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Leñador

Posts: 5237
Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

Ah yeah, barbacoa, I never see it on the menu like that here but people certainly say it. Wonder why......
Chorizo con huevos is my all time favorite breakfast! Calcique makes a soy chorizo that of course doesn't beat the real thing but is actually pretty dang tasty and a lot better for you. I usually buy that one and when I want the real thing go out. I love eating it with a TON of avocado. The older I get the more I really love avocado, I'm nearly eating em like apples at this point!

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 2:53:15
 
BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

quote:

Are we the only ones who eat food on this forum????


We may be the only ones for whom eating various types of food is a sensual experience.

Speaking of Asian food, I just had lunch at one of my favorite Indian restaurants in the world, and it is located right here in Koror, capital of the island-nation of Palau. The Taj is a first-rate Indian restaurant owned by two Indian brothers who have lived in Koror for 17 years. Every Friday they put on a wonderful buffet spread, and I like to take advantage of it when I am in Palau. I first discovered it on a gig I pulled in Palau for four months in 2010, and I have been going to it on my current gig. The food is delicious, with tandoori chicken, rice, and rich spicy curry, as well as freshly baked nan that is just as good as that I have tasted in the best Indian restaurants.

Of course, the foreigners in Palau love it, but many of the Palauan elite patronize it as well. It is most definitely not Indian "fusion." It wisely does not try to create an Indo-Pacific "fusion cuisine." Nope. It sticks to good basic Indian dishes, and it does them to near perfectiion.

Bill

_____________________________

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 6:54:58
 
MikeC

Posts: 79
Joined: Mar. 19 2015
From: Panama (living in South Florida)

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

Well, you are not the only ones! For me trying different foods is, as BarkellWH said, a sensual experience. When I travel, which is not often, one of my favorite things to do is to try the local cuisine.

When I lived in Houston we use to eat out often in the Chinatown area. There are great asian restaurants, asian supermarkets where you find from the simple to exotic. I remember the first time I went to the asian supermarket I saw people crowding around some containers with ladles. I was curious, so I went to check it out. The smell almost knocked me down, it was some sort of fermented fish. I'm not that brave for that!

In that area there is a huge vietnamese community that contributes to the great food of the area. That's where I discovered Banh Mi, among other things.

Also enjoyed great indian food at some hole-in-the-wall places that had one or two communal tables. We were the only non-indians in the place, which is always a good sign. Also Thai food, Turkish, you name it.

I don't have such great choices here in South Florida, but every now and then we find some gems.

A couple weeks ago some mexican friends took us to this fonda in Pompano Beach, Taqueria Doña Raquel. They have great tacos. The neighborhood is on the rough side but not to bad, unless you get bothered by all the men in the restaurant, mostly construction workers, checking out your wife :) But the food is so good that we have gone there twice in a month. My favorites: cabeza, cesina(dry meat), suadero(ribs), lengua, al pastor. Paired with a Negra Modelo or, if you're not in the mood for beer, horchata. And if you haven't tried Negra Modelo, do yourself a favor!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 10:51:11
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to BarkellWH

quote:

ORIGINAL: BarkellWH

Speaking of Asian food, I just had lunch at one of my favorite Indian restaurants in the world, and it is located right here in Koror, capital of the island-nation of Palau. The Taj is a first-rate Indian restaurant owned by two Indian brothers who have lived in Koror for 17 years. Every Friday they put on a wonderful buffet spread, and I like to take advantage of it when I am in Palau. I first discovered it on a gig I pulled in Palau for four months in 2010, and I have been going to it on my current gig. The food is delicious, with tandoori chicken, rice, and rich spicy curry, as well as freshly baked nan that is just as good as that I have tasted in the best Indian restaurants.

Bill


Yes! Last time we were in Palau we ate there. I had some very spicy tandoori chicken and a cooling mint/cucumber/yogurt "smoothie" type dish--don't know the Indian name. The food was really excellent, and we ate outdoors in the soft tropical night.

Florida: Years ago I used to travel occasionally to Eglin Air Force Base in the panhandle. Somewhere along what was then miles of vacant white sand beach there was a substantial restaurant. Often a good size commercial fishing boat was tied up at the dock alongside the restaurant. The specialty of the house was pompano--delicious.

