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Not really. Morimoto specializes in Japanese cuisine, not Chinese. Logistically speaking, a Chinese restaurant is more likely to have the equipment and ingredients he needs, woks, big Chinese cleavers, etc. It would be really cool to have in Philly a King of Iron Chefs battle between Chen-san and Morimoto-san though. What wouldn't I give to be on that tasting panel... Duh - yeah. He's a chef that specializes in Chinese (even more specifically, Szechuan) cuisine. Chen Kinichi guest cheffing at a Japanese, French, Italian, Serbo-Croatian, Hungarian, Cuban, Lativan, Polish or German restaurant, Argentinian Rodizio House, Belgian Frites stand or whatfreakingever doesn't really make sense, does it? Sort of what I was implying, no? Am I being too oblique?

Another small tip for you about fried rice and eggs. Don't pour the beaten eggs onto the rice itself. This will cause the rice to soak up moisture from the eggs and thus make it very soggy. You may cook the eggs separately and throw back in to the rice (cutting in strips or just scramble the eggs as you cook them). Or, if you are an expert or just being lazy (I am the latter kind ) , you may create a "hole" (empty space) in your pan/wok of fried rice then you pour in the beaten eggs in the middle. Keep scrambling. After the eggs are hardened, you simply use the spatular to mix them with the rice. This way there is no need to cook the eggs in a separate process. I don't think there is one right way to add eggs to stir-fried rice, it depends on the dish and the cook. Yang chow fan (Yang style fried rice) for instance, I think traditionally has the cut-up omlette, whereas the Hokkien-Singapore style stuff the partner makes never does. This is actually a bone of contention in our house, I prefer the omlette bits, he prefers to coat each rice grain with egg (and the way he does it doesn't make it soggy! ... the rice is hard and dry enough to take it) so it depends on who does the cooking. We had a very fortuitous discovery that scrambled duck eggs make a much fluffier and delicious salted-fish fried rice then chicken eggs. Using them made it taste like the hawker dishes of his childhood. sequim, I'm guessing you might have got the idea of letting the garlic get browned from the eGullet cooking class I did. There the garlic was in whole crushed cloves, and is just used to scent the oil for a high temp vegetable stir-fry. When (and if) you have chopped garlic you want to be a little more careful because it can get bitter very easily at high temperatures. Also, the ethnic Chinese in residence has a SE Asian sensibility when it comes to garlic, onions, and shallots, and believes they all taste better a little browned, which influenced the dishes we did for the class (I think I mentioned this influence in the intro). As you can see, this preference is not true for all cooks of Chinese food. It's a vast country with a huge diaspora. I earn my living by my ability to be accurate, precise, and able to repeat experiments resulting in the same outcome each time. I was surprised that I found it insanely frustrating to write the recipes with actual amounts and times for the eG cooking lesson I did, because there can only really be guidelines. Take for instance garlic... in the spring it is milder and wetter, so you might add more of it and cook it differently then how you would cook with winter garlic (which is dryer and much stronger). I think the best teachers impart this kind of wisdom, not just a list of ingredients and cooking times. I admire them for it, because it's much harder to do via the written word then it looks! regards, trillium

Not really. Morimoto specializes in Japanese cuisine, not Chinese. Logistically speaking, a Chinese restaurant is more likely to have the equipment and ingredients he needs, woks, big Chinese cleavers, etc. It would be really cool to have in Philly a King of Iron Chefs battle between Chen-san and Morimoto-san though. What wouldn't I give to be on that tasting panel...

I grew up watching the Frugal Gourmet with my dad - it's what I believe started me out as a foodie. When I moved out to go to college, I went down to Pike Place Market and picked up a few of his books in paperback - they were heavy reading for me even as a kid. I love the sense of community, story, and history that goes into his books and anecdotes. My husband keeps asking why everytime we get out the wok I say "Hot pan, cold oil, food won't stick!". I credit Jeff Smith with making me curious about different foods, and different cultures, and his excellent show for being a centerpoint of some serious father-daughter quality time in my house. When my dad deployed with the Navy, I would turn on the Frugal Gourmet and it was like I was watching it with my dad and we were deciding what to make for dinner. For that, I will always have fond memories of his show. I would love nothing better than to have his shows on DVD or on the graveyard rotation on PBS or Food Network, but sadly I don't think it will ever happen. I never would have tried variety cuts if it hadn't been for him, or been such a garlic fan. He gave me my first stock recipe, my kale soup recipe (which makes my husband homesick for New Bedford), and made me want to search out farmers markets. I for one, will miss him, and pass his books to my kids. Any wrong doing on his part is passed, and I will continue to cherish the good in his legacy. I have an address for his business manager, if anybody would like to write his family a letter as I did telling them how much he meant to me growing up.

Another small tip for you about fried rice and eggs. Don't pour the beaten eggs onto the rice itself. This will cause the rice to soak up moisture from the eggs and thus make it very soggy. You may cook the eggs separately and throw back in to the rice (cutting in strips or just scramble the eggs as you cook them). Or, if you are an expert or just being lazy (I am the latter kind ) , you may create a "hole" (empty space) in your pan/wok of fried rice then you pour in the beaten eggs in the middle. Keep scrambling. After the eggs are hardened, you simply use the spatular to mix them with the rice. This way there is no need to cook the eggs in a separate process.

Thanks for your kind words. I guess it must have been on a different thread, but someone mentioned getting the wok hot enough to smoke and indicated that getting the garlic really brown imparted a smoky flavor they liked, so that's what I wanted to achieve. Maybe that's a matter of personal taste. I had originally thought burned garlic would be bitter, though. I do know, though, that when I stir fry kale, I like to get the pan really hot and slightly burn the leaves as I like the crunchy smoke taste it gets. Perhaps it's a fine line between carbonized nasty and pleasantly smoky. An aside: At the chinese market yesterday I saw baskets of peppers (habeneros, jalapeno and anaheim) - the funny thing is they were all labeled jalapenos! Now as I continue to cook chinese I do hope that I can start to successfully pair wine with chinese foods as I think that is very difficult. Yet, I love wine and don't care to drink beer which many have suggested. Last night, however, I did have a pinot grigio which went very well with what I made. It was neither too sweet or too dry and the food didn't adversely affect its taste. Oops, I digressed from the main topic....

