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Blether

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Everything posted by Blether

  1. Hey, it's good we're all here I said "scallions aren't like negi at all" (and trying to be rigorous, to boot !). I'll try again - flavourwise they share a lot. Without assembling a proper tasting to reconfirm, my thought is that for flavour, negi is in between leek and scallion. Of course I love the oniony flavour, so I'd be very happy with your substitution, Kris. Also - I forgot to say that I would imagine 'welsh onion' meant leek because of the strong association between Wales and leek (it's the national plant symbol). [/rigorous] (The world's best leek gratin used to be served at La Paletta near Roppongi junction. It's no longer there, but I tracked the crew down to their new restaurant elsewhere in Tokyo. See you in the dining thread next time !). Maybe we can go back in time and start calling negi, 'cibol' - have everyone reaching in panic for their French dictionaries and Elizabeth Davids.
  2. Blether

    Kershaw Shun Knives

    If I knew more I'd tell ya I thought the hamon looked almost exactly the same - so close in fact, I wondered if there was an OEM deal in the background. The hamon on the Damascus is completely different, yes. On my side I'm trying to make out what the characters on your blade say, above 'ittousai kotetsu' (iow the characters nearer the point of the blade).
  3. Blether

    Kershaw Shun Knives

    That's a lovely knife - looks like the real thing. Great ! It also looks like this one knife porn (lower half of the page) and its siblings more knife porn but the one I like best is this one appalling knife porn for the comforting thought that when you pay two grand for a knife, it'll be painstakingly hand-honed by a veteran craftsman wearing the traditional ski goggles
  4. Hiroyuki, thanks for "pricking the sides of our [collective] intent". To be rigorous, Allium Fistulosum (from Wikipedia in English) >> Welsh onion (Allium fistulosum) is a species in the onion genus Allium. A perennial, Welsh onions never form solid bulbs and the scape, like the leaves, are hollow (fistulosum means "hollow") as well as fragile. In taste and odor they are very like the garden onion and hybrids between the two (tree onions) exist. They are also known as green onions, spring onions, bunching onions or scallions, especially in the U.S., but those terms have also been used for other kinds of onions. Historically, the Welsh onion was known as the cibol.[1] Although larger varieties – such as the Japanese negi – of the Welsh onion resemble the leek, and smaller species resemble chives, and all plants are used in similar ways, the Welsh onion is a different species of vegetable. In addition to their use in cooking, they are often grown in a bunch as ornamental plants. The name is a misnomer in modern English, as Welsh onions do not come from Wales. "Welsh" preserves the original meaning of the Old English word welisc, "foreign". The plant originated in Asia, possibly Siberia or China. Welsh onions are known as 蔥 (pinyin: cōng) in Chinese, 葱 or ネギ in Japanese (the Japanese transliteration, negi, is another term for Welsh onions), and 파 ('pa) in Korean. In Asian cuisine, especially in East and Southeast Asia, Welsh onion is an important ingedient. << http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_onion Kenkyusha says >> ねぎ 葱 a leek; 〈わけぎ〉 a spring [Welsh] onion; a scallion; 〈あさつき〉 chive(s) << Wakegi ? I'm still going to call them leeks (and scallions, spring onions). Edit: ouch, same page as you, Hiroyuki. Sorry 'Spring onion' is used in the UK for what is caled 'scallion' in the States. And to me, as I said, it's not like negi at all. If I explained to a UK-er in most casual cases I'd use 'leek', even if 'welsh onion' is technically correct. I never heard of 'welsh onion' before I'd been in Japan for a number of years. Before that, if I'd heard it I'd have thought, "hmm. Maybe that's supposed to mean 'leek'". If I was trying to explain a recipe to someone outside Japan who couldn't get negi, we'd have to figure out how to handle it. I'll leave the US perspective to those who know.
  5. Blether

