huiray

I guess you can show everyone those when you do a blog. Looks like you may have never seen one of those things. Possible also that you can't conceive of an omelet which does not look like the pale French type and might be upset that there could be such a thing as a browned omelet or a non-neatly-folded one which is tasty. I've provided links for "Oh Chien", did you look at them? As for a food blog myself, perhaps one day - but in a sense I already do sort-of one on a regular basis on the "Lunch" thread where I explain in detail what I do and what I use in my meals. You might want to take a look. Keith_W has chimed in above about SE Asian omelets having lots of browning, so I am not just the only one claiming such a thing. I make them regularly too, such as for some of my fried rice dishes where I do the quick-fry omelet in a very hot pan with plenty of oil (NOT butter) to give that flat, browned (NOT burnt) omelet that one then cuts up into strips to scatter into the fried rice. Perhaps you have even eaten it without knowing it in a Chinese-origin restaurant when you had some kinds of fried rice. ;-)

Thank you. This looks much nicer to me than the un-browned one. :-)

Heh. I like to see some browning on my omelets. I don't personally care for the ultra-French type of omelets. I for one thought that Top Chef episode in the last season with Wolfgang Puck asking his gang of cheftestapants-to-be candidates to "make him an omelet" (without any other qualifications) to be both laughable and eyebrow-raising. I WISH someone had made a SE-Asian type omelet for him, or a bubbly-browned-flat omelet for him, or even something like Oh Chien (oyster omelet) for him, rather than defaulting to some approximation of a FRENCHIFIED omelet.

The non-rice biryani is interesting and looks tasty, yes - but I will confess that I would prefer to have rice in my biryani. I might call the barley-subbed dish by another name, but that's just me. BTW - are the plates you show (in general, not just the ones in this blog) the plates you eat...or do you do that Keith_W subterfuge of plating a teeny portion for the photo then loading it up after the photo? Just curious. Enquiring minds want to know and all that stuff. :-)

Gotta disagree with you there, I can easily make much better than Campbell's chicken noodle soup in my pressure cooker. ;D Oh? I'm sure your pressure cooker soup would be better in the absolute sense but there's no beating the plonking of that can of stuff + water into a bowl in the microwave when you're tired or cranky or sick or "just feel like it". Did you get a chance to have a look at the "soup thread(s)" ?

huiray- Didn't you stuff the blossoms at all? They sort of look full-ish after frying. If you did, what did you use? -Thanks. No, no stuffing was used. I just let them be. I supposed the air entrapped in the flowers just puffed out the flowers a bit after being "sealed in" by the batter coating. I removed the pistils from the bigger ones, left the smaller ones intact - all were check for bugs. :-)

2013-0526 Lunch Inspired by SobaAddict70’s proclivities and his current food blog on eG. • Young & tender kale, fresh from the Farmers’ Market (FM) – de-ribbed, chopped up, simmered in chicken stock to wilt and just a little more to soften. With a smashed chopped clove of garlic & a drizzle of EV olive oil added. • Courgettes/Baby zucchini from yesterday’s FM, flowers intact, dredged in a batter of all-purpose flour & corn starch (~ 1:1), water, one egg, some sea salt and water; deep-fried till golden-brown. Eaten as-is, clean flavor of the baby zucchini and flowers coming through. • Morels, cleaned & halved; and asparagus, sliced diagonally – both from yesterday’s FM. Simply sautéed in butter plus some sea salt, tossed in the pan w/ drained al dente fresh radiatore (from the FM) [Nicole-Taylor’s] cooked in salted water.

I like soups. There are too many I like to definitively name my "favorite soup". I come from a soup-drinking culture (Cantonese; even though my mother is Hakka). It seems just slightly odd when I have a meal without a soup of some kind, even if it is just a "kwun tong". Still, if you twisted my arm but agreed to limit a choice to a "readily prepared with minimal fuss everyday-type-of-soup" then I would say some form of HARM CHOY TONG (See here and here and here and here for examples - these are not definitive; and here for the sort of "pickled sour mustard" the sour mustard is. I know I'm missing posts where I described other variations of this. What I don't generally care for too much are the sort of cheesy, thickened Western-type soups, with a few exceptions. Thickened cream-types can be OK, such as cream of mushroom if it has additional mushrooms in it and so on. Broccoli & cheddar/cheese and its ilk is one type which I would not choose willingly. Most soups I prefer would be in the "broth-like" or "liquid-with-solids" types, which many Cantonese-types would be like (Duh). In contrast, something like "West Lake Soup" would be a type I disfavor, and this class would include overly-thickened Shark's Fin soup which would be a bad rendition anyway. Just in case you think I like only Chinese soups, I like lots of Western-cuisine soups - they just need to be relatively light, flavorful, clear in taste profile and not overly heavy or cheesy. (A clear, purely liquid (no solids) classically-prepared consommé intense in its flavor would be a wondrous thing) For that matter, when I am in the mood the classic Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup (from the can, with the requisite one can of water added) is *just perfect*. ;-)

Thanks, Soba. Nice blog over there too.

thanks folks. from top to bottom: peas with pancetta spaghetti with sea scallops and Jersey tomatoes Italian potato salad, with Bordeaux spinach, red onion and olives poached wild striped bass, tarragon butter sauce, spring vegetables "foursome" -- clockwise from top left: micro-tatsoi, with hazelnut vinaigrette; "quick"-preserved citrus; baked cippolini onion with green garlic; marinated olives insalata di zucchine e pomodoro fagiolini e patate Soba, how did you make the spaghetti & scallops & tomatoes dish? Any special steps?

