What New Ingredients Are You Trying Out?

[Chris Amirault]

Chestnut flour makes a great addtion to pasta doughs; I particularly like chestnut-flour pasta with game and winter squash. I usually make pappardelle or ravioli with it, the latter having been inspired by some chestnut pasta and venison ravioli I had in Bolzano.

Straight up substitution for AP or tipo 00 flour?

[Paul Stanley]

Chestnut flour makes a great addtion to pasta doughs; I particularly like chestnut-flour pasta with game and winter squash. I usually make pappardelle or ravioli with it, the latter having been inspired by some chestnut pasta and venison ravioli I had in Bolzano.

That's a fantastic idea. I think chestnut pasta with a gamey filling or sauce would be absolutely lovely. I'm definitely going to try it.

[Mjx]

. . . .

Straight up substitution for AP or tipo 00 flour?

Yes: I subbed in chestnut flour for 33% (by weight) of the AP flour I was using (made up the flour blend, then mixed in as much of the blend as the egg would take up). I found that it acts increasingly brittle yet floppy if you exceed that percentage of chestnut flour (I don't think there are any standards for chestnut flour, so if you have some that is coarser or finer, it is likely to behave differently). I've only tried this in an egg-based pasta dough, by the way.

[nakji]

Truffle salt. My husband asked for some for Christmas, and I indulged. I'm putting it on scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes. It's the closest we're getting to real truffles for a while.

[boondocker]

What have you been doing with the black garlic?

Here is one, sous vide chuck steak with black garlic sauce.

Black garlic sauce: Black garlic, balsamic, EVOO.

I took this as a base for a glaze I used on my amuse tonight. I reduced our beef demi with peeled black garlic thyme and rosemary until it got really thick and gooey, then removed the herbs and pureed the garlic with the demi, some aged balsamic and a little salad oil. used that to glaze some kobe strip loin pieces and topped them with braised celery root and celery leaf. it was very tasty.

Sent from my DROIDX

[Darienne]

Yesterday was a first for me, using achiote paste in making Mexican Rice. Not exciting, but new and very nice.

[LindaK]

Miso. I always enjoy finished dishes that include miso but am woefully ignorant of how to cook with it. Time to learn.

[plum tart]

thank you. Is freekeh a "keeper" ingredient for you? Has it replace any other ingredient (eg rice) in some of your recipes?

[Chris Amirault]

Miso. I always enjoy finished dishes that include miso but am woefully ignorant of how to cook with it. Time to learn.

You probably know this, but in case you don't: be sure you get clear guidance on which miso you're using. Some are straight miso paste, some have other ingredients in them for convenience.

[Genkinaonna]

Pimente d'espelette. Stupid expensive, but it smells amazing. I used it in the potato chip tortilla recipe from Around My French Table, it turned out really well. I can't wait to play around with it a little more.

[Katie Meadow]

Duck. I've eaten plenty of duck in restaurants and used the cooked ducks they sell in Chinatown for a variety of things, but this week I bought and cooked one myself. I didn't roast it. I had the butcher cut it into small pieces, then I browned the duck in a wok and made a Thai style soup. During the process I managed to end up with some duck fat in a jar as well as some shredded duck meat. I'm thinking I'll buy some Yukon golds and make duck hash? Anyone direct me to a recipe for that? Or just for potatoes roasted in duck fat? Is there any reason to do that any differently than if I used olive oil?

[hathor]

Green cardamon pods.

Funny, "perfumy" pockets of flavor.

[ChrisTaylor]

Duck. I've eaten plenty of duck in restaurants and used the cooked ducks they sell in Chinatown for a variety of things, but this week I bought and cooked one myself. I didn't roast it. I had the butcher cut it into small pieces, then I browned the duck in a wok and made a Thai style soup. During the process I managed to end up with some duck fat in a jar as well as some shredded duck meat. I'm thinking I'll buy some Yukon golds and make duck hash? Anyone direct me to a recipe for that? Or just for potatoes roasted in duck fat? Is there any reason to do that any differently than if I used olive oil?

