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[heavy liquid]

Gogogo page EIGHT!

Sweet toaster, OnkelC! :lol I love it... you're right, it's very retro.

Last night I made Oden

Oden is a Japanese winter dish consisting of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku and processed fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth. Ingredients vary according to region and between each household. Karashi (Japanese mustard) is often used as a condiment.

There are generally two different ways in cooking this dish. It is divided between Kantou and Kansai style. Kantou style simmers all the ingredients together over low heat for a long period of time, whereas Kansai style prepares all the ingredients separately before simmering them together. This is because Kantou style includes raw ingredients therefore by simmering the ingredients together, each ingredient will benefit from each other and add to their flavor. Kansai style values the different taste of individual ingredients. In Kansai, oden is sometimes referred to as Kansai daki(stew). I made the Kantou-style Oden.

All of the ingredients in Oden are chopped into good size chunks that are easy to pick up with chopsticks to be eaten. It's common to dip the ingredients into a bit of karashi (japanese hot mustard) when eating.

Ingredients:

Broth:

10 cups water
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs mirin (sweetened rice wine)
3/4 cup light soy sauce
20g bonito shavings
2 tsp dashi
Konbu (flat sheet seaweed) (I also used seaweed shavings)

Bring the broth to a boil, and then simmer.

Chop and prepare all of your ingredients. I used

4 hardboiled eggs
2 daikon radish
4 medium-large carrots
4 medium potatoes
fried fish cakes
rice ovalettes (these are Korean, and used in many Korean soups but I love them)
8 large shrimp or so

Many ingredients can be used in Oden. Experiment! It's common for Japanese squash, squid, sliced beef and many other things to be included. Look at the wikipedia link for other ideas.

Prepare your ingredients into bite-sized chunks:

Add all your ingredients into the pot, cover, and simmer for about 2 hours or longer. The longer you simmer it, the better it tastes!

Serve, and enjoy! Don't forget the spicy mustard!

The broth has a nice and slightly sweet flavor to it. After I eat all of the stuff, I like to throw in some udon noodles and slurp them up with the broth. Yum!

 

[tnw]

those are some funky daikon heavy liquid. Here's what they look like in Japan (I know that they vary from region to region) They're very fat and short here.

I used to absolutely hate oden, but now I eat it pretty frequently. The egg is great, and so is daikon. Atsuage (thick fried tofu) is also tasty. One of my favorite items is the Mochi kuchaku. It's a piece of inari tofu (the thin fried pocket tofu) filled with mochi and shiitake mushrooms, and then tied closed. Very tasty! If you like those korean mochi cakes, you should try making these sometime.

Still don't like karashi though. I usually just get it without broth, and just inhale it.
Oh, and another Kanto trait is that they put chikuwabu in it. Chikuwa is a fish cake type thing, but chikuwabu is made all from wheat.

 

[heavy liquid]

Yeah, there are so many variations of Oden and the ingredients that can go into it.

I actually bought the atsuage, but totally forgot to put it in! Doh! :lol I had a leftover package after I made the okonomiyaki last week. Inari tofu is also great in soups, but I'll have to try to make thos little inari bags sometime, as I've never had that. Thanks!

Yeah, the daikon radishes were pretty large. I was unaware that they're typically short and fat like that in Japan.

I really like the karashi. Do you like wasabi? As I understand it, karashi is just crushed mustard seeds mixed with wasabi. I also love karashi in gyoza and hiyashi chuka, which I guess are typical uses for it.

 

[tnw]

I really like the karashi. Do you like wasabi? As I understand it, karashi is just crushed mustard seeds mixed with wasabi. I also love karashi in gyoza and hiyashi chuka, which I guess are typical uses for it.

Yeah, the thing is I love wasabi. Love it. Such a clean taste. I think I haven't gotten my mind over the fact that I think it should taste like western mustard, but tastes like Wasabi. I always pass on the karashi. Just a personal thing.