Which reminds me---two friends and I spent the summer of 1961 camping out in Mexico. One memorable episode was getting our pickup truck stuck in the sand on the beach of Isla del Carmen, at the southern extreme of the Gulf of Mexico. The island was essentially uninhabited at the time. It took us three days to get unstuck. From 10 AM to 6 PM it was too hot to work, so at night we dug in the sand and laid palm fronds to drive on. In the afternoon when it was too hot to sleep we got out our fishing rods, waded out chest deep into the Gulf and caught pompano from the school that hung around just offshore. There was a coconut grove nearby. Throwing rocks at the monkeys inspired them to tear off coconuts and hurl them down at us. We worked hard, but we ate and drank well.

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 19:38:22
 
Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

I just returned from Hawaii, where I did have some average poke and some sort of octopus ceviche thing. It was definitely the toughest taco I've ever had. I did not each too much because I'd had some gastro problems after a luau the previous night--maybe too much poi mixed with lomilomi salmon. Also overindulged in sweet pineapples. When I go back home, I tend to get that kind of savory, fatty comfort food that makes you unhealthy just thinking about it--loco moco, Zippy's pork saimin, eggs with corned beef hash, plate lunch. I have also developed a craving for Ted's haupia pies.

Living in Arizona, there are plenty of Mexican fast food places around. I can think of 5 within a mile radius, just off the top of my head... I do like me some Tex-Mex or whatever you call tacos and cheese-laden refried beans, etc--Bill's Rositas being a great example of that. There is a Serrano's just down the street that serves similar fare. And, if one is short 4000 calories and needs to make it up in a sitting, one shouldn't miss TeePee in Arcadia, which I had heard Presiden Bush loved! I have not had too much stuff from south of south of the border, but I have made some of Rick Bayless's recipes and enjoyed them. Some of the best food I've ever had was in Puerto Vallarta when I visited over ten years ago. I still think about some of the fresh fruit I had there! Here at home, I cook beans several times a week and make them into soups, tacos, and on rice.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 19:49:35
 
MikeC

Posts: 79
Joined: Mar. 19 2015
From: Panama (living in South Florida)

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

quote:

ORIGINAL: BarkellWH

Yes! Last time we were in Palau we ate there. I had some very spicy tandoori chicken and a cooling mint/cucumber/yogurt "smoothie" type dish--don't know the Indian name.
RNJ



That is called Lassi. Usually Mint/cucumber or the popular Mango Lassi. Delicious!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 20:05:29
 
Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to MikeC

quote:

quote:

ORIGINAL: BarkellWH

Yes! Last time we were in Palau we ate there. I had some very spicy tandoori chicken and a cooling mint/cucumber/yogurt "smoothie" type dish--don't know the Indian name.
RNJ



That is called Lassi. Usually Mint/cucumber or the popular Mango Lassi. Delicious!


Nah, sounds like a Raita on the side. Curry is the national dish of the UK after all

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 21:20:26
 
MikeC

Posts: 79
Joined: Mar. 19 2015
From: Panama (living in South Florida)

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Escribano

Could be raita too. I thought he was talking about a drink since he referred to it as a "smoothie".
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 21:28:56
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to MikeC

I thought of lassi, but discarded the word--I ate it with a spoon, too thick to drink.

I used to ask for Negra Modelo regularly. I liked it much better than the other widely available Mexican dark beer, Dos Equis Oscura. These days I find myself going for the blonde pilsener-like brew from the same company as Negra Modelo, Modelo Especial.

I think it was the Cerveceria Cuahtemoc Moctezuma that followed the winter time custom of many German breweries. They made a bock called Cerveza de Nochebuena. The label was distinctive, with poinsettias. We used to get it all the time when we went to Mexico for a week or so after Christmas. I saw it only occasionally in Texas, but I liked it the best of the Mexican dark beers I have tried. Googling, I find that the brewery is merging Cerveza de Nochebuena and Bohemia Obscura.

