percival

Oops! It's 5 in the morning. I fixed the edit. I mean pressure cooker. I have a crock pot, and I never use it. If I'm going to cook something forever, it's either going into the oven, or into the sous vide water bath.

Lemme go with Indy analogy. Playing it safe 3/4 of the race and pulling forward for a win at the end is a good strategy to win one race. But you won't win the season that way. To win an entire season, you need to place consistently at the top. What we want is winner who is a consistent winner, not a guy who wasn't the worst every week, and managed to eke it by on the last final race. That's not a champion. That's a shred gamesman/coward who got lucky once. Top Chef can gain a lot more hardcore cred by moving to a point system. E.g., first place gives 5 points, second 3, third 2. Quickfire gives 3 and some perk. The game goes regular halfway, then point totals begin to count -- lowest gets cut. The winner at the end is the guy who has the most points. For the finale, you can award 2X or 3X points. Of course this would never float in America. Maths iz harrd.

A slow cooker is slow. Sous vide is glacial. What you want is a pressure cooker. You can churn out fall-off-the-bone braised meats in under 30 minutes. 15 minutes for chicken. On the way home, pick up 1. a fresh protein, 2. a bitter green. 3 burners: A. Rice pilaf. Takes 15 minutes. Fluff and rest for 10 minutes. B. Brown chicken, then dump in 1/2 the usual amount of braising liquid you normally use. If you're doing something sweet/caramelized, do the sauce separately or it will burn. 15 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes, till the pressure lock drops. C. On the hottest burner, canola + a splash of sesame oil + green + crushed garlic + oyster sauce or soy sauce + a little water. Lid for 5 mins till wilted, toss for a few more till mostly dry. If you like shiny veggies à la chinoise, corn starch + water. If you want an A for effort, on the 4th burner: D. Get 2" of canola to 300. Cube a 14 oz. pack of firm tofu into 8, deep fry till they're french fry color but still soft on the inside, serve with soy and + sriracha + mayo dip. With a little bit more time, you can do something like a diced tomato + peas + napa cabbage + corn starch sauce for more veggies. Flash frozen peas and canned tomatoes work in a flash, and cabbage as a good long shelf life. Doable in 30 mins. I take longer cos I wash as I cook so there's less work after the meal.

1. Doneness is a function of thickness. Cut them roughly cube to equal size for equal cooking times. 2. Whether you simmer (my choice) or boil, do it at a consistent temp -- like mark which burner at which number -- so you have a good baseline. 3. I'd then do a trial run with some times, starting with a simmer in water for 15 minutes, then going for a taste every 5 minutes. They're done when they're no longer hard, but definitely not mushy. And times would definitely vary for different types of potatoes and squashes. Once you have times, just keep note and plop them in the broth like: A at T - 40 B at T - 35 C at T - 30 D at T - 15 E at T - 10 And you'll have perfect texture. You definitely don't want to go for an "all in the pot for 45 mins" strategy unless you're trying to beat the British at their mushy game. For your curry, I'd use russets, definitely not reds. They're waxy and not really starchy enough for curries. You want curry potatoes to break down a bit so the starch can thicken up the curry. You can boil waxies for an hour and they'd still not give you the same result. When I make Thai style curries, when the potatoes are done, the curry is done. They overcook and melt away into nothingness very quickly. If you're using meat, beef and pork go in the pot first, to brown and then for a long dip till nice and tender. As for seafood, five minutes, tops. They'll keep (over)cooking on the plate.

My toddler eats the the same food I do. The only stuff I don't give him is anything with nitrates or caffeine. He eats everything that I do: osso bucco, tripe, jellyfish, chicken feet, fermented shrimp paste, miso, tofu, blood cake, Tabasco, fish sauce, tendon, oyster sauce, hmm, trying to think of more barbaric cuisine.... He hates mac and cheese. Hates ketchup. Hates anything breaded, like chicken strips or fish sticks. He loves fish tacos, likes them with pico de gallo and raw cabbage and corn tortillas. He hates sweet anything, like fruit, ice cream, candy, etc. He'll drink a smoothie though. He'll drink anything. He loves noodles, rice, eggs, cheese, and bitter greens. Those are his favorites. Noodles + cheese? Nope. It's a textural thing. Pizza? Nope. Doesn't like the doughy bread, just eats the crusty end and the cheese. How gauche. And he's not yet 2. Take that wrench and give it a twirl. Oh and I dunno about him imitating peers. He's never been in day care. On play dates, he ignores children. They're of no interest for kids his age, generally.

