Hassouni

Sorry to harp on the Absolut thing, but are they half-size bottles?

My dad is like this. Coffee fanatic, who will ONLY drink (and in fact will request) tea with Chinese food, I don't get it. I've often thought that introducing him to the espresso-like Iraqi tea will convert him but he's reluctant...

Borgstrom and Scotty Boy, what did you do with the bones and fat? Yours look lean and boneless (and delicious), much like the superb short ribs I had recently at Central in DC. Every time I've made them at home (braised conventionally), they've been very fatty, even after braising, and of course, with a bone.

I dunno. My water at home tastes pretty bad, and even the blackest roast made at home (in a French press, mind) is not as acrid and burnt tasting as Pike Place. At home I can easily drink 12 oz of coffee, but I struggle to drink half a Sbucks tall.

I don't know if it's just that Pike Place is over-roasted or it's something they do to it in brewing, but even nearly-black French roasts, when acquired for home use, while not my favorite, are still far more pleasant than S'bucks

Hear hear

Are the vodka bottles more durable? Also...karaage for breakfast, how intense!

Anna, I'm curious why you transfer fish sauce to the Absolut bottle...is it because fish sauce bottles are too tall to fit in most cupboards or fridges? By the way, your chili looks awesome!

MMM Niçoise. Agreed on anchovies being a must!

I have very little to add at this point, but by the far the biggest tip I can give for black tea is use boiling water. Really, truly boiling, like the kettle whistles and rages, bring your cup or teapot over to the kettle and pour while it's still on the heat. I have yet to find a commercial establishment in the US do this.

I grew up on tea, and coffee only became a recent taste acquisition (within the last 10 years, in my late teens). So that being said, tea will always hold a special place in my heart. As I wrote on my personal blog: So that being said, I do love coffee too, just not as much. I love the smell, I love the jolt it provides, and most of the time I like the taste. I'm not a fan of super dark roasts because to me they just taste like carbon (hello, Starbucks). In the US when I'm out somewhere I tend to order coffee, because most places here don't make tea right.

Does the Saran wrap not melt or do anything like that?

So does the double edge of the nakiri make it far less delicate? Are all single-bevel blades like the usuba, easy to chip and requiring greater precision?

what's the advantage to single bevel - sharper angle?

Last night, after getting glass stuck in the same foot whose ankle I sprained 24 hours earlier, I needed a strong-ass drink. A Pusser's old fashioned, as it turned out. A splash of 1:1 turbinado syrup, 3 dashes angostura, ice, and an unmeasured pour of Pusser's blue label. Excellent drink, followed when finished by a smaller splash of Smith & Cross on the remaining rocks (blasphemy, I know).

Re: Indian/Pakistani and whether it's a Pakistani term, consider this: The majority of Pakistanis are Punjabi, a language and region split between India and Pakistan, while the official language of Pakistan is Urdu, which developed in Delhi. I think the term karahi is used quite frequently in India as well.

Just as the thread title says - is there a difference between Demerara and turbinado sugars, and how are they different (in terms of production) than what's sold as "evaporated cane juice" - which always seems to be a lighter product?

So as a very happy multi-purpose user of a Tojiro DP 240mm gyutou, what might I use a nakiri for?

So I made this last night - lamb cubes, sliced onion, chiles, and tomato plus turmeric, salt, and chile powder mixed together in a pot and put on the stove at medium heat to steam in its own juices - did this for about 30-45 mins, at which point the meat was pretty tender and the vegetables greatly reduced and saucy - then added this to oil in a wok and had the basis for a proper lahori style lamb karahi with some yogurt, garam masala, and more chiles thrown in at the end.

It appears saffron.com is now selling Afghan saffron. I've never heard of this - if it's from NW Afghanistan, then thats a geo-cultural continuation of NE Iran, where the best saffron is grown - so maybe it's good?

I'm a serious devotee of Iranian saffron, and stock up whenever I'm in the Middle East, having bought it from Iranian merchants in Beirut and Dubai. The best stuff is called sargol (literally head/top of the flower), and is just the dark red tips of the threads. I use it in chicken marinades, in some chicken stews and north African-inspired tagine-type dishes, and in rice whenever I make it in the Iraqi/Iranian style - either plain, only when guests are over, or in more elaborate polow dishes (which I only know the Persian names of) - my favorite is zereshk polow, made with barberries (zereshk) and almonds cooked in butter and sugar which are sprinkled atop the rice. I've also put it in cardamom-flavored rice pudding - saffron and cardamom go exceedingly well together. I've used it before in red meat dishes, but I find the flavor gets lost. That being said, since my access to Iranian merchants is limited, I don't use very much at a time. I infused vodka with it once for a party, but the bitter, metallic tastes others have mentioned really get drawn out too much. Sure smells nice though....I think the smell of saffron is far more significant than its taste, especially when the smell of it on rice wafts through the air.

I have something sort of like that for home use, I want something for heavier commercial use.

This would be for a commercial establishment (that doesn't exist yet), and it would be for Russian/Turkish/Iraqi/Persian style tea (see my thread on Iraqi tea for more details). So basically, I need boiling water (not just hot, but over 200ºF) and a space to heat the teapot, either by steam (preferable), or on a hotplate as shown on the Turkish device. The Zojirushi electric kettle thing would be good for the water, but as far as the separate beverage dispenser goes, I would still need something to brew the tea on...it seems that dispenser requires the liquid it dispenses to be already made. Also, at these prices, I might as well just get a few samovars at $100-ish each. It'd just be nice to have a central hot water supply.

In Turkey, teahouses, restaurants, and cafes have a device for brewing and serving Turkish tea, called a çay kazanı (lit. tea cauldron), where the big tank holds boiling water with a spout to pour some off for each glass of tea, and the top has hotplates or vents for steam on which teapots are set to brew. There is often a hot plate on the side for making Turkish coffee as well, though that's not universal. They can range in size from able to hold one to four teapots. An example can be seen on this site: http://www.pimak.com/hazirlik-ekipmanlari/m024-m024.html Is there anything like this available in the States? Something that holds boiling water with a spout to release it, and has a heating element on top?

Echoed re frying the rice in oil (or butter) before adding water, and definitely salt. This goes for when I make basmati rice for all my Middle Eastern/Subcontinental dishes. For anything Asian east of India, I use either jasmine or Japanese rice, and I do not add salt or oil, because, to me, East Asian food tends to be much saltier - Middle Eastern and Indian food has no soy sauce, no fish sauce, no salted black beans, no miso, etc. It's worth noting that in Japanese onigiri (and sushi for that matter) the rice is salted, as there's a much higher proportion of rice to other ingredient. Although now that I think of it, salt is added after-cooking, whereas with basmati, I always add salt right from the beginning, often even soaking the rice in salt water.