Tropicalsenior

This week my Sunday meat buns turned out to be lunch. I made the Manapua Meat-filled Buns again with a couple hitches. When I went to get my backup supply of hoisin sauce, it was not there. I only had one tablespoon of hoisin sauce so I added a tablespoon of ketchup, a tiny bit of brown sugar and a tiny bit of rice wine vinegar to make up for it. I like the result better than the original. Hoisin sauce is definitely on my list for next week. I served them with homemade lemonade and an Asian inspired coleslaw. They are definitely worth making again.

When I saw that combination I immediately thought Ukrainian borscht. It would make great base for that.

I can't compare to @Dejah's colossal effort but I made Char Siu Bao for lunch and to snack on today. Carlos got called away on a job so they will be our dinner with watermelon and a big green salad. I had to try just one to make sure that they were decent to serve. It passed with no problems.

If the high cost of energy has spelled the demise of the fish fryers, pizza ovens and Tandoori ovens won't be far behind.

Should be able to date the photograph by the uniform on the London Bobby, fourth man on the left. When did they stop wearing the double-breasted tunics? And he has no belt.

That's me. I've never had gumbo but I have made it. It was delicious but I would be scared to death to serve it to a real Cajun. I suspect that @Nondescriptentity is going to have to settle for a reasonable facsimile unless he/she goes to New Orleans and experiences the real thing.

Exactly! It's like some of those stupid shows on Food Network where they hand them a basket full of food and say try and cook this and we will try to look like we are eating it and enjoying it.

To me, the very best hash browns are made with russet potatoes cooked 3/4 of the way and then shredded and used within 24 hours of the time they are shredded. Then they are fried on a hot grill, or griddle, in a special butter flavored oil that seems to be only available to restaurants. The best place to order hash browns is in a very busy restaurant where they put them on the grill ahead of time and use them up as they need them. That way they have time to get crispy. If you order them in a slow place they will flop them on a super hot Grill, turn them and serve them. They don't have time to get crispy and cooked all the way through. Some frozen hash browns are okay but most are no better than the plastic bag that they come in. I don't even try to make them at home because I don't have access to russet potatoes.

I'm sorry, I didn't realize that you spoke German. Still, having a whole list of products doesn't mean a thing if you don't know the particular dish that someone wants to put it in. I wish the OP would check back in and give us some kind of feedback. As it is we are all just talking to each other.

I can't help feeling that we are being played. If you really want to cook Cajun food at least let us know what you are interested in. There are all kinds of topics in the forum that will give you good advice on Cajun food and there have been a lot of suggestions here. The site that you gave us doesn't tell us anything unless we speak German.

That's my problem. I seem to have hiding spots and I forget where they are. And since it's only me to ask where I put them I seem to have a catch 22 here. It sure is fun being old.

Forgot my box grater. I guess I'm just too old-fashioned, but it's a lot easier to clean than the food processor.

Mine stopped taking screenshots. Sometimes if I cross my eyes just right and stick out my tongue it will work. Can't figure out what I'm doing wrong but I just gave up.

You've got me beat by a long ways.

In 71, 72, I worked for the catering company that supplied all the meals that went out at the Reno Airport. At that time we still used the small porcelain plates and I have to say that we made some pretty darn fine food. Everything that went out of our kitchen was freshly cooked and beautifully plated.

I seem to have the same problem so I buy mine in multiples. I think the fairies swoop in at night and steal them because it wasn't 6 months ago that I had five of them. I have to have scissors in Costa Rica. Everything here comes in a plastic bag. Sugar, salt, sour cream, milk, you name it, it comes in a plastic bag. If I didn't have my little scissors I would have to knaw my way through a ton of plastic just to fix one meal. But, they are environmentally conscious here, no more plastic grocery bags. After that, these would be my most important small kitchen tools. Spatulas. Yes, one of them is broken but it was my favorite one and it still works, sort of. My microplanes. Thermometers and scale. After that would be my multi-timer app on my telephone. No photo because it's kind of hard to take a picture of my phone with my phone.

I have to agree, especially with Cajun food. Unless you have a source to order things or someone that will send it to you it seems like it will be an exercise in futility. One of the most important elements in Cajun food is the roux. This is a pretty good website that will explain what you are up against. Here is the Forum discussion About Roux. Living in Costa Rica, I am pretty good at faking things and at substitutions but Cajun food is one thing that I could never be able to find substitutes for and learning to make the necessary roux is one battle I would never tackle.

I like green bell peppers. In fact I like them very much, but having been a breakfast line cook for several years, I have cooked a few tons of OB potatoes and I don't care if I ever eat them again. I don't even like hash browns.

Sorry, @rotuts, O'Brien potatoes traditionally contained green bell peppers. "Legend has it that potatoes o'brien was the brainchild of an early-20th-century New York City restaurant owner who went by the name Beefstew O'Brien. His idea was to give color and kick to a skillet of fried potatoes by adding a handful of diced bell peppers and pimentos." Saveur

These are tomatillos. Not the best looking ones that you will find but here in Costa Rica, Beggars can't be choosers. I just looked on Google and they do show a yellow one that they call goldenberry. Seems like tomatillos come in all colors.

Welcome Michael. Don't worry about your English. You're doing just fine. This is a good place to learn all about American Cooking and any other kind you might want to learn. I would love to hear about the things that you cook.

Thank you. I know what I am making for dinner tonight. I have the perfect piece of beef for these and I was wondering what to do with it. I've used your recipe many times and I love it.

Not feasible where I shop. Everything is on the other end of the store from produce. I bought these otherwise I would be that bloke standing there.

Tell me about it!

I have indeed posted a lot of these. Some in the Dinner thread and some in The Bread Topic. The most recent was this one. I believe that the ones in this post are Char Siu Bao. The recipe for Char Siu is here. I don't cook dinner on Sundays so on Sunday morning I make some type of meat bun to snack on the rest of the day. I've made everything from Asian style to buns from Finland to ones just made up on the fly. If you have any good ideas for fillings, let me know. I can't for the life of me get the link for the bread topic to work. But if you want to see them they are on the second to last page of the bread topic.