What's Cooking (Take Four)

[Jenise]

Both the pork piccata and the slow-cook sweet 'n' sour sound great to me!

Made with tenderloin the pork could easily be mistaken for veal. Very, very nice.

Tonight I'm making burritos. Ground turkey will be the filling base, and I'll be using a corn-wheat blend tortilla I bought at TJ's this weekend. They look really good.

Paul, re basils. We ate at a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant yesterday. In my review I complimented them on using a spicy Asian basil (but it wasn't Thai) instead of the cheaper, more easily available Italian sweet variety commonly used. I didn't have a name for the basil, and now I wonder if it was Holy Basil. Off to look at pictures!

I would posit a guess that it's holy basil.

Tonight was a melange, including leftover spaghetti: sauteed chicken breasts with a green mole sauce and black sesame seeds, quickly sauteed spaghetti with oil and garlic, and green peas. Pretty good.

Now bread is in the oven (too late for the meal, though).

Addendum: The bread is out now, and we've had a couple of slices. Multigrain and good, slathered with butter.

[Jenise]

Yes indeed, the serrated edges on the basil leaves is a match. We did have Holy Basil. I rarely see it around here. Nice to get it in a Vietnamese restaurant.

Last night's burritos were a bust. I'm not used to misses--I can see problems coming and avert them. But the white meat ground turkey I used (I prefer dark for this prep, but only white was available) didn't turn into a nice crumble, it liquefied, and adding polenta and rice to stiffen it up just made mud. YUCK.

What we usually think of as Thai basil (horapa in Thai) is a variety of the common basil. Holy basil (krapow in Thai, tulsi in Hindi) is a different species in the same genus of plants. It's called holy basil because Vaishnava Hindus consider it sacred to Krishna. Holy basil starts to wilt the moment it's picked and that's why you don't see it sold fresh very much--it has almost zero shelf life. The package of Thai basil that I bought at our local Vietnamese supermarket turned out to be--to my great delight--holy basil (krapow). The last batch I bought there, though, was horapa--the more common type of Thai basil.

I wasn't aware that holy basil was used in Vietnamese cuisine, but your restaurant experience and my finding it in a Vietnamese grocery seems to indicate otherwise.

The famous Thai stir-fried chicken with chiles and basil is, in Thai, "pad prik gai bai krapow". Bai krapow is "holy basil leaves". It's properly made with fresh holy basil. Most restaurants use ordinary Thay bail leaves (bai horapa) instead. I use holy basil if I can get it, but I usually make it with horapa and add a liberal pinch of dried holy basil, which can be found pretty easily in Indian groceries. That gives the dish some of that distinctive holy basil aroma and flavor.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, we have a significant Indian community in this area and an Indian Market just opened last week. I haven't been in yet but I'm excited to visit--I understand it's very very nice (by ethnic market standards). Until now, Indians relied on the things the Asian grocers would bring in for them. It's been a long time since I've had mustard oil in the house--looking forward to that. And thanks to you, I'll be looking for holy basil, too.

It's been a long time since I've had mustard oil in the house--looking forward to that.

Trench warfare with the neighbors?

[Jenise]

Ha! No, mustard oil has a mild wasabi-like flavor and beautiful golden color. Fantastic with just vinegar on potatoes for a warm potato salad that's fantastic with oily fish, like salmon.

I looked up a photo of Holy Basil and it looks just like the apple mint I have in my herb garden....Humm

[Jenise]

Last night we had Wokness--that's my term for anything cooked in a wok that isn't a copycat version of something you order in a Chinese restaurant. The foundation was reaching into the freezer and pulling out a baggie of mystery meat. I didn't label the bag, but could kinda tell it was pork loin and it appeared to be in some type of marinade. When it thawed enough to give off aroma, there was major evidence of Five Spice, and I'd kinda been hankering for pork and cabbage in combination so that's what I made. Pork, cabbage, and 1" lengths of green onion served on a bed of short grain rice with Lee Kum Kee double-fermented soy sauce (if you're into soy sauce and you haven't secured some of this condiment-level soy sauce, you must find some, it is soy splendor deluxe.)

