Alan408's Profile
How to grill super-fatty meats without over- or undercooking?
Let it Burn!
Hot heat/coals, thin/very thin slices, plan on turning once. On a "stick" works too, soak bamboo, thread protein on bamboo stick. When I turn, I use: fork, spatula, tongs. Very hot coals, cook for a minute or so, then turn.
Salt/Season before laying on the grill. You want to concentrate on cooking the meat once it is on the grill, get your utensils ready.
Thin slices; pork shoulder/boston butt/rib eye; 1/4" to 1/8". Meat with bones; ~1/4" thick.
All of the other comments are correct: fat + fire = flareups. Minimize the time over the fire.
A sugar/shoyu based marinade can increase the carmelization vs time.
Try foil with holes cut in it, similar method, lay protein flat on foil, lay foil on grill, cut holes in foil between protein. You will want very high heat, if it didn't work, simmered vs charred protein, your heat wasn't high enough. To me, foil is similar to using training wheels.
For thicker pork belly, par boil it; a favorite is to simmer in teriyaki for ~20-30 min, then grill over
indirect headgrill, boil teriyaki, after ~15 min, dunk pork belly in teriyaki "glaze" and finish over direct heat. First cook to season/render, then roast, then grill.
For shortribs, get english cut, and trim off the fat, and cook over med not high heat coals. Trim off the Fat! Hold your hand over the heat for 5-7 seconds. Can't do it, then the heat it too hot.
Strange coffee prep while traveling?
"Instant" coffee comes in a syrup, as well as dried/freeze dried. Not to be confused with the flavored coffee syrups.
Yams vs. Sweet potatoes
Not a peeve for me, but I think you have it backwards. "Yams" are really a variety of sweet potato. I cannot find "real yams' except at ethnic grocery stores, but both light and dark sweet potatoes are at most supermarkets. The darker/reddish ones are labeled yams, but are a variety of sweet potato.
What do you expect to come with an entree?
I live in Nor Cal, in the "suburbs", where I live, all of the place I eat, give a "full plate", protein and side, sometimes with a choice of soup/salad. When I go to the "City" (San Francisco), most of the places I eat are "a la carte". I guess I have learned, when I see sides such as: potatoes, mac and cheese, I figure it is al la carte, or perhaps I see "a la carte" on the menu, or have researched the menu on line.
The pricing of your selections is consistent with SF pricing, add $6-10 for a salad, and $7 for a side.
I don't think this is the new norm (in my area), because my father used to help me order when we ate "a la carte". That would have been in the 60's.
I would hope the wait staff would help me if I didn't order "correctly", if I ordered the "beef" and no sides, I would hope the wait staff would explain I was just getting "beef", no potato for example.
How to measure a frying pan?
:: Depends, some manufactures measure the (inside?) bottom ::
Could you provide an example of a manufacturer using the base measurement to specify a pan? I've not seen that.
My lodge cast iron pans are marked as follows: SK-8 uses a 10" lid, if I measure the inside bottom, it is ~8" if I measure the outside bottom it is ~8.5", SK-10 uses a 12" lid, inside bottom measurement is ~10", the outside bottom measurement is ~10.5". I have a couple of aluminum pans marked SK-12 that require a 14" lid. The aluminum pans are imported, purchased at a restaurant supply store.
How to measure a frying pan?
Depends, some manufactures measure the (inside?) bottom, some measure the top, lip to lip. Some are just close to.
I have pans marked SK-8 (2) that use a 10" lid, a pan marked SK-10 that uses a 12" lid, the inside measurement at the bottom of the pan is close to the number, measure on the outside bottom, the pan is ~1" larger than the number. Those are Lodge Cast Iron pans.
I have pans that were advertised as 12", marked SK-12, inside bottom measurement is 9.5", outside measurement is 12.5", I have to use a flat 14" lid for that pan. These are aluminum pans from a restaurant supply store.
My pans marked SK-6 use an 8" lid. These are "tapas" pans from Costco, I use for reheating and fritattas.
I usually don't worry about the "advertised size", I am concerned about lids.
Bao like you'd find with Peking Duck
I have used buttermilk biscuits "in a tube". I used to fill them with meats/poultry and steam for ~15 minutes. Sort of a fast char siu bao.
Where could I buy some authentic dashi without going to Japantown?
