[Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 3)]

57 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Don't forget Part 1 & Part 2. 

Hahahaha that's another 4 hours right there lol. I'll split it up in a matter of days. 

[Mystery Ingredients]

Hahahaha omg, I wanna play too, @BonVivant this is quite hard, but lemme try, #1 looks like cured sausages

#2 could be dried animal hide in strips then bundled

#3 veggie shaver? For the really hairy veggies lol 

[Hello from Las Vegas]

3 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

I think I subconsciously associated you with sourdough because of your handle. If you do want to get into it, you'll have a lot of company!  Here are two topics you may find interesting:

eGCI (eGullet Culinary Institute) course: Sourdough Bread

and a more recent topic

Establishing and Working with Homegrown Sourdough Starter

Merci! @Smithy that thread looks like a science experiment, I love it already! 

[Hello from Las Vegas]

14 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Welcome, Wild_Yeast.  So far my experimentation for fermentation is sauerkraut and standard dill pickles - well, and sourdough bread. I'm looking forward to seeing what you get up to.

Sauerkraut fermentation is very much like kimchi, it's kinda in the same ballpark with the similar bacterias at play. Funny you mentioned sourdough, my handle is Wild_Yeast which is mostly associated with sourdough culture yet I'm intimidated by bread making lol I've never had a try in making bread, but who knows with enough encouragement from you guys, I might just plunge into it. 

[Making Chinese Rice Wine]

On October 11, 2015 at 0:46 PM, Kerry Beal said:

The rather disappointing results of my experiment here - at least so far!

@Kerry Beal hi there, I was curious how you came across this type of rice wine coz it's not the popular but it's pretty good, it's a natural tonic for blood circulation and it's served (cooked in dishes) to postpartum women and uhmm...ladies who have the visitor for the month...  to "move" stagnated blood and out of their system. 

 

A little background to it. It's called Ang Chow/紅酒/Red Wine, the translation is quite literal. It's primarily made at home and indigenous to the Fujian household. The Chinese diaspora caused by the cultural revolution, forced a lot of the coastal Fujianese to flee to neighboring island nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. Hence, you see more of this Angchow presence in these countries versus it's country of origin. It's also not mass produced I think because of the cost. Glutinous rice is more expensive, Angkak/ red rice yeast unlike koji is much more limited and also pricey. Each household normally would have a batch at hand just for general usage but also, mother in laws would start making batches of these within hours of news of their daughter in laws pregnancy. When the baby is born, there will be celebration, Angchow will be offered for toasts, the mother will get hers cooked in her postpartum dishes, and the food will be red(good luck color) because the wine lees are also used as seasoning and coloring agent. Nothing wasted. 

 

You were on the right path with your ingredients but water is also needed. 

Here's my family's recipe's ratio if you're interested in making it again:

 

4lbs. Glutinous Rice

5 pcs yeast ball starters 

3 oz red yeast rice

1/2 c purified water

 

-Soak rice overnight, rinse and drain. Distribute the rice loosely in several cake pans no more than 2 inches deep, poke several holes in the rice with a finger all the way to the bottom of the cake pans. Make sure your pans and utensils are grease free, but I'm sure you know that already. Then steam the rice on high for an hour. 

 

-After an hour your rice should be cooked through, test some from the center of the pan to make sure all grains are cooked. If so, turn it over a jelly roll pan, separate the grains with a spatula and let it cool completely.

 

-While rice is cooling, grind the yeast ball starters and the red yeast to a powder, as fine as you can get in a food processor, coffee grinder or mortar & pestle. Transfer to a shallow bowl you would use for dredging and set aside.

 

-When the rice is completely cooled through, get the 1/2 cup of water close by. Dip you hand in the water, grab a handful of rice, form roughly into a ball, and dredge in the pink yeast powder mix. And place in your sterilized jar. Repeat process till all the rice and powder is gone, at this point it's ok to have pockets in between the stacks of rice balls.

 

-Now you should have some remaining water from dipping your hands, if not get another 1/2 cup purified water, rinse your hand, and the bowls holding the yeast powder and  the rice. Get every single bit and pour it over the rice balls in the jar. Tidy the mouth and cover with cloth. Don't use cheesecloth or muslin, the holes are still big enough to let fruit flies pass through. Use an old t-shirt of course sanitized and air dried first. Cover the top with the cloth and secure with rubber bands. 

 

-7 days later you'll need to stir the mash really good. Try to get the bottom to the top and vice versa. Clean the mouth of the jar again and put the cloth back over the jar and let the magic happen for the remaining 23 days. It's not a strict fermentation rule so you can go past 23 days if you're feeling lazy, but no more than a week past that. 

-Separate the wine from the lees and bottle it up. You can enjoy it now or you can let it mellow out for up to 2 years. I don't pasteurize mine coz it doesn't last long and I don't find it necessary, but you're more than welcome to. This beverage does not produce fizz, it's pretty flat like sake but a bit syrupy, sweet and slightly acidic. I hope you'd try it again and give this another shot! 

 

 

[Hello from Las Vegas]

8 hours ago, sartoric said:

Welcome to a world of information sharing (and fun).  I'm keen to read about your meals and fermentation endeavours

Thanks @sartoric I did miss this, I forgot how fun the challenges are as well. Several of my fermentation projects are gonna get more activity once fall hits here in the desert. Right now it's still too hot outside and I can't afford keeping all of that fermenting smell inside my home. Heh the neighbors might think I might be harboring a dead body lol. But I will keep you all posted. I'm also trying to revive dormant threads regarding pickling and fermentation. I'd love to get people interested in it again, and urge everyone interested to give it a shot. 

[Fresh goji berries. Thoughts?]

