Posted on 05/29/2020 6:22:30 PM PDT by Jamestown1630
We recently went looking online for a wok - we wanted to try and become expert at stir-frying. It surprised me that everything we liked best was sold out everywhere. Then, I realized that lots of people have been stuck at home and doing more cooking for themselves. (I saw a recent cooking video on YouTube, in which a man stated that he had gone all over to find simple 8-inch layer-cake pans, and they were sold out everywhere that he was able to look; and I noticed last weekend that the baking section in my grocery – flour, sugar, baking mixes, leavening agents – was almost bare.)
We finally found a nice wok, and went through the process of curing it. We haven’t cooked in it yet (busy week) but we did some shopping for ingredients. In the process, I found in the local health food store something called Chinese ‘Forbidden Black Rice’, which I’d heard about but had never tried.
This rice is amazing! and the strangest thing about it is that it tastes like it’s full of butter, right out of the pot – with no butter added. It’s also lower on the glycemic index than ‘regular’ rice, and very rich in antioxidants and other nutrients.
I first tried this in a traditional ‘Carolina Rice Steamer’, which is sort of like a double boiler; but it took forever. You may be able to do it in an electric rice steamer (I pitched mine when it broke down) but I would suggest doing this on the stovetop as you would do brown rice.
The product we purchased was not ‘sticky’; so I’m assuming it’s the one referred to in this article as the actual Chinese Forbidden Black Rice:
Grace Young is one of the best instructors I’ve found on stir-frying; her various books are full of history, traditional Chinese culture, and information, and the recipes are very interesting and different from the heavy food that we call 'Chinese' in restaurants in the US. Here is her video on seasoning a new carbon steel wok:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZjkTPWBOf8
And here is her blog, with her recipe for Sweet and Sour Chicken:
http://www.graceyoung.com/recipes/sweet-and-sour-chicken/">
I saw this cooking-coloring book for kids, on the Dover website today; it looks like a great way to keep the young ones occupied and also learning a skill that will be valuable throughout life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZjkTPWBOf8
-JT
My SIL works for a small catering company (doing food prep). Someone brought in the Dawn Powerwash Dish Spray. They use a lot of olive oil & have many ‘greasy/oily’ dishes - all are going nuts over this Powerwash Spray - said it took the oil/grease right off. My SIL was really excited about it & said it made their cleanup a lot easier.
I saw it in Walmart the other day - only a couple of bottles. I didn’t buy any, but if I see it again, I will since I use beef tallow, bacon grease, butter & avocado oil for cooking - my measuring spoons/cups, in particular, are hard to get really grease/oil free.
I am debating (or going ‘round & around is more like it) with getting an Instant Pot type appliance. My niece was moving & temporarily didn’t have room for hers, so I had it a couple of months & got to try it out. I liked it, but didn’t use it that often & decided not to get one.
What has changed .... I want/need to make bone broth and pressure cooking speeds up the process and gets ‘hot’ enough to soften the bones. Slow cookers (what I’ve been using) doesn’t get hot enough to soften the bones. The only other method that will is long hours simmering on the stove & I cannot leave the stove on that long - wouldn’t be comfortable leaving a pot on the stove overnight.
Just curious if anyone has a favorite pot or any comments. I’ve been on Amazon reading comments on various pots - it’s the usual: love, love, love or didn’t last very long, disappointed, etc. I’ll be looking for an 8 quart so I can make large batches of bone broth. I need it and my elderly mom needs it as well.
The only other issue is getting good bones - my grassfed farm supplier hasn’t had product in some weeks. Their butcher had issues .... supposedly they’ve got meat being processed & I expected them to have it at the farm store this weekend, but they posted that there have been “delays”. Daggone it .... Due to the shortage of various meats, my niece is raising “meat” chickens (25) that are chunking up nicely ... I’ve asked for the chicken feet (lots of collagen) to add to bone broth. Also, she has two calves as of 4 weeks ago - they’ll be processed next summer some time & I’ll hopefully be able to buy some product from her. Calves will be grassfed from start to finish.
