What I learned today

I really liked Toma. It must be eaten at room temp, however, like most cheeses and it melts beautifully. It is a nice smooth cheese, a comforting taste. Our sweet Havanese fur kid loves it too. She is a cheese lover and must have a small bite every morning. Toma, she loved. Some, she will not take. Parmigiano Reggiano she will take, but it is not a favorite....funny girl!
Our local neighborhood grocery store is bringing in more and more goodies, and St Agur blue cheese showed up last week. I was thrilled after all the comments about it on here. It is fantastic, just wish the packages were bigger.

[Jenise]

So today I learned how much difference there is between CalRose and the small pearls of Japanese shortgrain I love and buy almost exclusively. The rice discussion here recently got me to wondering if my Japanese rice is actually worth the upcharge, especially if the rice were going into a cold rice salad for which a large quantity would be used (4 cups raw rice). So today I made the exact same salad I made two weeks ago with my Japanese rice (obviously, a much smaller quantity).

Yes it's worth the upcharge. The Japanese rice, before and after cooking, looks like pearls. Glossy, and that gives an incredible mouthfeel. The kernels are fully cooked yet lightly chewy, they separate easily and stay separated. The CalRose is not glossy, it's dull, tends to clump and lacks that great mouthfeel. Even the application of mayo and dressing ingredients fails to dress it up--in the bowl or in my mouth. I'll never doubt my rice again.

Today I tasted my first Sumo Mandarin, and I'm in love.

Today I tasted my first Korean Honey Melon (a.k.a., Oriental melon, a.k.a., chamoe) and I'm in Like . The skin is thin but every cooking video I found said to peel it. The aroma under the peel is somewhat apple-y; the inside is definitely melon-y, like honeydew. The texture is firm, moreso than a cucumber but less so than a pear. The goo around the seeds is sweet and fragrant so if eating seeds doesn't trouble you, then that's extra flavor.

It passes my test for a summer fruit - cold, wet, somewhat sweet.

I haven't heard of that one, Jeff. I adore melons and buy every new one I see. I'm currently in deep love for a yellow melon I bought at Costco. They usually call them Golden Melons and I've bought them before. But this one isn't like the others or any other melon I've ever had--its pale orange flesh is crunchy like a Japanese pear apple, a texture I've never experienced outside of that fruit. And it's INTENSELY sweet, with great acidity.

II knew there was a Korean melon discussion somewhere. I like but don't love chamoe, which is what most people mean when they say Korean melon. But really adore Hami melon (also known as Hami Kiss, or Golden Kiss). Which is what Jenise's sounds like.
Great for breakfast, dessert, or wrapping in proscuitto (I don't think latter is traditional in Korea!)/

[Jenise]

Yes, Dale, I later discovered it's called a Hami melon. REALLY good.

I currently have a Crenshaw on deck, and also a yellow watermelon. I've had yellow watermelons before, but the skin was always green. This one? It's yellow outside too, and very round, about basketball size. Can't wait!

Not to do with cooking, but to do with not cooking.

Don't rely on a third party booking site (in our case booking dot com) assurance that a property has a restaurant.

Having a restaurant doesn't mean that the said restaurant is open when you want it.

We've just returned from a trip to Scotland and the north of England, staying in 5 different places all booked through booking dot con and selected, as some were in remote locations, because they had restaurants. The last two properties we were to stay Sat, Sun and Mon Tue.

The first's restaurant wasn't open on Sunday evening, the second's restaurant wasn't open Sun, Mon or Tue.
The nearest restaurant to the first was 9 miles (18 miles round trip), the second 5 miles(10 miles round trip) from the nearest town which had restaurants and involved drives along twisting single track country roads, then finding a parking place and walking to the restaurant.

