Monthly Cooking Thread - December 2020

[Jamestown1630]

To those who know Kimchi, this may seem like a joke – but it’s not.

I first learned to love kimchi when I had it made by a friend’s Oma 30-odd years ago, and I got pretty spoiled on the home-made stuff. We occasionally find jarred, refrigerated kimchis that can rival home-made in local supermarket produce aisles, but not reliably; and getting to the closest ethnic market is a traffic/parking nightmare.

I happened to see the Jayone pictured above in a local store, and bought it just for larks – but to my surprise, it’s actually very good! It may lack a certain element of fizz-and-zing that you experience with the ‘real’ stuff, but for a very unexpected canned variety, we liked it a lot. If you can’t find fresh, and aren’t up for the complicated project of making your own, this may somewhat assuage your addiction if you can find it somewhere nearby. Open up, transfer to a glass container, and chill well.

(My husband doesn't think it's 'hot and spicy' enough - but maybe it can be doctored to personal taste ;-)

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I recently had a birthday, and got some very nice presents. One of them was a Taiyaki iron.

Taiyaki is a popular little fish-shaped Japanese waffle-like cake, usually stuffed with sweetened red bean paste – but often also stuffed with custard, chocolate, Nutella or fruit preserves. It’s a popular street food in Japan, and you can buy little irons for making them, for home use. I haven’t tried it yet, and I’ve read that they don’t work real well on an electric stovetop, though some say they’ve managed it. (If the electric stove doesn’t work, I’ve got one of those little butane- burning ‘hot plates’ to try – watch this space.)

http://chefiso.com/p/taiyaki-recipe/

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I’ve always loved Gordon Lightfoot’s music – he’s a poet-singer in a very old tradition of storytellers. I’ve especially liked his song, ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’.

But I realized the other day that I didn’t really know much about the Edmund Fitzgerald and her story; so I found this – the 45th anniversary of her sinking was just a few weeks ago - and this is a very moving video. (I got almost to the end, thinking that YouTube at least had the good grace to not interrupt certain types of vids with commercial ads; but alas…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5i_XMqdULM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vST6hVRj2A

Millions of men – and women – all over the world brave the dangers of the seas to ensure the economies, food needs, and defense of their respective countries and communities. Even in the modern world of steel ships and boats and high technology, it takes a lot of grit to do a job like that.

-JT

[Jamestown1630]

This month – some Asian treats, and a salute to the people who brave the sea to the benefit of us all.

(If you would like on or off of this monthly cooking thread, please send a private message.)

-JT

[noexcuses]

Yum! Seafood my favorite!

[Jamestown1630]

I’ll come up with a mussel recipe, soon...or would you prefer squid?

[kiryandil]

A really good 2015 Japanese film, Sweet Bean:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4298958/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Bean

[dynachrome]

kimchi is one of the foods of Valhalla.

[kiryandil]

Re: The Edmund Fitzgerald

Lake Superior will kill your @ss without blinking.

[Jamestown1630]

That looks like a good movie.

[Jamestown1630]

I think so; but it’s one of those things that many will have to become accustomed to in ‘Valhalla’ :-)

[kiryandil]

"It is the second film, after I Wish, to star real-life grandmother and granddaughter Kirin Kiki and Kyara Uchida."

It was swell, but I'm a sentimentalist...

[Blurb2350]

Many grocery stores now carry kimchee. I’ve seen it — and bought it — in my local Safeway and Walmart. Look in the refrigerated area of the produce section. It’ll do wonders for your newly-fashionable “intestinal flora.”

[Zhang Fei]

[kimchi is one of the foods of Valhalla.]

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Really? I’ve heard of Valhalla, NY, but never tried its kimchi. Who knew that Westchester County was such a haven for Oriental cuisine?

[noexcuses]

We have the Penn Cove mussel company maybe 5 miles from us. On the bbq with garlic butter and Tiger sauce. Same as with Manila clams.

[Jamestown1630]

The Arthur M Anderson gives a salute to the Edmund Fitzgerald on the anniversary of the sinking:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDA8nF02Xy0

(There’s nothing wrong with a degree of sentimentality. Without that aspect of individual nature, one would never survive with any real meaning to his life.)

[Jamestown1630]

No Squid?

A Squid and a Marine are in the bathroom peeing in the urinal; the Squid washes his hands and says smugly, 'in the Navy they teach us to wash our hands after peeing.' The Marine looks at him and says, 'In the Marines, they teach us not to pee on our hands.'

(Not trying to cause trouble - just having fun :-)

[mylife]

I adore it all...

[dynachrome]

Valhalla is where Viking Kitties come from.

;)

[bravo whiskey]

Kimchi is quite personal. I have found MOTHER IN LAW’S KIMCHI from Whole Foods good.

[jonrick46]

We have Kimchi in our market:

[sauropod]

Catfish. Blackened.