huiray

Patagonian toothfish ("Chilean Sea Bass") steamed Cantonese-style. A 1.5 lb fillet cut into two (the other half kept), the half-piece split into two and the larger piece slit in the middle. Dressed w/ ginger, scallions, rice bran oil, salt; then simply steamed till just done (It takes just a few scant minutes). The fish pieces were retrieved (all other solids & liquids discarded), plated, dressed w/ fresh scallions & ginger & a sauce of hot rice bran oil quenched w/ a mixture of (double-fermented soy sauce, water, rock sugar, ground white pepper, good Shaohsing wine) poured over. Stir-fried lettuces w/ garlic and quenched w/ a sauce. Green romaine [Silverthorn Farm], red romaine & green leaf [both Van Antwerp Farm], hot oil, garlic; quench w/ a mixture of (oyster sauce, hon-mirin, sesame oil, dash of fish sauce, water). Eaten with several bowls of white rice. On the way there: Fish almost all gone... And afterwards, fresh longans. No, I didn't eat all of them. :-)

Top Chef Season 14 in Charleston - filming is currently ongoing. Some links courtesy of posters on another forum: http://islandconnectionnews.com/top-chef-comes-kiawah/ http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/Eat/archives/2016/04/20/top-chef-to-begin-filming-mid-may http://www.postandcourier.com/20160517/160519678/top-chef-adjusts-to-small-town-living-in-charleston https://twitter.com/LauraPavlides/status/733081836725915648

Wilted baby spinach & baby Red Russian kale, hard-boiled Black Silkie eggs, generous vinaigrette sauce. Sauce: Country Dijon mustard [Grey Poupon], AgroDolce Bianco Delizia Estense, ground black pepper, sea salt, cane sugar, Arbequina EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch]. ETA: In case you are wondering – yes, I intentionally made the yolks hard enough to crumble into the warm spinach & sauce, and slicing the eggs thinly aided that. Texture contrast btw the nicely gooey sauce & the egg yolks partially crumbled in with chopsticks was intended. Morels, asparagus, Andouille, pasta. Medium-hot pan & EV oil (Arbosana [Calif. O. R.]), sliced garlic (Siberian Red [Middlefork Farm]), sliced Andouille sausage [Smoking Goose, via Goose the Market], thyme sprigs, rinsed trimmed morels [from AnnaBelle's Garden], asparagus tips [Daily Farms], just-cooked spaghetti [Rustichella d'Abruzzo], plucked parsley leaves. Fold everything in on heat. Serve.

Some nice amaranth (莧菜) [from Asia Mart]. Just a couple of the bushier plants in a large bunch. Amaranth stir-fried w/ garlic & dried shrimp (re-softened first). Amaranth & fish ball soup. Chicken broth, bit of extra oil, chopped garlic, fish balls [Venus], simmer; trimmed amaranth stems, then amaranth leaves on tender stems barely wilted in. Fried rice. Rice bran oil, chopped garlic, chopped scallions (lots), trimmed baby broccoli [Earthly Delights, BRFM], some kosher salt, two "normal" eggs [Schacht Farm] plus two Black Silkie eggs [local; from East Asia Market], two-day-old white rice. Plus some cherries. :-)

Thanks, all. For myself I have no set way to poach chicken; it depends on what I'm making and which cuisine (European vs E/SE Asian, for example) it is in. I've done it using the constant-simmer way and the bring-to-boil-then-turn-the-heat-off way with whole chickens. Length of time depends on the size of the chicken and what kind it is. Hainanese-style chicken (equivalent to "pak cham kai" or "pak chit kai') is done either way too; and in this case lots of ginger go into the poaching stock. The b-t-b-t-t-t-h-o way is done in Chinese cuisine too. A hard simmer/low boil vs bare simmer also matters, of course. Chicken pieces in a European-style dish I might do either half-submerged (covered; with turning over) in a flavored/herbed stock w/ or w/o wine or submerged; chicken pieces poached in broth or water which becomes soup is done completely submerged. And so on. With the whole-chicken poaching yes, the poaching liquid then becomes the "stock" for soup (e.g. in Hainanese chicken, as mentioned) and for cooking the rice. I've posted on various renditions of this in the meal threads/topics over the years. (Traditionally, in restaurants, the poaching stock would be held for poaching the next chicken, and the next, and the next...topping up as needed as it evaporated down...resulting in an eventual very flavorful stock and flavorful chickens too. The rice and soup are cooked using another chicken stock.)

Heh. HEH. :-D

Neat! How long did you poach the chicken for? When you poach chicken do you normally do it at constant heat (simmer) or do you bring it up to simmer then shut the heat off and let the chicken sit in the water? For how long? Interested in what others do when they "poach" chicken.

