patrickamory

Jaymes unexpectedly sent me a present of another box of calamansi. I don't think either of the dishes I'm about to show here are orthodox Filipino cuisine, but she asked that I post them in the Filipino thread, so here they are. I will say her calamansi are fantastic, even better this time, and I do like to devour them fresh, rind and all. Here are the calamansi as they arrived: Spinach with calamansi dressing and dried shrimp: Chicken adobo. I used calamansi juice in place of most of the vinegar usually specified. Marinated overnight. So much fuller and fruitier than adobos I've made in the past using pure vinegar.

Just ordered two lbs of Bineshi from Amazon. Thanks Andie!

Thread left turn, but I wonder how much you can avoid the spice contamination problem by grinding your own whole spices?

I'm so sorry to read this. I very much enjoyed his blogs, bursting with happiness, humor and appreciation of life. My heart goes out to his family.

Kerry that sopa de lima actually looks delicious. I have to get back to that. Beans two ways (posted way after the fact). Both are RG - the white are cannellini, the black are midnights. For what it's worth, I think the white beans were some of the best I've ever had. Procedure and ingredients were generally the same for each, except that the whites were soaked for 4 hours and then simmered; the black were no-soak Russ Parsons method. I've subscribed to Russ's method for years. Now I'm wondering whether there is something to tradition.

Good to see you again, Blether! Somewhere back in the archives, V. Gautam (sp?) had some incredible posts on regional Indian ghees...

If you're near LA, Chili John's in Burbank does a mean Texas red.

Wow, weird. I love ghee and use it all the time, not just for Indian cooking. The nutty flavor is distinctively different from that of butter. Also, it lasts for months at room temperature and doesn't spoil. (I buy readymade - Vrindivan brand.)

Wapi yum! More details - what recipe for goulash? What cut of beef - chuck? Slow-cooked? And what kind of dried mushrooms? They almost look like cloud ear.

Yes, possibly I've been having luck because I've been making very simple stocks in the PC. The basic Chinese stock (Grace Young / Fucshia Dunlop) can have pork in it, scallions are optional, salt can be in it or not, it can be as simple as chicken and ginger, nothing else. It really is dynamite - I don't add a ton of water, so it is on the rich side - just 3/4 cup of it to a half cup of dried cannelini beans was revelatory. More in the DInner thread on that result (when I have a chance - probably not till next week - but one of the most successful bean dishes I've ever made).

Thanks for the suggestions guys - wild rice stuffing sounds great!

My main use for my pressure cooker is for stock. All my chicken stock is now made in the PC. I usually make Chinese style - just the whole chicken, broken down, some unpeeled ginger and scallions, cooked at high pressure for 45 minutes, slow release. It's perfect.

And now I've found out that my niece has just been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, so I'm going to be forced to use a gluten-free bread for stuffing (at least the one in the cavity, and yes, I insist on the stuffing in the cavity). It's enough to make one want to go up to Vermont for the week, rent a cabin, and just do the whole thing without the family.

Also watch out for unscrupulous or uneducated retailers selling Thai basil as holy basil. Kalustyan's in NYC (generally an excellent, if expensive, source, for Asian ingredients of all sorts) is a serial offender in this regard. Thai basil has big green leaves with a pinkish/purplish tint on the stems, and is very fragrant uncooked, with a minty aroma not dissimilar to Italian basil... less the resin-y aspects. It is bushy and robust and lasts for a long time in the fridge. Holy basil has small green leaves and very little fragrance until cooked, after which it yields an idiosyncratic, spicy, pepperminty taste that is not similar to anything else. You'll know when you have holy basil. It is not used as a garnish, like Thai basil, but rather as a stir-fry ingredient (even if only at the end of the preparation). It does not last long at all and is extremely fragile. One of the greatest things known to man, in my opinion!

