Vietnamese Chicken Curry / Pommes Anna / Indonesian Fried Vermicelli

Recipe: What's in a Curry?

So what’s in a curry? It is, to put it simply, a blend of spices called a masala and may contain two or three spices, or a dozen or more; and it varies from region to region, household to household ...

This mild adaptation of an Indian curry has a Vietnamese twist added—sweet potatoes.

Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Ca Ri Ga)

Blog Post & Recipe: Pommes Anna (or one of the best potato dishes you’ll ever make)

It’s easy, requires almost no tending once it goes into the oven, and every time I make it, I cannot believe there are really only 3 ingredients. The magic of the recipe comes in the first two steps and in the use of a well seasoned cast iron pan.

Blog Post & Recipe: Indonesian Fried Vermicelli

Vermicelli noodle is quite bland by itself, it is the texture that we all love. When cooked right, it is always springy. When cooked wrong, it would be lumpy and broken. I got it wrong many, many times. I played them around in the wok for way longer than I should, causing the noodles to be soft, then broken, naturally. Toss them around really quickly and just get them off the heat. That’s the only wisdom I can share.

Caldo Verde / Baking with Dark-Coloured Pans / Indonesian Oxtail Soup

Recipe: Nigel Slater's classic caldo verde recipe

In its purest form, this heart-warming Portuguese broth contains nothing more than potatoes, garlic, couve gallego (a type of kale) and water.

Blog Post: Lower the heat when baking with dark-colored pans

The thing about black absorbing heat is also true for baking pans. Dark-colored pans make cakes, cupcakes or cookies bake faster so it is a good practice to lower the oven temperature by 25F.

Blog Posts and Recipes: Indonesian Oxtail Soup (Sop Buntut) Part I and Indonesian Oxtail Soup (Sop Buntut) Part II

Cooking oxtail requires a rather aggressive simmer - although not a rolling boil - to melt away all the connective tissues leaving the tender meat on the bone. This method doesn’t work in normal cuts which will simply turn tough and dry due to the lack of the protective layer.

Alsatian Baeckeoffe & Farmhouse Hash / Preserving a Nonstick Pan / A Christmas Feast

Article & Recipe: Meat & potatoes slow-cooked, then turned to hash

Start with Alsatian baeckeoffe ... End with Farmhouse hash with soft-cooked eggs

Article: How Not to Wreck a Nonstick Pan

I am going to share with you what I have learned in hopes of saving you from my mistakes. And as a treat, I’ll throw in a few other cleaning tips as well

Article & Recipes: Sydney's top chefs serve up a Christmas feast

Quay's white peach bellini ... Crostini with truffle butter and jamón de bellota ... Mud crab, heart of palm and pink grapefruit salad ... Italian buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes with nasturtium pistou ... Roast goose ... Tea eggs ... Roast Dutch cream potatoes ... Cucumber and daikon pickle ... Modern summer pudding dressed up for Christmas

Maintain Cast Iron Cookware / Poulet Sauté / Black Beluga Lentil Soup with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Blog Post: Equipment: How to Buy, Season, and Maintain Cast Iron Cookware

Initial Seasoning ... Maintenance ... Worst Case Scenarios ... Which Pan Should I Buy?

Recipe: Nigel Slater's classic poulet sauté recipe

Poulet sauté is the classical French term for a chicken cooked almost entirely in butter and seasoned only with a few herbs.

Blog Post & Recipe: black beluga lentil soup with roasted cherry tomatoes

Roasted tomatoes are great in pasta salads, or as a rustic spaghetti sauce and they are perfect in this lentil soup. Using black beluga lentils not only gives this soup a dramatic colour, but the lentils are nice and firm

Potatoes with Thyme & Crispy Shallots / A Muffin Tin for a Baking Stone / Chocolate Gravy & Biscuits

Blog Post & Recipe: Peruvian Potatoes with Thyme and Crispy Shallots

This dish includes a secret ingredient. Is it the purple potatoes? Nope. It's the shallots, which after an hour in the stove become crispy and delicious.