I found out that my supermarket is carrying the Point Reyes blue cheese as well as the toma and toma/truffle. But it's in with the high-end cheeses so I hadn't seen it before. It is indeed a dead ringer for Roquefort.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul: validation! Love that. Yes, it's roquefort-y. But I've had a PR blue in the past that was more like a Danish blue, so I don't know what/why.

Peter, how very disappointing. I hope you got very discounted hotel rates!

Yesterday I learned that at least one variety of eggplant has tiny, sharp thorns on its stem that can make detaching the stem very painful if you're not careful.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

This week I learned that Chinese "Dry Fried Ginger Beef" isn't dry. Paul, can you mansplain 'dry fried' to me? I expected unbattered beef, but it was battered and deep fried, then sauced.

Not Paul but this may help. My favorite dish at a local restaurant called Peter Chu's is dry braised chicken. It is also battered and then sauced. Fabulous. This is about braised meat, so not sure if it would apply to fried as well.
https://www.finedininglovers.com/articl ... -no-liquid

Jenise, what you had sounds like a sort of "General Tso's Beef"--like General Tso's Chicken, but with beef instead. It's not the traditional Sichuan dry-frying technique, which involves pan-frying, not deep-frying, and is called dry-frying because very little liquid is added during the cooking process.

For true Sichuan dry-fried beef, you cut a pound of lean beefsteak into very thin 2" or 3" long slices and then into slivers--the thinner the better. You also cut some celery into pieces the same length and julienne them (a mandoline makes this easy). Shred a slice or two of fresh ginger and the white parts of a few scallions. Heat up about 1/4 cup neutral vegetable oil (I use peanut oil) in a wok, then add the beef and stir-fry over very high heat. The beef will yield its juices, which will then boil away. Continue stir-frying until the moisture is all gone and the beef is getting brown and chewy. This will take about 10-12 minutes depending on the intensity of your heat source. When the beef starts to brown, sprinkle 1 tsp of shaoxing wine around the edge of the wok. When it's done, you turn the heat down, push the beef up on one side of the wok and put 1-3 TBS (depending on your desired heat level) of hot bean paste (doubanjiang) into the oil. Stir a few seconds until it's fragrant. Add the ginger and scallions and again stir until fragrant. Mix the beef back in, turn the heat back up, add the celery and 1 tsp light soy sauce, then stir-fry until heated through, about 1 minute. The celery should still be a bit crunchy. Sprinkle a bit of ground, toasted Sichuan peppercorns and a bit of sesame oil on top just before serving.

The beef comes out chewy but not tough, the celery is crunchy, and there's a bit of flavorful gravy (can't really call it a sauce) clinging to everything, and plenty of numbing-and-hot mala flavor.

Light-years away from the dish that you had. You don't often see the genuine thing in Chinese restaurants because it's not very economical for the restaurant--the beef shrinks considerably during that long stir-fry.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, thank you for the lengthy explanation. I can equate that to what we had--I'll bet the beef was actually cooked as you describe before getting coated with cornstarch--it was delightfully chewy.

Btw, something I learned this week? BBQ Pork Egg Foo Yung is one of the best breakfasts in the world!!!!!!!!

This is the starchy liquid that comes from soaking or cooking chickpeas, aka the thick, viscous liquid in a can of chickpeas-that has an uncanny ability to whip and create foam, much like egg whites, making it an incredible ingredient for vegan baking. you can use it to make egg-free meringue, fold it into cakes or muffins to lighten them-pretty much any recipe that calls for whipped egg whites. The liquid also freezes well. The thawed cubes will whip just as well as fresh.

Has anyone tried this?

[Jenise]

Have not since I'm not interesting in making sweet food, but I have twice had some fairly amazing stuff made from it. Little chocolate cupcakes in one case and a chocolate mousse in another. I couldn't believe it when they told me each was vegan.

