huiray

So do I. But by the same token, when I have made deviations I myself say something like "based on" or comment on the deviation I have made - speaking personally, of course. Or call the dish by another name - like what itch22 mentioned in his/her post that Zafferano did. But hey, as you say, people are free to do whatever they like!

But of course. Thanks for the reply. As for "whatever takes your fancy" – true enough of course, too. Nevertheless, I tend to go along with what Maureen B. Fant talked about above - in this post. I've posted about Pasta carbonara in various places here on eG. I myself like to stick with guanciale, but have used other meats including pancetta and (in a recent example) Pancetta tesa which was irresistible when I saw it (see here).

What form of cured pork did you use? Do you have preferences for the cured pork?

You are mistaken. The mentions of various brands (including the one called "Ortiz") *does* address the original question. The preferred brands would have chunks of tuna, vs the "flakes" as the OP commented on, the flavor is there, and so on and so forth. People who have tried these brands know the characteristics of the brands and how they compare with the OP's complaint, as even the OP himself responded to in a post upthread.

Shrimp cheong fun (rice noodle rolls) [Kimbo] Steamed from frozen, then simply drizzled w/ light soy sauce & dressed w/ chopped scallions. Soup. Chicken broth, straw mushrooms, soft tofu, basil. Yes, basil was used as a vegetable, with trimmed quantities to match – tender stems and flower buds included.

Yes, I'd been getting it from Zingerman's as well but this year got it from Amazon for less money as you say. I laid in several cases of it. :-) (Mind you, I took advantage of Zingerman's Summer sale to stock up on other very nice stuff but that is another topic)

It's an old Cantonese technique. (Especially the discarding-steaming-liquids-seasonings bit)

Nope. Me too. Yup. :-)

Soup. Clams & wosun. Scrubbed littleneck clams [from Caplinger's] soaked in salted water for a while. Medium-hot pot w/ rice bran oil, julienned scraped ginger, trimmed & peeled wosun stems (celtuce) (see here), salt, the clams; then water, bring to simmer, add the wosun leaves, simmer till the clams start to open; add lots of fresh ground white pepper, simmer a minute more. Serve at once. Stir-fried kangkong. Trimmed & washed kangkong (water spinach, Ipomoea aquatica, etc) stir-fried w/ garlic, chopped Thai chillies, taucheo [Dragonfly] (this one; couple of tablespoons of the beans, somewhat smooshed up). Seasoning adjusted. Steamed halibut. Rinsed 1-lb piece of halibut [from Caplinger's] drizzled w/ Shaohsing wine, some oil & salt, dressed w/ sliced scallions and chopped garlic & ginger, then steamed till just done (about 6-7 minutes). Removed to the serving plate, scraping off the seasonings (I was a bit rough there...) and leaving behind all steaming liquids. Dressed w/ fresh scallions, ginger & coriander leaves; then a sauce of {hot oil quenched w/ a mixture of good Shaohsing wine, some double fermented soy sauce [LKK], water, rock sugar, wee dash of sesame oil} poured over. Several bowls of white rice. On the way there.

A very, very late meal the other night. The remainder of the Cajun sausages, sauerkraut & potatoes from here, augmented w/ more sauerkraut [Hengstenberg] (this one) from the same bottle, water added plus chopped parsley, handful of thyme sprigs, chopped celery heart, chopped spring onions [Silverthorn Farm], simmered; lumachine [Garofalo] added dry straight into the pan and cooked in situ, allowing the liquids to be absorbed into the pasta. Seasoning adjusted. Garnished w/ parsley & sprigs of Lime Thyme. (There I was out on the deck with a flashlight picking thyme & parsley & stuff... :-) )

I like Ortiz - my "standard" good canned tuna is now their Ortiz Bonito del Norte in olive oil in the oval cans.

Ah, OK. How about taramasalata, traditionally done with carp roe,* I believe? I don't know for sure but I might think carp roe could be treated much the same way as cod roe? When I was growing up I liked curried fish roe (that looked much like cod roe, or like what you show) in thickish sauces prepared by the various Mamak & South Indian curry houses in the place I grew up in. It was one of the few ways I liked it as a youth. Simply deep-fried was another way (or pan-fried, as my mother did), plated w/ aromatics and leafy herbs etc and/or something like fried garlic or shallots, eaten w/ other stuff & veggies & rice etc in the course of a meal. *ETA: Although you'll need to cure/salt and/or smoke the roe first.

Linguine w/ pesto. Plus extra basil. Chioggia beets. With Maussane-les-Alpilles olive oil, 10-year balsamic, black pepper, Maldon salt, chervil.

Steamed. Curry. Deep-fried. Better/easier with the membranes left on for many of the preps, keeps the roe "together".

Soup. Chicken broth, oil, straw mushrooms, beans, swiss chard, spinach. Cajun sausages w/ stuff. EV olive oil, hot Cajun sausages, sauerkraut, water, new potatoes, rice vinegar, hon-mirin, bay leaves, simmer.

Stir-fried wosun (炒萵筍). Chinese-style tomatoes stir-fried w/ eggs (番茄炒蛋). Done w/ ripe Cherokee Purple tomatoes. With rice, naturally. The wosun (萵筍), a.k.a. celtuce, asparagus lettuce, A-choy stems, etc. I trimmed & cooked the larger one.

