eG Foodblog: C. sapidus - Crabs, Borscht, and Fish Sauce

[Shaya]

What a great blog this is, Bruce. I love the photos of your boys cooking, and the step-by-step of you at the stove is just perfect. Great looking crab cakes, too. I look forward to seeing you make crabs - I wonder, will you add an Asian twist to them?

I have lots of family in the area (Olney and Mannassas, VA) but I don't ever remember eating as well as you and your family.

[nakji]

[excited]ohboyohboyohboy[/excited]

I see you have a copy of "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen".

I'd love to get my grubby hands on one of those, but it's not available here (for obvious reasons, I guess - the people of Vietnam already know how to cook their own food.)

I'm going to look for a copy when I go to Singapore for Lunar New Year, but I'm not holding my breath.

What have you cooked from it? Are you planning to make any of the recipes this week?

Pancakes were the one food I never allowed myself when following weightwatchers, as I can't stand to eat them without gobbing great heaps of syrup and butter.

[C. sapidus]

I look forward to seeing you make crabs - I wonder, will you add an Asian twist to them?

Oops, I gave the wrong impression - we will be eating crabs, but not making them. Going to a crab joint with newspaper on the tables is a quintessential Maryland experience (although some of the high-class crab joints use brown paper rather than newspaper). The main drawback to making crabs at home is the next day - the, um, powerful aroma of rotting crab guts can perfume an entire neighborhood. I prefer to enjoy the crabs and leave the stench behind.

We did steam crabs once when I was about 12. On vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina with a friend's family, we saw a fishing boat captain pulling crabs from his net and tossing them in the water. We asked the captain if he would give the crabs to us, and he did (I later discovered that they aren't supposed to do that, but apparently he was willing to bend the rules for two enthusiastic twelve-year-olds). Anyway, we brought the crabs back to the RV in a cardboard box and steamed them according to the directions on a can of Old Bay. We did a lot of things wrong, but the crabs were delicious anyway.

I have lots of family in the area (Olney and Mannassas, VA) but I don't ever remember eating as well as you and your family. 

Thank you, Shaya - please do let us know the next time you and your family are in the area.

[C. sapidus]

Bruce - your pancake recipe is very similar to mine. And I agree, it taste better with a lot of vanilla. My hubby and youngest son love it soaking in maple syrup. Eldest son and I love it with just a smear of butter - like you do. 

Credit to Mrs. Crab for the pancakes.

I always enjoy your Dinner! posts - you have such an interesting mix of cultures going on in your kitchen.

[C. sapidus]

[excited]ohboyohboyohboy[/excited]

I see you have a copy of "Into the Vietnamese Kitchen".

I'd love to get my grubby hands on one of those, but it's not available here (for obvious reasons, I guess - the people of Vietnam already know how to cook their own food.)

What have you cooked from it? Are you planning to make any of the recipes this week?

I hope to cook my first recipe from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen this week.

[Dasha]

Mrs. Crab also made a big pot of borscht for later this week. To a previously-prepared chicken-vegetable stock, she added red and yellow beets, orange and yellow carrots, parsnips, white turnips, onions, celery, broccoli slaw, and thinly-sliced deli ham.

I have to say that I'm really intrigued about the idea of broccoli slaw in borscht. Have you made it with this before? How does it taste? Cabbage is, of course, de rigeur for borscht, but broccoli...sounds yummy. (I'm a big, big fan of the borscht...the ultimate winter comfort food. And I'm a HUGE fan of the Please to the Table cookbook.)

Edited January 15, 2007 by Dasha (log)

[C. sapidus]

Mrs. Crab also made a big pot of borscht for later this week. To a previously-prepared chicken-vegetable stock, she added red and yellow beets, orange and yellow carrots, parsnips, white turnips, onions, celery, broccoli slaw, and thinly-sliced deli ham.

I have to say that I'm really intrigued about the idea of broccoli slaw in borscht. Have you made it with this before? How does it taste? Cabbage is, of course, de rigeur for borscht, but broccoli...sounds yummy. (I'm a big, big fan of the borscht...the ultimate winter comfort food. And I'm a HUGE fan of the Please to the Table cookbook.)

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Mrs. C has used broccoli slaw in her borscht before. For those who may not be familiar with it, broccoli slaw contains stalks of broccoli, cauliflower, and red cabbage, shredded to the size of toothpicks. Mrs. C uses broccoli slaw interchangeably with cabbage slaw – it stays crisper in her Asian-style salad (similar to the Asian-style salad that SuzySushi showed in her blog). For the borscht, the broccoli slaw will soften but remain intact during the long simmer.

[C. sapidus]

How many WW points are one of those, since you broiled them?

After some calculations this morning ("How many Saltines are in a cup of crushed Saltines?"), Mrs. C determined that the crabcakes were 5 points apiece.

[SuzySushi]

I started the crabcakes early because they need to chill in the fridge for an hour. None of the stores had jumbo lump crab meat, so we used backfin instead. Crabcake ingredients:

Crabcakes ready to eat.

