CHOW: General Topics Digest

Mussels for the Novice

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:27:00 -0800

In flavor, mussels are comparable to other bivalves (clams, oysters), “but maybe taste a little more of the sea,” says dmd_kc. thew agrees: Mussels are “soft, briny, creamier in flavor than other bivalves, and perhaps slightly fishier.” Unlike other bivalves, mussels are pretty much always served cooked, says gordeaux. One thing about mussels: Freezing completely ruins them, says gordeaux. “They are one bivalve that turn into garbage once frozen. I can spot a frozen mussel after one bite. They get really firm, almost rigid. I just can’t do frozen mussels. Not worth it in my book,” he says.

How to try them? The classic preparation is the exquisitely simple moules marinière, mussels steamed or simmered in white wine and garlic. Using a simple marinara sauce for a simmer will work well—especially “with a good french bread to sop up the yummy sauce with,” says gordeaux. And “if you want to drift away from all these tomato/wine sauce advocates, if you want to run at the edge of the pack, then lightly batter, coat with a few bread crumbs and deep fry,” suggests Paulustrious. “Drizzle with a little garlic butter. The sea washes all the calories away.”

Board Link: What are mussels like?

What Makes Great Seaweed Salad

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:34:00 -0800

Eating prepared seaweed salad is, unfortunately, “so often like eating sweetened strands of plastic,” says tatamagouche. What makes seaweed salad great? It’s a balance of flavors, and the right texture. “It’s gotta be just the right balance of sour (rice vinegar), sweet (sugar) and salty (dashi),” says soypower. “To me, it has to have a good mix of different kinds of seaweed, plenty of sesame seeds, the bite of chili pepper, and that great saltiness you get with good seaweed,” says kubasd. “And it must be tender.”

“Good seaweed salad needs to have sweet and savory, and have a nice smokiness from the sesame oil and seeds,” says ipsedixit. “And the seaweed needs to be a bit chewy, but soft and never rubbery.” ipsedixit’s recipe includes garlic, chile flakes, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar. The seaweed is marinated overnight and garnished with toasted sesame seeds just before eating.

Board Link: Define really good seaweed salad.

Don't Drink Bad Eggnog

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:19:00 -0800

Eggnog’s not local. It’s not organic. It has high-fructose corn syrup, carrageenan, and guar gum in it. “Maybe it’s bad, but it tastes OH SO GOOD,” says kattyeyes.

Hood is the best brand, says foodsnob14. “Thankfully we cannot get it year round, I would be 20 lbs heavier!” alkapal particularly appreciates Hood’s pumpkin eggnog: “This stuff is phenomenal. Just the right amount of pumpkin-y goodness, and only a hint of spices.” And it makes killer French toast, says HillJ. Just dip and pan-fry. It’s also delicious processed through an ice cream maker. Cherylptw likes cooking with eggnog; “think crème brûlée, cheesecake, bread pudding, ice cream, pancakes, etc.,” she says.

For Chowhounds in the Los Angeles area, Broguiere’s eggnog is the stuff, says monku. It’s the one that comes in old-fashioned glass bottles. Truly divine, says latindancer.

Of course, dedicated hounds can always make their own.

Board Link: What brand of eggnog is your favorite?

Quick Homemade Indian Food

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:43:00 -0800

Spice mixes, wet and dry, are what make Indian dishes special—but they take time to make fresh. Store-bought sauces and spice mixes are ho-hum. Is there any middle ground? One approach is to make your favorite spice mix or paste fresh in bulk, portion it out ,and freeze it, suggests LauraGrace. Then, weekday after happy weekday, you’re only minutes away from fresh, special, homemade Indian food. It works well with any sauce that doesn’t have dairy, she says. “I’ve done it with korma too — just make the sauce up to the ‘add vegetables’ point and before the ‘add cream’ point, then freeze in Ziploc bags or ice cube trays,” says LauraGrace.

If you do use a packaged mix, doctoring it up with fresh ingredients can give it more of a homemade feel. “Whenever I use the dry mix, it’s just as a flavor enhancer, not following the recipe completely on the packet,” says foodwich. “Play around with it to suit your taste and that will be the best way to use them.”

