patrickamory

Fish sauce: taste, region and recipe all play a role here. I used to use Golden Boy, Kamsa Loha-unchit's recommendation. Rich, skanky and dark. I then switched to Squid, much more commonly available, a bit more subtle and refined to my taste. However... someone recently gave me some Red Boat, recommended by Joe Blowe and KD1191 above. It's superlative. It's actually so delicious I could drink it straight from the bottle. The person who gave it to me suggested that it's like some extra-virgin olive oils that you would use on salads... it's more for finishing a dish, or perhaps preparing a nahm pla prik, than for cooking. However I used it in the recipe for chicken with lemongrass posted by hrtz8w, and that was delicious... now I'm not saying I've DBT'd it against Golden Boy or Squid in cooked dishes, but there you go. Another major vote for Red Boat (and yes, it's much more expensive, if you can find it. But man is it good.) I believe David Thompson includes instructions on making your own fish sauce btw...

kalypso that looks to die for.

Yes. That is imaginative and gorgeous, mm84321.

Chris, I think that looks delicious, thanks. I understand where liuzhou is coming from on the authenticity tip, but I have no doubt that I'd be able to eat two helpings of your salt and pepper chicken! Incidentally, it resembles a dish at an Americanized Chinese restaurant in NYC's Chinatown that is prepared with bone-in wings, definitely deep-fried but not breaded... I wonder if there is a continuity there. Impressed at your flipping technique as well. Thanks, I'll give a version of this a try.

Biblos is not bad. I think Karoun is superior.

I'm probably going to get slammed for this, but it's extremely hard to find great delicatessen in the city these days. Pastrami on rye at Katz's can't be beat (their brisket on club is pretty great too), but the hordes of tourists make it difficult to deal with at the best of times. Second Ave. Deli (now located on 33 St. between Third and Lex) isn't bad, though not up to what it used to be. Decent chopped liver. For Montreal-style (Jewish) smoked meat, I've heard Mile End is good. There's a location in Brooklyn, and a newer branch in the city on Bond just west of Lafayette. Now if you're going for fish, the best is still here. Either Russ & Daughters on Houston (takeout only), or Barney Greengrass on Columbus just north of 86th. Both heavenly for sturgeon, lox, nova, herring and everything else.

Heidi's recent post about fennel seeds reminded me of a favorite Madhur Jaffrey recipe for lamb curry with Kashmiri chiles. The cookbook (published in the '80s) says to substitute a mixture of cayenne and sweet paprika, but I seemed to remember seeing Kashmiri dried red chiles at Kalustyan's, and lo and behold they were were there. I deseeded, soaked and pureed them. This recjipe also requires soaking tamarind pulp. The dish definitely had more depth and a cinnamony-sweet intensity with the Kashimi chiles - I recommend it.

OMG Franci that must be a $1000 ham. I am SO jealous.

seabream - I got it in a can. But I have to say I've had less success with subsequent cans of Aroy-D. I now buy frozen blocks of grated coconut. Not as good as fresh, but better than canned. You don't get that powdery texture with the frozen stuff.

Try a Kashmiri lamb curry. Delectable.

mm84321 those mushrooms and foie gras look fantastic. my partner just harvested another 30 lbs of hen of the woods. (I know, it doesn't sound possible.)

robirdstx lovely looking carbonara.

Mjx - interesting, I think I've had the best shrimp in my life in Denmark! All tiny coldwater shrimp though - no big Gulf-style beasties.

Looks amazing! "Things on sticks." I love it. Also the lamb kababs..... amazing.

Umm... I meant an ethnic Chinese dish from Vietnam

Made this tonight. Pic in the dinner thread. Thanks hzrt8w!

The half-smokes look incredible, Kim! Today, I made hzrt8w's fascinating stir-fried chicken with lemongrass and fermented black beans, an ethnic Vietnamese dish from Vietnam. The picture doesn't doesn't do it justice - it's redolent of cracked white peppercorns, fish sauce and fermented beans, and very easy to prepare - I really recommend this.

Pasta with hen-of-the-woods picked from my mother-in-law's front yard this morning (thieves have already made off with most of it). The cheese is aged gouda.

An adaptation of Madhur Jaffrey's green beans with two mustards, an interesting fusion-y dish from Madhur Jaffrey's Cookbook. One of the mustards is dijon (here Irish mustard), mixed with lemon juice (lime in my case), salt, pepper and chile powder. The other mustard is whole yellow mustard seeds, which are popped tadka style in olive oil (!) along with slivers of garlic. The garlicky mustardy oil is then mixed in with the lemon-mustard sauce to produce a dressing, which you ladle over steamed green beans and serve as a cold salad. My other innovation was to add chunks of ham (in this case Black Forest ham from Schaller & Weber). This was one of my father's favorite dishes and always makes me think of him, especially because I own his copy of the cookbook and it always falls open to this page. And served with more leftovers of janeer's incredible baked beans, I highly recommend this, it just keeps improving in the fridge too!

Alas, I live in one of the most whitebread neighborhoods in NYC. 3 supermarkets and multiple Italian specialty stores but no salt pork. And I work in the Village... no better, too upscale. Even finding dark molasses is not easy (I used Grandma's Robust, it turned out well). I think the combo of homemade and pancetta worked well though! (edit: and definitely better and better - tonight was my second night with it. the rest will be gone by tomorrow. have not tried the sandwich yet.)

I made janeer's recipe on Sunday but only was able to eat it today. Simply phenomenal - the best baked beans I've ever had, and one of my favorite dishes I've made, period. This hits some special spots for me - traditional New England cooking that hearkens back to my childhood, a combination of sweet and savory flavors, and a recent fascination with dried legumes. I make my own salt pork and had about half a pound in the freezer, on the fattier side. Storebought salt pork is impossible to find in NYC so I used pancetta. janeer's recipe calls for lean salt pork so I think the ultra leanness of the pancetta was balanced out by my quite fatty homemade stuff. Otherwise I followed her directions to the letter, even resisting the temptation to add some pimentón, my favorite spice of late - next time! Pictures of the whole process in the Dinner thread.

I made janeer's recipe for New England baked beans, pretty much to the letter, including using butterscotch beans (these ones from Purcell Farms). I supplemented my homemade salt pork with pancetta. More details in the baked beans thread. Be warned, this is a lengthy preparation, but worth it.

OMG that chicken looks incredible Dejah. Can you be more specific about the tandoori paste?

janeer, I'm doing your recipe today. If all goes well, it should be ready sometime between midnight and 1 AM Good to reheat tomorrow? Otherwise I'm having a late dinner.

I think I remember Paula saying not to reuse the old liquid...