cteavin

Thanks for the link. I do need to know more about the different brands available before I make a decision. Without walking into the kitchen, I picked up some wonderful items the last time I was in India and I hope to get the same quality or better, so thanks for recommending the brand. Cheers,

Hi There are a couple of products I need to purchase including a kaldie, pressure cooker, idli pot. These items are not available where I am, so I'd like to import them. When I do a search I'm swamped with hits. I'm hoping someone can tell me a company they've used, a popular company, or one they know to have a good reputation. Thank you much, Steven

You hit the nail on the head: gummy. That means they're off, eh. Well, that explains a lot. Since it's derived from soy beans is it possible to make at home? Soy beans are all around. Or, are there good alternative sources? Cheers,

What are you reading, because it sounds like the kind of thing I've been looking for. Cheers,

Let me start by saying that I live in Japan and have to import when I want to try new ingredients, so I can't just run out and by a replacement for the soy lecithin granules I received the other day. I wanted to do some experimenting with foams and use soy lecithin in dressings, chocolates, and other favorites to see what I could come up with. The problem is that the granules aren't dissolving. I've tried powdering it but I'm still not achieving suspensions or when it does (slightly) thicken the particles aren't dissolving and the texture is gritty.. I've been looking online -- and here -- for tutorials and advise for how to work with soy lecithin, but web searching doesnt seem to be my strong suit. Can anyone tell me the ideal temperatures when soy lecithin dissolves, or is it that it needs to be strained out? Should I even be powdering the granules? Can you recommend some brands or types of lecithin, soy or other? Any suggestions on how to use soy lecithin granules as granules? Thank you much,

Just got back. I discovered that Taiwanese food uses basically the same ingredients as Chinese and so the prices where I am were in many cases about the same, so I couldn't justify filling up my luggage with food products. There were a couple of sauces (like XO) that made into my shopping cart, and teas, but not much else. I've been all over Asia and I didn't like the (Chinese) foods in Taiwan as much as in, say, Shanghai or Hong Kong -- or even India (Indian Chinese food is a real treat, if you ever get a chance to try it). I'm going to assume it's because we couldn't read the menu and didn't find the 'right' restaurants. Funny thing, the Stinky Tofu we had in Beijing rocked but I couldn't get into in Taiwan and we went with some new local friends to their favorite place. The night markets were a good place to try lots of different things; the restaurants were plentiful but never that special to me. Still, Taiwan is one of may new favorite places in Asia because the people are genuine and kind. About wok's, I did eventually find one from ASD, a non-stick that felt good in my hand. I think I'll by a cast iron on my next trip to China, too.

Hi, I'm going to Taiwan for two weeks from this Saturday. I would love to start preparing more Chinese foods at home, so I was hoping to put together a shopping list for the Taiwanese supermarkets. What are good deals there, what's available there that's harder to find outside Asia, what are some essentials I should stock up on while there? Also, if anyone can recommend a high quality cookware shop in Taipei or recommend a good quality wok, I'd appreciate it. Cheers, Steven

I shop at CostCo, so I buy a lot of things in bulk but the items I have to have a large stock of include chocolate (10kg of Ghiradelli chocolate chips, 8kg Valrohna, and 20 pounds of raw cacao I imported from Natural Zing), sugar (about 20kg), glucose (5kg), and flours (5 - 10kg of various types of flour). Since I order a lot from the net I tend to buy bulk so I have about 15 types of beans in 2.5kg packs, umpteen bottles of different types of oils and vinegar's, and spices -- I can't count that high. It's not hoarding if you need it, right?

I'm from L.A. And I was in Yokohama for this quake, no damage unlike Helen ( so glad to read you and your family are okay). I'm not the kind to prepare anything special, I just keep my pantry well stocked, so the next day when people made a mad dash to the supermarkets, I just went in for fresh vegetables which I didn't really need. I shop at Costco, so I have bilk peanut butter, cans of tuna, huge bags of chocolate. Because we have often have nabe parties, we have extra burners and cans of gas. The fridge is always stocked with bottled drinks. One thing I did as soon as I got home was fill the bathtub with water just in case. We were without water for a few days in 94 and it was no fun. I have to say, cooking is my zen. With the planned blackouts, the horrific news on tv, and the stress about radiation, I've been making candy and let me assure you pulling taffy is a great stress relief!

I don't make sugar candy much these days but where I live the lamps are EXPENSIVE, so I used a double boiler. I know, I know, I was worried about water and the steam affecting the batch but I never had a problem. I worked with two colors by using two different double boilers. If the candy got to cool to work with, back in the pot and I'd pull another piece off the warming mass. I worked for me. I do like your griddle idea, I wonder if you you might not be able to put an inverted square cake pan on top of the griddle and your candy on that for better heat distribution. Keep us posted. Sounds like fun. BTW, I get my oils from LorAnne Oils.

My guess is 8 hours is a round about figure and I'm pretty sure it has to do handling the nougat because -- if you've never handled it, you're in for a surprise -- it's incredibly gooey and sticky and gets all over everything if your not careful. After you make it and it's end the mold see how easy it is to handle. If it's easy enough to work with, then I would cut it and dip it directly. If it's not, chill it and see if cutting it doesn't become easier.

In my experience dipping anything cold gives you a poor seal and cracked finish, especially in tempered chocolate. I would rethink that step. My best guess is the nougat is too soft or too sticky to handle and keeping it cool would make dipping easier. Are you making these into bars or bite-sized pieces? Refrigerating to make cutting and separating the cut pieces a bit easier, but I wouldn't dip them until they were room temperature. To my knowledge there is no "ripening" with nougat, if there were it would continue in it's chocolate shell.