Board Link: Indian cooking/simmer sauces

Nuts Are Not Shelf-Stable

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:52:00 -0800

Is your all-natural organic granola rancid? How about your nuts? “Rancidity is a huge problem all over, especially with natural foods containing no preservatives,” says Jim Leff. “And, worse, there’s so much rancidity out there that consumers don’t perceive mild rancidity as an ‘off’ flavor; it’s one they’re used to.” comestible agrees, and has seen the problem in his local health food stores. Any product containing nuts is vulnerable to rancidity, since nut oils degrade rapidly when they’re not vacuum-packed, irradiated, or otherwise preserved. Nuts just aren’t shelf-stable.

“I taste/smell rancidity all over,” says Jim Leff. “I think most consumers are actually well-acquainted with that aroma, but just don’t identify it correctly (same with skunky beer….for many people, that’s ‘the great imported taste’ of Heineken, in those green bottles that let in the frequency of light that interacts badly with the hops).”

Board Link: Really Great Granolas?

Potato Chips That Burn

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:45:00 -0800

Cheese Boy recently sampled some Cape Cod Jalapeño & Aged Cheddar potato chips and was very impressed. “The cheese and pepper flavors weren’t lacking like in some inferior brands,” says Cheese Boy, and the heat was certainly there too. “I had no complaints at all, except for the usual fact that most potato chip bags are filled half with air. Other than that, these were very good,” he says.

Board Link: “Jalapeño” and “Amen” for these potato chips

Complicated Does Not Equal Better

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:45:00 -0700

“Over and over again, I prove to myself that more time spent in the planning and preparation of a meal does not necessarily make for a more delicious, more enjoyable, more exquisite meal,” says CindyJ. Call it the law of diminishing culinary returns. Great effort does not necessarily yield great food, and sometimes the most memorable food is a great ingredient in a simple presentation.

“The general rule is that the higher the quality of the ingredients, the less you need to do with them,” says Ellen. Good-quality fresh food—dry-aged, organic grass-fed beef; farmers’ market veggies; fresh local butter—needs little intervention or extensive preparation to shine, she says. “On the other hand, I once spent hours making a classic beef Wellington that was beautiful but such a yawn compared to the effort.”

shaogo agrees. “The more complicated (I say ‘convoluted’) my plans for dinner become, I guarantee you the ‘wow’ effect of a dish (or of the whole meal) diminishes,” he says. “Like others who’ve posted here, some of my best ‘home-run’ dinners were created à la minute from a short list of simple ingredients.”

Board Link: The Laws of Diminishing (Culinary) Returns

How's the Hospital Food?

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:23:00 -0700

greygarious was recently, uh, privileged to sample his local hospital food—and his Chowhound sensibilities were scarred for life. “I ordered a side salad [and] it was a tiny bowl with perhaps a half cup of lettuce and a slice each of cucumber and tomato,” he says. “I could understand small servings of the less healthy items but you’d think they’d size in such a way as to promote the healthier foods.”

Pei finds the same to be true of her local hospitals. Expect such delights as “chicken broth that tastes like it was made from powder, gummy oatmeal, ultra-pasteurized juice and Jell-O that taste like they’ve been cooked to death and yet are still chock full of chemicals, bleh,” says Pei. “I feel sad just thinking about it.” taos was served “Jell-O (essentially sugar water), super salty chicken broth, white toast, and tons of butter”—on a cardiac ward, no less.

There is a trend, however, toward hospitals providing tasty food that might be healthy enough not to undermine their healthcare mission. shaogo has had experience with good, made-from-scratch food at a hospital, which contributed to patients gaining much-needed weight. Pia has also had a great experience with hospital food: “delicious salad with spinach and strawberries, and really good cheesecake” were among her selections. This is a hot trend. “Hospital food-service operations all over the country are starting to serve very good quality food,” says shaogo. “It’s in all of the industry magazines. Slowly but surely, the days when hospital entrees were flavorless rubber, and hospital veggies were sulfurous gray gack, are ending.”