Roast potatoes in duck fat and you'll be eating very well. No need to change your roasting method ... assuming your roasting method involves pre-boiling the potatoes, drying and roughing them up in the saucepan and then tipping them into a tray of pre-heated fat.

Roasting a whole duck is easy enough. I personally prefer the western style of roasting a duck to the Chinese BBQ shop style.

[VibeGuy]

Peanut flour is another ingredient I am playing with, but I have not found much use for outside of smoothies.

Dan

I've used it to dust whitefish in the style of meuniere. Served with sriracha and pickled ginger. Fairly successful.

I'm also using it in lieu of kinako (roasted soybean flour) as I try to reverse-engineer Biscoffs, the speculaas cookies as served on leading airlines. (I know, I'm insane)

[nakji]

Green cardamon pods.

Funny, "perfumy" pockets of flavor.

I put them into rice pudding.

[rarerollingobject]

I'm also obsessed at the moment with Sichuan pepper oil. That is, a clear green oil I found in small bottles in a Chinese supermarket that is INTENSE with the cold numbing heat of Sichuan peppercorns/prickly ash.

Looking for excuses to put it on everything, from salads to drizzled over fish or tofu, to using a very light splash to bolster one of my favourite 'weird desserts' of vanilla bean ice cream with crushed Sichuan peppercorns on top.

[Genkinaonna]

I must get this sichuan pepper oil you speak of. Immediately. I'm on my way to the store as we speak!

[nakji]

Have you got a brand name for that oil, rarerollingobject?

Also: Kalonji seeds. I put some into a coleslaw last week to excellent effect. They really bring out the nice earthy flavours in cabbage.

[Genkinaonna]

I love Kalonji (nigella) seeds. Invaluable in the turkish cheese pastries I've been fooling around with lately.

[chromedome]

I'm sorry to see Jerusalem artichokes getting bad press. Although it is true that they are without doubt highly wind-inducing ... they are good.

I don't know why they are so expensive -- they are reputedly very easy to grow.

Easy to grow? Yeah...and the ocean's a trifle damp. Getting them to grow is easy, getting them to stop is a son of a gun.

When my father was ready to harvest his first crop, he went back to the friend he'd gotten his first handful of roots from and asked how to prepare them for overwintering. "Prepare them?" his friend snorted. "Dig up every friggin' crumb you can find, and I guarantee you you'll still have twice as much next year."

That being said, they're a tall and beautiful perennial - closely related to sunflowers - and if you have the room they're very striking en masse. They are very invasive and should not be planted without some forethought, but can be useful to crowd out a less-desirable weed.

[rarerollingobject]

Have you got a brand name for that oil, rarerollingobject?

The brand I have has 'Every Aroma' printed on it in English, made by the Chuchuxiang Condiment Factory, Chengdu. Here, I just took photos of the label, and the colour of the oil:

[dcarch]

There are many brands:

Great stuff.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1053&bih=609&q=%E8%8A%B1%E6%A4%92%E6%B2%B9&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

dcarch

[rarerollingobject]

There are many brands:

Great stuff.

http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&source=imghp&biw=1053&bih=609&q=%E8%8A%B1%E6%A4%92%E6%B2%B9&btnG=Search+Images&gbv=2&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

dcarch

Yes, I should have added that my supermarket had about five brands - I just chose the most expensive of them (at something like AUD$3), usually a pretty good indicator of quality with bottled Chinese ingredients. Though none of them actually said 'Sichuan pepper' in English, just 'pepper oil' or 'fagara oil'.

[ChrisTaylor]

Got to get around to having a serious go at crocodile given I can easily (and cheaply, too) get it in the Asian market. Cooked it before but never but too much thought into it. I have a few alligator recipes here--have a copy of Howard Mitcham's Creole Gumbo and all that Jazz and I was given a copy of Jamie's America--so I reckon they'd be a good starting point. I mean, the two animals can't be that different in culinary terms, can they?

[Crouton]

Limoncello, homemade

Rutabagas... Makes a great gratin or mash