Katie Meadow

Emmey, before going to costly extremes or wasted ingredients it might be a good idea to do some reading. There are plenty of good sources for Pho recipes, no two the same. You can see how different cooks achieve the umami you strive for as well as get an idea for the ratio of meat and bones to water. Check out who has written well regarded Viet cookbooks so you aren't flying blind. It sounds like some basics are in order. Andrea Nguyen and Mai Pham are two good names, but there are plenty more. Perhaps some people who are following this thread can suggest other authors and titles they trust.

I have never been to China or Vietnam, so my experience of these soups comes primarily from restaurants in NY and the Bay Area. I wish I had friends who grew up in Asian households and who had a deep tradition of homemade soups, but I don't have that either. I do agree that my home made stocks and broths are not replications of restaurant soups. However, I've grow to prefer them, since they are clean and unadulterated. Emmey you may be overthinking this. As Heidi says, these are rustic soups and if you make them at home without a lot of additives they will taste like the meats they are made from. One mistake many people make (and I do it too) is to use too little meat and too few bones. Making home made stock isn't exactly cheap, contrary to our intuition about "broth from scraps," especially when we are talking about a rich pho base. Trying to bump up the umami with bonito flakes and other ingredients more often used for Japanese broth is an interesting experiment, but I would be surprised if that ended up tasting more like the Viet restaurant soups you are aspiring to. A squirt of Red Boat is a lot easier and a lot more traditional. But variety is, at least, one of the spices of life, if not always the most "authentic.". If you make it from scratch it can't be Faux Pho.

A broth for wonton soup and a broth for pho are two very different animals. Literally. Pho is mainly beef. A good place to start for that might be Andrea Nguyen. She has a recipe in her first basic book "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen" and she has written a whole book devoted to pho, I think. It's a very rich deep broth made from various cuts of beef, bones, etc. I have made it, and it's a labor of love. As noted above, it can vary a lot, depending on who your Viet granny is. My one objection to some restaurant pho is that it is too sweet. Wonton soup is typically chicken-based, in my experience. Chinese chicken stock often involves a bit of pork, such as cooking pork neck bones along with your chicken backs, feet, carcass, whatever. You can add ginger, lemongrass, star anise to taste. I like to make a simple chicken stock with a couple of pork neck bones and no Asian flavorings to freeze for a variety of soups. Then if I want an Asian or wonton broth I just simmer the broth for 15 minutes or so with those flavorings. It works, and I don't have to have quarts of Asian broth overwhelming my freezer. In a pinch, if I have a stock made with only chicken parts, I sometimes add a bit of ham broth to give it a little kick when I add my lemongrass, ginger, etc. Restaurant wonton soups and pho also suffer a common problem, at least for me, and that's too much salt. Nothing beats home-made broth.

I get this flyer maybe quarterly, I don't keep track. Seems awfully silly. If everything sold at TJ's was as bizarre as most of the "new" stuff they highlight in the flyer I wouldn't ever shop there. We buy the same old six or seven things regularly from TJ's and rarely anything else.

I'm retired, my husband is doing consulting work part time out of the house. I don't know how it happened but we shifted to basically two real meals a day, a latish breakfast and then linner, typically at 3-4 pm. We go to bed around midnight, so if we are peckish it is usually a snack and cocktails in the evening, or sometimes my husband is hungrier and just eats a sandwich or leftovers. If we are lucky and I've made some dessert, there might be a late meal of cake or rice pudding or whatever. If I'm being honest, I really like having cocktail hour and watching the news, but I'm a cheap date and after one cocktail I'm unlikely to want to cook much or deal with a full meal. So this works for me. There's almost always lots of good bread in the house since my husband started baking regularly, so that's an easy fix in the evening. He's got a hollow leg and not an ounce of fat on him, so sometimes I worry that three meals a day would be better for him, but he makes up for it by sometimes eating staggering (to me) amounts, matched only by my millennial nephew when he comes for dinner. (And no, we don't subject our guests to our idiosyncratic schedule.) The two-meal thing really works for me; I don't like going to bed feeling full. Back in the day when we both worked out of the house or when our daughter was at home we ate three squarish meals, scraping together a dinner at around 7 or a bit later, whenever we got it together.

