Food in the time of a pandemic

[heidih]

@rotuts  I have also taken to cooking smaller pasta in a low amount of flavored water and then adding other ingredients.Except for the time I walked away to jump on here and destroyed (completely) the pan, it has worked well for me. I did get a better pan on-line and better size from a newer company that is great. I even wrote an Amazon review which I never do - AVACRAFT Stainless Steel Saucepan with Glass Lid, 2.5QT

[dtremit]

On 7/29/2020 at 12:02 PM, KennethT said:

hot-thai-kitchen.com has a lot of info for palm sugar - in one section, she goes into a full explanation of it, and explains the differences between different brands - how some are 100% palm sugar, some are cut with regular sugar and some aren't really palm sugar at all...

 

I could have sworn she had a video with her visiting an artisanal palm sugar producer, but I can't find it. I might be conflating her coconut milk video and another video?

HTK has been a fantastic resource for me for Thai cooking, though -- I can't recommend the channel enough. I have had tons of Thai cookbooks for years but it really took me being able to see the techniques (the curry paste is fried enough when it looks like this) to actually produce food I am happy with. 

I also like her segments on various home style Thai dishes and things that don't often make it out of Thailand.

 

ETA, re @weinoo's haul -- we developed a love for Thai-style sriracha when visiting there a few years ago — and have found that we like Sriraja Panich better than any other brand, by a long, long shot. It has replaced Huy Fong entirely in our house (though I still keep their chili garlic and sambal around). Shark is very good in its own right, but isn't quite as craveable.

Edited July 30, 2020 by dtremit (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Shoprite had no limes.

 

[weinoo]

39 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Shoprite had no limes.

 

Jeez, the guy on my corners has limes up the wazoo.

[chromedome]

29 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Jeez, the guy on my corners has limes up the wazoo.

I don't think I want any of those in my kitchen...

[IowaDee]

The ultimate "End" of the month sale.  Wash before using!  I bought a mesh bag of six nice sized limes at Aldis yesterday for $1.79. Nice and juicy too.

[Franci]

Just because we were in the mood for it. Kids didn’t get the proper training like us and they get annoyed cleaning crabs, so it means we have to clean for them, taking away a lot of the pleasure 😁. Some of the crabs were emty 

Edited July 31, 2020 by Franci (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, weinoo said:

Jeez, the guy on my corners has limes up the wazoo.

 

Probably bought them at Shoprite.

 

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Probably bought them at Shoprite.

 

 

Bitter, bitter!

[dtremit]

Strangest pandemic purchase to date -- we have a local restaurant that's transformed itself into a takeout + grocery operation. They're part of a small cluster of restaurants in the neighborhood run by the same group, one of which is a sort of hipster Jewish deli.

So one of the pantry items when we ordered the other day was "pastrami fat" -- at $6 I couldn't resist trying it. "Use it like bacon fat," they said. Photo was of the top of a deli container.

 

Turns out the deli container was a QUART. I was expecting, like, a half pint.

 

Haven't had a chance to do anything with it yet, but probably will start with some breakfast potatoes.

Other project has been dealing with a carton of peaches from the GA-based peach truck that popped up here recently. They really are quite tasty. Peeled and sliced them tonight after making a crostata last night; most will go in the freezer either as is or as a sort of jam I think.

[heidih]

A Georgia peach pop-up!!! On the pastrami fat I am curious as all the pastrami dad brought home (prepared by his vendors) was black pepper roughly cracked heavy. 

[Smithy]

13 minutes ago, dtremit said:

Other project has been dealing with a carton of peaches from the GA-based peach truck that popped up here recently. They really are quite tasty. Peeled and sliced them tonight after making a crostata last night; most will go in the freezer either as is or as a sort of jam I think.

 

Do not neglect the idea of peach ice cream! Summer is still in full swing.  

[weinoo]

19 hours ago, dtremit said:

 

I could have sworn she had a video with her visiting an artisanal palm sugar producer, but I can't find it. I might be conflating her coconut milk video and another video?

HTK has been a fantastic resource for me for Thai cooking, though -- I can't recommend the channel enough. I have had tons of Thai cookbooks for years but it really took me being able to see the techniques (the curry paste is fried enough when it looks like this) to actually produce food I am happy with. 

I also like her segments on various home style Thai dishes and things that don't often make it out of Thailand.

 

ETA, re @weinoo's haul -- we developed a love for Thai-style sriracha when visiting there a few years ago — and have found that we like Sriraja Panich better than any other brand, by a long, long shot. It has replaced Huy Fong entirely in our house (though I still keep their chili garlic and sambal around). Shark is very good in its own right, but isn't quite as craveable.

 

 

 

[suzilightning]

17 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Shoprite had no limes.

 

Geez....ours has 10 for $3.00 and plenty of them on the shelf.

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

 

That's the video I was thinking about... personally, I find the palm sugar that comes in the tub the easiest to deal with.. no chopping - it's pretty scoopable - depending on how fresh it is, sometimes it harder, but 10 seconds in the  microwave makes it soft again...  I'll try to take a photo of what I use tonight when I get home from work - it's usually available in the shop on Mosco St. or at Kalustyan's....

