Chris Hennes

It's interesting to me that yours wound up salty as well: I had the same problem upthread. All told, however, I just reduce the salt in the final dishes I am making and it doesn't seem to really matter.

Five-Spice Chicken with Sugar Snaps (p. 120) Stir-Fried Baby Bok Choy with Sichuan Pepper and Salt (p. 189) First off, thanks to those who gave me the advice about the Sichuan Pepper: I removed the little beads and just toasted and ground the husks, which worked perfectly: no grittiness, and plenty of flavor. The pepper is tossed with the bok choy and carrots as they are quickly stir-fried: not a complex dish, but a good one. The chicken dish was also good: I used a homemade five-spice powder based on a recipe I found on the forums here, and it was very good. The dish tasted first of the five-spice powder, then of the dark soy, which is a nice combination, and very flavorful. Overall I thought it worked well as a counterpoint to the relatively mild bok choi. (For those of you who mocked my use of the mandolin in the first stir fry: I julienned these carrots by hand just for you! (yeah, OK, my knife skills need work...) )

Fortunately most of our drinks contain suitable quantities of a disinfecting agent...

I'm also glad to see the high-stakes challenges carrying over into this season. I think the producers are getting smart about making sure everyone is playing to win all the way through. Not that in this season there is any chaff to get rid of in the early part, but it's good to give additional incentive to win every single challenge.

It's funny, I wonder if tenderloin isn't actually the most under-appreciated cut of beef among "serious" food-lovers these days. I hear it disparaged a lot, but well-prepared it can be very nice.

Chinese Burmese Chili Chicken (pp. 140–141) So that the regional affiliations are clear, here are Young's comments on the dish: I enjoyed the flavor combination, though I was a bit surprised by the way the chile powder is added at the very end, off the heat. I am used to taking nearly the opposite approach, and letting the powder toast and incorporate more into the dish, instead of treating it as a last-minute seasoning. I don't know which region's cooking that is representative of: anyone? And Prawncrackers, so you don't think I am missing my vegetables: this dish has way more vegetable than meat, so I didn't think it was necessary to prepare a side dish .

I am sure they will all be stronger than when we last saw them: my vote is based on personality, not likelihood of winning . I liked those two...

If I'm not mistaken, this season starts back up tonight at 10 Eastern — personally, I'd like to see Richard or Jennifer win the whole thing, but there are quite a few strong competitors this time around.

Will, I think that many people are used to dried pasta in lasagna, but using paper thin sheets of fresh pasta really results in an incomparable product. I completely understand the OP's desire to use fresh, but it sounds like it's not feasible from a time standpoint.

Just to be clear: the pasta sheets that annachan is talking about are not fresh, they are dried. But they are much thinner than conventional dried lasagna, and don't need to be boiled. Cook's Illustrated does suggest soaking in hot water for a minute or two before layering: it's an improvement, but can be skipped if you don't have time.

I had pretty good success in my pre-Big Kahuna days using a skillet on an electric stove: just make sure you let it preheat until very hot, and don't add too much to the pan all at once. And hope your ventilation can keep up! I set off the fire alarm on more than one occasion...

Right on all counts, prasantrin. Some of the recipes seems to be her own adaptation, some are from Chinese expats living abroad, and some are from second- or third- generation Chinese immigrants in the US. Not to mention the fact that China is a pretty big country! It sounds like there are plenty of people who have never heard of cumin in Chinese food, although clearly it's present in some regions.

The book does not claim to represent a single region of China, though for each recipe Young typically gives some regional indication. For example, the recipe with cumin in it is said to be "a signature Hunan-style robust stir-fry of beef with cauliflower, carrots, and tomatoes, seasoned with cumin, garlic, and red pepper flakes." And I haven't even started delving into the dishes like "Chinese Jamaican Stir-Fried Beef and Carrots" (seasoned with Matouk's Calypso Sauce), "Chinese Peruvian Stir-Fried Filet Mignon" (heavy on the potatoes), or "Chinese Trinidadian Chicken with Mango Chutney" (lots of mango chutney in Chinese stir fries?). There is clearly a lot of fusion going on here.