Blog Post: Use A Muffin Tin For Better Bread Crusts

A [baking] stone in combination with a steamy oven creates the ultimate texture for your bread. The two are like peas and carrots or any other paired food analogy. To get around our lack of stone, we've been using a muffin tin instead.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chocolate Gravy and Biscuits

The biggest schism I found in the chocolate-gravy community was whether to use milk or water as your liquid. I was surprised that no one had thrown some chipotle or bacon into their gravy, but actually this pleased me as it proved that chocolate gravy was indeed a classic that didn’t need any tinkering.

Cast Iron Pan / Apple-Brined Turkey / Three Thanksgiving Recipes

Blog Post: the original green cookware

Do you want a definitive guide to washing your cast iron pan?

Nlog Post & Recipe: Apple-Brined and Smoked Turkey

A 24-hour brine of salt, brown sugar, apple juice, oranges, ginger, cloves, bay leaves and garlic imparts a subtle, yet complex, flavor that's hard to put your finger on ...

Articles & Recipes: three pages at the L.A. Times: Food editor Russ Parsons on the turkey everyone loves, Creamy mashed potatoes, and Pear-blackberry pie.

Inspired by the chicken-cooking technique of my friend Judy Rodgers, chef and owner at San Francisco's Zuni Cafe, it couldn't be simpler: You just salt the turkey a few days in advance, give it a brisk massage every so often to redistribute the salt, and then roast it.

Cast Iron Pie Pans. Beef Saute with Cream & Mushroom Sauce. Cacio e Pepe.

Blog Post: Cast Iron Pie Pans: Have You Ever Used One?

... six customers who say that the cast iron creates an even, nicely browned crust. [...] Customers also commented that the cast iron helps keep the pie warm for much longer than other pans. It's been used for fruit pies as well as pot pies, quiches and cornbread. All in all, this seems to be a well-liked, if somewhat obscure, product.

Blog Post & Recipe: French Cooks

This was one of my favorite company dishes in the 1970's. I can't believe we really ate this way - it's rich as hell ...

Saute de Boeuf a La Parisienne
(Beef Saute with Cream and Mushroom Sauce)
Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Blog Post & Recipe: cacio e pepe

While you heat the water, you can grate the cheese and make basil chiffonade (a fancy term for slivers). Your fresh pasta takes mere minutes to cook and after a quick drain, you place it in bowls, add heaps of grated cheese, a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle with freshly cracker pepper. You mix the ingredients, and garnish with fresh basil slivers.

Cat-Head Biscuits.Green Capsicum. Nonstick Pans.

Blog Post & Recipe: Cat-Head Biscuits

Unless your from the mountains of east Tennessee then I highly doubt you have ever heard of cat-head biscuits. [...] They wanted a large biscuit and I guess the size reminded them of a cat head. This is just a regular buttermilk biscuit but instead of rolling and cutting them out you shape a large piece of dough by hand.

Article & Recipes: Image Problem? Don’t Pity the Bell

... the green bell pepper, the sturdy yet forlorn supermarket vegetable that foodies love to hate [...] But the vegetable has its defenders, who say that the green pepper family is tasty, diverse and versatile.

Recipe: Grilled Poblanos in Garlic Oil
Recipe: Blistered Green Peppers With Sherry Vinegar

Blog Post: Nonstick not so slick

Today, up to 80 percent of the cookware sold in America has a nonstick coating. But while it's indispensable to some people, it's evil incarnate to others, posing a toxic threat to our children and the environment ...

Slick tips for cooking in regular cookware ... Start with a good pan ... Hot pan, cold oil ... Resist flipping and poking the food ... Dry food won't stick ... etc

Naval Cookery. Thai-Style Fish Cakes. The Environmental Benefits of Cast Iron Cookware.

Blog Post: Green Iron: The Environmental Benefits of Cast Iron Cookware

... you may or may not have ever thought about the environmental benefits of cast iron. These benefits can be divided into at least three main areas: (1) Toxicity (or lack thereof), (2) production, and (3) longevity and recyclability.

