Katie Meadow

I have made two dishes in the book and eaten a third at a friend's. Most recently I made the Massaman curry, which was really good. My only complaint was that in order to braise the chicken with liquid that covers you need a lot of liquid and the dish ends up more like soup. Still very good. The next day I drained off some of the liquid and reduced it for a less soupy curry. Very very good. This is just the kind of dish that leftovers were made for. A great use for dark meat chicken. I chronicled my experience with the Beef Noodle Soup on the thread Beef Cuts for Soup. Fabulous flavorful stock, but the meat needed more cook time since it wasn't the tenderest cut. Totally worth tweaking. A friend served the Miso Glazed Eggplant and it was quite nice. Not my favorite way to eat eggplant, but good. He says he makes it frequently, and he also likes the recipe for Oshitashi. He is an enthusiastic reader of LP magazine, which I am not. He just returned from Japan and although he loves this book he used the term "dumbed down" for some of the recipes. I don't agree. I would say there are some short cuts, but they make sense and the results are quality. Plus I think the suggestions up front for pantry staples are well thought out. I'm not a stranger to Asian food, and have been cooking Viet dishes and various wontons and pot stickers and stir-fry for some time. I also have taken an intensive week-long class in Thai cooking. I see this book as a very useful basic resource. The recipes include lots of classics that you have probably eaten if you eat Asian food out and for the most part they are not tricky and are forgiving if you lack either time or esoteric ingredients. Unique to this book is that the range of recipes covers a wide swath of Asian foods, which is different than most specialized Asian cookbooks. The LP cuteness self-congratulatory factor is just short of annoying, but to make up for it the authors do seem genuinely friendly. I'm happy that there is a thread dedicated to this book and will continue to post in it as I work through the recipes. Don't expect a systematic Chris Hennes treatment! Right now I'm having a love affair with potato kugel.

Am I correct in assuming that whatever meat on the bones used to make a Pho broth is not worth eating after 12 hours? And by the way, thanks to all who made suggestions. I have a plan for next time I make the Lucky Peach beef soup, incorporating many of them.

I admit that it took me until now to be willing to even look at a thread called Pig Face. Being a big fan of the book "Childhood's End" I made the mistake of watching the recent television version, which was just dreadful. However, Cameron does bear a resemblance to Karellen. I don't know if I would eat her, but I am uncomfortably curious as to how she ends up.

Yeah, 'Snakes in a Pot! Tried and true, them rattlers.

I served the soup with fresh Chinese wheat noodles and Choi sum. There were four of us, and the consensus was that parts of the meat were tender and other parts were tough and unappealing; and that would be parts of the same slice. So my takeaway is to try beef shanks from another source and see if I can get better quality. The recipe said to simmer for 2 hrs, and I actually added an extra 15 or 20 minutes. I don't really think that the tough parts of the meat would have gotten any better for more cooking--there was a lot of gristle and fiber threaded through it. I would have been very happy just having the broth with the noodles and greens, but not all meat-eaters agree, especially not my husband and nephew. Franci, that photo looks scrumptious. And your treatment of the marrow is great. My mother used to pull the marrow out of the bone after it cooked for an hour or so and eat it spread on fresh rye bread with a sprinkle of salt. Sometimes she shared, sometimes not!

I make lots of stock and lots of soups, but rarely do they involve beef. So I'm cooking from my new xmas gift, the Lucky Peach 101 etc and the Beef Noodle soup looks awfully good. Yesterday I made the broth. The recipe calls for boneless beef shank. The only shank meat I could get was cut in 1 1/2 inch thick slices through the bone, but I figured, how could adding the bone with marrow not be a good thing? I cut the meat into a few pieces, as the recipe suggested and proceeded to make the soup base as directed. The broth is fantastic! Really rich, flavorful, perfect. However, the shank meat after 2 hours at a low simmer is nothing to write home about. Parts of it aren't bad, but parts of it are very tough and gristly. Not exactly fall off the bone tender and not what I would hope for since the recipe calls for the beef added to the soup along with noodles and greens. Notes with the recipe sing the praises of the meat for sandwiches, beef pancake, etc. so either David Chang gets some super special shanks when he goes to the butcher or I should try another source for shank meat. Berkeley Bowl is pretty good for most meats, so it isn't like I was buying some cheap off-cut. What cut of beef do you like for making broth and using in the soup? Perhaps short ribs would have been a good idea? Or a combination, using some bone-in shank for extra flavor, but counting on the short ribs for soup meat? What do you think, you habitual beef lovers?

