KennethT
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Posts posted by KennethT
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huh, you would think that a block of tuna that size (the "small" one) would need a lot more than 5 minutes when starting from -60C. I would've assumed that the salted water would initially form a glaze on it once removed from the water bath and that it would need hours in the refrigerator to completely defrost.
I'd also assume that the fish from Alaska is super frozen - especially after traveling on top of a block of dry ice. But after it's been off teh dry ice and in a normal freezer for a while, it's no longer super frozen.
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I don't know if heritage or heirloom are terms defined by the USDA. If not defined, anyone is free to use them on anything so they're practically worthless. Lots of official sounding terms are used in food marketing but actually are unregulated and mean nothing, i.e. "all natural" etc...
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1 hour ago, liuzhou said:
Not so bad! I'm always fascinated by how quickly the market people can peel and de-eye pineapples here. A few seconds per fruit.
I even bought one of the dedicated pineapple peelers they use, but I'm still hopeless.
Lovely looking pineapples you got there!
I've seen people in Thailand peel and de-eye them so fast - with a cleaver!
This was definitely the best pineapple I've had in the continental US. (I remember having some fantastic pineapple in Hawaii - but that was many years ago). I'm so happy I stumbled on to this Facebook group about buying/selling fruit. The quality is so much better than I can get locally - it's too bad shipping is so expensive.
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I just got a box of these Phulae pineapples (a Thai variety) grown in Guatemala and picked ripe (not picked green). I have strong memories of going crazy over the pineapples in Thailand and Vietnam... They're much smaller than the pineapples we get here but they have such a strong flavor and aroma and are ridiculously sweet and juicy. While carving this one, I had to stop a few times to remove the juice off the board so it wouldn't spill onto the counter. Don't want to waste it!
My mediocre carving job to remove the eye
Finally!!!! This plate lasted about 1-1/2 minutes between me and my wife.
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On 6/30/2021 at 5:27 PM, liuzhou said:
here is an unusual pickled item that doesn't really need any explanation oither than its name.
3. Peanuts pickled in apple vinegar with yellow chilis.
I recently found these in a supermarket. I didn't make note of the Chinese name and don't want to guess. If I see them again, I'll take down their details and edit this.
Anyway, they were surprisingly good, but so is anything with chilis, in my book.that's fascinating. Are the peanuts pickled raw or are they boiled or roasted first?
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1 hour ago, palo said:
Were they all vacuum sealed? The Sea scallops and the other large bag don't appear to be, I'm used to seeing vacuum sealed packages looking like the "life has been sucked out of them"
p
It looks likethe scallops were IQF - like shrimp usually are. Then they're just placed in a sealed bag - no vacuum.
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1 hour ago, liuzhou said:
The only one I've seen in Thailand is phak kat dong, their version of suancai. I don't remember neon though. Is that the one you mean? Vietnam also has their version - dưa cải chua.
I've never seen the salted version in Thailand or Vietnam, but it may be there.Yes, that's what I'm talking about - phak kat dong. It was never neon when I saw it in Thailand (or in Vietnam for that matter) but the only stuff I can find in the stores here is extremely neon.
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10 hours ago, Franci said:
Kids made dinner
wow - you've trained them really well!
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I can find Thai preserved mustard greens in my local Asian store - they're always a neon yellow/green color - although I've never seen that color anywhere in Asia. I'm curious if your locally packaged preserved mustard looks similarly or if it is an export thing that they add extra preservatives or something.
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4 minutes ago, shain said:
Beach-skipping day in North Pelion.
Beautiful beach #1. I don't feel like the pictures the manage to do it justice, one needs to be able and take in the entire vista.
Absolutely gorgeous... and that hotel balcony for breakfast is worth any price - even if the bed was made out of straw!
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15 minutes ago, weinoo said:
See above - too much barbecue?
This just shows the value of sarcasm on the internet... at least without something to make it exceedingly obvious - like a hehe or an emoji the kids like using nowadays... hehe...
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35 minutes ago, weinoo said:
I'm wondering how fish gets waterlogged, considering they tend to spend their whole lives - in water?
When they live in the water, they don't have any exposed flesh - skin is a moisture barrier.
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13 minutes ago, palo said:
Why?
I vacuum seal a number of my proteins and find defrosting in the sink or a bowl of water the most efficient and the product doesn't become water-logged.
p
They probably recommend it for concerns of bacterial growth and being very conservative. Reduced Oxygen Packaging has botulism concerns at temps over refrigerator temp. So, as the package is defrosting in the water bath, you have potential for the bacteria to grow on the warmer parts (the outside) while you're waiting for the inside to thaw. 15-20 minutes is fine, but you wouldn't want to let it sit for a few hours. And botulism toxin isn't destroyed by heat, so cooking it thoroughly post-defrost won't help.
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I've never used frozen fish (yet) either, and like @Margaret Pilgrim, in the past, I've always defrosted shrimp in a bowl of cold water and never had any problems. Part of me can't believe I've been putting in so much research into the best way to defrost the fish, but I think I'm doing it just because it's so expensive compared to fish I usually buy in the supermarket.
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8 minutes ago, Smithy said:
Here's my first test of the Wild Alaskan shipment. I thawed 3 packages of Coho Salmon. Each package was around 6 oz worth of fish. @rotuts, I took a picture of each piece on edge, so you could see that at the thickest they were around 1" thick. I think these must be from nearer the head, or at least not near the tail. Can you tell from these shots?
These fillets are glazed with salt water as the spot prawns were that @KennethT mentioned above. I took a cue from him and thawed the fish in salty water in the refrigerator. Was that useful or helpful? I don't know. The package instructions simply say to remove from the packaging and thaw under refrigeration. As it happened, I'd snapped the photos above when family called from out of town. We went out to dinner. The salmon were still icy in places the next morning, so the refrigerator thaw in salt water is indeed a slow and gentle method.