Picked up some really long (mostly) thin asparagus [Silverthorn Farm; BRFM], teeny baby Red Russian kale [Full Hand Farm; BRFM]; and spring king bolete from Oregon (Boletus rex-veris) (see here too) [via Annabelle's Garden]. The asparagus on the right of the pic were about a foot long. The boletes were around 3-4 inches tall. Boletes & asparagus w/ pappardelle. Some of the boletes were sliced up, sautéed in Arbequina EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch], Maldon salt & black pepper; trimmed skinny asparagus (see above) added, everything tossed around; then just-cooked Cipriani pappardelle added in plus some of the pasta water and everything folded in on heat. Served. Plus lots of salad. Baby Red Russian kale, baby broccoli [Earthly Delights; BRFM], green romaine [Silverthorn Farm; BRFM], Red Butter lettuce & Green Leaf lettuce [both Van Antwerp Farm; CFM]. Dressed & tossed with Arbosana EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch], 10-year Modena balsamic [Piazza Roma, via Zingerman's], Maldon sea salt, ground black pepper.

Fresh thick-cap Chinese mushrooms, white beech mushrooms, asparagus, "stir-fry" w/ garlic, sliced shallots & a bit of salt and Shaohsing wine. Cantonese roast duck [Asia Mart] w/ "kon lo mein". Skinny wonton noodles tossed w/ the duck-bean sauce included w/ the chopped-up duck, plus a little more oil & dash of this-and-that. Chopped scallions. More of the roast duck, reheated w/ skin partly crisped; with blanched flowering tatsoi [Farming Engineers] & steamed rice rolls ("chee cheong fun", 豬腸粉; containing dried shrimp & scallions) [Lee's Noodle] drizzled w/ a sweet-savory sauce (see below). Chopped scallions. Sauce – a mixture of oyster sauce [LKK], hoisin sauce [LKK], generous hon-mirin [Takara], bit of sesame oil [Dragonfly], good dash of double-fermented soy sauce [LKK], ground white pepper, water; poured into hot peanut oil and the mixture brought back to a simmer briefly.

Time for a bump up here! Today's batch. This time I used a mixture of two pastured chicken frames & 2 necks, plus a couple of stewing hens (non-pastured). All chopped up into pieces. I also gave the whole lot 3-4 whole-pot rinses w/ cold water before refilling and then bringing to a simmer. Got rid of a fair bit of the blood that way. (I like to chop lengthwise through the backbones) (I also generally don't do the "fei sui" (briefly boiling then washing) treatment with chicken). Salt, ginger. Skimmed at beginning. Simmered for about 8 hours.

Another pack of the "Preserved Green Vegetables & Duck Soup Flavor" non-fried ramen from here. This time augmented w/ pork balls [Venus], lots of additional preserved green vegetable** (I used pickled mustard a.k.a. "harm choy"/"syun choy") & chopped scallions. Tasty. ** The veggie that comes with the ramen pack is "ice vegetable" (雪菜), a form of pickled/preserved mustard. I used half of a pack of "harm choy" just like the one below: Opened, drained, halved, (the other half saved for another time - ziplock bag), rinsed under the tap for a couple of minutes while squeezing the stuff; then cut into slices and cooked w/ the seasonings from the ramen pack (more water added than last time) & pork balls before adding the rest. (p.s. "潮洲酸菜" as shown on the package = Teochew sour vegetable; but it is of course also in brine, as this type of vegetable always is in - so it might be more accurately called "harm syun choy" (salty sour vegetable), 鹹酸菜)

Paul, I've done it for 5-8 hours. Stovetop, at a simmer.

To me, a bowl of Phở without either tendon or tripe is simply deficient. Beef flank or beef balls etc can be omitted, but a bowl of Phở that has simply "rare beef slices" (equivalent to simply Phở bo) is just a shadow of the dish. IMO. YMMV of course. Also, to me, "crunchy" tendon (??) is undercooked tendon. I view a restaurant that serves me crunchy tendon (you mean chewy) in my bowl of phở as a place that didn't take the time to properly cook the tendons. Here's one example of Phở I made with tendon & tripe. https://forums.egullet.org/topic/150165-dinner-2014-part-7/?do=findComment&comment=2003969 There are others I've posted here on eG. I usually order phở đặc biệt when I eat out at a Viet restaurant and want a bowl of the stuff.

Thanks, sartoric!

KennethT, both pots look very good!! Congrats and happy eating. I know you will greatly enjoy your bounty. I confess I am still puzzled, however, that you do not seem to find this herb in NYC. Quite odd to me, even now, considering the number of Vietnamese folks and restaurants that are present in NYC and environs. But your growing it yourself fills the need for this for you. Annnddd...just to stir the pot... :-) ... here's what I got today from my usual local Chinese grocery, packaged on one of those styrofoam trays wrapped in cling-wrap (from a multitude of such packages) and which I unwrapped and spread out a bit. Their cost? US$1.29 for the lot. I also stuck some partially-denuded sprigs (leaving the leading-tops) of some "tougher" stems of a previous package of Vietnamese coriander I got into a glass of plain tap water and plonked it in a sunny place. Here's a pic of them after a bit: Cheers, huiray.

