KennethT

@ElsieDI find that the biggest issue with cilantro is temperature - if it gets slightly too warm, it bolts. There are some "slower bolting" varieties available, but I've never tried them. It never works to grow in my windowsill just because it gets too hot when the sun comes out (my window is southern facing). Even in winter, when the sun is out, it's like 90 degrees right by the window... Maybe a fan on it to blow room temp air at it? Or maybe stick it in a corner (with little natural light) and a compact fluorescent bulb on a timer....

I've had mint in pasta before at nice Italian restaurants in NYC... it works really well in combination with chili.. just not too much! Have you ever seen Italian basil in Vietnam? I've only seen the purple stemmed kind, what we call Thai basil.

@dcarch Nice - less fancy, you can use a seedling mat... basically an electric blanket that won't turn off every 2 hours and that is adjustable. Many seeds like bottom heat... just cover you flat with a humidity dome or something.

@dcarch That's a nice cheap seed starter you got there. Commercially, what's used (for hydroponics, anyway) is sort of like a big bread proof box where you can control not only temp but also humidity, so you can start your seeds in rockwool, coco coir, starter plugs, or whatever, and not have to keep them covered. Works great when you want all your seeds to come up at the same time, like if you grow microgreens.

@chefmd How do the Oregon truffles compare to the French ones?

Manual controls add quite a bit of extra cost to a product. And, while having all controls go through an outside source, not only does it save cost (increasing margin), but you can bill it as a "feature" that you can control it with your phone... because, you know, Millenials love to do everything with their phone.... Grandma and Mom used to control their old fashioned stove using a knob on the side... this is the future!

I do the same thing with our step ladder..

What about running it over a couple cut up sponges soaked in water and detergent?

Personally, I think a rehydrated dried chili is very different from a fresh version of the same type. So while doing what you propose might be very tasty, it would be very different from what a recipe might have intended. Also, there are many types of Indian chilis - quite a few are available in dried form online... there are many types of Thai chilis also, but only a few types available here in the US. This place https://foodsofnations.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=14_112 is close to me in NYC, but they ship as well - they have a very large dried chili selection....

I've been lusting after a stone wet grinder for a while now, primarily to make curry pastes....

Love it! If hotels only knew some of the stuff that went on in those rooms!

Also, not a drop of splattering... There was barely anything even to clean on the machine once it was done.

After the first trial, that machine has earned a place in my tiny apartment. I don't care if we have to sleep in bed with it! That bird was amazing!

At the end of the day, it worked quite well. Actually one of the tastiest birds we've had in a long time... Definitely worth the effort.

Love it!

Thanks @btbyrd for weighing in. I have the Pok Pok book too - but I just posted what was available online so those who didn't could see it. Once you've said it, it makes sense that a surface brushing shouldn't really undo 12 hours of drying - especially since it'll get a couple more hours of drying afterwards. Last night, I made an equilibrium brine for my 1.2# poussin and about 4 cups of water in a ziplock bag to cover, thinking that the brine would probably affect the texture, if not flavor so much. I didn't bother with the lemongrass since I didn't have it handy, and any store relatively close to me gouges me a $2 a stalk. I'll use it for the stuffing, but not in the brine. I did crush up a couple garlic cloves and some peppercorns though. Personally, I don't think the flavorings of the brine are very essential since the chicken is dipped into a very flavorful sauce while eating - it's not typically eaten "naked", so subtle flavors would probably be lost.

I've never seen dried beans used in Thailand - but maybe I just overlooked them? I did see dried beans in the markets in Vietnam, but never saw them in a finished, cooked product - maybe they're only made at home?

I'm surprised the fish is less dry than the beef... Usually nothing is more dry than fish on a plane!

Interesting @Beebs. I've done the salt scrub thing when making HCR - it makes the skin nice and smooth but didn't have any other effect that I could tell. Also, your simmer/soak method is similar to what I used for lobsters based on Eric Ripert's method. He would make a court bouillon, have it simmer for a while, then kill the lobster with a knife, tear off the claws/tail and put them in the simmering liquid for like 5 or 10 minutes, then take the pot off the heat and let it soak for like 20 or 30 minutes more. Lobsters always came out perfect that way. Oddly enough, this is also what I had always done when cooking crawfish - throw them into the boiling pot of boil liquid, bring back to a simmer, then shut the heat off and let 'em soak for 10 minutes.

In my understanding, oven "roasting" is really just baking - where hot air conveys heat to the food. A rotisserie cooks solely through infrared - a true rotisserie or roast should be open to the air so the food is not heated at all by convection, but only from the heat source. Theoretically, the sinusoidal application of heat and room temperature as it spins towards and away from the heat source makes for very tasty birds.

Over on the Countertop Rotisserie forum, I decided to get a small inexpensive rotisserie, primarily to cook small birds for my wife and myself. For the machine's maiden voyage, I was planning on doing kai yaang (thai grilled chicken) from Pok Pok as I've had it in the restaurant in NY many times and always enjoy it - it is very similar to some of the great grilled chickens I've had in Thailand... Serious Eats put the recipe here, http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/11/andy-ricker-whole-roasted-chicken-game-hen-recipe-from-pok-pok-cookbook.html but I also have the book. The recipe calls for brining the bird overnight, then stuffing, and air drying in the refrigerator for 12 hours. I don't quite understand the purpose of this - I understand that letting it sit open in the refrigerator will help dry the skin - I used to do this with ducks and it worked great - but why brine beforehand? I've always thought that most of the flavorings put in a brine don't really affect meat flavor very much - except for the salt... but am I off base? Can it really add flavor and not just salt? Would that flavor dissipate in the 12 hour drying session? Then, after the bird is dried, it is marinated in soy/fish sauce/sugar for a couple hours. Why do this if you just spent 12 hours trying to dry the skin? If you're not going to overcook the bird, why brine in the first place? And if you're going to marinate in a wet marinade for a couple hours, why take 12 hours to dry the skin beforehand?

LCHF?

I've never had the soy sauce chicken, but I've had plenty of Hainanese chicken rice in Singapore, and similar versions in Vietnam and Thailand - and it seems that the best ones are cooked in simmering liquid, then plunged into an ice bath and until cooled - this stops the cooking and minimizes any carry over and helps gelatinize (is this a word?) the skin. I also think that the breed of bird has a lot to do with the meat texture as well. Back when I was doing more cooking, I'd done tests at home to recreate this, using the same method with 3 different breeds of chicken - and got vastly different results.

I'm hoping I don't hvae a problem with splatters either - I think this will be minimized since the heat source is between the meat and the reflector/shield - I imagine any splattering would be there, rather than the area where there is no heat applied and the meat faces room temperature. He says, crossing his fingers....

Wow @Chris Hennes your stuff looks amazing - all your practice is certainly paying off!