KennethT

Thanks! I was more than partly inspired by reading about yours and Kerry's travels and experiences!

Yes, I do speak the language, as (conveniently) the defacto language is English! Yes, there are many ethnic groups living there - about 70% ethnic Chinese, then smaller percentages of Malays, Indians and Peranakans (which is a group of people whose ancestors - both Chinese and Malay - intermarried several generations prior) and then a small percentage of others. My wife has a facebook friend who we met for dinner one night who is Peranakan, and graciously took us to a great Peranakan restaurant, and over the course of the evening gave us a great education on the people in his country. I'll put the details of that dinner in another post - we have emailed him to get names, descriptions, and ingredients of some of the dishes we had - it was a great meal, but since he did all the ordering, I don't remember the details.... While here in the US, we think of Chinese people speaking Mandarin; from his point of view, though, Mandarin is a construct created by the Chinese government during the people's revolution. According to him, Chinese people speak various dialects (usually only one at a time) like Teochew, Fujianese, Hainanese, Shanghainese, etc., depending on their place of origin, but are tought to speak Mandarin in school. Many of the ethnic Chinese who live in Singapore came there several generations ago (before the revolution), and do not speak Mandarin, but actually speak their home dialect... English has become the defacto standard that most people speak to some degree or another, otherwise most Singaporeans wouldn't be able to communicate with each other, nonetheless outsiders. I've seen a few interviews with Li Kuan Yu (the father of modern Singapore), and it was his strong opinion that everyone there speak English, since there would be no other way for them to grow quickly and entice outside investment. Obviously, this has paid off and has come true, as Singapore is the fastest growing country in SE Asia. But this fact makes it very convenient for Western travelers as most everyone you deal with (taxi drivers, restaurants, shops, etc.) speaks English. Some people speak it better than others - with some people communication can be a little difficult, but not impossible, but with most, it is quite easy. Our friend, for instance, speaks English as his first language - although he does so with a Singaporean accent, which to my ear is very distinctive. Not only that, but it is definitely the cleanest and safest city in SE Asia that I've seen... coming from NYC, walking around Singapore is a relaxing delight - I never had any worries as their crime rates are ridiculously low - plus there is practically no litter, homeless, drug addicts, etc. This partially because of the extreme consequences for possession or sales of drugs (death penalty), and a 2% unemployment rate.

We landed in Singapore around noon, and thanks to their ridiculously efficient and clean and beautiful airport, we were in a cab headed to our hotel by 12:45 at the latest. I didn't take any pictures, but to give you an idea, the baggage claim area (as well as the rest of the airport) is filled with tropical plants and flowers. There are flowering gingers and orchids everywhere. The main wall of the 3 story atrium that contains the baggage claim has a living wall filled with hundreds of plants, and a waterfall! It makes JFK looks like sh*thole it really is.... it is always depressing coming home! But always inspires me to make a living wall in my apartment! ha! The airport is about 20-25 minutes outside the center of the city, and the trip (usually devoid of traffic) is very pleasant as the highway is lined with, you guessed it, tons of flowering, lush tropical plants. We actually weren't very hungry by the time we got to the hotel, and after unpacking, it was about 3PM, so just decided to skip lunch and have an early dinner. By the time 4:30-5PM rolled around, we were exhausted, and looked to grab something fast to eat and go to bed early so we can get up and out the next day. The ION center mall is a short walk from our hotel, and in the basement (like in most malls there), there is a food court. As an American, I cringe when I think of the term food court. I think of horrible fast food chains, crappy pizza, etc.... but not here. The food court is an indoor and air conditioned "hawker stall", which has been made famous worldwide by St. Tony Bourdain, patron saint of foodies everywhere. The food court is filled with stalls serving Cantonese roast meats, prawn noodles and laksa, Nasi Goreng, etc... Sorry - I was too tired to take photos, but here'sa link to some info: http://foodrepublic.com.sg/stores/ion-orchard We settled on Indonesian BBQ chicken: This is a photo of my beautiful (and exhausted) wife enjoying a version of curried chicken, while I had the BBQ chicken. They also had a quite decent sambal which is next to my BBQ chicken. Coming soon: more food photos from hawker stalls, including the extremely famous Tian Tian Chicken Rice....

