Human Bean
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Posts posted by Human Bean
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I think I'm used to certain salmon names because they're the names the media uses (presumably also the names the scientists and Agriculture people use). Salmon are in the news many days of the week 'round here, and there have been stories in the past couple days about various groups suing to get Chinook (not 'king') salmon off the endangered species list.
I hear many more media reports about salmon than I hang around fishmongers or fishermen, so I hear the 'proper' (?) names (chinook, coho) more often than the nicknames (king, silver) I guess, so BH is probably right about the names being culture-specific to some extent.
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HB... did you by chance ever live in British Columbia?
I spent a summer there once, at a lake (no salmon), but other than that, no, not really.
Dunno why I'm more familiar with those names; probably just something associated with the wilderness that is Portland, as opposed to you city slickers in the Emerald City (I always thought the Emerald City was in Oz; either I'm mistaken, or else please say hello to Dorothy and 'her little dog too' for me.
) Also, please pet one of those Ozzy kangaroos for me (how's THAT for hopelessly mixed metaphors??) And while you're at it, please tell Ozzy not to swear so much on his TV show; those bleeps are annoying (the metaphors are in the blender on 'liquefy' now, it's hopeless). -
Now that you (sealman and BH) mention it, I recall my local fishmonger saying that wild Steelhead is NOT available commercially. Too few fish?
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Pink salmon are also sometimes called 'humpy' salmon and chum salmon called 'dog' salmon.
Hmm, never heard of those before, as such. Are you saying that pink salmon = chum salmon? I've heard of chum salmon, but had no idea what it was. I've never seen 'pink salmon' or 'chum salmon' for sale at the local markets.
Why does this need to be so complicated? Hopefully, this thread will sort it out for the ages.
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King salmon is Oncorhynchus tshawytscha. Hope that clears everything up! Also, there are a bunch of non-salmon anadromous fishes, including some sturgeon, shad, striped bass, and that sort of thing.
There's only one catadromous fish in the U.S.: eels, if you consider that a fish.
Ah, a true bio-geek! Thanks - I knew anadromous; never heard catadromous before; I'm merely a computer-geek.
And by all definitions I've heard, an eel is a fish; it just doesn't look like one.
Bowing to your bio-knowledge...
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A few more, or salmon wannabe's?
Kokanee - lake version of Sockeye
Cutthroat Trout - aren't these almost like salmon?
Steelhead - trout or salmon, or salmon-trout? It looks and tastes like salmon.
Excellent, thanks, BH.
I can add that Steelhead are actually a trout that thinks it's a salmon (ie, anadromous, look it up
) and are almost always found commercially as farmed, rather than wild. Farmed anything aren't as good as wild, but any salmon-esque fish is better than most any other kind. -
In another thread, mamster happened to mention 'king' salmon. I didn't immediately remember which one this is; there are too many names for the actual species. Depending on whether you're a fisherman, which market you happen to go to, or even local custom, you might see several different names. Also, the much-hyped Copper River salmon actually consists of two different species, Chinook and Sockeye; both are excellent, but the local supermarket sometimes doesn't specify which Copper River salmon they have. (IMHO, sockeye is better, but they're close).
Thanks to the Kent school district, I have a chart magnetically attached to my refrigerator for ready access at all times to sort out which salmon is which. The chart is here.
A text version:
King = chinook (I'm used to chinook rather than king, local customs may very)
Sockeye = red = blueback (never hear blueback before)
Chum = keta = silver brite (never heard silver brite before)
Silver = coho (I've usually heard coho, very rarely silver)
Pink (no aliases given; usually found in (ewww) cans?)
Atlantic (farmed in the PNW, not as good as any wild native species)
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I think you can try out any descriptions you care to on us and no one is going to stomp all over you. Of course, people may ask you questions for clarification, etc., which should help you to hone your skills even more.
The words aren't a problem, nor is analytical thinking, I had all that nailed long ago (though I'm sure that there are those that don't like my style; I don't worry about that to any great extent).
