JoelF wrote:I don't remember what kind of sauce was served, if any, but back then I felt about mayo the way Gary does about b*by c*rn.

Wanted something quick, easy, healthy so I ordered tofu with mixed veg from Great Beijing. Nothing easier than order, pickup, eat. Much to my horror GB included b*by c*rn in the mix. I'm sure the bride was surprised when I jumped up on the chair screaming like a toe-stubbed 3-year-old.

Far as mayo goes, I like mayo, maybe a bit too much if I'm being honest. Salmon patties are tasty in my book, but I don't have salmon pattie "urges" like I do mayo.

Ronnie- I buy Sea Pak Alaskian salmon burgers at Jewel when they are on sale, and I love them. Mariano's also carries them, and they might have them at Costco too. I bake them in my oven for about 16 minutes. They are processed in Alaska. They used to carry a salmon burger made with Alaskan salmon, but which was processed in China. That turned me off. Whole Foods used to have a salmon burger that I liked even better that came in a two pack, but I am not sure if they still carry them, and they also have their own brand of salmon burger that I have never tried, but I am sure would be okay. The only salmon burger that I tried and did not care for was one I purchased a few years ago at Aldi's.

ronnie_suburban wrote:That said, I'm wondering how these would be with some of the better quality canned salmon that's available these days.
=R=

I'm going to allow you to be the guinea pig, Ronnie.

You folks with your excellent meals embarrass my primitive efforts. But I'll tell you about today's effort, anyway. Dr. Debbie is off at the Olympic Complex, Lake Placid, X-country skiing, so I thought to make her something nice and warming for her return. Why not Tom Yum soup. Indeed.

Mine is not in the least authentic, but it IS tasty. I chunk a couple of chicken thighs, and simmer them in water for a bit, then add a standard can of Thai coconut milk. Then a bit of bottled Thai Tom Yum paste and a smidgeon of good chicken base, and some straw mushrooms. I simmer it a bit longer, gently, then add a handful of shrimp that I've thawed in salted+bicarbed water. Taste for seasoning, add some Canton noodles, grate in fresh galangal and some crushed lemon grass, and serve.

Simple, warming, totally Americanized, but tasty nonetheless.

Geo

lougord99 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:That said, I'm wondering how these would be with some of the better quality canned salmon that's available these days.

I'm going to allow you to be the guinea pig, Ronnie.

LOL, don't hold your breath but I promise it'll happen!

Geo wrote:. . . a handful of shrimp that I've thawed in salted+bicarbed water.

Your soup sounds really nice, as does the gesture. What does the bicarbed water accomplish?

=R=

The bicarb water does what I do whenever I cook shrimp. It is from Serious Eats:

Start With a Brine, No Matter How You're Cooking

Before we dive into the details, there's one technique that we've found improves all shrimp, regardless of cooking method: a quick brine of salt and baking soda. It may sound minor, but the combination works wonders: the salt helps keep the shrimp nice and moist as they cook, while alkaline baking soda delivers a crisp, firm texture. You're looking for about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for every pound of shrimp; give it a quick toss and rest the shrimp in the fridge for anywhere from 15 minutes to about an hour.

Edit: Sorry, I should have put a link: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/how ... saute.html

I use it w/green beans but in the water, not brined. Helps w/the color.

lougord99 wrote:The bicarb water does what I do whenever I cook shrimp. It is from Serious Eats:

Start With a Brine, No Matter How You're Cooking

Before we dive into the details, there's one technique that we've found improves all shrimp, regardless of cooking method: a quick brine of salt and baking soda. It may sound minor, but the combination works wonders: the salt helps keep the shrimp nice and moist as they cook, while alkaline baking soda delivers a crisp, firm texture. You're looking for about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda for every pound of shrimp; give it a quick toss and rest the shrimp in the fridge for anywhere from 15 minutes to about an hour.

Edit: Sorry, I should have put a link: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/10/how ... saute.html

Interesting. I've never had much trouble keeping my shrimp firm but I'll keep this in mind. Gotta at least try it, right?

=R=

We are Kenji loyalists, but my husband complains bitterly about the bicarb shrimp method - he thinks he can taste even the 1/4tsp per LB.

