Text 2327, 110 rader
Skriven 2008-02-11 20:39:00 av JOAN MACDIARMID (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: QUAIL  80204
====================
 Hi, Glen,

 > Quails come in a wide range of sizes, some domesticated ones as large
 > as pigeons.  In places like the Philippines where there is not much

 I haven't cooked one, but have eaten one, at some nice restaurant
 in Georgetown (near Wash.,DC) while attending a conference as a
 student. Probably the finest restaurant I had been in at that time
 in my life. That meal was an eye-opener. I made a point to order
 things I'd never tried, so had a stuffed, boned-out quail (boning a
 quail must be a fiddly business!) and remember liking it a lot
 though I don't remember what it was like any more. I also tried
 ratatouille for the first time, and was amazed how well I liked it,
 considering I didn't think I liked several of the ingredients. So I
 looked around and found a recipe for that when I started learning to
 cook. See my variation on it below.

 > space, they are popular as cage birds, kept for eating and their
 > attractive eggs. Quails are meatier than you would expect,

 And they are cute themselves! At one time my Uncle Dave had a country
 property where he raised quail and pheasants for later release, for
 hunters to shoot at, and provided pond habitat for visiting wild
 ducks. I fell in love with his little penned quails!

 GJ> With all the talk of sub-standard food products from China, a reporter
 GJ> on one of our local newspapers found the list of ingredients on a
 GJ> packet of Five-spice powder, "Star Anisesees, Wild Pepper, Cinnamon,
 GJ> Cinnamon powder, Cumin, Cyanide, Clove, Ginger".
 GJ> As he thought cyanide-~~~~~~~~~~ was not a particularly desirable food
 GJ> ingredient, he published that list, and where he had bought the
 GJ> packet. Two weeks later he got a frantic phone call from the proprietor
 GJ> of the Hong Kong Asia Grocery at Adelaide's Central Market, to say that
 GJ> Health Department inspectors were ripping his shop apart, as result of
 GJ> the article, and was he sure that he got the stuff from there.  On
 GJ> being told the product code, so the shop keeper could identify it, the
 GJ> man came back to say that it was a mistake in translation.  The
 GJ> ingredient is actually galangal.  It's also called "shang nai", which
 GJ> was mis-translated into English by the importer as cyanide.   The
 GJ> reporter duly published these details, to assure the public that the
 GJ> store was not to blame, and the stuff was quite safe.

 Nice story. Bad translator! But I appreciate the proprietor thought to
 speak to the reporter, and they could work together to solve the problem.
 And the reporter had the responsibility to do the follow-up, to reassure
 the public and to restore the reputation of the Grocery. I understand
 the problem of translation by transliteration of similar-sounding
 syllables. I had the job, several years back, of clearing a lab area last
 used by a mainland Chinese "visiting scholar" and found he had labeled
 all his secondary solvent bottles (smaller bottles you fill from the
 main jug for convenient use) in Chinese script! I didn't know how to
 dispose of them without knowing what they were, so set them aside in a
 box until we had another mainlander visiting and she could transliterate.
 (Our Taiwanese members couldn't read these labels, probably use a
 different dialect). He had used Chinese (probably Mandarin?) characters
 for words sounding like the Engrish syllables for the solvents,
 so for example one of them might translate to "tao + wing" and
 he could read it as "toluene". Whatta pain!
MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05

      Title: Ratatouille from the Freezer
 Categories: Vegetables
      Yield: 4 Servings

      1    Onion
      1    Green pepper or two, depend-
           -ing on size
      1    Eggplant (not a tiny one)
      1    Squash, either zucchini or
           -yellow summer squash (or
           -two depending on size)
      4    Tomatoes
      4    Cloves of garlic
           Salt and pepper to taste
           Dried basil to taste
      4    Plastic bags

     This is my way of adapting the summer abundance to a single
  person's needs! I like the taste of ratatouille, but find a recipe
  incorporating one of every vegetable involved to make more than I
  want at one time. But several of the vegetables freeze well, so why
  not make up single-serve portions of some of them? Then I can have
  some summer in the winter!
     Set up 4 plastic bags (I usually use hamburger bun bags!) maybe in
  4 bowls to add stability. Quarter the onion lengthwise, then chop each
  quarter and add to each of the 4 bags. (Obviously, if your onions are
  sort of small, use halves of each per bag). Quarter the eggplant and
  divide it, chopped, among the 4 bags. Quarter the squashes and chop,
  dividing among the 4 bags evenly. Chop the green peppers and
  distribute evenly to the 4 bags. Push any extra air out of the bags,
  seal them with twisties or your favorite method, and stick them in
  the freezer!
     When ready to use a baggie, remove it from the freezer. whack it
  on the counter sharply to break things up, and put it in a warmed
  skillet, with or without added oil. (I find the vegetables release
  moisture so fast the oil isn't needed to prevent sticking). Chop up a
  smallish tomato and mince a clove of garlic and add these to the pot,
  and add dried basil, salt and pepper as suits you.
     Simmer all till the vegetables are cooked and not too soupy.

  I like this prep because it lets me make small servings at a time, it
  lets me make the ratatouille with no added oil if I prefer, and it
  gives me summer vegetables in the winter if I have been
  forethoughtful enough to have fixed up a few bags during the season.

MMMMM

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