We have a few Indian markets in the area. I've never known any of them to carry fresh tulsi (holy basil). As I said, it has severe shelf life problems.

It is not legal in the US to sell mustard oil for food use because of its high erucic acid content. Rapeseed oil has the same problem to a lesser degree. That is what lead to the development of Canola (CANadian Oil Low Acid) is from a variety of rapeseed especially bred to be low in erucic acid. All mustard oil sold in Indian markets in the US will be labeled "for external use only" (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more).

"Mild" is not a word I'd ever associate with mustard oil. I find it extremely pungent. Unless you mean it's not hot in the way that chile oil is. That's true--it's devoid of capsaicin. But it's nose-clearing in the way that Chinese mustard (mustard powder mixed with water) is. Many Indian recipes call for heating mustard oil to the smoke point before using it in a dish. This reduces the pungency of the oil and also breaks down the erucic acid. Sichuan chefs are fond of non-canola rapeseed oil and heat that to the smoke point, too.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

"Mild" is not a word I'd ever associate with mustard oil. I find it extremely pungent. Unless you mean it's not hot in the way that chile oil is. That's true--it's devoid of capsaicin. But it's nose-clearing

Yes, and that's why I called it 'wasabi-like'. And yes, I've seen that warning label. I don't even know what that particular acid is.
But I like it! I also love Chinese hot mustard.

Erucic acid is found in the seeds of all Brassicas, including mustard and rape. There were some studies done in the 1970s linking high levels of erucic acid consumption to heart disease and this is what caused the FDA to ban mustard oil as a foodstuff, despite its being a common cooking oil in India for centuries, if not millennia.

-Paul W.

Erucic acid displays both positive and negative effects. As always, moderation is key, IMO.

Reminds me of the furor over MSG, which is a glutamate salt. Our tongue has glutamate receptors, and many foods contain glutamate. The whole furor started over some dubious claims that some people didn't feel well after eating at a Chinese restaurant, even though other cuisines used it, too. The stories took off like the Bermuda Triangle and Taylor Swift is an agent of the deep state. It's also a bit racist to call it "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome," which might have been the core of the matter.

Anyway, nowadays MSG is coming back as a flavor enhancer (umami) and is GRAS around the world.

Think of this: why don't a billion-plus Chinese have headaches every day?

Think of this: why don't a billion-plus Chinese have headaches every day?

Maybe they do. Have you seen their alphabet?

[Jenise]

The stories took off like the Bermuda Triangle and Taylor Swift is an agent of the deep state.

Oh god, thanks for this Larry. Just the laugh I needed this morning.

I'm still amazed by how many people claim to have MSG issues but they have no problem eating 14 bags of Nacho Cheese Flavored Doritos.

The recipes in the Joyce Chen Cook Book, which was published before the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome furor started, nearly all contain a pinch of MSG. It's like "salt to taste" for umami. Joyce Chen and other notable Chinese cooking experts have long observed that a bit of MSG can enhance a dish, but it has also been abused by restaurant cooks as a coverup for inferior ingredients or cooking techniques. Again, like table salt. And as Jenise points out, it's a common ingredient in a lot of junk food.

So-called Chinese Restaurant Syndrome has been thoroughly debunked for a long time now.

I'd put MSG avoidance in the same food fetish category as the gluten-free fad. Only those with celiac disease or some other allergy to gluten need follow a gluten-free diet. For the rest of us, avoidance of gluten is a form of self-flagellation.

-Paul W.

Yeah, the gluten-free stuff, except for true celiacs, is total BS. And food items that would not have gluten in the first place advertise as gluten free. Any gluten-free eggs or cranberry juice?

Whenever I'm handed a gluten-free sample, I always ask "Do you have any extra-gluten [sample]?"

FWIW, I remember from decades ago, a Chinese restaurant that I frequented had an empty 40-gallon drum of MSG propping open the restroom door.

Think of this: why don't a billion-plus Chinese have headaches every day?

Maybe they do. Have you seen their alphabet?