Why don't you become Moderator, Trillium! You are so active, after all. I am loving this thread. I love Chinese food but I have had similar experiences with Project in that when I've attempted to make a dish, the flavors are just blah or nasty even though I have all the special condiments. Last night, however, I concentrated on the Less Is More dictim and to taste as I go rather than put in quantified amounts. I used the Chicken and Green Bean recipe only as a guide because what I actually had was some killer BBQ pork, some rice leftover from lunch and some green beans. I made pork fried rice and slowly added flavorings like a lightly fried egg (I'm never sure if I should swirl the beaten egg into the fried rice or first lightly cook a pancake and cut it into strips. Last night I did the strips), scallions and lacking peas, put in some of the green beans I did as mentioned below. I also made sure to pick up some light soya as I know the dark soy I have has tended to overwhelm dishes in the past or I've made them too salty with too liberal a hand. Letting this mellow overnight, the flavors were great this morning when I had a bowl for breakfast. Not overspiced but not bland. With the green beans, I took the advice of getting the wok really hot and even letting the garlic brown, almost blacken up, although in the past I felt the garlic had been ruined when it reached this point. Then I threw in my blanched green beans and browned them up with a couple mushrooms and a jalapeno (deviating from traditional chinese I guess), adding the seasonings at the end, first adding light soya, then half the amount of dark soya and after tasting, some oyster sauce. It was delicious and I felt I'd crossed some magic threshold.

Here you will find the collection of digests for a number of media which are located in the Southeastern states. This week's Southeastern Forum Digest includes, in alphabetical order, by city: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has as its main story the ubiquitous fried green tomatoes, which is why the movie with the same name, was such a success. The southern fried green tomato is something of a symbol of true southern cooking. And, while they may appear on northern menus, it just ain't the same, shuggah! The secret? Recipes from local restaurants accompany this deliciously appealing article: South City Kitchen's Fried Green Tomatoes With Goat Cheese and Red Pepper Coulis Ritter's Fried Green Tomatoes With Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette Salad Fried Green Tomatoes With Shrimp Remoulade Cargo Portside Grill's Fried Green Tomatoes With Herbed Cheese and Roasted Red Pepper Coulis Over Jalapeño Cheese Grits (fancy but lovely!) and, if you plan to do this thing exactly right, do read Fried Green Tomato cooking techniques...right here and now for a little dessert to wash those fried green tomatoes down! Reagan Walker's tribute to the 100 th anniversary of the banana split Carbs galore! This week's Access Atlanta from the AJC has a review of a local restaurant, the Cabin Room, which is known for serving great steaks and boar ... yes, boar: Worth a look if you are within driving distance of Atlanta. Atlanta Creative Loafing has a review of the Cabin Room as well .. from another local food reviewer ... but it received the same two stars as the previous review above ... a review of a new place for Southwestern cuisine, Asada, which shows promise... and then there is this: Bubblicious: Phoenix Noodle Cafe takes flight with fruity teas, nifty noodles Nowadays, saying "bubblicious" in Atlanta, makes one realize that it is rapidly becoming an oriental market for all types of teas .. whereas before, saying "bubbalicious" referred to barbecue ... The Charleston Post and Courier has a number of articles, one of which is about a restaurant and its owners, Philip Bardin and David Gressette, and their love of low country cuisine: There are some terrific recipes from the cookbook written with Jane and Michael Stern as well: Other articles here this week include a tart-sweet take on Key limes and their uses with some delicious-looking recipes. The Charlotte Observer has an article with links on the way in which Dunkin' Donuts is coming to the area to challenge the supremacy of Krispy Kreme (none of these spellings are mine, please note!). See for yourself .. read on ...Charlotte Creative Loafing has a very sharp article entitled "Keep Wokking" on the local oriental bounty of new delights for the Charlotte dining public... Tomi: Yet another article from this week's CCL is about summer wines to try: Memphis Commercial Appeal has a refeshingly cool article on homemade icecreams .... so get out your Swiss made Pacojets and let the party begin! July is, after all, National Ice Cream Month ! The Tennessean from Nashville spotlights Thai cooking with an article about local chef, Thai cooking teacher Susan Hudgens: Of course, recipes are linked to this article. The Orlando Sentinel has a piece on Gloria Spitzer, who has managed, with no small effort, to recreate recipes which are kept secret by their commercial originators: Apparently Colonel Harlan Sanders once called Pitzer "the Recipe Detective." Her new book, The Recipe Detective Gloria Pitzer's Recipe Journal will publish Sept. 1.The Triangle.com has a lead article on ethnic local dining: The News Observer which serves the cities of Raleigh, Durham, Cary, and Chapel Hill has a variety of interesting reading including the usual french fry manifesto: and while it doesn't feature any radical surprises, it is worth reading. I particularly enjoyed the tomato article and recipe for Tomatoes Stuffed with Toasted Hazelnuts and Parmesan .That about winds up our whirlwind tour of the media in the southeast ... will add more during the week if something incredibly compelling appears! Have a great week and come back to see what surprises are in store for you here next week. Stay cool, relax, and enjoy your summer, ya'll!

