FoodZealot
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Posts posted by FoodZealot
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My grandma used to make a corned beef hash with taro. Then formed it into patties then panfried for crispy bits on the outside. Sorta homey, but you could dress it up nicely, if needed. Another option is to make a deep fried basket out of shreds to be the vehicle for a stirfry or what have you. I love that subtle sweetness, so I think it could work in a hearty stew in place of a potato.
As KarenS warns, be sure to precook or cook thoroughly.
~Tad
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I never really got the taste for this, but it's also in the fried surimi patties (sorry, I forget their Japanese name-may have already been mentioned).
One of the websites I looked at mentioned using salsify as if it was a parsnip, so I may try that tactic with gobo/burdock next time.
BTW, in case any of you do some research, http://www.goboworld.com/ is not about all things burdock.
~Tad
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Okay, we're going to Hua's Yuanan Garden is this Thursday the 11th, at 7:30pm. Please PM me if you are interested in attending. dfunghi? others?
~Tad
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Sorry this took so long but after a great 10 day trip it took me a month to get some free time.
Everyone who recommended Sona, THANKS! This was a memorable meal. We had the six course tasting menu with wine pairing and it was outstanding. The service, presentation and food were all great.
[snip]
I wish we had more time in LA because there were so many more restaurants that we wanted to try. Thanks for all the suggestions. Good luck with that whole governor thing.
We’ll be back.
jgbanker, thanks for coming back and reporting. Glad you enjoyed most of your trip.
Do you recall what was served at Sona?
~Tad
edit: snipped too much
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Steak.
When I saw this, I could hear the collective sound of eGer's across the globe smacking their foreheads along with me. A thread killer, as far as I'm concerned.
Steak is good steak.
~Tad
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I'm not a scientist, but my understanding of the smoke ring phenomena is that it only occurs in raw meat exposed to smoke, up to a particular temperature. For the depth/thicknes of the smoke ring, it's not the length of time that it's been smoked, unless it's under that temperature - thus you may see cold smoked items (around 100 degrees or so) that have the reddish cast all the way through.
I believe that brining does not stop the smoke ring, but something with saltpeter in it would, as it is essentially fully cured, or "cooked".
~Tad
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Also, I just discovered these Chinese ready to eat crispy noodle cakes that can are great with any stir fry over them.
Hi Food Zealot! Can you say more about the noodles? Are they from Trader Joe's? They sound like the Vietnamese noodles that come with stir fried veggies.
Hey Mixmaster B! Great thread-
The noodles aren't from TJ's, probably 99 Ranch. I think they're Chinese - I'll try to take a picture or scan it.
~Tad
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Thank you, Chef Fowke! This is a great project. Many thanks for documenting it so thoroughly - your brain and heart are clearly working in concert. Congratulations also on the props from Mondavi - you should rightfully be proud of that.
~Tad
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I'm a big fan of Trader Joe's, but for selected items only. IMHO, many of the sauces and ingredients lean way too far to the sweet side, making them hard to incorporate into a dish. It's kinda like a Costco in that not everything is there all the time, and they don't try to carry everything like a supermarket, although they're pretty diverse. I think it's possible to save quite a bit compared to a regular supermarket or Whole Foods, since they use cost-plus pricing. I also like that they seem to have a corporate conscience, although I don't agree with everything. It's the only stop I make before going camping. FWIW, by trial and error, these are the things I usually get there:
Bottled water, GoLean Crunch cereal, protein bars, fresh artichokes, olives, Dubliner cheese, parmegiano reggiano, shredded Mediterranean blend cheese, organic milk, eggs/egg whites, nuts and trail mixes (tamari almonds, cashews, pine nuts), nut butter, Terra stix, Sara's Sorbets, gelato, tomato onion "Middle Eastern pizzas", protein drinks, Niman Ranch bacon, TJ's sausages, TJ's gourmet breads (I think made by La Brea Bakery), frozen potstickers, paper goods, EVOO for everyday, dried pasta, premade raw pizza dough, prewashed salad, Lemon Ginger Echinacea drink, fresh berries, dehydrated fruit, King Arthur Flour, Carb Safe chocolate, laundry soap, Belgian chocolate pudding, the $10 Amarone, Marques de Caceres Rioja, Patron, chocolate nut clusters, white chocolate cookies, Batali's pasta sauce (still expensive), Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, Ak-mak crackers, el cheapo "prosciutto", imported Greek dolmades, organic chicken stock, various kinds of jerky, and disposable 35mm cameras.
