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KennethT

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Posts posted by KennethT

  1. 6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

     

    Actually, lá lốt isn't betel leaf, but a similar looking but only distantly related plant, Piper sarmentosum. They do not taste the same - in fact,  I wouldn't use betel leaves; the taste is too strong. I've never seen lá lốt outside of SE Asia, but the leaves may be available in Vietnamese markets in places with a largish Vietnamese settler community, I suppose.

     

    Vine leaves are sometimes suggested as a substitute, and I can see that your lettuce worked, but you are not getting the fragrance of the real deal.

    I'm sure yours were great, but if you ever manage to track down the leaves, you''ll appreciate the difference.

     

    I've always seen la lot translated as betel leaves, but they are also called "wild betel leaves" and are completely different from the thick betel leaves used for chewing.  As liuzhou said, they are distantly related - the leaves for eating are piper sarmentosum, while the ones for chewing are piper betle.  I can find the sarmentosum leaves here in NYC on rare occasion if I go to a thai store... in Thailand, one of the uses is mieng kum which is a snack that uses the raw betel leaf as the mouth delivery device....  One time I was planning on making mieng kum and was talking to the owner of my typical thai store (he's from Chiang Mai) who usually stocks the betel leaves - he was out of stock, but he recommended using spinach leaves as a substitute... it's not really close either, but I think it would be slightly closer than lettuce.

    • Like 1
  2. I''m no expert, but I"m assuming that the internal temperature of the baked shortbread would be high enough to eliminate anything growing, correct?  Do you know what the internal temp is when fully baked?

  3. 8 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

    Our next step involved dropping off a DCM 20 (which is a rather large melanger) to the Gotham Bar and Grill. We were extremely impressed with pastry chef Ron Paprocki's ability to turn out chocolate from this tiny, tiny, tiny space in the kitchen. 

     

    IMG_1986.thumb.jpg.4c45dd056288647163d983281507374b.jpg

     

    By now we were getting a little peckish and found ourselves down the street from the Gotham Grill at this great little place Tortaria.

     

     

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    Chips and guac.

     

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    Esquites for me. 

     

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    Cheese quesadilla for Bhavani. 

     

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    Some other sort of quesadilla for @Alleguede

     

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    Braised short rib sandwich for Bianca.

     

    That's hilarious - I was 2 doors down from you this weekend - we went to the fish taco place for lunch on Saturday!

    • Like 1
  4. Here's an interesting study done by Univ of Michigan that tested how the amount of light during the seedling stage of basil affected the yield at harvest.  Seemed like a well controlled study - although, as the article even admits, this may be crop specific.  For instance, we know that basil loves tons of light - it's hard to give basil too much light, as opposed to other crops (like strawberries) that do worse under high light conditions, even with temperature/humidity/etc. the same...

     

    https://www.producegrower.com/article/lighting-basil-seedlings/

  5. We order in quite a bit.  I wish we didn't have to, but work/time pressures are what they are... so, if I don't want to eat at 10PM and go to bed at 10:30, that's it.  Sometimes we use Caviar, which gives us access to restaurants that wouldn't normally deliver to our area.  If getting delivery from a few blocks away, personally, I like to call the restaurant and order directly, but my wife (who hates to use the telephone) usually winds up using Seamless.

     

    I have noticed that some restaurants charge slightly higher prices on their Seamless menus than they would if you called directly...  but in general, I justify using the apps by saying that if I didn't order from this restaurant using the app, I'd probably order from somewhere else. So, even though they are subjected to fees, they're getting an order they might not get otherwise.  Plus, I can't imagine that any business would belong to an association like this that would cause them to lose money.  Sure, they may not make as much profit as if you called directly, but if they were losing money on each sale, why bother using the service to begin with?

    • Like 1
  6. @Panaderia Canadiense I don't remember if you've discussed this in the previous blogs, but would you mind talking about your community?  Is there an expat community in Ambato?  I somewhat remember your discussion of how your family decided on Ambato as opposed to elsewhere in the country, but don't remember the details.  I am fascinated by the idea of being an expat, and would love to hear your take on it.