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When you get a chance, I'd love the actual recipe/proportions. Crabcakes are not in my background, and the few attempts I've made have fallen apart before/during cooking.

[C. sapidus]

Good (late) morning! Mrs. Crab made coffee and breakfast while I slept in. Ingredients . . .

. . . and the finished product: bacon and eggs on a whole-wheat English muffin. The boys drank Danimals (a sweetened yogurt and fruit drink) with their breakfast. I ate my breakfast with Sriracha, and Mrs. Crab had hers without bacon - 4 WW points, plus she assigned herself half a point for eating a bite of bacon.

[dog]Smells good - are you gonna eat that?[/dog]

Mrs. Crab made an extra egg, so I finished it off with more Sriracha.

We always have fruit around for snacking during the day. This week we have bananas, Fuji apples, blood oranges, and Clementine oranges. We often need to buy more fruit (especially bananas) during the week.

[C. sapidus]

Our carnivorous boys have been lobbying for barbecued ribs. I know that folks have strong opinions about this, so I will show our “barbecuing” process with some trepidation. We do not have a smoker, so we use our gas grill, indirect heat, a water tray, rib rack, and foil packets of wood pellets. I know that this isn’t “real” barbecue, but with some fiddling around the end result can be delicious.

Anyway, we started with three racks of pork baby back ribs:

Removing the silverskin - I use a paring knife to get a corner started, and then grab it with a paper towel and pull.

Throwing away the silverskin - this picture is just an excuse to show the trash pull-out. It keeps the dogs out of the trash, and the location flanking the sink makes doing dishes, well, not exactly a pleasure but less of a burden.

Shaking on the dry rub – we use the Memphis rib rub from Barbecue Bible with a few modifications.

Ribs ready to go in the fridge for a few hours. Oops, forgot to upload the picture – I’ll fix that in a bit.

[C. sapidus]

We have two geriatric former pound pups.

Yellow dog, nearly 16 years old, has dedicated her life to the acquisition of food. Despite sleeping for 22 of every 24 hours, she still manages to haul her arthritic hips onto the dining room table if we leave food unattended. I am quite confident that our kitchen floor is free of food molecules; I wish that I could say it was free of dog hair.

White dog, eleven years old, enthusiastically repels squirrels and rabbits from the back yard. He understands sentences and Pidgin English, and believes that his stuffed animals possess protective powers.

Yellow dog, in her usual spot when not underfoot in the kitchen.

[dog]“Hey, did he just drop some food?”

“Did you say, ‘food’?”[/dog]

We make the dogs sit and stay before we put down their dog bowls.

“Yay, it’s dog food again!” (apologies to Gary Larson).

[dockhl]

Thanks for the dog pix.

Dogs are the best.

Loving your blog, Bruce!

[CaliPoutine]

Love the dogs.

I hope and pray mine live until they're 16.

Edited January 15, 2007 by CaliPoutine (log)

[Priscilla]

Bruce, cute boys, and cute dogs too.

I always appreciate the Eternal Cucumbers on your dinner posts, so it was extra nice to see them being so carefully prepped here.

Please to the Table is a good one; are you familiar with The Art of Russian Cuisine by Anne Volokh? Out of print, but chockablock with good stuff.

Blog on!

[C. sapidus]

For lunch, the boys made grilled cheese again. Mrs. Crab makes grilled cheese with Pam, but the boys like theirs with butter.

Elder son cut up an apple.

Apple art:

Grilled cheese art (courtesy of younger son).

Mrs. Crab had a portabella burger on whole wheat English muffin, and TrueLemon in her water. She uses the citrus powders on raw vegetables, too. Three WW points for lunch.

[dog]”Hey, you gonna eat that?”[/dog]

I had leftover smashed potatoes with Sriracha, fruit, and Ibuprofen.

[C. sapidus]

After lunch, I made some Vietnamese coffee in special filter. I first drank Vietnamese coffee two decades ago, and immediately fell in love with it. After a number of attempts to make it without the special filter, I finally invested the necessary $3.69 and followed the instructions in Vietnamese coffee, MmmMmMm (clickety).

Ingredients and equipment:

Special filter assembled. The kettle is sort of fun – it sounds like a harmonica when the water boils. I'm still working on the optimal combination of grind size/filter loading/filter pressure, but it seems pretty forgiving.

Oh. My. Goodness – if ca phe sua nong isn’t the ultimate way to drink coffee, I don’t know what is. I prefer a relatively dark roast and about a tablespoon or two of Carnation sweetened condensed milk (other brands of SCM have a nasty aftertaste, in my experience). I’ll probably try Trung Nguyen coffee and Longevity brand sweetened condensed milk eventually. Any recommendations on which Trung Nguyen coffee to use?

Vietnamese coffee terminology according to this site (click).

Ca phe nong = coffee, hot

Ca phe sua nong = coffee, sweetened condensed milk, hot (my favorite)

Ca phe sua da = coffee, sweetened condensed milk, ice

[C. sapidus]

I need some quick advice on cooking Southern-style greens. We have two bunches of collard greens and one bunch of mustard greens. Smoked ham hocks are already bubbling away in four cups of water.

