Magictofu
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Posts posted by Magictofu
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In August, we have several garlic festivals. I buy braids of the stuff, different varieties and store it in a cool cupboard in the basement. It lasts quite well. In fact, I just used some tonight and there is still not a sign of any germ. in June or so I will see germ in it but by then the festivals are just around the corner and I make do. If I should happen to run out, I will buy American garlic. I stay away from the Chinese stuff.
This must be an Ottawa thing. I do exactly the same thing but I have to admit that by this time of the year, my garlic reserve is low so I use whatever I can find.
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Put it in an air-conditioned room, preferably in front of an AC vent.
Shalmanese, you know how expensive my electricity bill will be? LOL!
Can't do that.I really think you should try the wet towel trick. In a well ventilated area you will be able to reduce the temperature of your crock by more than a few degrees.
I used to put wet socks around my water bottles when cycling and I never had to drink the disgusting tepid water my more image-conscious friends had to endure.
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nickrey,
OK, I did not understand that part. The instruction was "no hotter than 70 -75 degress/F. 21-23 degress C." So I assumed, anything below those marks was OK.
So what do I do? I am in a tropical country with 28-40C temperature all year.... There is no cool place aside from the refrigirator or an airconditioned room.
Thanks!
You can wrap your crock with a wet towel. By keeping the towel wet, evaporation will keep your crock at cooler temperatures.
At the temperatures you quoted, you are likely see various moulds developing faster than lactobacillus acidophilus, which is a problem.
Good luck
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Would be interesting to do a side by side. Looks very much like the older TM 21.
Here's a review I found.
Seems the thermomix is superior although much more expensive.
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Here's my modernist idea: Some kind of tabletop automatic climate-controlled hydroponic farm so apartment dwellers who hate gardening can have really fresh herbs year-round. If any of you want it, you can have the idea in exchange for a working model.
Such a thing already exist.
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I remember a previous EG thread on the topic:
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I've spent quite some time trying to make these noodles (see my avatar) without great success. I am now convinced that the way the dough is kneaded maters a lot. I was told by many that the gluten network in your dough need to be aligned and that the dough had to rest just long enough to allow for proper hand stretching.
Good luck and please report back!
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Going on a short vacation to Toronto this weekend with my wife and 4 year old son. Like Kristin, I am very interested in kids friendly restaurants.
We will definitely eat somewhere aroud Chinatown, Kensington Market, Koreatown, little Italy and Annex over the weekend but our hotel is closer to St-Lawrence Market.
Any recommendations?
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I know its cliché but think of them as the truffle of the poors. And yes, this means pasta (sorry) but also egg, rice and cream. They're not bad in pâtés either.
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Reading this thread, all I can say is: Best customer service ever!!!
I received my books about a week ago and I must confess that barely I barely scratched the surface. That being said, I am already very very very impressed. I have the feeling that Nathan was able to build an amazing team; this kind of work requires so much more than good workers... it takes a lot of dedication, teamwork, expertise and intelligence.
Nathan, if you read this, please pass the praises to your team and know how grateful I am (we are) that you have decided to share the product of those years of work with all of us.
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Got mine a few days ago but had no time to read. Living in Ottawa, Canada. Home cook.
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Thanks, I just made my order
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A restaurant here in Ottawa makes a famous BBQ pig head.
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A short anecdote:
When I was visiting China in 2004, we made a detour to find a small cafe next to a University where many French Canadians were studying Chinese through an exchange program. There, I enjoyed a big bowl of poutine... eaten with chopsticks of course. One of the exchange students probably passed the recipe to a cook there and because the cafe was catering to expats, the dish found its way on the menu. Maybe poutine is the next sushi, hamburger, pizza or shawarma.
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T&T is now open. Ron Eade has a nice piece on his blog.
I went there for groceries and dim sums last weekend. It was so crowded that the experience was far from pleasant. They do have some nice ingredients and ready-made food on the shelves but the place is too far from where I live to be worth the detour (it is just next to the airport).
We will go back in a few months when things quiet down a bit.
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With any smoker that control the amount of air reaching the coals, there is no need to soak... especially if you use chunks. So the usefulness of soaking depends also on your type of smoker.
One thing you might want to consider however is how a higher humidity level affects the food you are cooking. Some people argue that a higher amount of humidity helps creating a nice smoke ring... not sure about taste.
I have also read about people using juice, vinegar, wine and other liquids to soak the wood they wanted to use for smoking. They were arguing that it did improve the flavour of their dish... I am very skeptical of these kinds of assertions.
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I've heard this unsubstantiated story . . . Beijing imported a large quantity of pigeons a few years prior to the Olympics to give the city a more "Western Urban" look, but they all wound up eaten by the residents. No idea if it's true.
The part about importing pigeon sounds too dumb to be true... although you never know... the part about eating them seems more likely given that pigeon is a widely accepted delicacy over there.
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Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall shot and cooked pigeon from his neighbour's property on one of his River Cottage show. He did not seem worried about diseases but did mention he would not eat a city pigeon in another show.
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Canadians don't eat amphibians, unless they've been metabolized by predatory fish like pike and bass.
I'd like to disagree with that statement. As a kid, I went hunting for frogs a couple of times with my cousins. There were then prepared by some of the adults around: I believe they were quickly sauteed with garlic and butter. I know a few other people who did exactly that too, all Canadians. (Most provincial fishing licenses allow people to hunt certain types of frogs).
That being said, I'll admit frog legs are still not common... more like a once-in-the-summer cottage treat or the rare appetizer in a bistro.
When in China, I was served a soup with gutted but whole frogs in it. So I guess soup is another way to serve frogs but still I prefer the crispy or the traditional garlic butter treatment.
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We budget about $1000CAN per month for groceries, including some beer and wine (less than $100/month) diapers and about 45$ worth of medications. This seems very high for a family of two adults and one toddler compared to others here, especially considering that I only buy things on sale, that I cook almost everything from scratch and that I can rely on a fairly large garden in the summer. Maybe my doctor is right about portion control!
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Michel Richard has a "faux gras" recipe in his book. It is available online. It is basically made with butter and chicken liver.
I'm not sure I understand how pork belly could be used to make faux foie gras. I'm assuming you could make some kind of fat-meat emulsion. Is this what you had in mind?
I feel that adding liver (pork or chicken liver for instance) would help achieving the right texture and taste. That being said, I don't think you could ever be able to simply sauté a slice of faux-foie like you would with real foie gras... unless you use things like transglutaminase and some king of texture enhancers...
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In the French version of the Wild Chef tv show, Martin Picard (of Au pied de Cochon in Montreal) and his sous-chef Hugues, prepared Kung Pao Bobcat (or something like that) while making fun of old racist stereotypes about the type of meat used in Chinese restaurants. With such a recipe, you can pretty much use any kind of meat since the flavor will be masked by the sauce.
I would still probably go with wild boar or slightly overcooked guinea hen (to make sure it's at least a bit chewy).
Making Hand-Pulled Noodles
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
They certainly share the exact same characters (at least when written in Kanji - which I admit is not as common as in Katakana). The different versions of chinese la mian are all alcaline as far as I can tell and so are the Japanese ramen. I've never seen anyone hand stretch noodles in a ramen shop though.
Thanks to eveyone here, I'm getting inspired to try my luck at stretching noodles again. My best past attemps did not produce better than udon-like noodles.