learning to cook.

[vash]

admittedly, of all my "hobbies" I think cooking food has been my most enjoyable venture. my first meal I cooked for my wife (then wife) was a comical series of events that we still joke about. I had a veggie with califlower and ketchup, I swear to this day I saw on NPR with that Pepin chef dude. hahah..

similar to putting together a couple of old Porsche 911's, I didnt need the best tools. no snap-on, etc. same goes to cooking. I walked thru some of the planets best knifes shops and thought, "no thanks". no copper pots.

I am waking up from jet-lag now. and I am already cooking. I eaten some interesting things, that I need to try to reverse engineer. #1 was a cake walk. I was walking in Taipei. lagging behind the fam, looking at foods. I saw a mom and kid sucking down a thick brown drink. the consistency of pancake batter. "what's that?"..the mom looked at me and said, "Mi-Jaang". I look at the owner (she was easily 90 years old) and said, "mi-jaang!". she then said something in tawainese that lost me. deeeeerrrrrrrrrr... my MIL had swung back around and saved me. "hot or cold?" I looked at the mom and kid and said, "hot please". the old lady looked at me and said, "okay, hot". (WTF?)

it was so good. peanuty, hot, mildly sweet, rice drink!!! very similar to a Korean dish served to sick people...I thought to myself, "oh, I got this!"

I ended up getting that Mi-jaang any chance I got. it is apparently the Taiwanese breakfast drink of choice, (well tied with soy milk)

here it is. I made mine with pure peanut butter because I am too lazy to toast raw peanuts for now. (my MIL got the old ladies process and explained it to me)

and here is the old lady's.

[vash]

Pics

[masraum]

I'm sure that you're in the process of typing up the old lady's process for the rest of us, right?

And what's the difference between the white bowl with the thinner darker brown sauce and the blue bowl with the thicker cream colored sauce?

[vash]

I can do that!

she took raw peanuts and pan tossed them until they were darker brown. hence the color. the darker color. I can to that as well.

but it is cheeseball easy.

soak about a 1/3 cup of white rice. I used Calrose. I soaked it over night.
then drain it. dump it into a good blender. better if it rhymes with Mitymix. (mine doesnt)
add 4 cups of water and blend it until you think your making horchata. I dumped in about 4 tablespoons of good peanut butter. no Jif here.

keep blending.

once smooth, dump it into a sauce pan. start cooking it while stirring with a whisk. like magic it will thicken as the rice cooks. I used about 1/3 cup sugar and BOOM. add water if it is too thick.

in Taipei I heard they drink it cold too. I wish I tried some so I could know the consistency. it thickens when chilled.

[masraum]

Super interesting! I'm going to have to try that.

[Baz]

Made beer battered cod fillets today for lunch.......incredible and so easy to make!!!

[rwest]

I have vowed to make a batch of English toffee before Christmas. I’m not an experienced cook/baker or candy maker and barely have any kitchen utensils.

I have just about everything needed, except the saucepan and 9x9 pan. The pan has been a bit hard to find at the stores I have visited, but shouldn’t be an issue.

Now the saucepan is a different animal, apparently you need a heavy one with copper being the cat’s meow- they are $150-200! Now if it was a Snap-on ratchet, who do I give my money to? I just need to put on my big boy pants and pay the money...

[Baz]

Beer battered cod fillets again today for lunch.......still incredible!

[vash]

Originally Posted by rwest

I have vowed to make a batch of English toffee before Christmas. I’m not an experienced cook/baker or candy maker and barely have any kitchen utensils.

I have just about everything needed, except the saucepan and 9x9 pan. The pan has been a bit hard to find at the stores I have visited, but shouldn’t be an issue.

Now the saucepan is a different animal, apparently you need a heavy one with copper being the cat’s meow- they are $150-200! Now if it was a Snap-on ratchet, who do I give my money to? I just need to put on my big boy pants and pay the money...

yowza!! I cant mess with melted sugar. the burn would be awful at that temperature.

[rwest]

I will keep that in mind- I’m somewhat opposed to getting burned!

Bought a copper lined US made All Clad saucepan today- on sale, but still $250. Just need to wait for the 9x9 pan to arrive and I’m kitted out.

[vash]

^^ that is a nice pan. really nice. wow.