takadi

I'm making a chili that calls for Mexican oregano. Does Mexican oregano look or taste any different? Or can I just use regular oregano? Of course I want to go authentic if there is a distinct taste to it, but I can't find this stuff anywhere.

So as long as the material is magnetic, it'll work? I'm assuming aluminum is magnetic right? I know copper is very magnetic, but would pieces clad in stainless still work?

I've finally compiled a list of what I might include for my complete set of cookware: woks 10" nonstick pan (preferably circulon) 10" and 8" skillet (cast iron) A sauteuse/saucier/evasee type pan (all clad copper or aluminum) Large and small stock pot (all metal stainless aluminum bottom) dutch oven (cast iron preferably enamel) I like the saucier type pans because it can double up both as a saute and sauce pan. I also think that having a rounded bottom might be better than an angled bottom because the rounded bottoms have more versatility for uses with utensils (then again angled ones might have other advantages over the rounded edges but I haven't come up with one yet). I'm not sure if the stainless steel in the copper or aluminum pieces will defeat the purpose of having aluminum or copper in the first place. I don't think enamel cast iron is absolutely necessary, but in the future when I have enough money, I'm definitely going for the good ol' Le Creuset. Circulon advertises dishwasher safe, nonstick, anodized cookware. It sounds really good, but I still need to research more on that. For steaming food, I would use my woks as a steaming unit, but I'd much rather buy a separate device for steaming.

Does anybody know if stainless steel or stainless steel clad cookware work with induction units?

Hi peony, I've been looking at the steamer you use for your rice sheets and it seems so much more convenient than conventional ones they usually sell in the US. Do you know anywhere where they sell those?

Threads like these induces a ferocious desire inside of me to learn to cook. I am up at 3 am with a puddle of drool at my keyboard.

Are there any different types of rice flours I could use? What would happen if I used glutinous rice flour?

It may sound disgusting, but avocado, which I dip in soy sauce and honey. Mmmmm

I've been really trying to aqcuire a taste for bitter melon, which is said to have medicinal properties as well as natural plant insulins to help with blood sugar levels. So far, the only way I can really digest it is if I drown it in soy sauce and sugar and soak in salt water before hand to weaken the bitterness. I've actually nibbled on it raw before...it tastes like pencil lead. I think the problem I have with grass jelly is not because it tastes bad, it just has a strangeness about it that isn't appetizing or refreshing. I guess when I drink something, I am expecting it to be sweet so much of the time that anything other than sweet will just not quench any craving at all. Durian just smells and has an aftertaste like a toilet. Of course I'm still trying to find that "pleasant, honey, nutty taste" that people rave about. One thing I am proud of is that I am really taking a liking towards dark chocolate.

GLOBAL WARMING!! ahh!!!

Well if they are putting boric acid and cake flour into ho fun noodles these days, authenticity is hardly a concern anymore. I was looking for a way "real" chow fun as in the way restaurants make it No where did I mention "authentic" noodles if there is such a thing, and plus to what I am reading, noodles made with only rice flour doesn't hold up in a stir fry. And of course I'm going to use rice flour. Just mixing in different ingredients for texture. Ahh sorry I meant cake flour, not mix

I've been reading up on sous vide and I'm hearing about how precise accurate temperatures are of utmost importance ie. "one degree can change the taste completely!" or botulism risks (which is pretty serious actually). Has anybody created any rigs or set ups to cook safe, accurate, precise, and easy sous vide without buying expensive water bath tanks, automatic circulators and thermometers and the like?

http://www.mymomsbest.com/daily/index.php/...-laced-noodles/ "Yellow noodles contain the highest amount of boric acid at 70.4%, said the Health Ministry. Health Minister Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek said in a recent statement that after yellow noodles is wantan noodles with 14.8% boric acid content, then koay teow, laksa, loh see fun and spring roll with 3.7% each. Dr Chua: ‘Those who misuse boric acid will be nabbed’ Negri Sembilan recorded the highest percentage of boric acid misuse for food preservation, followed by Perak, Johor, Penang and Selangor. A person who consumes food with a lot of boric acid could vomit, suffer from dysentery, dermatitis, kidney failure and damage to the blood vessels. Boric acid is used to preserve wood in the furniture industry and is also used in medication. " lol Yea, I generally tend to avoid any food with ingredients that sound like a household cleaner. I might experiment with different flour mixtures and see how they hold up. I have in possession some potato, corn, tapioca, rice, and all purpose flour.

So there is little to no hope for me making real home-made beef chow fun? I think I'll keep on looking around and experimenting. I love a good challenge

Well I guess one thing that got me questioning this was when I was looking up different types of mustards to buy. Then I ran into good old wikipedia and read up that mustard didn't really become part of the American culture until later when they made a much much milder, bright yellow version of the mustard. It just hit me that alot of foods in America come in milder, flashy versions of its former self.