That's about, er, 1.5cm slices? Something to chew on, texture, with moisture as well. I've always cut them that way. I've never understood paper thin cucumber -- the whole point is the crunchy wetness, no? Like pickles. The dressing was vinegar, sugar, and a splash of soy sauce. I left it in the fridge to soak for thirty minutes, so a good amount the liquid soaked into the pickles. The kombu was left over from making dashi, so it's not as strong and is there more for texture: kind of gooey and crunchy at the same time. The sesame has little flavor. It's there for mouth feel and looks. It's a textural dish. I reserved the sesame flavor for another dish: sesame oil in the daikon pickles.

I'm sure you can distinguish the difference, no doubt. =) I mean when you eat celery, you associate it with the memory of saltiness... Again, not sure where you're coming from. I've never found celery salty, either slightly or dominantly.

Societies as a whole are by nature conservative. And at society's fringes are its members who push and pull it to and fro. If you're trying to come up with a proposition, an argument, a pitch to sell normally conservative people risky foods, you first need to determine if it's possible at all with that target audience. There are risk averse people who will never sway from their sacred divine holy trinity of meat, potatoes, and milk. And there are people who would never be caught dead eating something so plebeian. If you're trying to sway the former, you just need to give them what they know in a different wrapper. If you're trying to sway the latter, you need an even more exotic wrapper. The product is the difference. The process is the same. You're getting caught up in the concept of "better food." That's a tough sell. Frankly, dining out is terrible for your health, period. The servings are absurdly huge, in particular meat and saturated fats. Most of the salt Americans get in their diet is from dining out -- far more salt than is needed and far more salt than is healthy. And this is universally across the board, from McDonald's to Michelin. And that's also all irrelevant. People don't pay big bucks to eat out for their health. They want novelty, convenience, entertainment, romance, surprise, education, diversion, etc. Pitch that. You're just trying to sell someone a different experience, not an "inherently better" experience.

Panko fried shrimp Shiitake and root vegetables simmered in dashi and ponzu Cucumber and kombu salad Pix from Saturday night's dinner that I mentioned a few posts up.

Kalbi if you can. Absolute fav way to have. Fruit/cola/soy sauce/chili/sesame/garlic/honey/onion marinade overnight, then grill. Though the Southern California Korean short rib cut -- long thin (1/2") strips, three rib bones intact -- is different than the traditional Korean cut -- one wide rib, meat sliced/rolled out in one thin strip. These cuts are different than the standard American cut -- one square cut rib, cut square with about 2" of meat. You wouldn't be able to do kalbi with those thick cuts.

Celery tastes salty? Maybe you're associating it with celery salt. I never use/can't stand the stuff (like Old Bay). I think the older it is, the sweeter it tastes. Younger celery, less green celery, has a "greener," cleaner taste. When I buy things like mangos or plums, I pick the hardest ones. I always buy under ripened ones cos they're just yuuuuuuuuuuuck when over ripened. Then again, I prefer to eat them under ripe anyway. Mushy mealy sweet, no thank you. How do you pick a ripe cantaloupe or honeydew? I never buy them -- she does. But her miss rate is too high, and she just throws an entire bad one away. (Can you ripen already cut melon?)