I live in San Jose, most of my local supermarkets sell dashi.
Ajinomoto: Hon Dashi, ~2 oz jar
Kikkoman Memmi, 10-16oz bottles
Shimaya Bonito Flavored Soup Stock, 10 bag box
Shimaya Dashino-moto, 5 bag box
Yamaki Dashi no moto, 5 bag box.
I have also used Knorr's Fish Stock cubes.
Looking for Dungeness crab fat (tomalley) recipe
Scramble some eggs with it.
Per egg; 2-3 T crab butter, 1/4 t soy sauce, black pepper.
Oysters questions
Frozen Oysters are commercially available, both in the shell, half shell, and out of the shell.
Those out of the shell are frozen with liquid.
Frozen, prepared Oysters Rockefellar are commercially available.
I need some help with COGNACS
I had a problem with the corks drying out, and also with evaporation. I now store those few bottles of cognac and scotch on their sides, just tilted enough so the cork stays in contact with the liquor.
Where to Buy Boneless Raw Chicken Wings???
In my experience, "boneless chicken wings" are sliced from boneless skinned chicken breasts.
Unappealing raw flour taste in the tortilla wrapper of my breakfast burritos...
I heat tortillas directly on an electric element.
Looking for a lunch truck for a Sunnyvale campus onsite patio event
I used to work in Sunnyvale, all of the lunch trucks I used to eat from were "nothing special", not close to the trucks I see on television. Most of the trucks I have experience with had "routes", they would come to my work (between 10:45-11:00), toot their horn and park in the back. In ~20 years, I ate from ~4-6 trucks. When my work would move, we would call Lee's Catering and they would send out a truck. A long time ago, Mr Le started running a lunch truck, he eventually controlled (owned) many of the trucks in Silicon Valley, he had large parking lots and a "store". Based on the number of trucks in his lots, I think he owned ~30-50 trucks. I believe he retired a few years ago, I believe Lee's Sandwiches is run by the next generation of Le's. Phone number for Lee's Industrial Catering; 408 275-0700. That said, there are "designer" lunch trucks in the area, I often see them on weekends at: the flea market, parked on Oakland Road, parked in shopping center lots, driving on the road.
Since retiring, I am seldom in the area. Unless someone recommends a truck, I recommend parking along Central Expressway and look for trucks, get some phone numbers off of the trucks. Also, drive/walk/bike the area close to your campus, from ~10:30 to 12:30 and listen for the "horn". I don't remember seeing a truck at the Sunnyvale Caltrain Station, but at the Lawrence Caltrain Station, there were often 2-3 trucks, 1 at the station, 1 behind Costco, and 1 ~2 blocks away at a carpet business. There used to be an independent truck (not one of Lee's) at an auto body repair shop at Mathilda and Almanor, the served the "usual" and specialized in Mexican.
edit: I looked at the yelp list, none of the truck names looked familar to me. I recommended parking along Central Expressway and writing down phone numbers of trucks, you can not park along Central, but rather park in a lot close to Central, walk to Central.
Your disappointing purchases from Costco
I have been talking to several people who fish/eat ling cod. 2 people said they also do not like the smell of ling cooking, 3 people said they didn't notice anything unusual, 1 person laughed (knowingly) and that had happened at least once before. Several years ago, I remarked I didn't like the smell of ling cooking and a guy on the boat laughed.
In my case, I catch a few fish, they are fileted and put in a bag. I don't know the species, but occasionally I get a fish that has an unpleasant smell during cooking and doesn't taste like fish. Or, I catch a few fish and clean them myself, and when I cook the ling, I don't like the smell.
This morning, I talked with a commercial fisherman who fished for ling Monday. He said he occasionally gets a "smelly" ling, but not all the time, he also said, maybe it was something it (smelly ling) ate.
Your disappointing purchases from Costco
Ling Cod usually has an unusual smell when cooking. Not a fishy smell, it is unpleasant to me.
New Compost Tumbler: no action at all
I didn't see any "green". For every ~10 gallons of brown, I want ~10-20 gallons of green. For me, green is lawn clippings, spring prunings. When I have too much green to brown, I have to turn the pile to dry, when I have too little green to brown, I have to add water. But, all brown doesn't compost, neither does all green, the correct combo will. All brown will "break up" into smaller pieces when tumbled/shoveled, not by decomposition but by friction/pressure. All green will either turn brown or turn to a combo of brown/liquid. Worms help a lot! but not in a container composter.
