KennethT

I second @SusieQ - sorry to hear you're back there. Hopefully this won't be for a long duration.

Singapore Bak Kut Teh

I wouldn't be surprised. The ingredient list for most large fast food chains looks more like a chemistry set than anything else. Probably labeled "modified food starch" which encompasses a TON of products.

Yeah, the food on that trip was amazing. We don't usually repeat trips to places, but if we were, Saigon would be high on the list, just for the food. If you can get it, use Thai basil rather than green onion or a mix of the two?

@OkanagancookBanh cuon is a Hanoi specialty, but is popular around Vietnam. We had it in a place that only made it in Saigon - it was so good we went twice! It's typically filled with a mixture of pork and mushrooms, and then topped with a shower of bean sprouts that were steamed so not completely raw mixed with herbs and tons of fried shallots. The sauce is sweetened fish sauce, with a dish of chilli on the side.

Actually ate out at a restaurant today (outside since it's 76 degrees in NOVEMBER!!!). A local Himalayan place Stir fried noodles with shrimp Chicken curry with paratha and rice

Old Lai Huat style sambal grouper

How long does the blood stay liquid? I was to understand that the blood coagulates quite quickly and that it has to be ridiculously fresh in order to still be liquid.

I've never made them, but have eaten them in several places in Saigon, as well as several places in Hue (where they are smaller and called banh xoai, and are even crispier). In all of these places, the "kitchen" is right out front so it's easy to watch the action. A lot of oil and high heat were standard in every place.

What type of curry is this? Can you give details?

Based on what I've seen in Vietnam, longer at lower temp is not the answer. The answer is a LOT of oil and a really high temp. I think I have a photo of them cooking them - I'll try to find them - big big flames...

I made a water ganache a long time ago and really liked it. I don't remember exactly how I did it. In your instructions, when do you add the liquid?

Thanks - but that opens a whole load of questions! Do you need to remove the scales as you would for fish scales? What is the texture of snake skin like? Is it more gamy than the meat itself?

@Anna N This is on the nose...

In the third photo, what is the striped spiral thing? Is that part of the snake or something else?

Indonesian penicillin.... Just for fun

Sichuan style twice cooked mahi mahi. With a piece of kuih for dessert

I'm always weary of ordering fish/seafood for delivery as I'm worried it gets overcooked while sitting around. I'm glad yours didn't have that problem! Then again, it's practically impossible to overcook catfish (which isn't commonly offered here) so that works in your favor.

Spatchcocked and grilled with a sherry vinaigrette. Stuffed with foie gras and wrapped in puff pastry.... Two ends of the spectrum

Slightly more helpful - I wouldn't be surprised if they use a range of modernist thickeners and/or modified starches to give it that mouthfeel. But traditionally, rbar is made with pork fat.

Interesting. I hadn't heard that they switched to veg oil. Doesn't help your quest though!

A long time ago, I saw an interview with Popeye's CEO - there was a recent trans-fat ban in NYC and he was being interviewed to ask how the ban would affect them. He answered simply "it doesn't - we've never used trans-fats, we've always fried our chicken in lard"... which is one of the reasons why it is so tasty!!!!

I'm not quite sure what you're looking to do - traditionally, you would mix the paste with a small amount of coconut milk and boil/fry until you start to see some of the oil come out. Once that's done, you would add the rest of the coconut milk or stock or both and simmer just long enough to cook whatever you're putting in there and to make it the consistency you want. You can bake curries - I've seen it done with rendang, since usually rendang has to be cooked for many hours, so a cheat would be to put it in a low oven (275-300F) for a couple hours - but rendang is usually cooked until dry, so it takes a long time to evaporate out all that liquid. Thai curries don't usually cook for very long, so I don't know why anyone would want to bake it.

Not chicken drippings... pork fat.

I wonder how many Chinese nationals order their steak on the rare side when they visit these restaurants. Surely ones who have traveled extensively to western countries, but I had assume that culturally, rare meat was not something to be found often.