What's Cooking (Take Three!)

[Jenise]

Paul, I've had duck prepared in that progression in other Chinese restaurants. Not often, few do the whole ducks, but it's great when you can get it.

Speaking of your twice fried pork dish, I watched a few episodes of Ming Tsai this morning and, in one, while travelling in France he did a bacon and cabbage stir fry. He cut the bacon in 4" segments and stir-fried them before adding lots of chopped garlic, serrano chile slices and finally the cabbage. Looked pretty darned good.

Which inspired me to make fried rice for breakfast. I added Saturday night's leftovers to two eggs, scrambled and chopped, and some finely diced ham cuz I happen to have a whole ham at the moment.

It reminded me of my stepmother's fried rice. She cooked MJB rice, 2 c water to 1 c rice (ugh) in a shallow skillet till mushy, then sprinkled in lots of soy sauce, green onion and diced Oscar Meyer lunch meat ham. I believe she considered it done when the onions lost all their color. She was absolutely convinced that she nailed fried rice. Yet they would eat Chinese out fairly often. I always wondered if she looked at Chinese restaurant fried rice and wondered, at a minimum, "where's the ham?"

That Ming Tsai dish sounds like a variant of chao larou, Sichuan stir-fried bacon in bean sauces. This is very similar to twice-cooked pork, but since smoked bacon is used instead of fresh pork belly, you skip the initial simmering. There's a recipe for it in The Mala Project's blog.

-Paul W.

Which inspired me to make fried rice for breakfast. I added Saturday night's leftovers to two eggs, scrambled and chopped, and some finely diced ham cuz I happen to have a whole ham at the moment.

It reminded me of my stepmother's fried rice. She cooked MJB rice, 2 c water to 1 c rice (ugh) in a shallow skillet till mushy, then sprinkled in lots of soy sauce, green onion and diced Oscar Meyer lunch meat ham. I believe she considered it done when the onions lost all their color. She was absolutely convinced that she nailed fried rice. Yet they would eat Chinese out fairly often. I always wondered if she looked at Chinese restaurant fried rice and wondered, at a minimum, "where's the ham?"

Hmm. MJB rice kinda rings a bell, but I can't quite place it. FWIW, I make fried rice the day after cooking it and it's been stored lid off in the fridge to dry it.

Sounds like my mother who once cooked spaghetti for 20 minutes and wondered why it was mushy. Yuck.

Jenise, the duck dinner you described is close to the way they serve Beijing Duck at the China King restaurant in Boston's Chinatown (an obscure, hole-in-the-wall place but IMO some of the best Mandarin Chinese food in the area). The roasted duck (head and feet still on) is paraded around the table and taken back into the kitchen. A minute or two later the first course arrives--slices of duck skin served with Beijing pancakes, hoisin sauce, and scallion brushes. The second course is the duck meat stir-fried with bean sprouts. The third course is duck soup made from the carcass, with bean thread noodles.

I've eaten there! I had a wine event with the locals and we had duck just like you say: http://winedisorder.com/comment/56/7896/

Doris Huang used to have an even more hole-in-the-wall place in Boston Chinatown called King Fung Garden. We used to hold WLDG offlines there. The first time I went there for an offline I walked by the place twice without noticing it was there. From the outside it looked like a rundown dive. Except for the Zagat sticker on the window. China King is the only area restaurant I've been to that makes their own pot stickers from scratch. Everyone else buys commercial machine-made dumplings.

Alas, China King is closing on December 31. Doris Huang will be taking some time off, but is considering reopening in another part of Boston or possibly in Cambridge.

The "hash in a little cup" pork dumplings you had there sound like shaomai/shumai.

-Paul W.

Hmm. MJB rice kinda rings a bell, but I can't quite place it.

MJB Rice Company in San Francisco changed its name to Farmhouse Foods in 1991.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

MJB Rice Company in San Francisco changed its name to Farmhouse Foods in 1991.

That's interesting. They were also in coffee--which probably not coincidentally was also Betty's brand of choice. The big brand canned coffees of my childhood were MJB, Folgers and Yuban. Boxed rice on the shelf? MJB and Uncle Ben's.

