What's Cooking (Take Three!)

Jeff that’s cute!
Souunds like it’s going to be a big day. Enjoy

[Jenise]

Paul is correct that the fajita craze caused the interest (and run up) of skirt, but now it's driven mostly by rarity- one inside and one outside per cow, a few pounds total.

I'll never forget special ordering the outside skirt from a cow coming in to my (former) local "nose to tail" butcher, marinating (kind of bulgogi ish ), grilling, leaving inside to rest at a big party, coming inside to find a "helpful" guest had cut up whole thing, right on grain. Good, but damn chewy!

As to cryovac, I'm all for it, My local markets are mostly the usual tray and wrap (meaning they did it there), but the more premium choices (prime and grassfed), plus the more specialty cuts (lamb racks, whole filets, sometimes hanger or skirt) are cryovacs. Because it's a lot better at keeping fresh. Basically vacuum packed, with better plastic. I think pretty much every non-local premium meat purveyor I've dealt with (Flannery, Lobels, D'Artagnan, Porter Road, etc) used cryovac or similar. BTW, has anyone tried Wild Fork?
'

The shelf life on cryovac is certainly a lot longer than not, and good point about Flannery and D'Artagnan, both of whom I've purchased from. No on Wild Fork.

Speaking of cryovac, a new twist in things is seafood showing up pre-cut and cryovacced. Norwegian Salmon and Chilean Sea Bass specifically have been showing up around here. I bought the salmon at Trader Joe's and the sea bass at Costco and they've been very good, and I'm EXTREMELY fussy about seafood. It's got to be pretty close to still-slipping or it will taste off to me (though often not to others).

Tonight is a seafood stew, using shrimp and scallops. It was a Bon Appetit cover recipe once and I love the color presentation. A sourdough with whole roasted garlic will go with it. Lots of garlic, wine, clam juice, canned tomatoes, and fennel seeds, other spices make it yummy!

[Jenise]

Last night I made pork and green bell peppers in a Ghuizou black bean sauce for dinner. Just loved it. Today, not sure yet....

Laoganma's black bean sauce is apparently a version of Guizhou-style black bean sauce. Lee Kum Kee also markets a version (I'm fond of their regular black bean sauce but I've never seen the Guizhou variant for sale around here). Did you use one of these or did you make it from scratch. If from scratch, I'd like to see the recipe.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

No, I had the Lee Kum Kee product. No idea when or where I bought it, and didn't realize what Guizhou was significant of until you mentioned another brand a week or so ago.

And I mean HAD. Used the last drops last night and am desperate to replace it. Will be able to easily in Vancouver, but maybe not down here. Wonder if I can get it on Amazon? Hang on.

[Jenise]

Ay yi yi! Yes, only $24 a jar or $35 for two. At your corner Asian grocery, just $4.49.

It'll have to wait.

Not at MY corner Asian grocery store, alas. hotsaucemarkett.com is offering it for 6.99 for a 12oz jar. walmart.com has it for $10.99, again for 12oz. Not including shipping charges.

I'll have to check the Vietnamese grocery in Manchester NH to see if they have any.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, a funny follow-up since we were recently talking about refrigeration and expiration dates on such things, as I put the empty jar of Guizhou BBS in the recycling I noticed the expiration date on the side of the jar lid (last place I'd have looked). 2013.

Paul, a funny follow-up since we were recently talking about refrigeration and expiration dates on such things, as I put the empty jar of Guizhou BBS in the recycling I noticed the expiration date on the side of the jar lid (last place I'd have looked). 2013.

Oh, dear, yes, I have some old food around here, too. But things kept tightly closed and in the fridge survive quite well. The only loss that surprised me was some ground cardamom: this was the most potent stuff, given to me by a friend of Pakistani heritage (he got it from his grandmother back in the old country), I had to keep it in three layers of ziplocs AND in a jar otherwise the whole cupboard smelled of it. Then one day, I reached for it... and its essence was all gone.

The whole ones are still good.

Ghuizou black bean sauce is new to me, will check it out. I'm such a sucker for new products.
Available here for 4.49 https://asiamartsr.com/products/lee-kum ... chili-sauc
Comes out of Santa Rosa CA

[Jenise]

Guizhou is a town in Szechuan, Karen; how it differs from other spicy black bean sauce not specific to Guizhou (which Lee Kum Kee also makes) I don't know BUT it's absolutely killer and when I make something with it I'll crave it for weeks. I said "something" but the truth is I rarely stray from my favorite stir fry of white meat chicken and lots of green bell peppers and onions. Other things can be in there too, but it's not "the dish" without these three.