~Tad
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Trader Joe's is my friend!
Since a protein is usually the most time consuming item to prepare, I cook a package of chicken sausage or a few chicken breasts at a time, then keep them in the fridge, then slice and heat it up with some marinara and pasta or with onions and peppers on a sandwich. Also, there's a Japanese market near me where they have karaage (boneless fried chicken pieces) - these particular ones are flavor non-denominational, so they can be used in a variety of ways.
Although not as good as steaming multiple times over a stew, you can make couscous really fast if you just boil the water or flavored stock, throw it in, let it sit, then fluff it. Then treat it like either pasta or rice.
Pre-made bruschetta sauce is great for instant checca sauce.
I also keep yakisoba noodles (usually portion packed) in the fridge or freezer for something better than ramen. Also, I just discovered these Chinese ready to eat crispy noodle cakes that can are great with any stir fry over them.
Frozen potstickers - but instead of following the package directions, I boil/steam in about 1 cup of water, then pour it off and fry - better texture, IMHO.
Quick pizzas or quesadillas with tortillas or other flatbreads from stores - lavash, lahmejun, pita etc. Papadums are great for an instant extra touch - inexpensive and they just take a minute in the toaster - I find it easier than over a burner or in a pan.
I try to think of it as the reverse of Garbage In, Garbage Out. I guess that would be Good Stuff In, Good Stuff Out. Nice EVOO, real Parmegianno, fresh black pepper, and good salt all make simple things taste better, whether from scratch or "cheated".
~Tad
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Opihi (I am starting to cry...)
[snip]
Aloha, Kimo
(only 21 days until my next visit to Hawaii....
)Opihi!! Have some for me...
~Tad
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I'll eat kamaboko, but as you say, it's not something I get a craving for and eat a whole block of it. I think I was also scarred by how closely it resembles the little Japanese erasers which, strangely, I think were made to look like kamaboko. I know, I'm confused, too.
It's nice for visual interest and as garnish in a nice bowl of udon or something. Before there was such a thing as imitation crab, people used to grate kamaboko and mix it with mayonaise to make a sort of seafood salad. Generally, too sweet and rubbery for me.
~Tad
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Everyone, thank you for the info about the various kinds of nori.
I was just reminded of one of my recent obsessions - noriten. It's essentially a piece of nori that is dipped in tempura batter (usually one side), then fried crisp. My local noodle place puts one piece in the assorted tempura. Deep fried umami!
It's also available in bags like potato chips at a Japanese market. Unfortunately, these are loaded with fat, preservatives and sodium. I get them in the small bag...
~Tad
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Here's a little more background on huli huli chicken, via an obituary of the inventor. Honolulu Advertiser: Huli-Huli chicken creator Ernest Morgado dies at 85
I don't have a family recipe or anything, but this one looks about right for the simple version.
Here's a slightly more involved version, but looks really good. I would probably use something other than olive oil, and consider omitting or reducing the lime juice and honey. And a nice story to go with it.
For pre-made marinade, the third one down is pretty widely available, but I don't know how it tastes.
When you're grilling, use a moderate heat, because you like da chicken come out small kine koge (charred), but not papa'a (burnt). Good luck!
~Tad
edit: added "or reducing"
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Such poetry!
I love onions because they're the foundation (usually the second thing put into any pan, after olive oil or butter or bacon) and they're often the top note for garnish and crunch, too.