Tonight we had one of our simplest once-a-month meals: burgers. While the husband and kid eat beef, I eat turkey. I usually buy a pound of ground turkey thigh from whole foods and freeze in thirds and can quickly thaw a burger. 3 burgers ago, I felt mine tasted weirdly...of Ms Myers hand soap, but I thought perhaps it was a smell on my hands themselves (most meals I don't eat with my hands). 2 burgers ago, alas this was also my distinct impression. Hoping against hope, we had the 3rd tonight...and it tasted like soap. How I or the husband got soap into the burger meat in the portioning process is an unsolved mystery, but I am looking forward to purchasing a new lb soon.

NFriday wrote:Ronnie- I buy Sea Pak Alaskian salmon burgers at Jewel when they are on sale, and I love them. Mariano's also carries them, and they might have them at Costco too.

Thanks, Nancy. Do you know if these products are 100% salmon? Or are there other ingredients? Not that there'd be anything wrong with that but since I'm pretty happy with my salmon patty recipe, I'd only be looking to find alternatives for the salmon component. I did see that WF carries some frozen, ready-to-use fillets that run ~$10/pound.

annak wrote:We are Kenji loyalists, but my husband complains bitterly about the bicarb shrimp method - he thinks he can taste even the 1/4tsp per LB.

I'm in the vast minority around here but I'm not much of a Kenji fan, mostly because his palate and mine are seldom aligned. So, your husband's comments on this particular technique line up with my experiences. I really have never had an issue with sub-par shrimp that I've cooked at home, so I've never even sought a solution for them. Going to keep this technique in mind, though, just in case.

=R=

Hi Ronnie- I just pulled out the package of Sea Pak salmon burgers I have and the list of ingredients is salmon, water, soybean oil and canola oil. It contains less than 2% of the following: salt, garlic, methycellulose, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, smoke and other natural flavors, lemon juice concentrate, spices, red beet juice concentrate, and autolyzed yeast extract. They use wild caught pink salmon. The salmon burgers at Whole Foods I am sure have less added ingredients. I am going to Whole Foods this afternoon. I will take a look at their ingredient list.

I believe that all of the Kenji bashing here is misplaced. To the best of my knowledge, Kenji has never advocated a baking soda treatment. The Serious Eats article I quoted had nothing to do with Kenji. He definitely does not advocate it in his "The Food Lab" cookbook. My palette is not sophisticated enough to taste the baking soda in shrimp treated this way.

lougord99 wrote:I believe that all of the Kenji bashing here is misplaced. To the best of my knowledge, Kenji has never advocated a baking soda treatment. The Serious Eats article I quoted had nothing to do with Kenji. He definitely does not advocate it in his "The Food Lab" cookbook. My palette is not sophisticated enough to taste the baking soda in shrimp treated this way.

Ah, well, in any event I don't mean to bash and I hope what I posted didn't come off that way. I've just learned over the years that Kenji's and my tastes aren't very similar.

=R=

I had some fun this weekend because a friend asked me to test a brownie recipe using two different brands of unsweetened baking chocolate and I agreed . . .


Dueling Batches
That's Bakers brand on the left and Guittard on the right, both unsweetened. Texturally, they were spot on. Fudgy in the middle, with a pleasantly dense texture and crispy/light top crust. I thought the recipe had too much salt and wasn't quite chocolately enough. They were actually pretty close to each other in terms of overall flavor. In the end, 9 people blind-tested them (we made a few drop-offs). 7 preferred the Guittard. I and one other tester preferred the Bakers.

With all the test-batch brownies gone and some leftover chocolate still in the house, I decided to make a third batch and try "improve" the recipe, which I think I did. I cut the salt by 50%, decreased the sugar by 10%, cut the flour by 10% and added 12g of Dutch process cocoa powder (the original recipe called only for unsweetened baking chocolate) . . .


"Improved" Brownies

Baking is definitely not my thing but I know just enough to be dangerous!

=R=

Was really at a loss for inspiration today, so I decided to follow the RID philosophy and make a meaty red sauce. Was initially thinking pasta but when I remembered I had a couple of large eggplants, I decided to take a very lazy approach to incorporating them instead . . .


Mise En Place & Takeda Stainless Clad Sasanoha, 240mm, (Large)
Onion, tomato sauce, crushed San Marzanos, salt, evoo, eggplant (salted to drain), ground beef, hot Italian sausage, black pepper, crushed garlic and dried herbs (oregano, rosemary & basil). There are some days when I just know that I am *not* in the mood to deal with food sticking to the knife. Those are the days I reach for a Takeda. It was a pleasure to use, and so sharp it repeatedly stuck in my Hasegawa board. Never before had I experienced a knife sticking in a non-wood board.


