Richard Kilgore
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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore
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The main problem I still have is identifying the intriguing vegetables at Thai and Vietnamese stores. These books don't really help with this at all.
One helpful book is "The Asian Grocery Store" by Linda Bladholm. Unfortunately no photos, but useful line drawings nonetheless.
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There's David Thompson's highly praised "Thai Food". There's another that is probably better to start out on; I'll see if I can dig it out.
You may also be interested in "Traditional Recipes of Laos" by Phia Sing - authentic and traditional recipes from the Royal Palce at Luang Prabang. Phia Sing was chef at the palalce.
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Last year in Vancouver I did a dessert wine and tea pairing with both beverages paired up with desserts. I'll post the details if there is any interest.
Stephen Bonner
Please do!
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In this case, Jeff, the tea pairings not only worked out well, they were inspired. Sharon Hage described her process of pairing: she takes her first strongest association to the tea - be it textural, aroma or taste - and decides the first aspect of the course. Then she creates the rest of that course around the other qualities of the tea. I was more than impressed by the pairings, many of which were unexpected if not counter-intuitive.
I believe York Street has fine teas available on a regular basis, including some fine iced teas. I think a couple of the rare teas we drank may be available at York Street, but the others are hard or impossible to find in the US. One was not only rare, but so expensive, that it is unlikely I would ever have the opportunity to drink it in any other setting. As I recall two were brought back from China by a member of the T-Bar Club.
While this food & tea dinner was a special event, I am sure the staff at York Street would be happy to provide some guidance in selecting a fine tea or teas to go with a meal.
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I reported on a Food & Tea Pairing Dinner in Dallas, Texas at Sharon Hage's York Street in collaboration with The Cultured Cup and it's T-Bar Club.
Is anyone doing Food & Tea Pairing Dinners or anything similar in your part of the world?
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A late note on a wonderful, eye opening, taste-bud teasing dinner at York Street on March 3, 2008. The Cultured Cup and York Street have been doing a food and tea pairing dinner for five years now, but this was my first time.
A collaboration of The Cultured Cup's Kyle Stewart and York Street's James Beard Award four time nominee Chef Sharon Hage, the five course dinner was creatively matched with five rare asian teas. Members of The Cultured Cup sponsored T-Bar Club assisted in the selection and sourcing of teas for the evening.
The evening's experience was as much an informative seminar as a culinary pleasure. For each course Kyle or one of the members of the T-Bar Club facilitated a discussion of the qualities of each tea and the pairing experience, as well as some background on the origin and qualities of each tea. At the end of each course, Chef Hage talked with the group about the aroma, flavor and textural associations involved in the creative process of creating the food pairing. The comments of many of the sophisticated palates present, including James Tidwell, sommelier of the Four Seasons' Café on the Green, added to the experience.
York Street - Cultured Cup T-Bar Food & Tea Dinner Menu
tie guan yin served with jerusalem artichoke with fennel and ripe pear, chive vinaigrette and lavendar twists.
golden phoenix mountain oolong served with poached maine day boat scallop with pomelo, fresh hearts of palm, tangerine-carrot emulsion.
gyokuro served with point judith squid in its ink, jasmine rice and watercress.
keemun mao feng served with osso bucco of berkshire pork, chick pea panisse and carmalized onion. (Our table also received a bowl of diced beets.)
great red robe served with pecan-molasses pie, chocolate sauce, blood orange caramel and quinta da noval 10 year tawny port.
Here also is a piece on the dinner by Tina Danze posted on the Dallas Morning News eatsblog.
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The DOUGHMONKEY re-opened their Snider Plaza shop a few weeks ago. I stopped by for one of their fine pastries yesterday thinking keylime and chocholate, but came away with a wonderful rustic individual apple pie.
While they have been known for using only quality chocolate in their pastries, they are also carrying fine chocolate bars, including several very hard to find artisinal chocolates.
Also noted: an opening for an assistant pastry chef.
Some of the very best pastry in the area. If you have not been, it's worth checking out.
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theabroma alludes to an important fact about the Dallas area. It is in general not a walking city. Even in these areas that are more open to walking, you are likely to want to explore areas that are not in walking distance or not in safe walking distance. And if you are interested in exploring the wide range of "ethnic" restaurants and markets here, you'll need to get your roller skates on.
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The intersection of Central Expressway and Knox-Henderson may be the single best walking-to-very good to excellent-restaurants area in the metroplex. There is also one developing in Plano near the North Dallas Tollway and Legacy.
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Not yet. Much as I love gadgets, I am still using the chrome "step-on" can I bought back in the '60s.
