Cutting onions

Is it me, or do many "western" recipes call for onions? It's like the scallion, used in a lot of "eastern" recipes, of the west.

A quick "thanks" and "wow"!

I wanted to write a quick "thanks" to everyone to left a comment telling me how they get their toddler to sit and eat during mealtimes. I will certainly try many of them, always remembering that every child and every day is different of course!

How far will you go to get your toddler to eat?

Ok, so technically technically, it isn't that our 20-mo (J) isn't eating anything. The hubby googled "toddler not eating" and read on a forum that one mom's toddler ate only a biscuit for an entire week. Now that's extreme! The issue in our house is that J only eats when he wants, what he wants, and with as much struggle as possible. It's like washing his hands and getting in the high chair is some sort of torture. I know, I'm not alone on this one. I know, this stage is all about my toddler's quest for independence and control. I know, this stage, like others, will pass and pass sooner than I think. But it sure is annoying/troubling/inconvenient at the moment...

Non-fishy salmon cakes

I love salmon sashimi. Love. It. I literally cried when I allowed my family to eat sashimi in front of me while I was pregnant. Literally. Cried. Oddly enough, I don't liked cooked salmon. I think it's fishy. But since it's a good source of omega-3s, I cooked it a few weeks ago. We ate two pan-fried steaks that week, and I froze the other two (already pan-fried) for later.

No more ice cream?

Most of the time I enjoy "talking" with my 19-mo. Everything is just so cute because it's babble mixed with discernible phrases. Bababaaa aaaaa oh no. Bababaaa aaaaa all done. Bababaaa aaaaa no more. Bababaaa aaaaa hehe ekeke gggee.

[Source: Food Beast]

Chinese steamed buns

[Source]

Day 30: What does the "organic" label really mean?

When I got pregnant, maybe even before then, the hubby and I decided to eat more organically. We dove in head first and starting buying all of our food at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. Our grocery bills got a bit out of control, so we decided to limit our organic food purchases to meat, meat products, and the Dirty Dozen.

[Source: Eggland's Best]

Day 22: Crockpot secret

First off, Happy Chinese New Year Eve!

 Soon it'll be the year of the mighty dragon and our mothers will be saying to us:

You should have a baby this year because it's the year of the mighty dragon.

Since I posted yesterday about the possible scandal of whose hands are in Rachel Ray's Look+Cook book, today's post is scandal-free. Today, I'm talking about the slow cooker. I don't know about you, but that was one of the first appliances we put on our wedding registry. I had never used one before but the thought of "setting it and forgetting it" was awesome! I hope have haven't infringed on any trademark with that quote.

We have a Crock-Pot, and everyone who sees it always makes a comment that it's HUUUUGE. It's "family size", ok? Plus, I like to make a BIG batch, eat it for like four meals straight, and save myself prep work and my hubby from doing lots of dishes.

I've only found one really good recipe out of the manual/cookbook that came with the Crock-Pot. It's for Carolina Pulled Pork, and the meat is moist, easy to pull apart, and goes great with vinegar on a toasted bun. But other than that, other recipes just make my house smell like really weird onions, so I've kinda put it away.

However, America's Test Kitchen put out a book last year called Slow Cooker Revolution, and I immediately had to have it! I find any recipe by America's Test Kitchen is foolproof because they've actually tested the recipe several ways to get the best results. So get their book if you want more use out of your slow cooker. They have recipes for stews, soups, casseroles, braises, sauces, desserts, and more.

But here's a tip for beef stew, and possibly other types of stew, from the book: To ensure vegetables get soft, but don't disintegrate into mush, wrap veggies in foil pocket and place on top of stew during cooking.

PERFECTO! We had the yummiest beef stew in a long while. Since I have a toddler at home, I didn't add any spice to it, but I sure do love a spicy beef stew. I topped mine off with some sriracha.

Got any slow-cooker secrets to share?

If you have this book, whadya think?

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Day 21: Whose hands are inside Rachel Ray's new cookbook?

Back story first. I received Rachel Ray's (RR) 30-minute express lane meals as a bridal shower gift, but don't like it much because (1) it has very few pictures, and I'm a visual girl, and (2) I tried a few recipes and was disappointed.

One day, last year, there was nothing to watch on TV so I tuned in to RR. She was doing a cooking demo and showing off her newest book Look+Cook. It looked pretty cool.

First, there are lots of pictures. It's called Look+Cook because the steps for 80% of the recipes are illustrated by several steps (the other 20% are in back and just text -- she put kid-friendly recipes here). You'll see photos of the ingredients thrown into the pan/pot, other ingredients added later, and of course, the final product. Thus, the concept is that you might not even have to read the directions. You can just look and cook!

Second, you can go online to watch some (or all?) of the recipes in action. I haven't done that yet but seems like a great feature.

Third, her recipes seem much more accessible (read "easier") in this book. No way did I make any of her 30-minute express lane meals in 30-minutes. But the ones in her new book seem pretty doable.

