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I think 12 year Balvenie was one of the few scotch brands that didn't go up like hell during inflation Balvenie went up from $55 to $60 But other scotch brands like 10 year Ardbeg went up from $50 to $70 (like 40% spike) I stopped drinking Ardbeg and was buying Balvenie for a while but it doesn't have the smokey flavors of Islay scotch like Ardbeg I'm not sure what else is out there that is still within the $60 price range?

I was thinking about fermenting the peppers first to see if it will add more flavor - maybe over a week or so I ferment Thai bird chillies, mix with vinegar and keep them in the fridge and eat raw (with a main course) and sometimes use it for cooking - like base spices

wow Rotus - the grill/smoker looks really good. the club has a great garden landscape setting too to hang out and chill in I thought about a pellet smoker for cold smoking beef tongue etc. but don't have the room for another bbq/grill thanks for sharing

I get cryo-vacced brisket, pork belly, pork shoulder etc. I don't think they taste different from normal wrap and I think the quality of Costco meat and seafood has always been high. I actually eat their tuna raw. I used to eat their salmon raw also for sushi (supposed to be ok if farm raised) I think meat prices have come back to almost pre-pandemic levels. The one thing that hasn't has be scallops. It's still $24 a lb and not the $16 a lb pre-pandemic. I haven't had scallops for almost 2 years now.

I think I watched 3 episodes or so but started to feel like it was about human domestic friends and family relationships - like normal sitcoms - and not enough focus on food. When I think about watching another episode, I'm hesitant bc it sounds like another episode of family life in Japan with food in the background sort of.

I saw on Master Chef the Professionals or maybe some other British source that there was some rule that you can't mix fish and cheese together - a very big no no. I thought it was because cheese comes from rot and mold and fish is about absolute freshness. That's why the rule was there.

Staff note: Moved from Fish/Seafood with Mushrooms: Discuss! How about fish and cheese combinations? That's even better.

It makes for a good combo - j/k But I mean the duck will be separate from the squid/scallop congee. I think I'm going to braise a duck leg in a little water (to rehydrate and cook) for a few minutes and then sauté it with green beans. The duck is wayy fattier than I thought so I'm going to treat it like bacon and use it to fry vegetables with. Hope things work out and it tastes good.

ok - thanks for the info. I think I'm going to pick up a preserved duck today to try it. I think stir-frying it with some greens sounds delicious. I wonder if I could skip the steaming part and just stir fry (or would the meat be too tough)? I was planning to pick up dry preserved squid and scallops too. Some books said the dry preserved squid requires soaking in baking soda and then another long soak in water for a total of 18 hours of soaking or something. I was planning to throw the re-hydrated squid and dry scallops (along with fresh shrimp) to make seafood congee. For dried shrimp, there's this gross seafood (bad) smell. So one author soaks dried shrimp in wine and throws out the wine (to get rid of the stinky dried shrimp smell). I wonder if I have to do with same with dried scallops? This is just a thought but I wonder I could just soak the duck in water 24 hours and then chop it up and stir fry it? This would skip the extra laborious step of steaming it.

Hello, I tried googling this and couldn't find anything on the web. I'm hoping someone might be able to answer. I saw some dried, preserved duck in Chinatown (NYC). Do you cook it the same way you cook "dried wind sausages" - i.e., by steaming it (either in a steamer or with the rice as the rice cooks)? Do you have any recipes? How do you use it generally? Any website links or book recommendations would be helpful too. thank you

Here in the East Cost - the NJ-NYC area - I have read about the tri-tip but neve saw it in our super markets. So here in the summer, I did see a triangle shaped beef and I thought it might be the tri-tip at Costco. BUT ALAS!!! 😪 it was not the tri-tip but some meat called the Picanha?? I googled it and it was sirloin. I remember having this cut in this fancy Brazilian steak house which was overpriced (as with all NYC restaurants) I tried it myself owing to the $6 price tag. And - damn - it was super good over the Santa Maria style grill. It did have the smoke flavor bc it was cooked directly over the charcoal (as the Cinnamon Club and Modernist Cuisine stated) Ummm..I am also glad for Costo's $6 lb oxtail - very high quality. I think it's at that price bc it is out of season (as a soup making cut - which is unlikely in a hot summer). Maybe I'll find a recipe of smoking or grilling oxtail for the summer. I have tried Jamaican oxtail recipe but it doesn't taste on the same level as West Indies restaurants/stores for oxtail dishes

Hmm..I checked out the TItan Outdoors website and it looks like they are out of stock for now at least See https://www.titangreatoutdoors.com/outdoor-cooking/open-fire-cooking/22-inch-adjustable-kettle-style-grill-attachment/899810.html

I read in Modernist Cuisine, the Cinnamon Club, and other food writers that when you grill meat directly over charcoal, the fat and drippings will hit the charcoal, ignite, and create steam and smoke that will coat the food giving it an unbelievable smoke flavor that's incredibly delicious. So I started avoiding grilling the indirect method - i.e., (where meat is placed on the side and not directly over the charcoal) and a cover is placed on so the meat cooks slowly without burning. I saw in Mark Wiens videos on youtube that Thai, Japananse, and many East Asians grill directly over the charcoal (not indirectly like Americans for slower cooking meats) so I thought this method has some historical backing etc. But I did want to control the heat for long cooks over direct fire. So the Argentinian asado style seemed like a good fit - i.e., you just raise the grill grate higher above the fire so the meat doesn't burn while still cooking directly over the charcoal. Most asado style grills costs like $5k or something but I found this neat Weber atttachment for like $120 or something. I've been using it now for a few months all summer and it's working great. I highly recommend it. I got mine from Titan Outdoors but it looks like there are many sellers of this Weber attachment.

