KennethT

@Anna NI was just reading about a Whole Foods in Manhattan that was partnerning with a small hydroponic herb producer who sells (sold, prepandemic) mostly to restaurants.

seeds that I toasted, then added to my masala mix and ground.

Actually, the sweetness of the shrimp was perfect with it

Trying my hand at a South Indian style shrimp stir fry.... Using my home grown curry leaves I think I should have left out the fenugreek. I didn't use much but it was still overpowering.

I would have like to have crisped the skin since it was certainly no longer crispy. But, since it was already sliced, I was afraid that in the process of crisping, I would dry out the meat, so I didn't and we had to make do with non-crispy skin. Tasty, but not the same.

I don't understand... When I was in Beijing (and had Peking duck a few times) every restaurant served it with some kind of hoisin. A very famous place in Beijing had what a Chinese friend who lives and grew up in Beijing called a "traditional hoisin" which meant that it wasn't sweet at all, but had an intense herbal flavor. It was quite interesting. Duck de Chine (1949) who you yourself called an excellent Pekiing duck also served it with a hoisin sauce, mixed with some kind of garlic/sesame sauce - they're actually known for it... 1949 hoisin/sesame garlic sauce Traditional Beijing hoisin and untraditional accoutrements at Hua's Restaurant in Beijing, known for their (much less expensive than 1949) Peking duck Closeup of the traditional beijing hoisin

Wow.... do they come precracked, or did you have to break out the sledgehammer?

We ordered delivery from Red Peony. Wu's definitely doesn't deliver to us (and I didn't feel like bugging the garage guys to dig out my car the day after I told them they could bury it for a while) and I don't think PDH delivers to us either. The duck was decent (although it's truly unfair to judge it after being in a sealed container for 25 minutes), we really liked their hoisin - it wasn't too sweet like so many can be, and their pancakes were super thin and obviously freshly made. I also ordered their "Shanghainese wonton soup" which turned out to be just a decent, but overpriced wonton soup. But I liked that they included the carcass in a separate container without me even asking...

Even in a pandemic, it's just not Christmas if there's no Peking duck...

Insert drool button here....

Now here's a gift I can get behind!

The last few times I was at Katja, I was a huge fan of their wurst platter with sauerkraut

No wurst??

@ShelbyHow does Canada goose compare with other geese/ducks?

The dark side of hydroponics..... Extreme nutrient burn!!! I've always thought that we learn more from failure than we do from success. This is an herb plant common in SE Asia - in Vietnam it is rau ram, in Singapore/Malaysia it is laksa leaf. It is probably the hardiest herb I've ever grown - it's practically indestructible. You can over water it, under water it, low amount of nutrient - usually it's happy. What you see here is the result of neglect and a design issue in my automated coco coir drip system. It's pretty common knowledge that you always want to water to runoff in coco so you don't get what you see here. My system uses a capacitive moisture sensor to trigger when to water and when to stop watering.... But for a while now, the system stopped watering before runoff occurred, leading to a huge buildup in salts. Pretty soon (I'm getting ready to move soon) I'll revise my design to fix this issue.

It also screws small producers as it is much harder for them to get distribution - especially when the market is dominated by a couple huge distributors, it is really hard to get their attention to pick you up, and even if picked up, get enough attention so that they can really help sales.

@BonVivantGreat idea to adjust the brightness/contrast. It definitely looks like some kind of wilted green... could be spinach, pea shoots... I don't think it's that important overall - sometimes, things are added to restaurant dishes for reasons like stability when carrying the plate through the restaurant - like a bit of cookie crumbled under a scoop of ice cream. Otherwise, the round piece of sweetbread could roll around the plate while in transit between kitchen and table.

I agree. 2 cloves, added whole, not ground.

Interesting, and definitely makes a lot of sense. Don't get me started on alcohol rules in the US. Between the leftovers of prohibition and pandering to large corporations.... bah! Damn you, 3 tiered system!!!

I know it's a hike, but what about Mitsuwa? I think the closest one is in Edgewater, NJ. I haven't lately, but years ago, I bought stuff from them online and they shipped - I was experimenting with obulato at the time after having stuff based on it at El Bulli and couldn't find it anywhere... except Mitsuwa in Chicago, who shipped it. Now, I see it in Kalustyans!

@weinoo Also - if you're there, you might want to check out Sunrise Mart - I wouldn't be surprised if they had it.

@weinoo A bit closer to home is http://www.sakayanyc.com/ They're in the East Village... I don't know if they carry mirin, but I know they have a great sake collection

Right - as I said, I've never had one before, so I can't say if the one we were sent was a really good one or not. I will say that while it seemed well executed (the bread was moist - not dried out, good crumb and texture) I think it's just not my thing...

My wife just got this from some people she knows from work I've never had a Panettone before. I imagine it will be quite some time before I have it again.... I don't understand why someone would ruin a perfectly good challah with candied citrus peels and other macerated fruit.

Maybe it's only the knob that can't go in the dishwasher?