Corona (a Modelo brand these days) is doing a good job of marketing. We saw it for sale all over Italy. It was popular in the Central Pacific when I lived there. I vaguely recall it becoming less flavorful as its distribution widened. I haven't sampled it in decades.

North of Venice in the Alps I didn't notice any Corona. The few draft beers from Austria I tried were quite tasty.

Mostly we stuck with wine. The red house wine by the liter that we had with our venison dinner in San Martino di Castrozza was better than a lot of $20 per bottle California cabernets.

The venison and apple strudel were excellent. Since our Italian friends were regular customers, the restaurant's owner and chef came by to chat for a minute, and pointed out that she made all the pastries herself. A lot of blond blue eyed people in the Alto Adige look (and cook) Germanic, but they speak and act Italian.

When I used to work a good bit in England, my U.K. acquaintances fell into two distinct groups. One group really went for spicy Indian food. The other would leave the room at the sight of a shaker of black pepper.

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 22:27:22
 
Escribano

Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

quote:

When I used to work a good bit in England, my U.K. acquaintances fell into two distinct groups. One group really went for spicy Indian food. The other would leave the room at the sight of a shaker of black pepper.


Definitely not my experience - we adore spicy food and pepper (the hotter the better, unlike a certain 'Indian' restaurant in Santa Monica that I recall). We have loved hot curry since the Crusades (and later, the spice wars) but our current version of Indian food is mostly invented by (or for) us from colonial times. It bears little resemblance to the real thing. Like Tex-Mex. Going out for a "ruby" (Ruby Murray = Curry) has been a way of life in the UK for at least 40 years.

The only person I have ever, ever taken out for a curry that did not like it much, is my Mexican wife, though she does love matar paneer with a Peshwari naan.

But I am aching for some tacos al pastor and michelada cubana right now

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 22:56:35
 
BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Miguel de Maria

quote:

I do like me some Tex-Mex or whatever you call tacos and cheese-laden refried beans, etc--Bill's Rositas being a great example of that.


One slight correction, Miguel. The tacos with shredded beef, cheese, lettuce, and chopped tomatoes at Rosita's are most definitely not "Tex-Mex." Tex-Mex is is a unique combination (dare I say "fusion"?) that incorporates elements of Mexican cuisine. The tacos at Rosita's are straight up Mexican, the way my mother prepared them when I was growing up, and the way they were, and still are, generally prepared in Northern Mexico.

Bill

_____________________________

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Jul. 31 2015 23:47:10
 
BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

quote:

We worked hard, but we ate and drank well.


A line worthy of Hemingway, Richard. Let me incorporate it into a scene that could have come out of Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast," his memoir of life as a struggling writer in Paris.

"In winter the rain would find us inside the cafe Les Deux Magots. We were trying to write one true sentence. For if it were true, the rest would follow. At night we made love in our rented garret, and it was true, and the earth moved. We worked hard, but we ate and drank well."

Would it make the "Bad Hemingway Writing" finals?

Bill

_____________________________

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 0:14:20
 
estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
 

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

quote:

"In winter the rain would find us inside the cafe Les Deux Magots. We were trying to write one true sentence. For if it were true, the rest would follow. At night we made love in our rented garret, and it was true, and the earth moved. We worked hard, but we ate and drank well."

Would it make the "Bad Hemingway Writing" finals?

Bill


We were talking about Asian seafood, but, I'm enjoying the forays into Had Bemingway, blonde Mexican beer, mouth burning curry crusaders and lemon covered noodles.

Put it all in a take out bag and send it.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 0:51:30
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to BarkellWH

I was a big Hemingway fan when I was 14. Reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in my seventies, I often felt embarrassed for him. A significant part of it would qualify for the "Bad Hemingway Writing" contest, in my opinion.

But I still remember with admiration the place in "Death in the Afternoon" where the little old lady in the audience asks the speaker to talk about the metaphysics of the bullfight. The lecturer replies, "Whenever I hear the word 'metaphysics' I always think of horse sh1t."

Hemingway certainly had some good looking granddaughters, though. A couple of them lived here in Austin. Haven't seen them since I came back.

We worked hard trying to get the truck off the beach, but eventually it was ingenuity, not hard work that did the trick.

