KennethT

It's a lot of work... I haven't done it in years for that very reason!

Back in the day, I'd make duck skin crackers - I removed the skin from teh duck breasts prior to cooking them SV. I cooked teh skins separately SV until they got really tender, then put between 2 silpats and 2 sheet pans and into a hot oven - maybe 375? I don't remember... The duck skins wound up like a Shrinky Dink but got really crispy - but much more tender than pork skin would be - so it was like a delicate cracker. It was delicious, but much more delicate than pork skin would be, which makes sense because duck skin is much thinner than pig skin.

I think the show is called Hot Ones - my wife used to like to watch it... whatever you do, don't try the one called The Bomb... not only is it ridiculously hot, but supposedly it is also disgusting. Some of the really hot ones ahve good flavor as well, but not that one.

Yay! It's that time of year again!

how much meat are in one of these crabs? I'm sometimes disappointed by crabs because I find that they're often a lot of work for very little payout.

were they similar to a hamachi type yellowtail? Those match your description (but I think they're typically a bit bigger)... one of my favorite fishes for sushi/sashimi.

Personally, I prefer the butter/cognac combo over the cream version. Sliced pears sauteed in butter with black pepper, then flambeed with cognac and finished with tarragon - heaven...

@liuzhouYeah, I don't know if you can tell from their website but XFF is more like a take out joint with some seats rather than a full-on restaurant. The one in my neighborhood probably has maybe 8 seats at a counter along the perimeter, and a sea of people hovering like vultures waiting for someone to get up (pre-pandemic). The menu you posted reminds me of a place we went to in Beijing that had a huge variety of chuan'r and hand pulled noodles of many different shapes and styles, as well as other dishes, bao, etc. XFF only does one type of hand pulled noodle - the biang biang style. I think one of the reasons why it became so popular here is that for a long time, there was really nothing else like it. For a long time, the only Chinese you could find in NYC was either Cantonese or Americanized Chinese or some hybrid of both. XFF was one of the harbingers of the regional Chinese food movement here, and for that I give them a lot of credit. Nowadays, it's a different scene - we have tons of regional Chinese places, everything from fancy sit down white tablecloth to barely more than takeout (aka take away).

Linner?

Is tofu considered low carb? They have that spicy tofu dish. I've never ordered it but seen people get it and it looked pretty good.

That is definitely not a low-carb friendly place! Unfortunately, I haven't been to one in a long time - probably pre-pandemic....

Wow... she must have been cooking all day!

What about a restaurant that has those individual igloo type things? I don't know how they exchange the air in those things in between groups though...

It depends greatly on your pressure cooker. I have a Kuhn Rikon pressure cooker and they explicitly say that the cooker makes almost no audible noise whatsoever when at full pressure. You should use the cooker's pressure gauge to indicate pressure, not necessarily the noise it makes - unless you have a really old school one with the weighted jiggler....

Can you get maple syrup in Germany?

Is the loose texture on the hash browns typical around there? I haven't had too many, but I always thought they were more bound into some kind of cake...

@shain I was just checking out the entry requirements/restrictions for Thailand. Which entry program are you using, the "Tourism Sandbox" or "Exemption from Quarantine (Test & Go)"? I just got an email from Singapore Airlines with a really good deal to go from NYC to Thailand via Singapore (direct to Singapore) - but reading the entry requirements are a bit confusing. Do you need to quarantine 1 night in a specific SHA+ hotel on arrival (for the Exemption - Test & Go)?

When making the tenderloins, do you remove the central tendon? If so, how do you do it to keep the tenderloins looking whole?

@JoNorvelleWalker@Anna N@Duvel And sometimes you want to use the duck in something else - like cut up in a noodle dish or something and it's convenient to have the precooked duck legs sitting in the refrigerator for a couple months....

wow! That's quite the ordeal to go through have already gone through a totally different ordeal. But I'm glad to see that you both finally made it home safely and hopefully will be back to normal soon.

Kangkong... My first attempt at growing with the Kratky method

Yes! Thanks for this!

What did you think of the texture and juiciness when done this way? I've been looking for a way to make tender, juicy duck legs without getting the confit texture. The last time I did it, it was pretty dry - but I think my temp was slightly higher.

I'm am truly impressed at your gustatory fortitude - currywurst, banh mi and doner!! (I don't count the oysters and fish - they slide right down and take up no stomach space whatsoever - but they're tasty!) Hopefully all that bike riding was uphill both ways... hehehe... I was curious about the doner - here, we have 2 different varieties of something similar - gyro which is basically a giant (doner sized) caseless relatively finely ground sausage revolving on the spit, and shawarma which is thin pieces of marinated meat stacked up on the spit to doner size, then shaved from the sides. It seems like the German doner is more of what I would call shawarma - is that right?

Una Pizza Napoletana (before they closed and reopened - I haven't visited since) made a pie like that using halved cherry tomatoes - I think they also had fresh thyme - it was fantastic.