Thanks!

I have a de Buyer mandoline. It comes in a case that looks to be made for a clarinet and is probably way more annoying to put together. I hate it. In the time it takes me to set it up I could have sliced by hand enough potatoes for Potatoes Anna and have no dishes to wash or jigsaw puzzle pieces to put in the case. I admit that I am pretty fast at slicing by hand, and also I really don't cut myself. But I am getting a bit bored with slicing, and seem to cry more than I used to when it comes to onions. Anna N (not potatoes): is the super benriner simply the wider one? On Amazon it looks to be about $30 compared with the regular width for closer to $20. How does it do with things like citrus (that still has the rind on), which I find trickier to slice evenly and thinly than most other veggies. Can it be used for ripe tomatoes? For large amounts of julienne produce I am okay with using the food processor, but for smaller amounts it would be nice not to have to drag it out. How does the Benriner do with celery root, which is one of the toughest to do by hand in my opinion? Ready to toss the de Buyer overboard.

When I first discovered I had high blood pressure I seriously worked to reduce my salt intake. It helped, but not enough to stave off use of a bp lowering med, which works very well. The result of my trials to reduce salt was that across the board my taste for salt became highly sensitized and I found that I needed very little salt for something to taste salty. I see that as one of the great benefits of reducing salt intake: that a very tiny percent of what used to be needed to salt food works exactly the same magic after you have adjusted to lower salt levels. Rarely do I use processed products and the food I make probably is considered under salted. You will know you have adjusted to new salt levels when restaurant food routinely starts to taste too salty. Often high end restaurants that use fresh healthy ingredients add an alarming amount of salt to everything. I don't avoid salt entirely, but I am positive that cutting back on processed foods and restaurant meals can really help wean one off a salty diet and when you reduce the amount of salt in your own cooking you won't notice it as much. My other weapon is to use good flaky salt. Gray salt, Maldon, etc. Just a tiny sprinkle adds lots of flavor when using them as finishing salts; they become a great thrill that way. A good emergency tactic for quick meals is to cook up your own pasta sauces using minimal salt as desired and freeze it in convenient batches. That way you won't have to reach for commercial sauce when you want a quick pasta fix. And of course I agree with anyone upthread who suggests using flavorful or strong ingredients like lemon and garlic. For potato salad be generous with dill or cilantro or smoked paprika. For dry rubs on meat compensate by adding coffee grounds, chile or paprika etc. I generally use far less salt than any given recipe suggests, and then allow myself the luxury of a little special salt after serving. Cheers!

Thanks for all the suggestions. We are making our first batch of the year today and I think we will try peeling first, then juicing. I'll start with the peeler we already own and see how that goes. In a test I found the results a little thinner than we are used to, but maybe my husband can get a thicker peel with additional pressure. I can't say my peeler is terribly sharp or easy to control. It is an OXO but I'm not impressed. The Johnny Apple peeler looks great and sounds great, especially the fact that the thickness of the peel can be adjusted, but I have one reservation: it looks like the width of the strip is very narrow, and that doesn't appear to be adjustable, unless it comes with interchangeable width blades. I need the peel to be at least 5/8 inch wide so I can cross-cut it into thin slivers. The Avocado doohickey is pretty interesting as well, and could work for scraping the pith away as we have done in the past. I can't imagine needing it for an avocado, but it's cheap enough to experiment with.

Seville oranges are now available, so it's time for us to get to work over the next couple of months. Our annual marmalade supply is about 30 jars to allow for a few give-aways. We've done this for so many years that it really isn't a huge amount of fun, but a necessary chore. At the rate we consume the stuff just on toast alone it would be insane to buy it. And of course, we are fussy about our marmalade. We like it bitter, clear and fine cut. Our method is to juice the oranges, scrape as much pith as possible from the rinds until the rind is so thin it practically filters light. That's mostly my husband's tedious job. My tedious job is to do the fine cutting. It works: we end up with marmalade we really like. The scraping away of the pulp is the worst part. I sometimes cut away most of it with a sharp knife. My husband finds that a grapefruit spoon works for him, but takes forever. The grapefruit spoon idea is good in theory, but grapefruit spoons aren't really sharp enough to strip away thick pulp efficiently. So here's what I'm asking: can you suggest any tool or technique (improvised or available for purchase) that makes scraping the rind clean any less annoying and time consuming? At this point I would invest in a machine if one existed or hire some kitchen elves. Thanks!

