Oct 03

Just Browsing

My cookbook collection is a working library, not just for show. The other day I was browsing through one of my go-to Asian cookbooks and found a recipe for pork wrapped in greens. This is a common Thai-Laotian dish, often seen on restaurant menus as larb. Since we had a partial head of butter lettuce and two shiso plants for greens, it looked like a good dinner option. I’d bought some ground pork the night before.

The first thing I did when I got home yesterday was soak a knob of tamarind pulp in hot water for 15 minutes. While that was soaking, I started chopping garlic, shallots, lemongrass, ginger, and scallions. I washed and spun the lettuce and shiso leaves, and picked some Thai basil off the upper deck. Once everything was cut up and the tamarind juice was strained from the seeds and pulp, I started a pot of jasmine rice and pan-broiled a few padron peppers to go along with the larb. Thereafter, I started sautéing the shallots, garlic, and ginger. The pork was added to brown. Once it lost its pink color, I stirred the tamarind juice mixed with some brown sugar and a little fish sauce into the pan and let it cook until nearly dry. The pork was ready when the rice cooker switched off.

Julian declared the recipe a keeper. I did, too; however, I think I’ll double the recipe so I can have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/10/03/just-browsing/

Oct 01

Are We in the End Times, 2017 Edition

This is not a political post. Rather, these are two observations on the current football season.
The Washington State University (WSU) Cougars upset USC, 30-27, on Friday night. For most of our time in Washington, WSU was the sad sack team of the west coast. So far this season they are undefeated along with their rivals, the University of Washington.

The Buffalo Bills are currently leading the AFC East. They defeated the Atlanta Falcons 23-17 today. Meanwhile, the New England Patriots lost to the Carolina Panthers 33-30 today. Am I looking for this disruption in the force to continue? No, but it’s fun while it lasts. Julian is still anticipating two free meals from our annual Buffalo-Miami game bets. He wishes – Miami is currently at the bottom of the AFC East standings.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/10/01/are-we-in-the-end-times-2017-edition/

Sep 22

A Quote for the Times

We’ve been watching the Ken Burns-Lynn Novick PBS series on the Vietnam War. Along with powerful stories and a great soundtrack, it brought back memories of some of the major political figures of the time. I was reminded of Hubert Humphrey, who was Lyndon Johnson’s Vice President and who lost the 1968 election to Richard Nixon. Humphrey delivered a speech near the end of his life in 1977 that contained this sentence: “It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.” Some of today’s politicians would do well to remember Mr. Humphrey’s words as they deliberate the latest “health care” bill.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/22/a-quote-for-the-times/

Sep 22

Yet Another Beverage Boondoggle

Julian does his major web surfing while I’m fast asleep and often emails links to me. Sometimes they’re foolish videos or websites. Then we have the “stuff nobody really needs.” Witness the Teamosa. This is a tea variant on the Keurig beverage model. For a mere $399, you can have a machine that ultrasonically extracts the tea goodness. Let’s do some reality checking.

  • The makers claim that the ultrasonic method extracts more antioxidants from the tea leaves than simple steeping. As someone who did her PhD and postdoctoral work in the antioxidant field, I am dubious. This is like the Starbucks baristas who shake your iced tea to “release the antioxidants”. (Truth be known, they may be destroying them.)
  • There are also little paper capsules of tea for purchase that can be brewed in the Teamosa. Although these capsules may be more sustainable than the foil Keurig cups, the source and quality of the leaves are unknown.
  • And of course, the Teamosa costs $399, plus shipping and handling. You can get a good teakettle, a year’s supply of excellent quality tea leaves, and nice mugs for much less than that. As with the ill-fated Juicero, save your money.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/22/yet-another-beverage-boondoggle/

Sep 20

Autumn Arrives

Autumn sneaked in a few days early. Saturday was a gorgeous day. We drove up to Bellingham via Chuckanut Drive and hit the Fairhaven neighborhood. I woke up Sunday to cooler temperatures. It started drizzling while I was at church, and the rain kicked in after I got home. The rain continued Monday and Tuesday. I’m beginning to think about putting away the shorts and t-shirts in favor of sweaters. As one of my former pool pals would say, “At least it’s not snowing.” To which I add, yet.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/20/autumn-arrives/

Sep 17

We Are All Okies

The title of this post comes from the late Jack Taylor, who was my minister during graduate school. Jack grew up in Oklahoma during the 1930’s. His bedroom window overlooked Route 66, the “Mother Road” from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath that folks traveled from the Dust Bowl-ravaged Midwest to California during the Great Depression. The migrants were often termed by longer-term California residents as Okies, usually accompanied with an expletive. “We are all Okies” has resonated with me for 30 years.