Chinese alphabet soup would be interesting.

[Jenise]

Yeah, the gluten-free stuff, except for true celiacs, is total BS. And food items that would not have gluten in the first place advertise as gluten free. Any gluten-free eggs or cranberry juice?

Not quite. There are people who don't entirely register for Celiac disease when tested, but who have other auto-immune situations that make them susceptible to gluten-related impacts. One such person is a good friend of mine. She suffered serious meningitis a few years ago--we almost lost her. She has body aches and memory issues as a result (whe was a working nurse at the time and has never been able to go back to work), and glutens affect her.

Yeah, the gluten-free stuff, except for true celiacs, is total BS. And food items that would not have gluten in the first place advertise as gluten free. Any gluten-free eggs or cranberry juice?

Not quite. There are people who don't entirely register for Celiac disease when tested, but who have other auto-immune situations that make them susceptible to gluten-related impacts. One such person is a good friend of mine. She suffered serious meningitis a few years ago--we almost lost her. She has body aches and memory issues as a result (she was a working nurse at the time and has never been able to go back to work), and glutens affect her.

That's really what I meant, but I abbreviated it to celiacs instead of celiacs and other related diseases. I'm familiar with what you're talking about.

What's cooking today is Chicken Puttanesca, a savory beautiful dish with chicken pieces, browned, and cooked with San Marzano whole tomatoes, broken up, salt, pepper, Italian Seasoning, lemon, anchovy filets, garlic, kalamata olives, capers, dried oregano, red pepper flakes and garnished with parsley. I like vinegar with chicken so I added a bit of Sweet Banana Pepper juice. I like to cook young carrot chunks along with the chicken.

A side dish of sliced cucumbers, with red onion slices, fresh cilantro, and jalapeno pepper slices. The dressing is lime juice, vegetable oil, fish sauce, garlic, and a little honey. Also, made sauteed zucchini with red onion slices, sliced roasted almonds, and Fresno chile, with red wine vinegar, fresh mint, and parsley. A little parmesan shaved on top is great, but I will not do it this time.

[Jenise]

The recipes in the Joyce Chen Cook Book, which was published before the Chinese Restaurant Syndrome furor started, nearly all contain a pinch of MSG.

Btw, I have a little shaker of MSG on the wood stand next to the stove that also holds salt and several peppers for last minute seasoning purposes. I don't use it often, but I use it often enough. Fried rice is an 'always', and so are creamed vegetables.

Today, Sunday, is a total couch potato day. We have the final round of the Phoenix Open PGA tournament followed by the Superbowl. My meal plan includes a lot of fruit, a cucumber and carrot salad, and various Chinese dim sum.

Ah, Karen, you're singing my song! Love the puttanesca prep, so much flavor.

[Jenise]

Today I fed Bob a favorite breakfast: taco eggs, you might call it. When I make tacos I always plan on having leftover filling to fold into some scramble eggs a few days later topped with a bit of cheese, cilantro, green onion and avocado, or whatever assortment from that list I have on hand. Delish.

While pillaging the fridge for the above said items I realized I had a 9 or 10 inch length of pork loin sitting in a marinade. I'd Put it, mostly frozen, in the marinade (dark soy, white vermouth) on Thursday intending to roast it Friday, maybe sous vide first then sear off, to take to an event I might have gone to Friday night. But I didn't go and then I forgot all about the roast. And there it was today. I pulled it out and cut it open and it still smells fresh. So I chopped it into big chunks and now it's becoming an adobo.

Adobo came to my attention a long long time ago when a file clerk who worked for me started bringing cold leftover adobo to work. She was a sweet lady who married her Filipino husband when she was only 12 and part of a very poor family in Tennessee. Pete was a young immigrant, about 20 years old, who had been brought to America to work on the railroad line that was being put through her little holler. He taught her to cook the food of his homeland and this was one of her favorite dishes. It became one of mine, too: salty, sour and redolent with bay leaves and garlic, and that's what I'm trying to recreate now (sans recipe). When the meat's tender I'll reduce the cooking liquid and serve it as Roma did on plain white rice.