KennethT

I imagine that one of the problems in measuring an exact GI is that it in itself varies quite a bit. Palm sugar is produced like maple syrup - sugar trees are tapped for their sap, which is boiled to remove the water. There is no standard as to how much water to remove, and I'd imagine that most palm sugar makers aren't so precise as to measure brix or something to determine when it's done boiling. Even the "industrial" stuff that is made in a large enough volume to export has some variability. Some tubs of what I get are slightly softer than others - whether that's because one batch had slightly high water content than another when jarring or because the wax seal wasn't as perfectly applied hence some evaporation during export/shipping, who knows. But in any case, gram for gram of one brand could be very different than it is for another, or even the same brand but a different batch.

The scoopable jars are MUCH easier to deal with than the hockey puck palm sugar. I typically use this brand: https://www.amazon.com/Eastland-Palm-Sugar-1lb/dp/B00JH638SO/ref=sr_1_12?crid=3MZI5264W1DJM&keywords=thai+palm+sugar&qid=1691156216&sprefix=thai+palm+sugar%2Caps%2C1310&sr=8-12 only because it's easily available in my local SE Asian stores. I imagine it's slightly more expensive than the hockey puck since it has a higher water content, but the ease of use is worth it to me. It tastes so good I could eat it straight from the spoon. It reminds me of maple sugar candies I used to eat as a kid when we'd visit a maple sugar shack. It comes with a layer of wax over the sugar, so make sure you completely remove it (it likes to adhere to the wall of the jar) before using it so you don't wind up eating wax.. hehe... If it does start to dry out once it's been opened for a while, 10 seconds in teh microwave makes it scoopable again. One more benefit to palm sugar is that it has a lower glycemic index of regular sugar. I can't find the source now, but I once read that it's GI was 50% of normal sugar.

lucky you!!! I'm jealous - I wish I could get something like that here. I can't get donkey meat - not even from sellers of "exotic" meats.

Everything looks great! Do you have access to palm sugar? I find it very different from brown sugar (which I've never seen anywhere in SE Asia). Palm sugar to me has almost a maple syrup flavor. You can get it in scoopable jars or in lumps that need to be grated. Just make sure that it says 100% palm sugar as some are cut with regular sugar and are not the same.

There's lots of ways to roast your belacan/terasi. The Malaysian stuff in jars that I can find aren't really belacan, it's a belacan syrup which has different uses. Malaysian belacan typically comes in blocks and is very firm. I cut slices off about 1/8 thick and bake on a rack in the oven for like 15 minutes until it's crumbly. It's a lot less labor intensive than the foil packet method, plus it stinks up the kitchen less which is always a plus. The Thai shrimp paste (gapi/kapi) comes in tubs and is much softer. It is not typically roasted before use.

That makes sense. Many years ago I was diving in the Cayman Islands - there's an area called Stingray City - a bunch of sandbars in the middle of the sea where, for supposedly hundreds of years, fishermen would throw all the waste fish and scraps so stingrays found the place and basically made it their home - since they're constantly being fed, they are extremely docile. You can practically step on them in knee deep water and they don't care. The dive I did took us to about 15-20 feet and used a lot of weight on the weight belt so we'd just be sitting on the sandy bottom. They gave us each a box of raw calamari and we sat there in a storm of tons of stingrays coming from every direction, feeding them. Since they locate their food primarily by smell rather than by sight, if you got some squid scent on your arm, they would suck on your arm thinking it was food - like a vacuum cleaner. After a few seconds they realized you weren't food and detached.

also, I just noticed now that there seem to be sliced red chillies - they don't appear to be from the doubanjiang, are they?

Are you pressure steaming on a rack above the water, or are the wings submerged?

I did that way back when I first got Modernist Cuisine. But to tell the truth, I found the wings a bit dry after 24 hours in the bath, but the bones slipped right out. Plus, doing it in oil will create a problem for the spice paste to adhere later, and the spice paste will need some time to char/caramelize to develop the flavor fully. So, with that in mind, if I SV poached them in water/salt/turmeric, what time/temp would you use to not go so far as to debone like in MC (it's a slow/pita process anyway) but still render some of the fat and make the skin tender?

hmmm.... that might be better as the boiling water would better render any fat under the skin than SV would... It seems pretty straightforward - I don't need the blog link.

I was hoping there were some people who've had experience making chicken wings in a similar way to what I'm thinking of. I was looking to make THIS this weekend which is an Indonesian grilled chicken. Typically, you'd swab the chicken parts or spatch-cocked chicken with some salt and turmeric mixed in a little water and then grill so that the chicken is par cooked (it doesn't really develop any color at this stage but I guess the skin does render a bit of fat and tenderize). Then, the chicken is swabbed with the spice paste (which, in typical Indonesian fashion, is already precooked) and grilled until the chicken is done which is about the same time that the spice paste gets a nice char on it. I'm going to be making this for a bunch of people and only have a small, roughly 12x12", grill pan so I imagine I'd have to grill them in batches which would take a long time if I had to do from raw.... so I was thinking I'd parcook the wings SV with the turmeric/salt/water in the bag a few days before and chill until Sunday when I would slather them with the spice paste and grill the rest of the way. Thoughts on this? Temp/time for the SV step?

That's what I do too when I grow it. Do you or @C. sapidus have any issues growing it? For some reason, every time I grow it, I get a bunch of small bumps on the stalks. It's not any kind of pests that I can see. I don't know if it's coming from my seeds or anything else. Where did you both get your seeds?

@liuzhou I was thinking about doing this - I have a few precooked (sous vide) but unseasoned duck legs that have been burning a hole in my refrigerator. I usually pick the meat and add to noodle soups but this was intriguing. Since the meat is already cooked, obviously the cook time would be greatly shortened. Do you think it might be remotely similar to use the same ingredients but less beer and basically just simmer the sauce for a while and then add the duck pieces for the last 10 minutes or so just to reheat in the sauce?

I just got takeout from them over the weekend! I added some hamachi toro sashimi to my normal order - it was amazing!

If you fed him some raw calamari he'd be your best friend! (stingray's mouths are about 1/3 of the way back from the front on their underside).

I was taught in a cooking class in Chiang Mai to add some mace to Panang curry - I find it makes a big difference!

I saw FD had it but I've seen some that tasted off so I was nervous to try it; I don't remember the brand I used to use and liked.

What brand of coconut oil do you use? Where do you get it?

I have a friend who likes it with Fuyu as well. She made it for me and I thought it was ok, but I preferred it just stir fried with garlic, or the Malaysian way with sambal.

Those 4 pounds shrinks into like 2 servings once cooked!!!

I had read that there are actually 2 varieties - the whiter/yellower one and the green one. I personally prefer the green one. Also, you missed rau muong (Viet) and pak boong (Thai). I'm not sure what they call it in Cambodia but I'm sure they have it.

It's kinda the point. The fish is more of a vehicle for the sambal. But I like grouper's texture

Singapore Old Lai Huat style sambal grouper

I wonder if it has just blown a fuse? TBH, I don't know if the machine has a fuse, but I'd assume it would. If so, the next question would be why it blew teh fuse in the first place....

We're headed to St. Lucia over Christmas. Jetblue has 2 direct flights from New York, one at 8AM and the other at 11AM. We booked the 11AM flight, a while ago, but just last week, they cancelled it and moved us to the 8AM flight!!! We were trying to relax and take it easy on this trip.... oh well. I hope you enjoy your stay. I can't wait to see what you make in a foreign kitchen.