Text 25135, 118 rader
Skriven 2009-06-20 23:20:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: Re: Spring at last
==========================
-=> Quoting Nancy Backus to Jim Weller <=-

 JW> When she places pieces of apple in a pie it's like Michelangelo
 JW> doing a mosaic floor.

 NB> I can see a future career for her as a gourmet chef... or as chief
 NB> garnisher at some posh restaurante...   (G)   Or maybe as a top sushi
 NB> chef...  ;)

She reminded me today that her new name is Alexi and not Lexi.

She spent a large portion of her recent earnings on a bottle of
Hannah Montana perfume! I asked her why and she said to be pretty. I
assured her that she was very pretty without any extra stuff but she
informed me solemnly that this made her better. Goddamn all the
slimy marketroids on children's TV shows; may they rot in Hell!


More from Andrea:

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: Daikon And Carrot Pickle Recipe (Do Chua)
Categories: Vietnamese
  Servings: 4

      1 lg carrot, peeled and cut into
           thick matchsticks
      1 lb daikons, no larger than 2
           inches in diameter, peeled
           and cut into thick
           matchsticks
      1 ts salt 
      2 ts plus 1/2 cup sugar 
  1 1/4 c  distilled white vinegar
      1 c  lukewarm water

This ubiquitous Vietnamese pickle is what's stuffed into banh mi
sandwiches, served alongside morsels such as grilled beef in wild
betel leaf (thit bo la lot), and added to salads. 

Pickles play an important role at the Vietnamese table. They provide
textural and flavor contrasts to food. For example, the flavor of
rich foods gets cut (mitigated) by a tart-sweet pickle. At Tet Lunar
New Year celebrations, you always see several kinds of pickles on
the menu as that's a holiday where lots of fatty dishes are served.
In banh mi sandwiches, the daikon and carrot offer a crunch that
pairs well with the baguette and the tartness offsets the savory
rich meats and mayonnaise. But Vietnamese cooks, like their Asian
brethren, prefer to make what I call fast pickles.   

Asian fast pickles: Cooks in Asia don't can the way westerners do
using sterilized jars and the like. We eat pickles and preserved
vegetables so often – think of Korean kimchi sold in the
refrigerated sections of many markets these days and the assortment
of Japanese pickles – that it's more practical to make regular
supplies and keep them in the refrigerator, where they last for
weeks and sometimes months. 

How to buy daikon radish: Look for evenly shaped, firm, smooth,
unblemished skin. I gravitate towards daikon radish that are no more
than 2 inches in diameter because they tend to have a milder bite
and wonderful sweetness. Really young daikon that are less than
1-inch thick are rather tasteless, and older fat daikon radish can
be bitter hot. 

How to deal with stinky pickled daikon: If the daikon develops a
strong/stinky odor in the jar, it has not gone bad. Before serving,
open the jar and let it sit for 15 minutes to allow the smell to
dissipate. Leave the room, if you must.

Try this daikon and carrot pickle recipe once and then tweak the
recipe to your liking. Variations of the include adding
tangy-sweet-pungent pickled shallots (cu kieu) to the mixture, as
well as making heavier on the carrot side than the daikon side. I
prefer to keep a higher ratio (say 2:1) of daikon to carrot as I
like the mild bite of daikon radish. I like a tangy-sweet flavor
whereas you can alter the ratio of sugar to vinegar to make the
brine sweeter, and hence affect the pickle's flavor.

Makes about 3 cups 

1. Place the carrot and daikons in a bowl and sprinkle with the salt
and 2 teaspoons of the sugar. Use your hands to knead the vegetables
for about 3 minutes, expelling the water from them. They will soften
and liquid will pool at the bottom of the bowl. Stop kneading when
you can bend a piece of daikon so that the ends touch but the daikon
does not break. The vegetables should have lost about one-fourth of
their volume. Drain in a colander and rinse under cold running
water, then press gently to expel extra water. Return the vegetables
to the bowl if you plan to eat them soon, or transfer them to a
1-quart jar for longer storage.

2. To make the brine, in a bowl, combine the 1/2 cup sugar, the
vinegar, and the water and stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour over the
vegetables. The brine should cover the vegetables. Let the
vegetables marinate in the brine for at least 1 hour before eating.
They will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks. Beyond that
point, they get tired.

Recipe from: Into the Vietnamese Kitchen: Treasured Foodways, Modern
Flavors (2006, Ten Speed Press)

From: Andrea Nguyen, vietworldkitchen.com/blog


MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

Cheers

YK Jim


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