Well, in the meanwhile will this do? :-)

Lovely thread/food eBlog, SobaAddict. Keith - no soba at home for you too? Hmm. I use soba at home on occasion. My favorite ones are the Japanese ones with yam included in the composition of the noodles. I often make various permutations on zarusoba or use them as the noodles in some soupy dish or other - see this post as an example.

Nice thread. Keith, what is your heat source? How do you tie it in to the PID controller? (I assume the pot of stock sat on your heat source and the chicken-with-the-string was simply placed into the stock) (BTW I did see your comment on the dinner thread before it was removed. Thanks.)

Looks good, Keith.

I think I'd prefer the leftover curry. :-)

i also do wonder.... try the KFC recipe... ie Korean Fried Chicken, for a change ETA: here's link for KFC recipe http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/10/korean-fried-chicken-recipe.html Heh. That particular recipe for KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) is interesting - it does a single deep-fry only, not the double deep-fry usual with KFC. One commentator asked if the use of vodka in the batter accounted for only one deep-fry being used but never got an answer from the author of the recipe. Hmm, the pic of the finished product also looks like it ended up with somewhat more fried batter covering than normal for KFC. The NYT article I linked to above talks about the process for KFC in a general way. Here're some other links (including the Saveur recipe) that may be of interest. (also compare the photos of the fried chicken pieces before the saucing with the photo in the seriouseats recipe) http://mothernaturesays.blogspot.com/2010/09/korean-fried-chicken-recipe.html http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Korean-Fried-Chicken http://www.slashfood.com/2007/02/09/midnight-snack-cold-korean-fried-chicken/ In any case the dips/sauces in these articles ought to provide alternatives for the "conventional" fried chicken wings the OP was asking about. :-)

I wonder about this fixation on sriracha sauce ("Rooster Sauce"!!) especially in the USA... I find it "meh". For that matter, are we talking about the Thai sriracha or the Californian sriracha?

@Patrickamory @Ann_T: Just for your interest. :-) Some of the HCR meals I've had, as reported here on eG, and what I did with leftovers: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143493-dinner-2012/page-97#entry1902527 http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143989-lunch-whatd-ya-have-2012/?view=findpost&p=1910934 http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143989-lunch-whatd-ya-have-2012/?view=findpost&p=1902572 http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143989-lunch-whatd-ya-have-2012/?view=findpost&p=1910938 http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143989-lunch-whatd-ya-have-2012/?view=findpost&p=1902840 Soba Addict has posted about his "pak chit kai" and Keith_W has posted about his HCR in recent times too. :-)

2013-0522 Lunch • Rice congee w/ ginger, shiitake mushrooms & pork spare ribs. Very generous julienned ginger was sautéed in peanut oil until it was beginning to brown. Short-cut (against the bone) pork spare ribs, cut into individual riblets, were added and sautéed. Water was added (fond deglazed) plus sea salt and the mixture simmered for about 40+ minutes. Sliced fresh shiitake mushrooms were added plus long-grain rice (Basmati) (rice : original water ~ 1 : 10 or so) and simmering continued till the desired consistency was reached. (~ ½ - ¾ hour or so more) Occasional stirring. Eaten dressed w/ chopped scallions, coriander leaves, deep fried shallots & preserved Tianjin cabbage (“Tung Choy”). -------------------------------------------------------- 2013-0523 Lunch • More of the congee left over from the previous day. • Lotus root soup – with sliced beef flank steak, sautéed garlic, Chinese jujubes, peanuts, sea salt, a dried salted cuttlefish. -------------------------------------------------------- 2013-0524 Lunch • Gulf shrimp in a spicy hot broth w/ vegetables.¶ • Steamed white rice (Basmati). ¶Chopped shallots & garlic were sautéed in peanut oil and crumbled belacan [North South brand] added in. Sour shrimp paste [Golden Boy brand] plus cut-up hot long chillies (not deseeded) followed after a short while and was stirred/sautéed in, followed by halved shallots. Water was added and the mix brought to a medium boil then simmered briefly. Green (white-streaked) (halved) and white Thai eggplants (whole) were added, followed by roughly chopped de-seeded hot long green chillies, white beech mushrooms, sliced white button mushrooms, small Lady’s Fingers (okra) (whole), juice of two large limes, a dose of fish sauce [Red Boat], peeled de-veined shrimp§ and finally trimmed Thai basil. Cooked just a very brief bit more. Oh, it was plenty hot. § Deheaded Gulf shrimp were peeled and deveined then soaked for a short while in “Kan Sui” (Potassium carbonate + sodium bicarbonate) [Koon Chun brand] diluted w/ water, then flushed repeatedly with cold water before adding to the cooking broth. Some of the stuff prepped:

