Duvel

I recently had - as part of a full banquet - a dish of soft tofu cubes, maybe 1.5" side length, hollowed out a bit and stuffed with minced meat and dried mushrooms. They were dusted with starch, broiled on one side before being inverted onto a bed of sliced onions. Broiled again until well browned and the onions were done. Some soy sauce was drizzled over and I guess there was a bit of sugar added, though the onions might have been sweet enough. It was truly excellent (and I asked my host to inquire the preparation, which you read above).

Yup ... I am a very happy camper to go there every couple of weeks. They have now nine locations over town While living in Taiwan I went to their original shop several times. They always had some guys (apprentices) there learning how to pleat the XLB ... with no less than 18 pleats, as they advertise. Wouldn't mind to take a class there, either...

Ha ! At least the German ones have been designed to be eaten in the absence of additional water and/or any heat source, if required. So straight out of the pack they are "ready to eat" (though they gastronomic value might suffer a tiny bit )...

In my childhood my father would take me once a year to the "open days" of the German army garrison in the next larger town. It was always fun for a kid, because you could see live helicopters, tanks and all kinds of weird equipment (like a automated bridge building tank). For my father, who had to spend two years of then compulsory army service, it was all about memories - the good and the bad. He was always excited about the food you could have there - actually every year the same pea soup with sausage. And of course we always took one or two EPa's (the German MRE) home, for nostalgic purposes. I can't say it was a memorable meal tastewise. Basically canned food, together with a array of butter, charcuteries and jams for the dried bread in the pack. My highlight was the little dry-fuel burner that was included and I liked to have the meal prepared outside on the terrace, which resulted usually in a more cold-and-burned pasta in tomato sauce. But it was a bit of an adventure and I liked it. When I checked the Wikipedia entry on the German MRE's today (thanks) memories came back and funny enough, not much seems to have changed in the last 30 years, when it comes to the nutrition of the German armed forces (German "Einmannpackung" at Wikipedia). I thus agree to your conclusion "not bad at all", but partially out of sentimental reasons ...

Thanks ! I use this brand, a little less than a teaspoon for a 600 gr piece of meat (weight before curing).

It works pretty well with pork neck steaks as well. Bit higher temp for the SV and you end up with a moist & tender sweet ham-style product.

A little treat for myself (after watching Peter Rabbit with the little one for Easter): Dry-cured a Chuck eye steak for 2 days with pink salt, brown sugar and jerk seasoning (mostly allspice, thyme and chili). After that removed spices, rubbed with liquid smoke and SV for 24h at 135 oF. Excellent corned beef ... Soft "ciabatta" roll (HK style), dijonnaise made with hot Löwensenf extra, thinly cut corned beef, grated Swiss cheese. Brushed liberally with butter and made into a panini with two hot pans. Pickled cuke because I need to eat more veggies ... Very, very few things are sooo satisfying !

With the shelf and the drawers in the background I probably got confused (no, no Aquavit consumption here ...). Some of my friends don't have kitchen tables either

Looking good ... do you typically eat your meal on the floor, though ?

I am seriously considering quitting my job and moving to the US. I had no idea ...

My god ... that's a fantastic idea !!!

"Himmel un Ääd" (Heaven and earth) - very tasty !

Ichiran Ramen with Onsen Tamago, ginger beef and red Yuzu Kosho ...

Happy St. Patrick's day ...

For "dough"-like applications, I'll steam for about 5-6 on full (900 W) and squeeze out the excess moisture. Anything longer seems to produce this sulfure-like off-smell ... Strangely, baking it afterwards (and thus cooking it more) seems not to affect the smell any longer ...

Yesterday's lunch - or better snack - at the fishing village of Tai O, Lantau Island: Red braised cuttlefish with a bit of the sweet & herbal braising liquid.

Lunch on Friday was a quick bite at the airport of Zhengzhou, China: Liang Pi (cold flat rice noodles, doused with vinegar and sesame paste and a couple of herbs and spices), accompanied by Rou Jia Mo (griddled flat bread with braised meat filling, in this case donkey). Satisfying ...

The funny thing is that is completely against anything I know about tasty bread - no long fermentation time, very limited kneading, no stretch-n-folds to give structure ... But it works. The yoghurts imparts a certain tartness, helps to form gluten and I believe that the uneven distribution of the baking powder creates airpockets that resemble those of a retarded dough. And of charring from course high heat of a gas grill plus fat/salt/garlic at the end compensate for shortcomings of the dough tona certain extend This one will go into my regular rotation ...

Grilled garlic naan ... Just flour, baking powder, salt and full-fat yoghurt. Kneaded, rolled out, stretched by hand and thrown on a hot grill - literally took 5 minutes. Maybe 1-2 min per side, then brushed with melted butter containing salt and microplaned garlic. Sprinkled with cilantro. Heaven !

Thanks, that'll go on my "weekend" list

Thanks ... I like this a lot.

The Möet & Chandon Nectar imperial is exactly what you are looking for then. Essentially an off-dry sparkling wine. Very pleasant and good with raw salmon ...

"JNW's Magic Dust" - a delectable spice rub for any occasion

That's great - good for him

Indeed. But then again I would expect some heavy duty equipment, if I use it every day, combined with the precision you mentioned. Talk about reproducibility. When I was working in a lab, most of the sophisticated equipment was still cheap compared to the substances I was working with ...