Awesome, glad it worked out for you.

I keep one nonstick pan and replace it every year or two. Switched to Tramontina for this last year and have been pretty happy with it. (The Sweethome is also on board this train.)

For the other stuff I bought All-Clad ~17 years ago and it's all doing marvelously. Worth the money imo.

All,

Epicurious made a list of the greatest home cooks of all time and Kenji unsurprisingly came in at the #1 spot.

http://www.epicurious.com/expert-adv...-cooks-gallery

I was wondering why I wasn't listed in the 100 great home cooks of all time and then I realised it was an American list.

Hi all.

Thanks for the pan thoughts. It looks like the all-clad sale site that someone linked earlier (HERE) is up and going again.

Am I looking for something like the 4qt. weeknight pan? the d5 brushed version?

Bowens,

That, the fry pans, the French skillets, chef's pan, and sauté pan all look like possible good options for you. Just depends how big a pan you want!

FYI-all I use are 3 pans: a small sauce pan for sauce, cast iron for braising a steak and a few other things and virtually everything else I cook is in a large braising pan like this:



Its got pretty good weight so it holds heat and its large enough to spread everything out real well so there is space in between and vegetables don't steam and turn to mush.

This is probably my favorite thing I learned from the chefs: "get a big pan rippin' hot, spread whatever your cooking out with plenty of space in between and then cook in batches depending upon whatever your cooking" (i.e. don't throw fast cook veggies in with slow cook veggies). Examples:








I think I paid $20 bucks for my pan at a restaurant supply, even works better than my wok

i have no idea if the listed order of cooks corresponds to a particular ranking, but i'll point out Edna Lewis is the very last entry after such critically acclaimed cooks as dean martin, vincent price, tammy wynette, danny kaye, trisha yearwood, patti labelle, chrissy teigen, martha stewart, 'ma' from little house on the prairie, and numerous others.

well, at least she's respected enough to warrant an animated .gif, right?

Wife challenged herself with making xiaolongbao, aka soup dumplings.

Pretty good for her first attempt. Flavor was right on. Skin was too thick and too much yield loss due to broken skin/leakage. Very happy she is making this for me but I think this is going on the list of things we're only eating in restaurants.





Soup shot.

Noice, when do y'all open your restaurant?

Amoeba, I just bought a package of fermented black beans in order to make a batch of Chinese Black Bean Sauce.

Are you a fan of this sauce and if so, do you have a recipe you like of this sauce?

chili oil and chili garlic sauce are pretty far apart, in terms of flavor and what it is made of.

chili garlic sauce does not have an oil in it, it is zero calories.

chili oil is pretty generic terminology, that can be a lot of things depending on which country.

chili garlic sauce is also not used in cooking, it is a condiment.

Thanks, got any tips re: black bean sauce?

So there are several black bean sauces. Like black bean chili sauce, etc....

I have used straight up fermented black beans before but fairly sparingly. Be wary, once you open it up, keep it in airtight container, smell is very strong.

Fermented black beans go in to mapo tofu along with doban jiang, aka hot bean paste.

Take fermented black beans, mush them up and either cook a bit on low heat with some garlic and oil or microwave the mixture to make a paste. This can be used to flavor dishes like the steamed pork spare ribs at dim sum or the steamed squid at dim sum. Use very sparingly as its salty and pungent.

The same paste can also be used on a steamed steak or fillet of chillean sea bass. Again, use sparingly.

Ceviche. Scallops, leche de Tigre, purple yam.



More paiche (i love this fish) with gremolata, fennel salad.

Gremolata is similar to chimichurri but brighter with no vinegar but addition of lemon zest and a bit of lemon juice. Also less garlic.

Its very versatile. Sometimes I like to mix it with grated parm and serve with a milanesa or a pork loin.

Damn dude, those look great. Where do you live, seems like you have access to some good seafood

thx for the info re black bean sauce, do you like it as a sauce?

the key to good dumplings i have been told is to use chive flower.

I live in Austin. Our selection is ok but i think thats only because WF is headquartered here.

I dont know if it works everywhere but i usually ask the fish guy at the supermarket what he has in the back. Also, i tend to go for the less known fish whereas 95% of thr time, if I see someone else at the seafood desk, they are asking for salmon.

I think fermented black bean is too dry and too salty to use as a sauce unless if you mix it with a lot of other stuff.

There are bean based sauces like tian mian jiang, but they dont contain fermented black bean.

Just try one, and you'll realize why you cant use it straight in a sauce.

What dish are you trying to make?

Well, thats good, I'm in Dallas so I'll ask for some of that paiche next time I'm at WF. I have a long list of restaurants I want to eat at in Austin.

I'm trying to eat more vegetables and I saw this recipe and it sounded like it might be good on stir fry veggies as well as other dishes. I've been making a variety of asian sauces I can keep in the fridge for fast dishes and hope this one makes the cut.

really?? I didn't know there was such a thing. I've got two huge pots of garlic chives and I'm scratching my head wondering how they turn them into a four. I guess they dehydrate and bleach them or something

This might be true for jiaozi, which is northern style dumplings but xiaolongbao is a very different beast.

Its unfortunate that early Chinese immigrants translated everything. This is a huge contributor to Chinese cuisine getting relegated to the bargain tier.

Should have followed Japanese model where everything is named by its native name and few compromises or accomodations are made for the western palate.

Even Chinese dishes popularized in Japan such as gyoza (jiaozi) are more known by their Japanese names.

Even though Ramen is just the Japanese pronounciation of La Mian, enough changes have been added to that where the Japanese version is entirely unique. Ramen and Lo mein are the same word though, just Japanese pronounciation vs Cantonese.

Yimyammer, let me know when you are ready to come down. I can probably give a few picks regardless of cuisine and all the nationally known Austin restaurants I have tried multiple times and can give you an honest opinion.

I havent made that sauce before but it feels like the sauce you put on zhajiangmian (jajangmian in korean).

http://omnivorescookbook.com/homemad...sauce-noodles/

I have made that before but only with tianmianjiang.


I have never used dou chi this way.

Will do, hope to get down there soon, here's what I have bookmarked so far:



I like that website & those noodles look great

Yimyammer, chive flowers aka blossoms taste good. Not flour.

lol, I'm an idiot. Thanks for pointing that out Jack

Cooks,

Here's a complete cheat dish that wasn't really cooking and I shouldn't even post here, but it was delicious!



Trader Joe's frozen mandarin orange chicken was the cheat.

Sautéed some onion and tomato. Added some sweet chili sauce, green onion, and red pepper at the end.

Mixed it all together and yum. Just need some pineapple next time!