KennethT

@BonVivantWe were thinking of going to Oaxaca - partially just to have some real salsa pasilla de Oaxaca - it's really smoky. If I was there, I'd bring home a few pounds of the smoked/dried pasilla chillies from there - they're hard to source outside of Oaxaca - I can get them here in NYC but they're expensive.

Finally!!!!! My wife found the info... It's a ramen bowl from Miya - seee https://www.miyacompany.com/tabletop-bowls-ramen-bowls I think ours is the 8.25" brushstroke ramen bowl on page 2

I love these bowls - I got them online after a recommendation I got here (surprise, surprise) maybe about 6 months ago or so? I don't remember the name of the store but I'll try to find the post.

shawarma... typically made with lamb... NYC

My wife has been in the mood for chicken with a lime juice based sauce for a while.... so.... bún gà nướng - Vietnamese grilled chicken noodle salad. The chicken was marinated in lemongrass (from the garden), garlic, black pepper, fish sauce, a bit of Golden Mountain sauce (some kind of amino sauce) a bit of honey and some sesame oil. Since I don't have a real grill, it went closely under the broiler for 5 minutes on each side, alternating, until the chicken was cooked through and skin almost done. Then I let it cool a bit (internal temp to about 140F) then back under the broiler for about 2minute increments until the skin was done - came out great - chicken was really juicy and the skin was completely rendered - not super crispy though With a few different herbs (2 from the garden). I would have liked to have had some Thai basil as well, but it was super expensive in the store and didn't look very good. One bowl: Dinner finally served!!!! Sauce was lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, black pepper, garlic and some chilli

Gorgeous. Definitely didn't see anything like that 15 years ago!

My father loved ketchup on pasta - but then again, he grew up in the Depression in a Jewish household - I don't think they had anything like a tomato sauce except for stewed cabbage rolls or something like that.

To move forward, I think one of the key things to think about is what equipment you already have in the kitchen. Being able to expand your menu without purchasing new equipment can improve your sales without spending any excess $. The other consideration is what your clientele might want to eat. If it's a mostly local clientele, do they want something different than what they normally have at home? The success of your burger might point to that. So it might be an idea to try out other non-local dishes that you could make using the same equipment and see what sticks. Are you grilling your burger over coals or gas, or is it done on a flat-top type griddle? Do you have a deep fryer that you use to make the fries? Having a deep fryer gives you tons of menu options for things that are tasty and cook quickly. Another thing to consider, thinking about your burger, is taking non-traditional dishes and altering them (slightly?) to fit the palate of your local clientele - this has been done forever when people open restaurants all over the world, so it's usually a winning formula.

Is your bar geared towards tourists or locals? What is traditional Filipino drinking food?

I've had plenty of takeout/delivery but haven't been to restaurant since it was warm enough to eat outside. I can't remember the last time we ate indoors.

I wish I could have access to large mounds of freshly made curry paste!!!

Is it a gyro if there's no pita?

It's an indictment of the US educational system with regards to grammar. American elk cooked in Yunnan style - like the Yunnan dish beef with herbs but made with elk since it's super flavorful and very lean and more healthy than beef.

Yunnan elk with herbs. Tonight's herb selection was mint, sawtooth coriander, laksa, kaffir lime leaf and curry leaf from the garden, plus some flowering chives and cilantro from the store.

I loved our trip to an elephant sanctuary in outside of Chiang Mai. 15 years ago it was really hard to find one that wasn't exploiting the elephants.

It's not for my apartment, it's at work. I have a lovely 200 feet of sidewalk to keep clean.

It's actually pretty simple - but you need access to the proper ingredients... To me, the most necessary one is: Grachai - also called fingerroot or sometimes just "rhizome". Unless you can get it fresh (I've never seen it fresh outside of SE Asia), I'd use the frozen - there is a brined version in a jar (available on Amazon and elsewhere) but I've found it to be relatively flavorless. Also necessary is: Green peppercorns (not dried). Again, if you can get them fresh, it's amazing. These brined ones are a pale comparison but are the best I can get. This recipe is really good with any firm, meaty white fish, chicken breast, etc. 1) Cut the fish into about 1" - 1-1/2" cubes and marinate in a bit of fish sauce - you just want to coat it, not have it sit in a puddle 2) in a mortar, make a paste from about 1/2t white peppercorns (ground in the mortar), if you can get cilantro roots - use like 3-4 of them otherwise I use about a handful of cilantro stems - cut into small dice before adding to the mortar, 5-6 cloves of garlic, 1 prik chee faa (deseeded) and as many Thai chillies as you'd like (I use only 1 to make it not too spicy, but traditionally this dish is quite spicy) 3) Over medium heat, stir fry the paste for a couple minutes until really fragrant and the garlic gets a little color 4) Turn up the heat and add the fish, tossing around to coat in the paste, then add a few Tablespoons of fish sauce, a small handful of the grachai (I keep it in the strips that it comes in - just defrosted), a few strings of peppercorns and maybe 4-5 kaffir lime leaves deribbed. Stir fry a bit. 5) Add about 1/4-1/2 cups chicken stock or water and stir around until the fish is cooked - should be just a minute. 6) check for seasoning - will definitely need a bit of sugar, and maybe a bit of salt 7) when fish is done, turn off the heat and throw in a large handful of Thai basil and toss around to wilt it in the residual heat.... done!

