Interesting. Have you done much curing, etc. with the Charcuteria book?
Not too much I am reading through it at the moment and marking off things to make. But there is a lot of great knowlege in there, So far I am more impressed with this than many other Spanish cookbooks I’ve seen. Definitely want to make the Txistorra and cured egg yolks
I like this book for where I’m at with Asian cooking. I have a certain comfort level with Japanese cookery, but I’m really lame when it comes to Chinese (covers a lot of ground that term) and others.
So I’ve done a few recipes. What I find is that the recipes are nice starting points. How can I put this . . . let’s say you had a friend growing up who was Korean and you are not. You go over to your friend’s house and his mom cooks you dinner. The dishes are new to you and tasty, but it turns out that your friend’s mom is actually not that great of a cook. You enjoyed everything, but you just don’t know any better.
So, you know, the recipes are good, but not stunning. They are, as advertised, really easy and usually quite fast. Also, a wok isn’t strictly necessary for a lot of the dishes.
By the way, I’ve developed a really easy way to deal with maltose (an ingredient for the lacquered chicken). It’s now easier for me to cook with maltose than honey.
2 Likes
Yeah, Chinese is DIFFICULT, even with the proper ingredients. I think it’s the wok thing.
1 Like
Could be. I have a wok (though I don’t have a high-powered burner). For me, I lack a lot of the little skills and experiences that translate into finesse within Chinese cooking. For instance, I’m not very good with a wok.
1 Like
I’ve enjoyed reading through this:
Recipes are well written and delicious. Great just to read through and get ideas for techniques and flavor combinations.
3 Likes
I hear ya’. I’m sure you can’t do this with all Chinese cooking. But I made Ching-He Huang’s Yang-Yang Crispy Beef in a cast iron skillet.
Does downloading a cookbook onto your pad count? If so, then this is my most recent.
1 Like
@frommtron for some reason I can’t reply directly to you or even quote. But I’d love to recommend Andrea Nguyen’s site: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/ I own all her books and took an Asian dumpling class from her a few years ago. There are loads of recipes on her site and not ‘just’ Vietnamese. She’s a great teacher and her recipes give great explanations of everything. Check her out. I’m NOW waiting for her latest pho book due out momentarily 
2 Likes
Got her pho cookbook a couple of days ago but had family in over the weekend so have barely cracked the cover.
I checked out her vietworldkitchen site . I am going to make some of her recipes . Here’s the weird part . Is she probably lives around the corner from me in Santa Cruz . I had know idea she lives here . Any way this is what she has coming up . Pho Celebration! in Santa Cruz .
I CAN NOT encourage you strongly enough, schedule permitting, to take her class. She’s a great teacher. Keeps it so easy. As you do, one needs to have some basic kitchen skills but that’s it. And she’s really funny. I was so intimidated thinking about making dumplings and came away knowing that she’d given me just what I needed. Thanks for chiming in.
2 Likes
I bought the cookbook Tacos, Recipes and Provocations by Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman probably last November. It had been calling to me from the shelf in the book store. I brought it home and gave it a glance or two but did not get around to cooking from it.
I had a 1/2 lb. of shrimp I wanted to use, I took the book out and turned to the index and scrolled down the Sh list. There, just before shrimp was “Shit, talking of, p 1-240”. That is the whole book. I had to look several times to be sure I wasn’t just seeing things. My DH came in and I made him take a look. It is right there, the middle of the middle column on page 239. I’m still shaking my head about it.
2 Likes
That’s awesome, I love it lol. At least we know he doesn’t take himself too seriously
2 Likes
New arrivals
Do you see a pattern here?
I may not be reporting lately but we’re certainly still drinking it @beefnoguy!
3 Likes
Oh yay re “Asian Dumplings.” She’s a GREAT teacher. If you follow her instructions you’ll be successful. And when I took her dumplings class a few years ago, she was clear that how they look won’t effect how they taste. She’s right. I tend to just do a half-moon pinched thing. Please report back. xoc
1 Like
I have a wall of cookbooks and have told myself “no more!” but?
I may just buy this -
https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2014/03/banh-mi-handbook.html
Was searching for a way to do banh mi’s at home, her mayo and pickled veggies looked the best online, I made thme and? Killer. Perfect.
And then after crowing to myself about how fab she was and how fab I was for finding her? She won a James Beard award. https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2018/05/the-pho-cookbook-won-a-james-beard-award.html
Well dang. Apparently I am late to the party… But happy to be here! : )
1 Like
You ARE late to the party I have all her books and they’re great.
Well that is actually awesome.
Yay Andrea!!!