Instinctively 2-3 days seems about right--or at least that's what I do, and that goes for meat as well as chicken but I admit to being a tad squeamish about raw protein. A couple of posts suggest some distinction between bone-in and boneless when it comes to chicken. Why? I've always treated them the same. I also do note the sell-by date and of course try to buy the freshest product, but would never keep meat or chicken in the fridge for the length of that date.

Thanks for the tip. I put in an order for Marcella beans (and others) this evening. I wonder what kind of demand Steve will get tomorrow after that article appears in print. Really a lovely story. Maybe a Marcella dinner is on the horizon: beans on toast, spaghetti with tomato and butter sauce and her melted Tuscan Kale.

My next door neighbor gives me bones! After Thanksgiving they dropped off a turkey carcass (with a lot of meat still on) and last week they offered me a large ham bone from xmas (also with a lot of extra meat). From the first I made turkey stock, and froze it. From the second I made ham stock. Yesterday with the ham stock I cooked up a pot of Yellow Eye beans. Then today I used the turkey stock to make a soup that was kind of a mash up of farro soup and Ribolita w/out the bread. I cooked the farro separately in diluted turkey stock, then made a soup with leeks, carrots, fennel, Italian tomatoes, turkey stock and Lacinato kale. Finally I added in the beans. The soup was served with the farro added as well and a dusting of pecorino. I gave my neighbors a couple of quarts of soup w/farro and a hunk of cheese to go with. My husband and I had soup for dinner and I still have plenty left for tomorrow. Very nice soup, and my first time cooking farro, of which I am now a fan. My neighbor was thrilled to hear that the beans were cooked with stock from his ham bone (true) and stock from his turkey (maybe true, since I had a second batch of frozen turkey stock from my own carcass and can't tell them apart) but no reason to ruin the story. S'all good, man.

Another way to look at that comment is that if you can't taste the liver, then what's the harm in leaving it out? Life is short. Make a banh mi with foods you love. Traditional foods originated by way of what was available. Liver isn't available to you. I was far too lazy to get any pate for my meatloaf banh mi and it was delicious and was not missed.

Banh Mi has been a favorite in our house ever since I first discovered Andrea Nguyen's Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. I make her carrot and daikon pickle, which is simple and so addictive! I have also made her char siu, as well as other recipes for that staple. I use a little Maggi in mayo for the spread, the usual sliced cukes, sprigs of cilantro and jalapeños to taste. If I don't have any fresh hot peppers I just squirt in some Sriracha. For me, the whole idea of a sandwich is to make life a bit easier, so I don't make my own bread. My favorite bread is simply a good baguette. That's a bit crustier than the traditional roll, but there are such great baguettes here in the Bay Area to me it's a no-brainer. I can't imagine that a good baguette would stop anyone from eating a banh mi. Someone (maybe Andrea?) suggests using the Mexican bolillos, which are fresh and easily available if you have a big Hispanic market near by. For the pate I rely on a very standard rather smooth chicken liver pate from my local fine foods market. Just not gonna make my own pate. I've used all kinds of meat besides char siu: grilled shrimp, bbq chicken, roast duck purchased in Chinatown. Once I made it with spicy Asian flavored pork butt, really pulled pork. All good! Most recently I used left over home made meatloaf and no pate and it was great. I have also used a coarse country-style pork pate and no other pate or meat, and that works too. The terrific thing about banh mi sandwiches is how versatile they are. If I could only take one kind of sandwich to a desert island, this would be it.

Two cookbooks: Lucky Peach 101 etc. and Zahav. Food/alcohol gifts: Australian soft black licorice, some excellent salted caramels w/dark chocolate made by my SIL and a lovely bottle of Moscato di Nonino grappa, which is really really yummy. Where has that been all my life?

I've had Mast chocolate once, a few years ago. I thought it was terrible--very off flavor as noted in the article cited. Also very pricey, and for that kind of money there are lots of yummy bars out there.

I agree that a relatively fine grind Italian polenta is a good place to start. What exactly do you mean by creamy? That could mean silky smooth, but also rich and tasting of high fat dairy. Usually I make a coarser grind of cornmeal packaged as grits, but in a pinch, if I want a fine grind, I just grind it some more. How long you cook it and the ratio of grain to liquid is also going to make a difference. One important thing is to avoid lumps at the beginning by making sure you shake your polenta gradually into the boiling water, either thru your fingers or through a strainer, and stir well, not only in the beginning but throughout the process. I usually add milk, not cream, but I don't see how adding cream would not make the end result "creamier." I sometimes add a bit of creme fraiche near the end, but the possibilities are endless: chèvre, various cheeses, etc. I've seen recipes that only use milk or dairy, but the ones I like start with water, then add the milk or cream in a couple of increments as the polenta or grits cooks down.

