[MaryB]

Sure, don't let me answer the one I know well I knew the cajun one too but thats common with a lot of BBQers. Pulled pork jambalaya is good stuff.

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by MaryB

Sure, don't let me answer the one I know well I knew the cajun one too but thats common with a lot of BBQers. Pulled pork jambalaya is good stuff.

'q is a harsh mistress,
BDL

[MaryB]

Don't remind me, today is recovery day I am getting to old to get up with the sun and cook for 12 hours!

[boar_d_laze]

Most have already been answered correctly. But just as fill in...

1. What is (Japanese) negi toro? Toro is the rich belly meat from a fish. With blue fin tuna there are two kinds, chu-toro and o-toro. O-toro is the richest, most expensive. Negi toro is tuna o-toro minced (like tartare), usually served with chopped scallions and sesame oil, sometimes dressed with a raw with quail egg. A special aspect of properly prepared negi-toro is that the knife doing the mincing must be sharp enough to cut the tuna fibers without crushing them. And that's sharp.

2. What are the four KCBS meats? (Not open to MaryB) Chicken, pork ribs, pork shoulder, and beef brisket. Brisket is considered the holy grail of KCBS competition.

3. What is the appropriate garnish for a Hendricks Gin and Tonic? Cucumber slice was a great call. Cucumber spear would have been better. The varietals in Hendrick's include roses and cucumber, it's an odd but delicious gin.

4. How many planes to a tourne? 7 is right on the money.

5. What's do you call the knife cut for a piece of garniture cut 2" x 1/4" x 1/4". Batonet is right. Not "batonette." It's not a piece of bell pepper, not a smaller, female baton.

6. What do you call egg whites beat with hot syrup to medium peaks? Yes to Italian meringue. Why didn't anyone say Swiss and get it wrong? I'm always getting mixed up. Not fair.

7. What is (Chinese) xiao loon bao? What are the appropriate utensils for eating one? What are the principal ingredients in the accompanying sauce? It's a "soup dumpling." A seamed bun filled with meat and liquid. You make sauce by mixing pepper flakes in oil with a little soy and a lot of special, aged black vinegar. Put a little sauce in a Chinese soup spoon, and use your chop-sticks to get the dumpling into the spoon. Then you nibble the top off the dumpling and find some way to get as much sauce into the dumpling and as little soup into the sauce as possible. Not easy, let me tell you. Then you spoil all of the effort by eating the dumpling out of the spoon.

8. What is the Creole trinity? 2 parts onion, 1 part bell pepper, 1 part celery; all evenly diced.

9. What dry ingredient is a constant in every (Spanish) gazpacho? Bread. Good catch!

10. How do you eat (Vietnamese) cha giao? You put a piece of lettuce in your hand, the cha gio (which is a sort of "egg roll") in the lettuc, some cilantro, thai-basil and sawgrass on top, some julienne of carrot and radish on top of that, and spoon some fish sauce in. Then fold the lettuce into a taco or roll it into a burrito. Then and only then, "with my mouth."

11. What's (Korean) banchan? An assortment of appetizers, salads, sides, garniture, served in small dishes alongside whatever else. Wrap your minhd around this: Banchan is (a) free, (b) sometimes includes some of the spiciest stuff you will ever eat and smoked fish too, and (c) free.

12. How high should the oven be preheated to Romertopf a roast chicken? Trick question. The oven should not be preheated or the Romertopf will crack. The oven should be turned on only after the Romertopf goes in. I know the last sentence reads like a smutty double entendre, but I would never.

Well hardly never,
BDL

[Quinn01]

Good stuff BDL.

I knew my fair share of those. haha

:::

What is Sucre De Palmier?

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by Quinn01

What is Sucre De Palmier?

Palm sugar sometimes known as coconut palm sugar and sometimes date palm sugar, and sometimes just palm sugar. We used to live near a Thai dessert/bakery place that used a lot of it. I forget what it's called in Thai, I think I remember two or three names. It's used in India/Bangladeh as jaggery or gur, but it's from date palms and not from coconut palms like the Thai stuff. They use it for a variety of things. We sometimes buy jaggery from the Indian grocery -- it comes in little blocks you have to break up to use. I know it's used in Vietnamese cuisine as well.

If it's in Southeast Asia and the South Asian peninsual, it's probably all around South Asia, so I'd guess Indonesia, and the rest of the region too.

The closes substitute is the Mexican sugar called piloncillo. I use piloncillo all the time. If it's available to you at reasonable prices, you should at least try it. It beats "sugar in the raw" all hollow; and unlike turbinado which is extensively factory-processed, it is actually just reduced crushed cane juice poured into a mold and left to harden.

BDL

[Gunnar]

K, well I lost score. I just hope people keep asking BDL the strange and obscure. Love knowing what I don't know.

[chefelle]

I have to say, BDL--I am VERY impressed! I'd be digging in Larousse for alot of those answers!!!

Okay--I'll throw my hat in the ring---
In what cuisine would you find the use of salep and mastic? What are these items and what are they typically used for?

[LollaRossa]

Originally Posted by chefelle

I have to say, BDL--I am VERY impressed! I'd be digging in Larousse for alot of those answers!!!