    Kershaw Shun Knives

    Uuuuuh-huhhh Do you want to describe it ?
  6. "Japanese bunching onion" ? Pythonesque. What a daft name
  7. K8 - Foostie, yes pronounced that way, is a dialect word in Scotland meaning 'mouldy' or otherwise 'gone off'. "Och, the bread's gone a' foostie again. Look at that wee stoatir !". (I expect your niece doesn't know that ).
  8. Chuumaki - yeah, I can't think of a case where chuu 中 used to refer to size would be pronounced 'naka'. If it was meant to mean 'rolled up on the inside', naka would make sense, but any other sushi you order that's rolled up is simply 'maki', sometimes 'temaki' if you like the ice-cream-cone effect. Then the kun-on-kun sequence throws you off... but the bloke in Hiroyuki's reference sounds authoritative, explaining that there is a different, specific preparation called 'nakamaki'. I'm left wondering idly what it might be. But I came here to ask a different question. I was in the o-nigiri thread looking at another of your nicely-executed photos, Yamaguchi-san, and I thought, "scallion ? Away you go, that's leek", as I've done a couple of times looking at Japanese & English foodie web pages this week. In my world 'scallion' is a spring onion, no two ways about it, nothing much like negi (quite like asatsuki, though). Negi is a leek. (Do I remember right that true western leek is poronegi ?). Negi = scallion ???! Or am I being too much of a Brit ?
  9. It must be stormy. That coffee was pretty funny, come to think of it. I made a real ass of myself - I called the waitress over to ask when it was made, like it must have been sitting, stewing on a hot plate for hours to taste like that. Turned out it was instant
  10. Well, I expect Holly's pretty robust. Katoey, schmatoey For me, Phuket Town's good for the market - I've bought good fabric there (though ironically not in the market itself) - and other things. Rawai's great - I love some of the little eating places in the hinterland back from the coast. Beachwise I've spent more time on Nai Harn, and we're always based at Kata. Steaks at Little Mermaid in Karon tend to get scheduled in at some point (imported fillet with cream sauce (mushroom or black pepper recommended), salad bar included, choice of spuds includes mash, about 16 bucks US with 8oz steak. Beware of the coffee). Marine creepy-crawlies displayed outside a restaurant, Kata Beach: click here BTW did Chalie Amatyakul ever have anything to do with Baan Rim Pa ?
  11. Hey, Insomniac. That's the one ! (Why so hard on Patong and Phuket Town ? )
  12. I'm laughing, but I think I'll take the fifth, for all our sakes Do you know the soup, 'pere tranquille' ? (Sorry I'm not typing 'pere' with the right accent).
  13. Hee-hee Thanks for the pointer
  14. 'Farang' Italian restaurant (owned and run by a Thai chef who trained in a foreign establishment) in Cherng Talay (10 minutes from Trisara) is good - I ate there in December with my brother and his wife who live in the area, and it was their introduction. Not so upscale, but good food - Farang Upscale, there's Baan Rim Pa for a Thai evening meal on a cliff above the sea, just on your side of Patong - 20 or 25 minutes' drive ? Long-established. Most of the time I've spent in Phuket (one trip a year for seven years straight) has been in the south, which is a bit more of a drive away. Chalong is great if you sail at all, it's the biggest, most-used natural harbour. Marinas are nearer where you're staying but on the other side of the island. I'll leave it at that since you're only asking for dining. Of course I should be asking first, but what do you like / not like to eat ? How many people (family travel ?) ? Budgets ?
  15. Blether

    broiling steak.