On August 21, 2016 at 3:49 PM, Tere said:

From the briefest of skims these people seem to think they are unlovely fresh. http://growingfruit.org/t/does-anyone-like-goji-berries/908/2. Cheap dryer or low oven for the benefits?

 

It reminds me a bit of my response to amelanchier (juneberries).

We waited til they were deep red and has a give like a raspberry before we picked them off the plant. The orangey red fruits(not so ripe) does tend to be astringent vs the deep scarlet ones, which are really sweet. 

[Fresh goji berries. Thoughts?]

I planted two goji berry plant last year and the fresh fruit aren't bad for eating either. Haven't seen berries yet this year but tons of flowers on mine right now. You can add them in yogurt or oatmeal like blueberries. If the abundance is overwhelming you can freeze them and add to smoothies , as they should contain the same amount of antioxidants probably more than the dried ones or you can dry them as well yourself... Beats $18/lb at the store any day. 

[Create my meal – the game]

How about Vegetarian Arroz con Gandules, Toor Dahl=Gandules=Pigeon Peas. You just have to soak the dried peas over night and cook it til tender first. Then proceed with arroz con gandules<= (tomatoes, onion, cumin, paprika) minus the ham. Once the rice is cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed I like to finish it off with 1/4 c coconut cream with 2 pinches of salt as you fluff the rice but it's optional. 

For the side dish, I'll roast the eggplant til the skin is charred. Peel and slightly mash with a fork, prepare dressing of vinegar, minced garlic, pinch of salt and pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar, and a chopped hot green chili, sliced quarter of a red onion, mix well and pour over smashed eggplant and give it a couple of toss. I think this side dish will cut the richness of the rice if you do add the coconut cream in the end. 

[Nukazuke Pickling]

I wanna bump this thread. I'm curious to see if anybody who had their Nukamiso successfully mature, maintained it and produced more batches from the mother culture? Or do you start over all the time?

@Chris Amirault did you cease the project after you've achieved nukazuke perfection or did you continue with it? 

Same question goes for @helenjp ,@_john and @ojisan . Also what are your favorite vegetables to pickle in the nuka beds and how long do you pickle it for?  I'd also like to invite anyone who's had experience in making nukazuke to jump in, this thread's been dormant since 2011, there's plenty of experience to be had in 5 years that's waiting to shared  Thanks in advance for entertaining my questions. 

[Instant Pot. Multi-function cooker (Part 3)]

So, I finally finished reading all 16 pages of this thread, only took two hours...lol I got the IP as a gift for myself in April just coz and it was Amazon prime day(nuf said), and to this day, it's still in the box. I guess my project tomorrow is set it free from its shackles and unleash its power. You guys inspire me with the multitude of yumminess you guys produce with the IP. 

[Dinner 2016 (Part 8)]

Hi y'all, the family was over today to take some kimchi home, it's normally family style anyways. Korean bean paste stew with squash, enoki, potatoes and cabbage. Pan fried Scallion Pancakes, Multi-grain rice, pan fried kurobuta pork belly to wrap in red leaf lettuce and perilla leaf dabbed with a bit of fermented bean paste seasoned with garlic, gochujang, sesame oil, sesame seeds and minced apple. For side dishes, seaweed salad, fresh kimchi, seasoned bean sprout. 

[Kimchi Problem? Question]

On June 12, 2016 at 2:15 PM, Shel_B said:

I recently purchased a large container of kimchi at Costco.  When I opened the jar, there was no fizzing or bubbling as is usually the case.  Might there be a problem with the contents?  The cabbage had a subtle "sourness" that I've not observed in other kimchi that I've purchased.

Hi there, most of the time when kimchi is mass produced, the brined Napa cabbages get slathered with the chili paste blend, jarred, sealed and refrigerated right away. So if the company, its courier and distributors are efficient (this case very efficient) they'll have no time to ferment to the usual fizzy and tangy kimchi that you're used to. If you prefer the kimchi with slight fermentation, take the jar out of the fridge before bed and lightly unscrew the jar, then leave it on the counter. The warmth of the room temperature will initiate the fermentation once more. To what degree of fermentation is totally up to you. Hope you didn't throw that kimchi out. 

[Hello from Las Vegas]

Thank you for the warm welcome Kayb! I'd me more than happy to share my experiences with Kimchi. Just made a fresh batch of regular kimchi, white kimchi, cucumber kimchi/side dish and cubed radish kimchi yesterday. Will last us about two to three weeks. I make them often enough I will post next time for sure. 

[What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 3)]

Hello all, just recently re-joined egullet. I drink 2-3 pots of tea a day, been sticking to green Jasmine Pearls all summer. Today isn't any different, so green Jasmine tea it is! 

[Hello from Las Vegas]

Hi there, my name is Tim, I've just joined egullet, again. I used to be a member a while back 2007 and was active for a while  but after 2009 I didn't have a computer anymore so I just let it go and then eventually forgotten my user name and password. Anyways, I re-joined in the hopes of getting other members insight regarding food in general.

 

As of late, I've been delving into the mysteries of wild fermentation, done in the way of our ancestors. Currently I have a few projects going on such as, Doenjjang/ Korean soy bean paste, soy sauce, Nukazuke/rice bran pickle, Kombucha and kimchi and a lot more in the future. Aside from fermentation, my first passion is cooking. I don't discriminate when it comes to food. My strongest suit would be Asian cuisine, and then a dabbling of Middle Eastern,Indian, Spanish, Italian and American then I just pretty much suck at the rest of the European nation's cuisine and Great Britain. I drink coffee and tea, but I do prefer the latter, and have developed an unnecessary obsession with tea wares. Thank you for having me here once again and I wish you all a fabulous day!  - Tim