The experience of the Okies mirrors that of other migrants throughout history. They moved to make a better life for themselves and their children. Often upon their arrival, they were treated with hostility. The current political climate is just history repeating itself. The “Know Nothing Party” of the mid-19th century railed against immigrants from Ireland. In the early 20th century the animus was against southern Europeans and Asians. Now the anger is directed against Mexican and Middle Eastern (particularly Muslim) immigrants. Even migrants from within the United States can be subjected to disdain. Washingtonians decry the Californians who’ve moved north. Texans and Georgians berate the Yankees who’ve moved south. The faces may change, but the attitude is the same.

Immigrant labor has always powered large sectors of our economy. Restaurants, hotels, hospitals, nursing homes, food processors, and farms today could not survive without immigrants starting out as dishwashers, custodians, nurses’ aides, assembly line workers, and pickers. The children of these immigrants often go higher on the economic ladder thanks to their parents’ labor. For example, the child of a nurse’s aide may go to medical school. Again, this is a familiar pattern. Witness the descendants of Irish and Jewish immigrants who’ve achieved success.

It’s a rare American who has not descended from immigrants. It’s just a matter of when their families migrated. Even Native Americans and Alaskans migrated from Asia during the Ice Age. It is incumbent upon us to remember that our ancestors were once strangers here, and not to denigrate the newcomers. We all have some Okie in us.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/17/we-are-all-okies/

Sep 10

Goat, Okra, and Beets

I’m sure the title sent many folks to reading something less incendiary. In truth, this combination made a tasty meal. I needed to use up some goat I had in the freezer, along with some beets and okra I found at the fruit stand. Off to the cookbook collection for inspiration.
I found the okra stew recipe in Claudia Roden’s New Book of Middle Eastern Food. The original recipe used beef, veal, or lamb; I substituted the goat. The method is pretty standard: Sauté the onions, then brown the meat. Stir in some ground coriander, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Let simmer for 1-1 1/2 hours until the goat is tender. Stir in the okra about 20 minutes before serving. I made the Iraqi variation, which included Persian dried limes in the stew. I’d bought these at The Souk, a Middle Eastern grocery in Pike Place Market, some time back.

As for the beets, the recipe for the salad came from The Ethnic Paris Cookbook, by Charlotte Puckett and Olivia Kiang-Snaije. The beets were roasted, then peeled and chopped. The vinaigrette included harissa, a North African chile sauce.The salad came together while the rice was cooking and the okra simmered in the stew.

Julian put together an antipasto platter while I finished dinner. It wasn’t exactly in keeping with the theme, as one of the items on the platter was Salumi soppressata. (Salumi also makes a killer mole sausage.) The meal was quite good, despite the incongruity.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/10/goat-okra-and-beets/

Sep 04

Fiesta de Paella

We were in the Detroit Airport last week waiting for our delayed flight. I walked into a newsstand to get some bottled water, as we were flying home on Spirit Airlines. (“You wanna breathe on this flight? That’ll be 25 bucks.”) Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the latest issue of Food and Wine magazine, which featured Spain. Figuring that I needed reading material, I bought it. Julian saw it and said, “Maybe we can invite the crew to a paella feed on Saturday night.”

Paella is a peasant dish that’s become alta cocina. We did a paella feed last year, as documented in this post. My mother would recognize paella’s ingredients: Rice, vegetables, and meat, poultry, game, or seafood. However, paella is more refined than the “Spanish rice” Mom used to make. For one thing, she never used saffron. We used the recipe out of the magazine, which used boneless chicken thighs and country-style ribs as the protein. Julian added some Spanish chorizo to his pan. I adapted the recipe for our allium-averse friend and cooked a small pan on the stove top; Julian did a larger portion on the grill. Both versions were well received.