Board Link: How is the hospital food where you live?

Mexican Oregano Is Not from Mexico

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:10:00 -0700

Some recipes call for Mexican oregano. Does that just mean oregano produced in Mexico? Nope, says MazDee. “Since I live in Mexico, and buy oregano here, I always figured it WAS Mexican oregano,” she says. But while traveling she noticed Mexican oregano plants for sale that had big leaves and didn’t resemble the more commonly used Greek oregano. “I am astounded!” she says. In fact, so-called Mexican oregano is a close relative of lemon verbena.

Mexican and Greek oregano are different plants, but both are lovely for their appropriate uses. “I use both Greek and Mexican oregano for different recipes,” says bushwickgirl.

Board Link: Mexican Oregano

Live Chicken Adventure

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:03:00 -0700

“There you are at the farmers’ market and there are cages of chickens … all types and colors. Which one do you choose?” wonders rworange. “Does it need to look feisty like a live crab in a fishmonger’s tank?” You’ll want to select a healthy, energetic chicken with bright feathers, says JungMann. “You can ask the supplier to help you choose a fat, healthy bird.” “Also check the color of the beak, earlobes, and comb,” suggests morwen. “As a chicken gets older, especially with layers, the color of these parts fade. They should be bright in a young chicken.”

So you select your chicken and the vendor puts it as is, breathing, in a paper bag. “Without being overly graphic,” asks rworange, “you bring your chicken home and what next?” Usually the supplier will take care of the dispatch and defeathering for you, says JungMann, but if you want to do it yourself, “be forewarned that this is a two-man job unless you have a traffic cone lying around to contain the bird, particularly if you choose to sever the trachea and carotid with a very sharp knife,” he says. Paulustrious thinks twisting the chicken’s neck to break it is the optimal manner of dispatching it. “For some it is a bit disconcerting, especially as the bird flaps after it is technically dead. However, it does make you realise what a chicken really is.”

“Plucking is messy,” advises AnnaEA. The chicken needs to be dipped in water that is at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit, but no more then 170 degrees Fahrenheit. “Too cool, the feathers won’t loosen, too hot and you can accidentally cook the skin, which makes it rip when you try to clean it.” And “after plucking and cleaning, it’s best to allow the chicken to rest in the fridge over night before cooking—this allows rigor to fully pass, and helps ensure you get tender meat,” she says.

Board Link: How to select and … um … deal with a live chicken from the farmers market?

Honeys from Around the World

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:54:00 -0700

The flavor of honey varies appreciably with locale, because of the differing vegetation bees use to keep on buzzing. nofunlatte scored some honey in Cameroon that was “deep and darkly colored, very complex in flavor with a taste of deep, dark caramel and chocolate, among other things.” Ruth Lafler says her favorite has been coffee blossom honey she bought at a farmers’ market in Kauai. “It’s very dark, almost molasses, and has a very faint coffee flavor,” she says. Veggo fondly recalls the honey from the Michoacán region of Mexico: “Michoacán and Querétaro have 100-foot eucalyptus trees and delicate orchids and a million plants in between, so the honey was a symphony of everything one could see,” he says.

Sam Fujisaka thinks the best honeys are from the coffee-growing regions of Chiapas, Mexico, and Cajamarca, Peru. And pikawicca loves the “very dark evergreen honey from the Black Forest.”

Board Link: Honeys from around the world--share your favorites!

Sriracha: A Universal Condiment?

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:42:00 -0700

What’s the difference between the popular hot sauce called sriracha and the condiment known as “chili garlic sauce”? Isn’t sriracha pretty much chili garlic sauce? Aren’t they interchangeable? The main difference is that sriracha has sugar, and chili garlic sauce doesn’t, says goodhealthgourmet. Sugar tempers the heat a bit.

Chili garlic sauce is also more garlicky and tart in flavor than the sriracha, again, because of the lack of sugar, says Miss Needle. “Personally, I find sriracha to be more of a ‘universal’ condiment as the sugar balances out the vinegar,” says Miss Needle. “And I’m only talking about the Huy Fong brand as I’ve found other sriracha sauces to be quite vinegary. And sriracha is smooth while there are seeds present in the chili garlic sauce.”