I bought some french fries in Ueno park once, and instead of mustard, they gave me karashi. Yikes! :lol

Also, try and do something with the daikon radish tops! Most japanese make tsukemono out of them....although I never really liked the tsukemono that my roommate made.

I'm pretty sure the daikon you are using is a chinese variety:I've heard in the US a lot of the vegetable varieties are usually Chinese. I know that the shape (and maybe taste) is slightly different.

Anyway, when you're in Japan next time, pick up some oden at the kombini. It's passable, especially if you don't have a fine distinction between different oden like some Japanese people might (I know I can't tell the difference!) I was just at the 7-11 in our building, and was very very tempted to pick up some oden because of your post.

 

[OnkelC]

heavy liquid, thqanks for sharing. That looks like a hearty stew/soup hybrid. What are the "rice ovaletts" thingies?

keep'em coming, folks!

 

[ChryZ]

Oden

Cool, I've never made Oden ... gotta give it a shot some day.

 

[tnw]

heavy liquid, thqanks for sharing. That looks like a hearty stew/soup hybrid. What are the "rice ovaletts" thingies?

keep'em coming, folks!

I don't know what they're called in English, but they're part of a Korean dish called toppoki. It's mostly just the mochi (rice cake stuff) in a spicy sauce with some fish cake

Oh my god, this one has cheese in it, it looks like a spicy gratin *drool*

 

[Fafalada]

What are the "rice ovaletts" thingies?

They are a type of rice cake (aka 'tteok' in Korean). They get used in many different kinds of dishes(like topokki that tnw mentioned), lots of them soup based.

I'll try to post images from making 'tteok-kuk' when I get home tonight - it's a soup practically made out of these.

 

[OnkelC]

Thank you all for the explanations. I would like some more recipes with those.

keep sharing, folks!

 

[heavy liquid]

Thanks ChryZ, tnw and OnkelC!

I notice the rice ovalettes are used a lot in korean soups and dishes. There are a few recipes here that use them:

http://homepage.mac.com/crmichaud/archive/ricecake.html


And one here (scroll to the very bottom of the page):

http://www.cristine.net/log/archives/2005_01.html


Dduk Gook

RECIPE:
6 cups 1/8 inch thick rice cake stick rounds
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb beef (sirloin or short ribs)
salt
freshly ground black papper
6 green onions
1 kelp strip (optional)
2 eggs

In a bowl, soak the rice cake rounds in cold water for 30 minutes to soften the rice cake. Meanwhile, boil the beef in about 8 cups of water with salt to taste. Skim the water until it's clear. Add garlic and boil. Add pepper to taste.

Slice green onions into thin rings. Decrease the heat to medium-high, add the green onion pieces and kelp, and boil for 10 minutes. Add the rice cake rounds and cook for 10 minutes or until the rice cakes are soft and chewy. Add the two eggs (break the yolk and mix the egg in the hot water).

To serve, ladle the soup into individual serving bowls.

 

[OnkelC]

Back on stage!
I was down and out for the last month due to a bad case of flu, but it seems over now. So hearty-time again!

After the "greek disaster" from a few weeks ago, we had some waaay better stuff yesterday night at our greek place around the corner. Feel free to compare the shots and judge on your own:

Starters were filled wine leaves and panfried feta:

And for the main course: a "Zeus" mixed grill platter for two, consisting of beef fillet kebabs, grilled pork steaks, bifteki and a good helping of Gyros:

Yeah, it was as good as it looked

keep'em coming folks.

Edit: Tonights' dish will be pork medaillons with apples and onions, with mashed potatoes as side dish.

 

[OnkelC]

So, let's cook.

Pork fillet and mashed potatoes on their own are not that spectacular, but the apple/onion side dish is a delicacy. it goes well with any kind of prime cuts, as well as dark fish.

Preparation is fast and simple, it took about 30 minutes from first to last pic.