Blog Post: The Weirdest Shit You’ve Probably Never Seen

Mingled amongst all the flea market detritus, I found this 1961 edition of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Instructional Manual Of Naval Cookery [...] it contains instructions and tips for cooking with rations, ways to bolster morale through food, and other hilarious nuggets of wisdom.

Blog Post & Recipe: Thai-Style Fish Cakes

The springiness of the cooked fishcakes comes from pounding the fish into a paste, so I did some limbering up and set about to work. The fish was chopped into small chunks and pounded around the mortar with a little cornflour.

Thai-Style Fish Cakes with Cucumber & Peanut Dip

Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken. Asparagus. Re-Use Yoghurt Containers.

Blog Post: Quick Tip: Five Ways to Re-Use Yogurt Containers

1. Freezer Containers ... 2. Bulk Bin Containers ... 3. Spice Storage ... 4. "To Go" Containers ... 5. Container Gardening ...

Article & Recipes: The best spears of your life

There's nothing mysterious about cooking the perfect fresh asparagus. Just boil it in shallow water like any other vegetable, says Nigel Slater.

A tart of asparagus and tarragon ... Warm asparagus with melted cheese ... Baked asparagus with pancetta.

Blog Post & Recipe: Ipoh Bean Sprout Chicken

This is a very simple dish to prepare, all you need is patience. The chicken ... is poached in a water bath then quickly dunk into cold water to stop the cooking process to retain its juicy smoothness texture. As for the bean sprout, it will only need to be blanched no more than 10 seconds, then drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce, and a smidge of white pepper for bit of kick ...

Anzac Biscuits. Mint Grilled Tofu. Decluttering.

Recipe: Mint Grilled Tofu

(Via this post at The Kitchn)

The trick to grilling tofu is to actually grill it twice—once to get it firm and absorb the smoky flavor and then a second time after adding the sauce.

Here’s how I made my sweet mint grilled tofu ...

Recipes: Anzac biscuits

With Anzac Day coming up soon, we've got plenty of Anzac biscuit recipes, as well as a few ways to use them in tarts or crumbles. You can also find out more about the history of Anzac biscuits.

Anzac biscuits ... Chewy Anzac biscuits ... Giant Anzac Biscuits ... Cinnamon Anzac biscuits ... Anzac biscuits with macadamia nuts ... Anzac tart with macadamia praline & cinnamon syrup ... Anzac biscuit tarts

Blog Post: Kitchen Cure Week #2: Declutter and Give Away Kitchen Equipment

... it's time to pay a little attention to the equipment piled up in your kitchen. Take a long honest look at the stuff you keep in your cupboards and on your counters ... Do you truly need three strainers? This week we'll be posting our thoughts of the bare bones essential kitchen tools and how best to clean out those crumby drawers.

N.b. Added a new tag: 'kitchen.'

Wok cooking. Soft Tofu. Prairie Oysters.

Article & Recipe: Wok-king is cooking for people on the run

Some wok tips, with a recipe at the end: Ginger Chicken With Snow Peas, Red Pepper and Water Chestnuts.



Article: Delicacy of the Wild West Lives on for Those So Bold

Of all the country’s gastronomic competitions, from “Top Chef” to pies at the county fair, perhaps none compare to the challenge facing the harried chefs assembled here in a parking lot for the 18th annual International Comstock Mountain Oyster Fry. Classically dipped in cornmeal and then fried, or artfully concealed in scrambled eggs, bordelaise sauce or sushi, these oysters were not of the Chesapeake or bluepoint variety but, rather, a cornerstone of Western ranching culture involving testicles from gelded lambs and calves.

Recipes: Good Question: How Can I Use Soft Tofu?

Katherine loves soft tofu, but she needs more ways to cook with it. Can you help her?