Okay. That's yet another assumption on your part. Chocolate is not as close to its source as raw cocoa bean. By your argument, eating a raw cocoa bean tastes better, inherently. Cheese is as close to its source, a dairy cow, as high fructose corn syrup is to an ear of GMO corn. I'd argue HFCS is a lot closer, because it takes even less time and resources to produce. I'm using corn from one batch, as opposed to say organically produced artisanal cheddar that is washed with assorted butters repeatedly over the course of a year. Oh, and the rennet used to make the cheddar doesn't come from that same animal that popped out the milk. It's probably harvested from non organic cattle sent to slaughter to make Big Macs. The more raw and unprocessed a food is, the closer to its natural source, equates its inherent goodness, and thus its taste. That's your argument. And then you stack up Fat Duck on a pedestal as an example of superlative "realness" -- possibly as far as one could get from raw without having to resort true molecular gastronomy: the processed foods you find in the supermarket. All the oohs and ohs about hydrocolloids as the next big thing -- you'll find the same level of science going in to make a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. The only real difference between ice cream at WD40 vs. Safeway is that for the price of one serving of Wiley ice cream, you could purchase 50 servings of Ben & Jerry's. That price difference, the exclusivity, and the implication that a meal served for one person versus a meal served for many, is what I think you actually mean by "real." Of course, this is not just your definition of real, but many people who can afford to pay 50 times more for food than most people. And I neither imply nor state that familiarity breeds preference. In fact, I'd say it's the opposite. Familiarity breeds contempt. You pay more for something if there's less of it. That's just economics. And paying more infers psychological value. People enjoy things more if they pay more for them -- at an actual, objective, measurable, physiological level. You hate McDonald's because it's everywhere you look, everywhere you go. You pay to go to St. Bart's so you can be surrounded by the un-McDonald's. You go to elBulli so you can say you went to elBulli. You eat d'Artagnon because you can call it d'Artagnon. Your food you consume is a brand, Keller no different than Colonel. Local just means you can say, "Yes. They're right over in Sonoma. They give lovely tours. What? You've never been? Oh you must..." Tisk, Tisk. I'm not talking about quality of product here. I'm talking about this thing you call "real" food. If you give good product -- measurably, objectively defined such as chicken that is not diseased, that is not decaying, that is chicken and not saline, that is actually food safe as opposed to "organic," that is actually fresh versus "local." If you want an object definition of better tasting food, search for measurable results that aren't tied to political, moral, fashionable whims. ~*~ As for food at a personal level, I believe that good food comes from solely two things: good product and good product handlers. Garbage in, garbage out. Keep the cleanest signal-to-noise ratio. You feed a cow its own ground up excrement and grandmother and you get a piece of meat that probably doesn't taste far off from what it's fed. Why do I believe this? Because cows taste like what they're fed. Why do I believe this? Because I can taste the difference between a grass fed cow versus a corn fed cow versus a cow feed beer, etc. Can I taste the difference between a cow that had a name versus a cow that came from China versus a cow that came from California? No. And I'd bet 9 out of 10 people couldn't, either. Give me the meat and I'll do the double blind taste test. But don't throw out "real" and "local" and "organic" as defensible proof without more backing than just a pair of clean hands and a Saab in the garage. Blumenthal's food is better than McDonald's food not because it is "real," or unreal. It's better because when you pay a chef with years of experience 30 times what a 16 year old kid with zero years of experience makes and tell them both, "do your job," guess which one unsurprisingly does a better job? Give Morimoto a McDonald's frozen fish filet, and give the 16 year old kid a kilo of ohtoro -- guess which one does a better job? My bet is on the one who can actually spell fillet and ohtoro. And just because Alice Waters might pay $10 a pound for artisinal "local" potatoes doesn't necessarily mean that she can make better tasting french fries with "real, organic" salt and "artisanal, sustainable" vegetable oil than that 16 year old kid with his frozen pre-processed fries from Azerbaijanistanlandia and an industrial vat of trans fat. Nothing is better than french fries for giving damning evidence to the argument that what separates great tasting food from horrendous food is proper process, process, process.

There is no way one can sharpen the tongue enough to draw blood. By this I mean you cannot use objectivity -- the current weapon chosen for the duel -- to actually convince someone else that his taste is wrong and yours is right. There is no more subjective sense than taste. Even language supports this. "A matter of taste" is the most whimsical, non-sensical, unpredictable, unobjective decision. Touch can be measured by sensitivity over an area. Smells are acute, unmistakable, a sense for danger and lust. Vision is measured by wavelengths, as is hearing. But taste -- people taste cilantro different, taste spiciness differently, and have no way to measure the actual amount of taste. There is no tablespoon for bitter. And there is no vocabulary, either. And there are supertasters. "Stuff made from real ingredients tastes better." The big fifty thousand pyramid sized question there is the definition of real. If I find a pregnant ox and suck on its teat for milk -- is that "real" food? What if it's from a cow instead -- is a cow more real?What about a cow selectively bred for milk? What if it's a cow that's the same as the last cow, even at a chromosonal level? What if it's from a wild cow I found one day while hiking that once was pregnant, but I locked it up and now keep milking it every morning with a machine? What if's not milk from a cow, but yak milk that has been partially digested by bacteria, and added to the same yak's blood? What if it's from a cow, actually the one I locked up, but I didn't find it -- I bought it from a company in China -- are Chinese cows real? What if I didn't buy the whole cow, but just bought the milk for one night -- is that one night real? What if I went back to that wild cow, sucked out some milk, let bacteria eat some of it, put it in a plastic bottle with more water and carbon dioxide, is that real? What if I then sold it, instead of drinking it myself? What if I took it out of a cow, shared it with some bacteria, dried it out, put it in a neat package, and sold it to you, would that be real? "Sure, that's my barny cheese." But if it's not a cow I'm milking, but an ear of corn, then it's corn syrup, not cheese. And if I share that corn syrup with some more bacteria, I have high fructose corn syrup. Which is more real, cheese or HFCS? Which is more real, milk or corn? If I cut up a chicken with a knife, bread the meat, and heat it in oil, I have a chicken nugget. If I cut up a chicken with a lot of really sharp knives that move very fast, bread -all- the chicken, and heat it in oil, I have a chicken nugget. Which is more real? If I eat a lot of raw pork, I might die from trichonosis. If I eat a lot of cured pork, I might die from cancer. If I eat a lot a lot of raw cocoa beans, I'll die. If I drink a lot a lot of coffee, I'll die. Which is more real? There are a lot of assumptions being made. "Inherent," "superior," "real." In regard to the question of taste, there is no way anyone can objectively back those up with anything other than a shovel. Better is easy: give someone a choice and have them taste. Subjectively better. Objectively? Never. And there are multiple massive ocean sized cans of worms I will not touch regarding the existence of anything being "objectively, inherently good."