I've noticed the factors for cookware performance includes heat retention/capacity, evenness in heating, conducitivity of metal, size, weight and thickness, and shape. With some research as well as some looks around this forum, I have the impression that copperware is probably the most superior cookware of all for having superior conductivity, high heat capacity, and very good even heating. All these features basically superpower your home stove. But the problem is that it's extremely expensive, hard to maintain, and very reactive (I read it's even toxic). It seems like a huge number of people's primary cookware is made from cast iron. The main reason tends to be because it is so insanely durable, that it has very high heat retention, and that it develops natural non-stick surfaces overtime. Then they fill in the gaps caused by the low conductivity, heavy weight, and metal reactivity with enamel, stainless, aluminum, or nonstick. Alot of serious cooks tend to only use nonstick for jobs with eggs or crepes. The general list of the most used cookware in people's kitches tends to include stockpots, skillets or saute/sauce pans, medium sized pots (like dutch ovens or sauce pots), the larger pots like spaghetti pots and smaller stock pots, woks, and baking mediums like casserole mediums or baking trays and sheets. I find that alot of families that don't do cooking alot tend to cover their cookware with generally "all purpose" material like non-stick or stainless steel. Some buy non-stick for everything and then buy stainless steel for that "stickiness" that allows for browning and pan sauces. Up until recently, my cookware consisted almost entirely of non-stick. It got me through decently but not really good enough. I'm not sure what I should eventually allow my primary cookware to consist of. I am thinking of making cast iron my primary cookware and filling in the gaps with other cookware like alot of cooks out there do, but I sometimes think that cast iron is only good for southern cooking, campouts, and browning meats. I might conclude that the only people who find that there is "no other cookware but cast iron" tend do cook alot of southern food or go back packing alot. I suspect copperware might be overrated too and might be more suitable for professional cooks because of its cost. I'm not sure if I would eventually save up money at all for all copper cookware (I'd probably just buy one copper pot or pan just to show off). Now I go crazy over woks because of its supposed versatility from the shape. Besides stir-fries (which everybody associates woks with) the dome shape allows for minimal use of liquid and efficient use of heat because it allows the liquid to pool to the bottom, and the large cooking surface area and opening allows more liquid to evaporate and more food to touch the heating surface. It also concentrates the heat at the center for more control of temperature when the heat source doesn't have much heat control to begin with. Its width and its depth accommodates for varieties of other cooking methods So apparently this leaves woks to cook sauces, stews, soups, deep fries, stir fries, steamed food, braises, etc. Of course this is just concluded from internet research. I have an obsession with being a minimalist, but that's now fading into being just practical. I wouldn't want to buy something so expensive when I barely do any real cooking myself. But I wouldn't want something that would hinder my enjoyment of cooking or the process and results of my cooking, and I definitely wouldn't want some special feature involved if it isn't even necessary, regardless of cost. I don't think I would really need aluminum or copper bottom stock pot for "even heating" if I'm going to be simmering for hours and hours. I don't think I would use stainless steel for pan frying if I knew it was going to end up burning everything. I think it's all about balancing the abilities of the cookware with the abilities of the cook.

So my wok burner just came in today and I tested it out. Well basically, it burns hot enough, but I was very disappointed in the construction and overall advertisement. It feels like I should have bought this burner for way less money than it should have been. First off, windtrader was right, this thing is just a regular ol' propane burner stuck inside a windscreen. There is practically nothing really special about it. The BIGGEST disappointment was that when I looked at the propane valve, instead of 10 psi, which is barely enough to be considered high pressure, according to the label it was 5 psi! So the guy lied about it being high pressure, which he clearly states on his site as being one of the main components of all of his stoves. There was also a "air shutter cap" or a sad excuse for one. It was basically a thin piece of metal that barely fit on to the air valve, which is located where the propane hose was screwed in. So basically this air valve was the opposite end of the burner, which was shaped like a flared tube. At the opening it had metal strip in the middle, leaving openings on the side which basically constituted the airways. The hose was connected to the metal strip in the middle, so the propane was practically blowing into open space instead of an enclosed tube like I imagined. When I would turn up the propane valve high enough, I would smell the propane leaking out of the air shutter. I'm not sure if this is normal or whether burners are usually built this way. The propane hose was also very difficult to screw on to the burner. I felt like this thing should have cost 30 dollars at the most. Well I'm gonna cook some stuff with it, perhaps get a different regulator and valve, or perhaps even try to return it. I'm not sure if buying a higher pressure valve is gonna do much.