There's a place near me that makes a five onion pizza - red, yellow, green, shallots and leeks! Pretty damn good.
~Tad
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I've only been to Hawai'i once (back before they got the new apostrophe).
I was amazed at what they use for their road-side fund raisers: barbecue chicken!
We were headed to the south side of Oahu and there along side the road was a man overseeing about 6 half-barrel barbecues, all topped with grill sheets (looked almost like fence material). He was cooking half chickens and selling them to whoever pulled over. He was rasing money for a local scout troop.
And was it was ever tasty! We had never seen such a fund raiser here on the mainland. It was quite unique.
hey Toliver,
that grilled chicken is usually called huli-huli chicken, meaning flip-flip or turn-turn. It's also come to be associated with a soy-ginger-garlic marinade that is less sweet than teriyaki.
Because of this thread, I've been thinking about food from the homeland, and I have a craving for preserved lemons. There used to be a whole industry of shops that sell various pickled plums, prunes, peaches, etc - crack seed, li hing mui, rock salt plums - along with shaved ice (snow cones, raspada), cuttlefish, manapua (big char siu bao) etc. One of my favorite ones in Hilo, which is no longer, made their own lemons - kinda like Morrocan preserved lemons, but mostly sweet, only a little salty. These are all snacks - not ingredients. Many people made things like this at home, too. You'd see them aging in big bottles up on the roof. It's not quite so common these days.
~Tad
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Thank you, Kristin, for reviving this thread. You are so wonderfully efficient and friendly about keeping people on topic! I imagine the collars from an ahi are quite large, no?
I love hamachi kama, and it's what I see most often in restaurants. I often see smoked salmon collars in the markets, and those are okay if you need a hit of unsubtle, over-the-top, processed bacon-of-the-sea Omega-3 fatty acids.
This is the first time I've read this thread, and there hasn't been much discussion of what they are actually like to eat. The meat from these areas, like the cheek and covering the gills, are compact and surrounded by fish bone, as they have a particular purpose - fin control, chewing, etc. The meat is usually fine textured, and has irregular shapes, unlike a filet with it's large, regular flakes. The appeal of the collars is that they often are gelatinous and fatty if from fatty fish, so the overall effect is quite luxurious. It can take some dexterity and tenacity to get the meat out with chopsticks, but it is delicious.
I look forward to trying halibut, maguro and ahi collars.
~Tad
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All,
Tissue and I were talking about going to Hua's Yuanan Garden on Thursday the 11th, at about 7:30pm. I'll make the arrangements, so if this day and time works in your schedule, please PM me with the number of people in your group. Thanks.
~Tad
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I don't know nearly enough about sushi and sashimi as I would like, but I do love pretty much all of it. I can't really say I like sashimi over sushi since I don't think I could make a whole meal out of just sashimi.
In Hawaii, we would occasionally receive gifts of a the smaller tunas from fisherman friends, like kawakawa (wavyback skipjack) and aku (skipjack). Those can be excellent eating - finer texture, and sometimes quite fatty. Tendency to be bloody, though. Sometimes people cut opakapaka (pink snapper) for sashimi, but that's one I'd rather have steamed.
Favorites include hamachi, saba, toro, salmon skin roll (bacon of the sea!), and uni for dessert. I've never had shime-saba, but that sounds yummy. Albacore can be nice, but its usually too lean for my taste. And while they're not raw, I also like to get the broiled yellowtail collars if they have them...
~Tad
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FoodZealot, I couldn't agree more that Hawaii has a special food culture. I'd argue the most fascinating (if not the best) in the US. And one of the most fascinating world wide as well. One of the places were you can watch the creation of a new grass roots cuisine.
[snip]
I think of the novelist James Michener. I'm not promoting his work but he was married to a Hawaii Japanese and did think a good bit about the problems of the islands (not always to the liking of people there). Anyway in his novel on Spain, he tells a story, true or not I don't know. In the 60s, the powers that were in the Hawaii state government decided to try a new kind of promotion. Hey, they said, we are a fascinating culture, great Pacific Island and Asian resources, one of the most mixed cultures on earth, an augury of the future. Let's promote this along with our great beaches.