Went to a Japantown street festival in San Jose that was sorely lacking in Japanese food, came home and made a Japanese themed weekend dinner in about an hour and a half, using stuff I just had lying around. I normally don't start cooking with any sort of menu in mind. It falls together as I'm digging througn the fridge and cupboards. There was a huge daikon I knew I had to get rid of, and I knew the potatoes in the garage were getting old, so I started off knowing I was going to make some braised root vegetable type dish, and some daikon pickle. I ended up with: Spinach Omiotsuke (salty/miso soup/dashi from scratch) Cucumber Konbu Salad (sour/raw) Shiitake Daikon Carrot Potato simmered in Dashi and Ponzu (sweet/braised/wish I had burdock root and konnyaku too) Spicy Sesame Daikon Pickles (bitter/spicy/quick pickle) Panko Fried Shrimp (savory/fried/dipped in mayo or my choice, mayo + sriracha + shoyu + togarashi shichimi) Steamed Rice Managed to get a classically Japanese balanced menu together, and only realized it as I was frying up the shrimp, the last thing to be made. Wish I had some nice bento serving trays to photograph it all together.

Eat often, in small quantities. Your mouth will get used to the taste before your mind will. My infant eats spicier food than his mom. They both eat the same food -- I do the cooking. She knows I put chili in the foood and then complains she it's too spicy. If I don't tell her, she usually doesn't notice. I've been upping the dosage over the years. In the beginning, she wouldn't even eat black pepper, saying it was too spicy. I use chili paste/sauce/etc. almost every day, in small amounts. It brightens dishes and helps to present flavors. Simply, spiciness is registered as burning/pain, and pain is a sensation to which you can easily build up a tolerance/resistence. I eat what most people consider ridiculously spicy food. For me, the pain is barely registering anymore. Chilis have a geeen, sour taste actually, if you can get past the heat.

Er, the ones I knew ran on nose candy, not coffee...

Bar Cali... Gin Midori Light Rum Limoncello Shouchuu (non-potato or it'd just be like vodka) Tequila Triple sec Vermouth Vodka Whisky

Surprised I had to dig so far down to find this thread. Iron Chef this season has been blah. Garces was a virtual no show. The next season should just replace him entirely. I just watched Battle Mahi Mahi. Garces was schooled by the competors. Garces goes first and his biggest piece of mahi mahi, the judges all say it tastes the least of the fish -- and mahimahi is already super bland. Every dish is Mexican inspired, in his comfort zone. The competitors' first dish, a slice of belly sashimi, the judges said said it was the first time all night they actually tasted the fish. And then each following dish, the judges said, "wow, this dish is better than the last." I really hope next season is better. They need a chef really up at the Batali, Morimoto level, not just some last one standing.

Yay for Amazon Prime. Found a copy of Japanese Country Cooking for a penny plus 3.99 shipping, delivered in two days. The book definitely features inaka (country) food. I'm pretty sure that Mingei Ya, whose owners supplied the recipes, would have never actually served these dishes the way they're written. First, they're extremely "rustic" -- one recipe is literally cut up some pork, deep fry, serve with soy sauce -- and the book is written by an American who spent some time in Japan, doesn't speak Japanese, but most importantly, is writing for an American audience that knows nothing of Japaanese food. He makes sweeping generalizations about the cuisine and makes substitutions accordingly. The overall tone is a bit condescending toward Japanese cuisine, but his approach seems spot on for a 60's American audience. Dashi, the mother stock in Japanese cuisine, made from kombu (dried kelp) and katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes), is cut. The author says it tastes like old fish, and subs with stock of any kind. And tells you not to try natto (fermented soy beans), which he only describes as "different" -- with quotes. He doesn't omit miso (femented soy bean paste), using it in half a dozen recipes, but doesn't exactly tell you what it is or how to make it/find it. It's a decent book if you already know Japanese food and are looking for some chou inaka ryouri, I dunno, for novelty sake, but if you have no idea what I just said, I'd suggest a newer, better Japanese food primer.