I've tried beef chow fun with dried rice noodles. It just isn't the same, I can't explain why. Perhaps it's the size and thickness. I've seen those "rice flakes" sold at stores and they are about two inch long squares. Not sure how that would turn out. I'm pretty sure there must be SOME way to make it at home, unless the restaurants I buy from all buy their noodles from manufacturers. I mean, chow fun and chow fun like dishes are practically everywhere, so I don't understand why it's so difficult to find.

hmmm let's hope msg isn't the culprit at work...

hmm are we still answering questions? Well just in case... 1. Does it matter when I add my aromatics? Will adding aromatics at different times affect the taste at all? If I add my aromatics at the beginning, should I remove them once they become translucent or mushy? I'm assuming this because vegetables and spices take a much shorter time to extract flavors, and I'm not sure if over-simmering can cause the flavors to dissapate or go bad. 2. Does the amount of gelatin affect the "freshness", brightness, or intensity of the aromatic flavors? 3. Can you over-simmer? If so, what happens? Does the oversimmering evaporate the flavors? Do aromatic flavors evaporate out? Does anything become "overcooked"? 4. Besides clarifying methods for consomme, what are some ways to produce a clear stock? 5. What can you do with the extra marrow and meat that's left over after cooking? I know what's left doesn't have much culinary use, but I hate to waste. 6. Does a stock reach a "maximum gelatin" saturation point where the bones stop releasing gelatins when the stock has a certain amount of gelatin? I seem to assume this, so I usually reuse the bones and make a second batch with fresh water, and combine this second batch with the first and reduce. 7. What accounts for the main flavors in stock? Meat? Bones? Aromatics? Do you need all of them, or can you leave one or two out? These questions mostly pertain to making stock for pho noodle soup, which I have been struggling for a quite a while to get it perfect. I am having many problems... -First, my stock always comes out bland, no matter how long I simmer for. I've used all kinds of beef ingredients, from shank bones, shank cross sections with meat, oxtail, neck bones, short ribs, beef knuckle, etc. Besides aromatics, what part of the stock creates the actual flavors? The bones? The meat? The type of bones and meat? The quality of the bones and meat? The quantity/ratio of bones and meat? Pho traditionally does not call for roasting of bones either. And it's not the amount of bones, because at one point I've actually added over 12 lbs of bones to my stock. Pho recipes also do not call for much meat in the stock either. -Second, my stock always comes out tasting rather old or stale tasting. The aromatics have a rather funky taste and smell like it's been sitting out too long. -I also have to add LOADS of salt and fish sauce in order to make my soup even taste like anything at all. Yea, these are alot of questions. I am actually not an experienced cook at all, and I've only started seriously trying to improve my skills since last year. Please help the poor hungry newbie

French diet connection http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/200...iet-cover_x.htm "Guiliano knows what it feels like to be overweight. When she came to the USA as a teenage exchange student, she gained 20 pounds eating seven meals a day and gobbling brownies and chocolate-chip cookies. She went home looking like a 'sack of potatoes' ... Following the more traditional French way of living, Guiliano's extra weight melted off, and she has kept it off for 30 years... She eats three meals a day and drinks champagne or wine daily. Her business requires her to eat in restaurants about 300 times a year, and when she does she eats full meals, not just skimpy low-calorie salads with sparkling water. 'Losing the way I did is easier than what people put themselves through here. They are unhappy. They are grumpy. They deprive themselves.'"

I don't know if there is such thing as "man food" but I know my food can't be good without being slathered in 3 lbs of animal fat.

Yea, that is probably the culprit. I actually added extra water because the stock was turning cloudy. I don't know where that deranged logic came from. I've actually tried clarifying methods with pureed beef and egg whites. But I'm being told that it actually takes away flavors? Plus I find the egg white method to be a pain in the ass because afterwards, I still find egg bits all over the place and I have to strain the entire huge pot of stock all over again. The traditional method is to blanch and wash the bones before using them, which I also did before roasting. I've actually been reading the daily gullet article about stock and how one guy actually puts ice on the bones after he roasts them to clear the stock. He explains that it forms slower larger protein bonds, but I really don't understand what he is saying.

Dry style beef chow fun has probably been my favorite chinese dish since I was 5, and I want to make this at home somehow. However, I am having a very hard time finding the noodles used for it, at least those of good quality. So I decided that I would actually make it at home. Does anyone have any recipes I could use to make it at home myself? I have a wok and a steamer tray, some tapioca and rice starch, and that's the extent of what I know what to do. Vietnamese have a dish called "Banh Cuon" where meats and cloud ear are wrapped in a similar noodle sheet. I'm not sure if that's the same exact recipe as chinese style ho fun noodle, but in the meanwhile, any recipe contributed will be greatly appreciated!!

WHOA! How in the world does a wok get a hole in it??