patrickamory

Oddly I will say that as a child, I liked both of the things I now can't stand.

Not mourned by me anyway.

Two things are absolutely no-go: 1. broccoli (broccoli rabe and Chinese broccoli are fine) 2. peanut butter (peanuts are fine) Who knows.

Dry-fried slivers of beef from Land of Plenty:

Refrigerating olives makes them nasty - the texture becomes chalky and they lose flavor. The whole point of salting food was to preserve it. Granted, our homes are warmer than they were in pre-modern days, but olives will last weeks in a covered container on the counter. I'm ignoring many notes saying to refrigerate these days - anchovy jars sit out once opened too. I think it's just corporations covering their asses.

Grilled pork chops are our standby for uncomplicated meals. I use the Julia Child spice marinade - they just need an hour, and then a quick saute at 5 minutes a side, pan deglazed with vermouth. The key is to get them out when they're only just pink near the bone - 135F say.

OK Bruce. I'm inspired to cook a whole red snapper. That looks ridiculously good. (And the bean sprouts with pork seems like a perfect accompaniment.) Do you have access to great fresh seafood down in Maryland? We're both from New England and always find the NYC selection wanting in freshness, except when we strike it lucky.

Breast of lamb rolled and stuffed with chopped pistachios, apricots, barberries, dates, rosewater and saffron.

Hi Franci - Ah, you clearly know your five boroughs then. I'm sure your inlaws are well aware that there are two Chinatowns in Brooklyn, both expanding, in Sunset Park and Homecrest. There's an interesting thread about shopping for Chinese groceries in Sunset Park on chowhound here, which might prove useful: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/713313 Good luck and please report back!

Post your pics. There's room for every kind of food, and every kind of food photography. And your burgers look luscious.

Franci are you going to be in the city? Flushing is great but be aware that it's a bit of a hike from Manhattan. In NYC proper you could try the Korean Han Ah Reum supermarket on 32 St. between 5th and 6th in midtown, or better, in Chinatown, the Hong Kong Supermarket at Mott and Grand or the venerable Kam Man on Canal between Mott and Mulberry. Mulberry south of Canal has a number of Asian groceries, fish markets and butchers, as does Mott between Grand and Hester. Flushing is definitely the gold standard for the region, you just need to figure out your timing and transportation.

Oh man liuzhou that fried rice is enticing. Very intrigued by the single-head garlic - never seen that before.

Congratulations Steve. Well deserved!

I love my Togiharu Inox Steel Santoku. I've bought it as a present for 3 others and they've all loved it as well.

Pasta definitely seems to be the theme here. My default is puttanesca, I nearly always have the ingredients in the house. I find that the olives can be whatever so long as the anchovies and the tomatoes are good. I also recently found this orzo with sausage and peas and I think it's incredibly easy and satisfying. Hope things ease up for you Elaine. This time of year can be stressful.

I made char siu mainly from hzrt8w's recipe. And baby bok choy to balance it out.

radtek, I think manteca is just the word for lard in Mexico, and Armour labels it as such in Spanish. But proper manteca for cooking comes in plastic tupperware-like containers and is semi-liquid, brown with floating porky bits in it.

Orzo with sausage and peas

Thanks liuzhou - maybe I did - there was definitely excess liquid from the marinade (which was overnight). Cubes were about 1 in square so maybe too large. Anyway, I'll try it again. Thanks!

Liuzhou - thanks, it came out well, but a bit dry and chewy. I think I could have cut the cubes smaller, and probably removed from the wok just a couple minutes earlier - the pork went from pink in the middle to well done very fast. It could also have used a bit more salt. I boiled down the sauce with some flour and Shaoxing rice wine, but I don't think that added anything to it. Will definitely try again.

Yes! It would be interesting to get input for rendering for less neutral tasting fat. I'm thinking about Mexican lard, manteca, which is supposed to be brown and have porky bits in it, and is harder and harder to find in Manhattan (at least the parts where I live and work - even the Mexican grocers at Essex Street Market only sell blocks of homogenized Armour lard these days).

Further to this, I used 1 1/2 lbs of boneless pork loin and guessed the following proportions for the marinade: 2 tbs coriander seeds, crushed 3 cloves of garlic 1 tsp salt 1/4 cup olive oil juice of 1 1/2 lemons Marinating... we'll see how it turns out!

Third - I use the same Krups! It's a workhorse.

Liuzhou - very intrigued by that pork dish. What cut of pork do you use? Do I need further details on the recipe, or is it basically as you have supplied it?

OMG Bruce those ribs look amazing. What are those rubs?