KennethT

I haven't come across any Indonesian dish that uses fish sauce (from anywhere) yet - certainly not in the regional cooking of a few areas that I've been studying. Maybe that's why they don't care about it?

Thanks - it won't be for about 2 years - we're already booked for our vacation this coming winter. Prior to our trip, I was planning to contact the companies I wanted to visit - I didn't want to just show up, especially at that time of year.

Was that butter on top of the steak? If so, when melted, it must have caused a flood!

I don't know about the cookbooks, but Phu Quoc is on our short list of winter travel destinations. Visiting a few fish sauce producers is a priority for that trip!

Do my eyes deceive me? Peanut Butter for Malay/Indo/Sing satay? Oh no.... just use real peanuts. Peanut butter has no business being anywhere near there.

Are fresh bay leaves used at all or just dried?

Any style you're looking for? Different places specialize in different stuff - the standard NY slice, Grandma style, neo-Neapolitan, etc. Also, what neighborhoods do you think you'll be in?

Ha! I feel you. Yesterday I used mine to toast some shrimp paste (350F on convection bake for 15 or so minutes). I left the oven door open all day and night later. This morning, my wife made an English muffin (from the freezer) and it (as well as the kitchen) was infused with the shrimp paste smell. Good thing she likes shrimp paste!

What's the response to this? "I'm doing fine" or "yes/no, I've eaten"? I understand it's not taken literally, but I was curious if the response was not literal as well.

Virgin coconut oil is good for low temperature frying - like sweating onions and such - if you're making a South Indian curry that doesn't use coconut milk. The oil imparts a nice subtle coconut flavor if you like that kind of thing.

Do homes in this area not have heat because it's usually so warm that it's not usually needed?

Huh, I always thought that the glutinous rice balls filled with sesame (or even better, black sesame) were kind of like dessert... Also, is this dinner outside? They're all wearing their winter coats.

That's odd. Part of the reason for making hot pot is the community - who makes hot pot for 1 person? If I wanted the flavors of hot pot, I'd make a dry pot, in which case, the super thin slices would disintegrate almost immediately - it would be better to use larger pieces as in any other stir fry.

What is it used in, in Chinese cuisine(s)? I've never seen it used outside of certain regions of Indonesia. And within those regions, it seems like it's like durian - not everyone likes it and some can't stand it, while others love it.

Not always possible depending on what her lemongrass looks like. All the lemongrass I've seen in my area has been cut off above the base with roots and will not root, no matter what. I've even tried rooting hormone which can make almost anything root. Not only that, but all of the lemongrass I've bought here is old and dry like a twig. I'd imagine that even if it had roots, it would be long past the point of being able to grow further. For my garden, I actually wound up buying a lemongrass start.

I may have asked this before in another place, but have you ever seen sand ginger used or sold fresh as you would ginger? To my knowledge, one of the few cuisines that uses fresh sand ginger (kaempferia galanga) is Indonesia - there called kencur (kehn choor).

OK, that is something different than I remember. The classes were in a beautiful space - I forget where - I remember they used that space for small private events sometimes since there was a lot of space for standing around/passed appetizers, as well as classroom seating and an open demonstration kitchen. I remember there were a lot of plants in there. But he was definitely involved in a LOT of stuff!

I'm not sure but I don't think so. At one point, he was talking about something they were doing where you could hire them to come to your house and prepare a meal, like a private chef. They would bring the mise from the restaurant (which would limit how much work they had to do in the house) and would make the restaurant quality meal for you and guests, then clean up and leave. I thought that was Bouley at Home but I could be wrong about that. I'll try to remember to check the printed recipes that he provided during the classes - that would probably have the name of the classes on it - but I thought it wasn't something that was named - or at least that's how it started. I went to some of the first ones - after that, the prices went up like crazy, and a lot of what they were doing wasn't of interest to me. Maybe they named it once it became popular?

This is really sad - I loved Bouley, and David Bouley was so nice and generous with his time. At one point he was giving cooking classes and my wife and I took some of them - he always went past the ending time giving extra explanations and fielding questions. One time, I remember going to one of his more casual restaurants (which was upstairs from his grocery where he sold products that they used in the restaurants) and we wound up chatting for like 40 minutes. As one of his waiters once said, "don't get him started talking - he'll never stop!"

I was actually being tongue-in-cheek with my comment - my wife doesn't care what anyone does, as long as they were happy. Neither of us follow traditions much. And we've never had RB&R in our house, ever - neither of us are fans of beans!

Absolutely not. Neither of us is a historian of that area. It was just what her stepfather used to always tell her as she was growing up and that was what he learned from his grandmother who raised him. They always had it on Monday - rather, every Monday they would have it, making it the day before. Maybe that was just what their family did?

To be honest, if you were to meet her, she's the last person in the world who you'd think was raised there - she basically spent all of her time in libraries and didn't socialize very much, so she'd probably have no idea! I imagine jambalaya or an etoufee would always be welcome. But she did say that RB&R was always on Monday because it's made on Sunday then sits in the fridge overnight and is eaten on Monday.

My raised in NO wife would say this is heresy. RB&R is ALWAYS on Monday!!!

I mentioned before that my beloved seafood sze char (Old) Lai Huat in Singapore has closed as the owner wanted to retire, so that means that now the only place I can get that sambal fish is at home... with baby bok choy

I agree - it was amazing when we had it in Singapore - it was huge with tons of meat, but I can't get good sized fish heads unless I get a whole fish which I usually don't because it's just the two of us or if I go to Chinatown which I don't have time for on a regular basis.