snowangel

Kao Soi for dinner here tonight. I wrote about it here.

I made Kao Soi for dinner tonight. You can read more about Kao Soi here. The first time I ever had Kao Soi was in 1969 in Chieng Mai. I was visiting some family friends; I'll never forget that visit because not only was I introduced to Kao Soi, but they were living in a bank that had been converted into a private residence. Quite a grand residence, at that. Anyway, I fell in love with Kao Soi, and it was a very uncommon dish in Thailand outside of Chieng Mai. And, I can't recall that I've ever seen it on the menu of a Thai restaurant here. I basically followed the Pim's recipe. I did not top with fried noodles because I was feeling lazy, and the foot of snow prevented me from getting the ingredients for pounding my own paste, so it was Mae Ploy to the rescue. I used the traiditional accompaniments -- shallots, lime and the pickled mustard greens. My local Asian market has home-made pickled greens in their deli counter, but for me, it's the lime that really makes the dish. Although Kao Soi can be made with chicken, I most closely associate beef with Kao Soi. And, given that I have a glut of vension in my freezer, I used that. Paul and Diana had never had kao soi before, and asked that it become a regular on the menu. Best of all, there are enough leftovers that I know what I'll be having for breakfast in the morning!

Marlene's gone for a few days, so let's check with her late this week. I'm still game, and have some bacon to smoke, as well!

I've kept one alive in Minnesota for 4 years now! They can be grown, and easily.

Doesn't brining beef corn it?

I stopped at Costco to get a few things, and then needed to stop at the regular supermarket (for the pharmacy), so I did some price comparisons: Milk (1%), 1 gallon: Costco $2.05 Supermarket $3.59 Butter: Costco $6.05 for four pounds Supermarket $3.49/lb. Flour Tortillas: Costco $2.99 for 36 Supermarket $1.69 for 12 Eggs: Costco 2 18-packs $2.99 Supermarket $1.69 for 18 (or 2.38 for 2 18-packs) Shredded cheese: Costco $5.29 for 2 pounds Supermarket $2.25 for 8 oz ($9/2 lbs.) Asparagus at the supermarket was $1.99/lb (from Chile) Chuck roasts were $2.98/lb, but I did nab a package that was reduced for quick sale for $1.24/lb. (Reduced for quick sale happens with the meat get to two days of it's "sell or freeze) by date.

I would think pasta would be a big problem, unless you have help draining the pot! I second the idea of braises, just do them on top of the stove. Remember to have hubby open any cans you'll need; he could do that the night before and dump them into re-sealable containers. Don't hesitate to have the butcher cut up meat or chicken to your specs. Any way you could get some of your cooking students to come over and help you?

If I had that nice a piece of meat, I wouldn't smoke it, but I'd still roast it on the Weber...

Janet, you went from an office job to Sur La Table. Why? (BTW, I went from an office job to home, but three kids and a kitchen tells all). I would hope you find Sur La Table vastly more rewarding...

Does dinner on Pan Am flight #1 with Cat Stevens count? He was tired of his entourage. This would have been a "few" years ago. Bet there are people here who don't remember Pan Am, or even know that coach class used to come with real dishes.

Getting those belly halves in the zip lock bags is a bitch. The turning, tending and smoking should be a piece of cake in comparison.

Meat loaf! Nice hole in the middle, when plated, for a big pile of mashed potatoes.

Question. Upon hearing that I was going to do bacon, my FIL gifted me with a Mr. Meat Smoker (bullet-style) that he bought and used once. He also brought me a whole mess of cured applewood . Anyone have any experience with one of these? Or, should I just resort to my trusty Weber Kettle (of which I am a master)?

I'm sure you know that the ideal way to do that is patiently, in the coldest part of your fridge, so that none of the meat actually gets above 4C, 39F... ← I stuck the box in the garage (38 degrees F) for about 1/2 hour, and since the bellies were packed skin on skin, the peeled apart nicely. One is in the freezer, the other in the fridge, slowly defrosting, awaiting a cure. I even remembered to get the oversized zip locks when I was at Target.

I am the proud owner of 2 bellies -- each just over 12 pounds, and 1/4 pound of pink salt. The bellies were $1.19/lb. and the pink salt was a buck. I'm hoping to get these bellies thawed enough so that I can pry them apart and stick one of them back in the freezer. Bacon, here we come!

Marlene and I recently smoked our prime ribs, using this topic as inspiration. The other topic also talks about smoking whole strips. I wouldn't do a roast any other way!

Well...that's the most important part...great flavor. For the filling, I wouldn't make it too saucy, though, I myself am tempted to do so too. You'll have to contend with soggy baos. I suppose if you like to have more sauce, you'll have to thicken it considerably. ← Absolutely. I will bao again. I will try a differnt dough, and I know more going into it. Oddly enough, the pleating was not at all a problem. I am a very accomplished pot sticket pleater, so working the hand(s) in pleating motion was very simple. I did, however, hava a bit of trouble keeping the edges of the dough at thin as it should have been. This was a bit more taxing that pot stickers, but I've not done these before.