    • Like 1
  7. 16 minutes ago, weinoo said:

    Sometimes I wonder about the freshness of some of their spices.  But all in all, I like the shop a lot, though the prices aren't silly low like they were 10 years ago.

    Their prices on spices aren't too bad (definitely higher than they used to be), but on a lot of other things (like fresh kaffir lime leaves or frozen coconut milk) borders on exhorbitant.  But, considering that I live a 5 minute walk away, it's easier to justify those prices than shlepping down to Chinatown when I don't have much free time.  I buy a select few of their spices very frequently (I tend to make a lot of the same type of food) and have never had an issue with freshness of the stuff I get.  Then again, I don't use about 99% of the store, so take my experience with a grain of salt!

    • Like 1
  8. 11 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

    Was intrigued by this WSJ article/recipe.  

    photo-1.thumb.JPG.a5eb6d31ca884a489ea21e691037ae04.JPG

     

    Cucumber Louis starter.

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    In the pan

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    Plated

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    I liked this a lot.   

    I had one in Hoi An (in central Vietnam, from where they originate).  It was very tasty, but I don't know if I'd bother making it at home... but it was a nice cheap snack. 

     

    • Like 2
  9. 11 minutes ago, Toliver said:

    I found this video on YouTube where they make homemade rice noodles while making a dim sum recipe:

    Video

     

    They start with 100% rice to make the batter so there's no wheat "contamination". It's a similar method to what Martin Yan (mentioned in my previous post) did on his show. He used a bamboo steamer lined with banana leaves as the cooking surface for the rice noodles. In the video above, they use a cloth for a cooking surface and also use a small cake pan (9x9-ish or so) to cook the noodles in. You can probably lightly brush the finished noodles with oil (so they don't stick together) for storing in the refrigerator for later use.

    This is similar to the Thai YouTube show I linked to earlier... she made fresh rice noodles from rice flour - but I think she added tapioca starch as it helps improve texture...

    • Like 1
  10. 2 hours ago, dcarch said:

    Roasts are red,

    Violets are blue,

    Authentic  recipe,

    Without Red Dye #2.

     

    Made Chinese Char Siu. Used beet juice for the  red color.

     

    dcarch

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    Looks great!  What cut of pork did you use?

  11. 1 hour ago, eugenep said:

    I use xanthan gum to stabilize homemade fermented hot sauces

     

    The gum stabilizes the emulsion and is supposed to work as a thickener too 

     

    Adding this might thicken and stabilize the powder water mixture into a syrup - if you try, please let me know if it works 

    Just don't use too much or it winds up becoming "mucous-y", for lack of a better term... There are threads in here that discuss proper amounts and techniques for use.

    • Like 2
  12. 2 hours ago, eugenep said:

    I read about the Bobo online and cross checked it here on Egullet and I think I read your post so I wanted to try the Bobo. 

     

    I got mine at Chung Shing Meats, 19 Catherine St, in Chi-town. 

     

    I didn't see any label to identify it as White or Black plume. The birds were 3.80 lb to over 4lbs in size. 

     

    You think a seller of the Black plume would make a difference and where should I buy that? 

     

    The owners of Chung Shing Meats should upgrade their facilities. The chicken might be alright but the place didn't have a clean look to it so I think that's the biggest reason for not going for another one unless there's a Black plume seller nearby? 

    The last time I bought chicken in Chinatown (quite a while ago) I think it was at Hong Li Meat Market on Mott St. north of Canal.  Back then, Bo Bo listed the stores that sold their products on their website.  The store was clean and well kept - they do cooked food in the front, and there's a meat market further back.  They had silkies, old stewing chickens, black plume and white plume, plus quail, squab, etc... They weren't well labeled, but the bobo stuff has the yellow wing tag and the black plume look like they're a little scrawnier in the breast area...  I had tried to ask questions, but I gave up since my Cantonese is a little rusty.... but they tried to be helpful...  But it's been a while, so things may have changed...

    • Like 1
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