I'm afraid the basenjis would have a ball with anything that admits ready access.
The other shopper-recommender said that one thing she liked about it is that her dogs can not get into it like they can regular trash cans.
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I just picked up an electronic trashcan at Costco due to the woman shopper who spent almost 5 minutes telling me all about it and how much she and her husband like the four of them they have. This thing holds a 13 gallon bag and you do not have to touch it to use it. You just wave your hand over the sensors on the lid and it opens. It closes tightly enough to contain odors pretty well according to the very persuasive shopper. The trashcan costs $40, and she said that she has seen it in other catalogues for up to $150.
Anyone else have any experience with this spiffy trashcan?
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I asked two people at the restaurant supply store where I got the polyethylene storage container in question in this topic if there is any difference in the odor retention qualities of polyethylene and polycarbonate. Both assured me they are exactly alike and that odor retention is not a problem. One recommended a very dilute bleach solution.
Not quite satisfied, I contacted customer support at Continental Carlisle and asked the same question. Here's the quite different information I received.
Hi Richard, I apologize for the delay, but the information you had requested was a little more specific than what I normally receive, so I forwarded toour engineering department for some help. Polyethylene will have more of a
tendency to retain odors since they get locked into just below the surface
and have no mechanism to come out. Polycarbonate will have less of a
tendency to pick up an odor since the odor retention mechanism is a little
different in PC, but again, once the odor is in the polymer it will not come
out. Having said that, it is our opinion that once they have an odor they
keep it, so we would recommend that the end user only store items for use in
the same family of food in order to prevent cross contamination of odor. If
I receive anything further, I will be sure to forward for your review. I
hope this helps in your discussion.
If you should have any questions, please do not hesitate to reply.
Thank you,
Lance
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For the reasons Sam mentioned, I can't imagine prefering perked coffee over drip, not to mention over French Press or Mocha pot methods. And I have drunk plenty of perk in the past at home, in cafes and around the camp fire. The good (kinda), the bad and the truly ugly.
In the past, in addition to using a carafe for drip coffee to prevent it burning, I have used a plastic "wire" like product that keeps the pot just off the burner. Doesn't work as well as a carafe perhaps, but helps keep it drinkable for 20 minutes or so.
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I agree with Mr. Solomon. I finally disassembled my Rocky after a year and a half or two years of use. (Too long really but better late than never).
The burrs themselves were clean and uncaked, but the feed areas between the burrs and the chute were pretty ugly.
It was easy to take apart and put together again, and easy to brush and wipe anything that could not be removed and rinsed.
No need to buy anything really...
I think your experience may actually support using some material to clean by grinding it, such as the Grindz. (I have no experience with Barley or know anything about the pros and cons, so can't speak to that.) I also waited way too long to clean mine and think it's more likely I'll take a few minutes once every three months to use the Grindz than take the Rocky apart to clean it. Guess it depends whether you really like to tinker with your equipement. Obviously, I could, but don't.
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Absolutely gorgeous food! I definitely want to eat there on an Austin trip.
At our Dallas LNY Dinner the Peking Duck was served with small buns, but yours were served with something that looks more like a tortilla. Is this a Chinese regional difference?
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Kent - The boneless pork back appeared to be debonned, chopped and then pressed.
The Vegetable Special New Year Fa Cai did indeed have the algae in it, but was on the bottom so you can't see it in this photo. Among many very good dishes, this was my favorite.
I don't think there was any roe served with the fish.
Yimay - Yes! The duck was terrific. And the shrimp may have been the best shrimp I have ever eaten.
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First Annual Asian Lunar New Year Dinner
Saturday, February 9th, 2008 - 7:00 pm
Kirin Court Chinese Restaurant
221 W. Polk St., #200
(Central Expressway & Main Street, S.E Corner)
Richardson, Texas 75081
$35, included tax, tip and $5 contribution to the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters.
We had a great time last night at Kirin Court. It was good to meet some local members of the eGullet Society for the first time. The conversation largely revolved around the high quality and authenticity of the food, and people's experiences eating in China and Malaysia, as well as around the DFW area.
The restaurant worked well with us to make this a great meal. We successfully adjusted the menu a bit in order to maintain the same cost per person. Thanks again to Kent Wang for selecting the original menu. His choices were terrific.
Asian Lunar New Year Dinner Menu
Appetizer
Boneless Pork Back
Soup
Seafood soup
Main Dishes
Peking Duck
Vegetable Special New Year Fa Cai
Whole Fish - Flounder
Salt & Pepper Shrimp
Whole cold Chicken
Dessert
Almond Cookies
Tea
Chrysantimum Green Tea served with Rock Sugar
Thanks to Jeff Meeker who took photos of the dishes.