Result (according to Michener) tourism plummeted. Hula and natural bounty was what visitors wanted. So ever since, it's been computers for the locals, luaus for visitors (his phrase more or less).
I don't think HRC has cracked this nut. Maybe no one wants to. May be no one can. Hawaii remains tiny so the visitor market has presumably to be included for any even modestly ambitious restaurant.
What is needed is the entrepreneur who can sell not just food, not just a simplistic notion of fusion foods, but Hawaii's secret. And that, I think, is the sheer glory of what local people have achieved (well, are achieving): a real political and economic transformation of the islands since the 50s. And with it, and indissolubly linked to it, a real grass roots fusion cuisine.
Now that would be revolutionary. But how to pull it off? Well I'm not a restauranteur.
Rachel
Thanks again for your comments, caroline. My disclaimer - I go to Hawaii once a year, and I don't get to eat out all that much because of visiting with family. But IMHO, I think one of the mistakes of HRC has been the emphasis on lightness, delicacy and refinement. Wonton napoleons, crab spring rolls, fancy salads, etc. I think that's the wrong way to go. As you say, there's a disconnect between the roots of it and the target customers. To me, local food is essentially soul food of Hawaii. And as such, I believe it's possible to elevate kalua pig, kau yuk (Chinese red pork belly), and whatever else the same way that the gutbucket food of France becomes the fad dish, like lamb shanks or gumbo for New Orleans. Or in contemporary Southern cuisine, they have brought grits and collards to new levels.
A better strategy for the cuisine, IMHO, it to do those dishes that no one wants to make anymore for reasons of time, scale, hassle, smelliness, hard to find ingredients or whatever. There's got to be some substance there, or it's just like something you can find in any other city. Sure, use new techniques, new presentation, and put your twist on it. But if chefs can procure opah and moi in NYC, the Hawaii guys better be doing something better or at least different with their homegrown ingredients. So in a sense, I think it's a "vision thing".
The weakness in my argument is the other issue you brought up - lots of people want the easily digested image of Hawaii, with pre-packaged omiyage(souvenir gifts), puka shell leis, pineapple and papaya with every meal - not the "real" Hawaii. It would be bad business not to include visitors in your business plan. But there are a decent percentage of visitors that go to the areas and the outer islands and look for spots where locals go, just like any other destination.
I suppose for restauranteurs, it's a matter of what route to take to what kind of success do you want? How much Hawaii needs to be in that formula?
~Tad
edit - to add italics to foreign words
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Re: Longhi's - I've never been there, but I was reading his cookbook at a friend's house and picked up on the self-important tone in the writing, but just figured I was reading into it. It's too bad that he doesn't get the big picture...
Sorry to hear about your food poisoning. No fun at all. Although, do you think it could have been the mac salad rather than the kalua pork?
I love cuttlefish and similar snacks. The variety of cuttlefish snacks is pretty amazing - spicy ones, sweet ones, salty ones, smoky ones [drool]. Probably my favorite is the dried clams. [minds out of the gutter, please]
~Tad
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Ahhh - thanks for the tip. I'll post when I make it out to Chino or any other Basque restaurant.
~Tad
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Excellent points, caroline. I'll have to digest them before making any real response!
~Tad
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If you try the one in Chino, please post about it! We've always driven to Bakersfield (from Orange County) for good Basque food, but would love to find somewhere closer!
Anyone that would drive that far deserves a hearty welcome to eGullet, Maison Rustique! I'll definitely post something if I make it to Chino, but I 'm guessing you're probably significantly closer and maybe a bit more likely to make it there than I am, as I'm in West LA.
Which one do you go to in Bako?
~Tad
Various Chinese cuisines
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
In Hawaii, we use FOB for Fresh Off Boat (the article sounds too proper) and JOJ for Just Off Jet. [grin]
~Tad