Any chili hot sauce lover out there? I love hot sauce of all kinds, and I have tried many of them (especially Asian styles). I found that Tobasco (and all its imitators) is a bit too sour to my liking. I tried using Chinese chili bean sauce as a condiment, and it is overly salty. Tried the Guilin chili sauce. It tastes good but again too salty as a condiment. Tried Sambal Oelek... like Tobasco, too much vinegar in it. I like some of the sweet hot sauce paste, but only use it with Cheung Fun. I found many other Vietnamnese hot sauces, like Sambal Oelek, to be too sour for my taste (but they sure are hot, which I like). From all the hot sauces that I have tried, I found one that is on the top of my taste test: Yank Sing Chili Pepper Sauce and Yank Sing XO Chili Pepper Sauce I knew their hot sauce from more than 20 years ago when they were just a small neighborhood restaurant at Boardway and Stockton in San Francisco. (Now they are a big corporation) I believe they used to (maybe still do) serve their own chili sauce (for free) to their customers. I used to walk in to their restaurant just to buy a jar of their hot sauce. The demand for their chili sauce has been so great that they expanded their business and nowadays you can find their hot sauce in most Asian grocery markets. It seems to achieve a perfect balance of taste and heat. It doesn't have a trace of vinegar that I can taste. I tried to reverse engineer their hot sauce but to date do not have any success. Through my trials, I have developed my own chili sauce recipe which I like, though it's far from Yank Sing's. But their hot sauce is priced at US $3.95 for a 6 oz jar, it's a pricy taste to have. (XO sauce is priced at close to US $6.00 per 6 oz). Here is my home-made chili pepper oil recipe for anyone who is interested: CHILI PEPPER SAUCE (Ingredients will yield 2 to 3 large jam jars) - 7-8 cup of cooking oil - 1 pack of dried hot pepper flakes (about 1 to 1.5 lb) - 15 to 20 whole garlic - 2 cup of fermented black beans (rinsed and smashed) - 2 cup of preserved radish - 3/4 cup of hoisin sauce - 1 cup of sa cha sauce (basically minced dried shrimp) - 20 tsp of cayenne pepper powder - 5 tsp of ground white pepper - 5 tsp of sugar - 5 tsp of white vinegar - 5 tsp of five spice powder - 10 tsp of salt 1. Separate and peel all the garlic. Use a food processor, chop the garlic to fine fragments. 2. Use the food processor to grind the preserved radish to fine fragments. 3. Use a wok/pan, heat up the cooking oil (maybe 10 minutes). Add chopped garlic, cook until brown (5 minutes or more). Add preserved radish, pepper flakes, black beans, hoisin sauce, sa cha sauce, cayenne pepper powder, white pepper, sugar, vinegar, five spice powder and salt. Cook another 10 minutes or so, keep stirring. Notes: 1. The chili hot oil should be kept in the refrigerator. 2. Optionally you may add dried scallop to the chili oil (XO sauce). Soak the dried scallop in water overnight, then use the food processor to mince the scallop before putting in the hot chili oil. 3. Optionally you may add dried shrimp to the chili oil (imitation XO sauce). Soak the dried shrimp in water for 30 minutes, then use the food processor to mince the dried shrimp before putting in the hot chili oil. 4. Optionally you may use fresh red chilis, finely chopped, to add more heat to the chili oil. [edited to rename it Chili Pepper Sauce from Chili Pepper Oil]

edm Welcome to Vancouver and to these hallowed halls. Or perhaps a mouche du coche? For those of you unfamiliar with the parable, it refers to the French fly which, by biting the horse's rump, convinces himself that he's the one pulling the wagon. As someone who eats out abroad with frequency, I think it's a fatuous game to compare a supposed lack of passion and integrity in this city (or in restaurant to restaurant within the city) with that available elsewhere. Having eaten my way through seven European cities and a fair bit of countryside this summer (and as a pretty regular commuter), I can assure you of several things: 1. For its mid-market size, Vancouver enjoys a disproportionate diversity and profusion of restaurants per capita. I would challenge anyone to find the former in a city of similar size in Europe. 2. Value on the plate compares favourably with all of the countries that we visited, with the exception of Estonia (where I met the beet, in all its many forms, at least twice a day), which was roughly equal. Your example of a $25 chicken breast is an interesting one--on the cusp of being too expensive, even in a fine dining room here. But consider London, where that same breast, at the currency equivalent of 10 pounds Sterling, would be an outright bargain, and in a fine dining room, impossible to find. But if you want to taste delicious chicken, get yourself to Villa del Lupo, Cioppino's Enoteca for lunch, or Bacchus on a Sunday evening. By Euro standards, all offer exceptional value when they flip you the bird. 3. I enjoyed your notes on your visit to southern Vancouver Island, where a number of engaging rooms have been hatched in the last three years. Victoria is recently rich in these characterful restaurants with cooking attentive to the seasons and the personality of the proprietor (who is also doing the cooking), indelibly stamped on the premises. Good on them. But with rents now hitting the $30 per square foot range, Vancouver suffers rents 30-40% higher than Victoria but with entree prices of barely 10% more; that should tell you why it is difficult now to make a living from a single 50-seater here. Only low interest rates have enabled recent start-ups. Thus the absence of neighbourhood restaurants in favour of Double Happy Dry Cleaners in the podiums of condo towers. Restaurants remain an almost-instant barometer of the economy, and higher volumes in casual circumstances will, for better or worse, likely continue to be the order of the day. I like it, but for an outsider's perception, take a look at Andy Lynes' engaging thread on this board. 3. It's not hard to find the kind of brand extension in Europe that grows out a successful 2 or 3 macaron. Michel Rostang, as just one example, has one eponymous haute cuisine 2-star restaurant (with an a la carte 65 Euro pigeon, the price of the entire tasting menus at West, Bis Moreno, Diva or Lumiere), but his empire is based on a foundation of less expensive pret a manger bistros spotted around Paris. Although they're naturally less connected to his "passion" they allow it to stay in business and his hard-working daughter to wear Chanel. He should be congratulated, by the way, because in an era of rapidly disappearing haute cuisine in Europe, he has found a way to survive, even if the pigeons won't. 4. Having recently worked alongside 50 BC chefs in the compilation of a local cookbook, I would have a lot of trouble denying them the virtues of integrity and passion. Quite the opposite is true, in fact--they enjoy an extraordinary commitment to their staffs and their ingredients, to the point that several forage for fresh products themselves, and all share a passionate interest in their suppliers' wares. 5. The wine list at Cru is a modern model of skillful choice and education for the patron and has been widely recognized as such. There remains ample reason that France and other European wine producing countries continue to lose marketshare, not for lack of passion or terroir, pehaps, but for their collective (and often arrogant, to their ultimate peril) ignorance of their customer. 6. I agree with you on one point, that the lack of local, tough apprenticeships and training disallow the disciplined foundations necessary to understand the complexities of ingredient procurement, management and cooking. In cooking, many chefs have told me, there is no replacement for the learning that comes from performing the same series of tasks repetitively. Unfortunately, without these foundations, many younger chefs offer up their insecurity on crowded plates with confusing flavours--failed Home Ec experiments. And I agree with stovetop's question--there are many other exemplars than West and Lumiere for quality dining experiences in this city. But those two chefs do have the foundations: David Hawksworth through his extensive training with the likes of Bruno Loubet, Marco Pierre White and others in the UK, and Rob Feenie during his legthy training with Michel Jacob and at the-then three star Au Crocodile in Strasbourg. But we should equally respect the sushi masters, the wok-men, the curry kings, the dessert divas and the extrordinarily high quality of service (thanks Earls!) that we enjoy here. On a good day in Europe this trip, we found laconic service. On other days it was by turns snotty, imperious, condescending or merely aloof. Interestingly, the best service by a long shot was at the Writers' Club in Moscow, where the waiters were charming and helpful but also understand the true meaning of hard currency. 7. I disagree with your notion that "criticising is the first step to improvement." Instead I would argue that self-criticism with knowledge is the first step to improvement, especially if a little wisdom is retrieved from the side of the road, along the way. In closing, I'm still curious about what disappointed you at West and Lumiere--and where you cook now. And here's an open invitation. When the Chefs' Table (the group of chefs responsible for the compilation of the cookbook and each dedicated to local ingredients) convenes in September--would you like to come along and share your thoughts? I hope that you won't find these remarks heavy-handed--they're certainly not intended that way, but rather to question and to engage you in the discusion that you sought. By the way, when I satred cooking professionally (if you can call what I was doing cooking) at the age of 16, which was more than a week and a half ago, the dining landscape here was as bald as the lone prairie. Now it is not, and I wouldn't trade its soul and provenance for any other in the world. Happy Bastille Day, and again, welcome aboard, Jamie

