KennethT

This got me thinking - I have his "A Return to Cooking" or some title like that - I used to love that book - commonly with dressings at that time, he'd use 1/2 evoo and 1/2 canola - at the time he said that canola was neutral and thinner in viscosity than the evoo, so he used half and half to get the evoo flavor but used the canola to thin it a bit. That's all I remember him saying about canola at that time. That book is currently buried among the packing boxes, so I don't think I could dig it out to look it up right now if I had wanted to!

oh yeah, I used to get it at the old Essex market on the off chance I could get down there. Great quality and much cheaper than almost anywhere else... probably because of the large Latino clientele. I was wondering how the prices have changed since the Essex market moved into their new (and fancy) digs.

I get my peanut oil in either chinatown or koreatown... those peanut oils are really peanutty, a lot less expensive than the mainstream supermarket brands, and come in gallon jugs which I like because I use it for deep frying.

Sorry this is so late, but I love cilantro stems. they keep much better than the leaves. I've had them stay good when wrapped well in the crisper drawer of the fridge for like a month. I use them a lot in SE Asian dishes where I want a brightness - typically, I'll cut them into a fine dice then turn it into a paste in the mortar... But if you're going to keep them that long, make sure to get rid of ALL the leaves (I just cut the tops of the whole bunch off with the knife) because as they turn they stink and will infect the whole bag with that rotten cilantro smell. Yes, cilantro is tough to keep - but I've also noticed that most sellers (near me at least) are selling them when they're already on their last legs - so it doesn't last much longer. If I need to keep them, I'll put the bunch in a glass with an inch or two of water in the bottom and put in the fridge like flowers in a vase, then loosely drape the grocery plastic bag over the top. I get a bit more life out of them that way. Once I am done cleaning out the old apartment I am looking forward to planting some cilantro here in teh new one - this apartment is mostly north facing so shouldn't get direct sun whose heat will make the cilantro bolt faster than you can turn around.

But I, too, have never found a canola oil that didn't have that fishy smell - especially when used in cooking (rather than raw like in salad dressings). Maybe every purveyor of canola that I've tried has old stock? For my high heat cooking I use peanut oil (if I want that peanut flavor) or grapeseed oil which has a high smoke point and is completely neutral. And, in my neck of the woods, is a lot less expensive than rice bran oil.

while I keep certain oils in the fridge - namely sesame oil because it's expensive and goes rancid easily and any created oils - like a garlic or shallot oil made from frying garlic (or shallot) in the oil, but otherwise, they're kept in the cupboard pantry - even though my kitchen, too, is kinda warm. I find that cold oil is hard to use - I wind up putting a lot more in the pan than I would have meant to, and a large bottle takes a long time to warm up slightly so it's less viscous.

How do you make the honey lacquered duck breast? Do you have one of the few ovens in a Chinese residence or was it picked up from the supermarket?

Something I thought interesting is that when I was in Saigon, I saw almost no cilantro being used (lots of sawtooth coriander though) EXCEPT in banh mi.

Incubus! Blast from the past!

I, also, am not overly fond of the stem-less glasses. I like to swirl it in the glass (one of my favorite things about wine is the smell of it) and I can't do it as easily in the stemless glass.. maybe I just need more practice?

Many years ago I remember reading that a company was developing a food wrap made from chitin (the same stuff of insect exoskeletons) but I hadn't seen anything about it since then.

@FranciI've read that Meyer lemon trees are easier to grow than the standard lemon.

Some Chinese friends in Beijing took us to what they called a Xinjiang "chuan'r" place - it was also Muslim. They had a huge variety of grilled stuff on sticks with that chili/cumin rub. It was great... they also did hand pulled noodles (in soup). But geographically, is Xinjiang further North/West than Xi'an?

I thought super steam just allowed you to have 100% steam with an oven temp above 210? I would think that normal steam at 210 best replicates a steamer.

Unfortunately, drawer space is at a premium, but thank you anyway.

It's a sad day in the wine world. Pio Boffa, owner of Pio Cesare passed away today due to complications from COVID at only 66 yo. My wife interviewed him last year, and at the time he was very excited to pass the baton to his daughter who had just graduated from college... he had a fascinating story... https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fear-death-quickly-propelled-great-barolo-wine-producer-cathrine-todd/?fbclid=IwAR1yu9ItOs85LdnKzhJKBNjgxnKP9soh057GrAk-qCc0_haMB9mHnO0auhE

Wow - that looks great. Do you ship to NY? 😁

Also guarantees that it's not in a small apartment!

I used to store all my knives on a magnetic knife block on the wall , but the new kitchen has almost no usable wall space. I do have an out of the way countertop corner that is unused , so I figured I'd put a knife block there. I think I have about 18 knives (off the top of my head).

That's no fun. I once had an infection on the back of my knuckle that needed lancing. No fun, but certainly not the most "uncomfortable" thing I've had done to me...

Bumping this old thread..... Has anyone used this kind of knife block? Thoughts??? Mantello Bamboo Universal Slotless Knife Block (eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

I thought it was an interesting business choice that during the pandemic, they decided to close all of their stores - because you'd think a place like that would be very conducive to take out/delivery. They cited that the quality would degrade too much during the transit - which makes sense because I remember them, years ago, with signs on the wall saying that they didn't recommend getting their food for takeout - and especially if you've never had it before in the restaurant minutes after it was made, they didn't want you to take it out. Even now, when practically everyone does takeout/delivery, the only thing they have is meal kits so you pull the dough yourself, boil and dress...

Me too... one day I'll make my way to Xi'an and let you know!

When I used to go to Xi'an Famous Foods, a restaurant chain in NYC that focuses on Xi'an food, I would the get the liang pi from time to time as well as the tiger salad. I've seen just a few raw dishes, like the liang pi - a smacked cucumber salad with chili oil and lots of garlic, and I was surprised to see some sort of salad in the donkey meat restaurant in Beijing - I think the salad was made from celtuce tops:

Insert groan button here...