I thought my friend Don was pretty ingenious, figuring out how to get green drinking coconuts by throwing rocks at the monkeys. He was an expert rock thrower, and was careful to annoy them, but not to injure them by actually hitting one. At first we were worried about running out of drinking water, but Don saved the day.

Jim started fishing out of pure boredom, but soon caught a pompano. Being a West Texas boy, he asked me whether it was good to eat. I assured him we would eat just about all we could catch, and got out my own fishing rod. We had enough beans and rice to last for weeks, but the pompano was a welcome treat.

Since I was a kid, Mexican food has been pretty much the same from San Antonio south to Monterrey--at least on the West Side of San Antonio. Of course in Mexico City, Monterrey equates to cocina norteña. I do remember four or five years ago getting some pretty bad cheesy and greasy stuff from a southside San Antonio place enthusiastically recommended by a casual acquaintance.

I couldn't say what the Tex-Mex here in Austin is like in general. One of my neighbors touted a place in a nearby strip mall. I haven´t been back since my first experience. Back in the day when University friends would return they liked to go to Matt's El Rancho, but those were the only times I ever ate there. I did tell the cashier at Taqueria Arandas, on a trip back to Austin in the 1990s, that I had lived in Austin for 30 years without being able to buy a real taco. He grinned, reached under the counter, and presented me with a calendar that had all the saints' days labeled in Spanish.

Fonda San Miguel goes back to the late ´60s in Austin. It would be a standout in Mexico City or Guadalajara for food like they serve at the Cafe Tacuba in the capital.

http://www.cafedetacuba.com.mx/en/

The Fonda is expensive, and some of my friends say they don't like the kind of food they serve.

Back in the '50s through the '80s there were two or three fairly decent cocina norteña places in the eastside barrio in Austin, but even they served crunchy tacos with ground beef. I wonder why?

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 1:18:10
 
estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
 

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

Where I am from you follow taco trucks. The good ones get famous and park in the same places for years. Then if it changes locale the information travels fast where it relocated.

It's the walk up taco stand that I like. In the port district of Oakland where my whop used to be, (before Richard visited me in Alameda) there were usually two on opposite ends of the port and estuary. Working on guitars and having three four tacos for lunch is a good time. You just stroll up to the window and say: Dos de lengua, dos de asada, and a few minutes later out pops a paper plate with radish, jalapeno, carrots, grilled green onions and four delicious gems.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 1:53:29
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to estebanana

I'll see your tacos and raise you a half dozen tamales.

Once or twice a month I drive all the way to the south edge of Austin to Mi Ranchito. It's in a building that used to be a convenience store like a 7-11 or something. I got casually acquainted with one of the 18- or 19-year old young men who worked the cash register and took orders at the counter in the evenings. He was friendly and spoke perfect English, talked about going to high school in Austin. I asked him whether he ever went back to Mexico to see his grandparents in Michoacan. He said it was harder to do now if you didn't have papers.

My favorite is the puerco en salsa verde with rice, frijoles refritos, avocado slices and chopped lettuce, piping hot tortillas de maiz. I always pick up a half dozen tamales and three kinds of salsa to take away for breakfast for the next couple of days.

Two minutes in the microwave, unroll the corn shucks, pour on a little salsa---instant memories of a South Texas boyhood.

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 2:26:08
 
BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

quote:

I was a big Hemingway fan when I was 14. Reading "For Whom the Bell Tolls" in my seventies, I often felt embarrassed for him. A significant part of it would qualify for the "Bad Hemingway Writing" contest, in my opinion. But I still remember with admiration the place in "Death in the Afternoon" where the little old lady in the audience asks the speaker to talk about the metaphysics of the bullfight. The lecturer replies, "Whenever I hear the word 'metaphysics' I always think of horse sh1t."


Yes, as a young man of 16 or so and into my 20s, I was captivated by Hemingway. In 1965, while serving in the U.S. Air Force in Germany, I took a one-month leave and traveled to Pamplona during the Fiesta de San Fermin in July, and then on to Madrid, finally ending up in Nice on the French riviera before returning to Germany. I was filled with Hemingway and sort of created my own internal world, as if I were making the journey in the 1920s (or at least as I imagined it would have been in the 1920s--I had a fairly vivid imagination!)

