Culinaria: recipes, memories ...

[Darb]

I was surprised by the portion sizes in LA

Actually, that's something I can comment on a little. That particular custom is an outgrowth of the unspoken attitude of "American Bounty". Compared to many parts of the world, food (particularly meat, which is resource intensive and therefore far less common in undeveloped countries) is relatively inexpensive here, and large portions are part of our cultural heritage.

You can see echoes of that in other cultures around the world ... like the wooden sake 'masu' in Japan, which is typically served overflowing (as a gesture of bounty and courtesy to the customer) whereas normal modern glasses are only filled the usual 3/4 way. The overflowing bowl of rice or noodles is similar - and if you finish ALL of it, it can sometimes be interpreted as a subtle insult to the chef (because it means that the other dishes didn't satisfy you so you gorged instead on 'the filler'). So, rice and rice products are inexpensive in the East and so their cuisine expresses it's bounty that way ... whereas in America our bounty is typically expressed in meat dishes and (if you live on the coast) seafood.

You can also see echoes of it when comparing Italian-American cuisine to authentic Italian cuisine ... the former tends to be meat & sauce heavy (the more expensive ingredients), whereas in traditional italian there's very little meat and the sauce is more of a condiment rather than the main dish.

Getting back to American restaurants - many trendy restaurants, if they lack an edge on their competitors in food quality or special dishes, will compete instead by increasing the portion size.

[laurie]

Wow, thank you, Brad and Aunflin - those marinades sound great.


/me looks for salmon in this week's grocery ads...

[Aunflin]

Well, I'm not Brad but I like to marinate my salmon in a combination of olive oil, fresh minced ginger and garlic, lemon juice, dill (fresh or dry--fresh is MUCH better), a little brown sugar and soya sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. It always turns out quite yummy--especially when it's smoked or grilled. Sometimes I substitute melted butter for the olive oil.

I made this yesterday at work with a slight modification: I used butter this time (REAL butter) and saved the excess to make a sauce to pour over the salmon. My buddy Keith suggested we make a sauce from the remnants of the marinade...so I said ok. He went and grabbed a quart of heavy cream (the good stuff) and added to the mixture--plus I threw in the pan drippings from the salmon. We heated it up and thickened it with a bit of roux. It tasted pretty good but not quite right. I got inspired and threw a few dashes of cayenne pepper sauce in and it tasted delicious--I also thought about adding a bit of white wine, but we didn't have any one hand since they'd used it all at a catering the night before...

Anyway, it turned out awesome. It was the buzz of the hospital. People were asking for the recipe, the doctors utterly devoured it--it's all I heard about yesterday and today. I felt quite proud, though the idea of making the sauce wasn't mine. Keith thought it would make a good base...and it did, though I thought I'd put a tad too much salt in it...

I'm still trying to figure out how much of all the ingredients I used, though I think that if you know what you're doing, you can figure it out. I've actually BS-ed my way through some Indian dishes for the Doctor's Lounge just by taste--it wasn't perfect but it tasted close enough. (They'd brought the Indian food in from a Chef who did caterings for us at the time--and we ran out. Luckily, I'd sampled the food and was able to create a good mimic--thank god we had the right seasonings on the spice rack...)

[Darb]

Luckily, I'd sampled the food and was able to create a good mimic--thank god we had the right seasonings on the spice rack

I've got a dozen or so books on Indian cuisine, so if you ever need one of the classic spice blends (ex: garam masala, sambar masala, etc) I can give you a recipe.

In fact, here's my recipe for Garam Masala:

GARAM MASALA (Northern Indian)
Origin: Adapted from “The Indian Spice Kitchenâ€

[Aunflin]

Looks interesting, Brad.

I really need to find a good book on Indian cuisine being as there are so many Hindu doctors at the hospital. Which do you think would be the best to acquire, since my experience with Indian cuisine is rather limited--I rarely eat the stuff... I did have some Nepalese food the other day, which is supposed to be heavily influenced by Indian Cuisine--and I liked everything but the chutney--bleh!