Rendering The Sausage
I love using the potato masher to break the sausage up into little crumbles. Not sure where I picked this up (somewhere on youtube, iirc) but it's a great idea.


Salad
Kind of hit the spot . . . iceberg, mini tomatoes, evoo, balsamic and a hunk of buttermilk blue cheese.


Plated Up
Meaty red sauce & eggplant dealio. Garnished with pecorino romano and chive. Considering the lazy way I prepped the eggplant, this turned out way better than I'd expected. It simmered on low for a few hours, and I added the eggplant for about the last 90 minutes of cooking.

=R=

Sunday omelet . . .


Plated Up
Cheddar and sauteed onion omelet with bacon and lousy grocery store sausage.

=R=

Full-on Japanese-style meal tonight. The main component hit my radar a few years back when I was reading an awesome (and highly recommended) Japanese manga called Oishinbo!. Not only is it an extremely fun series, it's some of the most intensely food-focused material I've ever read. In one of the few volumes I was able to find that had been translated into English (Volume 2, Sake), there is a recipe for Hatcho Miso-Marinated Short Ribs. Until a few weeks ago, I'd never been able to find Hatcho miso but I've made the recipe a few times with other types of miso and it's always been very good.

However, as a result of the pandemic, a local restaurant purveyor pivoted into retail sales. And in one of their recent email blasts, I saw that they were offering Japanese Hatcho miso, so I decided to buy some and give this recipe another try. The hatcho miso is dark and earthy with a pretty distinctive aroma that I don't really have the words to describe, maybe mushroomy. There's not much to the recipe, which is probably why it hooked me in the first place . . .


Marinade Mise En Place
Hatcho miso, sake and shiro miso. The recipe calls for equal parts of hatcho and red miso but I was out of red (or could not find it), so I subbed in shiro, which I've found to be pretty close.


Cross-Cut Short Ribs
I asked my butcher for 3/8" thick, which was no problem.


Marinating
The recipe calls for a double-sided slathering and a 6-12 hour marination, followed by grilling over charcoal.

To go with the ribs, I followed a recipe that a friend on another board recommended, for a delicious take on goma-ae . . .


Sesame Seeds
Lightly toasting. They became beautifully aromatic before they darkened much.


Goma-Ae Dressing Mise En Place
Toasted sesame seeds, granulated sugar, soy sauce, mirin and sake. Per my friend's advice (and my own hunch), I cut the sugar way back, using only about 1/3 of the amount called for in this double batch.


Goma-Ae Dressing
Using the sugar to abrade the seeds in the mortar helped move them from whole to something between a coarse powder and a paste. Per the recipe, I also left a few sesame seeds whole.


Goma-Ae
Stellar take on this dish, one of the best I've had. I'm not patting myself on the back with that comment, just appreciating the recipe and the fact that I was able to dial back the sweetness in to my preference. That said, maybe I should have tripled or quadrupled the recipe. A pound of spinach doesn't yield very much.

Okay, back to the short ribs . . .


Grilling
Over charcoal, per the recipe. I marked them on both sides, then moved them to indirect side of the grill, where I stacked them up as I marked the second batch. Once they were all marked, I covered the grill and let them cook on the indirect side for another ~15 minutes. That turned out to be just about right.


Hatcho Miso-Marinated Short Ribs
On the platter.


Plated Up
With goma-ae and Tamanishiki rice from the rice cooker. This was a gnaw-fest in the best possible way. The main sections of meat were tender and juicy. The portions of cartilage around the bones popped out easily and were pleasantly chewy. And the flavor of the marinade was delicious. A long lead-up (with the overnight marinade) but not a ton of work, and an outstanding meal. Can't wait to make these again.

=R=

Looks fantastic. Goma-ae is one of my all time favorite side dishes, and so few restaurants seem to serve it anymore, you only see seaweed salad instead.

Dear Ronald delightful dinner. I would happily gnaw a bone with you any day.

Jewel had fryer chickens on special for J4U members at 59 cents/pound, limit one. Roasted it up, pulled most of the breast and thigh meat and threw the rest in a pot to make stock. Love how the house smelled all afternoon.

The GP wrote:Jewel had fryer chickens on special for J4U members at 59 cents/pound, limit one. Roasted it up, pulled most of the breast and thigh meat and threw the rest in a pot to make stock. Love how the house smelled all afternoon.

Nice! That's one comforting looking pot right there.