When my compost pile is going hot, I will add shrimp/crab/clam/mussel/egg shells. The clam/mussel shells and some of the crab shells do not completely "compost", but I usually add the rements to the garden.
I have never had a compost pile digest tomato seeds.
Bold Knight fondue
Bold Knight is still in business, or was ~6 months ago, they still serve the fondue. They moved several years ago.
Creekside is still open too, ate there ~a week ago, they still have the fondue.
Several years ago, (~5), the SJ Mercury News food section (Home plates) published the BK fondue recipe.
What Makes a Slider a Slider?
WC burgers/sliders are cooked on a flat top, the meat patties have holes in them, steam will go through the holes, shortening cooking time.
At least that is what I saw on a television show.
What Makes a Slider a Slider?
There is a burger chain, White Castle, in the mid west/east selling small sized hamburgers. Those hamburgers are available in the San Francisco area frozen. The frozen, small sized hamburgers are called sliders. I first noticed them in the late 70's.
I don't know if White Castle coined the term "sliders" but the first time I saw the name, it was on a box of frozen White Castles.
Bone-in beef short ribs - not worth the effort or did I mess them up?
Try Zuni's recipe/method. Zuni is a restaurant in San Francisco.
I have substituted pale ale for the chimay ale, didn't notice a difference. If your short ribs are fatty, trim the fat before cooking
french fries boiled in oil
I have used ATK's methoc and was satisfied. Less work than double fry.
Which part of the squid is this?
Many people are used to seeing/eating "market squid", usually around 10/lb. The squid in the picture may be "Humbolt (sp?) Squid", common size ~30-40 lbs each. Could have been cuttlefish too.
Bad Mushrooms
It may have not been the mushrooms, but something "on" the mushrooms.
Latest "food poisoning" alert I heard was grape tomatoes. It isn't the tomatoes, but something "on" the tomatoes. Big one, about 5 years ago, was spinach. But, it wasn't spinach, it was something "on" the spinach.
Where can I buy affordable fresh local fish?
I don't remember any boats selling salmon last year from Pillar Point. I would not be surprised to see $10/lb.
Commercial salmon season opens today, but it is currently rough (windy) on the ocean.
Last year, a commercial salmon fisherman out of Pillar Point claimed, "300 years of commercial salmon fishing experience could not catch one fish." 7 or 8 anglers each with 30-40 years of experience could not catch a salmon. I hope this year is more productive.
Where can I buy affordable fresh local fish?
Local seafood: rock cod/sebastes often called pacific red snapper, ling cod, black cod, anchovies, sardines, mackeral, squid, salmon (starting May 1), crab, oysters, sand dabs petrale sole, white seabass, halibut, occasionally albacore in the summer/fall.
South of SF, there is a harbor at Pillar Point, there are commercial fishing boats berthed there. Some of the boats have retail permits and sell off the boat. There is a list of boats outside of the harbormaster's office. Google Pillar Point Harbor master for a phone number. There is also a fish market at the harbor. There used to be commercial fish landings in Sausalito, closed about 5 years ago. San Francisco Pier 45, closed this year. I don't know of any ther landings in SF. Pillar Point, Moss Landing and Monterey still have commercial fish landings. Moss and Monterey try Sea Harvest, Moss try Phil's.
Bottom line: there is not a lot of local fish, and "cheapest" isn't the best.
Looking for good cheap eats on the peninsula.
My RWC go-to Mexican is on Woodside Road, at Gordon, they also have a location on El Camino, used to be an A&W. Another favorite Mexican is/are the taquerias in Chavez Market. Two Chavez markets in RWC.
FWIW, crab season is open until the end of June.
Looking for good cheap eats on the peninsula.
Not really a "chowhound place" but closer to DDD and very inexpensive, try Harry's Hofbrau.
Baked Russets in gas oven for 3.5 hrs. @ 200. Will it work?
It didn't work for me, potatoes had a very dense texture, vs. dry/fluffy. Didn't taste like a baked potato.
Safe, easy gas stove/oven for elderly parents
Call the local gas company. My Wedgewood at the cabin (~1957) was not always lighting. The local propane company sent out a tech, he replaced several parts, some preemtive,
