trillium
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Posts posted by trillium
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I think that "real" Indian cooking is primarily found either in the home or at a high-end restaurant. In both places there is the expectation that the food will be nourishing in more ways than just slapping some flavours across the tongue and filling the belly. The cooks and chefs at many "ethnic" restaurants are working under less than favourable and less than honoured conditions. They're just getting the job done and so care and nuance are luxuries they can seldom indulge in. And not what many diners are looking for.
The glories of Indian cuisine stand as they are, equalled but not surpassed by that of any other.
I think it depends on the city you live in. We ate plenty of "real" south Asian food in Chicago, embracing everything from Pakistani cabbie joints to Andhran restaurants and even Chinese food cooked the way the Chinese-Indians do it. The prices ran the gamet from dirt cheap to very expensive. It really opened my eyes to the huge amount of diversity that's out there. Here in Portland, we're slowly learning to cook Indian food because the restaurants are just not very good.
regards,
trillium
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Does anyone have any pointers on tracking down a decent dry French grenadine? If not, has anyone successfully used pomegranate molassas as a substitute? Warmer weather is surely just around the corner (please oh please) and I have a hankering floriditas and mai tais.
regards,
trillium
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I think lemon drops are nicer (ie more intense) when they're made with a high quality (ie not sweetened) citrus infused vodka instead of just plain vodka.
regards,
trillium
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I don't like the bacon candy. I know I'm the only one. Wait, Jinmyo too. Jinmyo and I are the only one.
The fleur de sel with the caramel was fantastic, but salt is never unwelcome.
I hate bacon candy too...a lot. Fruit with savory is a pet peeve of mine, for the most part I can't stand it, but hypocritically, I love tacos al pastor. And, I love Thai food that has tamarind in it (a fruity flavor you must admit) but I hold that in both instances, the fruitiness is balanced by acidity and chillies.
regards,
trillium
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Can anyone tell me if the East, central and Western parts of Sicily are vastly different? I would love to stay in a town by the water with some nice beaches. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Hiya
Since no one else has bothered to reply, I'll put in my 2 cents. I've only been to the western half of Sicily, not the Eastern, but I can say that inland is very different from coastal. Inland in some places looked a little bit like what I imagined Ireland to look like, beautiful green hills, and in others was all about the agriculture (citrus, some stone fruits, grapes, nuts or sheep). The small coastal towns are all about fishing or tourism, but every where we saw the sea it was breathtakingly beautiful. Maybe someone else whose been to the west and east will be inspired to help you. My feeling is that the east side is the most targeted to tourism. Sicily has some facinating agritourismo stuff going that I thought would be cool to do if I went there under my own planning.
regards,
trillium
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Other classics on my "revival list" include: Coconut Layer Cake
I am almost sure I will make that on Saturday for my baby boy's first birthday. I can't wait to see what he does with the coconut frosting.
The spouse actually made his first birthday cake last weekend for moi, and it was a coconut layer cake out of Cook's Illustrated. I remember it fondly from church potlucks as a kid, but I gotta say, we halved the frosting (only 2 layers) and it was still way, way too sweet for me. Like scrape the frosting off the middle too sweet. The icing was a buttercream made just with eggwhites. Have my tastes changed or are there less sweet versions?
regards,
trillium
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Just the zest, none of the pith. I actually think it's best with meyer lemons and no lime peel.
regards,
trillium
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What do you do when you open a book and many of the ingredients in the recipes are those you could not find easily in your local grocery?
Find a better place to buy them.
Would you skip t he recipe and look for another?It depends on whether I wanted to cook it that night or just sometime in the future.
Would you be upset you bought that book?No way.
How do you define an ingredient as being exotic?I wouldn't. I hate the word exotic actually. Exotic compared to what? When my partner was sick as a grad student he went to student health and they asked him if he'd eaten anything "exotic" lately when they found out he was from south east asia. He said, "well, yes, now that you mention it, I did have lunch at Burger King last week".
How far are you willing to go in experimenting with a new cuisine?As far as I can get. This involves buying more then one cookbook on the subject, looking at websites devoted to the subject, asking co-workers who have more expertise then I (the field of science is great for international cooking tips), asking questions online, going to groceries that specialize in foodstuffs from that subject, and finally, as a last resort, mail order.
How many ingredients and how many dollars do you think you would be willing to spend in the pursuit of learning a new cuisine?Please don't make me answer that question, it's not something I like to imagine! It's my hobby. I will say that over all, it costs less and is more rewarding then eating out.
These are some of the things I look for in a cookbook of a cuisine I'm not familiar with:
Good illustrations/pictures of things I'm going to have to go looking for. More than one variation on the name would help too. My favorite Singaporean cookbook has ingredient lists in Chinese characters, Cantonese, Tamil, Malay and English.