[weinoo]

I bought the one she recommends on the site.  I don’t have a microwave so I’ll have to work it out!

[heidih]

50 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I bought the one she recommends on the site.  I don’t have a microwave so I’ll have to work it out!

 

Grating it works too. That is what I do with piloncillo cones.

[KennethT]

You can just use your knife to shave thin slices off the block - it takes longer to dissolve in curries or som tum than the stuff in the tub, but it's not terrible. For most non-curry things, Andy Ricker in his Pok Pok book recommends pounding the palm sugar in a mortar with stuff like chilies and the garlic, and the liquids released will dissolve the palm sugar.

[dtremit]

22 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Shoprite had no limes.

 

 

5 hours ago, suzilightning said:

Geez....ours has 10 for $3.00 and plenty of them on the shelf.

 

I get the sense that a lot of the shortages now are rather fleeting -- nothing is truly unavailable, but everyone is understaffed and so things don't get restocked as frequently as they should be.

[BeeZee]

@JoNorvelleWalker, perhaps time to speak to the Produce Manager and find out what the issue is, since Shop Rites all over NJ seem to have them.

When I was at Whole Foods yesterday, I noticed there were still empty spaces on dry goods shelves. Some of it could be that they buy from some of the smaller companies (ie, not Nabisco) who may be behind on shipments due to staffing issues. The produce, dairy, and meat were fully stocked. 

[dtremit]

I think a lot of stores also just don't have enough stock room space to handle the higher volume of sales in this moment. Even with panic shopping behind us, people are buying more groceries than they were before, since they're eating more at home. And they're buying different things, making it harder for stores to predict what people will want. You know they're going to buy extra hand sanitizer, but it's harder to guess that they'll be eating more boxed mac and cheese, or when that trend will stop.

There's also been a trend for grocery stores to keep less in back stock -- Whole Foods in particular switched to a "just in time" model a few years ago that resulted in a lot of stock issues when they first implemented it.

 

@BeeZee, I think it makes a lot of sense for the dry goods to be out first -- those are things that are normally delivered less frequently, since they don't spoil. Produce has to come in every day anyway, so it's easier for them to adjust the orders.

[Shelby]

We had to be at the vet (curbside only) this morning at 8:20 to get Scout a booster shot so, as always, we combined all errands that needed to be run.  Liquor store, grocery store (no wipes or any cleaning supplies really.  Where the hell is the 409???)  and then Ronnie turned the car in a different direction and we ended up at the Asian Market.  We haven't gone one single place that we didn't "have" to until today....BUT, I hadn't been there since before Thanksgiving and I've been out of pork belly, almost out of garlic (could get that at another grocery but way cheaper here).  As per our Pandemic Procedure, he waited in the car while I went in.

 

Oh it was heavenly.  For just a bit it felt like the world was normal again.

 

First observation:  In the big grocery store there are signs every 2 feet telling people masks are mandatory (many not wearing one grrrrrrrr....) and signs every 6 feet telling people to distance (many people waaaaaay too close including store employees).  Then, in the Asian Market not one sign telling people masks were mandatory (every single person had one on AND WAS WEARING IT CORRECTLY) and not one sign telling people to distance (and NOT ONE PERSON got within 6 feet of me).  If not for the Asian market not having a few things (they aren't big on milk and cheese products there) then I'd ONLY go there.

 

Asian Market was completely stocked like it always had been (I didn't go down the isle where the cleaning products are *stupid me* they might have had wipes.....)

 

 

I went waaaaay overboard.  The meat and produce --beautiful.  They had beef tail (oxtail?) for 1.59/lb so I bought two huge packages ($5.00 and some change each) so either beef stock or they are so meaty maybe ragu.  Two packs of chicken gizzards (haven't found them in the regular store for months).  Ohhhh and the pork belly.....$3.99/lb a little more expensive than they used to be but I didn't care.  Bought two nice ones.  That will make at least 4 meals for us.

 

Some chicken feet for stock

 

Veggies, tofu, oh and some ground pork to go with that cabbage and I'll make spring rolls in the next couple of days (I need to clone myself--I have too much to do lol). Beautiful dill.

 

OH and two mangos --they smell really good.

 

Should have stopped off and bought another fridge too 🙃

[ElsieD]

@Shelby  My experience shopping resembled yours.  At the Asian store, everyone wore a mask.  In the non-Asian stores, not so much.  This city has now made them mandatory so pretty much everyone wears one now.

[heidih]

2 hours ago, dtremit said:

I think a lot of stores also just don't have enough stock room space to handle the higher volume of sales in this moment.

 

Right -I spoke with my Krpget guys a while back. They stock constantly but there is NO storage space - I have been "in the back"

[CantCookStillTry]

My son has been so excited that "Bunnings Snags" are back! He is easily pleased. 

 

I found it painful. But this pandemic is trying to teach me patience, I've never been great with it. We're in QLD so we've had it 'easy' but things are starting to ramp up again. Got him his snag while I could. 

(Only second time I have had to wait in line for pandemic safety reasons).