What's Cooking (Take Four)

I buy porcini powder ready-made, it is delicious, but I forget about it most of the time. I have way too many spices...some I never use until I run across them. Then I set them out for the week to play with.

Many Chinese stir-fries require a lot of prep and mise-en-place. One very important lesson that I learned when I (finally) took a Chinese cooking class is to know the capacity of the ladle and spatula you use while stir-frying. You can use these to measure out ingredients. If you watch the cooks in open-air Chinese restaurants, they use these implements to measure out almost everything on-the-fly.

-Paul W.

Larry, you are so right about Julia wanting everyone to know the techniques, whys, and methods of all the cooking steps, and for that, I admire her. Now, at my age, I still want healthy, tasty food but am not willing to spend hours in the kitchen. There are too many other things I need to do, like chasing a puppy around the house who is being potty trained. This is among other things, like reading a good book, having lunch out with friends, etc. I eat well and still keep it simple. I am also very happy that I do not entertain anymore.

Jeff, what was time consuming about the porcini powder? I use for a couple of recipes but just grind dried porcini in a spice grinder, very fast.

Jeff, what was time consuming about the porcini powder? I use for a couple of recipes but just grind dried porcini in a spice grinder, very fast.

Now that you say that, I think I have transferred my disappointment with it to its manufacture, because smashing up dried porcini in a spice grinder sounds familiar. Sorry for the stray comment.

Last night I made for the first time Zigong xiaoian ji (Zigong small-fried chicken) from the recipe in Fuchsia Dunlop's The Food of Sichuan. This is diced chicken stir-fried with ginger, garlic, Sichuan peppercorns, sliced chiles, and sliced celery, seasoned with soy sauce and zhenjiang (chinkiang) vinegar. Her version uses several types of chiles and bell peppers to tone down the heat. I used only fresh cayennes and supermarket long hot green chiles to get something closer to the highly incendiary version she was first served in Zigong. It came out very tasty, with a lot of that classic Sichuan numbing-and-hot sensation.

The cooking technique is xiaojian, which translates literally as "small-fried". I think "simple-fried" would be a more accurate translation. It is a type of stir-frying where the ingredients are added in succession and there is no removal and re-introduction of any ingredients. In Cantonese stir-fried beef with bell peppers, for example, one briefly stir-fries the peppers in a bit of oil "to break the rawness", removes them from the wok, then adds them back in again once the beef is done. In xiaojian ji you stir-fry the chicken first, then add the Sichuan peppers, then the aromatics, then the chiles, then the sauce and celery, and finally the vinegar. Gong bao chicken qualifies as a xiaojian dish if, as I do, you start with dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts instead of deep-frying raw peanuts.

-Paul W.

Today's menu is Balsamic chicken. Chicken pieces marinated in EVOO, balsamic glaze, tomato paste, honey, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, oregano, sweet paprika, then oven-roasted. A side dish of horseradish Potato salad, as I needed to use up baby multi-colored potatoes, a red bliss, and a Yukon Gold. Salad of roasted asparagus with cherry tomatoes, and a sherry vinaigrette made with sherry vinegar, EVOO, garlic, black pepper, and sumac. Basil leaves and parmesan can be sprinkled over the top of the salad.

[Jenise]

Paul, does celery occur with particular frequency in Sichuan cooking? Your dish reminds me of the Sichuan style dishes (then spelled Szechuan) that occurred in the Cantonese style Chinese restaurants of my childhood. Always a lot of slivered celery in them, and often carrot too.

[Jenise]

Tonight: fish tacos. Rubbed and roasted strips of Icelandic cod, fresh Maseida blue corn tortillas, stir fried/charred bell peppers and onions.

That sounds good, Jenise. I'm not sure if I've ever had cod. My favorites are crab, shrimp, scallops, Halibut, and Chilean Sea Bass. We used to eat a lot of salmon, but my taste buds are telling me they do not like salmon anymore. Weird. The last salmon I recall having was at Linda Stradley's home in Hillsboro, outside on the patio overlooking their grapes. She smoked it; it was the best salmon I had ever tasted. Remember Linda? She has the Whats Cooking America website.

Jenise, a lot of Sichuan recipes do call for celery. Fuchsia Dunlop says that the Sichuanese are fond of having a crunchy element in their stir-fries. They use Chinese garlic stems and celtuce for this purpose as well as Chinese celery (which tends to be thinner but more flavorful than the Western variety). Western-type celery makes a good substitute.