    Thanks for that. Your guests have style, clearly
  16. I'm a bit hard on the Japanese sandwich scene because of the ubiquitous white bread, and I cried (in my heart, yeah ?) when Pret a Manger made a mess of their business here and gave up (choose the highest-rent locations you can find then close in the early evening ? Yeah, right. Sheesh). I still after all these years haven't gotten over the potato salad sandwich. Something from both food groups, then, I always think Now and again I'm seduced by 'shaki-shaki lettuce' at Family Mart, but I'm more likely these days to go for o-nigiri in that situation. Otherwise Homework's (Tokyo gourmet sarnie and burger chain) ebi and avocado on wholewheat. Yay !!! Oo-hoo !!! But they closed down the Aoyama-3 shop and I dropped out of their delivery area. Boo !!! (I am lucky enough to own some gas-powered transport but I'm lazy, OK ?) Those tonkatsu sands look great. Nice meat in the second one, in particular.
  17. Nice blog ! If my addled memory isn't wrong, I think chingensai is pak choy. One of my tips for this winter is chingensai in AOP pasta, especially if I've a frypan that did bacon that morning. My other is komatsuna as a cheaper-but-just-as-good alternative to spinach. The JPY400 box of button mushrooms I mentioned is over a pound, I think - more like four dozen mushrooms, minimum. Mind you, it could be the size of American mushrooms... the Japanese girls tell me Americans have really big mushrooms Do you pickle them, or stop at boiling ? I don't think I've ever prepared beetroot from scratch, though I must've eaten my weight in industrial-strength-white-vinegar-pickled commercial bottled stuff as a kid.
  18. Oysters, ne.... (eyes glaze over)... ... (snapping back to the present). Err, yes. Menchi-katsu. I live near Marusho honten and one of the ready-made foods of theirs I like a lot is the menchi katsu - tasty and very reasonably-priced. I like to buy a fillet of tai (sea bream) from Hanamasa for simple frying (salt, flour, olive oil) as a treat but I found their frozen menchi korokke not to my taste - they tasted too much like 'motsu'. So I like to buy fish from a meat shop and meat from what was originally a fish shop. Now, 眩暈をしてきた, I started to feel dizzy Anyway I'm more careful where I find my oysters You're right about 'horses for courses'. Heavier bread, allowed to go a little dry, and a blender run for longer will all make finer crumb, but you know or can guess that, right ?  
  19. Blether