Ok ok ok, so now back to the post title that first intrigued you to click here :P

The only problem I have with the book are RR's hands. If you look at the cover, her hands are super smooth and, I think, airbrushed, but I could be wrong. If you know RR's editor/etc., please set the record straight. I'm not here to slander anyone!

But if you look inside, all the photos show hands that are rough -- almost manly. Now I don't want to say that RR has manly hands, but if they are hers, boy are her hands manly.

But if they aren't hers, why aren't they hers? Unless that's standard practice in the cookbook world. Slap a famous cook/chef on a cover, call the recipes his/hers, but make someone else make all the recipes and snap away. The famous cook/chef doesn't have time for photos for his/her own book.

What do you think? 

Whose hands are inside Rachel Ray's new cookbook? 

Submit your response(s) below!
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Attempt at making peking duck

Remember I traded a guacamole recipe for a peking duck recipe last week? Well...here are some pictures of my first attempt at roasting a duck...

I bought the duckling frozen at a local Korean supermarket. It took me a while to decide how I was going to hang a duck to dry for 6 hours. I looked for metal hooks at the store but couldn't find any. So I decided to use trussing pins (is this what they're called?) and kitchen string.

After several attempts, I stuck a pin through the neck bone, out the other side, and looped the kitchen string around the pin several times. Here's the duck in the just-boiled water. I scooped the water over the top of the duck and the skin started pulling against the duck (tighter, I guess). The underside started cooking a bit.

I hung the duck out on the deck using a very sophisticated system of two chairs and a honing steel from the kitchen knife set. I put a bowl underneath to catch the drippings. Luckily, Thanksgiving was a very nice day (no snow this year on the East Coast) and was actually quite warm in the afternoon.

No neighbors were freaked out because (1) the duck had no head and (2) was hung low enough that you couldn't see it behind the railing of the deck. After 6 hours in the sun, the skin did feel thinner, like paper, and slightly crispy.

I roasted this duck for only two hours in the oven at 375F (the recipe originally called for 300F). The crispy skin was easy to remove. There was still fat under the skin, but it was easy to scrape off. The meat may have been a tad on the dry side. Mmmm...drumsticks!

I served them with steamed (plain) buns, which were thicker than I wanted but fine as a substitute.

I cut up scallion and served the duck with "sweet flour sauce" mentioned in my last post.

The reviews by my husband and sister-in-law were good. If I ever did it again, I'd...

1. Have a pair of food-tweezers to help with the cleaning process, i.e., plucking the remaining quills.
2. Wait until after the drying process to remove the quills. After it dries, the quills "pop" out more so they're easier to spot and remove.
3. Find metal hooks.
4. Perhaps baste the duck (so many drippings/fat) so that the skin is darker.

Did you try out a new recipe this Thanksgiving?

Best guacamole recipe EVER!

Today, I traded recipes with a co-worker. I'm going to attempt to roast peking duck for Thanksgiving and she's going to make the best guacamole EVER. Thanks for letting me post this, Sister-in-Law!

Guacamole:
You'll have to eyeball/add-to-taste on these ingredients. Believe me, it's gooooood

• Avocados, as many as you want - Both my sister and sister-in-law are pros at selecting the best ones, soft but not too soft. They even know the different avocado types! If you only happen upon too-firm ones, put them in a paper bag and let them sit out on the kitchen counter. They should soften up.
• Sea salt, Pepper
• Garlic, one per avocado
• Fresh squeezed lime juice 
• Paprika 
• Cilantro 
• Jalapeno pepper
• Plum tomato, cored, one per avocado used

Mash all ingredients with a fork to preserve a chunky texture. Serve with tortilla chips...or my favorite, pita chips!

Peking duck: 
So simple, will it work? This preparation is for a 5-6 lb duck and will need 8 hours.

1. Clean duck.
2. Fill large wok/pot with water and bring to a boil. Remove wok/pot from heat. 
3. Dip the duck into the hot water for approximately 5 minutes. Or you can scoop the water over the entire duck for approximately 10 minutes. This step makes the skin taunt on the duck.
4. Hang the duck in a cool place for 6 hours where there will be some air movement. I'll be hanging mine on the deck. It'll freak out the neighbors! The skin should already feel crispy at the end of this process.
5. Preheat oven to 400F.
6. Place duck on roasting rack, breast-side up. Beneath the rack place a pan filled with 2 inches of water to catch the drippings. (Maybe the steam from the water will do something too. I don't know. My source didn't divulge.) You can also place an apple inside the duck for a nice aroma.
7. Roast at 400F for 30 minutes. 
8. Turn oven down to 300F and roast for 2-2.5 hours.
9. Use sharp knife to cut off crispy skin. Place meat and skin on a prewarmed dish. Serve with hoisin sauce (update: My source tells me that "Sweet Flour" sauce is what peking duck is traditionally served with. Though if you can't find it, hoisin will do fine.), scallions (cut into 2 inch-long pieces), and buns (Chinese or mooshu-type ones).