When I pulled the fillets out to start cooking the fish flesh was VERY soft, almost mealy. Was that because of the long, slow thaw and hold in salty water? Should I have simply left them in a covered dish without the water? I've noticed that texture with some salmon in the past. I don't remember whether it's been a particular variety of salmon. I'll ask Wild Alaskan and see what they have to say.
A normal person would use a familiar recipe and cooking method when testing a new supplier. I didn't do that. Salmon is my favorite fish, but it's one of my husband's least favorites, and I'm always looking for treatments that he too will like. Sear-roasted salmon fillets with lemon ginger butter, from The 150 Best American Recipes (2006) (eG-friendly Amazon.com link), was the choice this time. (Yes, I've had that book since it came out. No, I'd never tried this recipe before.) It turns out to be messy to make, unless one is cooking outside or has a really good range hood. You heat a film of oil to medium-high heat, place the fillets skin-side down and let them cook until browned on the bottom, then flip them and place in a preheated very hot oven for a few minutes. The smoke and grease spatter were bad. The good news is that the fish held up well. The "mealy" surface stayed with the fish, for the most part, and the fish firmed up as it cooked. The final result was flaky but not overcooked.
The real star of the recipe is the lemon ginger butter: minced ginger and chives, mixed with lemon juice and softened butter, dolloped on the fish. In our case it was also dolloped on the green beans and sopped up with his toast.
Was this salmon better than we could have gotten at the store? I don't know, but it was at least as good: beautifully frozen, very fresh tasting. I'll ask Wild Alaskan about the texture and the proper thawing method, and report back.
Interesting. I haven't thawed any fish yet - I think I'm going to do one set tonight - maybe the cod. They have a blog on their website, and one of the posts talks about how to thaw. They recommend taking the fish out of the vacuum bag and thawing on a rack in the refrigerator - that way, the fish won't be sitting in a puddle of salt water melted glaze. There's also a video showing a bunch of different defrosting methods. I think that I would only thaw in salt water if I wanted to do it in a hurry - then I would use salted cold tap water and leave it on the counter - possibly changing the water once it starts to feel really cold.
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Back to an old favorite tonight , Cafe Mogador. First time in a year and a half. We've gotten delivery but it's definitely not the same.
Fresh squeezed lemonade with mint
Various mezze to start - sauteed shrimp with a lot of garlic, homemade tabouli, and babaganoush - served with just baked pita.
2 lamb tagines - lamb charmoulla and lamb with preserved lemon and olives, served with their fantastic couscous.
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I'm no professional, but I've eaten the tops of the baby leeks I get in my local Hmart - htey're like big scallions.
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I used my first package of spot prawns yesterday. After all the hemming and hawing, I decided to do something with them that I've done with my normal shrimp supply, so better compare them. Singapore style bak kut teh - the healthy version (no pork ribs). I make my broth with a lot of pork bones, and then completely defat it. The stock is then infused with a lot of garlic and a special black peppercorn from Sarawak (Malaysia) which is not as strong as most other peppercorns and maybe has a fruitiness to it? Anyway, the spot prawns were fantastic - sweet, wonderful texture.
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3 minutes ago, BeeZee said:
My husband wanted to get sushi, since he hadn’t had any since pre-Covid. Unlike the nice plates that @KennethTgot the other day, we were served on paper plates. Apparently to deal with staffing issues they decided they could do without one of the dishwashers.😕
It's odd eating good food on disposable plates. Even though NYC has largely opened up, some restaurants are still serving the outdoor tables in the takeout containers, with disposable plates and cutlery.
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1 hour ago, gfweb said:
I have my first box coming on Weds. Prices are pretty good indeed.
We'll see.
I agree with @rotuts - please give us your thoughts!
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This place popped up on my facebook feed - has anyone tried them?
The quality and prices look too good to be true, and they ship with dry ice.
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@ShelbyI wanted to like and sad face simultaneously....
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2 hours ago, liuzhou said:
It happened again. I was sitting here working on something when my phone bleeped. A text message telling me my delivery had been deposited at the collection point two minutes from my home. What delivery? I have no outstanding deliveries due.
Anyway, I popped out and sure enough there was a box waiting for me. The description on the box read "绿木， 无糖 [1 件]", which means "Green tree, sugar-free [1 packet]. Well, that is helpful!Back home, I opened it, still wondering who was sending me suger-free trees and found ten little cakes labelled "木糖醇绿豆饼 (mù táng chún lǜ dòu bǐng)", which rather unromantically translates as "Xylitol Green Bean Cakes".
Xylitol is an artificial sweetener, I learn.
Still nothing ventured - I tried one. They are not particularly sweet (which, in my book, is a good thing).
They are 1½" / 2cm in diameter; an inch / 2.5 cm tall. The pastry shell is soft and slightly sticky. The mung bean filling is soft, flaky and again not sweet but not beanish, either.
All, in all, not bad! There are only four in the first picture, because I ate the other six before reaching for the camera - purely for research reasons, you understand.
I have tracked down who sent them. Thanks Han Rong!
They look a lot like bakpia - an Indonesian snack specific to Yogyakarta - they make them with a variety of fillings but the bean paste filling is the most popular.
Heritage and Heirloom Foods - Do The Words Now Mean Nothing?
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
This is a slightly different thing - no fruit, heritage or not, will taste good if not picked ripe. Plus, among the thousands of "heritage" strains of tomatoes, lots of them are just plain blah - even when picked perfectly ripe. I think most people buy the heritage or heirloom tomatoes in the grocery store because of how they look, and just imagine that they taste better.