The food and drink forum blog thread.

[mortlock]

5 out of 5 stars on yelp.

[RAGER]

On my approximate 4-5 year quest to find a specific herb or the seasoning mix for northern Thai Laap I came across this mix. I made some Laap for dinner and used some. It's ok but I don't think it contains the ever evasive herb. It also tastes very similar to a mix I've made before. The search continues.







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[Muffin Man]

what's the ever evasive herb? I can ask the Thai place that just opened across the border. I need to check that place out, pronto. Haven't had Thai in a long while. Hope they good!

ah, scratch that. Not even going there. I PM'd you the link. Don't look, ugh.

[RAGER]

The herb I can't seem to find anywhere is malaep.  It looks almost identical to dill seed and I think I tried that once to not much effect.  I asked a famous chef known for Thai cuisine if it was in fact dill seed to which he curtly replied "not even close".  Which pissed me off because I was like open your fucking eyes dude.  they look damn identical.  You could see where I might think that.  Dill is used in Thailand sometimes as a main herb so......  Dick.

[James1214]

Rager, you ever make Achar? Looking for a good recipe, and fuck.... The number out there is astounding. I'm partial to the lime variety over mango. Looks like mustard oil is the secret weapon.

[RAGER]

This is the one I have bookmarked.  It's been quite a while but I must've like it to have saved it I guess.

https://www.taste.com.au/recipes/indian-lime-pickle/34a44dcd-0475-48a9-82b4-fbc3aaa992d4

[James1214]

That's exactly what I was looking for, a rec from someone whose opinion I give a fuck about.

[Muffin Man]

mmm, mustard oil. I'll need some of that.

[RAGER]

I don't remember buying mustard oil.  Maybe I made it?

[RAGER]

I'd bet caiziouy would be great!

[RAGER]

You ever thought of adding bechamel to mashed potatoes? Wife brought home some takeout the other night that included mashed potatoes without gravy. So of course I tasted them to see if I had to "fix" them. They were good and I got the distinct flavor of nutmeg. Either that or they made a garlic cream sauce and added nutmeg which you basically be a type of mornay if they added Parm which I didn't really taste.

[Muffin Man]

I'd bet caiziouy would be great!

I've got a 16oz foil zipbag of mustard powder for making Chinese hot and it really works - just add water. Are you saying add mustard to the caizaiyou? If so I'll try some tonite.

[RAGER]

I would probably crush some brown mustard seeds in mortar and pestle then add to heated caiziyou, let cool and strain through cheesecloth.

[RAGER]

I think this brand of canned tomatoes are national.
Made a batch and used these crushed tomatoes.
When I opened the can it jolted in my hand and kinda sucked inward. Hard to describe. Thought it was weird but continued and dumped them in with the other ingredients and spices I'd been sautéing and sweating. Then my brain took over. What if they're bad? I like chili but....so I grabbed the other can and opened it. Similar thing. Gaaaahh!!
Ok, fuck that. Not eating this. Called the quality control number and got no definitive answer but some money refunded.
Tossed that batch and started all over with a different brand.
Anybody have a similar experience?

[Pissy]

So it was under pressure, not partial vacuum?  Not good.  
 It looks like a store brand to me.  Never seen it. 

[Muffin Man]

I've got 6-8 cans of Rotel since Pissy ever mentioned the brand. Good stuff! I'll make some Spanish rice.

Gobs of Costco beef chili spotted last week - 4lb containers . I only kinda looked at it. Nice color though, a dark reddish hue. Not as nice as that dark chipotle appearance as RAGERS, though. Give me the roasty brown.

[RAGER]

So it was under pressure, not partial vacuum?  Not good. 
 It looks like a store brand to me.  Never seen it.

It's hard to describe. The can jolted physically in my hand. Did it come by airplane? Who knows.

Buy a can of "crushed" tomatoes with the pull top lid and try it. Pay close attention. In hindsight it was probably ok but that shit ain't something to fuck around with.

[mortlock]

Im super weird about dented cans. Ill eat canned food that is years past its best buy date but not dented cans.

[RAGER]

Gonna try to do some short cut tavern style pizza tonight. Square cut. Italian sausage and hot giardiniera on one and the other will be less traditional. Maybe sliced shiitake, shaved red onion and?...

By shortcut I mean that I'll be using flour tortillas. In theory it should work because the style of crust is overproofed dough.

I think Kenji has touched on this. I remember reading about it a while back. But I'll take two flour tortillas with just a touch of oil and cheese between and roll to create and kind of amalgam because I think one tortilla might be too thin. This s all from fever dreams so we'll see.

Stay tuned. Gonna start on the NY style sauce in a few.

[Pissy]

Subscribed.  

[RAGER]

Copy paste from Imgur

All done on flour tortillas.
Each pizza consists of two tortillas with a little cheddar between them and rolled with a pin to kind of amalgam the two. Then let to dry out for several hours.
Baked 450 in preheated cast irons with a dusting of cornmeal for about 8 minutes.
This is inspired by Kenjis recent foray into the Midwest/Chicago tavern style. I'd bet several of you have to.
I'll do the real dough recipe sometime soon but this was a fun experiment.
Colors are all off cuz my kitchen lighting is terrible especially at night. Things get washed out and weird so there is some filtering to try and show color. They weren't burnt at all. Just some char. In fact the sausage one could have gone and additional 1 minute max.

Classic red sauce, mozzarella, my own fennel sausage, my own-ish giardiniera.





Red sauce, mozzarella, shiitake, shaved red onion, pickled banana peppers.

[mortlock]

looks good except for the square cut. round pizza needs triangles slices. its geometry.

[Muffin Man]

Let's be honest, or let's be Frank,
Any way you slice it that is a stunning masterpiece. one of the most beautiful looking pies ever. a photo of it should be framed and hanging in every parlour that makes pizza. or put it on something, pizza fest poster, pizza book, something.

Classic red sauce, mozzarella, my own fennel sausage, my own-ish giardiniera.

[RAGER]

Morty. Just going with the tradition. It was good but my favorite is still Neapolitan style. I don't have the equipment for that though. I can do most things at home but a decent er impressive pizza escapes my capabilities for the  equipment I have.

Muffin, that's very kind. For what it is, I labored a bit over it. I'll do the real dough some time.

[Pissy]

Oh hell yes.  

My favorite pizza is cracker crust style.  If that's tavern pizza in Chicago, I never knew.  

I recall as a kid getting Mexican pizzas at The Blind Duck in Iron Mountain, but it wasn't like this.  It was more like a tostada.