The ingredients for two persons are:

-one medium-sized pork fillet,
-two mealy apples,
-1 1/2 to two medium-sized onions,
-potatoes after personal preference,
-butter, neutral oil, salt, pepper, sugar, milk and some Calvados or Port (not pictured)

First, cube and slice the ingredients:

melt some butter and sautee the onion cubes with salt and sugar until they turn glassy:

While they fry away, pare and cut the fillet to decent medaillons:

Add the sliced apples to the onions and braise them at medium temperature:

Now cube the potatoes and boil them in salted water:

They should take only about ten minutes to be done. Heat a skillet, add some oil and fry the salted and peppered pork medaillons at high temperature:

When the onion/apple mix turns lightly brown and the sugar starts to caramelize, remove the pot from the flame and add the spirit of choice (I used Port):

Deglaze the pot with it and add the mix to the skillet with the fillets:

let it simmer along at low temperature.

Finish line:
When the potatoes are done, drain them, add some butter, milk and nutmeg and mash away:

DONE!
Serve right out of the skillet and add some herbal butter to the medaillons if you like:

Enjoy, share your thoughts and comments, you know the drill ladies!

Bonus:
This will become the herb fix for the spring summer season (basil, parsley, dill, chive):

 

[Teknopathetic]

What tips do you guys have for cooking a pie? I baked an apple pie a day or two ago (no pictures, I sorta ravaged it pretty fast), and while it was definitely good, I found the edges of the crust got pretty dark. How can I cook the whole pie evenly and getting a nice golden brown edge?

 

[Hooker]

That's one thing most people have trouble with. I for one, have no solution for that

 

[heavy liquid]

Looking good, OnkelC! Delicious, as always. It's good to see the thread back. I think I have a few recipes I can put up, too. It may take a day or two, since we've had company for the past week, and I haven't taken many pictures (of food, that is. ).

What tips do you guys have for cooking a pie? I baked an apple pie a day or two ago (no pictures, I sorta ravaged it pretty fast), and while it was definitely good, I found the edges of the crust got pretty dark. How can I cook the whole pie evenly and getting a nice golden brown edge?

That's one thing most people have trouble with. I for one, have no solution for that

Check out my apple pie recipe here. Are you brushing the top and edges with egg white?

Keeping an eye on the pie towards the end is critical. You want that perfect golden color.

Another thing you can do is to put a strip of aluminum foil around the edges, and then remove it for the last 20 minutes or so. This is an easy way to make a perfect looking pie with no burned edges.

 

[holliberry]

I just logged in to see what happened to this thread since I haven't seen it in a while. Thanks for saving my lazy ass some searching effort! (Ok, now I'll actually read the new stuff to find something to make tonight.)

edit: OnkelC the pork medallion meal looks awesome! I will definitely need to try that sometime.

 

[tnw]

That's a great herb garden Onkel. I really want to start one of those. I had a rosemary bush awhile back. That was some excellent rosemary.

And yeah, foil on the crust is what people usually do when baking a pie. Great looking pie heavy liquid!

 

[Vaporak]

Well, I haven't posted in any of these threads before, but I was cooking tonight and thought about this cooking thread. Tonight we had rice, pot stickers, stir fried vegetables, and Imperial Beef. Nothing else was of particular interest, so here's the beef recipe. Sorry about no pictures, maybe next time.

Imperial Beef:
sauce: for 1 pound of steak.
¼ cup catchup.
½ cup chicken stock.
1 ½ table spoons sugar.
2 tablespoons sherry (I use more because I like it).
2 tablespoons chili paste.
1 tablespoon cornstarch.
stir well before cooking.
Scale up or down depending on how much meat you have and how sauced you like your food. I tend to go higher because I like a lot of sauce.

The Beef:
Take your preferred cut of beef and cut it into small roundish pieces, about an inch (~2.5cm I think) across.
Oil up your wok and heat it up over high heat.
Now it's time to stir fry the beef. Keep it on high heat and stir to keep any of it from searing. Stir until the beef has changed color on all sides.
Pour out most the accumulated beef juice, leave just enough to cover the bottom of the wok. Then go back to stir frying for about another two or 3 minutes (or till the beef is cooked to your liking).
Once the beef is cooked through, stir the sauce and pour it over the beef.
Turn the heat down a bit, and wait for the sauce to start to boil, then stir. Once the sauce gets evenly hot enough it will start to congeal, it sticks to the food better that way.

