basquecook

Well, I spent close to 45 days in China this year. I usually spend about a month for work but, this year was an exception.. I had some really interesting dinners and experiences there. I have written a blog about it on another website but, wanted to use this thread as sort of a best of. I am just a few nights back and am having trouble sleeping, might as well, take the time to organize some meals here. This meal was from my first night arriving in China back in Jan of last year. I flew to Shanghai, took a 5 hour car ride up to Zhangjuagang and had dinner right from the airport. Chief A restaurant in zhangjiagang First dish blew me away.. I love this type of crab. It is very expensive and certainly has a season around here. these were served cold with some type of wine sauce. So delicious. Next up durian in a flaky pasty.. The dorian was creamy and delicious. I must say i was rather nervous but, it was fantastic. I see signs all over the place with durian warnings. You can't bring it on planes or trains and they don't want you bringing in to most places. When cooked like this, it's rich and creamy. It's really wonderful. Lamb meatball soup with a ginger mushroom broth with these tiny little spicy pepper floating in it.. Chinese broccoli: Head on sweet little shrimp: The only dish that seemed familiar to me: And finally, this incredibly spicy frog stew. Lots of mung beans, frogs legs,they were from special black frogs, there were fresh green peppercorns still on the branch, peppers, sour string beans and sichuan peppercorns.. This was phenomenal.

looks really nice Franci. What are you thoughts on SV? How long did it go, did you marinade, how did you finish it.

the only thing I can think of is, if you are doing everything else right is, maybe it's the brine. If you literally are taking the chicken out of the fridge, drying it, flouring it, resting it, dipping in egg and bread crumbs, then, the only thing you are doing differently is one of two things. You haven't described the brine and you keep saying dusting of flour. Maybe this dusting is too light. like, dip it, dredge it, coat the chicken in flour. Dusting sounds like a sprinkling. The flour when applied to the chicken and placed in the fridge will get tacky. It will stick to the chicken like a gluey substance. Brine, maybe skip the brine for now and work into a brine. Maybe it's three, your breadcrumbs. Are you using fresh made or at least bakery bought. Maybe it's the breading you are using. Make your own. Maybe the bread crumbs are too fine and make a shell. If you used large bread crumbs. I take a loaf or baguette, super market roll and rub it through a box grater. You maybe need a quarter loaf if you are making just a few. Maybe cut the chicken breast in half to make it less thick. Maybe don't crowd the pan.

I usually toss them. But, when I am down to the end, i break them open in my mouth

I am confused, you have never seen a recipe that calls for an outside layer of flour. Like, you have never soaked chicken in buttermilk and then tossed in season flour and deep fried? Or like, just tossed calamari rings right into flour and then fried.. Fe chef, I am assuming you are a sushi chef, if you are having issues with breading chicken. What I think it the best thing is to let it all sit together for awhile in the fridge once you have floured, egg'd and breadcrumb'd but, you said you have already tried that. Maybe your oil is not hot enough, what temp are you frying at? And you said you dried the chicken prior to putting the flour on.

I make my daughter a sandwich for lunch regularly. I switch it up, just to keep her on her toes.

Well after being on the road for like 20 days or so, in china and beautiful exotic chicago, i am happy to be home. First night back from China, I felt the need to hit up a Chinese Restaurant. My wife made roast pork last night. She brined the pork for three days in a brown ale, with brown sugar. She cooked it at 250 and then crisped the skin (which was fantastic) at 500 for the last little bit. I made tomato paste rice and steamed spinach with ginger, soy and garlic. Cracked it up and plated it. yeh, not the best shot but, you get the sense, the skin was pretty perfect too. rice and spinach Dinner with about another two meals of leftovers totaled $8.43.

Ha! I don't know about the food tasting better but, it's a lot easier to cook things for a long time in. I would hope to make something taste good in an easy bake oven. I have this huge copper stock pot that I keep on the fire for 48+ hours and I don't worry about it. Also the double boiler and the Carmel pots are where I really see a difference. But I like the cast iron enamel pots I have and the clay pots I cook with. I like everything. It's not a must but certainly nice to have. I definitely am fortunate with regards to having some pretty great cookware.

