Hassouni

Done

Liquor stores here are fairly well stocked, but we're having lots of trouble with this, as a bar. I suppose they're not quite as dependent on specific products as a boutique cocktail bar - For example, if our house bourbon is out, they can fill the gap with 20 other brands. For us: Shipping delays, product shortages, delivery issues, you name it. Our house cognac was discontinued, and now the replacement we chose for it is out of stock until god knows when. Our house gin (Hayman's) was held up making it across the pond. Don't even ask about Chartreuse - whether you want Green or Yellow, you can't have it depending on when you place your order. Special rum that we were getting allocated is taking MONTHS longer to arrive - partially hindered by the fact that a certain rum from Jamaica has to go to the West Coast before it comes to DC. Numerous products are just sitting in containers on the docks waiting to be loaded on to a ship. Meanwhile, the country's largest liquor distributor, Southern Glazer's routinely misses 1, 2, or even 3 weeks of orders.

It didn't come in a can, it came in vacuum sealed bag - and I would describe it as curdled rather than split, once heated

I bought some frozen coconut milk, the very minimally processed stuff made in Thailand sold at many East Asian supermarkets. It's 100% coconut milk, and the idea was to avoid the stabilizers etc added to pretty much all the canned brands. I tried cooking with it and it curdled. Is that normal? Any tricks I should know of?

As someone who used to shit on DDL for dosing all their rums, I'm VERY happy to report that they reformulated their recipes quite recently and removed most if not all the sugar. The new 15 year is fantastic and a bargain for what it is, and the 21 is delightful. The 12, which was the most heavily sugared, falls kind of flat, and I see why they added so much sugar to it in the past! Also they have a series of single still bottles that as far as I can tell are bone dry. I just wish they were higher than 40% ABV. Bottom line, Demerara Distillers/El Dorado is actually listening to the rum critics out there

@liuzhou, you're correct, the green ones are definitely more rare outside China, at least in the US. I only started seeing them recently and not frequently, which is a shame because I really like them! From what I remember eating around Chengdu a year and a half ago, mapodoufu and similar dishes (such as shuizhu niurou, "water-boiled" beef) used the red Sichuan pepper, whereas primarily seafood used green, but I'm sure it's more subtle than that.

Sort of - but the belly was taller than the pan it was in, so it was only somewhat immersed in lard. I feel like I spent more pork fat than I got out of it...very strange, I'd have expected a net surplus. Can't argue with the results though! I wish I had a photo

So after 3 hours on Steam Bake at 225, an overnight cool down, and about 20 mins on Conv. Bake at 475 and another 10 on broil, I got a true Chef John "fork don't lie" moment, with ridiculously crisp/crunchy skin and very tender, juicy belly meat. Success!

I use a wok spatula I've had for years, but almost every professional Chinese cooking video I've seen, they're using the ladle, so wondering what the major differences are apart from the obvious (that the ladle can hold liquid)

https://www.seriouseats.com/tacos-de-castacan-con-queso-pork-belly-cheese-tacos-recipe That's the recipe I'm after - Kenji says he roasts it at high heat (admittedly in a standard oven) for only 15-20 minutes to get crispy skin. Wondering if the 60 min steam roast that @Edward Dekker did at 350 will work for the first part - or maybe a lower temp for a bit longer? I just don't really have 7+ hours of free time before the event where I'm serving this

I'm getting ready to roast some pork belly and was wondering if anyone else had done it? Wondering also if the instructions above will yield a good result assuming a fatty enough belly?

Slices is right! Stiffer than Jell-o. I haven't used it in baking, think it'd complement coconut flour?

I'm also grain (and many other things) free now - last time I made gumbo, I just browned the trinity until it was very deep brown, not quite burnt but almost - then thickened a bit with glucomannan powder (aka konnyaku) - be advised a little goes a VERY VERY long way, a mere pinch mixed with water first will thicken as much as any roux. I also am a big okra fan so that helped to thicken the gumbo too. Results: not quite like a chocolate roux, but pretty delicious:

Yup, same thing

Thanks for the replies - will steam bake still get me the crispy crust?

CSO experts: I got a pork shoulder roast to make this recipe: https://thefoodcharlatan.com/cuban-mojo-marinated-pork-recipe/ (To summarize: marinate overnight, 30 mins at 425, then 80-90 mins at 375, pull when meat reaches 160) I followed it pretty much exactly in the CSO, except I had it on convection bake. In the second phase, after about 45 minutes at 375 it was looking VERY cooked, so I took the temperature and it was about 200! Fortunately it was still very tasty but definitely on the drier side. Was convection to blame? Should I have used steam bake for something like that? I was really hoping for crispy crust and juicy interior as in that blog recipe, but I haven't used my CSO for much except toast, cheesy things, and chicken, for which there are plenty of recipes here. Thanks!

I don't see resuming my old eating patterns ever again. I've decided this time it's for life. I've been getting very good results from it, and for a few months now have done nothing but obsess over the science and research of the physiology and biochemistry of the whole thing. I know way, way more now than I thought there was to know in the first place.

I'll have to check if my particular cooker has a time function rather than specific presets, but this looks like a good start!

Worthwhile beer, almost all cocktails*, and many ciders are out. Dry cider, dry wines, and neat spirits are perfectly fine - I'm just drinking a lot less overall though *I'll still micro-taste cocktails for my bar, and I'm doing some tests to determine the best low-carb sweetener for the holy trinity of rum, lime, and sugar. It's between allulose and erythritol, respectively, each bumped up to sucrose levels of sweetness with a bit of monkfruit, for anyone interested.

I've stopped eating all grains and pretty much all other carbohydrates (except non-starchy veg and a few fruits), but I have this rice cooker from my previous life: What other things can I make in such a machine? I see a lot of people say they make great hard boiled eggs, or steamed anything, or whatever, but I suspect those are for the more basic rice cookers with a non-sealing lid. Zojirushi's own website isn't much help - all its recipes are rice based! Anyone have any suggestions? Otherwise it's going to a friend's house.

Wow! !عفية عليك

I too find them more piney, but ALSO more citrusy - almost limey? The taste is very different - brighter, definitely more "top notes." From what I've seen, eaten, and read, in Sichuan food they're used a lot with fish - such as shuizhuyu ("water boiled" fish) or another classic sichuanese dish, fish with sour cabbage soup, suancaiyu? (I don't speak Chinese except for menu terms and a few other things, so I may have the name wrong). I believe they're used a fair amount with chicken, too. The red huajiao are still used for hot pot, water-boiled beef, mapodoufu, and many many other things! As for storage - I'm using both green and red huajiao acquired from a spice vendor in a wet market in Chengdu in 2019. I'm not sure if it's the lack of irradiation or heat treatment, but I've just kept them in their own ziplocks, not airtight, and as of the mapodoufu I made last night, they are STILL a damn sight better and fresher than anything I can get from my local Chinese supermarket in the US. Which is just as well, seeing as apparently I was sold a "jin" of each, which is 500g, e.g. a lot! I'm not sure what the deal with the Ma La Market ones is, and I've never tried them, but I'd be curious to know if they go through the same treatment that all the other stuff in the US gets. And if so, is it just that they're a much higher quality to begin with?

@weinoo, I kept my Baking Steel Griddle in the oven, and despite being seasoned, it rusted - I then found out gas ovens (which I have, or had...see below), release water vapor as a byproduct. Is your oven electric? Also, using said baking steel as a griddle to make tortillas and cranking the heat fried my oven controls (that were right behind the steel)...and two technicians' trips later, I need a new oven! Definitely springing for electric.

Please start!

Sure is!