And your done, eat it by itself, over rice or vegetables, or whatever else you want. I like this dish for the sweat taste the sauce gives the meat, but it also has a lingering spice; a nice combo imo. The name is my own, named so because I used the sauce from another recipe called Imperial Shrimp from a pretty old Chinese cook book I have, that has shrimp, onions, scallions, and a bit of ginger instead of beef. I hope someone gives it a try and likes it, hopefully I'll get some pictures for my next post.

 

[OnkelC]

great stuff, folks, keep it coming!

 

[OnkelC]

Had scrambled eggs with chive, dill and parsley tonight (pic is from an earlier prep):

And you?

 

[OnkelC]

Rotisserie chicken tonight:

Share your dinners!

 

[heavy liquid]

Love the herb fix, OnkelC! I would love to do that too. In fact, I just might. Any suggestions or tips you can give me?

Given that we're still in Lent, fish is popular, especially on Fridays. One of my favorite places has recently received some great reviews in both in the newspaper (Detroit Free Press) and local magazine (Hour Detroit).

The place is called Scotty Simpson's Fish and Chips.

It is BY FAR the best fish and chips I've ever had. Everything is made from scratch; nothing comes from a box. The batter (secret recipe), french fries (hand cut), tartar sauce and coleslaw (cut fresh every day). The fish is flown in every day from Halifax, Nova Scota, and is never frozen. They've been in the same building for almost 57 years, serving the same recipes. The fish is always cooked to perfection; it's super crispy, piping hot, and the batter has a delicious and slightly sweet aftertaste to it. On Fridays (only Fridays) there are homade cream pies made by Harry Barber: lemon merangue, coconut, banana and chocolate. Well, here: I scanned the magazine article:

Here are some pictures courtesy of the newspaper:

Scotty Simpson's Fish and Chips

Server Beverly Ruese, 55, of Detroit who has been working at Scotty Simpson's Fish & Chips for 25 years shares a laugh with Ed Schicker of Redford Township. Schicker has been a regular at the restauraunt since about 1972 when, as a 10-year-old he would come in with his parents.

Receiving a fresh batch of cod fish from Nova Scotia is Harry Barber, 55, of Walled Lake who started working at Scotty Simpson's Fish & Chips restaurant when he was 15 years old and has been there ever since.

Harry Barber cuts the freshly delivered cod into portions.

Removing battered fish from the frying oil.

Beverly Ruese and Harry Barber, who have known each other since junior high school, work side by side to prepare lunchtime orders.

A platter of baked fish with cole slaw and baked potato is one of the alternatives to the featured fish & chips.

Also, most people in the know order a Stewart's Ginger Beer to go along with their meal. It has a crisp tart taste that perfectly complements the fried fish.

 

[OnkelC]

Fish and chips, niiiice! In Cod we trust and stuff.:lol Thank you for sharing.
Have you tried it with vinegar? Malt vinegar is great with both the fish and the chips, as strange as it sounds.

I'll post more pics and an explanation of the gardening stuff tonight, everybody share your stuff in the meantime, ok?

 

[rc213]

Damn I wish I lived near some of you guys so I could go eat your food. DAMN YOU ALL!

 

[Sumidor]

I had some sushi the other night..

Not 100% sure what it was, cause I didn't see it on the menu..

Hopefully i'll remember to start taking pictures when I cook stuff. I'm always jealous of how good the stuff you guys make look.

 

[heavy liquid]

Fish and chips, niiiice! In Cod we trust and stuff.:lol Thank you for sharing.
Have you tried it with vinegar? Malt vinegar is great with both the fish and the chips, as strange as it sounds.