Or this... http://food52.com/recipes/6795-hanoi-inspired-fried-chicken-wings or this... http://en.kokotaru.com/2009/05/fried-chicken-wings-vietnamese-style/ or this... http://www.thatssomichelle.com/2013/02/vietnamese-cilantro-lime-chicken-wings.html or this... http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2013/02/fish-sauce-wings-pok-pok-wings-recipe.html

Consider doing this: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/07/dining/07fried.html

To each their own. Did you try any HCR in Malaysia? The Singaporean HCR rice would indeed normally have more garlic - plus pandan leaves with some vendors. It has been described as "unctuous" with the chicken fat/oil and other seasonings by some food bloggers. As I mentioned before, many people in Malaysia like a less heavily-seasoned rice for their HCR. Did you try some in M'sia? As for the garlic in the poaching of the chicken - umm, just in case there was a misunderstanding - I didn't say I used any garlic at all in my post above, in fact. I said I used lots of GINGER. Still, I *have* put in a few cloves of garlic into the poaching stock before but that is relatively infrequent. Even when I cook the rice I would use garlic sparingly, if at all. It's in the garlic-soy sauce/condiment - a separate thing - where I would use lots of garlic, as it *is* a garlic sauce.

Regarding "Hainanese Chicken Rice" - this usually refers to a kind of chicken rice developed in Singapore and Malaysia (and Thailand, to a lesser extent) with roots in a chicken dish from Hainan ("Wenchang Chicken"). The type of chicken rice referred to as HCR has been exported back to Hainan Island in recent years. IMHO I don't think there is a single "best" way to cook HCR. It will also vary with the chicken (what kind, how big, etc) as well as one's preference for how the rice to accompany it is cooked. The chicken itself is essentially no different from what is known as "pak chit kai" or "pak cham kai" in Cantonese; it's the rice PLUS THE CONDIMENTS besides the chicken that is part of the totality of HCR and which also vary, with different localities and vendors having different variations as well - even apart from the variations on the chicken itself - that distinguish one from the other. Singapore prides itself on its HCR and thinks the Malaysian versions inferior. Folks from Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Ipoh) often prefer their own versions. The RICE in Singapore is usually much more savory and packed full of stuff (like lots of chicken fat and other stuff - simply making "chicken rice" with just the stock in which you cooked your ONE chicken is not going to cut it with most Singaporeans) whereas the rice in Penang, in particular, tends to be much more plain, much less savory. Dejah, did you notice this, or was your experience different? Singapore HCR vendors also tend to use more "mushy"-fleshed chickens, mostly from the French-type chickens commercially available there; whereas Malaysians tend to use what are called "ayam kampong" ("village chickens") which are a sort-of free-range-type of chicken with 'tougher' flesh but stronger chicken-y flavor. Foodie folks from Malaysia have been known to express a strong dislike for the HCR *chicken* in Singapore and vice-versa. :-) I myself alternate between cooking my chickens for HCR using a "constant low simmer" (10 min/lb plus 10 min more) versus a "medium boil" for 10 min or so then letting sit in the stock (fire turned off) for about 20-30 min (~4 lb bird) then sometimes bringing back to a boil again or not, depending on how much water I started out with and/or what the internal temp of the bird is in the thickest part of the thigh is. I don't always do the iced-water dunk - I *like* the extra gelatin that pools (and gels) under the chicken (on a plate) when I don't do the dunking whereas the dunking washes off a lot of this extra gelatin. In fact, I think I *don't* do it more often than I do. In any case, I use LOTS of smashed ginger. Lots. Did I mention I use lots of ginger? :-) For the rice, I often add in extra chicken fat (I get that from my local butcher in small tubs) into the poaching stock from the beginning - which helps to "coat" the chicken when it is done and removed from the stock, obviating the "oiling the skin" treatment afterwards - and this extra fat is scooped up (with the stock, plus some of the ginger pieces) for use in cooking the rice. I might sauté some garlic and extra ginger in the pot I use for cooking the rice (I cook my rice on the stove top) before adding the raw rice and tossing it before adding the stock + chicken fat + ginger. At other times I'll just simply use the poaching stock as-is. Depends on my mood. ;-) For sauces, I've made grated ginger - chopped scallion - HOT oil (peanut + veggie); chicken liver sauce; various chilli sauces with or without additional additives (vinegar. lime juice, other chilli sauces, etc), sautéed chopped smashed garlic quenched in the pan w/ a good soy sauce; etc. I normally reheat a portion of the poaching stock w/ some vegetable (usually leafy, but not always) to give a chicken broth with greenery in it to accompany the meal - although I have on rare occasions just had a bowl of the broth w/ a scattering of chopped scallions and/or coriander leaves in it too. I've reported on my HCR meals and what I've done with leftovers here on the older "dinner" threads and on the "lunch" thread.

Looks like the filming should start soon. http://eater.com/archives/2013/05/23/padmalakshmi-1.php

Oh, come on. Don't tell me you haven't at least muttered "F**k" under your breath at least on one occasion. :-) As for the rest of Mr. Simon's response, I encourage you to get beyond that "F*** Twitter" and read the rest of it.