Agree with Hassouni, there is no more difficult ingredient to keep than Thai holy basil. It has a very specific taste, it keeps for no longer than a day (48 hours max), is generally hard to find and hard to grow. Thai basil lasts much longer, and in a pinch you can substitute a combination of Mediterranean sweet basil and mint leaves. Regarding the other ingredients, one of the most important is coriander (cilantro) roots. If you find bunches of coriander with the roots intact, and you have no immediate use for the roots, sever them and freeze them. They'll last forever. Key ingredient.

I find it my yearly challenge to do an entirely traditional Thanksgiving dinner, the traditional preparation, and try to make it good. It's not easy, but I often succeed. There's something obscurely satisfying to me in preparing a heritage meal for a heritage holiday and making it good.

Shelby - NOT a terrible photo, but mouthwatering. Which Rancho Gordo beans did you use? I've been doing a bunch lately, will be posting a multi-bean post.

Kim - That was actually not meant to be a joke! (I had to scroll back to remember what I asked - recipe for ham and cheese. It's all in the details.) I hope both you and Mr. Kim are feeling better soon.

It's getting cooler and darker here so I pulled out the unglazed tagine and improvised a highly unauthentic chicken with habaneros, cayenne peppers and olives: Recipe: I gently warmed a quarter-cup of olive oil in the tagine over a flame tamer on medium heat. Sauteed minced garlic, minced orange habanero and minced medium-hot long Indian green chile until garlic changed color. Added a mixture of 1 tsp each ground cumin, black pepper, sweet paprika, and 1/2 tsp each ground Ceylonese cinnamon and Indian medium-hot dried red chiles, and sauteed briefly. Then a couple tablespoons tomato paste and sauteed for a bit. Added 3/4 cup hot water and 1/2 tsp salt, brought to a boil, added 3 chicken thighs and a big long green cayenne pepper, quartered the long way. Brought to a boil again, then covered simmered for one hour, turning chicken halfway, adding olives about 10 minutes before the end. Removed thighs and crisped them in 450-degree oven. Meanwhile removed olives and peppers from sauce, boiled it down in a saucepan, degreased. Returned everything to tagine for another 10-minute simmer, followed by 5 minutes sitting off heat, covered. I'd say it was a pretty unqualified success - I wish I'd had better olives and only added them at the end. And I think pimenton de la vera would have added a nice smokiness in place of, or in addition to, the sweet paprika. The interesting part is that the final result was not that spicy, even though that habanero packs a punch (and was supplemented by the other chiles) - the essential sour fruitiness of the habanero was there, but much of the sharp capsicum impact had dissipated somehow. Next time I'll use more! Final point - it is remarkable how the unglazed tagine adds a flavor of its own. Of course this is the whole point but I wonder whether sometimes I want the slow-cooking properties of earthenware without that particular flavor (which I can't quite pinpoint - some combination of the clay and all the dishes that have cooked in it previously). An excuse to buy a glazed tagine!

I've never been a fan.

Not to tangent-ize, but there are authentic Italian cuisines and authenic Italian-American cuisines. I completely agree, I want to eat good. This post was not meant to value one style over another though - I've had too many incredible versions of pasta in various idioms. That said, most of the pasta I cook is in the Hazan style.

I wanted to make spaghetti marinara they way you get it in old-school Italian red-sauce restaurants here in New York (a rapidly vanishing breed). Usually it's a side to a main course like veal piccata. I had a hunch that a transplant like Lidia might have the key to getting it right, so I tried her recipe here, twice. The first time I couldn't get my hard-earned real Italian pasta lessons out of my head (Marcella Hazan's strict instructions, Mario Batali yelling "the sauce is a CONDIMENT!!!"), and though it was tasty, it didn't taste like it does at Gene's or Frost. Too much pasta in relationship to the sauce, the pasta too al dente, too much olive oil. The second time, I cooked the pasta past al dente, and left it to the diners to toss it themselves. As per below, I also plated it more sloppily First time: Second time: Can I say... this dish is like crack. Highly recommended.

OMG mm. You are living the good life!

That was a fascinating piece. But was the brining and sous-vide really necessary? The Escoffier recipe surely doesn't require all that.

mm, what recipe did you use for the blanquette de veau? It's something I've always wanted to make.