Of course! They have Heinz malt vinegar on every table.

Although, I do have to admit that I usually use their homemade tartar sauce with the fish, because it's sooooo good. Even though I can feel my arteries clogging as I eat it. :lol But I do use the malt vinegar with the fries.

I'll post more pics and an explanation of the gardening stuff tonight, everybody share your stuff in the meantime, ok?

Sounds great, I'm looking forward to it!

 

[ChryZ]

I love fish and chips <3

 

[OnkelC]

Gardening with OnkelC:
I got this litle greenhouse set as a present last week, and since the temperatures around here have been mild the last two weeks, I prepared some fresh herbs. Mini-Greenhouses are great for cultivating herbs and are best placed on the window sill.

Key to a good herbal garden are the seeds. Do not be cheap on them, but get seeds of a better quality. They can be bought or ordered at the #net or at the local flower market. I sowed a variety of chive, basil, parsley, and dill. The dill seeds are from last years' home grown plant, we dried them late summer and stored them in an airtight jar. I am looking forward to if it's working out this year.
This is how it started:

The Greenhouse, enclosed educational brochure, big bag of flower soil, a selection of small flower pots and the envelopes with the seeds.

The preparation is really simple. Fill the flowerpots with the soil, squeeze it a bit and sprinkle the seeds on top:

I made chive, basil and store-bought dill seeds in the Greenhouse, 5 pots each.
Now for ze secret weapon: toothpicks. stick the envelopes on them to know what you are growing and where:

PRO-TIP:
Do NOT pour the water into the flower pots, but into the base of the greenhouse. By magical capillary effects, the soil will suck as much water as is needed for the plants (keep the water level at about 1 cm or 1/2in):

The Ghetto version of a greenhouse for the parsley (was only 99 cents, the packaging doubles as the rooftop)

Place it on the window pane next to the radiator and let nature do its thing:

And in case you don't believe me: This is how the basil looks as of 30 minutes ago!

Business appointment tonight, so no cooking or pics. Share your stuff and post your questions, please

 

[ChryZ]

Every now and then I'm fed up with trying new stuff and the craving for past stuff kicks in. I've cooked a lot of my favs lately ... so lots of lurking and not much posting here.

For example I re-did daeji bulgogi (korean bbq pork) with haemul pajeon (seafood scallion pancake) on the side, very nice combo (recipes are in the previous cooking threads):





Another "replay": tandoori chicken with something new: dal (lentil curry, recipe below)



(nice little twist: I've done the chicken under my ovens' broiler, very nice!)

Lentil Curry (Dal)

ingredients

1 CUP red lentils
3 CUP water or veg stock
4 TBSP tomato paste (optional)
2 TBSP dried chili flakes (optional)
4 TSP peanut oil
1 TSP black mustard seed
1 TSP fenugreek seed
1 TSP aniseed
1 TSP ajowan seed
1 TSP turmeric
1 TSP garam masala
2 X bay leave
1 X large onion (finely minced)

-heat oil in a pot
-add mustard seeds and wait until they pop
-add other seeds and bay leaves and fry for a moment
-add minced onion and fry until gold brown
-add water and bring to boil
-add washed lentils and tomato paste
-simmer lentils until they're are done to your liking
-add turmeric, garam masala and simmer for additional 5 min
-season to taste with salt

 

[heavy liquid]

Excellent, ChryZ! Love the korean BBQ and pancake. We just went to a local Korean restaurant with some friends last weekend. I had the Kimchi Chigae, which I always love, and some Daeji Galbi (very close to your bulgogi, but with the bone still in). It was served on a cast iron hot plate. Mmmm.

OnkelC, thanks for the pics and gardening tips! I'm definitely going to grow some fresh herbs this year. I'll go shopping for the stuff this weekend and also take a couple pics. It'll be nice to have some fresh herbs at hand for cooking.