[Darb]

I threw in the pan drippings from the salmon

If you roasted the salmon in a hotel pan, why didn't you just make the sauce right in the hotel pan directly ? That way you get ALL of the fond, rather than just the pourable stuff. Deglaze deglaze deglaze, my friend ... that's the beauty of NOT having to rely on undersized non-stick crapola houseware.

[Aunflin]

I baked the salmon on sheet trays...and did deglaze (in a hurry), though it would have been rather inconvenient to make a sauce on a sheet tray.

I deglazed in a hurry because only one of my ranges is operational at the moment--the other one burnt out again! Luckily, we'll soon be getting new equipment--I can finally say good bye to the 30+ year old crap I've had to work with for four years. The kitchen will be renovated and set up like a real restaurant kitchen. And we're implimenting room service--starting in September. I'm excited about the changes. We'll get brand new gas ranges, a char-broiler, a flat-top grill, convection ovens, an automatic double fryer, and etc. I CAN'T wait!

[Darb]

Looks interesting, Brad.

I really need to find a good book on Indian cuisine being as there are so many Hindu doctors at the hospital. Which do you think would be the best to acquire, since my experience with Indian cuisine is rather limited--I rarely eat the stuff... I did have some Nepalese food the other day, which is supposed to be heavily influenced by Indian Cuisine--and I liked everything but the chutney--bleh!

I can only speak for the books I've owned and read so far.

I'd get 2 books to start with:

1) Yamuna Devi's Book is a fabulous all-purpose book of encyclopedic breadth and depth ... although it's chief failing is that it's entirely vegetarian and lacks pictures. Definitely oriented towards serious cooks, rather than culinary daytrippers. In any case, it's a great book to turn to for hardcore how-to on just about everything, from A-Z ... as long as you're not looking for meat or fish.

2) For something more easily approachable, omnivorous, and practical, on a day to day exploratory basis (and with helpful photos for culinary 'window shopping'), any of the following are a nice introductory option: Great Curries of India, Curried Favors, or The Indian Spice Kitchen ... although the latter is more of an exploration of various component spices rather than a proper introduction to the cuisine. All three are recommended.

[Aunflin]

Thanks, Brad. I'll definately try to find a copy of the first one. I really don't need pictures to help along, though it *does* help at times. I can usually visualize how something will turn out by reading the recipe, which is why I felt like an idiot when I followed the new company's recipes when I knew deep down they'd turn out like crap--and I was right, though I think I merely followed them to prove a point...

I'll sure get the first and maybe the other three.

Oh, and I need it to be vegetarian for the Hindu docs--they'll eat no meat of any sort...

[Darb]

Remember to be attentive to thinks like seeds ... many Indian vegan dishes have a lot of whole seeds in them (ex: cumin seeds, mustard seedss, the seeds present in eggplant, etc.), which can pose problems in a hospital setting for people with things like diverticulitis. Such things are definitely not for the 'low residue' menu.

[Aunflin]

Yeah. Fortunately, I won't be making it for the patients. It'll be for the Doctor's Lounge--and they can be quite verbose and picky as to their food tastes. I'm just trying to keep them happy so I don't have to hear them bitch about the food--some of which is quite bad because we get poor products in all too often. I keep telling my boss that I'm not an alchemist: I can't turn lead into gold--and alchemy never really worked anyway... But they don't seem to get my point--even when we manage to get good products in and the reaction by the various customers is different in a very positive way. Sometimes I can work wonders...but most of the time this rule applies: crap is crap whichever way you present it...

But despite all my whining, I want to stay on for a while to see how the patient room service deal works...

[Darb]

As luck would have it, TheSurrealGourmet (great site, BTW) recently posted an article on BeerCan Chicken

[Aunflin]

Interesting.

I never thought beercan chicken looked surrealistic. But upon thinking about it and seeing the pic on the site...indeed it does.

[Darb]

Well, if you look closely at the picture - that's what I use Budweiser for most of the time ... boiling lobsters, steaming mussels and giving enemas to chickens. I cook with it more often than I drink it.

[Aunflin]

Bud's all right after you've had all the good stuff--by that time you're too far gone to really notice the difference.