Came back from Paris on earlier this week. Had the inlaws over for dinner and a shove off for me as I leave for China this weekend. Made a cassoulet and then this ham thing we had at a street fair while there.. It was essentially ham in a whole grain buttery mustard sauce with a couple of potatoes.. The potatoes I added as they were left over from the potato we were making. Started with this super runny cheese and aged gouda (not really in keeping with authenticity but) some smuggled sausages, olives, cornichons and bread. I went to Murray's specifically for Canarcjal Cheese which is a super runny raw milk from Spain where you cut the top of the tom and stick a spoon in it but, this is the best they had. Everyone gets their rude awakening after coming back from a trip. Cassoulet with ducks sausage and duck, with a duck demi like stock. Served with a super oniony salad And my wife's super crispy gold egg potatoes. For dessert, individual Jean Georges Chocolate Lava cakes. This was the ham dish I was trying to recreate. Ham from 7 to 9 o clock. Potatoes and sausages on 1 to 630, some bean vegetable on the top. I did a good job and felt my ham was better as it their's was slightly dried out.

I had lunch and dinner there a few days ago. I can say with certainty, the lunch is a considerably more enjoyable. Prior to the huge cheese platter that they served for dessert, our dinner was a disappointment. They then served us 12 different kinds of cheese and all was forgiven. If you arrive after 4 for lunch or call the hotel the day of between 1-2 for dinner, you will have a good chance.

This recipe appealed to me when I came across it the other day. Just the photo of those potatoes had me http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Szekelyalmas-Pork-with-Apples-and-Cider-Cream-Sauce Székelyalmás

The steak was super juicy, it was wagyu. I just think that once the connective tissue or the marbling turned to liquid, there was no place for it to go.

Funny you should say that, the steak rested for 15 minutes and in that time, the juices came from the steak. I left it on the cutting board and when I came back, the juices had run down the cutting board and began to drip on the floor.. By the time I sliced it, the entire board was covered in that juice. I am assuming because it was wagyu and super juicy that this happened. But, yeh, I know not to cut into a steak like that!

Stopped by Japanese Premium Beef on Great Jones. Picked up a 1.35 lb steak for me and Miss K. Unfortunately, no photo of it precooked. Leaving for a couple of weeks so, emptying out the fridge. Mashed potatoes, no butter left so, rice, then just cream, salt and a little parm. Baby fennel with salt packed anchovies, garlic, olive oil, a shot of parm, and some wine. Awesome Wagyu beef,. It was the two of us. Little one does not like char. So, I cooked it on a flat top, then placed in an oven. brought it up to 130. I would have used the grill but, she does not like smoke yet. Since it was wagyu and super marbled, i felt it need a little to let the fat melt. I normally like it much more rare. The steak was crazy good.. I never really tell Miss K the different types of steak I buy. Nor does she realize the cost.. But, her reaction is real. She flipped over this. I flipped over this. It was missing the dry age but, still an exceptional piece of meat. Another test is the mashed potatoes. She barely touched her mashed potatoes until the steak was gone. And prior she was sitting with a big wooden spoon of potatoes waiting for dinner. This is my plate, she did got less fennel and more potatoes and of course, she got the center pieces. I poured some pan juices over the steak, a little salt and of course we took advantage of the pool of juice on the cutting board.

Damn, that's gorgeous

Our little one goes to a school that provides three options for lunch. You can either get a sandwich from Subway, a slice of pizza from the local pizza place, or one of 4 dishes from a Chinese Place. Like, beef and broccoli, or fried sesame chicken, a lo mein and something else and a can of soda. Because of this, she wants us to make her lunch every day. Unfortunately, there is no way to heat up anything so, she has to eat whatever we give her out of the fridge at the school. Her lunch normally consists of, a sandwich. Tuna, pbj, ham, roast beef, or turkey. We use either bread from the bakery or whole grain. For snack she gets, almonds, nori sheets, a small sandwich baggy with doritos, carrots and celery with peanut butter, a clementine, a half a banana. Not all but, she gets at least two of these things. Occasionally we will send he into school with sushi but, the kids will bug her as it's gross to them. Even just the nori sheets raise attention. For me and the wife, I usually bring lunch to work. Or more so, I do a shop for the week and put it in the fridge at my office. I buy these fruit containers for 2.99. It's pretty much the same price as if I were to make them at home. They last two days. I buy pistachios and almonds. I buy soy milk and cereal for the week. I buy deli meat and cheese and bread and keep it at work. I occasionally bring leftovers from Restaurants or Dinners I cook but, primarily, I like to eat leftovers at home for dinner where I transform them into something different. I have a roast pork sandwich in the fridge from Dinner last night, i have been struggling since this morning not to eat it. I am giving myself until 1. My wife's assistant's Chinese grandmother makes my wife lunch every day. I envy her. Most of my coworkers will head out and go to lunch.