I'm curious why kale would be a good choice to juice--it's so tough and fibrous. Does the fiber break down in a super powerful juicer or blender? Not that I'm about to try it. I prefer my vegetables with a bit of a bite. Mustard greens are really good pickled. My brother grows it just so he can pickle it. Punchy! Nice as a side for Asian foods or alongside grits or mac n cheese.

@Anna N that is truly hilarious. I have ordered the same book from the library at least a couple of times. Once it took me a quarter of the way through to realize I had already read it. But finding your own handwritten note in the copy, well.....how did my note get into that copy of the book? Oh, wait.

The kale bandwagon leaves me in the dust. I don't find any variety good to eat raw. The somewhat more delicate Tuscan kale is okay in soups, but to my taste it doesn't improve on the always versatile swiss chard, which I like not only for soups but sautéed with garlic, on pizza, etc. And, for those who have been convinced by marketing ploys that kale has superior nutritional value than other greens, go look it up; it's a middling leafy green when it comes to calcium and vitamins, with the exception of high marks when it comes to vitamin C. So if you love the taste of kale go for it. I like spinach for a gratin, baby collards as a vinegary side and chard for most everything else. One vendor at the Berkeley Farmers' Market used to have baby Russian Kale.. When it was tiny it was quite good in a saute of mixed greens, but I haven't seen it recently. As for dark greens right now I'm totally into Choi Sum--sort of a cousin of bok choi, but the leaves are darker and tastier. Great in any stir fry or tossed into Asian soups. That risotto looks lovely.

I purchased a "like-new" De Buyer mandoline with beautiful case and everything on eBay for a great price after being convinced by a friend who is a very good cook that I really would love it. I used it twice. I found it so frightening that I gave it away to a friend of my SIL's who was apparently over the moon to get it. I hope that person still has all his fingers. I'm quite talented cutting thin slices of potato with a knife by hand to make Potatoes Anna and take comfort that I am saving my husband a trip to the ER. He's awfully shaky when he sees blood.

I haven't bought Nutella in at least five years, so I can't say. Maybe some others can check in their cabinets and let you know.

Perhaps some aficionado of Nutella can verify that the recipe has changed, but I tasted it recently and it is pretty much the same as I remember. Some people swear that the Nutella you get in Europe is better, but it has never been a high-end product, and it has always been oily. "Vegetable oil" is listed as a main ingredient and I am guessing that the type of vegetable oil is cottonseed or some other industrial product. Nutella's main virtue is the price. Good if you have kids! Also it seems fairly stable in a peanut butter sandwich on a long hike. There are some delicious Italian chocolate-hazelnut spreads and creams that are made with dark chocolate and premium ingredients and are sold at gourmet markets; they will set you back a pretty sum. I've sworn off the stuff!

I assume the distinction between tea and dish is quality (maybe linen vs cotton) and purpose. I keep a couple of nice linen towels for the rare times I dry glassware or nice tableware that can't be done in the dishwasher. They are stashed on the very bottom of the stack of dish towels and deep enough down so that my husband probably is unaware of their existence. The rest of the towels in the stack are multi-use cotton towels that are used for anything and everything and eventually get stained or tainted with enough grease to become rags. They may start out nice but they don't get treated with love. They are dish towels.

That Serious Eats recipe sounds like it would make a good grilled chicken, but it doesn't include the Aji Amarillo paste. The body copy notes that it didn't quite match up to the expected Peruvian Chicken that inspired the author to make it. Maybe no chili paste is the reason.

I use thigh-leg pieces and marinate them in a mix that includes some aji amarillo paste. They get grilled or roasted in the oven. Don't know where this recipe came from, but here it is, for better or worse. 2 T soy sauce juice of two limes 5 cloves of garlic, grated or mashed 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated 1 tsp balsamic vinegar ¼ cup dark beer 1 T olive oil 1 T aji amarillo paste or more to taste 1½ teaspoons ground cumin 1 tsp dried Mexican or Indio oregano 1 tsp dried rosemary salt and pepper to taste ½ tsp cayenne or less, or dash of Crystal or Cholula hot sauce or sriracha This recipe clearly reflects that Peruvian / Chinese connection. There is also a complex sauce to serve with it but I am far too lazy to bother and simply baste with the marinade. That sauce involves cilantro, mustard, jalapeños, honey, cotija cheese and more aji amarillo paste. Since I have a gas grill the kind of wood is not relevant, but it might be wise to read up on cooking with Eucalytus before throwing it on the barbie; it is problematic in a variety of ways as far as I know. I've burned it in a fireplace but you are well advised to to let it dry 2 years before burning and it does burn very hot.