Alongside the paella, Julian fried up some chickpeas (too picante for most of our friends) and I fried some of my Padron peppers. We also made sangrias. Julian made an alcoholic sangria with garnacha wine, apples, peach, orange, lemon, and lime. I found non-alcoholic white grape juice with elderflower and added peach and lime for a sober version. The cheese plate was multi-mammal: Sheep’s milk Manchego, cow’s milk Affinois, and a goat cheese with figs.

For a change, the festivities were sit-down, as we had a smaller crowd than usual. Several of the regulars were in Ireland for the wedding of our former next-door neighbor’s daughter. Guests brought salads and desserts. As usual, everyone left well fed.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/04/fiesta-de-paella/

Sep 03

How to Gemisch a Recipe

Gemisch is Yiddish for mess. In our house, gemisch refers to a culinary experiment. It can be the product of too many things to use up in the fridge or an adaptation of a recipe because you forgot an ingredient. Some gemisches live up to the translation; others enter the echelon of epic eating. Most are serviceable meals for weeknights.

A couple of gemisches have graced this blog: the asparagus and pasta recipe from “When the SO’s Away” and an adaptation of my grandmother’s Swiss steak in “How to Write a Recipe…” Some gemisches are simple substitutions, such as using dried fruit instead of candied citron and cherries in Christmas bread. Others are more elaborate, or come out of pure imagination. Here are a few guidelines to keep your gemisch from being a mess:

In general, baking is trickier than cooking to gemisch. The flour/liquid ratio is key to obtaining the desired result. Egg yolks are required to emulsify fat with other liquid in the recipe. The protein in egg whites may provide additional structure to the recipe, as in the gluten-free matzoh balls turned pancakes shown in “Seder Day Night with the Goys.” Oil substituted for melted butter in a recipe will give you an entirely different taste, texture, and mouthfeel; however, in small quantities (less than 1/2 cup per loaf of bread or batch of cookies), you can get away with it.

If you’re substituting other “milks” for cow’s milk, be aware that protein contents are wildly different. One cup of cow’s milk has 8 grams of protein; one cup of nut and other non-soy milks have 2 grams of protein or less. The fat content of these milks may alter the recipe. For example, coconut milk is much higher in fat than whole milk.

Some related items don’t work as substitutions. Italian basil won’t work in a Thai or Vietnamese recipe, and vice versa.

(Suggested by Julian) Some sugar substitutes will not behave the same way as sugar in a recipe, particularly in baking. Honey is sweeter than sugar, but can be substituted in small amounts. It will also alter the texture of a recipe.

You can use starches other than flour to thicken a sauce. Cornstarch and arrowroot are two examples. Use about half the amount of cornstarch as flour for a recipe (1 tablespoon of cornstarch thickens the same as 2 tablespoons of flour).

If the alterations you have to make to key ingredients of a recipe add up to too much, you need to find another recipe. This is common with trying to adapt dishes for vegetarians or vegans, or if you’re dealing with multiple food allergies or intolerances.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/03/how-to-gemisch-a-recipe/

Sep 02

The Perils of a Double-Door Refrigerator

Casa Sammamish came equipped with a double-door refrigerator with a freezer drawer on the bottom. Our erstwhile landlords wanted the most cubic footage for the space allotted in the kitchen. All well and good, but I’ve noticed some drawbacks to the configuration of this fridge:

  • The food on one side of the fridge turns over rapidly; food on the other side turns to compost. If I want to take leftovers to lunch the next day, I put them on the left side of the fridge so Julian won’t find them for his midnight snack. I just have to remember where I put the food.
  • Stuff expands to fill the cubic footage. You buy a case of white wine at Costco and it all goes in the fridge. You buy multiple bottles of hot sauce or fancy pickled vegetables to stuff the door shelves. (We are guilty of this sin.)
  • Bottom freezers may be more energy-efficient, but they’re not practical for folks with creaky knees or balance issues. Things settle to the bottom of the drawer never to be seen again until you move. On the other hand, bottom freezers can work well for people in wheelchairs.
  • The drawers in a bottom freezer never seem to be tall enough for half-gallons (actually 1.75 quarts these days) of ice cream or other oddly-shaped containers. And it’s difficult to lay something flat in there if you want to freeze it in a single layer.

There is one upside to the double-door refrigerator: More room for grocery lists, postcards, and cartoons.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2017/09/02/the-perils-of-a-double-door-refrigerator/

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