This is the starchy liquid that comes from soaking or cooking chickpeas, aka the thick, viscous liquid in a can of chickpeas-that has an uncanny ability to whip and create foam, much like egg whites, making it an incredible ingredient for vegan baking. you can use it to make egg-free meringue, fold it into cakes or muffins to lighten them-pretty much any recipe that calls for whipped egg whites. The liquid also freezes well. The thawed cubes will whip just as well as fresh.

Has anyone tried this?

Aquafaba: I knew about it, but never tried it--mostly because I rarely use chickpeas.

[Jenise]

We went out to lunch yesterday and as a consequence I wasn't the least bit hungry come 5:00ish when I should be starting my dinner plan. Yet all I had was a bowl of chili. Same thing happened on Sunday (we went out for brunch). I'm amazed by how fragile my appetite seems to be these days.

Paul, thank you for the lengthy explanation. I can equate that to what we had--I'll bet the beef was actually cooked as you describe before getting coated with cornstarch--it was delightfully chewy.

Yes, they probably followed the traditional Sichuan process for dry-frying the beef. But then as a concession to American tastes they finished the dish using the General Tso's process (batter, deep-fry, sweet/sour/hot sauce).

BTW, it really helps to have a very high BTU heat source for dry-fried beef. Something like a professional chop suey range or the 100,000 BTU propane gas ring that I have. If the heat is too low, the beef spends more time than it should boiling in its own juices and can come out tougher than it should be.

-Paul W.

So today I learned how much difference there is between CalRose and the small pearls of Japanese shortgrain I love and buy almost exclusively. The rice discussion here recently got me to wondering if my Japanese rice is actually worth the upcharge, especially if the rice were going into a cold rice salad for which a large quantity would be used (4 cups raw rice). So today I made the exact same salad I made two weeks ago with my Japanese rice (obviously, a much smaller quantity).

Yes it's worth the upcharge. The Japanese rice, before and after cooking, looks like pearls. Glossy, and that gives an incredible mouthfeel. The kernels are fully cooked yet lightly chewy, they separate easily and stay separated. The CalRose is not glossy, it's dull, tends to clump and lacks that great mouthfeel. Even the application of mayo and dressing ingredients fails to dress it up--in the bowl or in my mouth. I'll never doubt my rice again.

Jenise, there are so many Japanese rice products out there, which type and brand are you using?

[Jenise]

I don't even think there's English on the bag which is yellow, but I'll check. I just know what it looks like and I buy it at an Asian market in Seattle.

I learned today that my New Zealand spinach is not really spinach. It comes from the fig, marigold family and can be eaten just like spinach. It loves heat, which is why I planted it, and because my aunt was a fabulous cook had a huge garden and she grew it. I have grown it off and on for years and actually forgot about it. I ordered a packet of seeds which arrived in two days and was going to plant as a Fall crop when I realized it is a heat-loving beast that takes over the garden space. So I will wait a few months. It is actually better than regular spinach and a beautiful plant. It is a vining plant and the more it is cut, the better it grows. Anyone else have experience with this plant?

[Jenise]

Not me, Karen! We didn't plant anything this summer, btw, had too many health issues in my feet and the starts I bought just rotted on the patio.

It was a weird growing season for sure, everyone had plants dying even though they were getting water. We think it had to do with whatever toxic stuff was in the ash and falling on the plants.

Re spinach : I stopped planting conventional spinach long ago because of the short lived season before bolting. I am not familiar with New Zealand spinach but I now plant Malabar spinach. It is a vigorous climbing vine and heavy producer of luscious leaves that are slightly crunchy, lemony and very sturdy in salads. Large leaves are wonderful cooked and are the variety used in some Indian restaurants I've been to in Chicago. The variety with purple stems is just beautiful and I plant enough to cover a trellis in the middle of the garden for its visual effect. The more you pick the more it produces and there's enough to supply a small local cafe that features it in some salads. It has a very long season in Wisconsin and may be a perennial where you are Karen.
Will look into the New Zealand variety.

Interesting!

Found a nice primer on Malabar spinach: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible ... pinach.htm