Question 1: For the collard greens, how much of the stem gets used? Do I cut the two leaf-sides away from the central stem, or do I just cut off the tough stem end?

Question 2: Should I throw the mustard greens in with the collard greens, throw them in later, or not mix greens in the same pot?

Yeah, I'm "green" when it comes to greens. This is my first time so please be gentle.

[Pan]

Mrs. Crab made an extra egg, so I finished it off with more Sriracha.

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I notice that you use a brand of Sriracha sauce other than Huy Fong. Do you find this brand tastier? Is the taste noticeably different, and if so, how?

[C. sapidus]

Mrs. Crab made an extra egg, so I finished it off with more Sriracha.

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I notice that you use a brand of Sriracha sauce other than Huy Fong. Do you find this brand tastier? Is the taste noticeably different, and if so, how?

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I usually use Huy Fong, but the Asian market was out last time we needed Sriracha. I like the taste of this brand, but the glass bottle is a pain - Huy Fong's squeeze bottle is much easier to use.

[ludja]

I need some quick advice on cooking Southern-style greens. We have two bunches of collard greens and one bunch of mustard greens. Smoked ham hocks are already bubbling away in four cups of water.

Question 1: For the collard greens, how much of the stem gets used? Do I cut the two leaf-sides away from the central stem, or do I just cut off the tough stem end?

Question 2: Should I throw the mustard greens in with the collard greens, throw them in later, or not mix greens in the same pot?

Yeah, I'm "green" when it comes to greens. This is my first time so please be gentle.

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For both greens cutting off the stems just below the leaf should be okay if they are younger leaves. It you have older leave with thick stems you may want to remove some of the thicker part of the stem that travels up into the leaf portion of the green.

Collard greens need about twice as much time to cook compared to many other greens including mustard greens. If you add the greens into the boiling stock it should take ~ 15-20 min for the mustard greens and 30-40 min for the collard greens. I've not mixed collard with other greens b/c sometimes the collards take quite a bit longer until they are tender.

I really like to splash some chile-infused cider vinegar on the greens, but that is best made about a week ahead of time.

Edited January 15, 2007 by ludja (log)

[mrbigjas]

For both greens cutting off the stems just below the leaf should be okay if they are younger leaves.  It you have older leave with thick stems you may want to remove some of the thicker part of the stem that travels up into the leaf portion of the green.

Collard greens need about twice as much time to cook compared to many other greens including mustard greens.  If you add the greens into the boiling stock it should take ~ 15-20 min for the mustard greens and 30-40 min for the collard greens.  I've not mixed collard with other greens b/c sometimes the collards take quite a bit longer until they are tender.

I really like to splash some chile-infused cider vinegar on the greens, but that is best made about a week ahead of time.

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what ludja said. and don't forget to dip your cornbread in the pot liquor.

[C. sapidus]

For both greens cutting off the stems just below the leaf should be okay if they are younger leaves.  It you have older leave with thick stems you may want to remove some of the thicker part of the stem that travels up into the leaf portion of the green.

Collard greens need about twice as much time to cook compared to many other greens including mustard greens.  If you add the greens into the boiling stock it should take ~ 15-20 min for the mustard greens and 30-40 min for the collard greens.  I've not mixed collard with other greens b/c sometimes the collards take quite a bit longer until they are tender.

I really like to splash some chile-infused cider vinegar on the greens, but that is best made about a week ahead of time.

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what ludja said. and don't forget to dip your cornbread in the pot liquor.

Ludja and mrbigjas: Thank you both! I cut off the bottom part of the leaves, cooked the greens until they were pretty mushy, picked the meat from the hocks, and added salt, pepper, and cider vinegar at the end. Younger son doesn't like spicy so much, so we will have hot sauce on the table.

No cornbread, but we made biscuits.

[Kouign Aman]

Fun blog. Its good to see the planning process in action. & to see kids in the kitchen. Two spatulas for dual sandwiching - love it.

Ca phe nong = coffee, hot

Ca phe sua nong = coffee, sweetened condensed milk, hot (my favorite)

Ca phe sua da = coffee, sweetened condensed milk, ice

Sounds like coffee (cafe' / ca phe) brought a little French into the language. I'd have to have a glass mug, to see the beautiful layers while the coffee drips.

[hzrt8w]

Ca phe nong = coffee, hot

Ca phe sua nong = coffee, sweetened condensed milk, hot (my favorite)

Ca phe sua da = coffee, sweetened condensed milk, ice

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Do you need to use French Roast to make VN coffee?

These 2 Vietnamese words sound very close to Cantonese. And they are single syllable too. I wonder if there is any connection.

Nong... In Cantonese, we have "neun" (meaning warm)

da... In Cantonese, we have "dung" (meaning icy, cold)

And Ca phe seems easy enough to guess...

Do you put extra sugar in the coffee? Or the sweetened condensed milk be sweet enough?