Doris Huang used to have an even more hole-in-the-wall place in Boston Chinatown called King Fung Garden. We used to hold WLDG offlines there.

Yes. I was never there but I remember the posts about the time a car drove through the window.

Alas, China King is closing on December 31. Doris Huang will be taking some time off, but is considering reopening in another part of Boston or possibly in Cambridge.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for my Boston wino friends.

The "hash in a little cup" pork dumplings you had there sound like shaomai/shumai.

Agreed. I have learned a few things since I wrote that.

Doris Huang used to have an even more hole-in-the-wall place in Boston Chinatown called King Fung Garden. We used to hold WLDG offlines there. The first time I went there for an offline I walked by the place twice without noticing it was there. From the outside it looked like a rundown dive. Except for the Zagat sticker on the window. China King is the only area restaurant I've been to that makes their own pot stickers from scratch. Everyone else buys commercial machine-made dumplings.

Alas, China King is closing on December 31. Doris Huang will be taking some time off, but is considering reopening in another part of Boston or possibly in Cambridge.

The "hash in a little cup" pork dumplings you had there sound like shaomai/shumai.

-Paul W.

I was just sending you an email about this but it bounced. I'm going to miss CK (as much as I miss KF). Thankfully Hei La Moon is still open for dim sum.

Dan

I'm cooking a Jamie Oliver Beef Stew. I've cooked it many times before during winter but although the recipe lists Jerusalem Artichokes I've never seen them on sale and so I haven't used them.

So, late spring I planted some JAs and I forked up the first two yesterday, two because the first one didn't have any tubers. Now there's an enticing smell wafting upstairs from the kitchen. It's been in the oven almost 4 hours. Jamie says the meat is ready when it can be cut with a fork edge, which may take 3 or 4 hours.....

[Jenise]

Funny, Pete, I never make beef stew. Beef bourgogne and other forms of well-cooked beef, sure, but the word 'stew' as a noun and not a verb, applied to food and not a bad mood , is very unappealing to me. I understand how amazing it can be when done right, but I've had many more bad stews in my life than good.

Yesterday I got all tied up in my geneology stuff. I was somewhere in the 14th century trying to figure out which of Lorenz Muller's wives was which, juggling about 84 different facts which, should I pause or walk away, would all be lost by morning so it was like 7:00 before I came up for air. Inspired by the fact that I'd just received three gift bottles of pinot noir from a new neighbor who recently sold, and moved here from, a winery in Oregon, I'd thawed out a pound of ground veal to do something with. Once I tasted the first pinot I opened, I went with shallot/dill/nutmeg seasoned veal patties, pan fried and then finished in a cream sauce with fresh chanterelles and leaving out pepper as a seasoning to avoid cancelling out that flavor in the wine. A great match, absolutely delightful.

Peter, around here Jerusalem artichokes also go by the name "sun chokes". They may be hiding under that name.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

True. We see a lot of them here (they're a big eastern WA crop) but I can't remember by which name.

Funny, Pete, I never make beef stew. Beef bourgogne and other forms of well-cooked beef, sure, but the word 'stew' as a noun and not a verb, applied to food and not a bad mood , is very unappealing to me.

Whew! I was going to send you some green chile stew, but I ate it, instead. With a tortilla.

Jenise, the duck dinner you described is close to the way they serve Beijing Duck at the China King restaurant in Boston's Chinatown (an obscure, hole-in-the-wall place but IMO some of the best Mandarin Chinese food in the area). The roasted duck (head and feet still on) is paraded around the table and taken back into the kitchen. A minute or two later the first course arrives--slices of duck skin served with Beijing pancakes, hoisin sauce, and scallion brushes. The second course is the duck meat stir-fried with bean sprouts. The third course is duck soup made from the carcass, with bean thread noodles.

Dinner tonight will be stir-fried ground pork and hot peppers. Next up after that will be Shanghai red-cooked chicken wings.

-Paul W.

The classic Beijing duck service, typical of Chinese cuisine to use the whole bird and delicious. Although I could eat duck pancakes all night! Worth seeking out.

[Jenise]

Whew! I was going to send you some green chile stew, but I ate it, instead. With a tortilla.