    Kershaw Shun Knives

    Hmm. There's the fish filleting knife we talked about, otherwise practically speaking there's not much you can't do with those three. Probably the wise advice is, buy those and extend your set piece-by-piece over time if and when you feel the need. You'll learn most about knives by using them. For my own situation, I'm happy to have the serrated bread knife, and I use it a lot. I make 100% wholewheat bread in a bread machine because it's basically unavailable from bakers here (I had an arrangement with one that would do it to order, but it's not convenient from where I am now). The carving knife is great of course, if you do a lot or even a modicum of roasts - for show if nothing else, it looks so stylish - and I used it to slice my first blocks of home-made bacon before I bought my hand-cranked slicer from Porkert, because the blade reached all the way across a belly piece. And yes, I bought the slicer 'cos I just wasn't deft enough to slice the bacon the way I want it, consistently, by hand. I'm also happy I have the shorter cook's knife for visitors and for when I'm just pulling out the smallest cutting board to mince some garlic and chilli for an AOP (one of my latest crazes, AOP with some mustard greens added, has me pulling out the big knife anyway). Sometimes I'm cutting on the draining board beside the draining rack, where small is definitely a plus. It's also good to be able to cut raw meat as well as (something else) without always having to wash the blade. The cleaver does what only a cleaver can do (unless you've a large, hefty deba), making short work of bone-in division of a carcass, raw or cooked. That said, I'm more often dividing at the joints where my cook's knife can do just as well, though having the cleaver I may use it then. I use the butcher knife (top row, middle) and boning knife (below and to the right of it) (picture) least. I will use the butcher for slicing raw meat for a stew or whatever (it does a great job with that fine blade), but not doing any real butchering leaves it a luxury or a waste depending how you look at it. And guess how much poultry I've ever boned, raw ? Boner there is a bit lonely, I'm sure, but he has a good, thick, strong blade that I'm sure I can apply if I really try. (Actually, I'd be very happy to hear/read a knowledgable commentary on the whys-and-wherefores of the western 'butcher knife' design, if anyone who knows is still reading here. Please ? ). If I've any hankering left at all, it's for a bigger (10") cook's/chef's knife, to be that bit more 'almighty' on the chopping board... or for thousands upon thousands of dollar's worth of handmade, folded, crystallised, perfect Japanese blades (picture me with stars in my eyes as I write it) with beautiful, cloud-like, ethereal hamon and distinguished, purposeful hada. Edit: to say I do also miss a smaller vegetable knife - my 6" kitchen knife is just a bit too big. That said, you'll not normally catch me paring anything. I've taken to eating stuff with the skin on as far as possible - it just gets washed.
  20. Don't you just love "Cook's Thesaurus" ? http://www.foodsubs.com/Syrups.html (corn syrup's not quite half way down). I have a funny feeling I've seen corn syrup somewhere - I mean without having to go to a coffee chain and (purloin and later) open 100 little pots of it (is that stuff corn syrup ?). Nisshin would be my bet. If you google 'corn syrup substitute' there are one or two recipes. Cream of tartar used to be another no-show in Tokyo but I saw that somewhere too, recently (sorry, again, no detail) - and then one recipe calls for it, one doesn't. My guess is that mizuame diluted with water would be a very adequate substitute if you had an idea of the viscosity you were aiming for. They're both starch-to-sugar process syrups. I've also seen a number of recipes quote the two as direct substitutes. Zap the mizuame in the microwave briefly to make it pour ? Luckylies: it wouldn't even be that strange, would it ? 'Mizu' is water and 'ame' is candy - more info in Wikipedia. Here's a hard-to-believe story: >> ... there is the old story I heard about a foreigner in pre-war Japan who had a fetish about rainwater and its relation to health. He came to the brilliant conclusion one day that filling his bath with rainwater would be good for his health, and so he was trying to tell the maid that for health reasons he wanted his bath filled with rainwater. Now "rain" is "ame" and "water" is "mizu" in Japanese, and so it seemed logical to simply put the two together. In fact, that is how it is done in Japanese, except that it's pronounced "amamizu" instead of "amemizu". Unfortunately, however, this freaky foreigner got the two turned around and he said "mizuame" instead of "amemizu". From previous experience with this "health nut", the maid, after several reconfirmations, took him seriously and filled his tub with "mizuame" as requested. Being heated from a fire below, it was even nice and hot (and apparently very inviting) as our hapless friend got ready for his bath. How far he was able to get his foot in before realizing he was in a really sticky situation is unknown, but imagine his surprise to find out the hard way that "mizuame" is roughly equivalent to "corn syrup"! << - from "Alien Times" Flactured Ranguage
  21. BB - yes ! And do away with the legs altogether for that just-stolen urban guerilla look
  22. It would be easier to advise knowing your location. Hugh F-W is a Brit, of course, and Aidells and Kelly's book is American. If you're in the UK, even Delia Smith's original complete cookery course is plenty informative, but you'll want a book that uses the terms appropriate to your area - the names of meat cuts are quite different from place to place. That said, I can second Jaz's suggestion, and comment that I too tend to refer to it rather than cook from it. There again there's a lot of info on the internet for free - some of my bookmarks for meat at the moment: http://www.askthemeatman.com/ http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/...fbeef/index.htm http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/resource-room/...wcutsofbeef.jpg http://www.greatbritishkitchen.co.uk/cg_beef.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:British_Beef_Cuts.svg
  23. Blether

    broiling steak.

    Savvysearch, are you going to salt the steaks hours in advance of cooking ?
  24. Thanks Suzy, that's very kind of you It's good to meet you. (And I'm jealous of your American-size kitchen already ) Hiroyuki, hello As I remember it, using soft panko for the kaki fry was one of the big points of the TV demonstration (with cutey co-presenter making a big thing of feigning surprise - "heeeh ? You use soft breadcrumbs to make a crispy coating ?!") for those of us who hadn't noticed that soft things can get hard when immersed in hot liquid. Or, err... something like that. Back to being serious, I've found I get plenty-big crumb from any CBP loaf (soft, fluffy, light, typical mass-produced modern loaf) for anything I've wanted to do.
  25. I can let you have 1,000 beermats at a discount ?
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