 

[ChryZ]

Kimchi Chigae

droolinghomer.gif

Mental notes to myself: "make another batch of kimchi" :lol

 

[Zaptruder]

Fish and Chips article

You're totally insane with regards to HD media, but my god, do you (and OnkelC and Chryz) know how to sell food. Gawd :O~

 

[heavy liquid]

You're totally insane with regards to HD media, but my god, do you (and OnkelC and Chryz) know how to sell food. Gawd :O~

:lol Thank you.

I didn't explain myself very well in the other thread (It was late and I had a few drinks). Suffice it to say that I'll jump in when prices are lower, as I have to be careful with my money now that I have a baby on the way, mortgage rates are going up and health insurance is getting shittier and shittier. As of 4/15, I won't be 100% covered and will have to pay 20% of costs. Perfect... especially with a kid on the way. I should move to Canada or Europe.

 

[OnkelC]

So better start growing yer own herbs instead of wasting money on buying them
Edit: Jokes aside, i hope everything will turn out alright for you and your family.

Thanks to you all for the feedback, and the great-as-usual ChryZ food.
We'll have a culinary highlight tonight, toast with canned tuna. Stay tuned.

 

[OnkelC]

Failure-age:
I planned on making some chicken breasts with oven potatoes, so I pre-cooked some potatoes this morning. Due to circumstances beyon my control (got lost in a chat session), a funny smell arose and smoke filled our humble appartment. The water evaporated over time and I burned them. This is how roast potaoes should NOT look

Rice or Pasta to go with the chicken?

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

Havent been in the thread for a while. Good job guys!! Ima get to cooking some dumplings today in some leftover corned beef broth, hehe..

Anyways, anybody live here in Los Angeles and know of any good bakeries around? I need to get my fresh bread on, I'm sick of the store stuff.

 

[heavy liquid]

Hmm, it's been a few days.

OnkelC, I'm sorry about your failure-age. I'm almost ready to start my herb garden. My local gardening store had 30% off on all seeds. Score! I have a makeshift greenhouse and still have to buy the pots. I think I have about 10 different herbs. I'm looking forward to getting started! The herbs would have come in handy for my dish tonight.

Tonight was a simple dish.

Oven-baked wild salmon with herbs

I didn't take too many preparation pics, as I was preparing fast. But it's a simple enough dish to make.

Ingredients:

salmon
onion
thyme
parsely
bay leaves
butter
salt
pepper
olive oil

The herbs can be changed as you see fit. For instance, if I had some cilantro or rosemary, I might have thrown those in too.

Lightly coat the salmon (trout is also good like this) in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Melt a bit of butter and sautee some minced onion in it to taste (don't do it too long if you enjoy the taste of raw onion).

Place the fish on tin foil and set on a shallow baking dish.

Spread the onion mixture over the fish and place the coursely chopped thyme and parsely on top with some bay leaves.

Ready to cook:

Seal it with another sheet of foil (not too tight) into a pocket, and place in a pre-heated oven. The usual rule of thumb is 15 minutes per pound. The fish should come apart in flakes when done.

Just out of the oven:

I had the fish with a salad and a glass of iced tea.

Enjoy!

 

[Flo_Evans]

Porksteaks? WTF is that you say? It is basically a low grade cut of meat from the pork shoulder, sometimes called blade steak. Porksteaks are a staple of St. Louis summertime. Every sunday my family would go to my grandparents house and my grandpa would make these while listening to Jack Buck call the cards game.

If your butcher doesn't know what porksteaks are, just tell him to slice a pork shoulder into 1" steaks. Don't bother trimming the fat, you want it on there! A little salt and pepper and your good to go.

After about 15min a side, your porksteaks are looking good! but chill out! You still have a long way to go!

Crack a tasty cool Budwieser open and drink some. It's refreshing and its made right here so you always have some laying around. If your fire starts to flare up from the fat melting (and it will) pour out a little beer to keep it under control. Excessive fat flare ups make a black smoke and will leave soot all over your meat. This is bad! So keep the fire under control! If you don't want to waste any beer than you can use water.

