patrickamory

December 29, 2022

For the history of chili I highly recommend reading John Thorne, "Serious Pig." It's deep and fascinating.

He would argue that beans were of course a presence at all times. The question is whether they went in the chili or were served on the side. Doubtless both happened.

For him, it all starts with the chiles, as the name of the dish suggests. Beyond that everything is improvisation. Meat, fat, and fire.

January 23, 2022

Just be willing to smoke up your kitchen. If you get your wok black and slick it will be good.

January 21, 2022

@liuzhou Wow.!

December 20, 2021

On 12/12/2021 at 8:36 PM, KennethT said:

That looks fantastic!

Thanks Kenneth. One of those early-in-the-pandemic pastes I made a ton of and now I have stuff in the freezer that needs to be used. Lost very little of its fragrance and depth.

Recipe from eatingthaifood dot com.

December 12, 2021

I froze a ton of southern Thai curry paste in the early days of the pandemic, and just defrosted for khua kling with chicken

November 12, 2021

Beautiful rack of lamb.

October 31, 2021

I love the Jewish version with caramelized onions and chicken fat. My mom used to make it when I was growing up.

October 19, 2021

To New Yorkers and visitors, please try Katsu-hama on E. 47 Street between Fifth & Madison. Sublime tonkatsu, chicken or pork. If you eat pork, I recommend the Berkshire.

October 18, 2021

Obe ata: my first attempt at a West African dish... and I've never eaten real West African food. So while it was delicious, I have little context for it! I can perceive similarities to elements of North African and Caribbean cuisines. I also have a feeling that the leftovers will improve overnight. The process as is interesting as the ingredients: roast an assemblage of vegetables and aromatics; blend; season and reduce.

I followed the Serious Eats recipe closely, albeit divided by 4. Only changes were subbing jalapenos for fresnos, increasing the Lion's curry powder slightly, and salting and browning the uncooked chicken in advance, and then adding it to finish in the sauce as it cooks down. I didn't have Mediterranean basil, so I used Thai, which matched very well. I passed a bowl of pounded grains of selim at the table.

The red palm oil flavor is the most unfamiliar element. Beyond that, it's a rich, sweet, spicy, braise. The Cameroon pepper is superb, smoky and dark, and I think essential to this dish. The recipe suggests that the heat level is negligible. I wouldn't call it that (allowing for the huge variation in heat in jalapenos and habaneros), but it's not very spicy. I have a feeling upping the capsaicin level might complement the sweetness of the roasted vegetables and palm oil better, so I will try that with the leftovers. But in any event, very good (and very chicken-y through the rich sauce).

June 8, 2019

On 6/5/2019 at 9:29 AM, weinoo said:

Sometimes I wonder about the freshness of some of their spices. But all in all, I like the shop a lot, though the prices aren't silly low like they were 10 years ago.

Mitch - I had the same concern. However I have since read that they turn over all their spices in 3 months. I have to admit that I have rarely bought anything that seemed old besides some hole-y crumbling bay leaves once (even the cashier seemed taken aback by how they looked - probably a signal I should have noticed).

But you do pay for the privilege compared to the neighboring shops. Well, and they also stock a much wider variety of spices.

April 2, 2016

There is only one food processor, right? the 14 - cup Cuisinart classic two button...

https://www.cuisinart.com/products/food_processors/dfp-14bcny.html

April 2, 2016

P.S. Don't ever buy or eat smelly fish. It won't hurt you but it also won't be tasty. Throw it out - life is too short.

April 2, 2016

12 hours ago, rotuts said:

you have to be near where the fish is caught. presumable BOS np longer catches fish.

Sadly, I think this is true, of one of the world's premiere cities that was built on fishing.

Boston Harbor is part of the Gulf of Maine, an enormous catch basin defined by Cape Cod, the underwater islands of Georges Bank and Browns Bank, and the coasts of New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. When the first European colonists arrived, the cod was so plentiful that early accounts described sailors scooping fish directly out of the water with nets.

It is now so overfished that "groundfish" as the Atlantic fisherman call them are essentially gone from inland areas, so far as commercial fisheries go. Even the tasty, tiny coldwater shrimp of the gulf have been depleted to the extent that fishing has been cut back or prohibited in recent years. Only the lobster fishery is sustainable in these waters now - which may or may not be a result of overfishing of other species (it could also have to do with warming waters, algae blooms, troubles relating to spawning fish not able to migrate upstream and return to the sea, pollution, or other factors - likely a combination of all of the above).

rotuts I realize that you're aware of all of the above! But it's worth reiterating that some of the world's finest fish came from Boston until recently: cod, haddock, halibut, mackerel, salmon - and it's so depressing that that's no longer the case.