@ Jenni, the main three chefs who worked with me were from Madrass, Calcutta, and Orissa and the students were, literally, from every part of India from the hill tribes on the Chinese boarder to small towns in Tamil Nadu. Seeing the diversity in their many faces was an education in and of itself. My teacher told me of those proportions, too, but said they were regional. Do you know where that style of 1:1:2 comes from? I still haven't had it made that way -- project!

There's a liquorice cake in the Alinea cookbook. Actually, I've been wanting to try that myself.

I have the same problem. What I did was keep the leaf-type herbs in the deep freezer and I placed the other spices in a small bottles with the names on the top and put them in a three drawer plastic shelving unit in a cabinet. When I pull out the drawer I can read what's in the bottle from the label on top. I put the larger bags of spices (which I use to refill those small bottles) in triple zip-locked bags in a box in the coolest part of the kitchen (under the sink), so it's out of the way. This system works for me.

It was pan-India. One day we learned Bengal dishes and the next went down to Madras and the day after we'd learn working class meals from Mumbai -- they were as inclusive as they could. As you know, just a short drive takes you to a new style of cooking. The course was six-weeks, five days a week and gave me a good foundation (and three extra kilos).

I did a lot of shopping around and chose the Never Burn Stockpot. The name is gimmicky but the pot is exceptional -- and true to its name. The key selling point for me is that it's very well insulated and so requires less heat than a regular stockpot; and even after taking it off the stove, if you cover it, it will keep the heat most of the day. It's also really easy to clean. http://www.chefscatalog.com/product/24703-the-never-burn-sauce-pot.aspx I got mine from Chef's online catalogue.

I was in India over the winter holiday studying in a proper school for 10 to 12 hours daily — it was bliss! Since I’ve come home I can really taste the difference the types of produce and the freshness of the meats make on a given dish. Not cooking Indian everyday, I want to continue learning by keeping up the dialog I had with my teachers and the other students, hopefully with people here. In this post I was hoping to talk about Salan’s as in Mirchi ka Salan (Green Chilies in Sauce) I have two recipes and I’d love discussion on how you make it. The first version we made contained equal portions of roasted peanuts, sesame, coconut with a healthy bunch of fresh coriander and mint, a couple of dry red chilies, about a tablespoon of ginger garlic paste, salt and turmeric. (This particular teacher emphasized tasting over measuring.) These were placed in a mixi and ground into a fine paste. Next, in a large kaldie we heated sesame oil then added, in order, about a teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, a sprig of fresh curry leaves, and finally the large split green chilies and cooked until the skins were seared. We then added the paste and about a cup of water and balanced it with a few tablespoons of tamarind juice and jaggery syrup then cooked it until the oil came out (about 25 minutes). It was really nice — and hot. The day we did the Hyderabad dishes was the only day I got sick in six weeks in India: way too spicy for my insides. (lol) The second recipe (made a different day) was prepared without coconut. In the mixi we added about 1/2 cup each of roasted peanuts and sesame seeds and added to that dry roasted coriander seeds, cinnamon bark, cumin, cloves and blended it into a fine paste thinned with a balance of tamarind juice and jaggery. In the kaldee we sauteed finely minced onions until very brown, added about a teaspoon of ginger garlic pasted then tomatoes and cooked until the oil came out and to that we added the paste and a cup of water and the seared chilies. Cooking was about 20 minutes. This particular teacher said that some regions add yogurt after the oil comes out. I would love to know how you all make your salans. In case anyone wants to know, this is where I studied. http://www.iactchefacademy.com/home.html

Thank you. That's really helpful.

Hi, I have to cook two 7kg turkeys this week for an event. To cut cooking times and to make it easier to transport I'm going to debone them, stuff them, and roll them. This will be the first time I've done this so I had a couple of questions and was looking for some advice. 1) Should I still brine the meat? And if so, before or after I debone it? 2) Approximately how much time do you think it will take? I will be using an meat thermometer but I don't want to keep opening and closing to soon. 3) Do you think I should use one of those turkey bags, baste, use a roasting pan, or cook uncovered? I cook whole turkeys every year, so this is going to be fun: I love trying new things. Cheers,

And the winner is: French Loaf Cake +Savory. Key that in your search and the recipes flow. It's interesting. I got into a discussion a long time ago about savory cakes and here we are. Now I need to weed out three good recipes for Monday. Cheers,

If you can't read the Japanese maybe the pics on this site will help identify what I'm asking about. http://shop.inter-mk.co.jp/cake_sale/

Hi, Apparently these cakes are becoming all the rage in department stores and I was asked to make a couple for this weekend which is fine, I've found a few recipes in Japanese, but what I can't find is what this cake is called in French so I can research these recipes. Does anyone know what Cake Sara/Sala is called in either English or French? It looks like a quick bread with cheese and sometimes vegetables or meat mixed in. Thank you,

That is really good advice, andiesenji. Will that trick work for stainless, too and could i use white vinegar? Ivenoticed that the water is hard and leaving deposits/discoloration in the stainless.

Hi, I've recently taken to French mother sauces and the little sauces they inspire and I'm totally flummoxed by which mushrooms to use with, say, sauce allemande. I've asked at the market and gotten blank looks, so I'm asking here. From experience can someone suggest Japanese mushrooms that pair well with chicken, beef, or veal based dishes? Thank you much.