What's Cooking (Take Four)

What's the reason for the Lan Chi disappearance? I used to buy their various products in the 2010s. But then I also noticed a disappearance around pandemic time. Related?

"Lan Chi" is not a widely recognized brand, but is likely referring to a smaller, lesser-known Chinese sauce company, while "Lee Kum Kee" is a well-established, globally recognized brand producing a wide range of Chinese sauces, most notably known for their oyster sauce; essentially, Lee Kum Kee is a much larger and more prominent name in the market compared to any potential "Lan Chi

I just checked my product, it is Lee Kim Kee, available in most stores here. I think it is a great product.

I never saw a good explanation of why Lan Chi left the US mainland market. Although they had many fewer offerings than Lee Kum Kee, Lan Chi products were sold in every Asian grocery here in New England. Then they suddenly vanished. It's curious that they still sell in Hawaii. Do they sell in Canada?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Rahsaan, no idea. In all my searching a few years back I never found an explanation for it. All we know is that it doesn't get any further east than one small store in Honolulu's Chinatown. I don't know that it even carries any other Lan Chi than the green label Paul refers to (I recall a red and a blue, too), but it is the green label everyone seems to want.

Karen, yes, Lee Kum Kee is a large importer/maker of Asian products, in fact they dominate the category. They're everywhere. Lan Chi is a completely unrelated little company in Taiwan.

[Jenise]

On Monday I bought a big Ahi steak at Costco. I know, I know, not exactly a classy fishmonger. But the seafood situation here isn't great, and if you buy it the same day it was packed, it's good. And the only portion size is big, so when I buy one I usually serve it over two nights, cutting out two rectangular blocks for seared, sesame-coated ahi on rice one night and chopping the rest for an ahi/avocado tartare the next.

Today I'm heading to Seattle to buy a Capon for Christmas dinner. I made a lot of phone calls yesterday and my only other option was to order from D'Artagnan. It was tempting because it would be a big, fresh bird, but between shipping and D'artagnan's high prices, I was looking at $280 for an 8 pound bird. A local meat supplier to restaurants who will sell to the public had nothing, and neither did WFM. I tried not just our local store but the Bellevue location just in case they stocked it for the high net worth individuals in that area, but no. However, the butcher at Bellevue I talked to tipped me off that a Japanese market often had them. And they did: one. They've set that aside for me and we'll go get it today. To make a day of it, we'll pick up some Dick's hamburgers. It's a Seattle institution that we've never tried. Should be fun.

Jenise,
I love capon. For future, Wild Fork has for $6.98/lb. So estimate is about $60 for an 8.5. My memory is they do flat shipping, and quite reasonable (though I order a few things as why not with flat fee?). But Japanese butcher sounds great. Enjoy your burger!

Jenise,
I love capon. For future, Wild Fork has for $6.98/lb. So estimate is about $60 for an 8.5. My memory is they do flat shipping, and quite reasonable (though I order a few things as why not with flat fee?). But Japanese butcher sounds great. Enjoy your burger!

Me, too. But it's been years since I ate a capon. We subbed capon for turkey some T-days.

I remember seeing capons in every supermarket back in the 1960s. Whatever happened to them? Have they been supplanted by the "oven stuffer roaster"-type chicken breed?

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Jenise,
I love capon. For future, Wild Fork has for $6.98/lb. So estimate is about $60 for an 8.5. My memory is they do flat shipping, and quite reasonable (though I order a few things as why not with flat fee?). But Japanese butcher sounds great. Enjoy your burger!

I'm going to go check out their website right now, thank you. Though at the moment not needed: I did get that capon, an 8 pounder, total price $69. I also bought a bunch of fresh fish imported from Japan: hokkaido scallops, blue fin tuna belly and hamachi which we had last night as sashimi, as well as kampachi (amber jack) from Hawaii and striped bass from god knows where which I'll serve as a crudo tonight. Re-stocked on my favorite rices, found some sauces I couldn't live without, and also bought a number of fresh meats and produce, plus some store-made bao and gyozas. I've never seen so much Wagyu beef in my life, every possible cut. Total bill: $273, almost to the dollar what it would have cost me to get just the capon alone here from D'Artagnan.

The burgers were a bust, though. Worst I've ever had because--and I'd have never gone near the place had I known this--their business model is "instant service", so everything's made in advance and they will special order nothing. The only burger we could get that didn't have mayo or ketchup in it was a tiny plain meat and cheese. The fries were odd, as well. How in the world did this place become a huge local success story? Makes McDonald's look fancy.

I remember seeing capons in every supermarket back in the 1960s. Whatever happened to them? Have they been supplanted by the "oven stuffer roaster"-type chicken breed?

I think they used to be much bigger than hens; this is no longer true. Hens used to weigh in at 3.5# but now regularly surpass 5#. A capon at 6# or 8#, and which doesn't really taste any different, isn't worth the fuss.

I think we had a 13-pounder capon once, which was incredibly huge.

[Jenise]

I've always found the higher fat content of a capon well worth a few extra bucks, Jeff, I'm surprised that you haven't.

Today, I am making an Alex Guarnaschelli recipe with organic chicken cooked on a rack over carrots and onions. Her tip was to place the chicken breast side down after cooking to rest and let the juices flow into the breast. I had not heard that before. A gravy is made, which I most likely will not do. Multi-colored small potatoes are to be roasted and served with an aioli sauce made with low-fat sour cream in place of mayo, Lisbon lemon juice, fresh chives, and dill for dipping. Veggies will be the carrots and roasted onions, plus string beans cooked in fire-roasted crushed tomatoes brightened up with fresh lemon juice. A few family members are coming up tomorrow for a quick visit, and decided they wanted chicken taco soup. I have a great recipe given to me by an emergency response nurse from a local hospital, a very busy gal who managed our Pet therapy program and raised Doxies. Plus she was a master gardener. I made it yesterday and it came out awesome. Serving with locally made sourdough, cheddar, and jalapeño bread.