Thanks to everyone attending, we raised $35 for the eGullet Society.
Everyone agreed we should do this again next year, so note your calendar for the Second Annual Asian New Year Dinner tentatively the second week of February 2009.
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Thanks for your "when-all-else-fails" treament, andiesenji. Hope I don't ever need it, but glad to have it.
Grovite - if the noxious bubble gum odor lingers, your Bar Keeper's Friend paste treatment is my next step. Thanks.
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I think the problem is that the odor has permeated the material, itself, so activated charcoal won't be of much help, either, since it will merely absorb the odors from the air in the container, rather than from the container, itself. The Palmolive Oxy might be a better choice. If that fails, you might just have to try bleach (if the smell of bleach is more pleasing to you than chili).
Good point. The Palmolive Oxy might be a better next step.
Another alternative is to simply label this container "CHILI".
Update: On the plastic container I tried a paste of baking soda and dish soap (not Palmolive Oxy) first and left it overnight. This reduced the smell of newsprint about 50%.
Next I tried the activated charcoal. No additional effect.
Next I tried filling the plastic container with water and the Palmolive Oxy with Odor Eliminator and let it stand for a several hours. This resulted in the absolute elimination of the newsprint odor, which was replaced by the stronger bubblegum or cherry Gaitorade aroma of the Palmolive. Not really what I was hoping for. So I have the container soaking in water and my regular dish soap which is much more neutral, to be followed by a diluted vinegar solution.
This has been an interesting excercise. Many of the things I have tried have worked, but introduced a new odor. May be a matter of which odor would negatively effect whatever you are going to store in it next.
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I have a Bamix that I got a few years ago based on recommendations here in the eG Forums. It's been fine, but I don't give it hard use compared to a commercial environment. It will work to a depth of almost 11 inches because the shaft and housing are sealed.
I have seen brand name/store brand immersion blenders that look like the Bamix, and may have come out of the same plant, but when I have gotten into the details, they turned out to be less powerful.
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I'm not sure if there is a particular region of the U.S. (and/or Canada and Mexico) you are focusing on, but if the Southwest works for you, check out American Indian Food and Lore by Carolyn Niethammer. This book includes numerous recipes for a wide variety of ingredients: cactus; nuts and seeds; grapes, berries and cherries; foods of marsh and mesa; and greens; as well as agricultural foods such as beans, chili, corn, melon, pumpkin, squash and wheat. Inexpensive copies show up on Amazon.
Of course, you could consider buffalo and wild game dishes, too. I think Brunswick Stew is generally considered to be a Cherokee or perhaps more generally a South East Indian dish.
One issue has to do with how you are defining "authentic". Cooked (today/early 20th century, 19th century/ 18th century/?) by what tribe(s) on reservations?/urban Indians? or by Native American chefs?
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I think the problem is that the odor has permeated the material, itself, so activated charcoal won't be of much help, either, since it will merely absorb the odors from the air in the container, rather than from the container, itself. The Palmolive Oxy might be a better choice. If that fails, you might just have to try bleach (if the smell of bleach is more pleasing to you than chili).
Good point. The Palmolive Oxy might be a better next step.
Another alternative is to simply label this container "CHILI".
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I just put dry baking soda in a plastic container (not lexan) that had chili in it. There was not any noticeable odor in it after I washed it two days ago, but there is now. I'll see how this does. If not well, I'll try the newspaper next, and then the activated charcoal.
Still smells like chili....great chili, but still smells after the dry baking soda treatment, so next it's the newspaper fix.
After two days with newspaper crumpled in it, the plastic container smells like...newsprint. Even after washing it out with dish soap. I could see if dry baking soda would fix that, but I picked up some activated charcoal today just in case, so that's next. Then for this one or another one later I'll try the Palmolive Oxy with odor eliminator.
This container is similar to the semi-opaque Cambro containers, but it's made by Continental Carlyle. I'll ask the folks at Ace Restaurant supply if some container materials absorb odors more than others. But maybe someone here has an idea about that.
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I highly recommend getting a board conditioner. The one below is what I use and it works wonders.
Interesting. I saw the same or a similar product for the first time at Sur La Table yesterday when I exchanged the board. What does the beeswax do that mineral oil alone does not?
Calphalon Anodization Breakdown?
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Calphalon and/or retailers who carry it are pretty good about standing behind their products. You may want to ask if they will replace it. I had a similar problem with some very old pieces several years ago and Williams-Sonoma offered to replace them with same or give me store credit.