KennethT

I have no ideas about frozen lemongrass - I've always thought that it lost its flavor quickly when frozen. As to usage, the most helpful thing I can think of is that it varies. In many Malay/Indonesian/Nyonya recipes, it is used whole and typically, as Bruce says, it's bruised and tied in a knot, which makes it easy to remove when serving and keeps it from splitting into individual long fibers while being constantly stirred while simmering. But, some curry pastes will blend the lemongrass in with other ingredients. I think it depends on how long it will be cooked for - if it's going to simmer for hours, it's better to leave it whole - but if the paste is to be quickly fried and simmered a short time, it would be pounded/blended into the paste. But there may not be 100% consistency in that. In most Vietnamese dishes I've seen, it is sliced thinly (thinner than 1/8") or minced. I had a version of Bo la lot (beef with betel leaves) in a farm area that grew all of its own herbs and the lemongrass was sliced thin and scattered over the beef while being grilled, and it melted in your mouth. I used to make a lemongrass chicken (ga xao sa ot) which finely minces several sticks of lemongrass along with a lot of garlic. One thing I will say though is that fresh lemongrass is very different from what I get in the store. I grow my own, and the stalks are not the desiccated husks that are sold in stores and turn to sawdust when chopped or sliced - they're juicy enough that if I bash them with a pestle on the cutting board, juice comes out, or are pretty tender if sliced thinly. I don't know what would happen to them if I freeze them. Since I grow them indoors, I only harvest about 5 minutes before I use it, letting the rest continue growing.

I probably haven't used mine in almost a year. The last time, I used about a teaspoon (if that) to make a salad dressing... Most of the time I don't go through the effort to make a prepared dressing - usually just a broken dressing of oil/vinegar (or lime juice depending), S & P which takes about 20 seconds.

This is a ridiculously old thread, but I didn't know where else to ask this: Is there a shelf life to commercially prepared Dijon mustard once the jar has been opened? I have a half used jar of Maille Dijon mustard that has been in my refrigerator (kept as cold as possible) for probably a couple years. I don't see any mold or anything growing on it. I have always use a clean/dry utensil when removing contents. It smells ok. I imagine it won't have the bite that it had when new, but I just don't want it to inadvertently kill me! There is no expiration date on the jar, but it does say that it should be used within 3 months of opening - but I imagine that's more for quality rather than safety.

This looks a lot better (to me) than what we call "chicken salad" here in the US, which is basically chicken bound together with a thick mayo glop.

Especially since California is notorious for not allowing foreign (meaning from other states) plants and plant products in! I'm part of a fruit group on FB and many mango growers are in Florida but they all say that they're not allowed to ship to CA.

The same type, but the most efficient stirrer has a raised line that runs radially in the middle. But also, for sv stuff, it spins for a lot longer than pasteurizing ice cream base.

Many years ago, I made my own sous vide bath using a 1000W heating element, PID controller, solid state relay and made my own magnetic stirrer using a muffin fan with a 3D printed magnet holder. I still use it to this day. The reason I bring it up is that my stirrer bar etched some small circles in the bottom of my All Clad LTD stockpot after just a couple of uses.... So I got a 3"x3" 1/8" thick glass plate to put under the stirrer bar which works fine in protecting the pot bottom from any further damage. BTW, I also have a type T silicone thermocouple which is very flexible so I can snake it under the standard All Clad lid with minimal gap and evaporation.... https://www.dwyeromega.com/en-us/hermetically-sealed-tip-insulated-thermocouples/p/HSTC

+1 - definitely tomato seeds can be bitter. Whenever I used to make tomato sauce, I always strained the seeds first and it made a big difference.

I would add some onion/shallot first, which would add sweetness, then sugar at the very end if it still needs it. Rather than using cooked potato for thickening, you might consider using a potato starch slurry - that would thicken better with less of it than cooked potato. In general, pepper seeds can be very bitter so I think it's important to be vigilant when eliminating them before pureeing. Edit - plus one for the tomato.... if you want to double down on the roasted flavor, you can char the onion/shallot, then rinse as much of the char off as you can... or just use some canned "fire roasted tomato"

Ah! Sorry, I had never heard of it. Actually, I'll be making an Indonesian relish... a type of sambal called sambal ijo (ijo means green) and is very common with Padang food, which is very popular in Indonesia and is the birthplace of traditional rendang.

What what?

Yes, I want the sourness of a green tomato - but it would be difficult to do 1/2 1/2 - first of all, I'm planning to use them tomorrow, so it won't be very long to begin with. I probably could have left them on the countertop and they'd be fine for that long. But they're also going to be mixed with a bunch of chillis, shallots and garlic and all mashed together so I don't think there would be much to compare.

This isn't really a preservation question but I didn't know where else to put it.... how should I keep green tomatoes to keep them green and NOT ripening? Is it ok to refrigerate for short periods (a couple days)? Usually you don't want to refrigerate tomatoes, but I don't know if that applies to green ones that you want to keep green. I also have a root cellar (wine fridge) that's kept at 55F and relatively high humidity. Tks...

I've always wondered what happens to rice paddy fish (and now rice paddy eels) when the paddies are drained? I get that the crabs can burrow into the dirt but wondered about the non air breathing stuff.

@TdeV Me too!! One way to see if it would work would be to puree one onion and see if it can fry it at medium heat with maybe 1-2T of oil until the oil separates back out. I'd love to see how much human intervention it would need to do it evenly.