trillium

We had a conversation last night about your question while we were making khao yam (I can post pictures if anyone is interested). I tried hard to pin the partner down on where he would recommend. His opinions are based on travels and national service in the early 90's, so maybe things have changed. If pressed, he would recommend Malaysia over Indonesia, based not on the food necessarily, but the ease of travel. He remembers rolling blackouts in some of the bigger Indonesian cities and thinks Malaysia is more "developed" and would be easy to travel in for someone obviously foreign who doesn't speak the native language. Foodwise, he thinks if you go to Malaysia you'll be happier then in Singapore, and it pained him to say so. He is of the opinion that many of the vendors in S'pore are using pre-made bulk pack stuff for their offerings and the food is suffering for it. On Indonesian food vs. Malaysian, we came up with Indonesian food is to Malaysian food as Louisiana food is to the Carolinas food. In otherwords, very different to someone from one of those places, but very similiar to an outsider. Hope that helps. You might check out Mrs. Leung's cookbooks for lots of ideas on M'sian/S'porean old-school food. regards, trillium

It would be interesting to taste Hendricks next to 209, from what you've wrote and I've drank it seems like they have a similiar flavor profile. If you're keeping your gin in the freezer do you add water when you make your martini to make up for the lack of dilution? My favorite jin for an Aviation is Junipero, it can stand up to the maraschino very nicely. regards, trillium

I'm glad you think so. Back when I wrote that, the forum was more about NY-style take out type food and I wanted people to learn a little about Southern home-style food. These days, the pendulum has swung, and it seems like that's all there is in the forum! Not that I'm complaining, I love seeing how people do the same dishes we do, but differently (you'll notice I keep saying not to use boneless skinless chicken breasts...hee hee), or learning about new dishes. It's funny that you like the looks of the sapo dish, I think that is the only one I didn't get any feedback on at all, and it was my favorite. I was proud of it because I had to reverse engineer it from eating it at a Hakka person's house (they moved back to Taiwan and we couldn't get the recipe!). My favorite part about talking about Chinese food is learning how much variation there is from region to region. I am influenced by my-Hokkien-by-way-of-Singapore spouse, and a couple of best friends from Canton by way of HK and Malaysia. At work, most co-workers are from the north and west. They were quick to correct some of the "southern" biases they felt I had when we'd talk about food (now I don't call anything north of Guangdong "northern"!). regards, trillium

I'd hardly consider myself more knowledgeable, but I do cook, and that's the way I approach things after many conversations with co-workers from Sichuan and HK. I also reserve the phrase toban jiang for the Sichuan broad bean and chilli paste. regards, trillium

I'm glad you had a good time at Wildwood. I just want to point out for other readers that here in Portland there is hardly any restauarant where casual dress isn't ok, or even expected, even at most of the priciest places. I can only think of one or two where there is an expectation that you'll make an effort to dress well. Sometimes I think that a clean Columbia Sportswear fleece, non-holey jeans and trailrunners from REI are considered "dressed up". regards, trillium

I buy them at New Seasons here in Portland, but they won't be in season for a while yet. GreenLeaf, a wholesaler in SF, might be able to tell you who they ship to in Seattle. For the curious, here is a thread in the Italian forum I started a couple of years ago. Some non-sweet ideas are in there. Elizabeth Montes, proprietor of Sahagún Chocolate Shop (10 NW 16th Ave., 503 274-7065) does wonderful things with the candied peel in her chocolates. Check her out when you're in Portland (I think she might start mail-ordering too). I'd be happy to mail some off to Seattle once the season arrives if you can't find them more locally. regards, trillium

I don't think the fish sauce is homemade, but rather the dipping sauce you're eating that has fish sauce in it. If you search for nuoc mam cham you should get plenty of recipes. regards, trillium

That's what we do too! But we make ours with jasmine rice because that is what we normally eat. Maybe hzrt8w should apply for one of those eG scholarships... regards, trillium

Doesn't a Jack Rose break that rule? I know they get mixed both ways but I like them better with lime then lemon. regards, trillium

I just wanted to bring this old thread up to say that we have made the duenjan version and the yangnim ganjang versions this year (it only took a year!). The duenjan isn't ready, but we ate the yangnim ganjang version last night. I'm not sure what banchan are supposed to go with what dishes, but we made a squid in spicy sauce (ojang bokkum?) dish and spinach with soya and sesame oil. It was delicious. thanks again for all the help. trillium

Hi Rona I keep hoping someone else will answer, because I don't know about groups, but I do know about good restaurants here in pdx. I think there were a few threads on chowhound about this a while back. take care trillium

I've had nonya versions of sayur lodeh that were eaten as the main dish in a Singaporean context. I think it's very dangerous to try and say anything is or isn't "a type of curry" especially with the word's very widespread use and the diversity and regional variation that happens around a dish. We do make a rempah with fresh tumeric root, the partner was taught how by his nonya stepmom. I'll try to get the proportions and get back to this thread. It's very handy to have packets of it in the freezer, and now is the time in the US to make it, the chillies are ripe and the shallots have dried out. regards, trillium

