Comments on: More Evidence of Fun

By: Clifford

Clifford — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:51:19 +0000

Aaron,

Thanks…… Your excellent tips about temperature will be useful. I did not mean to suggest otherwise.

Cheers,

-cvj

By: Aaron Bergman

Aaron Bergman — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 07:17:13 +0000

I think wok’s were traditionally used on a wood stove way back when, but I’m not really sure. Maybe someone reading can say what’s generally done at home in Asia these days. Anyways, my whole point in postings was to give some advice on how you can do pretty well on a western stove.

If you like Sichuan food, by the way, give Fuschia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty a try.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:51:59 +0000

You’re right of course, but I suspect that one can get a decent meal with way less than 125k BTUs. After all, the whole of China and Taiwan is cooking excellent domestic meals somehow, right? And probably has been for several generations without 125K BTUs….

Cheers,

-cvj

By: Aaron Bergman

Aaron Bergman — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:40:10 +0000

They have serious heat on the ones in Chinese restaurants. It’s looks like cooking on a jet engine. A home stove puts out around 16k BTUs maybe. The suckers in the restaurant do over 125k.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:28:00 +0000

Ah… yes, this is a problem… but my stove does the trick nicely, happily. Wide range of (gas) heat from the burners.. from warm-your-toes gentle through torch-that-barn right up to weld-that-garden-gate.

-cvj

By: Aaron Bergman

Aaron Bergman — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:17:52 +0000

It’s really hard to cook great Chinese stir-fries at home because most stoves just don’t put out enough heat to really drive a wok. The key is to work in small batches with a flat bottomed wok. I have one made out of cast iron which is great for heat retention, but you lose the ability to change the temperature quickly.

But Sichuan peppercorns are legal again which is cool.

By: Clifford

Clifford — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 03:11:16 +0000

I’m sure there are several others (besides Moshe and I) who love Korean food! (I miss all those great kimchee varieties in several little bowls that come with every meal….)

So you’re saying you prefer to cook? Excellent! We can do a cook’s tour, or you can give me some Korean cooking tips… maybe even a demo. I’ll buy the soju!

Cheers,

-cvj

P.S. For the food-lovers among you…. watch out for a post on cooking Chinese-style, coming up. I’ve been doing some experiments….. Just got to find the time to write up the results. (I’m sure I’ll be opening myself to ridicule from the people who really know what they are doing!)

By: Sam

Sam — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 19:38:34 +0000

Wow! I didn’t know that Korean food is that popular. Actually i don’t really know about Korean restaurant because the food of price is way expensiver than Korean. And.. I can cook those stuff if i want. ^^v i don’t usually don’t get inspiration though.

By: Moshe

Moshe — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 22:31:44 +0000

Yep, it is really under-appreciated cuisine, just the thought of one of your reports, with full color images, makes me hungry…

By: Clifford

Clifford — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 22:23:15 +0000

Moshe: – Yeah…. Sadly, I have not visited Korea for few years now, but still have fond memories of the food and the hospiltality from my trips there. On the plus side, I have access to a huge Korea-Town here in LA… USC borders on it, and I come through it every day to and from work….. I like several restaurants that I’ve learned…. and Sam told me about a few more…… Hmmm maybe I can convince Sam (and Amy?) to take me on a tour of some of them and we can report back?

As you know, there are some pretty excellent dishes to be had. With plenty of soju on the side….. oh yeah!

-cvj