A ramen bowl. Pre-braised beef tendon & beef shin/shank (see here) [East Asia Market] simmered in water, fish sauce, hon-mirin for a while (to render them softer & ramp up the gelatinousness), before assembling the rest of the components in it. Baby zucchini, spring onions, ramen + seasonings, Chinese spinach, aburaage. Bowled, topped w/ lots of ground white pepper. The base was a pack of "Ibumie Penang Lad Mie Perisa Lada Pedas". On the way there.

Simple chicken broth from gelatinous stock, with celery & spring onions. Pesto (from here) with torcetti, sprinkled w/ more Pecorino Romano.

Teochew Bak Kut Teh. (潮州肉骨茶) A very simple version last night. Pork baby back ribs*, water, garlic (2 heads, all membranes/skins left on), crushed white peppercorns (lots), sea salt, 1 slice of dried mature Angelica sinensis root (當歸), rehydrated Chinese mushrooms (both 茶花菇 and 香菇 used). Simmer till done, crushing the garlic heads halfway through. * Given a "fei sui" (飛水) treatment - blanched in boiling water for a few minutes then each rib washed off under the tap. No soy sauce or any other sauces were used in this version, although there are as many recipes for this as there are cooks. nevertheless, the basic profile of the Teochew version of BKT is light, peppery & garlicky. The Canto-Hoklo or Klang versions are quite different, and I've posted about those too. The slice of Angelica used here was also an "addition" on my part, I just wanted a bit of the particular flavor in last night's pot of stuff. Chinese spinach** (菠菜) stir-fried w/ white fermented beancurd (白腐乳). ** Like these, but even longer with this batch [from East Asia Market] - these were about one-and-a-half feet long. White rice, of course. I opened a new box of Angelica sinensis slices last night for this.

Chicken Leg Quarters.

A pan-fried ho fun (河粉) dish. Wild American shrimp (de-shelled, de-veined) marinated w/ Shaohsing wine, fish sauce, dash of sesame oil, some double fermented soy sauce, water, rock sugar; then flash stir-fried w/ rice bran oil till barely cooked (30 secs) then removed and reserved. More oil added into the pan, then on high heat: chopped smashed garlic, sliced de-boned chicken leg quarter, sliced Taiwanese cabbage (a form of flathead cabbage), a chopped-up Vidalia onion, the shrimp marinade, trimmed baby kai-lan [from Viet Hua], freshly made loose/bulk ho fun [from East Asia Market], trimmed scallions, seasoning adjusted, the reserved shrimp added back and folded in. Served. Fresh lychees afterwards.

Stewed beef shank/shin, beef tendon. A snack after getting home from shopping. Both cooked in-house from East Asia Market. Baby zucchini w/ flowers on [Azalia Farm Market], stigmas removed, stuffed w/ a mixture of ricotta cheese [Galbani], chopped Western chives (from my deck) & sea salt. Stuffed zucchini+flowers, deep fried. Lightly coated w/ a thin batter of GP flour, rice flour, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), salt, water. Left-over batter drizzled into the hot oil and the crispy bits added to the plate. Ligurian-style inspired pasta w/ pesto. Pesto made w/ fresh basil [Silverthorn Farm], garlic, pine nuts, Maldon salt, Pecorino Romano & Parmigiano Reggiano, Arbequina EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch]. Spaghetti [Garofalo] cooked in salted boiling water as usual, quartered new potatoes [Wild's Apple Farm] added halfway through, Romano beans [Nading Farm] (sliced diagonally) added in towards the end. Everything just assembled. After tossing. Plated. Garnished w/ Genovese basil from my deck. Fresh lychees [East Asia Market].

You're welcome. Here are two versions of cánh gà chiên nước mắm that I made and posted about some time ago – here, here. (scroll down a bit in both cases) Did you look also at "Ike's Chicken Wings" (a.k.a. Pok Pok Wings)?

Try Vietnamese Chicken Wings sometime. :-) ETA: Or Nyonya or Malay** chicken wings etc. ** Note: Malay does NOT equal Malaysian.

Various meals. -------------------------------- Soup. Solidified High-gelatin chicken stock, water, oil, baby carrots [Silverthorn Farm], celery stems (de-stringed) & leaves, young Lion's Mane mushrooms [Shamrock Farm], vermicelli [Ziyad brand]. --------------------------------- Chinese take-out. Hot & Sour Soup, with deep-fried wonton strips. Quite good, actually. Lots of quality stuff in it; taste was pretty accurate, white pepper heat (correct, for this style of the soup), decently sour. Pan-fried noodles w/ shrimp, beef, chicken. By request, swapping out just "seafood" for the triple combo. A bit on the salty side but otherwise fine. --------------------------------- Baby kai-lan [Viet Hua] w/ oyster sauce. Blanched in oiled simmering water, drained, dressed with oyster sauce [LKK] & white pepper. Chicken w/ basil & eggplants. Chicken leg quarters, chopped up, marinated w/ Shaohsing wine, hon-mirin [Takara], fish sauce, white & back pepper, some oil. Hot pan, hot oil, sliced garlic, the marinated chicken, sliced baby eggplants (Japanese/Chinese long-type, small ones; mottled purple-white, white, purple varieties) [Compean & Son]; the marinade, sweet basil (from my deck), seasoning adjusted. Several bowls of white rice. Cherries.