OK - so I think it's very fitting for my 1000th post that I start this food blog... I love eGullet, and have been a member for several years, but I don't post that often, and have never done anything like this, so please bear with me!!! My wife and I left NYC for Singapore on July 1st, at 1:25AM on an EVA flight connecting through Taipei, Taiwan. There used to be a direct NY to Singapore flight on Singapore Airlines, but SA discontinued it a few years ago. I like the long overnight flight to Asia because, on a 14 hour flight, it gives you plenty of time to eat (they feed you very well on those flights), medicate yourself and sleep for 6-8 hours, then wake up and watch a few movies before landing at about 6AM. Plus, since the flight leaves so late, it makes it much easier to sleep on the flight (especially after working a full day beforehand). The EVA flight is quite comfortable, even in coach. When I say they feed you well, I mean it - dinner was a stir fried chicken with steamed bok choy and rice, with many sides. Throughout the flight they came through the cabin with mustard coated fried chicken sandwiches as snacks, then breakfast of pork congee with many sides (including a package of fish floss). Sorry, I didn't take photos of the above - I was exhausted! We had about a 2 hour layover in the airport in Taiwan, so what does that mean? Time for dim sum and beef noodle soup!!! This was our breakfast destination Left to right, Xie Long Bao (Shanghainese pork soup dumplings), char siu bao (fluffy buns filled with BBQ pork - although this Taiwanese version was not nearly as sweet as the typical Hong Kong version), Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and a loose leaf oolong tea. With the waters, cost about US$20!!! It was quite the feast, especially after the constant EVA flight 'buffet', and the fact that they were going to feed us again on our next flight to Singapore!

oh, and there were plenty of noodles!

OK... definitely plenty of responses, so great, I'm excited!!! It may take a bit of time to get some of the photos organized, but I'll get started in just a bit....

My wife and I recently returned from spending about a week or so eating lots of local foods in Singapore and Thailand... I was thinking about posting a photo blog after going through and organizing the photos - but before I go through the work of doing it, I was just trying to gauge if there was any interest.... So, what do you think?

Tatoosh, have you tried curing then SV then chill and air dry in the refrigerator to get the surface tacky, then hot smoke to temp? I know it's a lot of steps, but I think it would yield a much "smokier" product. I find that smoke flavor post SV tends to be muted, and there winds up with a strong smoke smell in the water bath.

You guys are making me so jealous!!!! I've been really busy with work lately, and have had no time at all for my windowsill garden. It has been sitting idle for far too long. Right now, all I have time for is the bare minimum of maintenance needed to keep my dwarf lime tree alive - and even that is a struggle!

I imagine that the probe is rated to 700F, not 700C - which as I'm sure you're aware is about 1300degF. I don't think thermoworks is selling kiln thermometers on their consumer site!

I think IR thermometers are great if you're constantly measuring the temperature of a single item. For instance, member Kerry Beal uses her IR thermometer to check chocolate temps (while stirring to even out temps throughout the bowl). The problem is that different surfaces emit infrared differently, so the temperature you read is not necessarily accurate. You can't use the same setting to check the temp of the oven wall, versus the surface of a chicken. Plus, the IR thermometer only gives you surface temperature - so, back to the chicken example, checking the surface temp tells you nothing about how well the chicken is actually cooked internally. One advantage may be to use it to check the temperature of a skillet prior to use - but I think a moderately experienced cook can do this just as well by judging the appearance of a little oil and how it shimmers, or how a drop of water dances.... ETA: I'd be curious to hear other's experiences for people who use them all the time for cooking.

I'd also second Mitch's suggestion of Roberta's and especially Blanca, if you can get a reservation - the chef and team are extremely passionate and inspiring. Also, if you email/ask in advance, they might be able to provide a tour of their rooftop gardens where they grow much of the produce used in the restaurant.

While I think the original shake shack is a great place for locals (especially when the weather is nice), I don't know if I'd travel a few thousand miles for it... it's a good burger, but not a travel-worth one, IMO... that being said, when the weather is nice, I'll go there a couple times a month. I would consider adding Momofuku Ssam bar to the list... I would also consider removing Nom Wah... although they've received quite a bit of press lately, other than the nostalgia factor, I thought the dim sum offerings were sub-par to other places in Chinatown, and downright disappointing when compared to any average dim sum you could get in a place like Hong Kong. If you really want dim sum, I'd go to The Bao on St. Marks in the east village before going back to Nom Wah... it's a bit more upscale but I think the quality is a level above Nom Wah.. they specialize in Xiao Long Bao which are excellent, even compared to HK standards. Their scallion pancake is excellent as well - much better than average. Also, I always get a plate of stir fried water spinach. With that being said, I don't think any dim sum in Manhattan is really that great... I've heard that there is better in the outer boroughs (breakfast/lunch only) but I haven't been personally so I can't comment.