Ben Hong: "Most would not ever purposely make a separate sauce to be poured over the finished dish." What I have seen and have been attempting is consistent with what you are saying. Commonly I have seen steps (1) put stock in a wok, boil, blanch vegetables, drain, set aside, empty wok, (2) put quite a lot of oil in wok, heat, quickly cook the other solids, possibly breaded, drain, set aside, empty wok, (3) with a little oil in the wok, say 2 T, heat, add some flavorings, possibly some of garlic, ginger, scallions, crushed pepper flakes, mushrooms, black beans, Szechuan pepper corns, cook a few seconds until 'fragrant', add liquids, possibly some of stock, soy sauce, oyster sauce, chili sauce, Hoisin sauce, vinegar, rice wine, sugar and then heat, (4) add corn starch slurry, heat and thicken, (5) add drained solids, toss, serve. The result is solids coated with a sauce thickened with starch. For "Your statement about lack of precise documentation of techniques and ingredient proportions indicate precisely why Chinese cooking is an art, not a science. Please stop thinking like an engineer", thinking like an engineer is common in the West, goes back to airplanes, electric power, railroads, steam, steel, and Roman stone work. For "In an earlier post, I mentioned the words harmony, balance, yin and yang, heating and cooling humours, even fung shui. You can learn all the techniques and procedures and use of ingredients and become a good cook. Understanding and paying heed to the terms just listed would make you a great sifu. Seek it and you can't see it, reach for it and it can't be grasped, meet it and it has no head, follow it and it has no rear. 'IT' is ephemeral, it 'IS'" I don't have a weak little hollow hint of a tiny clue what you mean. First, there is a language problem: While I know a little German and enough French to read restaurant menus and wine bottle labels, mostly I just know English and there, except for specialized topics in engineering, mostly based just on words in a dictionary. Likely I do not really understand even a single word of Chinese. Second, even given a good translation to English, I have weak abilities getting useful meaning from poetic, paradoxical, or puzzling explanations. Last, I notice that 'reductionism' and 'rationalism' with mathematics and physical science have done well explaining, with accurate powers of prediction, from the interior of atoms to the first second of the big bang 14 billion years ago and do believe that dishes in Chinese cooking can be formulated and documented so that they can be reproduced reliably a continent and a decade away. In particular, in my own notes, for what little I have that does work and is edible, my notes are reliable for me months later. Sounds like there is a terrific business opportunity developing a series of DVDs on teaching clueless Americans how to cook dishes, reliably with high quality, in Chinese cooking, as in the inexpensive Chinese restaurants in America, as in inexpensive street stands and restaurants in China and fully authentic, and possibly as in high end restaurants in China. If rationalism conquered the atom and the big bang, bacterial infections and space flight, computers and the Internet, then it's little enough to ask that it conquer Chinese cooking. That I have yet to master some field of knowledge is poor evidence that it cannot be mastered with rationalism, measurements of weights, volumes, times, and temperatures, and clear documentation.

There is no "general purpose stir fry sauce." You gotta relax! There is a classic Nitty Gritty book by Gary Lee, I think it is just called "Wok." Basically, he tells what is common sense about cooking, introduces you to "Chinese sensibilities" on the subject of cuisine, and encourages you to experiment. Chinese cooking is not "rocket science." Rocket science stops at perfection. The best cooking is more random, and exceeds "perfection" routinely. BB

Rushina, you reminded me of my quickfix to be served with drinks: In a wok/kadhai with a tbsp of oil, fry some whole peanuts and whole red chillis. Remove with a slotted spoon to a grinder and add hand torn cabbage into the wok and stir fry very briefly with a little garlic and a little masala(any of the mixes will do). Grind/Pulse the peanuts and red chillis coarsely, add to the cabbage and serve immediately. Milagai will vouch for it, unless she was just hungry. I suppose it could be called a warm salad too. Variations are endless.

