up - and I'll bet freeze dried pumpkin pie would be seriously awesome!  :raz: )

    Freeze Dryers and Freeze Dried Food (Part 1)

    in Kitchen Consumer

    Posted

    This is so cool!  I'm just catching up on your freeze drying adventures now.

     

    I'm curious about freeze dried condiments (if you finally run out of things to freeze dry) - mayo, mustard, sriracha, fish sauce, worcestershire....  Actually, mustard might be pointless (powdered mustard?), but mayo could be interesting.

     

    Oooh! Freeze dried Bloody Caesar ingredients - Clamato, worcestershire, horseradish!

    What's your favorite chocolate, and why?

    in Ready to Eat

    Posted

    A locally-made chocolate recently won a "Top Chocolate Bar" title at the 2014 International Chocolate Salon - link.

     

    Not being much of a chocolate lover, I'm not familiar with neither Mink Chocolates nor the International Chocolate Salon.  The chocolate bar does sound intriguing though - it's a 70% cacao, with burnt caramel, fleur de sel, and rosemary - will have to give it a try.  Don't know how it'll rate as best chocolate I've ever had, but then again my standards are pretty low (Cadbury's Nut & Fruit Bar, FTW!).

    NY Cheesecake characteristics

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted · Edited by Beebs (log)

     

    Believe it or not, the best recipe I've found is the original Philadelphia cream cheese recipe. It's a little hard to find as it's not on the box anymore and they've changed it since the original was printed. It doesn't have corn starch in it but a little flour and come out very dense and cakey at the edges and creamy in the middle. I've made it in a springform pan and in a square pan and it always comes out perfect. And the top is never brown, just a nice yellowish-beige color.

     

     

    I really like the Philly cream cheese recipe too. When DH & I were dating, he made it for me using the recipe off the box.  I remember one time he made it, but didn't do a good job on foil-wrapping the springform, and water from the water bath got in during the baking. We poured it off, and it was still perfectly fine (crust was a little moister than usual, though).

     

    I can't recall the exact recipe, but this one from their website looks about right  Philadelphia New York Cheesecake

    The Savory Baking Topic

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    Oooh, I love savoury baked things!  And I think I can easily eat that entire tart of yours by myself, it looks so good!

     

    I'm inspired to make curry puffs, maybe this weekend.  I had sort of planned on it with the leftover half-pound of ground beef.  But I used it up for something else, so no curry puffs.

    Rethinking tipping culture

    in Restaurant Life

    Posted

    Link.

     

    Here's a link to an update on a local restaurant that had a no-tipping/higher-wages concept but had to revert back to the traditional model due to customer demand.

     

    In order for the no-tip concept to be viable, they had to price their menu about 18% above the norm for the area.  Customers didn't go for this, didn't like that they didn't have a say on tipping.  At some point, the restaurant would have priced themselves out of the market. The owner and a hospitality expert mentioned in the article both suggested that this no-tip model is way ahead of it's time.

     

     

     

     

    Iconic noodles dishes

    in Food Traditions & Culture

    Posted

    I wonder if the noodle/dumpling thing is just a matter of being lost in translation.  The Mandarin pronunciation for both flour dough and noodles sound the same, "mian" (I am completely illiterate in the language, so someone else can confirm if the written character is the same).  Or specifically "mian fen" and "mian tiao" - but whenever anyone in my family said "mian", we all know which one is being referred to, from the context.

     

    So I suppose one could understandably lump dumplings, noodles, and anything made of flour in the same category, and I think it makes sense to put them all in the same chapter in a cookbook ("Stuff Made From Dough").  Although I have yet to see a Chinese style filled dumpling that looks remotely like a noodle, much less buns made of yeasted dough....   :blink:

     

    Except for flour dumplings in soup, "mian ge da", made of a thickish sticky batter of flour+water, thumb-sized blobs of which are dropped into simmering soup to cook, a bit like spatzle.  Or like cutting noodles.  One of my favourite comfort foods!

     

    And I'm going to contribute spatzle as another iconic noodle dish!

    Apple pie: alternatives to "pie spice"

    in Pastry & Baking

    Posted

    An Asian restaurant here (the family is multi-national - Chinese, Thai and Burmese) serves an apple turnover that is spiced with Sichuan pepper (toasted before grinding) and with a lovely Creme Anglaise on the side. 

    I asked about it and was told one of the chefs, an "uncle" is originally from Beijing and his mother prepared a pork roast with an apple sauce spiced with the pepper.  The idea of what most Americans consider dessert was lacking in their regular menu so he developed these turnovers which are in a crispy crust similar to egg rolls - pan fried but not at all greasy. 

     

    Chinese 5-spice might be interesting too.  I think I'll try that next time.

     

    I've used chai masala spice and it worked out really nicely.

    • Like 1

    Breakfast noodle dishes

    in Cooking

    Posted

    When we were growing up, my mom would sometimes cook chicken broth noodles with a poached egg in it.  The broth was usually the leftover liquid from a steamed or poached chicken.  Other times, we'd get noodles in leftover Chinese-style broth soups, or instant ramen. With a poached egg. The poached egg is the best part.

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