Okay--I'll throw my hat in the ring---
In what cuisine would you find the use of salep and mastic? What are these items and what are they typically used for?

Turkish, mainly in use for their ice creams as thickening agents. IIRC it is these that give the ice cream the ghooeyness that Turkish ice cream is known for. It's been a long time but I read it in an issue of Savior.

[durangojo]

okay bdl, give this one a try...what is shichimi togarashi? zampone? what is the special diet that kobe cattle enjoy? and get massages with what?
joey

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by durangojo

okay bdl, give this one a try...what is shichimi togarashi? zampone? what is the special diet that kobe cattle enjoy? and get massages with what?
joey

I know these.

Shichimi togarishi is Japanese chili pepper table spice stuff that you get on the table in ramen-ya. The Japanese claim it's spicy, but they lie. In the greater scheme of what is and what is not spicy, shichimi togarishi is very tame. I've got a bottle each of two different types (red and green), bought at Mitsuwa, in one of our spice cabinets. The labels are in Japanese and I can't read the kanji script, but I think they're the same brand -- just not sure. I'm a bit fan of any noodle soup, a lot of ramen under the bridge.

Kobe beef is really "Japanese beef from Tagajima Prefecture," in Japanese, wa-gyu Tagajima; Kobe is the capital of Tagajima and the shipping point of the beef. It's a sort of appellation controlee thing, with the Japanese government working hand in hand with the producers to keep the name restricted. It's supposed to be about quality, but I suspect it's more about money. At any rate, I think only something like five hundred farms are licensed to produce the beef. I first read about it in a James Bond novel -- You Only Live Twice in the 60s.

The steers are fed on beer, and have sake massaged into their coats. Which, frankly, sounds good to me. I had the chance to try the real thing in Japan at two meals when I was there on business in the nineties -- the trip paid for by someone who wanted something from me very badly. I found the ultra-desirable cuts a bit greasy grilled and an incredible waste of money in shabu shabu, which no matter how you look at it is boiled meat. You can get beef from American raised black faced cattle, called wa-gyu beef without the beer/sake rigamarole. It's very well-marbled, more so than prime and more palatable to my tastes than the Japanese meat. Frankly, I prefer specialty Angus to wa-gyu. By the way, in Japanese, "wa" means "Eastern" or "Asian" depending on context; and "gyu" means "beef" or, more properly "beeve" if you want to get all technical.

Zampone is just Italian for trotters. In French, pied de couchon. In Spanish, either patitas de puerco or manitas de cerdo. We report, you decide. Got recipes?

BDL

[Quinn01]

Whats the difference between Nutty Sweet Red Rice, Basmati Rice, Medium Grain Brown Rice, and Risotto?

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by Quinn01

Whats the difference between Nutty Sweet Red Rice, Basmati Rice, Medium Grain Brown Rice, and Risotto?

Risotto is a rice dish, made by sauteing an appropriate type of rice, in just enough stock (don't forget a little wine) of some sort to cover, adding more liquid as necessary, and stirring it frequently (always in one direction). At the appropriate moment the cook stops adding liquid so that when the rice is perfectly done it will be be neither soupy nor sticky -- but creamy. The big tricks are not to overstir which crushes the grains; and predict the finish so the rice coasts into perfect doneness in the bowl. Otherwise it will overcook, split and glom up into a hunk of goo. Restaurant risotto used to be predictably overcooked, now they've gone the other way and usually serve it soupy and al dente. Some people like a cream finish, and some people don't. You usually use a medium grain white rice to make risotto. But there's no law or anything. The traditional Italian choice of rice is arborio. I prefer to use Cal-Rose. It's creamier and a little more forgiving of timing glitches.

Basmati rice is a type of long grain, originally from India. It's the best rice if you want loose as opposed to sticky rice. Great for pilafs, arrozes, etc. You can get it milled (white) or raw (brown). My favorite kinds are from the Kashmir and Thailand -- very hard to get right now. Some excellent basmatis are grown in the US and Mexico too, but they aren't as aromatic.

Medium grain brown rice is just that. Any medium grain rice with the hull on. Medium rices tend to be starchy but hull on rice keeps its integrity.

Sweet red rice is a short grain, glutinous rice from somewhere on the Asian peninsula. Somewhere around there. Anytime a rice is called "sweet," you know it's short grained and glutinous -- so that's a way of keeping them organized in your head. Glutinous rices are sticky, and very good for puddings. What else? Sweet red rice has a pretty distinctive smell. Kind of like hazelnuts. IIRC it's usually not for desserts but served with strong flavored mains. For some reason I associate it with momo. Is it Himilayan? Nepal?

There's another kind of sweet red rice thing called ang-chow. It's the lees from making rice wine, and very stinky. If that's what you meant that's really stretching it. It's a Hakka/Foo-chow Chinese thing which I know about because there's a Hakka restaurant next to ... The heck with it. To make long a long story short: Once tried, never forgotten.

BDL

[MaryB]

Whats an ABT?

[boar_d_laze]

Originally Posted by MaryB

Whats an ABT?

Atomic buffalo turd. Jalapeno, cored and stuffed with cheese, wrapped with bacon; can be laid on the grate, but ideally held vertically in a special ABT rack, and cooked in a pit -- ideally a Klose.

BDL