A crime? Then lock up my mother's ashes! She always served lamb chops with mint jelly; the jelly didn't stick with me beyond nostalgia (although if I am ever served mint jelly with lamb I wouldn't turn it down), but the mint did. I like roast lamb with mint chimichurri. I like lamb curry with mint chutney. My mother was generally a terrible cook. But she gets a pass because she tended to blame herself rather than the recipe; she didn't really have enough experience or confidence to know when a recipe was bad. So she was a timid cook, and tended to follow rules, many of them being silly or just wrong, because she didn't really have any help and didn't really enjoy cooking. After marrying my dad, her first meal was roast chicken. She didn't remove the innards or the feathers. Some rules there might have helped. Unfortunately she had many rules she followed during the years I grew up that limited or often hurt her cooking, not to mention other areas of life. Some traditional pairings have weight behind them because they are yummy. Some are comforting because you grew up with them. Some are unappealing for a variety of personal reasons. Some are due (and get) great updates. I always bristle at the word "authentic." Throughout history people have used what they have. When what you had was limited by what you could grow or what animals you domesticated yourself, the result was traditional foods. When you discovered a new weed or a new fungus or your cousin from another village showed you a new way to do something, then....innovation!

European butter like Kerrygold has more fat and is more spreadable right out of the fridge; that could be a solution for some people. Leaving it out for fifteen minutes makes it even easier. And it tastes so good. For many baking needs I just use regular American butter, but for spreading on fresh bread or toast it's only a modest splurge.

Now we are talking about the downside of a New York galley kitchen. Yours looks to be about the size of my mother's midtown kitchen (apartment sold years ago). With your renovation I am guessing you have made just about the best use possible of your space, which I know is a major challenge. And it looks fabulous. I am blessed with a large kitchen in Oakland, but it would probably fit in Andiesenji's pantry or spare bedroom; comparing anything to her space and her collections is just plain silly. It is indeed very great to have the use of our in-laws' beach cabin, which is, as is typical, full of all the things family member didn't really want in their own houses. A wall clock made of old horseshoes come to mind, but those things also include some truly gross dish towels that my mother-in-law seems attached to, if she still thinks about it, which is unlikely unless anyone brings it up, and no one would. There is a tenacious streak of sentimentality in my husband's family coupled with my MIL's depression mentality that means an old grease-embedded dish towel from 1960 should remain in use. Unfortunately it is a very long walk from the beach house to Russ and Daughters or Great NY Noodle. I miss New York terribly, and my once a year visit is never enough. Here's to your new kitchen! Here's to having only dish towels that make the grade!

Who doesn't love dish towels? A good quality dish towel is always a nice gift; at least half of my day-to-day dish towels were gifts. These are mostly multi-purpose towels that hang close to the sink and stove and can often be found slung over my shoulder while I'm cooking. Some are cool, some not so much. One came from France! One came from Hawaii! I do have a couple of nice linen towels that are great for drying glassware, but that only happens if I am using the inherited stuff with the gold rings that can't go in the dishwasher. I also have a good supply of bleachable bar-moppy type very absorbent towels that I like for water spills and squeezing greens, soaked slaw, potato slices, etc. If I am bored of my dish towels and they are still decent they go to the family beach house to live out their lives. If they are beyond that stage they fulfill their destiny cleaning the car windows, wiping up paint drips and rubbing wax or oil into something. Who doesn't love a rag that's hemmed on four sides? In my house a roll of paper towels lasts for months. What's really amazing is that I am writing about dish towels. Isn't it obvious that there is no down side to dish towels? Unless they are not cotton or have jokes on them or are poorly rendered Disney souvenirs.

