Text 28747, 120 rader
Skriven 2015-07-02 10:27:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: transits 916
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 ML> genre of food there is, at about a buck a mouthful on average,
 ML> and that's if you have a small mouth. 
 NB> It's a little less dear here... particularly for some of the roll
 NB> sushi...  But, I tend to find the same as you with Asian food in
 NB> general costing less than European... part of why we lean that way in
 NB> restaurant preferences...  ;)

Maki don't count - they're designed to get more use out of
less, if not fewer, ingredients. The seaweed that you find
in or on almost all of them helps by adding lots of umami.

 ML> regarding the stuff. It's unclear whether you may use chopsticks,
 ML> for starters. The traditional way is to use your right hand. You
 ML> pick the stuff up, turn it upside-down, dip it once in your
 ML> soy-wasabi mix (I forget if you dip the rice side or the
 ML> ingredient side), and eat each in one bite (big mouth) or two at
 ML> the most (small mouth). You must not put down a partially-eaten
 ML> piece of sushi, though you may dip it again, if discreetly.
 NB> Nice to know that my eating it using my hand is proper... chopsticks
 NB> always seemed to be too much for the job... ;)  And I use the small
 NB> mouth portion...  :)
 
There are some widely quoted young experts on the Internet
(on some of the supposedly more reputable sites) who deride
eating with the fingers, but they're speaking from inexperience,
either that or they're pretentious idiots the way so many
commentators in the arts and crafts tend to be.

 NB> I suppose it might be a reflection on the sushi chef, for giving too
 NB> much wasabi....  The little cone is meant to use to make your own
 NB> soy-wasabi mixture to your own tastes, and one doesn't have to use it

I was going to say that the better places in Japan don't give
you any at all, but that's changed: I went to a famous place
that charged lots of money and served interesting if not
superlatively tasty food, and it offered gobs of wasabi; at
least it was a real wasabi blend (not all that different,
truth be told). I ate it neat as a palate cleanser, but in
most situations I am as judicious in using it as I am a madman
with the (hot) pepper in dishes that call for that.
 
 ML> It's an exhausting kind of meal and provides way too few calories.
 NB> Unless accompanied by soup, salad, appetizer, and dessert...
 NB> especially as part of an all-you-can-eat special...  ;)

That's no fair. Of course, the Japanese offer AYCE specials -
they're called omakase, and they're really all the chef thinks
you can eat, but you can ask for more, and they usually cost
at least twice as much as a regular meal costs. Think over $200
per diner.

 NB>> ... given that it was only ok, sounds like it might have
 NB>> been a bit overpriced for what it was, as well...?
 ML> It always is, but yes, this being the land of the rich. I'd
 ML> say Manhattan/Tokyo/Singapore prices in the burbs.
 NB> Ah.

Pelham is an odd little town - once a cluster of mom & pop shops
frequented by worker bees, it was colonized by the lawyers and
bankers, and there is a little part of it that is technically
the Bronx (cut off from the rest of the Bronx by the freeway),
where the high elected and administrative officials of the
Bronx tend to live, because it's much nicer than the real
thing. There was a bit of a scandal once when the fire chief
or some other civil defense official couldn't get somewhere he
was needed in a timely way, because he had to go around through
Pelham and then down Rte. 1 and so on into the city.

 ML> My x-b-i-l John invited me over for a break from my brother,
 ML> and because his wife (who hates zucchini) and stepson (who
 ML> hates zucchini) aren't around for the weekend, he got three
 ML> big zucchini from the farmer's market and had me stir-fry them
 ML> in olive oil with garlic. Out of politeness I accepted a portion.
 NB> Presumably he wasn't aware that you also hate the stuff...?

I hope not.

 ML> I was glad that this stuff didn't have the bittery strange almost
 ML> animal secretion taste that most does; in fact, it didn't taste
 ML> of much at all, except olive oil and garlic.
 NB> Maybe it's because it's still fairly early in the season...?

He attributed it to that it came from his adored farmers' market.
Actually, there was a day when I didn't mind zucchini so much -
that's when I'd had it only fried with skordalia.
 
 ML> That's the thing. Let the ingredients speak for themselves.
 ML> But a chef would be very lucky to be able to make a living
 ML> without applying vast gobs of ego to every dish.
 NB> I suppose... A chef that made a reputation on letting ingredients
 NB> speak for themselves might get a respectable following, though...  :)
 
And then the ego takes over. But if he/she survives that stage, a
return to basics might make things all right again.


Farikal Recipe
categories: Norwegian, boiled dinner
servings: 2

500 g mutton bits on the bone (fat is good!)
1/2 sm cabbage chopped into 8 pieces
1 ts peppercorns
1 pn salt
h - sides
boiled new potatoes
a dollop cowberry/cranberry sauce

Chuck everything into a casserole pot. Fill the pot with
enough water to cover 2/3 of the ingredients. Put on the
lid and bring to the boil. Let it simmer 2 hr or until
the meat falls off the bone. Serve in a pasta bowl - meat,
cabbage, stock, peppercorns, potatoes and a dollop of
cowberry sauce (cranberry would do just fine). If the
dish looks ugly then it's perfect!

mylittlenorway.com
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