KennethT

Made a new batch of sambal over the weekend, now with even more dried shrimp. It's a lot better - I have to change the recipe in RecipEgullet. Singapore style sambal grouper.

Have you googled the title of this thread? This comes up pretty high in the rankings and is quite informative - and seems to answer most of your questions: https://www.industrialpackaging.com/blog/what-is-modified-atmosphere-packaging

I have to make more things like this. I've been locked in a box that the only thing I use mahi mahi for is the Sichuan twice cooked fish. Is there any kind of starch coating or marinade on the fish? By pan grilled, do you mean a grill pan?

Do you buy the duck breast presmoked and reheat or did you smoke it? What are the common smoking, er combustibles, in your area?

I think the juiceless lime syndrome has less to do with how to cut them, but how to store them and choose them in the first place. Lately, I store my limes in a wicker basket that I keep in the wine fridge. The wine fridge has actually become my new root cellar. I store all onions/shallots/garlic/potatoes/ginger in there and they all last so much longer than they do either on the counter or in the regular refrigerator. I've gotten pretty good at picking decent limes, and now in the wine fridge, they will still be really juicy 3 weeks after I purchase them. The lime in the shot above is probably about 3 weeks old (plus however long it was in transit to NY and sitting in the store).

This is the common method of cutting limes in SE Asia. I think it originated because they limes they have there have seeds, so when you cut this way, you basically leave the core with the seeds so it's easier to squeeze. But for the normal US limes, I find cutting it this way actually yields more juice, not less, than when cut in wedges or across the equator. I'm not a big fan of using those citrus presses - I find it too easy to squeeze too hard and you get some bitterness from the pith into the juice. Plus, nowadays, I'm usually cutting limes for people to add themselves, so I definitely wouldn't want a half a lime like you get when you cut across the equator.

Javanese chicken soup - soto ayam.

Fantastic. Is that bottle of Chilean Syrah empty or is it a white syrah?

Many years ago (while most of us were getting our circulators as used Polyscience on Ebay) I made a circulator like this - magnetic stirrer with a heating element controlled by a PID controller and a type T silicone encapsulated thermocouple. You need a rack that sits above the stirrer bar to make sure there's no interference. As @gfweb says, nowadays, there's no reason to go to such lengths with decent quality inexpensive circulators available.

The problem with vacuum sealing is the direct bag contact with some foods like fresh fruits and leafy greens. Using a nitrogen flush, you can use a rigid container that will not contact or squeeze the contents but also get rid of excess oxygen.

but even if duck fat is liquid at room temp, it is a thick liquid - much more viscous than a veg oil is at the same temp. While duck fat does have some unsaturated fat, there is quite a bit of saturated fat as well. I'd find it hard to believe (or it would be ridiculously expensive) if that can held duck fat from wild ducks.

We need a drool button... x2 for the blaufrankisch!

Sichuan twice cooked mahi mahi. And cucumber salad.

Great looking rendang... nice and dry! I've been itching to make rendang too... I have some goat meat in the freezer with rendang written all over it but I need a lot of time and I'm still on the hunt for some either fresh or frozen turmeric leaves, which would be a common ingredient in a traditional North Sumatran rendang. According to William Wongso, the premier Indonesian food authority, rendang originated there. He has spent years trying to bring Indonesian food outside of Indonesia and was very proud that in 2011, rendang was named the World's Most Delicious Food in a CNN article.

ha! To tell the truth, I'd do the same thing assuming I had a decent mayo in the house. But, considering I don't really eat mayo on a regular basis, I'd have to make it from scratch because I wouldn't want to buy a big jar just for that!

How else would you make it, other than making the mayo from scratch?

huh. I always thought that we were told not to eat raw cookie dough because of the raw eggs in there. I would never have imagined that the flour would be the danger!

My local stores haven't carried it for a while. I got it on Amazon. More expensive than it should be but better than nothing.

Manado (Indonesia) style ikan bakar sambal dabu dabu. 'grilled' fish (barramundi) with a raw sambal common in Manado called dabu dabu. Served with: Belacan bok choi. Unfortunately I forgot the dried shrimp until it was too late. The veggie was tasty but not nearly as good as if there were dried shrimp in there

Babi pongteh?

That's so cool. But I'm surprised the styrofoam container didn't weep water through it.

I had bo kho for breakfast practically every day while in Saigon, although there it was served with banh mi rather than rice.

What do they taste like? Do you eat them as berries au natural or put them in something?

We haven't been back to an old favorite, Fish Cheeks, for Thai seafood in a long time. Until today. Limeade and shrimp chips with nam prik pao. The npp was a lot sweeter than I remember it being. Raw shrimp in lime juice and fish sauce with chilli and mint. Fried calamari with tamarind/chilli/palm sugar syrup Fried Pak boong (water spinach aka morning glory) Grilled mackerel with green mango salad. The mackerel was fantastic but I wished they used a better variety like nam doc mai for the green mango. All in all very tasty, but their prices have certainly gone up a bit since the last time we were there.

Can you get Tokaji in your area?