No. I did not attempt cooking with magnesium, but while welding I crossed it's path--and it whupped my ass. It's kind of like the poisoning you get from working with galvinized steel--a necessary evil. I still want to reiterate that the fat from the wok was far more painful; that took my breath away.

As a certified welder for 22 years, allow me to recommend Bag Balm. You can buy it anywhere, and if you have a really nasty burn, it will heal it in a very short time. Now, having said that, I was chicken-frying some steaks in a wok one night, zoned out, and splashed the hot oil on the arch of my foot. YEOUCH!!!! Still have that "Medal of Honor" on the top of my right foot. And I have been burned by magnesium--which does not go out---but that HURT!

Stevea, I've tried all the techniques you've mentioned and yeah, it's disappointing. Fresh, unrefrigerated rice noodles are a rarity, even in Northern California where I live. I don't rinse the noodles. I just cut them (if necessary) and gently pry them apart, breaking them into 4-inch lengths. For a dish like beef chow fun, here are the general concepts that I follow to deal with the rice noodles: 1) Don't try to cook a ton of noodles at a time. If you're cooking with a 14-inch work or 12-inch skillet, use 1 pound of rice noodles. Too much gets in the way. 2) Use a little oil but lots of heat. For the quantity above, use 2 tablespoons of oil. Heat it up over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the noodles and here's the key -- SPREAD them into a layer. Go up the side of the wok if you have to. Cook them UNDISTURBED for 1 minute, or until they're slightly crusty. Flip them over and do the same if you want extra crustiness. 3) Now add the other goodies (which you may have already stir-fried), the sauce elements, etc. to finish the dish. Restaurants have the benefit of high butane burners and they're not afraid of using tons of oil. Following the steps above, I've more or less been successful with dealing with the rice noodles. One thing though, restaurants often have thickish rice noodles whereas the ones sold in Asian markets tend to be thin. They'll always have something over us so that we remain their patrons... Good luck! Andrea

They're available in San Francisco. Other shops (Gin Wall?) may be cheaper, but the Wok Shop has them available online. The WS also has the Chinese "moon cookie" molds. The cookie molds look like this: Wok Shop Website