Another similar product is the Indonesian sauce sambal oelek. It’s even more elemental than chili garlic sauce as it “has no garlic or sugar,” says SnackHappy. “The ingredients are chile, salt, and vinegar, but the taste is pretty much straight-up chili paste.”

Board Link: Sriracha/chili garlic

Wakey Wakey!

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:08:00 -0700

A bowl of Cerealvit Organic Coffee Flakes is a sweet wakey-wakey for coffee lovers. It’s not too sweet, actually—just sweet enough, reckons rccola, who adds that they’re “delicious,” with the clear taste of Italian coffee coating the flakes. “I like it dry. My family likes it with milk and loves the coffee-milk left when the flakes are gone.”

The only downside? You’ll probably have to order it online. rccola bought some from Amazon.

Board Link: Cereal Vit Coffee cereal

How to Wash Chile Off Your Hands

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:53:00 -0700

When you’ve been chopping raw hot chile peppers, hand soap alone is not going to make it safe for you to stick your fingers in your eyes (or nose, for that matter). To remove the malevolent remains of capsaicin from your skin, you want a more powerful degreasing agent, says Paulustrious. Dish soap works well, but for heavy-duty chile oil problems, you might want the special soap mechanics use for washing engine oil off of their hands.

Alcohol also works to neutralize the capsaicin, says brianl999. “Whenever I’m handling peppers, I fill a small ramekin with rubbing alcohol and soak my fingers in it when I’m done,” says brianl999. “Soap and water doesn’t cut it; it really gets in around your nails and such.”

“Citric acid works well, in my experience,” says BigE. “Whenever I make guacamole, I always reserve half a lime to squeeze over my hands to neutralize the capsaicin from the peppers.” And “immersing your hands in yoghurt or milk should stop the burning,” says luckyfatima.

Board Link: how to get pepper oil off my face and hands

Steak Done the Way You Want It

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:58:00 -0700

rworange shares a hilarious suggestion for how to get your steak or burger done exactly right: Carry a picture in your wallet—laminated for frequent use, perhaps—so you can show the server exactly the degree of red, pink, or sear that you prefer. You can then ask what they call that degree of doneness at that establishment. It’s like getting a haircut: Pointing to a picture is going to be a whole lot more effective than trying to describe the hairstyle you’re after.

“Even better,” says rworange, “you could load the photo onto your phone.”

Board Link: A brilliant idea for always getting restaurants to cook steaks and burgers perfectly

Sardine Ideas Packed like, erm ...

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 16:16:00 -0700

There are essentially two things you need to know about sardines, says tatamagouche: “You can eat them out of the can. And they’re yummy.” Gio also likes to eat sardines out of the can, but adds that they’re great as a topping for a tossed salad, or sometimes as a sandwich with mustard, sliced tomato, thinly sliced onion, and lettuce.

fmed has two ways to eat sardines: over steaming rice, or quickly folded into freshly boiled pasta and seasoned to taste. “I like to add salt and a squeeze of lemon juice or a swish of vinegar,” says fmed. Evilbanana11 marinades thinly sliced onion in vinegar and sugar, and serves them with sardines out of the can—best eaten with slices of toasted baguette. Chopped parsley, coriander, and hot pepper flakes are all welcome additions.

sueatmo likes them with good mustard on crackers (cherry tomatoes and a glass of ginger ale complete the private pleasure of this meal). Passadumkeg works as a sea kayak guide, and eats tons of sardines out of the can when in the field. “I don’t even bother with utensils,” says Passadumkeg. “Pop the top, dig in with fingers, enjoy, and rinse can and fingers in sea when done. Simple and delish.”

Board Link: Question about sardines…

Big Red Sugar Rush

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:24:00 -0700

A sugary soda familiar to Texans but exotic to the rest of us is Big Red, which Honeychan describes as tasting like bubble gum and cotton candy. “I pity the soul who must live without Big Red,” says slewfoot. “We even have Big Red Slurpees at 7-Eleven here.”