It's just that (as I mentioned above) unless I make a specific attempt to remeber the details, a simple yes/no decision tends to make it to long-term memory; the 'why' is lost. In the instance of the sockeye/coho example above, long ago, I decided that I like sockeye best. I don't dislike coho, or most of the others; but I can't quite remember why I prefer sockeye. It just tastes better to me, and I haven't had either one recently (shame!) to refresh my memory. I can definitely say that any farmed variety is quite bland-tasting compared to any wild variety though; that's an easy one, and I suspect the reason is also obvious: wild fish eat a variety of 'real' food that gives extra character to the meat; farmed fish eat Purina salmon chow.
I think I'm in the mood for a salmon tasting; pity that it's not on sale at the moment.
And BTW, JD: No offense taken by your remark about lurkers; my apologies if I gave that impression.
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If you eat in the Pacific Northwest at all, I'm interested in what you have to say, HB.
Fair enough, but this can be a tough crowd (maybe moreso the NYC axis rather than the somewhat more mellow PNW crowd) and I'm somewhat reluctant to say much without being able to back it up. Unless I make a specific effort, I tend to reduce things to like/dislike, and tend to forget the details (maybe this is true of most people), but the details are important here. For example, I can say, "Sockeye rulez, coho droolz"
but can't really say why. 
It's much the same with discussing pho; saying, "I can make better pho than restaurants" is admittedly bold and provocative, but I can't really back that up - it's true for me, but my experience is limited to Portland, Seattle, and a few Vietnamese friends, and I don't feel like sharing the recipe; it's taken significant time and expense, and I have the (probably absurd) notion that it may have commercial value, even though it's too expensive at the moment.
Getting even more bold and provocative, the "better pho than a restaurant" is a specific example of a general belief I have that most anyone with a certain amount of talent and motivation can cook a better meal at home than almost any restaurant except maybe the very high-end ones. It's probably an idea that's at least been mentioned somewhere among the thousands of posts here, but I don't really have the words to explain why, so I haven't really tried to discuss that. I'll probably regret mentioning it now. (Hint: food-cost and motivation/caring hold the restaurants back).
Now, what was my point here? Oh, I didn't really have one. Never mind, carry on...
Edit: made horrible run-on sentence slightly less horrible.
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I still don't really believe that there's anybody else from Portland here...so you alledged lurkers can prove your existence by stopping by and saying hello.
Hello??? I'm not a lurker. I may be a newbie, and mainly inhabit (or perhaps inhibit) the cooking boards, but I've made a couple insignificant posts in PNW.
I don't post much here because, 1) I don't live in Seattle, and B) don't eat out much in Portland, so I don't have much to say.
As for the PNW board, I've thought about posting something about pho in Portland, but nothing I can say is really up to the demanding standards here - I can say what I like and don't, but haven't ever bothered to remember exactly why I do/n't like them. I can make better pho than any restaurant I've ever been to, but it's not surprising considering that my food cost is equal or greater than the cost of a bowl at the local restaurants.
I have to work on Saturday, but if possible, I'll try to drop by the farmers market, and maybe even buy some OO.
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About Imagine and other aseptic boxed broths:
Around here, there are two boxed broths available, Imagine and Pacific Organic. Both are 'organic, free-range' and are reduced-sodium (570 mg per cup, compared to 980 mg for the regular stuff). I remembered from awhile ago that I liked one of them, and the other had a somewhat strange taste that I didn't like. I've bought both again more recently, though I didn't take notes or do a comparative tasting. Both were used in different weeks to do a quick chicken soup (broth, veg, frozen grilled chk. breast, pasta or rice, spices) on nights where I was too tired/lazy to actually cook. I'm not sure which one I'd previously objected to, but the Pacific Organic was distinctly cloudy out of the box, and that offended my aesthetic sensibilities; I think it was the one I didn't like before.
So, give Imagine a try, I guess; I don't think it's notably worse than Swanson low-sodium canned broth, and may be better.