Day 1 - June 27 2004 It became obvious very soon after landing for the first time on Canadian soil that Vancouver is a city that takes its food and drink very seriously. I couldn't help suspecting that the customs man was doing more than just his job when, upon learning that I was a visiting food journalist, began asking me about the sort of restaurants I intended visiting whilst I was in town. The drive from the airport to the Wedgewood Hotel turned into a mini orientation tour, overview of the city and a few restaurant recommendations thrown in for good measure care of a very clued in chauffer. Despite a less than luxurious 9 hour flight on Air Canada (all attempts at an upgrade were thwarted. I suppose I should have got the message second time around, but no, I just had to completely humiliate myself by going down for the third time), and the mind numbing 8 hour time difference, I found myself, keen and relentlessly inquisitive professional that I am, eager to explore the city. The fact that my room wasn't ready may also have had something to do with it. It being Sunday lunchtime I decided to head for Granville Public Market, stopping off in Yaletown to check out Cioppino's menu where I hoped to dine that evening. I was less than amused therefore to discover that the restaurant's week long summer break coincided exactly with the duration of my visit, re-opening as I collected my bags at Heathrow no doubt. I wandered about a bit, mourning the loss of "Pappardelle with 4 hours braised veal cheeks and porcini mushrooms" wondering where the hell I would eat instead, and lucked upon the legendary Babara Jo's Books to Cooks. I have extreme difficulty walking past bookshops at the best of times (well, you never know, there might be a recipe book I haven’t seen before, or the collected works of Charlie Trotter reduced to clear), but a whole shop dedicated to food and wine - magnets, iron filings, need I say more? I could quite easily have camped out for the whole week, browsing the well stocked shelves. As it was, I only had time for a quick chat with shop assistant Ed who told me that local celeb chef John Bishop's demonstration that week in the impressive in-house demonstration kitchen was sold out, that I should check out Umami, Diva at the Met and Ganache patisserie and that I shouldn't leave without complimentary copies of a couple of Barbara Jo's books. Ed's directions to the ferry over to Granville Island took me past Urban Fare. Although the square watermelons were not in stock (no, really, check out the store's website) just about everything else edible on planet earth was. There must have been 20 brands of maple syrup alone, not to mention impressive displays of fruit, vegetables, cheese, meat, charcuterie and a complete range of zinc plated fully threaded coach bolts. Actually, not the last one. But there was lots of stuff, that’s my point. I decided to take a few snaps for posterity, to show the folks at home how civilised people live. I managed to get a nice shot of the freshly ground coffee and was just about to move on to the cheese, when I was accosted by a member of staff who told me that photos were not permitted. I explained that I was "One of the world’s foremost wine and food journalists from London, England " (John Thompson, Castanet) but all this resulted in was a visit from the store manager who explained that I'd have to set something up via Tourism BC. On reflection, wearing my "WAL MART Industrial Espionage Team: Photo Unit" bomber jacket may have been a mistake. I smiled indulgently at the crazy Canadians bobbing around the bay in what looked like an oversized mixing bowl as I waited at the quayside for the ferry. A weak involuntarily cry escaped my lips as I realized that the oversized mixing bowl was the ferry. The people of Vancouver are so nice, not one of them sniggered as I clung to the captain's leg crying "we're all going to drown!" as scenes from the "Poseidon Adventure" played unbidden in my head. Somehow, we all made it to the other side, and, after promising to meet up in 20 years time, I headed off to explore the Granville Public Market. Its always a delight to wander around a good market and Granville is a very good one, world class in my estimation. As a hotel bound visitor to the city however, it was a deeply frustrating experience: acres of superb quality fresh produce inspiring numerous ideas for dishes and no where to prepare them. I was particularly taken with Duso's Italian stall with its amazing range of stuffed and dried pastas, cured meats, cheeses and canned goods, but it was only one of dozens. Wonderful fish, meat, veggies and fruit (donut peaches anyone?) abounded. As a Brit, the one BC wine I had heard of before visiting Vancouver was Mission Hill and I was therefore surprised not to find any available in the wine store in the market. It was here that I first encountered the mysteries of VQA, the ominous, Orwellian sounding Vincorp and the surprising concept of government owned Liquor Stores (co-located no doubt with the government owned crack houses). All this became a little clearer as my trip progressed, but suffice to say that the store in Granville is owned by Vincorp and therefore only stocks product from its own wineries. I grabbed a plate of not bad pot sticker dumplings and a coffee (yes, I know, but the combination seemed to hit the spot at the time) from the row of food stalls at the front of the market and found a place to squat, admire the view and listen to the free Jazz (not Ornette Coleman, you just didn’t have to pay.) There was plenty of other free entertainment on the island that day, including a highly amusing comedy routine involving a 14 foot monocycle. The performer himself was less than amused when a volunteer from the audience supporting the cycle whilst he mounted it failed to let go at the appropriate time and caused the cycle and performer to topple forward in a potentially life threatening manner. Despite desperate attempts to find an alternative way back to downtown, I gritted my teeth and took the mixing bowl back over. After congratulations all round for making it over and scheduling another reunion, I walked back to the Wedgewood, which turned out to be a very British old-money style property, a little bit of Belgravia transported to BC. When you are "one of the world’s foremost wine and food journalists from London, England" (I'm having business cards printed up with that phrase as we speak) it would appear that there is always someone willing to take you out for a dinner or two, and so it was that I found myself in Stanley Park for the first of what turned out to be a pair of Sunday night meals. The Sequoia Grill is the re-named Teahouse Restaurant at Ferguson Point in Stanley Park and has stunning views over English Bay and beyond. Named after the bloody great redwood tree that stands beside it, the restaurant now comes with added fireplaces (five of the darned things) and a new awning is under construction for the delightful patio. Except for one occasion (more of which later in the week), I never had less than good to excellent food whilst in Vancouver, but I did experience an inversely proportional relationship between view and quality of food. There appeared to be an unspoken assumption that if the scenery was pretty enough, you didn’t have to strain every culinary muscle to attract the punters. That said, the selection of "small plates" (along with patios, something I was to encounter a lot of during my brief stay in the city) was delicious: BBQ Black Cod was served with a peppy salad of pea shoots and carrots; lobster fritters with cured tomato sauce were nicely crunchy and meaty; wok fried squid with Thai chili was beautifully cooked (inspired by a signature dish of Chinatown's Phnom Penh I'm informed); sockeye salmon carpaccio was cleverly paired with mushrooms while cherry tomatoes on the vine were simply roasted to accentuate their natural sweetness. I can think of no better place to watch the sun set, sipping the Grill's signature strawberry and basil vodka martinis. Elixir at the Opus Hotel was the venue for dinner round two that evening. Although the look of the place is classic French brasserie, chef Don Letendre's summer tasting menu is rather more ambitious in style. For example, I was pleased to note that not only was the boudin noir that was paired with scallop and roasting juices for a delicious amuse bouche made in-house, but by a Cornishman no less. With it, we drank Blue Mountain Brut, a very fine sparkler that for my money puts many champagnes I have tried in the shade. First course proper came in the form of a "bento tasting". Four small square white china bowls on a square white china plate/tray contained a combination of hor d'euvres from the dinner menu: another scallop, this time with gazpacho and micro greens; a slightly under-seasoned spiced beef tartare with a manchego and caper tuile and smoked duck breast with a pecorino and tomato salad. Most impressive of the lot however was the BBQ Eel with Pan Seared Foie Gras from the Opus bar menu. The rich eel flesh garnished with the with even richer liver was not an obvious recipe for success, but it was an unqualified success, so much so that it overshadowed the other three preparations. To drink, more Blue Mountain, this time in the form of their Pinot Blanc 2003 (estate bottled), another stnd out BC wine. I'm not usually a huge fan of beets, but roasted in a salad of haricot vert, toasted pine nuts and gratinee of French goats cheese they were wonderful. A mixture of ruby and the more subtle golden variety provided an earthy foil to the surprising intensity of the cheese. A simple dish, but one that demonstrated the kitchen's true understanding of the inherently complex flavours of the ingredients and how best to show them off. A dish of halibut with minestrone was well executed but I'm afraid the details of its compositions and its flavours have not stayed with me. The middle eastern marinated lamb "sirloin" (fillet) with Isreali cous cous, sautéed rapini (broccoli rabe) and pickled grape jus however was another triumph. Letendre (and chef de cuisine Lee Humphries who actually cooked our meal that night) was proving himself to be a master of the art of balance. The warm spicy notes of the lamb were highlighted by the nicely tart jus, whilst the large grains of the cous cous and rapini provided the texture that the delicate and tender meat could not. By this time, we had moved on to reds and to France with glasses of 2001 Faiveley Pinot Noir Bourgogne (Paulee’), and Jaboulet Parallele ‘45’ Cote du Rhone, both working well with the dishes, the Cote du Rhone being a particular hit. After all that food, I couldn’t possibly have found room for a dessert, unless it happened to be white chocolate-lime mousse with rhubarb centre and vanilla-Thai basil tuile. White chocolate is a difficult beast to both handle in the kitchen and on the plate. Its high fat content can smother other ingredients, coat the palate and quickly dull the appetite. Partnering it with lime, rhubarb and basil therefore was exactly the right thing to do, with the acidity from the fruit and the green herbaceous notes of the basil making for a light and highly digestible confection. Gone in a moment. Maitre d' Mikel Kanter took extremely good care of us all evening and was the first of what turned out to be many strong personalities that I encountered in the city and in the valley. With his slight frame, wild hair and slightly eccentric manner, it as easy to imagine Kanter playing guitar for Pere Ubu as managing a dining room, which he does brilliantly. Service is something I'll come back to numerous times during this account, but it was Kanter that first set me thinking about what differentiates Vancouver from any other city I have dined in. Individuality certainly plays a part. (NB Details of wines drunk with the meal to follow). Talk of going on to a jazz club faded as quickly as my energy levels, although I did take the opportunity to check out the washrooms, where you can watch what's happening in the bar via a flat screen monitor above each of the urinals, and the ladies can watch you watching whats going on in the bar via the see-through curtain that separates the ladies from the gents. I crashed back at the hotel, with Rachael Ray's 30 minute suppers on the food channel sending me off to sleep off very quickly indeed, something she managed to do most night of my stay. Thanks Rachael.

