KennethT

Not in the supermarket!

Years ago, before ever traveling to China, I had never made anything that used it. After coming home from Hong Kong, I got on a Chinese food bender and bought a bottle. I think the bottle's label recommends to refrigerate after opening - and it made sense to me as I would refrigerate any wine after opening to delay oxidation. Life got in the way and I stopped cooking very much, and over time the bottle moved slowly to the rear of the refrigerator, where it languished, forgotten.

@liuzhou OK - I understand that - alcohol regulations here are a real PITA.... So in your opinion, for me here in the US, would it be better for me to use a dry sherry as opposed to the shao xing that I can get, or just use the shao xing and add less salt?

Thanks. It was opened, used very little, then was relegated to the back of the refrigerator where it has remained, hiding. This bottle was really cheap - I got it in one of the markets in Chinatown. I also remember it being not very good when first opened, so I think I'll just toss it and get another. Do all Shao Xing have salt as an ingredient? What is it supposed to taste like?

I just found a bottle of Shao Xing in the back of my refrigerator. I have no idea how long it's been there, but it can't be any younger than 5 years, but I imagine it's quite a bit older. How long does this last? Does it go bad?

I've often thought this about Thai food as well! I remember being on vacation in Thailand, reading some historical piece that was in a magazine provided by the hotel - there were drawings of traditional houses, descriptions of life in that time, and the food - which was wildly different prior to the introduction of the chili.

There's a branch of Ippudo in NYC - I loved their tonkotsu ramen, and the texture of their noodles, which rare for NY, they made in-house. They always have a long wait. I only go there once in a very long while now - by my cardiologist's demand!

For now I'm leaving as is - most of the time, I would add it as a component to other things - like a dollop to a noodle soup, or add to soy sauce/black vinegar for dipping sauce... so as of now, I don't see the need for extra oil... but that may change as I use it more.

Weekly salmon variant... With cucumber salad using the homemade chili oil.

I loved the purple/green perilla that would be featured in the herb baskets in Saigon...

OK - just had a chance to taste it. By itself, it has a strong flavor of fried garlic, and then has a background heat that comes through over time. Oddly enough, all the oil has been absorbed, and it basically just looks like a Chinese tapenade!

shiso is a variety of perilla

It's about 2 heads of garlic, and a 3" knob of ginger both minced finely, and a small handful of fermented black beans, roughly chopped. These are slowly fried in 1-1/4 cup (maybe a splash or two more) of peanut oil. You have to do this part slowly so the garlic doesn't burn - but after about 30 min. it gets nicely browned. Then I added a cup of sichuan chili flakes, a hefty pinch of salt and a hefty pinch of sugar, let fry for maybe 5-10 minutes, then added a few splashes of soy sauce, then let cool. I actually haven't tasted it yet (it's been in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld), but I'll send out an update after I do to give a verdict. But it does look like many of the chili oils I had in China or in some down home places in Chinatown in NYC.

I've never seen such large open bins of flour before. Evidently sanitation is not high on their list of priorities!

McMacaron??? McFromage??

I'd seriously check a bunch of YouTube videos... you can have a major problem if done wrong and you could get hurt really badly.

Wow this thread is old, but I didn't know where to put this. Just made a first attempt at chili oil, including copius garlic, ginger and fermented black beans.

Yeah, but I was in 7th grade! (and my mom still did my laundry... hehe)

When I was a kid, the one time my mother made spaghetti squash, I wound up sneaking it off my plate and into my pocket, for later disposal in the toilet. Of course, I didn't realize it would SOAK my pocket and jeans I was wearing, so it was a bit suspicious when I came back to the table wearing a different set of pants... that and the little pieces of squash still left in my pocket that I couldn't get out!

I think it varies greatly by airline. I had some really good food in Economy on Singapore Airlines, and it's always tasty and serviceable on EVA to Taiwan.

Also, in a restaurant situation, the water is reused for all the pasta all day long, so the water is MUCH more starchy than you could ever get at home, unless you want to save your pasta boiling water like a master stock, that's a real PITA. Some people here have experimented in adding starch to the pasta water, but I don't remember where the thread was or who did it, or even the result... sorry. Personally, I think there's a huge difference in flavor between pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano - it's much sharper... I think doing this dish with parmigiano would be tasty, but it wouldn't be cacio e pepe. Also note that some restaurants will add some butter or cream to help the cheese emulsify, and make the dish a little richer.

Personally, I'm not a fan of knives that have a large flat handle that is perpendicular to the blade. I used to go to a high end restaurant in NYC that had them, and they drove me nuts because the knife would always flip over when resting on the plate or even on the table since the large flat handle wants to lay with the flat side on the table - so you wind up with the blade either facing down on the table or facing up - or if you rest it on the plate edge, in invariably spins around the moment you let it go, and sauce can go flying..,,

Does peanut butter exist in China?

Is it common to find lesser ginger? In Thailand it is called grachai.

I'm no expert, but I would imagine it would be a chocolate sauce (sometimes called chocolate syrup), not melted chococlate. Keeping melted chocolate melted and pourable over a long period of time may be problematic.... Plus, chocolate syrup is easily available (don't have to make from scratch) and is inexpensive.