Tonight I'm making once-cooked pork (chao larou). This is the same as the famous twice-cooked pork except that you start with smoked bacon instead of fresh pork belly. The first stage of cooking (boiling the pork belly) is skipped and you go straight to the stir-fry.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, I haven't seen twice-cooked pork on a Chinese restaurant menu in decades. The one restaurant I used to occasionally order it at was Cantonese, and the dish consisted of pork and cabbage in the majority, with some white onions and maybe bamboo as well. Is that typical?

Jenise,

The only twice-cooked pork I've seen in US Chinese restaurants is a highly Americanized dish whose only resemblance to the Sichuanese original is the name. The Sichuanese version uses very fatty, skin-on pork such as pork belly. The pork is first boiled in one piece. Then it is cut into chopstick-friendly pieces and stir-fried (hence twice-cooked). Traditionally the stir-fry involves garlic stems and scallions. Fuchsia Dunlop suggests leeks and celery as a substitute for the garlic stems (this is what I use). The sauce is Pixian fermented chile and bean paste (doubanjiang), wheat paste, and fermented black beans. The dish is very aromatic. The pork is stir-fried until the meat is done but not to the browning or crispy stage.

The Chinese in general seem to be very fond of the texture of pork fat. Not so Americans. I cook the pork belly (or bacon in the case of once-cooked) until it's rendered most of its fat and is just starting to brown. The Sichuanese would probably consider this to be overcooked. I don't think the authentic version would sell very well at an American Chinese restaurant. The restaurant versions I've had all used lean pork.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, no real surprise but what you describe definitely bears no resemblance to the dish I knew--large thin slices of a pork roast heated through when stir-fried with the cabbage and a bland, blonde sauce. No chiles!

Yesterday in the pantry I found a bag of mung beans, speaking of things Chinese. My first ever experience with them was some time ago when my Kenyan roommate was visited by an old girlfriend from home, a striking beauty who was ethnically mixed Chinese/Indian and first-generation African. She made a magical vegan mung bean soup that was of course unlike any bean soup I'd ever had. I remember well the huge amounts of ground garlic and ginger she added, and the flavors of coconut milk and possibly lemon grass. At the moment I have fresh kaffir lime and curry leaves on hand, so the time seemed right for re-creating that soup. The result was wonderful and we'll enjoy the leftovers on the cold days ahead.

In India moong (mung) dal is very popular, especially in the North.

That Chinese restaurant dish you describe may have started out as twice-cooked pork, but by the time the Cantonese finished Americanizing it, it had turned into something not even remotely similar to the original.

-Paul W.

My friend had invited several people over on Xmas eve for prime rib and all the trimmings. And then he had an excruciating flareup of arthritic pain in his hip, so as of late yesterday he called the prime rib off and was just going to have a charcuterie board. This morning, though, he bought a prime roast and the dinner is back on. Yay! All thanks to the power of oxys and hydros. Ain't modern medicine wonderful?

[Jenise]

In India moong (mung) dal is very popular, especially in the North.
-Paul W.

Yes, but when it's dal it's half beans, right, rather than whole (which is what I used)?

Yes, but when it's dal it's half beans, right, rather than whole (which is what I used)?

Dal is the general term for dried beans and lentils. They can be prepared different ways before cooking:

dhuli - skin removed and split. This is what you (and I) usually think of as dal.

chilke wali - split but with the skin intact.

sabut - whole with skin intact. This is what you made. It's the conventional way that Europeans cook lentils. It's also the usual way that Indians cook rajma (kidney beans).

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Speaking of kidney beans, our new India Store has such an amazing array of dried beans and lentils. On my last visit I bought a bag just called kidney beans, but they are tiny ones! They also had the traditional larger size; I didn't know there was any other option.

What you saw are Kashmiri rajma. They are smaller and darker in color than conventional kidney beans.

BTW, I looked up the discussion of the types of raw dal in my Indian cookbook. I've updated my previous post on the subject.

-Paul W.

Recent menus:

For the visiting SIL and family this past Sunday:
- "DIY" salad (a green/chopped salad and a divided dish of chickpeas, croutons, shaved parm, craisins to add as you like)
- "DIY" bruschette (a basket of baguette toasts and a divided dish of tapenade, mashed avocado, diced tomato/cuke, ricotta/honey/hazelnuts)
- shrimp pot pie served over puff pastry cups
- pumpkin-apple tart with cinnamon ice cream
- wines: FRV100, prosecco, burgundy

Just us tonight:
- foie gras, seared and served over more toasted baguette slices with lemon syrup and pistachios
- pan-seared duck legs confit, and potatoes cooked in the resulting fat
- ...and all kinds of cookies, chocolates, baba in limoncello
- wines: auslese, vintage port

Just us tomorrow:
- caviar service: hackleback, paddlefish, salmon
- black pudding and goat cheese parcels wrapped in puff pastry, cranberry sauce on the side
- pan-seared brussel sprouts and mushrooms
- chocolate-orange ice cream
- wines: we'll finish the auslese, not sure exactly what pairs with blood sausage...

Still planning the New Year's Eve menu. It may become a birthday dinner for our upstairs neighbor, which means we should involve lots of cheese somehow.