Today, however, much of Hemingway reads as if he is parodying himself. Nevertheless, there are still gems to be mined from his works, as your quote above demonstrates. One of my favorites is from "The Old Man and the Sea," quoted below.

“He always thought of the sea as 'la mar' which is what people call her in Spanish when they love her. Sometimes those who love her say bad things of her but they are always said as though she were a woman. Some of the younger fishermen, those who used buoys as floats for their lines and had motorboats, bought when the shark livers had brought much money, spoke of her as 'el mar' which is masculine.They spoke of her as a contestant or a place or even an enemy. But the old man always thought of her as feminine and as something that gave or withheld great favours, and if she did wild or wicked things it was because she could not help them. The moon affects her as it does a woman, he thought.”

I have always been struck by the fact that in Spanish, although "sea" is generally masculine ("el mar"), when referred to poetically or romantically it is feminine ("la mar"). Nothing illustrates this duality better than that quote from "The Old Man and the Sea."

Bill

_____________________________

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 2:43:32
 
BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

quote:

I'll see your tacos and raise you a half dozen tamales.


the tamale is one Mexican dish that is directly descended from the Mexica (Aztec) culture. And done well, tamales come close to competing with tacos for my culinary affection.

I'm already missing Mexican food. Here on Palau we have a first-rate Indian restaurant in The Taj (mentioned above), but so far not one Mexican restaurant. There are many Japanese and Chinese tourists who visit Palau (the number of Chinese tourists is greater than all other nationalities combined), and there are many restaurants that cater to their tastes, which is all well and good. But I doubt if Japanese or Chinese palates would take to Mexican food. I don't see them in The Taj either, although many Japanese frequent a sushi bar adjacent to The Taj.

Bill

_____________________________

And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 2:47:46
 
Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to BarkellWH

Yes? I've had a lot more experience with food in San Antonio, El Paso, and Phoenix than in Mexico. One of my dad's favorite dishes to prepare was fajitas. He would also blast "La Grange" by ZZ Top and some album with loud helicopters to demonstrate his stereo to friends on those occasions. When we had an extended family get-together in Aiea last week, he again made fajitas, but there was no loud music. Those little Bose cubes he has do not compare to those monstrous Pioneers he used to own.

I can't say that I am a big tamale fan. They are just a bit too masa-ey and dry. And I like prefer the shredded beef tacos over carne asada. I do love the little pickled condiments!

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 2:58:56
 
Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Miguel de Maria

Good tamales aren't dry. Supermarket "tamales" should be illegal. I don't know where Mi Ranchito gets theirs, but they are properly steamed so the flavor of the filling permeates the masa, which remains moist.

Fajitas are an interesting case of a U.S. Mexican food phenomenon. "Faja" means "sash". In a beef carcass the fajita is the diaphragm, the toughest muscle in the entire animal. It used to be that when a beef was butchered on the hacienda, the fajita was given to the poorest people. It was up to them to figure out how to try to eat it.

This led to a variety of recipes for marinating and trying to tenderize the recalcitrant cut of meat. Still, the best tactic was to chop it up into small strips before cooking it, in hopes of getting a running start at being able to chew it. Then you put the cooked meat on a tortilla with some vegetables and hot peppers.

But the phenomenon mentioned in the first paragraph is this: in the USA the foods of the poorest people tend to move upscale. Better cuts of meat were used to make the dish formerly employing the fajita (diaphragm), but the result was still called "fajita." This process continued until now you can order "chicken fajitas." It makes me smile every time I picture to myself a dish of tiny diaphanous chicken diaphragms.

Another instance of the phenomenon occurred when flautas became fashionable in Texas (maybe elsewhere) 30 years ago or so. Various fillings are rolled up in a corn tortilla, the tube is deep fried untll the wrapper is stiff. The resulting flauta holds its shape, and retains the fillings.

I first saw flautas when I started riding the 2nd class trains in Mexico at age 17, sixty years ago. The train would pull into a station. People would buy food through the train windows from people who had been cooking on the platform. Tacos and fajitas were popular, but flautas were more convenient and less messy to feed to the kids.