I crave the wild frog legs from Vietnam I had grilled with chili and salt. The only frog legs sold here are frozen giant monstrosities. The ones I had were small, half the size of chicken wings, and oh so tasty.

Often acid is the key to balancing a dish, but don't forget, acid's all about timing. If you want it, put it in the end. If you don't want it, put it in the beginning. It's why I cook my tomato sauces for hours. And lemon in the beginning and you have ceviche. Lemon in the end and you've got a bright note on your fatty sushi. Oh and no one's mentioned tasty phosphoric acid. All the cooking science books say the strongest food acid you have in your kitchen is lemon at ~2 pH. They're wrong. There's actually the phosphoric acid in things like Coca Cola and Dr. Pepper, commonly used to marinate kalbi.

How is corn syrup not natural? Bacterial enzymes eat corn and spit out sugar (glucose). Our bodies do the exact same thing. Bacterial enzymes are what turn milk into yogurt and cheese. Are they not natural? Cocaine is natural and organic. So is cyanide. Cyanide doesn't even need digesting or enzymes. It's naturally occurring in apples, mangoes, cassava, etc. It's also, you know, lethal in high dosages. Caffeine is also lethal in high dosages, and is natural and organic. Unlike cyanide and caffeine, eating a lot of of corn syrup isn't immediately lethal. A little bit of noludge iz a dangeris thing...

Just saw the thread. If they say miso and ponzu (Japanese words), why wouldn't they say shoyu? That's the Japanese word for soy sauce -- which is no different in manufacture between China or Japan. (Japan has some unique types of shoyu, but then again, so does China. But the plain 'ole soy bean and wheat black shoyu is the same.) There is a lot of egg with meat, I think primarily for a softer texture -- I think the same way how Chinese use corn starch on meat for texture. There are a lot of dishes called "xxx tsukimi" which is "xxx moon watching" -- and generally includes a raw egg. Egg yolk = moon. Mirin, miso, and ginger is very typical for a sauce. The most common combo would be reducing sake, mirin, and shoyu, and then adding whatever else for something other than sweet and salty, like ginger. It's the basis for teriyaki sauce -- real teriyaki sauce, not American-style that's sickly sweet and goopy with corn starch. Chicken w/Egg Yolk Sauce sounds like oyako donburi, if it's served atop rice. "Oyako" = "mother and child" = chicken and egg. Another common spin is tannin don. "Tannin" = "strangers" = beef and chicken (and egg). Sukiyaki is beef served dipped in raw egg. A raw egg over steamed rice is a typical -- was a typical -- centerpiece for breakfast. Omelettes in Japan are very oozy affairs, and the drier rolled up ones can be either salty, or very sweet. You don't know till you try -- they look identical, and served identically. Just the preference of chef. Chawanmushi is a very traditional savory egg custard served in a tea cup as an appetizer. You know you're in a real Japanese restaurant if your meal starts with chawanmushi. That's a lotta egg. Your book sounds traditional, not faddish. I don't think there were faddish Japanese -- or any ethnic faddish -- cookbooks in the early 70's. Misoshiru and omisoshiru are the same -- "o-" is an honorific prefix. It's just a more polite/feminine way of saying things. "Mi-" is also an honorific prefix. "Omiotsuke" is an extremely polite way of saying misoshiru, but is used often enough that it's not considered extremely polite anymore, ironically. (The same thing happened in English with the word "you." "You" is the polite form of "thou" and "thee" and was used so much, it became no longer polite -- and "thee" and "thou" stopped being used entirely.) As for the original topic of Japanese cook books, I've seen/have some old Japanese American ones like the local Japanese historical society's cookbook. The Japanese have been here for so long really -- 150+ years -- if you look at the book, it's more Betty Crocker than Tanaka Taro. You'll find as many meat loaf recipes as mochi recipes. As for ancient Japanese cookbooks from Japan in Japanese -- no idea.

"Only 26 percent of the nation’s adults eat vegetables three or more times a day." "Only 23 percent of meals include a vegetable." Those two statistics are not mutually exclusive. Some people can eat 3 or more servings of vegetables in only one meal per day, for instance. And if only 23 percent of meals include vegetables, it doesn't mean that said meals are spread equally throughout the population. Most of those meals would be eaten by those who are eating the veggies 3 or more times per day, leaving a very large number of people who eat closer to 0 veggies per day.

I grew up next to both the Kebler factory and the Anheuser Busch plant. Can't stand the smell of cookies, hops, beer.... Nothing smells as divine as freshly made rice, while it's still steaming. You wanna bury your face in it.