KennethT

I'm planning to remake the Singapore wings tomorrow for the Superbowl - not that we'll be watching any of it, other than maybe the commercials, but we can see them on YouTube now. I was thinking about deep frying the wings to get them more evenly crispy and browned but I'm using a wet marinade and I'm having visions of being covered in exploding oil and taking another trip to the ER. Too bad I threw away my modified shoes from the Foot Burning Sauce episode. Any thoughts as to deep frying a non-battered or dredged wing that had been marinated for hours? Should I skip it and just do the whole broiling thing all over again (with a possible pre-steam to render more fat)?

One of the trucks that would commonly deliver to/pick up from us had a 55 gallon drum of some kind of vanilla syrup break and spill all over teh truck. You could smell it for a half a year!

Ha! Crab and avocado are a great combo. In the early days of Eleven Madison, just after the conversion from a bistro, (and long before the prices rose into the stratosphere) they did an awesome crab rolled in a tube of avocado. I think there's a YouTube video showing Humm making it.

Have you ever had Downtown Bakery?

Love it!!!

I know this is a Chicago FB, but doesn't Oklahoma have some good Mexican food?

Nice!

Did you get a chance to smell the coffee blossoms? When we were in Bali visiting a waterfall, our guide knew all the plants in the area and would show us arabica and robusto coffee plants in different stages - I was amazed when smelling the robusto flowers - it smelled like jasmine!

I get it with a whole chicken because a whole chicken would take a long time to leach all of its flavor into the poaching water - the surface area to volume ratio is much smaller than a wing. Years ago when I made a bunch of whole ducks, my preferred method was to poach the whole duck for 10-20 minutes to render a lot of the fat from under the skin, then dry and sit in the refrigerator for 3 days to dry skin. Then, when the duck was roasted (technically baked), most of the fat was completely rendered and the skin was amazing. The duck still had tons of flavor because the meat was barely cooked by the time it was removed from the poaching liquid. I think the next time I make wings - maybe next week as I just learned that my wife was a HUGE fan of the wings I made previously) - I'll try steaming them for a while to render the fat, then chilling them down before baking. Or maybe "super steam" in the CSO at like 250F....

Do you think they were, for lack of a better term, "less chicken-y"? I'm thinking that it's basically making chicken stock...

I wonder what the purpose of the parboiling step is...

@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.