Tonight I'm making roast pork lo mein. I'm using Chinese takeout boneless spareribs for the pork. So-called boneless spareribs aren't spareribs--they are cuts of pork shoulder given the same treatment as Cantonese roast pork and then sliced into sparerib-like shapes. I like the flavor that they give (vs. using raw pork loin) and Chinese takeout places do a better job at roasting the pork than I do. Plus it's less hassle.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

That sounds good, Jenise. I'm not sure if I've ever had cod. My favorites are crab, shrimp, scallops, Halibut, and Chilean Sea Bass. We used to eat a lot of salmon, but my taste buds are telling me they do not like salmon anymore. Weird. The last salmon I recall having was at Linda Stradley's home in Hillsboro, outside on the patio overlooking their grapes. She smoked it; it was the best salmon I had ever tasted. Remember Linda? She has the Whats Cooking America website.

Cod is certainly not my favorite fish. But it's ideal for things like tacos, and it makes the best fish & chips. I feel like you do about salmon.

And yes I remember Linda and her website. She was an early pioneer in understanding what the internet could do for home cooks.

Mother of invention: Yesterday, I made tuna salad (called tuna fish salad in my young years) on my 1847 Oregon Trail sourdough bread. I discovered I was out of celery for the crunch, but I noted I had a little bok choy left over, so I chopped up a little of bok choy stem near the root. Turned out to be a good substitute. Then baked some peanut butter cookies for dessert.

Tonight was a tasty Kung-Pao-y shrimp and medley of Chinese veggies stir-fry. Accompanied by black forbidden rice. Got leftovers, too. Yay!

I'm not sure if I've ever had cod.

Cod is certainly not my favorite fish.

My husband is from New England. His family tree is half cod. Who are you people and why am I hanging out with you?

Three cheers for the city of Boston, the home of the bean and the cod, where Lodges talk only to Cabots, and Cabots talk only to God.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

I'm not sure if I've ever had cod.

Cod is certainly not my favorite fish.

My husband is from New England. His family tree is half cod. Who are you people and why am I hanging out with you?

LOL. Didn't say I hate it; after all it came up because I bought some, right? I'm amazed that Karen has never had it though.

I may have had it; I just do not recall. I see it in the fish case at our local seafood and meat shop, but it does not look appealing to me like Halibut and Sea Bass. One of our local eateries has fabulous fish tacos and a friend and I used to go there a lot for those. Cod may have been used in those.

IMO, cod is great.

I've had good roasted cod, but mostly we use it for dishes where you want a milder fish to let other flavors stand out, but you want more firmness than a lot of other white flesh fish. Chowder, cod and kimchi stew, tacos, cod in chipotle braise.

Last night made salmon bowls with cabbage and miso rice. Just whisk a 1/4 cup of shiro miso into water and then cook basmati. Why didn't I think of that? Fast, easy, and tasty. I did laugh at recipe. You top rice, shredded cabbage, and roast salmon with a marinade. Marinade recipe was 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 scallions, tablespoon rice vinegar, tablespoon ginger. Then it said "season to taste with salt and pepper." Really? You think I might need to salt my soy sauce? Recipe writer clearly on autopilot.

I've had good roasted cod, but mostly we use it for dishes where you want a milder fish to let other flavors stand out, but you want more firmness than a lot of other white flesh fish. Chowder, cod and kimchi stew, tacos, cod in chipotle braise..

That makes sense. But fresh cod specimens can also handle delicate treatment, like simple oven baking. We get good cod here in Nyc, glorious cod in northern Europe, although I can see how it's less of a CA thing.

[Jenise]

IMO, cod is great.

You need a bumper sticker.

Rahsaan,
I do like cod (maybe less than Larry!) and its buddies like haddock. But usually my fishmonger for firmer white fish (not counting delicate sole/snapper/flounder etc) has a good assortment (striped bass, black bass, sometimes my personal fave Tautog/blackfish) of fish I think are a little more distinctive on its own.

Rahsaan,
I do like cod (maybe less than Larry!) and its buddies like haddock. But usually my fishmonger for firmer white fish (not counting delicate sole/snapper/flounder etc) has a good assortment (striped bass, black bass, sometimes my personal fave Tautog/blackfish) of fish I think are a little more distinctive on its own.

Yes, that makes sense. Maybe I just like milder fish!

(I do like a range, but don't generally buy bluefish for cooking at home, even if I'll eat it in certain restaurants...)

I actually do like bluefish (and other oily fish like mackerel, and cook at home) but was only listing the non-oily white fleshed fish that I think "compete" with cod. If you were confused by my Blackfish/tautog mention, its is a seasonal/migratory fish with firm white flesh, but they feed on small crabs and other crustasceans and it shows in flavors.