Edward Feb13, 2004 : “I'm pretty clear on the meaning and order of serving the chatni in Bengali cooking, but would not mind hearing more. Some recipes would be great too. One thing that I have never been totally clear on though is the differences between chatni and ambal in respect to their preparation and order of serving. Can you elaborate? Would love it.” Edward, As mentioned in the post on cold soups, green mango and dry zizyphus ambal are generally served at the end of a meal in the families I know. An ambal is much thinner than a chatni, and is not finished off with the roasted, powdered panchphoron/cumin, as far as I know, and they are not generally served with papads, nor at formal meals such as weddings or feasts where a chatni is a must, before dessert. Would like to venture a recipe for a Bengali tomato chutney, that provides the basic outlines of chutneys from West Bengal Rarhi and DaksinatyaVaidika foodways. The proportions are vague, because I feel embarrassed to include the amount of sweeteners used in this sugar-sweet cuisine. Note too that a chutney is a bit of a luxury food, not an everyday item, and is meant to be eaten almost as dessert at the end of a meal along with some toasted /fried plain papads, plus a good squeeze of lime juice. [a note on mustard oil: I use Korean + Indian mustard oils sold n the US. The latter possess the requisite viscosity and mouth feel; the Korean adds flavor/pungency. Or, use vegetable oil, and after it has heated up, put in about a teaspoonful or two of the Korean and immediately throw in the panch phoron. The bitter quality afforded by the inclusion of Fenugreek seeds is very much a part of the taste. Also note that panch phoron is allowed to sizzle/temper very briefly, in order to avoid burning.] Ingredients: Tomatoes washed and quartered if of modest size, coarsely chopped if very large: 4-6lbs; [the large varieties may sometimes be seedy, and low in solids and acids: average 4-5% solids; grape/plum/cherry tomatoes 6-9%.] [other ingredients can be added to the tomatoes, but do that the next time if you should like the flavors of this style of cooking: amsattva or aam papad [mango leather], dried sour plum[alu bukhara, not dried prunes], dried apricots, dates etc.] Fresh ginger, grated very coarsely or julienned, 1-2 Tb, or according to taste; place on tomatoes a) Phoron: initial whole spices to be sizzled in hot oil: 1tsp panch phoron + 1 dry red left whole [the medium-long sort from India] b) Plus 2tsp panch phoron gently toasted & powdered for the last touch Salt to taste : ½ tsp? Or more to taste Sugar 2-3+ cups; use your own discretion; the aim is to create a runny syrup relatively quickly, within 1/2hr-45 min, before the tomatoes/ginger begin to smell overcooked—herein lies the delicate art of Bengali cooking, this is something which requires a light touch and mindfulness so as to give the correct taste/texture. Sadly, the smell/textures/visual cues cannot be adequately conveyed through writing] Lime: 1-2 Method: In a heavy-bottomed non-reactive pot, add 1tb vegetable oil; heat till it shimmers; tilt so that oil pools and spices can ‘swim’ to best release their flavor [a heavy-bottomed non-reactive wok is ideal, as it minimizes the amount of oil needed for the spices to take their ‘swim’in] add 1-2 tsp Korean mustard oil, followed by dry chili pepper; as soon as it puffs up and begins to turn brown add 1tsp whole panch phoron , fry 10-20 seconds until just fragrant, add tomatoes, ginger and salt; stir, cover briefly, cook on moderately high heat, until juice begins to exude, Uncover, stir, breaking up tomatoes. Add sugar, cook at low/moderate boil until the thin juice changes to a thin, fairly transparent, red tomatoey syrup [note that it will thicken a bit on cooling but remain relatively runny, much thinner than ketchup, a little thinner than maple syrup]; the skins will have come off and curled into little twirls. Add more sugar at your discretion, depending on what else has been added to tomatoes: e.g. dates, mango leather, apricots [Chutney should be a bit over-sweetened because the the finishing touch of lime juice will balance out the taste]. Should finish cooking in about an hour-regulate your heat/sugar accordingly; do not cook too long: although the tomatoes should disintegrate, lumpy masses will remain.These and the skin provide a textural element. Let cool, but while still warm stir in toasted powdered panch phoron starting with ½ tsp, and going up according to your taste. Then add the juice of a fresh squeezed lime, mix well. These two provide the essential ‘Bengali’ touch, and will temper the sweetness. You could also adjust salt according to your taste. Serve at room temperature, chilled, or slightly warm. [With plain papads!!!!, toasted or fried] Will keep 5 days in refrigerator. Same method for: green mangoes, sliced with skin on, no ginger pineapple, preferably no ginger papaya, green, using amada or mango-ginger, Curcuma amada. Peaches, fresh or canned [use ginger if you wish] Canned fruit cocktail, an innovation that is a boon to hosts in the US!!!