That looks scrumptious. I used to make a dish that was a kind of gnocchi alla romana using polenta instead of semolina. It involved cooling the polenta in a slab, cutting the slab into squares and baking them with gorgonzola and a bit of tomato sauce and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts or walnuts. I haven't made it in years, but if I do it again I would definitely rest it on a bed of arugula. Variations on this combo of ingredients must be more common that I thought.

Aww, that's sweet of you. It was so nice to have some simple soup. Not to disparage rich xmas food, but If I have to look at another tomato cheese casserole or giant haunch of anything I'm going to run screaming from the table. I had some duck broth frozen, so literally this meal's biggest challenge was figuring how how much udon to boil for two people. The Japanese seem to love the number five. The udon I like comes in five bundles to a package; the bundles are always too much for one person and not enough for two. I admit that I make duck broth by the cheater's method: I buy whole roast duck in Chinatown and have them chop it. I make a simple noodle dish and top it with the best meatiest pieces of the duck. Or, if I can't resist, we just go at it when we get it home. Okay, this is gross but it's all in the family: I save the bones from the gnawed on duck. Then I make a stock using those bones and all the pieces we didn't eat. I might add a pork neck bone if I have one frozen (I do this if I have a duck and a half or two ducks; I don't want to dilute the flavor too much.) After two hours or so the stock is rich and the bonus is there is a reasonable amount of duck meat on the bones that is still very tasty and no worse for wear. I pick it off, save it, and then strain and defat the soup, saving the duck fat as well. The leftover shredded duck works well in a stir fry or wonton soup or whatever. Chinese roast duck is the gift that keeps on giving. A word to the wise: it often comes with a little container of sauce. This is very salty and very potent. DO NOT add it to the duck broth. I portion it out and use it as part of a stir-fry sauce or as an ingredient in a sauce for noodles. Happy new Year! I should amend the post. I just looked at some of the scrumptious meals pictured above. Outstanding, all of it. Give me a couple of weeks to recover and then I'm there.

Two of us at home tomorrow evening: yuzu sake, udon or soba in plain duck broth with choi sum. Blessedly simple.

The crab in your can is not Dungeness. It is a crab species fished in Indonesia and Australian environs known by many names, one of them being Flower Crab. Pretty hard to compare any canned crab meat to fresh, no matter what the species. And if it's any comfort (which it really shouldn't be) my eyesight is as far from 20/20 as a can of Flower Crab is from fresh Dungeness.

Okay, I am totally stumped. Where are these crabs are coming from if they are live year-round? CA, OR and WA have seasons for commercial and recreational crabbing. The seasons in these three states usually open some time between November and the early December. By definition, this means the season is closed before that. In these three states there is no year-round season. In other words if you see Dungeness crab swimming live in tanks when the season is not open they are fished illegally or they are being shipped from somewhere that has a currently open season. And where is that? If they are caught and shipped live from any states with a season under suspension it is likely that they are poor quality (as has been the case for a month or two in CA) or contain unacceptable levels of toxins from an algal bloom (as discovered in OR this year.) The most recent information for CA from the CA Dept of Fish and Wildlife is that the 2017 season is now set to open on Dec 31 due to meat quality. If delays continue beyond Jan 15 the season will be officially canceled. I know nothing about Dungeness crab fishing in Canada, so perhaps someone can enlighten me as to when their season is. I am not a marine expert by any means, but if Dungeness crab fishing had a year-round season how could their numbers possibly be sustained?

@Ann_T I suspect you are not in Kansas--or Cobble Hill-- any more. Mad Dog Crabs must be on Vancouver Island. I'm envious! Yes indeed, pricey. But local CA salmon and crabs are just two of the species being chased north by changing waters.

Gifts this year: homemade dark chocolate salted caramels (gone already!), a bottle of very good rye, a copy of Smitten Kitchen's new book and a set of the loveliest little tinted glasses for cold sake in a wonderful Japanese wooden box. We also happen to have an early holiday gift of a bottle of Yuzu sake. I have no intention of leaving home on NYE so I think I will make some kind of udon noodle dish and christen our new glasses. Really too bad we have no more of those caramels left. Then we will start in on (or finish up as the case may be) the fourth season of Black Mirror and be sound asleep before being woken up at midnight by various fireworks, pot banging, gunshots and general mayhem as usual. At which point I may be in need of a xanax. Just to start off the new year in the right frame of mind.