What can you expect in the Food Thread on PF?

[nismaratwork]

My new coffee maker:

Mmmmmm... vacuum coffee maker...

Put some Kona or JBM in that puppy! It looks really good too, but then, maybe I just like the lab aesthetic.


@Borek: Any Polish food recommendations? Kabanos has opened my eyes to a subtler world of Polish foods, and ones that aren't normally pegged as Polish in the USA.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Makowiec.jpg
This picture was supplied by Borek in the Random thoughts thread. It is a picture of what I always called mun. I like it very much. A lot of my friends say it tastes like dirt and I kind of agree. Now go back to Random Thoughts.
https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?p=3171206&posted=1#post3171206"

 

[nismaratwork]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Makowiec.jpg
This picture was supplied by Borek. It is a picture of what I always called mun. I like it very much. A lot of my friends say it tastes like dirt and I kind of agree.

I love that stuff, and that's a slightly sweeter version of what I got... kind of a poppyseed/yeast "Swiss Roll".

I know what you mean about the taste... call it "earthy" and now you're a connesuir.

I love Mastic Gum (straight up, Chios Mastica sap)... like spruce gum, you love it, or think it tastes like bark.

 

[Borek]

@Borek: Any Polish food recommendations? Kabanos has opened my eyes to a subtler world of Polish foods, and ones that aren't normally pegged as Polish in the USA.

There are some things that I think may be worth trying, but I am afraid they can be difficult to find. There is a soup - żurek z białą kiełbasą - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sour_rye_soup with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weisswurst - but a lot depends on the way it is prepared and it is served in many variants of which only one is right IMHO. There are many kinds of dumplings - called pierogi - my favorites are called here Russian dumplings - ruskie pierogi, stuffed with mix of potatoes and white cheese. There are things that are very simple but great - like bread with lard, served as a spread with a pinch of salt and with pickled cucumbers (note that the bread in Poland may be not identical with the breads you know). Even simple http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaszanka can be great - a lot depends on how it was made and how it is served. Then there are things that some find great and some find bad, like common carp (fried, roasted or in gellatin) - some don't like its meat as it has a little bit muddy taste, others (including me) like it for the same reason.

 

[gravenewworld]

Mmmmmm... vacuum coffee maker...

Put some Kona or JBM in that puppy! It looks really good too, but then, maybe I just like the lab aesthetic.


@Borek: Any Polish food recommendations? Kabanos has opened my eyes to a subtler world of Polish foods, and ones that aren't normally pegged as Polish in the USA.

Not a vacuum coffee maker, but rather a cold drip coffee maker.

 

[Borek]

Looks like something that would get you arrested in Texas.

 

[nismaratwork]

Not a vacuum coffee maker, but rather a cold drip coffee maker.

Cold drip? Hmmm...

@Borek: Yeah, or something from 'The Dukes of Hazard'.

 

[gravenewworld]

Looks like something that would get you arrested in Texas.

Possibly. Supposedly using cold drip removes a lot of the acidity and bitterness and gives you a much smoother brew. It makes a really concentrated brew at the bottom which you combine with hot water to make a warm cup of jo. It may be a tad gimmicky, but I think it makes for a neat decoration. That's probably just the chemist portion of me talking that is fascinated by the glassware aspect of the piece. You see a lot of these cold drip coffee makers in Asian countries and in Chinatowns across the US.

 

[nismaratwork]

I've never had it... and now I want to.

 

[Evo]

It looks neat.

 

[turbo]

Just found that coffee-maker on Amazon. $200!

 

[nismaratwork]

Just found that coffee-maker on Amazon. $200!

I don't want it anymore.

 

[turbo]

I don't want it anymore.

Nor do I. I have a perfectly fine espresso maker that cost me less than $50, and makes me a 4-demitasse carafe of good brew every morning.

My wife goes an even simpler route - a Melitta funnel-shaped plastic filter-holder and a pack of #4 filters.

 

[lisab]

I have a question about smell and food.

I don't eat beef much anymore, but tonight I cooked a steak. Very high heat, the outer fat was nicely charred but the inside was rare.

Now, it's been several hours since I cooked it, but the smell of charred beef fat is still so strong! I smell it with every breath. So how come we become accustomed to some food smells, and not others? Is it because our brains are hard-wired to love fat?

 

[nismaratwork]

I have a question about smell and food.

I don't eat beef much anymore, but tonight I cooked a steak. Very high heat, the outer fat was nicely charred but the inside was rare.

Now, it's been several hours since I cooked it, but the smell of charred beef fat is still so strong! I smell it with every breath. So how come we become accustomed to some food smells, and not others? Is it because our brains are hard-wired to love fat?

I have no hard evidence to hand, but I recall that we have a large number of receptors specifically to smell char, meat, and anything proteinaceous. The grease smell lingers because... it actually lingers on surfaces.

 

[Dembadon]

Looks like something that would get you arrested in Texas.

Or the center-piece of a coffee table in California.

 

[nismaratwork]

Or the center-piece of a coffee table in California.

Heh...

I had a coffee maker like that once... for about a year. I drank a LOT of coffee...

 

[lisab]

I have no hard evidence to hand, but I recall that we have a large number of receptors specifically to smell char, meat, and anything proteinaceous. The grease smell lingers because... it actually lingers on surfaces.

Hmm, I just had a good meal. I'm too fat and happy to go cleaning stuff .

 

[nismaratwork]

Hmm, I just had a good meal. I'm too fat and happy to go cleaning stuff .