Bought these really beautiful hen of woods mushrooms this weekend at Fort Greene Park.It weighed about a pound and it broke into two pieces. I put that in a pan with some herbs and butter, added a little white wine, then a little pasta water. Poured Rigatoni that had been cooked in with the mushroom. Then pasta water, then a little cream and some grated parm. This was very basic and delicious. I kept the mushrooms into fairly large pieces. Next I had browned a loin of pork. Then I removed the loin, added a half a bottle of wine, some garlic, paprika and water and let that cook. Well, prior to that, a few days ago, i brined the loin, then i removed the loin from the brine, covered in garlic and let that sit for a day or two. Then I added the loin back into the pot once the alcohol burned off, added clams, Portuguese Chorico and baked in the oven until the thermometer read 125 on the loin. Took the pot out of the oven and added chick peas. I also had roasted potatoes and garlic scapes. Made a white rice and added pickled cauliflower

Holy pescado

When I cook a steak, something I enjoy is it being cooked with wood. Something about the smoke I appreciate. Not saying it's the best or only way but, I prefer. If it's that really unctuous almost fermented piece of meat, I like it cooked in butter and a light crisp surface browning. I cooked a 3 lb ribeye this week. I cooked it about a thousand degrees over fire. They call it Pittsburg style when you char the outside and keep the inside around 128. I cooked it at the super hot temp for 3 minutes a side and finished in an oven with a thermometer. The more I know about cooking, the less I like to do it to my own food.

I guess the polenta replaces the mashed potatoes. You can treat the polenta like mashed and add butter or cream or marscapone. Though water and salt work just fine. The buttery tomato sauce acts as the condiment,(also ketchup replacement) the broccoli rabe is the green and the ricotta goes really well with everything. My wife is Sicilian or part Sicilian and her family has bowls of ricotta to pass around pretty much every time they serve a tomato sauce that doesn't have fish. So I love that idea. My wife won't eat ketchup so , tomato sauce was the replacement , tomato sauce means ricotta and so on. Thanks

I like to make my meatloaf like it's a big meatball. It's usually pork, veal and beef. A lot of chopped garlic, parsley, egg, fresh bread crumbs, some tomato sauce. But, what is different is how I serve it. I serve it with tomato sauce that has some butter in it, the meatloaf with a side of polenta, broccoli rabe and fresh ricotta cheese. I also make a rabbit meatloaf with a mustard glaze.

That's the place. It's a car ride and a whole process.. It wasn't too difficult and I am happier to be in the comfort of my home. I got home at 6 and we were eating by 715. Not to mention, it was probably 50 dollars cheaper staying home. With perhaps, 12 minutes of prep time.

I want to eat that steak dinner. Thanks all.. The wings, were tossed in franks wing sauce with a pad of butter. My favorite commercial buffalo wing sauce is from the anchor bar but, I haven't used that in years. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it had zero calories in the contents. Not that it was health food but, even still. The Frank's wing sauce does taste different than their regular sauce.

Hanging out solo with our daughter these last few nights. My wife is out of town.. She was adamant in her request for buffalo wings. Her favorite in town right now are at Dram Shop. She always asks to stay home for dinner but, when I asked her two days ago, if she wanted to go out or stay home, she paused for a moment. I detected a hint of doubt in my cooking abilities. She said, well, how are you going to cook them? Are they going to be the big pieces of chicken or the little wings? My response said, I am going to cook them they way they do at Dram Shop. She was also pretty concerned with the blue cheese dressing. I made sure to make it two days in advance in order for the flavors to meld properly.. The morning of, i placed the wings in a brine of salt water. My built in deep fryer need oil so, I decided to go the old fashion way. Flour the chicken. I think it's important to let the wings sit for at least an hour with the flour on. This way the flour becomes part of the skin.. Instead of an outer layer that all comes a part in one piece. Blue cheese and vegetables. Cooked them for around 7 minutes with the temp close to 400. They came out perfectly crispy, I tossed in sauce.. The first batch I got a little over zealous with the sauce. I adjusted. I cooked them 6 at a time which allowed us to eat them perfectly hot out of the fryer with each batch. I am not out of my mind, I just happened to have a small bag of chopped chives in my fridge left over from earlier this week. Wingers. The result, better than dram shop on the wings, she felt my blue cheese dressing tasted more like blue cheese than Dram and she preferred it to taste more like sour cream. Can't win them all.

Davidkeay, you will most likely be on the g train line and can take the train to Paisanos on smith. In a bind you can always head to Greene grape provisions.