Janet, is that a typical price for bacon? I know that almost anywhere I go here in the Twin Cities, bacon like that (meaning not Neuske's is about $3.99/lb, unless it's on sale (a dollar off). Do they smoke their own?

I Char Sui Bao'ed today. With only a modicum of success. I followed Barbara Tropp's instructions for the dough and steaming, which I would not do again, as you can see by the photo. The filling was from Eileen's book. The flavor of everything was great, but the filling didn't seem saucy enough, and the dough was flabby. The greens however (ala Hot Sour Salty Sweet) were great. The family gave a thumbs up to the char sui bao concept, but a thunbs down to this particular execution. Diana and Peter both mentioned that they would have liked more spice in the filling. Perhaps it's time for a Thai/Chinese fusion on this one to satisfy my masses.

Friday, March 10, 2006 From the Strib's Entertainment section: A long overdue review of Peninsula. I know several people who have been and who have all loved it. They have some Thai dishes on the menu, as well, and reportedly they include some things that are not commonly found in the Twin Cities. In Counter Intelligence, Blaine gets glam, and Udupi is back in business. In Now Open, Margaux is now in downtown St. Paul. Over in the Taste section: Unbottled passion pours into wine -- a chat with "Mark Vlossak president of St. Innocent Winery, founded in 1988" while he was in Minneapolis. An article on Lettuce Wraps, complete with links to recipes. Lynn treats us to comfort food, and news about meat. A review of a book -- The One-Dish Chicken cookbook. Hmmm. Better request this one from the library! Over at the Pioneer Press's Reastaurant section: Kathy Jenkins gives us a Dining Dictionary. Help for navigating menus and the terms that are unfamiliar to many. In Small Bites, Kathy visits Matty B's. Over in Restaurant New, sad news in deed that Duff's will no longer be selling dogs in St. Paul. Call it competition from a sub shop and a couple of steak places, but a good hot dog is indeed a worthy lunch. And neat to eat while walking around (weather is beautiful today!). In Citypages, Dara is back, with a review of Salut in Edina. Her review is consistent with the other ones I've seen. Not on-line, is the new Minneapolis-St. Paul -- their annual food issue. They have absolutely the lamest web site. No update of the current issue. No photo, no table of contents, no nothing. That's it for this week! It's almost 60, so we all have spring fever. A couple of bikes even came down off their hooks today! <><><><><> Media Digest Notes... Updates from some Twin Cities media outlets, which do not 'go to press' by Friday each week, may be edited into each week's post as they become available. Please do not reply on this thread. For discussion of any stories which are linked here, please feel free to start a new thread or contact the forum host or the "digester" who will be happy to do it for you.

Ba Mi Nam at our house tonight: (sorry that the photo isn't more in focus; I'm still learning about my new camera) Chicken broth, unadorned. No anything added other than chicken meat and various and assorted whacked up bones. Thin noodles that I get at the local asian market. Some char su pork that was needing to be used up, as was some cooked chicken, and some leftover rare smoked prime rib. At about 11:00, you'll see a white glob. It is a fish ball. It is what makes it for me. Condiments includes the requsite scallions, cilantro, fish sauce and vinegar with sliced birds. You can see on this dish only a portion of the birds. We've all been sick, and as Peter said, "those little pepper slices really clean out the sciences." But, back to the fishballs. I grew up in Thailand, and nothing pleased my sister and I more than my folks having some sort of business commitment in the evening. Which meant that we sat on the front stoop with our noodle bowls and our 5 baht, waiting for the bell of the noodle cart. Food memories are odd, and fish balls are a big one for both my sister and I. It just isn't a proper bowl of noodles without them. Peter (age 10) can't wait to share with his friends that he ate them. Diana at age 15, probably won't advertise the fact that she ate them, but she did say she can't imagine eating this again without them. Why don't I do this more often? It is the most comforting of noodle soups, and is a great vessel for odd bits of leftover this and leftover that. If I'd only had my old melamine lemon yellow noodle bowl...

What a waste of bacon.

Toni, do they sell it in the freezer section of the grocery? If so, you might be able to get a better handle on it if you look at the ingredient list. Or, if you e-mail them, will they send you an ingredient list?

Do you use the same spices (pickling & all) in the brined corned beef as you do in the pastrami? I guess I knew they were both brisket, but thought they were spiced differently. ← There's not a lot of difference in the spice, the biggest difference comes from the fact that pastrami is smoked and corned beef isn't.

It could be important to make the cut ahead of time so that some water can work it's magic while it's cooking to make it easier.