I didn't even know that anyone would dry-age an individual steak... I just assumed the aging was done as a primal. I also agree with rotuts regarding prime vs choice...

I think it depends on how long it's been aged. I've found that dry-aged meat will cook a little faster - so definitely keep an eye on it. I also tend not to use rubs or marinades with dry-aged meat - especially those that have been aged over 30 days.

Charcoal flavor and "smoke" flavor are 2 different things that have nothing to do with each other. If you want that charcoal flavor, the only thing I can think of doing is smashing a lump or two of charcoal until it turns into a coarse powder and use that instead of the wood chips in the bottom of the smoker. However, according to Modernist Cuisine, true "grilled over charcoal" flavor has nothing to do with the charcoal itself, but rather, the vaporization of dripping fat onto the hot coals. This can't be replicated in the stove top smoker. ETA: The good thing about grilling satay is that they are small - so you don't need to set up a large bbq grill. You can just heat up a few charcoal pieces and put them in a small metal box with a grate on top to grill a few satay at a time. You can put the box on top of a burner on your stove so you don't have to worry about fire. I've been looking at portable ceramic gas infrared heaters. They get ridiculously hot and would be great for doing satay - but grilling makes a lot of smoke, and I don't have a hood that vents outside - so until I can rig something up, I'm satay-less for now...

Also, this is a good company that sells greenhouse equipment: www.growerssupply.com

that was my thought as well - swamp coolers would be very effective in a hot and dry environment. But, I don't know if they're made for a small greenhouse, and the fans required for them use a lot of power. If it's not available or feasible, I would look into an atomized misting setup. These are pretty cheap to install, and will significantly lower the temperature in the greenhouse - they are especially effective in dry areas like NM. Just make sure that the droplet size is significantly small enough so that you have full evaporation before you reach the plant level, otherwise you could run into mold/mildew problems. The problem with them is that if you have hard water, they can clog. But they don't require a large fan for them to be effective like a swamp cooler would. Very hot conditions (35C and higher) in the greenhouse will definitely reduce both quality and yield, and increase the water requirements considerably. If you get lots of sunshine, another thing to look into would be a CO2 generator. With enough light and nutrients, you can run the greenhouse CO2 up to 1200PPM and the plants will grow like crazy since in sunny, warm environments, CO2 is the limiting factor wrt growth. This would be good in combination with a mister since constantly bringing in fresh air to cool the greenhouse (like with natural ventilation or a swamp cooler) will also get rid of any extra CO2 you add. Using with a mister will make it so you don't have to bring in fresh air as often which is desirable.

Can't wait to see how it goes!!!! What is the typical weather like in NM? I assume it is desert-like in that you should be getting lots of sun, but what are the temperatures (Day vs night)? Does it change seasonally? I've done lots of research into greenhouses (I keep toying with building one on the roof of my work building to grow produce to sell to restaurants), so I'm really curious as to how yours goes....

I use it all the time when I make some various thai dishes. Without it, it just doesn't taste right...

I don't know if you can tell from the website, but the smoker is basically stainless sheet steel, bent to form a pan and tight fitting cover. The food is intended to sit on a rack in the smoker - so heat conduction is really not that important. The heat is there to just get the chips to start smoldering, and it turns the box into a small oven.

I would smoke before putting any BBQ sauce. This will let the smoke particles better adhere to the meat. Once smoked, you can apply the sauce, wrap in foil, then bake. I don't think you'll have problems with being too dry - 20 minutes in the stovetop smoker will make the ribs warm - but certainly not even cooked through. Once you've added the bbq sauce, and sealed int he foil packet, I think that should be enough moisture since you're only baking the ribs for 1.5 hours... just make sure the foil is sealed well.

I agree with Deryn - I think an hour is too long in the smoker as well... For ribs, I would probably smoke them no more than 30-40 minutes... Or, you can do what I do, which is to start the wood chips smoking using the prescribed heat, then turn down the heat a bit once you see the smoke get started. That way, it doesn't get that hot in the box, but you still get the smoke. In general, I don't like to leave in the stovetop smoker too long (more than say 45 min) because I find the smoke gets a bit acrid after that.

I would tend to smoke it first, then put in the oven to tenderize. I've gotten good results that way.

I know this is off topic, but an easy way to clean meat drippings from any pan (even the muffin pan) is to add a little soap and water to each receptacle while still very hot - you can then put on a burner, or in a hot oven, and in a very short time, all the drippings will wipe off very easily - just like deglazing, but with soap and water.