You left out one of the more important dishes – the soup right in the middle is...? The garlic sauce for the fish - what else was in it? Certainly there was much more than garlic, just from the look of the sauce. Steamed, or braised?

"Big bean sprouts" (soy bean sprouts). Baby/young kale in chicken broth. The sprouts (大豆芽菜) [East Asia Market] were simply stir-fried w/ garlic & trimmed scallions in peanut oil. The baby kale [Nading Farm] were refreshed in water, de-ribbed, chiffonaded, then simply wilted into chicken stock/broth and simmered for a minute or two. "Wild Mushroom Sausages". Red Yukon potatoes, sautéed shallots, parsley. Sliced shallots sautéed in EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch], sausages [Smoking Goose, small batch; via Goose the Market] (various mushrooms including porcini) added to pan & fried along; peeled thick-sliced Yukon Gold potatoes added in, tossed/stirred around; water added + some salt, simmered/cooked down (covered). Plated, chopped parsley scattered over.

Speaking for myself I would say cranberries don't really count. They're grown in wet medium, yes - "bogs", marshy places, with specific characteristics (like acidity) but they don't grow submerged in water or with water flowing above the level of the ground. In fact, much of the actual whole cranberries we buy in the supermarket etc are also dry harvested, where the berries MUST be completely dry, and the "bogs" are definitely NOT covered with water in the least. But water chestnuts (more specifically, Eleocharis dulcis) and water caltrops (more specifically, Trapa natans/bicornis/rossica)(Note that this is ALSO called "water chestnut") – why not? In particular, water caltrop plants grow floating in water so I would say they definitely qualify! Water caltrops are classified as "invasive" in North America, by the way – see here and here, for example. In a continuing vein I would then add WASABI to the list. Although they can also be grown in wet soil, the traditional and current large-scale (in Japan) cultivation of them involves running water flowing over the terrain and in many cases over the bottom parts of the plants as well.

Heh. Probably not. (Though it seems possible that something isn't) But the larger point was that those three articles don't talk about Zizania wild rice being used simply as food, but talks only about the medicinal benefits of eating it. The Baidu article on "paddy rice" (ordinary Oryza rice) (GoogTr), by comparison, is (as expected) very long and detailed, and also talks about the nutritional benefits of it but there doesn't seem to be a mention of medicinal benefits... :-) Yes, almost everything that I ate in Chinese cuisine growing up (when I was surrounded by my folks and aunts and older relatives and others who were acquainted with the "properties" of everything) would urge us to eat this or that because of the health benefits but one's primary reason for eating common items was as food, for the taste, texture, nutrition - and the supposed medicinal benefits were usually an afterthought - or the supposed healthful benefits were used to urge a recalcitrant eater to partake. Of course there is a huge category of Chinese cuisine dishes & items that are used for their medicinal/healing/tonic/etc properties as assigned in Chinese medicine but that a little different. Ascribing "sympathetic properties" to ingredients as an additional reason to eat something - e.g. eating pig brains improved one's own brains etc - is also slightly different. I loved double-boiled pig brain soup when I was young. I miss it - but I miss it because of the taste/texture/flavor, not because of its supposed healthful benefits. Yes, I've tried for years to get ahold of fresh pig brains - but in the West/USA butchers/pig farmers refuse to offer it for "health reasons" (HAHA!!) largely due to its perceived rapid deterioration and whatnot.

Well, there seem to be various entries (e.g. in Baidu (GoogleTranslation), or websites like this one (GoogTr) or this one (GooGTr)) that say "wild rice" (菰米) is indicated for medicinal purposes...Could some folks be buying and eating it still for those purposes? There's also this where the authors say: but their study also seems aimed at suggesting that wild rice be substituted for (?) normal rice or other carbs in modern urban Chinese lives to combat obesity etc etc – perhaps in some places this is being promoted more than in other places? OTOH and in contrast, the Baidu entry (GoogTr) on "water bamboo" a.k.a. 高笋 is voluminous. Hmm. There's also this, but that study seems directed towards wild forms of Oryza (which is standard rice) rather than Zizania... Perhaps Zizania wild rice is making a come-back in some parts of China? Is the "wild rice" being sold native-grown (i.e. Zizania latifolia) or is it imported (North American?)?