Flautas were sold from two-gallon galvanized buckets that were heated over charcoal braziers to produce smoking hot lard for deep frying. The hottest, freshest flautas sold best. Properly fried ones weren't greasy. It was decades before I saw flautas in a restaurant. They became quite trendy, even though they were cooked in commercial deep frying oil from peanuts, cottonseed or "canola" instead of lard.

RNJ
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 18:22:23
 
estebanana

Posts: 9351
Joined: Oct. 16 2009
 

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

quote:

Good tamales aren't dry. Supermarket "tamales" should be illegal. I don't know where Mi Ranchito gets theirs, but they are properly steamed so the flavor of the filling permeates the masa, which remains moist.


Thank you, tamales should not be dry. A major crime. Only Donald Trump or a hoodlum of his ilk would eat dry tamales.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 23:05:55
 
BarkellWH

Posts: 3458
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Richard Jernigan

Yes, good tamales are moist, and, steamed properly, the filling of meat, chicken, and sometimes cheese and additional filling, permeates the masa, which should always be corn-based.

Mexican tamales set the standard for the correct ratio of filling to masa. Many years ago I served for two years at the American Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and ate Honduran tamales, and I occasionally eat Salvadoran tamales in the Washington, DC area today. Central American tamales have far less filling than Mexican tamales. I don't know why this is the case, and I have never received a satisfactory explanation. Perhaps it is because places like Honduras and El Salvador are much poorer than Mexico and have a much greater population density, causing households and restaurants to ration the amount of filling used. The upshot for me, however, is while I love Mexican tamales, I find Central American tamales too doughy for my taste.

I mentioned earlier that tamales are one Mexican dish directly descended from the Mexica (Aztecs). The term "tamale" is a Nahuatl word that has been incorporated into Spanish, and it remains so in Nahuatl-speaking communities descended from the Aztecs today.

Bill

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 1 2015 23:36:51
 
MikeC

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Joined: Mar. 19 2015
From: Panama (living in South Florida)

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to BarkellWH

You should try panamanian tamales if you ever go to Panama! A completely different animal. They are made with cooked dry corn instead of masa and it's filled with chicken, pork, olives, red peppers and the filling is often cooked with a habanero pepper for flavor. The cooked corn is ground and mixed with the juices from cooking the chicken and pork. They are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks.
The only problems is that you are probably not going to find them outside of Panama.



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 0:08:08
 
BarkellWH

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From: Washington, DC

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to MikeC

quote:

You should try panamanian tamales if you ever go to Panama!


Your description of Panamanian tamales sounds delicious! Almost a reason in itself to visit Panama.

Bill

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Who tried to hustle the East."

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 0:39:16
 
BarkellWH

 

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 1:03:19
 
BarkellWH

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RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to BarkellWH

Returning to the primary topic, Asian seafood. My two favorites are sting ray, known in Malay as "ikan pari" (literally "ray fish") and tiger prawns. Sting ray is one of the culinary wonders of the world. I tasted sting ray for the first time in 1983, shortly after arriving on assignment in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Previously, I had never thought of sting ray as edible, much less the delicacy it really is. It quickly became (and still is) my favorite sea food. I ate it frequently at sea food specialty restaurants in Malaysia and Singapore. Sting ray in Malaysia is cooked two different ways. The Malays grill it and the Chinese steam it. I much prefer the Malay style of grilled sting ray. The sting ray belongs to the shark family and has shark-like cartilage. The Malays grill the wings and serve them with chili sauce and other condiments. One just takes the beautiful white flesh of the wing off the cartilage and tastes the sweetest of sea foods.

When I was assigned to the American Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, twice I took leave for two weeks at a time to ramble about the Riau Archipelago, which begins just south of Singapore and runs more or less along the South China Sea side of Sumatra. I first went in 1997 and enjoyed it so much I went again in 1998. My Malay language ability was (and remains) very good, and the Malays of the Riau Archipelago are considered to speak the purest form of Malay, as they are the remnants of the Malays of Malacca, which in the 15th century was the main entrepot of the Eastern spice trade. In 1511 the Portuguese defeated them, and they retreated south to Johore, finally centering their court in the Riau Archipelago. I was anxious to hear what linguists consider a reasonably pure form of Malay.