A brief explanation of how a grocery store specializing in the foodstuffs from that cuisine may be organized. The section in Grace Young's book is the best example of this.
An authoritative voice. I love it when a cookbook author says don't bother making this if you can't find X. I hate cookbooks that don't even bother telling you what the original ingredient should be. I don't like it when say, Thai recipes call for ketchup or peanut butter. Exactly how hard do they think it is to find tamarind and whole peanuts? I want honesty.
Reasonable substitutions. I like how Marcella Hazan talks crap about say, our scallops compared to the ones in Italy, and then tells you how to fix the problem with the flavor in the context of the recipe. Ok, so I want honesty mixed with some flexibility.
regards,
trillium
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Well, Jim emailed me and bailed....he's pretty busy the rest of the month and since we were the only ones interested.... (hey...wait a minute, what does that mean?).
We're probably going to go this Sunday, you're welcome to join us or not. We're not that scary, no matter what Jim says.
down with the hegemony...
regards,
trillium
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I made a Boston Cream Pie of a sorts 2 weeks ago for a co-worker's birthday. I started with the recipe from Cook's Illustrated. They do a sponge cake and then variations on a theme when it comes to the fillings. He wanted something with fruit and chocolate and pudding. So I used Seville oranges and made the cake with orange zest and some fiori di sicilia flavoring (orange/vanilla) and the filling was really just a very thick curd made with Seville orange juice and zest. Iced with a chocolate cream glaze. He liked it, I thought it was a waste of the last of the Sevilles.
regards,
trillium
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Name a pastry chef besides Claudia Fleming, Jacques Torres, or Pierre Herme.
swoon
and right here in puddletown.
regards,
trillium
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Sweet (besides ice cream):a very rich Teochew dessert called "orh-nee". Finely grated yam is cooked with plenty of oil and syrup and then steamed into a thick sticky pudding. Garnished with gingko nuts and pumpkin. Very sweet, very rich, very fattening. Also very good.
I think the oil is actually lard, no?
regards,
trillium
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Well, I went to the bookstore and ended up buying neither because today was one of those oh-I'm-so-depressed days and I just couldn't make a decision.
So.
Perhaps tomorrow I will pick up HSSS and then, well, my birthday's coming up in a few weeks so I should be able to justify a few more books
Um, not to stir up trouble or anything, but I would vote for Kasma's books over HSSS. An even simpler/beginning one that has very inspirational pictures would be _Thai Home Cooking_. They do a pretty decent job.
I don't mind the books Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid write so much, but the spouse, who is Singaporean, rants about the recipes in Flatbreads and Flavors, and I also know a South Indian and a Thai cook who politely froth at the mouth about the recipes in that book. I'm not sure if how westernized you want to go, but the impression from them that knows is that the recipes are pretty westernized. I'm assuming HSSS would be the same way.
regards,
trillium
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We're in!
Any day is ok, but it would be best if the time was really early or really late. We have an almost 19 year old diabetic cat who needs an insulin shot at 8:30.
best,
trillium
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I know what you mean about muddled flavour. When I make something like this and want a brighter taste that accentuates each vegetable, rather than a stew type dish, I cook each veggie separately, and then add them to a light broth. For Vignarola, I usually use artichokes, peas, fava, and baby spinach, added to a chicken or roasted vegetable broth after cooking each separately, and then sprinkle on scallions and mint (or other fresh herb if you're mint phobic) as garnish. Pancetta or guanciale can be added too if that flavour dimension is desired.
Edit: Forgot to mention lemon, either in the broth, or the zest chopped fine as garnish. Also, eggs can be added to the broth as a straciatelle - I always do it like this when I make it as a strictly vegetarian dish.
What a good idea, and obvious too! Just not obvious to me. I had sauteed the artichokes in olive oil and they had this great taste and then poof! disappeared into the muddle of the mix and the fava beans were more done then I liked too. When you pre-cook the veggies do you stop them before they're completely done, and then finish in the soup, or just barely warm them in the soup?
I like the mint and lemon garnish idea too, thank you.
regards,
trillium
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I tried to make an all green minestra, without a lot of meat. I ate a really good one in Roma but I'm hazy on the details. I used peeled fresh fava beans, artichokes, and cress. I added 1/4 c of carnaroli rice and a light chicken broth as a base. I used a small amount of garlic and some scallions. I didn't like it because the texture ended up being too monotonous and the flavor too muddled. Maybe I should just stick to one veggie to start with?
regards,
trillium
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Isn't there some insult regarding cooks that has something to do with them not salting the pasta water enough? Something about saying the pasta wasn't salty enough means they're really bad cooks. My grandfather told me about it, but I've spaced out on the exact details.
regards,
trillium
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But I have never seen a plum that I thought of as a damson. Not sure whether they're grown commercially in the tri-state area; one of the things I want to check out in terms of horticultural history.... (BTW, are you in Portland? I am beginning to turn envious about the wealth of local fruits available to you....)