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human bean, was that watercolour made by you? very nice, really.
Oraklet, I take no credit for the pic; it's several thousand times better than anything my non-existent artistic abilities could create. It was snagged from the web after a very quick search.
But, to add some actual value to this post, here's a link to the article containing the pic, as posted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. It's a sort of 'Galangal for Dummies' article, with some info on galangal along with a couple of nice-sounding Thai recipes; they seem petty generic, but would be tasty if you had the Asian ingredients. (Also included is a recipe for black tea w/ galangal; that one seems a bit weird to me.)
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Sounds like what you got was what you wanted, ie. galangal. Never heard the term 'raw ginger' before. Galangal has a lighter-colored, smooth, almost shiny surface, with small ridges running around the circumference. Some versions are somewhat pinkish colored on the outside.
The smell is very different than regular ginger; I can't describe it, but 'ginger with a more menthol taste' is a reasonable approximation. The smell is very persistent; I can smell it on my wood cutting board for a week or more after using it, no matter how hard I try to clean it, but the taste doesn't seem to get into other food.
BTW, I store my regular ginger uncovered in the fridge; at worst, it dries out a bit, and I cut off the dried part next time I use it. Last time I had galangal, Ms. Bean put it in the fridge in a bowl of water; dunno why, but it didn't cause any harm.
Edit: Here's a drawing of what galangal looks like:
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NSM: At the moment, I don't think that the link you posted is pointing where you think it is.
But here's a link to the same recipe: Fresh Ginger Cake.
I once made a somewhat similar recipe for ginger cake from Joy of Cooking, and it was quite good; you'd think that the ginger would be overpowering, but that's not the case at all.
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Looks like I'm definitely not going to make it - have to work, in fact, I have to drop by work every 12 hours or so for the next week. Joy.
So, have fun, and have an order or two of chicken feet for me (that's 'gai gauk', in very rough phonetic Cantonese).
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The worst I've ever come across was at a potluck -- shell macaroni with cubes of velveeta and canned peas (drained) glued together with Miracle Whip.
Ugh! Merely reading that nearly made me lose my lunch.
For truely awful recipes, look on the back of cereal, cracker, etc. boxes. Yikes. And, to think they probably paid someone to come up with these!Reminds me of "Mock Apple Pie," a recipe featured for years on the Ritz Crackers box (may still be there; let's hope not though). Never made it, never wanted to; some kind of horrible concoction of crackers baked into a pie.
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Well, I guess I won't be wasting any more good deeds on my coworkers, since they are no longer my coworkers. As of today I have been laid off.
Ouch! My condolences; I'm also in a situation where it appears that I might get the sack at any time; I've survived several threats, but in a job where I can be replaced by someone in Asia making $5 per day (well, more-or-less) it's a constant threat. Sigh.
Best of luck to you.
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I've had dim sum at most of the restaurants in Portland; Fong Chong is indeed very good.
I've eaten at House of Hong twice (only dim sum I've had in Seattle) and had no complaints (that I can remember, anyway). Jumbo is now on my list for next time though.
It appears that I have to work this weekend, otherwise the Sunday offer is something I wouldn't miss.
If someone comes up with a time and the secret recognition handshake, I'll be there if posible.
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I don't eat lunch in restaurants often, but here in the wilderness (no idea about how things are done in the Big City), lunch in a restaurant is a really good deal.
Lunch is largely the same as dinner, but much cheaper. Typically there will be a limited range of the usual dinner entrees, maybe with fewer frills or a somewhat smaller portion, but basically the same. Also, many ethnic restaurants (typically Indian or other Asian) have all-you-can-eat buffets at very good prices. Mongolian Grill is popular, fixed-price (none of that by-the-ounce $#!^), all-you-can-choke-down, much cheaper than dinner, but they don't offer some of the higher-cost meats (shrimp, lamb.) Excellent value.
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How is Mexican Coke different from the American version? Is it made with sugar rather than corn syrup?