You can use a cast iron pot (or an glass baking dish if you are going to use the oven) for the next step but I prefer to use a aluminum pan cause its easier to clean up later.

Now the sauce. If you are my fancy pants chef you can make your own BBQ sauce, but in the intrest of simplicity I just use store bought stuff. Now my grandpa would only use a local sauce called Maulls. Its pretty good but I really like this stuff from Chigago called "Sweet Baby Rays" It's a sweeter sauce that matches the pork well. Take your paring knife and pry the stupid sqeeze spot thingy out (we are going to use the full 40oz!). Crack open another cool tasty Budwieser and pour the whole thing in the pan with the sauce. The beer is to thin out the sauce and to help the meat break down quicker.

Baste the pork with the sauce, letting it cook 5min a side then flipping, baste some more, repeat. Do this about 5 times a side and a nice carmelized layer of sauce will start to build up. Keep a good eye on it at this stage, if you let the sauce burn it will end up tasting like charcoal.

After you are happy with your basting, put the pork in the aluminum pan with the sauce, lower the heat (if you want to finnish them in the oven at 300F that is fine) and late nature take its course. Only 2 more hours to go! relax the hard part is over. All you have to do from this point on is check every 15min or so and make sure everything is kosher. add some more beer if too much of your sauce has evaporated and rotate the ones on bottom to top every once and awhile.

Add some mac'n'cheese and potato salad from the local deli (or make it yourself) and you are ready to chow down. Enjoy!

 

[tnw]

For example I re-did daeji bulgogi (korean bbq pork) with haemul pajeon (seafood scallion pancake) on the side, very nice combo (recipes are in the previous cooking threads)

haemul pajeon is called chijimi in Japan, which is apparently what it used to be called in Korea. I'm going to be in trouble once I want to order it in other countries as haemul pajeon is kind of hard to remember :lol

But man, if chijimi isn't one of my favorite things to eat. The highway reststops in Japan are just the most awesome thing you've ever seen, and we stopped at one on a trip the other weekend, and they have all of these food vendores making tons of food that you want to eat. One of them was making chijimi, and just couldn't resist. Downed it in like less than a minute too.

I've been making a lot of Tom Yum soup lately. Slice up a japanese eggplant, half a block of tofu, and simmer. put a little mizuna in, and some rice noodles if you're hungry. Very very delicious! I've been using this soup base

Mine looked a little bit like this

 

[adamsappel]

I neglected to take pictures, but if you are preparing Indian food, this makes a nice side dish/topping. Cut a whole sweet onion into large chunks and add a can of unsweetened coconut milk. Add a little curry powder and cook until the onion is soft and the sauce is somewhat reduced. Watch that the milk doesn't boil over. Spoon over your main dish or serve on the side.

 

[OnkelC]

heavy liquid, that is one fine salmon! Thank you for sharing.

The failure-age was good on some way, I made some casserole instead of ze chicken that day:

And just start with the herbal garden, it is a no-brainer. This is how mine looks as of yesterday afternoon:

Flo_Evans, thanks to you too. Pork steaks from cuts of the neck or shoulder are the gold standard of bbq'ed cuts at this part of the world, the most popular being the so-called "Schwenkbraten", which can be found at every bigger BBQ. They are great for bbqing because of the high fat content, making them really juicy and tender. The cuts are marinated before putting them on the grill, though, nice variation from your part there. And props+2 for using a charcoal grill!:lol

I did not prepare anything of interest in the last few days, so keep'em coming instead!

 

[jak stat]

This thread inspired me to start posting. So here's my first attempt at food por.. err food photography.

My Korean roomate taught me how to make stir fried soba noodles flavored with sesame.
First you boil soba noodles. Try to buy noodles that list buckwheat first, to help ensure a higher percentage of buckwheat. Heat it up, add in some vegetables. I used bok choy. Flavor with soy sauce. Mix in some roasted and ground sesame. Stir in sesame oil. Done!

