KennethT

@Laurentius - yes, even though it doesn't sit flat, it still gets hot, for sure. But, many times people do deep frying or shallow frying in a wok, or boiling in water, not just stir frying, and in those cases, having a slightly convex bottom is quite dangerous. I've managed it a couple times, but I don't want to do it too much and push my luck.

Bumping this old thread to ask some advice. I have a Joyce Chen thin carbon steel flat bottomed wok, 14" that I use on my induction burner. My problem is that the flat bottom is no longer flat - it is convex, so the wok isn't stable when it rests on the induction burner. I'm debating trying to flatten it vs getting a new one. The issue is that my induction burner is very powerful, but since it's relatively inexpensive, when put in a low power setting, it just turns the high power on and off a few seconds each. Moving to a thicker carbon steel wok might keep it from warping, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of a wok - something that heats and cools quickly? Also, I've read that to keep it from warping, you shouldn't heat the wok without anything in it, but then how does one season it (not in the oven)? And I've always thought that the way to cook with a wok is to heat it empty until it smokes, then add the oil, which helps make it nonstick... Also, I usually let the wok sit on the heat after I've rinsed it and wiped it to allow the super thin left over oil turn into more seasoning - is this not a good idea?

Perfect. Thank you. My spice mixture includes poppy seeds as well, but it says to leave them out; Dishoom's advice for them makes sense. I wanted to look there, but my e-book version from my library expired.

Anyone have any advice on how to toast a large quantity of whole spices prior to grinding? Small quantities I've done well in a dry pan/wok... but I'm talking maybe a pound or two of spices at one time. In my Nyonya Specialties cookbook, the author instructs to "put on a tray... heat oven slightly and toast the tray for 30-45 minutes until heated through and fragrant". Any idea what "heat oven slightly" could mean, specifically? My oven doesn't have a "slightly" setting, other than keep warm, but even then, it has various keep warm temperatures starting at 150degF.

It's nice to have a few days off from work, even if I can't travel. Sockeye salmon (from Wild Alaskan) with black bean sauce. Somehow I managed not to overcook the last bit of sockeye we got from them. I'm going to try some of the fish from Wild Fork - so far I've been very happy with their mahi mahi. If I like the rest then I'll discontinue my membership with Wild Alaskan.

We decided not to go for it. In hindsight, I'm glad because covid, specifically omicron, is going crazy in our area. The infection rate for our area is basically doubling every few days. My Pfizer booster was about 4 months ago, and the research I've read lately says that it's effectiveness with omicron fades drastically after 10 weeks. Plus, I don't want to be too far from my mother right now, who lives in the same area, just in case she gets sick herself. That makes sense.. I also think there are some good national parks up there, and some caves that may be open to tourists, but I don't know if it's a good time of year for that - you definitely don't want to go to a cave during the rainy season! Hula Hin? Is that autocorrect? Hua Hin, right? The beach resort area not far from BKK?

Yay!!!! There's a lot to see and do (and eat!) in BKK. And the "new" airport in BKK is huge and was a slight nightmare long before covid - I can't imagine how long it might take to go through now - make sure you leave plenty of time. If you happen to be in the direction of this place I'd highly recommend it for an awesome seafood meal. We were taken there when we had an appointment about an hour or so outside of BKK, and we really enjoyed it. I don't know if I'd go far out of my way for it, but I'd go slightly out of my way for it. I posted some photos of it here. Also, a nice feature is that the whole restaurant was open air and tables were well spaced, even in precovid times. I'm curious as to what Pai will be like - from what I remember, a lot of people used to go there if they wanted to visit the hill tribes like the Karen and Hmong. What put it on your radar?

On this evening, Jews around the world partake in a sacred Christmas tradition: going out for Chinese food. Unfortunately, due to omicron going crazy in NYC, my wife and I wouldn't dream of stepping foot into a restaurant, and it's way too cold to enjoy eating outdoors - and the last time we went to Woo's Wonton King in Chinatown for peking duck, their outdoor seating area was a bit too enclosed for my tastes. So, we had to make due with my cooking.... Yunnan style elk with herbs and maitake mushrooms. 7 different herbs, 5 of which from my garden.

Even though we don't celebrate it, we got some green mango as a little Christmas gift to ourselves. The seller called them "Taiwan mangoes" which I've seen them named before, but when we received the box, they actually are a product of Vietnam. And huge! Each mango is a little over 2 pounds!!!! It was fantastic with a little bit of sugar/salt/chilli but it was great on its own as well.

@JoNorvelleWalkerI think it looks great. Your rice looks perfect and I really like the gloss on the cabbage.

I've thought about an IP for a long time, mostly for this reason... but when I make stock I make a lot in my giant, economy sized Kuhn Rikon so I don't have to do it very often. I don't think they make an IP large enough for something like that. Plus, now that I do everything on induction, even with my "cheap" induction hob, it's really easy to keep it at full pressure without going over. Once I get the really good induction unit, I imagine it will be even easier, plus since my induction unit is 240V, I can use 3000W or so and get the big pot up to pressure in very little time.

That's gorgeous. I definitely have to look into this for the future. Have you had any Madeiras (the wines) yet? There are a ton of excellent small producers who don't really get exported. My wife loves the sercial while I have a bit more a sweet tooth and go for the bual... although I wouldn't turn down a nice old malmsey either!

As opposed to the imaginary kind? 🤣

I need to get me one of those. It is a real pain in the a&& going it with a knife!

Since I won't be going to SE Asia any time soon, I decided to bring some of it to me... Just got in a box of a Thai variety of pineapple (grown in Guatemala).

Whew! So you ARE human after all....

You make this kind of feast when you don't have any time?!?

Fascinating. I hope to see much more of your trip! I love Madeira's fortified wines but know very little about the place or its food in general.

http://heritagegarden.uic.edu/curry-leaf-tree-murraya-koenigii ETA: I don't know how strong the gamthi type is, but i can't imagine any type that is stronger than the standard type which is what I have. I got the start from Logees Greenhouse. With this plant, you pretty much have to get a start from somewhere since it grows incredibly slowly from seed, and it won't propagate from a branch you get from the grocery store.

Sichuan braised mahi mahi.

Do you know what variety of curry plant you have? There are 3 varieties - 1 in particular grows really slowly. The one I have grows like a weed.

@liuzhouhow's your mushroom log doing?

you might be surprised to hear this, but that's what I did! It was at least 33% taller before i took that photo! I've seen a lot of YouTube videos who grow curry leaf trees outside - this time of year they'll drop most or all of their leaves, but in the spring they'll come back bigger than before, so I'm hopeful that it will do well once it gets over the root trimming shock. I've also moved it away from the main garden area because it was being crowded by the lemongrass, so now it's got a lot more space and its own light. I'm not giving it too much light for the first few days so it can reestablish some roots.

Also, lately, it's been shaded a lot by the lemongrass which has really exploded lately. It's practically shading the whole garden!

I wound up trimming the roots - I trimmed about an inch off the bottom and then made about 6 wedges (top to bottom) in the root ball to make space so I could gently pull apart what's left. I'm going to put it i the same size pot for now - one issue with coco coir is planting something in too big of a container - ideally with coco coir, you want to the media to dry out fast enough to have to fertigate frequently rather than having to water occasionally. Using too big of a pot is a recipe for root rot issues. So now that I've pruned a bunch of the roots, I'll put it back in the same fabric pot and keep an eye on it to transfer the whole new rootball into a larger one in the somewhat near future.