Fish congee with stuff. Sliced wild cod fillet (sliced diagonally) marinated w/ good Shaohsing wine, a dash of double fermented soy sauce [LKK], generous ground white pepper, some sesame oil [Dragonfly]. Reserved. Long grain rice simmered in water (roughly 1:9 starting ratio), covered, w/ smashed ginger (3-4 inches worth, cut into thick rounds first) for about ¾ - 1 hour till the desired consistency was reached. The fish fillets were added and gently folded in, with a tablespoon of fish sauce [Red Boat] as well, and the heat shut off less than a minute later. Bowled & lightly garnished. Garnishes & accompaniments (L-R): A type of salty/savory preserved mustard (雪菜王); chopped scallions & plucked coriander leaves; finely sliced scraped ginger; deep-fried crullers (yau char kwai, 油炸鬼 or 油炸粿; a.k.a. youtiau) [Lucky Seasons] re-crisped in the oven before slicing; and, in the bowl, some Tianjin preserved cabbage (天津冬菜)(the brown stuff). Being additionally garnished & eaten.

Perhaps it might be useful to indicate which "Off-Topic" forum this came from. I am uncertain what the context of this exchange was since I don't readily "see" what the preceding posts were on whatever thread this came from. I don't know what stream this was split from - the mod note does not say which one, and a look at the off-topic sub-forum does not readily suggest which one this is. But -- has the poster ( @JohnT) looked at the various "meal" threads where lotus root soups, for example, have been reported on repeatedly? There have been many posts about lotus root soup on the dinner/lunch/etc threads, for example. But perhaps the member from SA did not notice them over the years? Nevertheless, I might also mention kangkong. One of the MOST COMMON vegetables eaten by E/SE Asian folks (=millions of people). A lot of commercial production of this no longer involves actual water (very damp soil suffices instead) but the traditional growing places were in flowing water. There have also been many posts here illustrating dishes with this "water vegetable". Regarding "standard" watercress – there is an old Chinese story (apocryphal, no doubt; related to me by my father) about a weak, starving man finding himself on the banks of a river and in desperation pulling and eating the plants growing in the water/soggy banks --- and wondrously becoming better. It was watercress, of course; and this was the story related to me when I was growing up.

Stuffed morels w/ tagliarelle. Morels [Annabelle's Garden] were stuffed w/ a mixture of ricotta cheese [Galbani], grated Parmigiano Reggiano, some Maldon salt, a bit of olive oil, chopped pine nuts, chopped morel stems, and plenty of chopped Western chives; then drizzled on the outside w/ Alziari olive oil and baked, putting pats of extra stuffing on top somewhere round about halfway through. Cipriani tagliarelle was cooked as usual then tossed with some butter [Sèvre & Belle] in the bowl containing remnants of the ricotta mixture. Chopped chives garnish. On the way there: The top ones were stuffed, the bottom smaller ones saved for another day. Plus a salad. Young spinach & baby kale [both from Nading Farm], ripped up; green asparagus [Daily Farm, at CFM]; parsley; Persian cucumber. Dressed & tossed w/ olive oil [Moulin Cornille (Fruité Noir), Maussane-les-Alpilles], AgroDolce Bianco Delizia Estense, Maldon salt, black pepper.

Luffa acutangula. As has also been mentioned, a widely used vegetable in E and SE Asian cuisines also. See the wikipedia article (embedded link above) for its many names. I've talked about this (a.k.a. 勝瓜 (sing1/sing3 gwaa1) (or also, 絲瓜 (si1 gwaa1); a.k.a. "angled loofah" and other names) on the grocery thread several times (see here for an example; scroll down); and also on the cooking threads repeatedly. I like this in soups, and occasionally stir-fries and a few other rare ways (for me). I usually take the ribs off (with a potato peeler; done in a minute or less) before slicing up and cooking. See here (scroll down), here, here, here, here for soup examples; and here, here, here for stir-fry examples. See here for another example of a stir-fry with angled loofah and pork and stuff.

Pork cheeks stir-fried w/ angled loofah, purple asparagus, young garlic and stuff. Eaten w/ white rice. Pork cheeks [from Goose the Market], sliced somewhat thinly against the grain. Medium-hot oil/pan, sliced young garlic (see here too), julienned ginger, chopped scallions - mostly the white parts; mixture fried for a bit till it just began to get golden. Sliced pork added, tossed/stirred around. A mixture of oyster sauce [LKK], fish sauce [Red Boat], dash of sesame oil [Dragonfly], ground white pepper, plus this-and-that added in. Stirred/tossed. Angled loofah (Luffa acutangula) [East Asia Market] de-ridged & sliced into sticks added in. Stirred. Splashes of water as needed. Sliced un-deseeded hot finger chillies [Patel Brothers] & sliced purple asparagus [Nading Farm] & the rest of the chopped scallions (mostly green parts) then went in, everything tossed around/covered/uncovered for a wee bit more. Served over rice w/ some of the sauce. (The purple color of the asparagus fades quite quickly) Pic of some of the ingredients. (Ignore the white beech mushrooms - I decided to leave them out)