How about...

http://www.gourmandia.com/video-recipes-cooking-videos/wolf-eel-with-salt-crust-tomato-sauce-and-basil
http://www.gourmandia.com/video-recipes-cooking-videos/wolf-eel-with-fleurette-sauce-saffron-pills-and-green-lemon


Mmmmm... you're right, they look good.

[URL]http://www.gourmandia.com/m/thumb/grilled-wolf-eel-with-beaten-milk-and-horseradish.jpg[/URL]

 

[lisab]

How about...

http://www.gourmandia.com/video-recipes-cooking-videos/wolf-eel-with-salt-crust-tomato-sauce-and-basil
http://www.gourmandia.com/video-recipes-cooking-videos/wolf-eel-with-fleurette-sauce-saffron-pills-and-green-lemon


Mmmmm... you're right, they look good.

[URL]http://www.gourmandia.com/m/thumb/grilled-wolf-eel-with-beaten-milk-and-horseradish.jpg

[/URL]

Nooooo! They're so sweet...don't eat my friends!

 

[nismaratwork]

Nooooo! They're so sweet...don't eat my friends!

Very sweet it seems... a bit like Congar Eel...


Don't worry, I'm not eating any eel except Pike and Congar... I love animals too much to eat something so gentle as a wolf eel.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The other night I had a little bit of meat left on a chicken, so on a whim I made a small amount of chicken soup HEAVY with fresh cilantro, onions, and habaneros. Mmmmmmmmm, it was surprisingly good. I'm starting to think I like anything laced with capsaicin.

 

[nismaratwork]

The other night I had a little bit of meat left on a chicken, so on a whim I made a small amount of chicken soup HEAVY with fresh cilantro, onions, and habaneros. Mmmmmmmmm, it was surprisingly good. I'm starting to think I like anything laced with capsaicin.

You should! It's a flavor enhancer that works quite well with salt, and glutamate! Yum!

Try a bit of chili powder in your cocoa, or put some dried habaneros (WHOLE) in a sachet into raw cocoa for storage. You will be happy.

 

[turbo]

My wife and I made Spanish rice this afternoon, using my home-made marinara from last summer as a base. Mmmm! Much better than using canned tomato sauce. I'll have to make and freeze more gallons of marinara next summer. I'll have to plant extra Mariana tomatoes (Roma variant) basil, cilantro, etc.

 

[turbo]

My wife was a mad baker today: She made French bread, pumpernickel, French bread with roasted garlic, and French bread with roasted garlic, rosemary, and sun-dried tomatoes. The last version is the best, IMO. She made up that recipe on the fly and still wants to tinker with it, so I'll have some more fresh bread later this week.

 

[nismaratwork]

My wife was a mad baker today: She made French bread, pumpernickel, French bread with roasted garlic, and French bread with roasted garlic, rosemary, and sun-dried tomatoes. The last version is the best, IMO. She made up that recipe on the fly and still wants to tinker with it, so I'll have some more fresh bread later this week.

Oh god... so good. If you see a 6'2" monster with curly hair skulking in your yard, sniffing for bread... it's just me, so don't shoot!

 

[gravenewworld]

Well got the cold drip coffee maker and tried it out last night. There is definitely a pretty big difference between cold brewed coffee and warm brewed. The cold is milder with definitely a less acidic taste and less bitterness. I notice a big difference because I drink my coffee black. Some people may not like cold drip coffee because they actually prefer the bitter taste with the slight bite that regular coffee has. If you have indigestion problems drinking regular coffee, I could see a cold drip brewed coffee being much easier on your stomach. Definitely much more mellow.

 

[nucleargirl]

managed to gain a kilo from eating last week... good times!

 

[nismaratwork]

managed to gain a kilo from eating last week... good times!

The measure of weight, or class of submarine?

*runs away*

 

[sachinism]

papperoni pizza anytime!

 

[Evo]

Eggplant alert! I was watching Anthony Bourdain the other night and he decided to impress his European hosts by making ratatouille. Unfortunately, he thought it was made by cooking the vegetables separately and then tossing them together at the last moment, since this seems to be the new trend and a lot of people don't know that is not how traditional ratatouille is made. The host set him straight "this tastes good, but it's not ratatouille".

Ratatouille is a vegetable stew, all of the vegetables are placed in a pot together and the unique flavor comes from stewing the vegetables together until they almost disintegrate.

This is what it should look like, it's peasant food, they didn't have tons of pans and time to cook every individual item, it all went into a single pot and cooked for a long time.

Anyway, this is part 1 of what will be a tutorial on traditional ratatouille and the differences between it and caponata, bohemienne, and the newly invented Confit byaldi which was misrepresented as ratatouille in the cartoon movie Ratatouille.

Yes, I am a nit picky traditionalist and people should know what they're eating. All are tasty, but often confused. More to come.

 

[Evo]

Corned beef question. I know the point cut is fattier than the flat cut, but it's on sale for a dollar a pound cheaper than the flat. I'm just wondering if the percentage of fat makes the point cheaper or same as the flat? Does anyone know, on average, what percentage of fat a point usually has as opposed to the flat?

 

[Evo]

Eggplant Bohemienne.

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2008/08/27/bohemienne/

 

[nismaratwork]

Corned beef question. I know the point cut is fattier than the flat cut, but it's on sale for a dollar a pound cheaper than the flat. I'm just wondering if the percentage of fat makes the point cheaper or same as the flat? Does anyone know, on average, what percentage of fat a point usually has as opposed to the flat?

Not a clue, but it tends to be less a matter of fatty marbling, and more fat you need to trim... I'd guess that varies by butcher. I'd guess from experience... maybe 10%-15%?

 

[nismaratwork]

Mmmmm... ratatouille is fantastic stuff... must make your french blood sing!