Tenderloin is a nice cut for serving in a raw prep: tartare, carpaccio, etc. There are lots of creative things to be done on that front, I think.

The four new books I got this year were Bayless's "Fiesta at Rick's," Kennedy's "Oaxaca al Gusto," Greenspan's "Around My French Table," and Young's "Stir Frying to the Sky's Edge." Of the four I think that Oaxaca al Gusto is the most interesting, but also the least "useful" in the sense that it's pretty difficult to cook from. I really enjoyed cooking from Bayless's book, though it may offend Mexican purists, and Greenspan's was OK though perhaps not really that unique. I'm still working through Young's but I can't really recommend it at this point.

From the dish description: (I'm not sure how that substitution really simplifies anything, but OK) It's funny, I bought the book and have been cooking from it because I am skeptical that any of the so-called "Chinese food" available to me here in Oklahoma, USA is even remotely Chinese. But it sounds like I'm not really getting any closer with these recipes.

Vinegar-Glazed Chicken (p. 136) Stir-Fried bean Sprouts with Chili Bean Sauce (p. 200) As luck would have it, Prawncrackers, tonight's meal plan did in fact include two recipes from the book: good timing! Well, sort of good timing, as the bean sprouts were a bit past their prime. I bought them yesterday and meant to use them last night, but didn't end up stir-frying for dinner. I also, for no apparent reason, purchased soy bean sprouts instead of normal (mung?) sprouts. So I won't say much about that recipe since I was not pleased with the ingredients. The vinegar-glazed chicken has a pretty heavy dose of Sichuan peppercorns, which I love the flavor of. I find that I can't seem to grind them fine enough to completely eliminate a slightly gritty texture, however. Is this normal, or do I need to try harder with my grinding? Also, this dish is finished with a Chinkiang vinegar glaze, but I'm not really that fond of the vinegar I have on hand. I think I just chose it at random from the available brands: what are the brands I should be seeking out?

Admittedly I do sometimes serve just the stir fry with rice, especially when the stir fry incorporates roughly equal amounts of protein and vegetables. In the case of something like that ginger beef, however, I served it with a side of snap peas (you can just see one peaking into the frame in the lower left). I haven't been discussing or showing them because I'm not using recipes from the book in those cases.

Well in this case, since you are not actually making caramel, but just caramel flavoring, I'd go with what the recipe says.

Stir-Fried Ginger Beef (p. 71) This was a very simply-seasoned (but far from bland!) dry-style stir fry. It only has a few basic ingredients: beef, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and rice wine (apparently the addition of rice wine is not traditional). Young also adds pickled ginger, which I thought was very nice.

Yeah, "pearl onions," that's right. I dunno why I couldn't remember that! I cheat and used the bagged frozen ones. Once glazed they are nearly as good as fresh, and a heck of a lot easier to deal with! Kerry, do have any more details on that horseradish cream recipe? I just made a whole bunch of prepared HR and would love a good use for it.

What's the consensus on eggs in the stuffing as a binder? I never do it, but I read an article the other day that implied that was standard technique. Do you all put an egg or two in there to hold things together, sort of like a bread pudding?

I am in need of a tip: I want to make sage sausage today for my stuffing, but I don't have a recipe I like. Does anyone have ingredient ratios for a sage sausage that you like?

Y'all crazy. Sweet potatoes and bacon are a match made in heaven. Twice-baked sweet potatoes with ludicrous amounts of bacon and some butter and black pepper. Nice.

Does everyone put actual sausage in their stuffing? I don't have any sage sausage at the moment, but I have plenty of pork, and plenty of sage. Can I just take the ingredients for sage sausage and fry it up? And uh... what are the ingredients of sage sausage?