Potatoes and Beef in oyster sauce. Fry up/bake some sliced potatoes. Heat up garlic and onion in pan and add thinly sliced beef. Then add the potatoes. Add some water and oyster sauce. Let it cook for a while until the sauce is thick again. Dump some blanched gai lan on top.

Grilled giant mushroom--just like a grilled mushroom, but with a different kind. Marinate with red wine/olive oil. Grill it up. Top it with lime juice and coase salt.

You can also stir fry chayote

Here's an unrelated picture of Taiwanese beef noodle (beef broth, tendon, beef slices, thick wheat noodles, and bok choy):

I took it over spring break for my Taiwanese classmate who wasn't able to leave campus.

 

[Flo_Evans]

OnkelC, traditonaly an oil drum sawn in half is used over here for BBQ.

I was actually using a propane grill, mostly because I am lazy and its easier :lol

 

[jak stat]

I've been making a lot of Tom Yum soup lately. Slice up a japanese eggplant, half a block of tofu, and simmer. put a little mizuna in, and some rice noodles if you're hungry. Very very delicious! I've been using this soup base

Mine looked a little bit like this

How is the lemongrass in the mix? Many of the mixes I've tried don't have much lemongrass flavor so I have to add extras in. You can add mushrooms and bean sprouts too.

 

[OnkelC]

YAY new contributor!
Welcome jak stat and thank you for the great pictures. I am looking forward to seeing more of your skillz.
Flo_Evans, what is glowing underneath the grill then? looks like charcoal to me...
deduct one props point, then.

 

[Flo_Evans]

My grill has little briquettes inbetween the burners and the grill surface, it helps distrubute the heat evenly and reduces flare up.

 

[jak stat]

YAY new contributor!
Welcome jak stat and thank you for the great pictures. I am looking forward to seeing more of your skillz.
Flo_Evans, what is glowing underneath the grill then? looks like charcoal to me...
deduct one props point, then.

Well this is my favorite GAF thread. <3 the food.

Hey ChryZ, do you post on egullet? I like Chowhound myself...

 

[tnw]

How is the lemongrass in the mix? Many of the mixes I've tried don't have much lemongrass flavor so I have to add extras in. You can add mushrooms and bean sprouts too.

your food looks quite tasty, jak stat, especially that grilled mushroom with lime juice. I'll have to try something similar

This one has a pretty distinct lemongrass flavor to it. It's a pretty good mix over all I think. mostly just raw ingredients in a jar, not a lot of additives.

Yeah, I was thinking about bean sprouts, like you would add to pho (drool, love the big bowl of free bean sprouts they have at pho resturants around here), but I had some mizuna, and since it is used in some simmered japanese foods, I thought I would try and use it up. Here is what mizuna looks like; it's a slightly bitter green. I love it, and I eat it in sandwiches, put in tacos. etc.

 

[jak stat]

Yeah, I was thinking about bean sprouts, like you would add to pho (drool, love the big bowl of free bean sprouts they have at pho resturants around here), but I had some mizuna, and since it is used in some simmered japanese foods, I thought I would try and use it up. Here is what mizuna looks like; it's a slightly bitter green. I love it, and I eat it in sandwiches, put in tacos. etc.

Yeah mizuna can oftentimes be found in premade mixes of greens at the supermarket. On the topic of Japanese vegetables, I loooove gobo, like in kinpira.

I hope they include sawtooth in the free vegetable platters

. It's my favorite topping. Is Japanese pho is anything like Korean pho, with lots of ginger?

 

[tnw]

gobo is great isn't it? I found some gobo senbe (rice crackers) the other day. sooo good.

If you like gobo, then you would probably the tofu burger that I make. You shred gobo with nira onions and mix it up with crumbled tofu. Make it into patties and fry it. The recipe I took it from called for a quite tasty ketchup/wine sauce on top of it. The gobo adds a great earthy flavor to it.

I don't know how to compare the pho to other places, as I've pretty much only had it here. but it sure is tasty!

What is sawtooth?