TheCulinaryLibrary

I don't read this Dinner post too often for just this reason! It makes me hungry!

Amazing looking pomme souffle's there mm, so perfect and the photography is great

Reminded me of a whole orange cake I make (the sbs.com.au, food safari version) . Won't help with a large quantity but it's delish. http://www.theculinarylibrary.com/2013/05/whole-orange-and-almond-cake-recipe/

You've probably used all your oranges, tangerines and tangelos by now but I thought Sylvia's idea sounded interesting so made a couple of quick jars of preserved oranges using quartered thin skinned oranges, salt (about 3-4 tablespoons for a 1 pint jar), pure lemon juice. Only a month old but showing promise. Not salty-sour like preserved lemons but salty-sour-sweet. I'll leave them for another 5 months until the brine gets that lovely jelly around the fruit. Might be worth experimenting now just incase your friends innundate you next season. Wonder how a mixed lemon-orange-lime preserve would go?

My favourite white peppercorns are Sarawak White which come from Malaysian Borneo. They are very pale ( due to being soaked in mountain streams for 2 weeks), clean and have a rich-winey flavor and a big kick of heat. Black pepper has a big aroma and intense fragrance that it imparts to food and this takes a long cooking time before it begins to break down. White pepper has a delicate aroma and subtle fragrance but this breaks down quickly with cooking leaving just heat. For this reason white pepper is best suited for use after cooking, towards the end of cooking or with foods that cook very quickly where you want to add a subtle pepper flavor and heat but not substantially change the flavor of your food (which black pepper would do). Great with all fish, crustaceans & shellfish, veal, savory cream and egg dishes. For a white pepper that is not as hot as Sarawak I like Penja Pepper best ( also known as the Pearl of Cameroon). Penja are large and light tan in color rather than white and add a beautiful soft, subtle woody note, again best with already cooked foods or proteins that cook quickly. Great with deep fried salt and pepper dishes especially squid or tofu, omelets & scrambles, crab, crayfish/lobster, seared scallops.

Every now and then there is a truley beautiful post and this is one of them in my view! The images are inspiring and show a wealth of talent. I will definitely be trying some of these ideas. A couple of days ago I visited a friend who'd made a beautiful Niscoise salad for lunch. We ate ouside, high on a hill overlooking the sea and even though the Autumn weather was cool it felt like being transported to the Italian coast.

"Palm oil is extracted from the pulp of the fruit of the oil palm, and palm kernel oil from its seed. Palm oil has a reddish color due to its high beta-carotene content. Originally from western African countries, it has now expanded into Southeast Asia and has the lowest production cost of all major oils, making it an attractive export crop. Since 2006, Malaysia has the world’s largest oil palm plantation. Whilst free of cholesterol itself, because it is a saturated fat that solidifies at room temperature, it increases the body’s production of cholesterol. Its low cost makes it the base for Sunlight and Palmolive brand soaps and an everyday cooking oil in tropical Africa and Southeast Asia. Palm oil is high in nutrients, is monounsaturated, and, in its reddish form, adds natural color to fried foods such as potato. The red oil is refined, bleached, and deodorized for domestic use." Extract from, 'Alchemy of the Mortar & Pestle', Vol.1 of The Culinary Library. D & P Gramp, 2012.

SOY SAUCE: (Extract from 'Mastery of the Sauces'.) Fermented Soy beans + roasted wheat + aspergillus mold. There are many types and names for soy sauce including Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Pilipino, Taiwanese, Thai, Burmese, Malaysian, Korean and Singaporean with the Japanese company Kikkoman being the world’s largest producer. Soy sauce comes in both light and dark styles. Light Soy sauce is obtained from the first pressing of the fermented beans, is a lighter color, has a softer taste and is used as a dipping sauce and as a base for sauce making. Dark Soy is thicker and darker due to the addition of caramel and molasses, starch and sometimes MSG and is best used for cooking. Shoyu on the label means wheat and Tamari means wheat free. Like oils, Soy sauce can have first and second pressings or none at all as in the artificial soy sauces which are chemical brews. Quality is highly variable and graded as follows: Top/Best Quality: Traditional, artisan or craft made: traditional centuries old artisan recipes made with non GM whole soya beans, natural fermentations, chemical free, wood barrel ageing. Time to make: 18 months -3 years. Brands include Megachef, Clearspring, Osawa Orgainc Nama Shoyu unpasteurized, Eden Shoyu, Yamasa. The Tastes are complex, delicate but strong umami with mild aromas and fragrance. Average Quality: Naturally brewed: natural fermentation speeded up with high temperature heating in steel or plastic tanks for three+ months and the use of de-fatted soya protein meal rather than whole soya beans. When thin flakes of soya bean are percolated with a petroleum-based hexane solvent to extract its soya oil, the remaining by-product soya meal is the base used for naturally brewed soya sauce production. Time to make: 3-6 months. Colour is transparent light to medium amber with a sweet-salty flavour and delicate smell. Brands include Kikkoman, Pearl River Bridge, Lee Kim Keep. Avoid the naturally brewed brands with added caramel color, high added salt and hydrolyzed soy protein like La Choy and the Chinese Superior Brand. Poorest Quality: Non-brewed or artificial: Most soy sauces found on supermarket shelves labeled generically as “soy sauce”, either light or dark, are non-brewed, mass produced, cheap and nothing like traditional soy sauce. They use de-fatted soya flour and rapid acid hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid, high temperature, and high pressure to create hydrolysed vegetable protein (HVP). They then add corn syrup, salt, caramel, artificial preservatives, chemical thickeners and artificial flavourings. Time to make: 2-3 days. The toxic carcinogenic chemical 3-MCPD is sometimes a problem in non-brewed soya sauce. Colour is opaque, dark with an intense, overpowering chemical taste and strong smell. Due to possible health risks non-brewed soy sauce should not be given to children and we do not recommend its use. (Gramp, D & P. Mastery of the Sauces. June 2014 [D Gramp is eGullet member TheCulinaryLibrary])