I flew to Singapore and took a ferry to the island of Bintan, which begins the Riau Archipelago. After a few days in bintan, I paid Malay boatmen and fishermen to take me to several islands in their prahus. I spent a few days on Lingga and surrounding islands, finally ending up on Singkep, where I spent several days. In each place I got to know the owner of a kedai, an open air restaurant or stall (Riau lacks the modern restaurants of Singapore and Jakarta--for the most part one eats in what are known as "kedais," particularly in the southern part of the archipelago.)

In each place, I made a deal with the owner of the kedai that I would go to the fish market every morning to pick up the finest sting ray I could find from the catch that was brought in from the night's haul of fish, I would bring it to the kedai owner that morning, and he would prepare it for me when I showed up for dinner each evening at about 7:00 PM. I was in linguistic and culinary heaven, learning the Riau dialect of Malay and having Malay-style, grilled sting ray for dinner each evening. It doesn't get any better than that.

My other favorite is tiger prawns, found in Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. One goes to an open-air restaurant, picks out the tiger prawns one wants for dinner, all of which are fresh and on a bed of ice, and has them grilled. Tiger prawns are huge and have a fair amount of meat in the tail. Three or four make a meal in itself. Nothing better than tiger prawns dipped in butter and lemon sauce, washed down with a tiger, anchor, or Singha beer.

Bill

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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white,
With the name of the late deceased,
And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here,
Who tried to hustle the East."

--Rudyard Kipling
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 1:22:45
 
Dudnote

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RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to BarkellWH

Looks like I'm late for the food party! Good to see Escribano defending the good old British curry.

Estebanana might baulk or yawn at the idea, but one of my favourites is this one. It's popular in Taiwanese night markets. The wikipedia translation of "oyster omelet" doesn't really translate well, for one the egg is never mixed with the flour, also the flour is of the sticky variety so the whole thing is quite chewy - a popular texture in Taiwan, when something is pleasantly chewy they say it is "very Q" (perhaps because Q rhymes with "chew"??), then there is the sweet red garlicy sauce slopped on top - yum yum yum. I can't compare this with Japanese food since I never went to Japan, but this is cheap and cheerful street food, so perhaps it's like the difference between courting a high class Geisha and the line of Dirty Old Town - "I kissed my girl by the factory wall". I love this stuff - apart from anything else, the oysters give me the horn!!!

http://paper.wenweipo.com/009BU/attachments/2010/09/5571_201009270027351J07R.jpg



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 2:30:39
 
estebanana

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RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

I'm not a baulker at street food. I'm a diehard taco truck advocate. I'd try that oyster omelet.

There is a wonderful street food in mainland China. A kind of crepe with an egg cracked in the middle and then mixed around a cooked while it's being folded up in the crepe. Then it gets red chili sauce...give me a dozen.

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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 2:43:34
 
Dudnote

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RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to estebanana

Miam miam!!

If street food is your thing, then check out Zongzi - sticky rice pyramids with pork, nuts, mushrooms inside, wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. You might occasionally find a prawn in one too, or a sweet version with red bean paste - I prefer the savoury ones, pass the garlic sauce. Man, when they're good they're good. Here's some that haven't seen the pot yet. Dragon boat festival - that's the zongzi season.



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 2:56:32
 
Leñador

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Joined: Jun. 8 2012
From: Los Angeles

RE: Asian Seafood (in reply to Leñador

Yay I love all this food talk!!
And I love a good tamale! I think for the Americas I would say Mexicans got it down, I've had near all of em too; salvadorian, Guatemalan, Nacatamal, Cuban.....never Panamaniam thoug, I'd love to try that.

Every Vietnamese new year my ladies family makes these Vietnamese tamales called banh chung, I love these things and look forward to it all year. After they're steamed I like slicing em and pan frying em to a crisp, it's about as good as sex. Smothered in Sriracha garlic paste and fish sauce with scallions.....I'm so hungry now :/



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date Aug. 2 2015 7:05:58
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