I've been sticking with the RID approach over here, so with some leeks and scallions approaching their end, some ultra-concentrated homemade chicken stock in the fridge and some ground pork in the freezer, I figured mapo tofu was a good call. I feel like I made this pretty recently but the last time was actually in June. Such is life when all the days just kind of bleed into one another . . .


Mise En Place & Masamoto KS Gyuto, 240mm
The other end of the spectrum from yesterday's fairly simple, three-ingredient short rib marinade. Granulated sugar, scallion tops, freshly ground Sichuan peppercorns, minced garlic, broad bean paste, extra firm tofu, peanut oil, fermented black beans, corn starch (later slurried), ground pork, ultra-concentrated chicken stock, soy sauce, scallion bottoms & leeks. Still enjoying the Masamoto KS, with its beautiful, new, ambidextrous handle.


Plated Up
Mapo tofu with pork. Definitely my best batch to date, which makes sense because as they say, practice makes perfect. Of course, using some ultra-concentrated homemade stock instead of canned broth makes a huge difference.

Happy Monday!

=R=

Awhile back i was rounding out an order from Butcher & Larder and saw they had Biscuit Mix from Bang Bang Pie for sale. I usually make my own perfectly fine biscuits but supporting small business and curiosity got me so I just forked over the $9.99. Tonight we tried it. If you've ever had their biscuits, you know they are intense dense butter delivery vehicles - not flaky but rich creamy fluffy.

Whatever is in the mix (and the flour was definitely very finely sifted if not house milled) the secret seems to be in the add ins: 1.5 sticks of butter AND an entire 16 oz of sour cream. The directions were to blend the sour cream with bare hands into the flour, then do the same with melted butter; scoop in 1/3c size portions and nestle together in an 8x8 pan. This yielded 16 smallish biscuits that rose quite a bit in baking. And tasted freaking delicious, almost perfectly like those from the shop.

I don't know if our bellies can handle them all the time, but I'd liked to figure out the dry ingredient ratios.

Took a cue from Ronnie and gomaae for dinner side dish.

click to enlarge


Gomaae, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Gomaae, count me a Fan!

Looks damned good. As I was tirelessly grinding away on my mortar and pestle, the lazy part of me was wondering if one could use tahini paste as a base in making the dressing for goma-ae. What do you think?

Back to chicken+pot=?? tonight with thighs and a bit of RID . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke Tetsujin Gyuto, 210mm
Everything except the chicken . . . shallots, tomato paste, leafy celery, bacon, bell pepper, salt, black pepper, evoo, white wine, heavy cream, onions, crushed garlic, carrot, bay leaf and creminis. First run with the Tetsujin. Easily fell through the coarse cuts and was a pleasure on the mincing, too. Was even able to do a little rocking with it on the celery.


Bacon
Wanted to use up this store-bought bacon, so crisped it up (for garnish later) and did some of the subsequent cooking in some of the rendered fat.


Vegetables, etc.
Once the bacon was cooked, I removed it, poured off all but a teaspoon or so of the rendered fat and sweated the veggies until they'd removed the fond from the pan and had softened up a little.


Chicken Thighs
After the veggies did their job, I removed them from the pan, added back about a teaspoon of the rendered bacon fat and seared off the thighs, which had been seasoned with salt and pepper. After the thighs had seared on both sides, I added back the sweated veggies, along with the mushrooms, bell peppers, tomato paste, bay leaf, white wine and a splash of the heavy cream. From there, I covered the pan and let it all simmer together for about an hour.

I also decided to cook up a boatload of swiss and rainbow chard as a side dish . . .


Chard
Cleaned, partially stemmed and ready to go.


Sauteed Chard Blend
Started with some evoo and minced garlic in a medium-hot pan, then added the stems (cut into small pieces) and a touch of water to soften them. After that, I threw in the rest of the chard, let it all wilt and splashed in a just a bit of apple cider vinegar, along with a dash of salt and black pepper. It wasn't quite there after that so I added a "secret" ingredient: Kelley's Gourmet Stone Ground Mustard. It worked really well here. In addition to imparting tartness and a touch of sweetness (both great with the slightly bitter greens), because of its viscosity, it also clung very nicely to the chard.


Plated Up
Chicken Thighs & Some Business and wilted chard. Every time I make a dish like this, I feel a bit less than excited going in but then, when I have that first bite, I instantly remember why I keep making it. This was really delicious.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:As I was tirelessly grinding away on my mortar and pestle, the lazy part of me was wondering if one could use tahini paste as a base in making the dressing for goma-ae. What do you think?

