helenas

I wonder if there is any update on a new Malouf's book? Also anything new and notable cookbooks published recently? I'm thinking at least to get a new edition of Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion

i make Fagioli al Fiasco using my russian claypost wimilar to those. In russian cooking in claypots is very popular... And whatever you might think/say about Ruggerio this is a very good recipe: Fagioli al Fiasco. I made it several times with or without pancetta, with sundried tomatoes, and with calabrian hot peppers. Excellent.

I was not trying to save on labor - just afraid of losing on flavor

In her Vegetables book Elisabeth Schneider suggests to blanch sesame leaves to be used as wrappers. Do you find this necessary?

Australian Gourmet Traveller - my current favorite. Not easily available in US so i started a subscription.

The fresh turmeric is amazing and taste wise has nothing to do with the dried stuff. I was introduced to it a while ago thanks to this thread.

Ramsay's vegetable nage is damn good and now the recipe is available online thanks to Leite's Culinaria.

if one is looking for baking science in particular is McGee''s book still the best?

I have a lot of dessert books, including Claudia Fleming's but the Ramsay's one is my absolute favorite. Mostly for the reason stated above: a lot of unusual "fruit, gelee, sorbet, bavarois, mousse and ice-cream" recipes. Maybe i just don't like to bake

Yesterday i braised oxtail/tongue using a recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's MEAT book and now am planning to make the red wine sauce. HFW's recipe calls for 1/2 bottle of red wine to be reduced with all the braising liquid not specifying the volume. The braising got me 4 quarts/~litres of flavorful stock, and i think it's too much for the sauce. So what if i use 2 quarts with 1/2 bottle of wine and reduce it to 4 cups? Does it sound right? Or do i need more wine/less stock? Thank you, helena

yeh, your explanation makes perfect sense, But as i posted a page ago, i still think that those korean buns skins had some leavening in them: the texture was so different from the ordinary wrappers. How about a bit of baking powder? Or something like buttermilk and baking soda?

I'm also in search for some good korean cookbooks. Another egullter mentioned the following title recommended by her korean friend: "Vignettes of Korean Cooking" . Has anybody seen this book? I couldn't find more information except for the following: "A Cleveland woman gives Americans one of the first glimpses into the complex cuisine of Korea in two cookbooks she has written. In Vignettes of Korean Cooking I and II, Jae-ok Chang provides almost 300 recipes in both Korean and English for everything from simple broiled lobster tails to exotic cold cucumber soup with kelp. All the recipes are authentic Korean, and each is illustrated with a beautiful photograph. Chang and her husband, a physician, immigrated to Cleveland 30 years ago. She teaches Korean cooking classes. She wrote the books ``for my lovely daughter, Barbara, to pass on the Korean tradition.'' The cookbooks are $15 each at Asian Food Market, 2605 State Road in Cuyahoga Falls. The phone is 330-928-1969." In the meantime i got a very nice little book called Kimchi and am planning to order Authentic Recipes From Korea - it's a new series from Periplus.

These buns look wondeful - what if you would steam them? Would buns stay as thin-crusted as they do baked?

Since japanese and vietnamese versions of bao were mentioned i wonder how about the korean one? Many years ago when i lived in far east of russia, a typical street food was "pyan-se" - a big steamed bun with very spicy filling of chinese cabbage and ground pork, made and sold by koreans. Recently i finally decided to track down a recipe but so far failed - none of the korean cookbooks seem to mention it. I also tried to google in russian, and this helped, a bit - i got the idea of filling, but i'm still not sure about the skin. The russian recipes for skin all have yeast in them. The korean bun was very thin skinned like made from unleavened dough but on the other hand the texture was quite different from the skin of say steamed dumpling. My memory of course can play tricks but somehow i remember it being soft and not slippery or shewy like dumpling's one and having some layers to it. So yeh maybe there is some leavening agent involved. Is it possible that buns were steamed without resting? Thoughts? Thanks, helena

I'm looking for bamboo wooden (not the usual bamboo plywood steamer) rice pots/boxes that are used by some resturants here in US for a baked rice preparation. Does somebody know anything about them? Thank you , helena

I baked them whole tonight and enjoyed those potatoes a lot: incredible plummy flavor, gorgeous color. Tried to play with sprinkling some herbs but honestly they didn't need anything except for a good knob of french butter. Highly recommended for those who prefer boniato-type sweet potatoes.

Quite an illuminating thread! What is a barley couscous? Is it the same as barley grits?

will it work with Kalustyans couscous? If yes, do i need to moist it before? EDIT: Found this thing by Alton Brown - he basically has answers to my questions: Steamed Couscous

For all things concrete and cool, check Cheng Design. So inspirational!

Thanks fifi, but as i said i would like to hear about the first-hand experience with this potato

Does anybody have ideas of what is the best way to cook this sweet potato? Elisabeth Schneider's Vegetables book doesn't say much except that it cooks to a lilac hue and is particular popular with chefs although she hadn't be able to obtain it for sampling...Well i had, and so eager to try. i surely googled but i would like to hear a personal experience of those who cooked and/or sampled Okinawa potato themselves. My current thinking is to bake it on bed of kosher salt and go from there - don't know where yet

Could somebody remind me the name of this famous dumpling place in Taipei? Thank you! EDIT: of course i found it just right after the posting: DIN TAI FUNG

i totally agree with you - it's one useless book. In fact, as much as i love Wendy Hutton (i probably have all of her books), her much anticipated Cook's Guide To Asian Vegetables (the extended version of the one you got) was quite disappointing. I mean, the book is nice, but Schneider set the bar too high: so far i succeeded to find there all asian vegetables including this elusive indian tindora.

I remembered your post when yesterday i stumbled on "Madame Proust and the Kosher Kitchen": "Sarah ... creates a kosher version of classic French cuisine."

they were in bunch, looking very appetizing and all leaves were on the same level and more or less of same size... EDIT: after some more reading and browsing i think this is a malabar spinach...