Nothing like having a dish from the tropics to warm up after plowing the sidewalk when it's 17F outside..... Bak kut teh noodle soup with wild Key West pink shrimp, lots of garlic and peppercorns...

I've seen ostrich meat - but it's usually ground or what they call "loin". It's delicious, but expensive. I'd imagine the wings are used in the ground meat. Maybe someone could contat an ostrich farm and save a couple wings from the grinder?

I love it. It is so convenient to be able to just pick a couple leaves when needed - plus, the only store near me that would always have them has them prepackaged with a lot more than I'd use (and they're expensive) so I used to wind up freezing the rest - they keep ok in the freezer, but it's definitely not the same as being just plucked! Plus, in certain dishes if I don't want to have to worry about picking out the leaves or eating around them or slicing super fine, I'll use some of the immature leaves which are still really tender. The same is true of my curry leaf tree.

Pad cha cod with grachai and green peppercorns. Kaffir lime leaves from the garden...

Thanks - I've never seen pork jerky before, even in my local Hmart (a Korean supermarket chain)

Oh, I'm not surprised it exists in Germany or anywhere in Asia... but I've never seen it in the US - so I thought it was funny that they put it in the flyer for USA foods for the superbowl.

pork jerky?

I titled this post this way because I've never been to Sichuan, nor do I have a Sichuan cookbook, but I've read/seen enough on the internet from people in Sichuan and a lot of them seem to have most things in common... but whatever you call it, it's really tasty! I like to use mahi mahi but you can really use any firm fleshed not too oily of a fish. The quantities below are for 2 people, served with white rice. 12 oz fish, cut into 1/2" thick slices 1/2 and 1/2 rice flour and either cornstarch or potato starch fry oil - I typically use peanut oil but any high heat oil would work well 1 package mushrooms - I like a shimeji or maitake stir fry oil - I use rice bran oil, but any high temp neutral oil is good Aromatics: 2" ginger, peeled and cut 1/2 into sticks and 1/2 into small dice 4-5 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped 3 Sichuan pickled chillis about a small handful of dou chi (fermented black beans), chopped 1T Pixian doubanjiang 5 stalks celery, cut into 1/4" thick slices on bias 10 chinese chives (garlic chives) cut into 1" long pieces *you can also use some leeks - they would go in at the same time as the celery and chives 1-2T sichuan knifed chilli - I actually stopped using the knifed chilli since my wife finds it makes things a bit too spicy, so I leave the dried chillis whole: 3 dried heaven facing chillis 1-1/2t sichuan peppercorns, ground (you can use more, but I'm very sensitive to it so I don't use that much) 2 t light soy sauce 1/2 to 3/4C chicken stock 1-1/2t sugar (add more or less to taste when almost finished) 1/2t salt 1/2t MSG Method: Add about 3/4 to an inch of fry oil to the wok and put on medium high heat. It's hot enough to fry when a wood/bamboo chopstick bubbles when put in the oil While the oil is heating, dredge the fish slices in the flour mixture, shake off the excess, then fry until browned - maybe 30s to a minute? Remove and let drain on some paper towels Remove the fry oil and clean the wok Stir fry the mushrooms in about 1T stir fry oil until browned, remove from the wok and reserve Clean the wok if necessary (it shouldn't be) If not using the premade knifed chilli, add a couple tablespoons stir fry oil with the dried chilli and ground sichuan peppercorns and fry until fragrant and the peppers darken a bit Add the aromatics and stir fry until the red oil comes out If using the premade knifed chilli, add about 1-2T knifed chilli Add celery/chives/leeks and stir fry for a minute or so Sprinkle light soy sauce around the wok, stir around a bit then add chicken stock and seasoning, mix through, then add reserved mushrooms and fried fish Stir around for a few minutes until the liquid has reduced a bit and the flavors come together. Taste and adjust seasoning.