I agree with you, though I do drink it on occasion. I have the same approach with wine [as you do with Budweiser]: I hate to drink the stuff but I love to cook with it.

[Darb]

Hey, neat - I just found what appears to be a decent recipe for English Curry Powder (yeah, I know, call me nuts, but this sort of thing interests me because I collect spices and spice recipes).

I just cut the numbers down from a recipe for 5 cups (too much) to roughly 12 tsp (1 standard spice bottle):

English Curry Powder
Origin: Adapted from "A World of Curries", by Dave DeWitt & Arthur Pais (ISBN 0-316-18224-9), tweaked & reorganized by yours truly.
Batch Size: Roughly 10-12 tsp, after grinding (1 full spice bottle).

Qty Ingredient
2 tsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
½ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
1 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Garam Masala
¾ tsp Besan Flour
¾ tsp Garlic, powder
1/8 tsp Ginger, ground
1/8 tsp Dry Mustard
1/8 tsp Black Pepper, ground
1/8 tsp Cayennne Pepper (Red Chile Powder)
1/8 tsp Curry Leaves, dried & ground (subst bay leaves if you lack curry leaves)
1/8 tsp Asafoetida

Directions:
Toast, cool & grind the whole seeds
Combine with all other ingredients, and re-grind again, until very fine.

I'm actually going to make that tonite, because I'm out of ECP (which is why I was looking for a recipe ... why buy it if I already have all the ingredients ?)

[Aunflin]

Tonite? Why'd you type that? Just to save typing an extra letter...? But I guess as long as you don't write "donut" (in my mind "do nut"--why not write "doenut" or even "dounut" [well, the last one made me think of "do unit" ) rather than doughnut...

Anyway, I'll have to try that one out and see how it tastes.

[Darb]

I typed it out because I just dickered the numbers and entered it into my recipe log ... so it was a simple cut & paste to put a copy here as well, and then just add a note.

I'm sure I can google it up again if you want the 5 cup original version.

p.s. If you dont have curry leaves handy, you can substitute ground bay leaves for an approximate flavor. Not quite the same, but close enough for a minor component.

[Aunflin]

I was teasing you about typing "tonite" rather than "tonight," Brad... /sigh

/me wonders why me bothers...

[Darb]

Sorry - misread the jest.

[mccormack44]

QUERY:

In an effort to better control my diabetes through diet, I've been exploring dried bean recipes as found in my cookbooks. A very large number of them use tomatoes; a no-no in our household, because we are both sensitive to them.

I know I can just omit them, BUT tomatoes tend to help tenderize food, and they add to the flavor. So can anyone think of a substitute for tomatoes?

Would buttermilk work? I hope I wouldn't need soda, as one does in baked goods; baking soda destroys vitamins in vegetable dishes. But I think it's just part of the leavening in baked goods, which wouldn't apply to casseroles.

Sue

[Aunflin]

Are you sensitive to tomatoes because of the acid or due to an allergy? If it's the acid, try yellow tomatoes. They're much less acidic than the red varieties.

And I've tried to think of other possible substitutes...but their all acidy.

Unless they have some sort of soya product with tomato flavoring.

[mccormack44]

A mild allergic reaction to the tomatoes; other acids don't seem to affect us at all.

Sue

[Aunflin]

I'll have to do some research, since I have no ideas off hand. Maybe Brad will have some insights...

I'll see what I can discover, though I feel the success of my quest is doubtful...

[Aunflin]

Off the top of my head because Google's coming up blank:

Well, I guess you could always throw in some chicken, beef, pork, ham, bacon, fish, vegetable, or any number of stocks into your beans to add extra flavour. You could even throw in a bit of vinegar, lemon juice (good flavour enhancer), Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, or something like that to get a hint of acid in the flavouring. Mrs. Dash is a pretty good all-purpose seasoning. Add extra herbs and spices. Toss in some chili powder or hot sauce. Use mirepoix (carrots, celery, onions), the Cajun/Creole "Holy Trinity" (celery, green peppers, and onion), toss in some garlic (my favorite!)....

However, have you talked to a dietitian about all you can and can't have? My friend Katherine is a Dietitian...I could ask her for suggestions...?