I'm not a restaurant professional, but the worst burn I ever got was in college. I was cooking something called a skillet moussaka for my roommate. I heated the oil in the wok, and very stupidly slid the entire mound of ground beef in the wok. Splash! Oil all across both forearms. Of course, stupid me, I thought there was no way I could stop and ruin my dish, so I grabbed bags of frozen blueberries from the freezer to alternate on my forearms while cooking the meat. Soon I had blueberry juice running down my arms as well, so I was a rather macabre sight. To this day I have a few dark spots on both forearms that are my badges of honor from the infamous skillet moussaka incident.

Oops, I didn't mean to offend - just wanted to relate my experiences. So I guess I was trying to describe some of my favorite pans, but I wasn't very successful! So here's my list: 1) 14in Carbon Steel wok 2) 3Qt Mauviel 2.0mm copper saute pan w/ stainless steel handles (the 2.5mm version was waaayyyy too heavy without a helper handle, plus I really like these stay-cool, non-metallic-smelling, non-rusting handles) 3) 2 1/2Qt Calphalon Copper Tri-Ply Shallow "saucepan" (I use this for a saute pan too) - I think this is probably my favorite, most versatile pan that actually makes me really really happy every time I use it. 4) 2Qt Falk copper evasee 5) 3Qt cheapo saucepan 6) 7Qt Le Creuset doufeu 7) 16Qt Chefmate SS-Aluminum disk bottom stockpot (recently replaced my honking 24qt one - toooo big for me to manuver) I'm not the egg maker or the potsticker fryer in my household, so there's no non-stick on my list. I should definitely try out Dick's recommendation for using my copper as a non-stick though.

I guess I would have to somewhat agree with Dick about copper - I think it's pretty great at most cooking tasks (I'm a convert!). But there are a few pieces that I would definitely not want copper exterior-SS interior: - Stockpot - gawd...copper is heavy enough as it is....and full copper in a stockpot is serious overkill. I think the copper stockpots on the market are copper-Tin interior anyways. - Nonstick omelet pan - I guess copper exterior/NS interior would be nice, but I'm not rich enough to be able to throw away my copper pan after the NS coating wears off! - Wok - SS is way too sticky for stir-frying meat and rice. Plus, I like a nice light metal (like carbon steel) to toss around, and you can't get the "wok chi" from SS. - Indoor grill - I don't think it's even available in copper...besides, I would choose cast iron for this one Edited: changed can to can't! An attempt to answer your questions: 1. My copper stockpots are stainless steel lined and they are 8 and 11 qts. Yes, they are heavy. 2. The Falk culinair pots and pans are stainless steel lined. I guess i did not adequately convey that the SS lining is as good as any non-stick coated pan I have ever used, hence my conclusion as to the real function of non stick coatings for aluminum pans. 3. We use a traditional wok and the largest evasee that Falk makes as a wok at times. Works great and frankly I can't tell the difference other than the weight. 4. We grill outside only. -Dick

Frypans... I left my cast iron in NZ. It's just too heavy, once you've messed up your wrists with a lot of computer work. So... Heavy stainless steel frypan with lid. Expensive, still spotless after 10 years (not spotless on the bottom, since I cook on gas, but the cooking surface is immaculate). Worth every yen. Small, light, no-brand steel (not stainless) mini-frypan, used daily for making lunches, now seasoned to a good finish. I've had it with Teflon for everyday frypans. Rectangular Japanese omelet pan, Teflon-coated (my tinned copper one has lost its tin, don't know where to get it re-tinned...). This is good, but I think the Teflon prevents you from gettting a really thin coating of egg. 2 Scandina copper-bottom (a separate disk of copper welded to bottom of pan) pans, medium with steamer and double boiler, large. I've used these every day, on gas and electricity, for over 25 years - my grandmother gave them to me when I left high school. I even use the steamer frequently. Great pans. Large stainless steel pot with insulated outer jacket, for slow-cooking (made by Tiger and also Zojirushi). The inner pot, which goes on the fire, could do with a thicker bottom. However, pot is narrower at the top, a shape which I found very successful in the large, expensive, French stockpot which I left behind in NZ (regrets, regrets). Wok, definitely. Yet-to-find-what-I-want...large, shallow pan for rapid evaporation or cooking things which I want to maintain at high temperature (greens). Pasta pot. Ovenware...most western ovenware doesn't fit my Japanese oven! I therefore use Pyrex. Grump, grump.

Yogi: I have been back a couple of more times since I first posted. The 2nd time I started with the "wok stickers". Agree with your assessment. Essentially a thinner version of those green onion cakes which are everywhere in Edmonton come festival time cut into triangles and served with what tasted somewhat like a reduced balsamic or red or black Chinese vinegar. Not an appetizer I would have by itself again. Would be different if bought with several others and you were dining with a group. I then had the braised pork which was quite good and a more substantial serving than for example than the lamb. The 3rd time I reverted to the "tried and true" and had the shrimp lollipops with the octopus salad which as you mentioned was interesting, refreshing and good. I hope Wilson and Judy do well. The reviews in the Sun and Journal certainly will not hurt but it is "cottage time" of course now and you certainly are correct about the location. Parking, apart from the vacant field to the east is not very good.

I guess I would have to somewhat agree with Dick about copper - I think it's pretty great at most cooking tasks (I'm a convert!). But there are a few pieces that I would definitely not want copper exterior-SS interior: - Stockpot - gawd...copper is heavy enough as it is....and full copper in a stockpot is serious overkill. I think the copper stockpots on the market are copper-Tin interior anyways. - Nonstick omelet pan - I guess copper exterior/NS interior would be nice, but I'm not rich enough to be able to throw away my copper pan after the NS coating wears off! - Wok - SS is way too sticky for stir-frying meat and rice. Plus, I like a nice light metal (like carbon steel) to toss around, and you can't get the "wok chi" from SS. - Indoor grill - I don't think it's even available in copper...besides, I would choose cast iron for this one Edited: changed can to can't!