That was put in the form of a question though, I'm guessing, Eagle Eye Ronnie_S knows I used tahini not freshly ground sesame seeds.

Its funny as seeing Ronnie's delicious looking gomaae triggered a thought of a large canister of sesame seeds in the pantry. Had all the ingredients except spinach. Went to the store, spinach and other veg to make a fennel/mushroom salad. Soon as I started to make the gomaee I realized there was trouble in River City, I could not find the sesame seeds. Looked high, low then high low again. Ellen looked, I broke out the flashlight to see in the back of cabinets, pantry no-joy. Only sesame seeds were the quarter cup on the counter from use a few days ago. Somewhere in the ether Carol Channing's ghost is munching on sesame seeds.

I had the spinach blanched, was really in the mood for gomaae so went tahini. It was a fresh jar, light, flavorful, good quality tahini, and I thought it worked well for gomaee. Garnish was a sprinkle of sesame seeds of the few I had and fennel fronds from our other salad.

I loosely followed this Gomaee recipe. No sake on hand though. Lots of variations on a theme, thinking of green bean gomaae in the next day or two.

Gomaee, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:As I was tirelessly grinding away on my mortar and pestle, the lazy part of me was wondering if one could use tahini paste as a base in making the dressing for goma-ae. What do you think?

That was put in the form of a question though, I'm guessing, Eagle Eye Ronnie_S knows I used tahini not freshly ground sesame seeds.

I did not, though I did have a bad case of smoothness envy seeing your take. But really, when I was making it, I was thinking that tahini might be a great shortcut and an elbow-saver, too, especially if you have a tahini you can rely on.

G Wiv wrote:I loosely followed this Gomaee recipe. No sake on hand though. Lots of variations on a theme, thinking of green bean gomaae in the next day or two.

Yeah, that's the same recipe I used, which I may or may not have linked to above. A few chums on another board really like that site and they pointed me to it. Green Bean goma-ae sounds great.

=R=

Had a plan to use some frozen duck breasts in another project (and that may still happen) but with no other ideas for tonight's dinner, decided this morning to thaw them and keep it simple . . .


Cabbage Mise En Place & Konosuke HD Western Gyuto, 210mm
These were two of the smallest cabbages I'd ever seen, each about the size of a baseball. Decided on a slow, stovetop braise with garlic, shallot and red onion. Splashed in a bit of the apple cider vinegar at the very end, after it came off the heat.


Sear
Salt and black pepper, skin-side-down in a cold, dry pan, then turn on the heat to medium. Once the fat renders out and both sides get some color, the pan goes into a 400F oven for ~6 minutes.


Plated Up
Duck breast with braised cabbage and some leftover alubias blancas from my most recent 'weekly' batch of beans. The duck was really juicy, with a nice, crispy skin.

=R=

G Wiv wrote:Somewhere in the ether Carol Channing's ghost is munching on sesame seeds.

H-Mart Niles to replenish my supply of sesame seeds and frozen steamed dumplings, makes a great fast snack. Also picked up my usual kimbap for lunch. Speaking of ready to go prepared foods I noticed a lot more prepared items, both hot and cold, to go. And not just in one place, scattered about the store. Santander mentioned something similar to this in the Mitsuwa thread. Probably not a full-on shift but worth noting.

Also picked up raw marinated bulgogi to cook for dinner, tasty, though half the package I bought was enough for two meals for two. Maybe bulgogi tacos fof lunch today.

click to enlarge


H-Mart Niles, count me a fan.

G Wiv wrote:H-Mart Niles, count me a fan.

I was just asked in PM, and should have noted. Yes the food court is open for business. All the kiosks were stocked and staffed and the bakery has either new owners or gone through a major upgrade. They are carryout only, no dine-in.

I bought a California roll at one of the kiosks for the brides lunch. Came with miso soup, which I drank in the car, for $7.80 inc tax not tip. She enjoyed the maki roll though did not rave or unduly compliment.

Miso soup, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Also picked up raw marinated bulgogi (H-Mart, Niles) to cook for dinner, tasty, though half the package I bought was enough for two meals for two. Maybe bulgogi tacos fof lunch today.

Sauteed remaining raw marinated half of H-Mart bulgogi, added in hand-torn lettuce used for wraps the day before and mixed it all with just-boiled Chinese noodles. Topped with sesame seeds and scallion. Tasty, high flavor value for effort.

click to enlarge


Bulgogi, count me a Fan!