Fortunately a few miles' journey north or south will still get you some of the best shellfish the world has to offer: lobster, peekytoe crab, mussels, Ipswich soft shell clams, Maine shrimp (if you're lucky), scallops. Consume it while it lasts...

February 8, 2016

rarerollingobject welcome back! great to see your awesome meals again.

Patrick S. that orange chicken looks totally decadent.

January 23, 2016

View from the terrace in Manhattan this afternoon. Quite a bit more snow has fallen since then, but it seems to be tapering off. Very nice to have all the streets closed to traffic.

I stocked up on wine, chicken and pork chops. And I'm making no-soak black beans right now, possibly with fried chicken later on if I feel up to it. (I got Marcella beans too! Trying to figure out what to do with them - thinking simple / salad is best... ?)

January 23, 2016

With regard to tasting menus, I think it has to do with what you want out of a meal. I find the profusion of courses and tastes to be overwhelming, and find a classically balanced meal with, say, 3 courses (if French or Italian) or a multitude of simultaneous yet complementary courses (as in the case of many Asian cuisines) to be not only more satisfying as a whole for my tastebuds, but also more conducive to conversation, atmosphere, conviviality and a sense of occasion. All of which I generally seek when dining out. As always, chacun à son goût & that's what makes life great, etc.

Steve, I know and appreciate Henry's End and have been going there for years. It has been a little while though. Since I have a friend who lives on Remsen Street now, maybe I'll return in the near future. Queen - I happen to have had a great meal there two months ago. The owner was charming and the scarpariello (always a litmus test for me at old-school Italian) really delicious. Maybe we lucked out?

Agreed that Bamonte's has had a bit of a renaissance in recent years. You have to choose carefully of course - they actually do a terrible veal piccata - but that massive, tender pork chop with hot & sweet vinegar peppers is one of my favorite meals in New York.

January 23, 2016

scubadoo yum.

I got a new shipment of Rancho Gordos yesterday and soaked a batch of Vaquero beans overnight with a celery stalk, some bay leaves and a couple of lightly crushed cloves of garlic.

This came out so well I'm going to post it as a recipe:

2/3 cup Vaquero beans, soaked overnight with plenty of water to cover, plus half a celery stalk, 3 bay leaves and 2 cloves garlic

1/4 onion, unpeeled, held together by root

half a fresh celery stalk

2 tsp salt + more to taste

1 tsp toasted ground Sichuan peppercorns

1 tsp powdered cayenne pepper, or more to taste

1 whole fresh cayenne chile, slit down the center

fresh ground pepper

1 tbs white vinegar

Place beans and other soaked ingredients plus soaking water in dutch oven, add onion and the fresh celery plus any necessary extra water to cover to 1-1 1/2 inches, bring to boil. Boil hard at rolling boil for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to active simmer; set timer for 60 minutes. Also set a kettle of water to boil and keep it at a simmer on the stove.

When you start to smell the beans over the aromatics, add salt, stir well, and continue to simmer - this will happen after 20-30 minutes if the beans are relatively fresh. Add ground Sichuan peppercorns, powdered cayenne pepper and whole cayenne chile at this time. Keep cooking for a total of 60-90 minutes until beans are tender. Keep an eye on the liquid: if it reduces too much and the beans start to surface, add boiling water from the kettle, but not so much that you dilute the bean broth too much. Taste and adjust for seasoning, keeping in mind that salt will take a while to absorb into beans but that the salty liquid will also reduce. Getting the salting timing and amount right is the key to making this dish perfect.

When beans are tender, remove 1 cup or so with whatever comes with it and whizz with stick blender and add back in to thicken. Add the vinegar.

When the taste and tenderness seems just right, remove beans from heat and allow to sit for 30-40 minutes off the heat for the flavors to knit.

Remove the onion, garlic, bay leaves and chile with tongs, and serve over white rice, with plenty of fresh-ground pepper.