That's correct, from what I've heard, but kpurvis may have different reasons.
Checking a can at hand, is says, "high fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose," meaning you can't be sure what's in there, while the Mexican version uses only sugar (again, second-hand info.)
Is the difference noticeable? Hard to tell if you're not sure what's in there in the first place. Back during the New Coke brouhaha, after the introduction of "Coke Classic," I was able to compare genuine original Coca Cola with (the 'new') Coca Cola Classic. My impression was that the 'Classic' was subtly inferior, but it may have been wishful thinking.
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My daughter's 3rd grade class had an "Around the World"...I took off work early the night before to go to one of the best fish markets in town and purchased sushimi grade tuna and smoked salmon, to be served with all the right condiments.
Wonderful of you to make the effort, but for 3rd graders (in Dallas?) it seems like a case of pearls before swine.
I did something similar once, but not nearly as good as yours. Daughter's birthday party, 7th grade. She had about 15 friends over; I was in a pizza-making phase at the time, and was recruited to make pizzas for the party. These were of course American-style cheese, tomato, pepperoni/sausage pizzas with olives, green pepper, etc. They were great pies, homemade thick crust, fresh basil and oregano from the garden, 4 cheeses, etc. I knew it was overkill, but had to do it my way. The reaction from the kids was at least favorable, and nobody hated it. It was the best response I probably could have received; I wasn't expecting anyone in that group to say, "Wow, this is fantastic! I'll never eat at Pizza Hut again!" The pizza was (at LEAST) very good, IMHO.
I asked my kids how they felt about that and they told me it was the other mothers who should be ashamed.Excellent!
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The kinds of food I received when young were something along the lines mentioned here.
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I am mostly a "senseless beauty" kind of gardener....roses! Lilies!
My theory of gardening is more-or-less the opposite of yours. Mine is, "If you can't eat it, I'm not interested." So Ms. Bean plants flowers and such, then largely ignores them. I end up getting stuck taking care of them, which I do minimally; the effort and passion goes into the edible stuff.
Of course, the gardening is largely done around here now, but I can still go outside and pick a few kinds of fresh herbs that'll make it through the winter. (Thread about winter-hardy herbs here).
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Thanks, PJ; I've just placed a hold request for Modern Meat online via my local library. It may no longer be modern; I can only imagine that things have got much worse since then.
I can't lay claim for being as old as some people here, but I did see Meat on PBS circa 1977 or so. Since it seems to be more-or-less unavailable and most people probably haven't seen it, a brief description may be in order for the curious, or those few fanciers of bovine snuff films (sick b*stards
.) As it's been a few years, and I've only seen it once, my memory may be faulty.Meat is a film about slaughterhouses, basically. It shows (in black-and-white, thankfully) pretty much everything involved in turning a cow into a steak. And I mean everything. Then, it does the same for sheep (I'm reasonably sure it was sheep) though more quickly. It's strictly documentary, no propaganda points are made.
[PETA would LOVE this film, for their own reasons. PETA being the "Ethical" group, not People Eating Tasty Animals, which is entirely different.]
Types Of Salmon In The Northwest
in Pacific Northwest & Alaska: Cooking & Baking
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Just guessing here:
Probably not, especially if the flesh was orange/pink; steelhead meat gets it's color because they eat what the salmon eat (AFAIK).
This seems more likely, but I don't know if things are different in SoCal. Maybe they came from 'the tribes,' it's a long way to SoCal though. I doubt that I could tell farmed from wild if they weren't side-by-side for a direct comparison; I love salmon/steelhead, but don't eat it often enough to have a good sense-memory for the differences. Actually, I've never had wild steelhead, due to it's relative unavailability.
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Factoid (confirmations or denials welcome): Wild salmon and steelhead have orange/pink flesh due to their diet (shrimp?); farmed fish have color (canthaxanthan or other carotenoid - mamster?) added to their feed to give them their color; without the added color, they'd look just like any other fish.