I saw an episode of Steven Raichlen's Project Smoke on PBS and he cured a pork shoulder in wet brine with instacure/prague powerder #1 for a week before smoking it I was going to buy the Prague Powder #1 on amazon but wanted to seek advice from the professionals that know more about this stuff I've cured salmon to make gravlax with regular salt But does curing with pink salt lead to more flavor? corned beef brisket, cured with nitrite, sure tastes better than a normal salt brined brisket so I was just curious Are there any books that use pink curing salt that you recommend - for BBQ or charcuterie - for home cooks? thank you

I do remember a really good recipe from a chef that marinated pork in bourbon whiskey overnight that worked really I did the same recipe without the bourbon at another time and the taste wasn't as good so I believe that alcohol does add something I read further that alcohol gives a taste to the meal - like penne vodka (where alcohol does make a difference) but I can't really place or be introspective enough about what alcohol adds to the dish I might have read one author say that it enhances the flavors that the food already has??? not sure if anyone has any idea about how alcohol adds to the meal? would be nice to hear it if you know. thanx

I just get most of my seafood from Costco now - Ahi Tuna, Swordfish, scallops etc.. But does anyone know of anywhere in North New Jersey or the NYC area (with competitive prices that don't charge a premium) or by mailing (competitive pricing)? There are a lot of mail order seafood places online but they all have premium pricing or requires an order of $400 or more. I'm sure NYC has a lot of great seafood markets but the cost is usually twice that of normal. Costco prices are: $16 a lb ahi tuna; $16 a lb swordfish; $24 lb halbiut etc. Numbers higher than that but still close would be great if possible thank you

Hmmm..I see it looks like scallop harvest declined from 60 million to 40 million lbs. I wonder if harvest amounts might go up next year and prices go down. It's really hard to pay $30 lb when I remember them being $16 pre-covid.

Hey. Does anyone know why the price of scallops are soaring? It used to be $16 lb pre-covid and then $25 and now $28-29 (almost double) for U-15 size scallops at Costco. But the price of Ahi Tuna, salmon, and other seafood items are pretty much stable with little or not change. So I don't think it's just inflation.

Hello, I googled an answer and it looks like people are defrosting the whole thing just to take apart a small piece and re-freezing the thing. I'm assuming this is bad for the food (defrosting and refreezing etc.). So I just want to separate a smaller 1 lb piece out of a giant block of 5 lbs squid/meat etc. Can I do so without hacking at it with a knife? I'm using a hammer from my Stanley tool kit currently. It's difficult and dangerous etc. I can't freeze portions individually because it come in a giant block from costco etc. Thank you for reading.

I googled this question and there is no answer online. If professionals on Egullet could provide an answer I think it would help a lot of people searching in the future. Mature leeks sold in Western grocers - you can't eat the top bc it's too tough But baby leeks are sold in Asian grocers. Because it's young, I thought the top is tender too? Could I actually stir-fry and eat it? That is, is this done in East Asian cooking or cooking generally? I was going to cut of some of the top and stir fry to see if it's edible as an experiment but if...someone had knowledge about this and could share I, and others searching, would be grateful. thank you

I see it in Asian supermarkets and I use it for an Asian stir-fry with small amounts of meat and a fermented sauce. It's been a while though since I had it and I think it's seasonal - I just forgot which season when available.

I always thought the aim of vodka was to make the alcohol colorless, tasteless, and odorless - like water. Maybe the more it gets filtered, the more likely it will get close to being like water? I never understood the differences between higher end vodka's (Tito's, Grey Goose, Kettle One) vs. cheaper stuff - Smirnoff etc.? Isn't it suppose to be tasteless?

This idea seems kinda interesting. It doesn't seem like 4 restaurants but 1 restaurant serving different foods but consumers can be fooled into thinking it's 4 since its a ghost/delivery-only kitchen. I think that former Uber-guy, Travis K., was investing heavily into this idea and building them out? Restaurants can take in the revenues of 4-5 restaurants if they can do it successfully. Article in the Wall Street Journal quote: " For his latest culinary venture, veteran New York City chef Franklin Becker has decided to tackle what might seem like a mission impossible. He is opening four restaurants at once, each with different themes and menus, from the Israeli-inspired Shai to the Southern-styled Butterfunk Biscuit Co. The challenge is mitigated by the fact that Mr. Becker won’t have any actual dining rooms to manage. The restaurants are delivery-only—or ghost kitchens, as they are called in the industry. And they will all operate out of a single location, a 490-square-foot space in Manhattan’s Soho neighborhood." See https://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-chefs-go-the-delivery-route-11613829601?mod=hp_lista_pos3

they serve spicy mustard at the dim sum restaurant I used to go to with my wife regularly before covid. I guess it works with dim sum. I dip my shiew mi in it.

If the price of monthly rent is nearly the same as the monthly mortgage, I think you should just go ahead and buy the house. This way your rental payment becomes a mortgage payment and you get equity in the house - like mortgage payments become savings and investment in a house rather than payments to a landlord. I'm sure everyone already knows this but this was my reasoning in quickly buying a house. And..currently, it looks like if you just have cash in the bank, the interest is so low that you might be losing money by just holding cash. It seems better to turn that cash into a down payment and partial ownership in a house. The value of real estate seems to follow the rising price of stocks and other assets and is a safer, less risky investment. I hope you buy a house that you enjoy living in. I care more about design than other features. The pics I see of other guys' place on here looks amazing.