I am in Portland and I love it (but don't tell...I like how small it is...I see someone I know nearly every weekend and I don't know that many people). I'm really surprised you haven't run into damson plums at the farmer's markets in NYC.
So I guess the first step in the recipe sort of infuses the neutral vodka with the flavor of the plums and then you get the richness of the brandy later?Yes, and actually you could use any sort of neutral spirit (eau de vie, Everclear, whatever) to suck all the flavor out of the plums. If you're intrigued, why not try it with another variety that has nice dark skins?
regards,
trillium
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Finally we had the chicken. A damn fine chicken I must say. I think I can cook a good roast chicken at home, but I never order it out because it's almost always a disappointment. Not this bird. Although the Zuni cookbook says to use a smaller chicken (thereby increasing the skin/fat to meat ratio for better basting), the dish easily serves two people. The skin comes out golden brown and crisp, with hints of herbs and a healthy dose of salt that is unmistakable but in no way overpowering. (I recall that their vaunted burger was also "salty" (I think I read that the meat is "cured" in salt overnight?) I wonder if salt is to Zuni what butter is to French Laundry.) The meat remains moist and juicy and bursting with flavor.
Judy Rodgers is really into salt. In her cookbook she talks about how much she loves presalting everything (ok, not everything). She says she always knows when someone didn't add salt to the chicken stock at the very beginning and how you need to sprinkle salt on meats hours before you cook them. I love her because she wants you to salt stuff and leave it sitting on the counter for hours. I'm not being sarcastic actually, with good quality meat you should be able to leave it so that it comes to room temp before cooking without fearing for your life.
The oysters at Zuni are the only ones I've eaten that come close to shucking them yourself. Yum.
regards,
trillium (who remembers when Zuni was a southwestern place)
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Um, recipe... I don't have exact amounts so I'm not sure how helpful this will be, we just sorta winged it. I'm surprised you wouldn't be able to find damson plums in NYC, I bought them in Chicago and I saw them at the Portland farmer's market last summer. According to all the NYC boosters on this site, you can buy not only anything there, but the very, very, very best of anything!
We took 2 pint boxes of damson plums and put them in a jar with probably around 5 cups or so of vodka and 1 cup of sugar (we like things dryer, not sweet, so if the plums are quite tart and you want it sweet you could add more sugar) and let it sit in a sealed jar for about 3 months. The solution gets very dark and reddish purple, darker then ruby port. Once we felt like it, we poured off the liquid and added around 1 cup of brandy (it was a nicer one) and stored it at room temp. I think there are many variations on this; a Brit buddy says his pops makes it with gin. I have to mention that if you can, I think it's a nice idea to use organic fruits (especially citrus, they're the most heavily sprayed) for making liqueurs, a lot of the pesticides are very alcohol soluable.
I've never run across it for sale commercially, but that doesn't mean it isn't out there.
I love the idea of lichen flavored liqueur....hey I like mushrooms, maybe it wouldn't be bad!
regards,
trillium
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Also on the topic of "cellos," my friend made plumcello last summer, and it is superb stuff, with a gorgeous color. Has anyone else here made plumcello?
Forgot to include this in my other post...I'm guessing you had Damson plum liqueur? Our old fruit grower from Michigan, Adolf (yep, he was that old...named before WWII), taught us how to make that. It's a beautiful color, like Welsh's grapejuice, but a little more red right? I guess it varies, but he said we should use vodka and brandy, so we did. It is beautiful.
regards,
trillium
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Trillium, can you elaborate? Is there an equivalent, or did you make your own Amer Picon? I would like to get or make some.
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And hopefully recipes?
A few years ago I did a Roman meal with roast suckling lamb and carciofi romani, amongst other things. This year is going to be with a group with many different nationalities (French, Australian, Singaporean, and USian) but we've chosen Italian food as the order of the evening. I'm hoping to hear about favorites to inspire me in my choices this year. I'd like to make a nice minestra verde, but I tried one just by winging it last week and was very disappointed.
regards,
trillium
The joys of polenta
in Cooking
Posted
The Italians ate polenta before the introduction of corn, it was just polenta made from other grains. I like mixing Sobrino's farina per polenta with the farina made from saracenean grain. A good corn farina per polenta should smell like corn when you open the bag, not dusty flour.
regards,
trillium