I just got back from a visit to Saigon Market in Manchester NH. They have the Lee Kum Kee Guizhou black bean sauce. I bought a jar; I'll be trying it out next week. They also have the Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce with garlic, which is the one I'm familiar with.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, the latter was long a staple in my pantry, then I bought the Guizhou without realizing I was buying something different. I'm guessing that it was out of date when I bought it because no way I've had that jar open--without using it up--for eight years. I'll never go back to the regular!

[Jenise]

Not cooking at home tonight. But on the stove simmering away for lunch, a meatless pumpkin-grain soup made with butternut squash because it's what I have, red lentils, green lentils, rice, bulger wheat, carrots, onions, rosemary and cinnamon.

Guizhou is a town in Szechuan, Karen; how it differs from other spicy black bean sauce not specific to Guizhou (which Lee Kum Kee also makes) I don't know BUT it's absolutely killer and when I make something with it I'll crave it for weeks. I said "something" but the truth is I rarely stray from my favorite stir fry of white meat chicken and lots of green bell peppers and onions. Other things can be in there too, but it's not "the dish" without these three.

Interesting that you use green bell peppers. Years ago, when so many peppers in many colors came into the market and my garden I left green bell peppers behind. Just recently, however, I started using them again and found a new liking for them. I especially like to use them in my chile, (with beans) they offer something different to the flavor profile. I still prefer the red and gold bells for stuffed peppers, but again, I did make them a few months ago and used a green bell!

The local supermarket packages snow peas in large quantities. If I buy them for a particular dish I usually have a lot left over. That's currently the case so tonight's dinner will be stir-fried beef with snow peas. The beef is a very nice looking flank steak I bought at Whole Foods. It wasn't packaged in cryovac. I have no idea if it was shipped that way or if they just removed it from the cryovac before putting it on display in the meat case.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Karen, I love red bell peppers too, more than yellow or orange but I reds are typically a little sharper in flavor so I prefer them of the sweet peppers, yet lacking a sweet tooth I don't prefer red to green. I have loved green bell peppers since the day I was born, and Mom never cut one up for a salad or other dish (she featured them heavily in her kidney bean stew) without handing me a slice.

Don't know if I told the story here, but I was three and at the market with Mom when I saw jalapeno peppers in the produce department. Looked and smelled just like my favorite snack, and it was baby sized which is always attractive to small kids. I asked Mom to buy some and she said no, we would never buy them because they were "hot". Well, I was holding one in my hand and it wasn't hot at all so I took a big bite....

Not cooking at home tonight.

Trauma has such deep roots.

Ouch, I bet some wailing was done there? One of our favorite things to do with our babies eating food and sitting in a high chair was to offer them a lemon wedge. Loved seeing the looks on their faces when they took that first bite.

Got a bad start to my day, so my plans to make Halupki, German stuffed cabbages roll are put off until tomorrow. Cooked with lots of Passita, sauerkraut, grass fed, organic hamburger with onion, garlic. Extra cabbage is laid under and over the top of the cabbage rolls and they cook for 2 1/2 hours in the oven. Going to roast brussels sprouts, red onion, and cauliflower for our veggies.

Tonight, a New York steak which we will split, roasted, and smashed baby red bliss potatoes, and a huge artichoke. Also tossing mushrooms in butter for a quick sauté.

[Jenise]

Ouch, I bet some wailing was done there?

Screams were immediate and non-stop. I took off like a rocket for the stairs at the back of the store which would take me to a water fountain I knew of near the restrooms on the mezzanine level, mom and various store personnel in hot pursuit. I remember it vividly, and looking back I'm amazed that a tiny kid could outrun adults but I know I did--though once at destination they had to catch up so someone could lift me up to the fountain.

Oooh, cabbage rolls. I've never made them with anything except a combination of pork and ham. Should try ground beef sometime, huh.

Tonight: swiss steak. Still on that retro kick.

I'll be making stir-fried chicken slices with green bell peppers in black bean sauce tonight--using Lee Kum Kee's Guizhou black bean paste.

-Paul W.

Tonight: swiss steak. Still on that retro kick.

I made that a couple of weeks ago. Still tastes good after all these years.

[Jenise]

Mr. Gout showed up this weekend so tonight will be baked potatoes and charred broccolini.