No, cabbage, like lettuce and celery doesn't freeze well. Once you thaw it it's is limp, water-logged and oxidizes quickly which effects its color, smell and flavor.

BORDELAISE OR BORDEAUX SAUCE is Demi-glace sauce + red Bordeaux wine + shallots + bay + parsley + thyme. Bordelaise sauce is Burgundy sauce made with red Bordeaux wine instead of red Burgundy wine. BURGUNDY OR BOURGUIGNONNE SAUCE is Demi-glace sauce+ red Burgundy wine + shallots + bay + parsley + thyme. Bourguignonne sauce is Bordelaise sauce made with red Burgundy wine instead of red Bordeaux wine. There is nothing in either that won't freeze except if you are thinking of coating the meat with flour before browning it consider using arrowroot instead of corn flour as the coater because it won't breakdown when frozen and reheated as both cornflour and normal flour do.

Now that was brave! Good idea though to flavor pasta with something other than vegetable. Just wondering (on your soy sauce theme) if the type of soy would influence flavor? We recommend megachef or redboat brands but wondering if the sweet indonesian soy would work? Looking forward to reading about some more experimental pasta from you. Chili or chipotle maybe? P.S. Congratulations on your first post!

green papaya salad

Our Parsnip & Cauliflower with parsnip crisps. Big on flavor and thick. Good for cold weather

When you boil stock or soup some of the proteins denature and if not skimmed will sit in bubbles on the surface in a cloudy grey mass and eventually breakdown and disperse creating a cloudy soup with speckles. Skimming gives a clearer, cleaner look and better visual appeal. If you object to skimming, try eating a few spoonfuls and see it that changes your mind.

I did a blog post product review on this topic but as I'm based in Australia it relates to our brands. What was interesting was all the manufacturers I contacted told me their liquid products were their powder concentrates with water added. So given the energy footprint to store and move cartons compared to powders we use powder and add our own liquid. http://www.theculinarylibrary.com/category/by-ingredient/stock/

Crumble over some Queso Blanco, Panela or Queso Para Freir.

Thanks guys will check them all out

We use Tasmanian Mountain pepper (also known as Australian Black pepper) as a twist on Anton Mossiman's pepper steak sauce. Just crust fillet steaks with a mixture of roughly crushed mountain pepper & black peppercorns, cook on high heat in butter/oil mix, remove, deglaze pan with cognac, add pink & green whole peppercorns and a big splash of cream and stir till it just colors, add chopped tarragon & check the salt before spooning over steaks.

I've been searching for brands of Asian fish sauces trying to find the better quality ones to do a taste test and review. The Vietnamese Red Boat and Three Crab brands both seem to get excellent reviews. Does anyone have any suggestions?

You also don't mention what type of oil you used. Trying a higher smoke point oil, like rice bran safflower or peanut will give you extra time to heat the middle and not burn the edges.

assuming your pan distributes heat evenly and excess moisture drained from the mix its probably just uneven density but if you rectify this too much you wont get the super crispy edges

My favorite is Murray River Pink Flaked Salt, the soft-hearted peachy-pink colored salt from Australia's great Murray River Basin. Extracted from underground ancient brines containing sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron it also contains carotene secreted by saline algae which results in its colour which varies from pink to light apricot. This subterranean brine is a unique dinosaur age relic, millions of years old, which yields a large mild flake which melts instantly on the tongue due to its complex shape.It is a 3D hollow-stepped-tetragonal-pyramid crystal and for anyone who has read Masaru Emoto's book, The secret life of water, it doesn't get much better than this. It has multiple Australian Awards and two International awards to prove it is world class.

It never occurred to me that green mango would be easier for you to source than green papaya! It's the opposite here in Oz.

I've always though the cooking of roux was to get the flour taste out, expand their molecule size and color (or not) to change the 'nuttiness' of the flavor. I do mine on the stove top for a few minutes (time depending on color) and don't make mine too thick with the flour:butter ratio because I find it easier to whisk out any lumps this way. I mainly use roux for bechamel though and use beurre manie with gumbo.

That photo of the Malabar shrimp curry looks great! Makes me want to get a big spoon and dip it in.