heidih

I think you are trying for sarcasm. Given that, bonito and kelp are not that different from fish sauce I stick to that.

Also forgot to mention that I usually omit sugar during the broth making process as I'll use nuac mam cham as a flavor adjustment in my bowl. I never expect the pho broth to be the taste end product as customization in such soups is the norm I think.

I will admit that even when I make a broth with great ingredients I'll find something lacking at times. Subtle is not in my taste palette preference. My "solution" is either mushroom seasoning https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2011/07/msg-salt-mushroom-seasoning.html (I use that brand) or if I'm out of that a touch of chicken powder.

Cathy Chaplin's grandmother's pho is pretty close to mine except for the cumin. Note the VERY thorough pre-cleansing of bones if clarity is a priority. https://gastronomyblog.com/2012/06/16/vietnamese-pho-recipe/

Pour hot jamaica (sorrel/hibiscus) tea into a glass pitcher. In this case it was my favorite Mexican traditional blue glass one - very thick and straight sided. It split in two and spewed that gorgeous deep magenta liquid all over the granite counter, white cabinets, and light maple floor. Had to hustle to avoid staining. The bizarre upside was that the lower half resulted in this beautifully shaped bowl. The edges are perfectly smooth. Bizarre.

Well lets include Tet and Chinese New Year which also fall next week -a global food fest

cool stuff - I like both stores - oh my back in the day didnt we all have that incense embedded "Indian" cloth to use as bedsoreads or room dividers?

@koen posted this celeriac one the other day

OK you obviously have on the ground experience - I just always associated sauce with Naturschnitzel

If you have not been listening to Ed Levine's interview podcasts - you should carve out the time. Super interesting and creative people speaking about their passions. Most recently JJ Johnson. http://www.seriouseats.com/2018/02/special-sauce-chef-jj-johnson-on-the-pleasures-of-rice.html

Really?! - on a breaded & fried one? Just curious - sauced how?

@Nicolai I for got to ask - was the dessert like this one featured in the New Yorker a few days ago? https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-syrian-baker-whos-bringing-the-middle-easts-most-famous-ice-cream-to-california

@Nicolai It all looks wonderful. The fish appears perfectly fried and I'm sure the salt-baked fellow was succulent. No money shot of the flesh?

OK kids - we've been there and we know it

Just walked back from mailbox and the monthly Fearless Flyer was there. Do you guys anywhere near a TJ get that? This one is 23 pages. Usually it is just telling me about stuff that is interesting but that I don't really need. This one was a bit boring. Los Angeles is home of the original first (well Pasadena - think Rose Parade & Rose Bowl) so maybe we are different. Attaching cover, Bamba cuz we'v discussed it here often, and jackfruit cuz it is SUCH a thing here and want to try.

kayb is workin on it

I think it is in part genetic - like the cilantro soap taste,

Here is a bit more detail she provides in her book In te Kitchen With a Good Appetite. I visualize a proper ratio between thin cutlet and oil depth, noting her comment about enough room ----so a gentle swirl/wrist rotation.

I am not an Instapot person. All I can think of it that it would perhaps replicate gentle steamingbut avoid sogginess

If you are able - pictures would be appreciated. I'm curious about the whole size thing. In the 80's when my sis interned at Otis in Vienna she swears she put on 20 pounds between the dinnerplate sized Schnitzel and well maybe the Kaffeehaus pastries

Addressing the Der Wienerschnitzel comments - My father was supplying dogs to them early on and confronted one of the owners about the name- not so much because "where's the Schnitzel", but that the "Der" was so gramatically irritatingly wrong. He was told it was a marketing tool to put out an interesting brand name in the burgeoning competitive fast food game. Ironically, years later when I was pregnant, I developed a serious craving for their "schnitzel-like" chicken sandwich. And now they are marketing as such!!! http://www.brandeating.com/2017/05/review-wienerschnitzel-chicken-schnitzel-sandwiches.html

Without getting into an authenicity tangle, I think one has to accept that similar concepts span cultures and continents. I think the average person thinks of the breaded thin cutlet as Schnitzel. The nekked version, often pan-sauced, is referred to as Naturschnitzel. Which then takes you down the rabbit hole of dishes like veal scaloppine. Taking us over to Asia we find the deep fried pork cutlet- tonkatsu; generally not as thin but very crispy. So...the Wienerschnitzel of my Austro-Hungarian influenced youth is a simple pounded piece of veal, pork, or chicken which is pan fried in oil after a classic flour, egg wash, bread crumb treatment. I never got the USA tradition of cold fried chicken at picnics until I flashed back to my youthful stealthy forways into the fridge to eat cold Schnitzel leftovers. A piece I found interesting was Melissa Clark's about trapping the air between the meat and coating to yield succulent flesh contrasted with a shattering crisp crust. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/03/dining/03appe.html We did, depending on the cook often get a too greasy leaden crust that peeled right off- not appreciated. My food tastes have changed over time and it is not something I would want to cook anymore, but I will be a happy voyeur for nostalgia's sake.

I have enjoyed this blogger's recounting of her Vietnamese "tamales for Tet". Her "crew"(yes I am word salading with Mardi Gras) includes some of the most innovative young chefs in Los Angeles. https://gastronomyblog.com/2018/02/05/banh-chung-4/

yup- frightening, real, and not sure how to feel about future

I'm not - pretty but quite dominating. I treat it more like bay and use whole sprigs removed after they have served a purpose. I'm fortunate to have bushes of different varieties with varying intensities. I do like the itty bitty blue/lavender flowers as a tasty garnish