Because life is too busy to always make broth from scratch, I have long relied on Better than Bouillon pastes, starting with roasted chicken and roasted beef. I think discovered lobster base and then mushroom base. Most recent discovery (as so often happens) was on the "about to outdate" rack at a considerable discount -- Chili Base. This is not a substitute for making good chili, or even buying good chili, but this is a remarkable way to salvage something that needs serious help -- such as a rice and veg casserole that had been in the freezer for too long and tasted like, well, freezer. Couple of tablespoons of Chili Base and a cup of water, and suddenly, I had a remarkably good chili stew.

So a useful "first-aid" item to keep on hand for culinary emergencies.

And it occurs to me that the "first aid" option mentioned above fits nicely into the topic of Cathy2's recent Culinary Historians offering on avoiding food waste. No matter how freezer-burned a dish is, this chili base will make it tasty -- so less waste.

I've been really enjoying this Ning Chi Chili Sauce. It does deliver the promised heat with a nice mala finish and a good deal of beaniness. Thicker and more viscous than a chili oil, though it certainly does contain chili oil.

We picked this up on our first trip to 88 Marketplace and on a recent trip they were out of stock. I hope they are able to restock. A friend tells me that Ning Chi is a very popular brand in Taiwan.

Cynthia wrote:Because life is too busy to always make broth from scratch, I have long relied on Better than Bouillon pastes, starting with roasted chicken and roasted beef. I think discovered lobster base and then mushroom base. Most recent discovery (as so often happens) was on the "about to outdate" rack at a considerable discount -- Chili Base. This is not a substitute for making good chili, or even buying good chili, but this is a remarkable way to salvage something that needs serious help -- such as a rice and veg casserole that had been in the freezer for too long and tasted like, well, freezer. Couple of tablespoons of Chili Base and a cup of water, and suddenly, I had a remarkably good chili stew.

So a useful "first-aid" item to keep on hand for culinary emergencies.

Which store, please?

jilter wrote:Which store, please?

I got this one at Mariano's, but I've seen and/or bought Better than Bouillon at several stores -- Woodman's, Valli Produce, and others. I'd say check with any decent store near where you live -- and there is always online (both for purchase and "where to buy").
https://www.betterthanbouillon.com/

Costco has the organic big jars of the vegetable and chicken Better Than Bullion in store.

The lobster Better than Bouillon is also worth keeping around.

bw77 wrote:

I've been really enjoying this Ning Chi Chili Sauce. It does deliver the promised heat with a nice mala finish and a good deal of beaniness. Thicker and more viscous than a chili oil, though it certainly does contain chili oil.

We picked this up on our first trip to 88 Marketplace and on a recent trip they were out of stock. I hope they are able to restock. A friend tells me that Ning Chi is a very popular brand in Taiwan.

I recently picked up the chili with garlic product by this brand. And hoo boy, I am not learning my lesson. It is something fierce!

Costco (the Kenosha one at least, probably others) has Rodelle's Dutch process cocoa for $3/25oz bag. Bought on a whim because it was cheap and I wanted to experiment more with dutched cocoa. Worked great in Ina Garten's Beatty Chocolate Cake. I made it in a bundt pan, when fresh competes well with Nothing Bundt Cake at a much lower cost.

Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese at Costco $19.99/lb
I didn't think Uplands made enough of that to have a big distributor.
Haven't opened it yet. Looking forward to it.

Further on Better than Bouillon. I was at Woodman's today, and I think they have the largest selection of anywhere not online. Just about every grocery store has beef and chicken and maybe vegetable, but Woodman's has lobster, clam, mushroom, ham, and even vegetarian versions of chicken and beef. Plus the chili base. In fact, I think the only one that was missing was the one that is showing up on their website as "brand new" (caramelized onion -- can't wait for that one). (And if you need another reason to stop at Woodman's, I noticed today that they have pheasant and venison.)

For those who'd like to experiment with real Italian 00 flour without much of a commitment, Valli Produce has 1 kg bags on sale for 91 cents.

JoelF wrote:Pleasant Ridge Reserve cheese at Costco $19.99/lb
I didn't think Uplands made enough of that to have a big distributor.
Haven't opened it yet. Looking forward to it.

What a wonderful cheese. We had soup, fresh bread and a cheese board for dinner, and the PRR outclassed everything else we had: Manchego seemed dull, aged Gouda one-note, fresh mozz bland (but worked well as a palate cleanser and base for fig jam).

It's like the best gruyere I've ever had, and then some.