Are those "jarred fish" salted? I suspect they are. If so, should be just as good. In Hong Kong, I found other fish species than Mackeral but couldn't recall what the name was. But in the USA, I could not find them again. It has a lot to do with the grocer supplier chain. Next time I go to San Francisco I need to make a point to shop for some good salted fish. ← Try some nice dried, salted snapper, May Wah used to carry really nice (expensive) ones you can buy whole. I tend to prefer the dried(salted) fish that hasn't been jarred because I like seeing the quality of the fish and I feel like it's more flexible to use. I make an exception for threadfin, because I can only find it jarred in the US. The different varieties of mackerel are good, but I think some of the more expensive fish like snappers and threadfins are even tastier dried and salted. regards, trillium

We use both Yeo's and the Thai version, which I think tastes more flowery. We stir-fry ong choy (except we call it kang kung, the Malay word) with it, chillies, garlic and fish sauce, make bah kut teh, mix it with black beans and put it on shrimp to be steamed, use it when we make char siu, etc. etc. Like Ben says, it's a pantry staple. regards, trillium

Muscovy "ducks" (really not a duck) are very tasty, and they seem to have a bigger breast muscle then the Long Island ducklings I've bought and they're less fatty, at least the free range ones we're eating. I convection roasted one after salting it and letting it dry out for a couple of days in the fridge. The legs and breast were great, the thighs were a little tough, the wings are going into a braised white bean dish of a sorts tonight. I got about 1/4 cup of rendered fat. This was a huge dude, 7 lbs, and fed two people twice, and I assume at least twice more. I made roasted fingerling potatoes and chanterelles to serve with it, if you live in an area where there are plentiful (and cheap) wild mushrooms, I recommend it, it went well with the duck. In a pinch you could go with cultivated shrooms. I cut the fingerlings in half, left most of the mushrooms whole, tossed with a mixture of olive oil, grey shallots, garlic and time, liberally salted and peppered and roasted for around 30 min at 400 F. regards, trillium

I really love Mediterranean Street Food, it's one of my favorites, so I'm delighted that you're here and participating. We go on binges where it's all we cook out of for a week or so. How lucky for us to have so many experts around! I haven't made the warqa, but now I'll try it. I'll do as Paula suggests, and use our sa po (sandpot) since that's what we have. regards, trillium

You can usually find them at Vietnamese grocery stores here in the US too. regards, trillium

I'll try to take pics too, but hog butchering time doesn't happen until November, so don't hold your breath! That lobak looks great... I'm hungry. I like to eat it along with with pei dan and preserved ginger... regards, trillium

Fuller's, but they only do breakfast (till the afternoon). Nothing surly (this is Portland for christssake) but original counters and stools, somewhat mediocre food and coffee but really tasty homemade bread. regards, trillium

Install the google tooldbar and it will do spellcheck for you. I have to ask, are you The Alchemist (from hotwired fame)? I'm guessing no, but still curious. regards, trillium

Yeah, I think that too, which is why I'd like to hear about other recipes. It is nearly 2 kg of meat and fat to 3 g of each spice, which is not very much spice. There was some sweetish spice in the lap chung we used to get from the butcher shops, faint but there. regards, trillium

While we're waiting, here is the only recipe I've seen, and I've been keeping it in mind since it's original post date (1997!). No lychee wood for smoking, alder will have to do. regards, trillium

I use lap yuk in sa po (sand pot) dishes with taro. Steam it to make it easier to cut, then cut in thin slices and stir fry along with the aromatics. I've also been know to throw the last few inches treated the same way into a fried rice to use it up. The Sichuan style preserved belly (which I don't think is that common in the US) gets used for a lot of things, according the Fuschia Dunlp in _Land of Plenty_. She's even included a recipe for making your own. regards, trillium

If you use natural casings for sausages, the skin gets very crackly when it's cooked slow enough the the fat from inside bastes the outside and long enough that the water is driven from the casing. Even plain old hotdogs done by one of the 'wurst' masters here in Portland get a wonderful crackly skin when they're grilled low and slow. Hope that helps. While we're talking about sausages, has anyone made their own lap cheung? I can only get the yucky plastic packaged stuff here, and it is much too sweet for our tastes. We're contemplating making lap cheung during our next hog project. regards, trillium

I really like the Thai one with the chubby lady stir frying on the front. It is less sweet then the LKK premium. But we have both in the cupboard depending on what we're cooking. I always assumed the oyster extract in oyster sauce came from dried oysters, like the stuff I sometimes put in my steamed pork patties. I don't know why I've thought that, maybe because they're the same dark brown color. regards, trillium