** Unlike some other varieties, these beans don't seem to require baking soda in the soaking or cooking to retain their shape **

The result is a rich, earthy, vinegary deep intensity - I ate all of this just by myself in one sitting and could have eaten more. I swear, this food could turn me into a vegan (and I am the least vegan person you will ever "meet," no pun intended).

January 23, 2016

Pan, I think I'm a little bit jaded, and there are many marvelous restaurants here that I can't abide because my job involves a lot of entertaining, often in lavish fashion, at the sorts of restaurants that get huge accolades for one thing or another - often some kind of taste sensation in huge variety, often a scene of one sort or another - but they are not complete dining experiences for me. I look at my posts above and they might come off as small-minded. So much of what I want when I dine out in New York is simply to be taken care of - of course the food must be delicious, but delicious food does not offset other qualities. You're an East Villager so you are in the heart of it - I know that when non-New Yorkers visit, they might want something totally different from what I do when I go out for a meal.

We'll see how it goes at Lupa.

Thanks.

January 23, 2016

Yeah, fair enough. I think I hate most of the fine-dining scene in NYC these days. I ate at La Grenouille this week and it was fantastic. If I could eat there every night for the rest of the year, I think I'd be happy.

I'm dining at Shuko this week and will report back on that. I'm also on the waiting list for the wine dinner at Lupa on Tuesday - will also report on that if it comes through. I was never was crazy about the vibe at Lupa unless I was seated in the back room, though the food was good - but this will be my first visit in about 5 years. The closely spaced tables and the noise are a complete vibekiller for me.

Omokase at the reopened Ushi Wakamaru in Chelsea is excellent. I think that place was underrated when it was on Houston Street (and the comparatively cheap deals at the tables were some of the best sushi deals in the city - just great fish and great rice, and it worked even with table service).

Il Buco original location remains one of my favorite restaurants in the city, even if the menu is somewhat ossified. The food is more original and probably more original at Alimentari, but the communal tables and deafening atmosphere are a complete turnoff.

Other places? For actual eating-out dinners, I'll happily eat at Diner, Il Mulino, Acme, The Four Seasons, Donohue's, Bamonte's, Queen, Bobby Van's 46th street (mundane surroundings but generally supreme steak), Luger's when it's good (unfortunately up and down, though when it's up it's the best), Ssäm Bar, Takashi, Gene's, Le Perigord. Of course add less casual places and the list explodes into dozens of spots.

I know I come off as a naysayer, but there are three things I really have zero interest in: (a) tasting menus, (b) the noisy, "happening" atmosphere and (c) anything that the Major Food Group are involved in. I want to be coddled, quiet, left alone to enjoy the food that I have chosen, and not lectured during supper. That does tend to rule out 90% of the current faves. A tasting menu - man am I over that. With wine pairings - even worse!

January 22, 2016

Great meals everyone!

Kim Shook that is a beautiful loaf of bread. I want it now.

liamsaunt wonderful sandwiches. If I could only have one type of meal for the rest of my life it would be sandwiches.

huiray and sartoric I am ready to try that chicken recipe. Just wait - it will be posted here.

January 18, 2016

Haha number 4 of course! But I do love the McChicken.

That "Next" concept sounds like yet another dumbass move on the part of corporate... nobody is ever going to want to go to McDonald's for quasi-upscale (or even quasi-low-middlescale) dining. The whole point of McDonald's is cheap, tasty, probably unhealthy, probably drenched in MSG, fast food! Get back to doing that right and they could recapture a swathe of the market.

Losing the red and yellow... jeessh....

January 18, 2016

weinoo what bucatini recipe do you use... where do you get your guanciale?

January 18, 2016

Here are some prep photos from the chicken with apricots.

I think people underestimate the amount of time and attention it takes to properly "brown-fry" onions for Indian dishes... I know I have! This was two pounds of onion, and it was a good half-hour of stirring before it compacted down to the caramelized mess you see in the third photo.

The whole spices are ground and divided in half - half are used to marinate the chicken, the other half, in a typically Indian move, are sauteed with the onions.

January 18, 2016

Prep for the dal, using this recipe. I will say - remember to add a little oil to the dal in the pressure cooker because it will foam up like any bean (I forgot!). From another recipe, I gathered the info to rinse the dal well and soak it for 30 minutes, and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes with a natural release. I used the soaking water.

I think this is the best dal I've ever eaten, highly recommended... btw that is a cayenne chile in there - I didn't have a green Indian chile. Other than that I followed the recipe to the letter.