The company also makes Big Peach, Big Punch, Big Honey Lemonade, and Big Red Vanilla Float, though most of those are sold in very limited markets. Big Red Vanilla Float is fantastic, says slewfoot. Cheflambo thinks that “the reason stuff like Big Red and Dr. Pepper comes from Waco is because the city is a hotbed of Baptist temperance—without alcohol, their vice of choice is sugar.” Cheflambo still remembers the sugar buzz from his first taste of Big Red, “and yes, for those of you who’ve never had it, it tastes just like liquid bubble gum.” Like strawberry bubble gum, to be specific, says slewfoot.

Board Link: Big Red?

Campfire Cook-a-Long

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:17:00 -0700

Chowhounds keep it simple and local when cooking in the outdoors. “I bring some fresh herbs and a fishing pole,” says ultraminimalist Lenox637. Passadumkeg enjoys a more involved variation on the same concept. “The weekend before last, we put lobsters, clams, potatoes and corn on the cob on top of a layer of seaweed on top of the Cobscook State Park camp site grill, added another layer of seaweed, and let her steam” for half an hour—while drinking beer, of course, says Passadumkeg. That’s pretty much the recipe for a real downeast shore dinner.

funklight goes in the other direction with a Dutch oven. “I’ve made pot pies, casseroles, pasta, roasted chicken and fish, crusty bread, and fantastic biscuits and gravy. I can’t wait to try pizza in it now,” says funklight. “The very best part is the delicious seasoning that builds up over time on the iron. Like reliving meals past every time you use it.”

The best camping food of all time is, of course, a banana boat (also known as a banana slug): “Split a banana lengthwise, pack with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips, squeeze the halves together and wrap in foil. Place upright on the fire or grill for a few minutes, open up and HEAVEN,” explains mtngirlnv.

CHOW has plenty of campfire recipe ideas too.

Board Link: Camping Chowhound Style

Buddhist Duck, Explained

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:24:00 -0700

“Buddhist duck” is not a vegetarian duck substitute. It’s not made of tofu. It’s not the Shanghainese Buddhist specialty known as mock duck (ribbony layers of tofu skin wrapped round minced mushrooms). It’s an actual duck, albeit a particularly scrawny duck. With the feet still attached.

Buddhist duck is very flavorful, says dumoyer2, although there’s not a lot of meat. “It’s similar to Buddhist-style chicken,” says Miss Needle. Buddhist-style chickens are generally scrawny—and flavorful—because they are able to roam free, she says. “The chickens most Americans tend to eat have been factory raised in coops where they are not allowed to roam, which leads to a fattier chicken.”

Board Link: what the &%#*!!! is a Buddhist Duck?

Is There Life After Salt?

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:11:00 -0700

“Really, there is no substitute for salt,” says pikawicca. “Nothing else performs like it in cooking.” But if you have to give up salt for medical reasons, is there any hope for you as a Chowhound?

There is such a thing as “salt substitute.” It’s sold in supermarkets and it’s mostly potassium chloride, says MikeG. He can’t stand the stuff, but if you can tolerate stevia as a sugar substitute, then you might be able to choke down fake salt. If you can have some of the real thing, great-tasting sea salt has a lot less sodium than regular table salt, says Sean.

Another approach is to eliminate your need for salt by going cold-turkey on salt for a few weeks. It took greygarious about two weeks to flush out the craving for salt, “but after that most commercially-prepared food seems unpleasantly salty. A canister of salt lasts me at least a decade,” says greygarious. Jeff Smith (the late Frugal Gourmet) minimized salt in his cooking after having heart problems: “He always said that increasing other seasonings, particularly pepper and lemon, compensated well for the absence of salt,” says greygarious.

Normandie has found that there’s something about vinegar that satisfies some salt cravings, even though it has no sodium. “I don’t know if in some way it interacts with the same taste receptors that salt does, but I know it works to a pretty good degree for me,” says Normandie.

Board Link: Best Salt Substitute?