I can't wait to post pictures at my first attempt to roast a duck!

Burned for flan

Flan -- because I love egg tarts, I also love flan. Some people say making it from scratch isn't that hard, but that's not my way. JELL-O makes an instant flan that comes with caramel sauce.

But this time I decided to try the Goya variety. Unfortunately, you have to make your own caramel. You do this by heating sugar very slowly to 340 degrees F. You know what happened? I poured the caramel into ramekins. As I was coating the bottom of them, a drop of caramel fell on the side of my pinkie. IT HURT! I silly-ly tried to shake it off. But then I got my brain back and ran it under cold water. I have a blister now. It's mini Rob & Big (for you TCCGPers out there).

I don't know why, but my caramel set almost instantly. It turned into thick layer of sugar candy in the bottom of the ramekins! Luckily, as I poured hot flan liquid into the ramekins, some of the caramel melted. They were yummy but not worth the burn and blister. I'll be using the JELL-O brand next time!

You like flan? 

You make yours from scratch or use an "instant" variety?

Zha jiang mian

Zha jiang mian by my mother-in-law. Even my mom would agree that it's dabomb.

Preview of a crab feast

After J's birthday lunch celebration, we want to keep things easy for dinner. We noticed this shady, kinda run-down place on Frederick Rd with a yellow van out front that read "Seafood in the Buff". Do we dare try it out in hopes that we could have a crab feast on Saturday night with the family? I went to my trusty friend, Yelp, for assurance that we weren't going to get bad crabs or worse -- pay a lot for bad crabs.

The crabs come in the requisite paper bag. We like our crabs steamed plain, no seasoning.

We lay down newspaper for easy cleanup.

The first few crabs were alright. Where were the eggs?

But for the last few, we hit the jackpot.

A is below, enjoying the harvest. I was nearly giddy when I opened my last crab. 

Verdict: We ordered 1/2 dozen (6+1) large, female crabs for $8. Great quality crabs. Shells were brittle, which meant easy to crack. Meat inside good. Eggs, even yummier. Can't wait to have them again on Saturday.

Chicken pot pie

One of A's favorite meals is chicken pot pie. He usually makes his version using store-bought crust, but I find the crust too buttery for my taste (not that my recipe is any less fatty). The first time I made chicken pot pie (not the picture shown above), I used a recipe from Bisquick. Just mix together mixed vegetables, chicken, cream of chicken, and salt/pepper/etc. The crust was supposed to be made using Bisquick mix + egg + milk. Guess what? I had no Bisquick and no egg in the fridge. I googled Bisquick substitutes (no, I couldn't use pancake mix because it doesn't have fat/crisco in it). It consisted of flour, baking powder, and oil. I may have added salt and sugar too. The egg substitute consisted of water, oil, and baking powder.

Result: Crust was flaky but I overdid it on the baking powder.

Second time around, I bought some Bisquick, Heart Smart version. Result (shown above): It was less crusty and more pancake/biscuit-like, which is to be expected since that is the Bisquick product. I poured a thin layer of batter into the ramekin and baked it for 15 min while preparing the chicken mixture. I then poured the chicken mixture in and topped it with a layer of batter. I found that only a thin layer of batter is necessary, otherwise you get a huge biscuit atop your chicken mixture.

I think next time I'll use the Bisquick substitute but use a real egg.

Meh ramen

I've been craving Japanese ramen since I had it in Japan like 6 years ago. No bowl in the U.S. has measured up except this bowl in NYC (thanks to SIL & hubby for allowing me this joyful experience)...

which elicited this thoughtful response...

So when I saw "ramen" on a Japanese restaurant's menu (rare for me), I just had to order it.

Looks are so deceiving - the noodles had that old, fried taste, and though the broth was flavorful, neither the noodles or beef had any (except the aforementioned old, fried taste). Verdict is meh. I felt kinda sick afterwards because it was so bad, but I was hungry!

Now that's a lasagna

100 layers, to be exact

Onions

How To Dice An Onion from Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn on Vimeo.

Seems so simple, yet why can't I master this skill?

Other facts about onions:

• 5 tips on how to cut onions without tears
• An additional tip from Rick Bayless - soak them in water after being peeled
• Don't keep onions and potatoes together. They emit some sort of chemical that apparently spoils the other one faster. Huh!

Cute cakes

Are these bite-size cupcakes, by Baked by Melissa, cute or what?! 50 of them for $37.50.

Easter goodies

Now this is one chocolate bunny I'd eat! It's from Vosges Chocolate and made with white chocolate, lemon zest, and pink peppercorns.

What are pink peppercorns, you ask?

From BulkPepperCorns.com: Pink peppercorns have a delicate, fragrant, sweet, and spicy flavor. They are reminiscent of a mild citrus zest and sweet berries. Pink peppercorns go especially well in fruit sauces, vinaigrettes, and desserts. These peppercorns have a rich rose color that adds an elegant appearance to any cuisine.

Who knew peppercorns could be sweet?