• Ma Po Tofu

• Cooking Korean: Soondubu jjigae

Many people also use silken or soft tofu in baking and in smoothies as a substitute for dairy. This chocolate pudding recipe can be adapted for soft tofu:
• DIY Chocolate Pudding
• Also try this: Raspberry Chocolate Pie at Tofu for Two

• Aromatic Silken Tofu, with ginger and rice wine.
• Tofu with mushrooms and ginger

... We're counting on the readers to offer many more suggestions! What are your favorite recipes with soft tofu?

Beef Stock. The Minimalist Kitchen. Food Blogs again.

Article: 50 of the world's best food blogs

Another list of food blogs from the Times.

This list comprises 50 of our favourite food blogs but is by no means exhaustive. Times Online invites users to submit their favourites for a follow-up article using the comment box below.

Article: Stocking the Minimalist Kitchen

Posters at the end disagree with some of the writer's choices.

Sometimes we’re in the mood to buy every expensive gadget we see; other times we want to whisk everything off the counter and keep only the necessities. In the spirit of early spring cleaning, we’ve put together a list of the 10 kitchen tools you need to whip up (almost) anything.

Recipe: How to Make Beef Stock

... the trick with stock is to roast the bones first to get some caramelized flavor going, then to slowly heat them in water until a bare simmer, and then let them cook that way, gently, for a good long time. With beef stock, it helps to include some beef scraps or stew meat, as well as aromatic vegetables and herbs. Also a few veal bones will help provide gelatin to the stock.

Potatoes, Herbs, Cast Iron Cookware

Article: Cast iron's age-old allure

A short article about cast-iron cookware.

•Testing a skillet for cooking temperature, droplets of water should bounce or hop on the surface; too hot, they will disappear; too cool, they will just sit there.

Article: Pick the right potato to go with your meal

A look at the spud bins at the grocery store reveals plenty of potato choices. But which ones to serve with a corned beef dinner (not russets) and which to mash with milk and butter (definitely russets)?

Article & Recipes: Grow your own flavour

Growing herbs for the kitchen.

The more you pick the healthier the plant. Growers are told that if their chives start to flower they will have no more fresh leaves until the following year. Rubbish! Pick some of the flowers to use in salads and, if the plant is then cut back to within 4cm of the ground and given a good feed of liquid fertiliser, it will produce another crop of succulent leaves within a month.

Herbs can be picked from very early in their growing season. This encourages the plant to produce vigorous new growth. Most herbs reach their peak of flavour just before they flower. Snip off stems early in the day before the sun is fully up, or, even better, on a cloudy day.

Cut whole stems rather than single leaves or flowers. Always use a sharp knife, sharp scissors or secateurs, and cut lengths of 5-8cm from the tip of the branch, this being the new, soft growth. Do not cut into any of the older, woody growth. Cut from all over the plant, leaving it looking shapely.

... Lovage soup ... Fish with fennel ... Chocolate mint mousse

Woks. Eels. Sweet Potato Fries. Lamburger. Crap Food.

Article: Creating a stir.

How to use a wok.

Recipe: Sauteed Eel with Persillade.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Fries.

Recipe: The Inside-out Lamburger.

This is a flash video.

Article/Recipe: Homage to crap food.
The comments section of this blog post is full of suggestions for "crap food", the kind that means white bread, baked beans, and cheese.

You know, when in times of dire need/upset in college my best friend and I used to make a nutella and mild cheddar cheese sandwich, on white bread, and then fry it.

Round oatcakes topped with sliced cheese (I use red leicester) and sliced jalapenos, microwaved until the cheese is all melty and the oatcakes a bit bendy (about a minute)served with Rowatts Mixed Pickles - difficult to track down. Fantastic.

Also, cooked pasta (any kind) heated up with beans, mushrooms chilli flakes and veggie mince, covered with grated cheese and stuck under a hot grill until it's bubbly is genius.

I also pull out the stalks of closed cup mushrooms and fill the hole left with a mixture of english mustard and salad cream and eat them raw while waiting for things to cook.

For Hangover comfort food you can't beat tomato juice, lucozade, fried egg rolls with tomato & chilli ketchup and salt and vinegar macoys.