That’s a good recommendation. I’ll have to keep an eye out for it.
Hadn’t thought about using the pressure cooker. Good idea.
I’ve heard adding a bit of vinegar helps pull the calcium out of the bones but don’t know if that’s true.
Yes, you add vinegar to help leach the minerals out of the bones. It doesn’t take much - tablespoon or two/three, depending on the amount you’re making.
Bone broth, with lots of collagen (chicken feet bump it up!) helps seal leaky gut .... my mom has intestinal issues, so I’m looking for a way to safely “hasten” the bone broth making process. I’ve gone 99% carnivore (the 1% is Brussels sprouts - for whatever reason, I crave them once or twice a month) so bone broth is great nutrition for me, too.
carrots, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, right out of the ground have natural sugars, they taste sweet.
You got it. That’s the only way to get meat these days. I tried to get a 10 lb package of chicken quarters a couple weeks ago that was listed as in stock but what they gave me was a package with just two little thighs. Also, the 5 lb ground beef package ended up being a 1 lb package. The prices had gone up significantly so those looters might be smarter than us.
Here’s the download for the Betty Crocker Boys and Girls Cookbook. Other books there, too.
https://archive.org/details/bettycrockerscoo00croc/page/n193/mode/2up
Cool site. I know where I’m going to be for the next long while.
Yeah, I go to the grill a lot these days because with a few reletively cheap tools you can control and use high heat. I destroyed a kitchen oven trying to make pizza once. On the grill with a stone it gets very close to a real pizza oven. You can even do it with a charcoal grill.
Thousands of years ago in ancient China, black rice was known as Forbidden Rice and reserved only for the nobles, due to its potential health benefits. The common people were not allowed to grow or consume this black rice, which led to its unique name that it still carries with it today.
The Forbidden City-—once the home of emperors——is a huge tourist destination today.
Health Benefits of Black Rice
Black Rice contains a class of flavonoid antioxidants called anthocyanins which is also found in blueberries and other purple foods.
A study presented by the American Chemical Society, in Boston, shows that a spoonful of black rice bran or 10 spoonfuls of cooked black rice contains the same amount of antioxidants as a spoonful of fresh blueberries.
It is also a rich source of zinc, copper, and iron, and is a significant source of dietary fibre.
“his rememberer isn’t as good as mine”
:)
Just this week DH and I were disagreeing on a subject which could be checked and verified. After 10 minutes, just told him: Stop! This is fact —— and when you find that you are incorrect, I do expect an apology from you for the doubt you express. Low and behold, he checked, I was, and he did!
Thank goodness correct happened to land on my side of the fence; otherwise he would have held it over my head like the sword of Damascus!
Final decision: Will order this on line and have it delivered. Checking on line, found: “out of stock” Having never ordered like this from WM, assume they would back order and ship when available. Conclusion: This P&G product must be ‘The Holy Grail’ of dish soaps. Perhaps the ad was not just hype after all. Found Dawn to be the BEST to eliminate grease. No comparison when matched with any other d/w liquid. It must be good! — even DH agrees with me on this. :-)
Whoops! LOL this might have been the only shelf in town on which it could be found. After searching stores, decided to order on line: “out of stock”. Anticipation and the opportunity to work on a virtue, “patience”.
The shelf was empty today ..... I checked. I think there were only 2 bottles a couple of days ago .... should have snagged one then!
Perhaps the ads were not all hype! We’ll wait together :-)
My pot roast foray turned out pretty good today.
I’m not sure if an 8” springform pan would fit but I ordered a 7” one through Amazon and it came with a pack of 50 paper liners, a steamer and an egg cooker all for around $20.
Chicken paprikash is great. I use a stainless steel pressure cooker and always smoked sweet paprika.
Whenever I hear or see chicken paprikash I always think of the scene in “When Harry Met Sally.” Billy Crystal was so funny.
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