KennethT

hi Ray, welcome - Cornell alum here! Which Vollrath induction units are you using? Would you purchase them again if you needed to?

Does anyone know the reason why, in the examples above, hot oil is poured onto the dried spices rather than the spices being fried in the oil? I don't know if my question is clear. For some dishes using a lot of spices, the oil is heated in a pan/wok, aromatics (garlic/ginger/etc) stir fried and then the spices added and are stir fried until fragrant. But the examples above heat the oil and pour onto a pile of spices and let sit. Is there a reason for the 2 techniques or are they more of a matter of convenience?

Just had a chance to watch this video. Fantastic. I recognize most of the dried spices - a few I may have to pause and magnify a bit to try to identify. But the music... so grand!!!!

Yes, Mala Project. And as @weinoo says, nowadays, there are tons of hot pot places in NYC, a large amount of them right in my neighborhood. Within a few blocks of me, I can think of at least 3-4 Chinese hot pot places, a few Japanese, and some Korean. Mala Project is the only one I know of that does a dry pot, which is basically a hot pot flavored stir fry. One day I have to make it to HaiDiLao in Queens so that I can compare it to what we experienced in Beijing.

The fact that most recipes use beef tallos is not surprising - and I'm sure that if I omit it and use rice bran oil or something like it it won't be the same, but I'd like to put this into a regular rotation of dishes I make, so I don't want to have that much saturated fat on a regular basis. I make quite a few dishes that don't use the animal fat that would normally be used but I've found ways to make them still very tasty, if not completely authentic.

@liuzhouThanks for the effort - I appreciate it. I've seen that woman's videos on YouTube before - I'll definitely check it out. And I most certainly will not be using beef tallow my cholesterol is high enough already!

It was back ordered almost a year?!?

I assumed as much. Thank you - I really appreciate it!

I have a local restaurant that does an awesome dry pot... But, as is usual for NYC, it's expensive and I have to imagine that I could do it myself at home for a LOT less. Their dry pot sauce is so addictive - do you have a starting point as to the mix of spices in there? They're also using what looks like fresh green sichuan peppercorns - maybe they're brined - I'd have to check about it, but they're definitely green and numbing when bit into. When people make the standard hot pot at home, do they typically use a premade spice mix or do people make their own?

Stuff like this always makes me wish I had a fireplace....

I have very strong memories (and no photos ) of a market we visited in Chiang Mai that looked similar. And there were a couple of curry paste ladies. I wished I could have brought home a couple of tubs - it freezes quite well.

That. Is. Awesome!!! He's my hero.

Today was the first time we had eaten in a restaurant in a long time.... Thai dumplings wrapped in tofu skin Had Yai fried chicken Pak boong Pad kee Mao

I wish there was a "love love love" button. It always amazes me how inexpensive produce is in SE Asia...

My wife recently came home from a trip to Spain.....

That's.... interesting?

Thanks - fresh rice noodles are MUCH easier to deal with with a stir fry than dried ones....

Fresh rice noodles or dried? Where do you get them?

Can you be more specific? Thx

If the recipe states to brine for 7 days, I'd assume it's an equilibrium brine, so you shouldn't have to wipe off the brine when it's done because the brine will have the same salt concentration as the meat. If you did a really strong brine where you only keep the meat in the brine for a few hours or a day, then yes, wipe it afterwards.

brussels sprout bagel?

I wish I could get round rice noodles easily. Were they fresh or dried?

we need a "holy crap!!!" button...

looks good to this NYer!

Bison mapo tofu... my wife (who loves mapo tofu - it's probably one of her favorite dishes) said it was the best one I've ever made. I agreed - it was addictive. With smacked cucumbers with a lot of garlic, salt, MSG a touch of sugar, black vinegar and sesame oil.