Just an idea: you might try finding a Daisy Martinez recipe for stewed chicken or Guisado. Her influences are mostly Puerto Rican, but she gets around. And her basic sofrito has proved very useful for a variety of things.

At the risk of insulting the people who submitted the following recipes to Tastespotting and other sites (or those of you here who might be positively disposed toward any of the following dishes), I'm very sorry, but so help me but I thought these were terribly funny. Not to mention just plain terrible. Avocado banana bread S’mores croissants Lentil and walnut soft tacos Shredded hoisin-blackberry chicken tacos Cheesesteak pizza Ricotta pastrami sandwich with raw onion on ciabatta Hatch chile smoothie Guacamole with blue cheese and smoked almonds Blue cheese, raspberry and basil sandwich (no theme for these last two, I'm love blue cheese on a cracker) Vegan Bolognese with cashew parmesan topping Broccoli and grape salad Dairy-free Lasagne with Tempeh Ragu and Celeriac Puree. Recipe includes something referred to as vegan mozzarella, whatever that might be. Pumpkin Cranberry Jello Shots. Includes 2 types of Vodka, Southern Comfort, canned pumpkin, cranberry gelatin and heavy cream. Irish Elvis Truffle. White chocolate dyed green with peanut butter and banana cream filling with bacon sprinkled on top

a : http://stores.ebay.c...la-Products-USA It won't help you with vanilla bean paste, but I second scubadoo's source, Vanilla Products USA, which I order via eBay. Beans have been very fresh, and, depending upon quantity ordered, the price works out to be under a dollar per bean. For some recipes that specify 1 vanilla bean I often use 1/2 one bean since they are nice and plump and often 7 inches long.

Actually a stew sounds good, maybe a lamb stew? The more I eat these peppers--and they really are quite hot--the more they remind me of harissa flavor. For my first espelette dish today's lunch was patatas bravas, going with a Spanish theme. I added a spoonful or two of the roasted peppers, finely chopped, toward the end of the cooking process as the potatoes were starting to get crusty. They already were dusted with ample amounts of smoked paprika. I served them with a garlic aioli. Very good. My husband thought the potatoes could use more heat, so he dished out some extra roasted peppers. On the side we had sliced tomatoes topped with sautéed okra. Potatoes, peppers, okra and tomatoes, all from the farmers' market. Tomorrow my nephew and his girlfriend will be over for dinner, and since they both like hot food, I'm going to make a version of chicken Basquaise that roasts with peppers and tomatoes. Hopefully I will have a tablespoonful left for scrambling the next morning. These peppers are really quite great, and don't taste like anything else. My plan is to buy a bunch more next weekend (if they still have them) and roast some to keep in the freezer. I'm curious as to why these particular locally grown espelettes have so much heat, I can only assume it is a combination of environmental factors, the same way jalapeños and poblanos can run the gamut from mild to fiery. Of course they were grown very far from their namesake village.

Yesterday at the Berkeley Farmers' market I bought some beautiful fresh espelette peppers. I don't think I've seen them before. Since I'm not really fond of sautéed peppers I roasted and peeled them just as I would for fresh green chiles. They are really delicious and different, and pretty hot, although that isn't what literature on these peppers would suggest. They were in fact marked "hot" at the market, so I shouldn't be surprised. I'm trying to think up ways to use them that are different than my usual uses for green chiles, although scrambled with eggs would make my husband very happy. The only other idea I have come up with is to make some version of Chicken Basquaise, for which I really don't have a recipe, but could probably wing it. So, if anyone has another idea for showcasing these yummy hot peppers, please point me in that direction, or if you have a favorite recipe for Basque Chicken that would be useful. I do happen to have a few slices of bacon that could be enlisted. I'm sure a Spanish tortilla or some kind of quiche would be good, but I don't do butter pastry or rich dairy, so custardy dishes, sadly, are best avoided. Thanks!

Chileheadmike, how sad for your dad; whenever he helped in the kitchen he would weep. Maybe that's why your mom didn't give him more tasks. Must be the hushed reverence of it all just got to him. What a sweetie.