Chile Verde is wonderful! Just don't call it stew.

Funny, Pete, I never make beef stew. Beef bourgogne and other forms of well-cooked beef, sure, but the word 'stew' as a noun and not a verb, applied to food and not a bad mood , is very unappealing to me.

Whew! I was going to send you some green chile stew, but I ate it, instead. With a tortilla.

A fork or spoon is also useful.

A tortilla holds more.

Peter, around here Jerusalem artichokes also go by the name "sun chokes". They may be hiding under that name.

No, thanks but that's not the reason, as it's a not name used here. Yours is the first time I've seen it.

First time I saw them growing I thought they were sunflowers. They grow very tall - over 6ft - on single stalks like canes with a bright yellow flower similar to a sun flower except without the big seed roundel in its middle

Jerusalem is a corruption of the French name Girasol, meaning gyrate or follow the sun as the flower turns to keep its face to the sun.

The artichoke (which isn't an artichoke) is the knobbly tuber(s) that form, like potatoes do, from its roots.

And they are nicknamed 'fartichokes' here as they are indigestible to some causing - at its mildest - an excess of wind.
Unfortunately I didn't have a mild case and I won't be growing or using JAs again !!

Funny, Pete, I never make beef stew. Beef bourgogne and other forms of well-cooked beef, sure, but the word 'stew' applied to food is very unappealing to me. .

I think you do make stews.

I would say that Beef Bourguignon is very much a stew, as is Coq au Vin and Ratatouille. They're all different stew recipes.

Cooking meat and/or vegetables in a liquid is stewing them. With Beef Bourguignon, Coq au Vin and Jamie Oliver's 'Jools Favourite' Beef Stew the liquid is wine (yah!).

Anyway, We had the stew on Wednesday evening with chopped steams hispi cabbage and broccoli florets and a bottle of French Grenache. I'd made a double sized amount as we were to have it Thursday evening too.

Wednesday night I was awakened by pains in my stomach, and terrible wind from both ends. This persisted all Thursday and as dinner time approached I didn't/couldn't face having the stew again. Jo hadn't suffered at all and she suggested I removed the chunks of JA before warming up the stew. I couldn't face it anyhow, and wasn't sure I could distinguish the wine stained turnip chunks from wine stained JA chunks.

So I found half a steak pie in the freezer and we had that instead.

Seems JA contain a sugar called inulin which some cannot digest. It's now Friday afternoon and though the effects are much less severe I am still in discomfort.

Plan's to roast JA on Sunday have gone, and I'm steering clear of JA's again. I still have three plants in the garden which, if no-one wants them, are going in the garden waste. Such a shame as they grow well and seem immune to things which eat and bore into potatoes

[Jenise]

[quote="Peter May"]
I think you do make stews. [/unquote]

Of course. But I married a man who claimed he did not like stews, soups or casseroles. Once I met his mother I understood why. She was a terrible cook and anything she made by any of those names was pathetic. He now understands the difference, but still, his sense of anticipation is much higher if the dish has a French name and the word 'stew' isn't attached.

Unfortunate reaction to the JA's. I was unaware of that problem, and I absolutely love them.

The jerusalem artichoke plant is indeed closely related to the common sunflower.

-Paul W.

For a friend's birthday I assembled a fabulous cheese board: I used the flat side of my large mahogany cutting board. Along the left edge, large slices of prosciutto and small slices of a Belgian ale and lemon saucisson. Along the right side, a bosc pear, sliced and splayed. In the middle, half an Epoisse, half a Langres, a chunk of gorgonzola dolce, half an American Valencay (from Lazy Lady), slices of Lamb Chopper, and slices of Comte. A few kinds of crackers and flatbreads (seeded knekkebrod ftw!) sat in a nearby bowl. Potables included graciano, gruner veltliner, and cava.

his sense of anticipation is much higher if the dish has a French name and the word 'stew' isn't attached.

Unfortunate reaction to the JA's. I was unaware of that problem, and I absolutely love them.

May I then suggest Jamie Oliver's Ragoût de boeuf préféré de Jools

https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/joolss-f ... ver/170023