Food Porn, and the relative lack
May. 19th, 2006 09:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pecuniumI haven't been cooking so much since I got back from Korea.
The reasons are strange, and for those who are expecting anything of a truly scrumptious nature, this may not be the post to read.
Our landlord, and housemate, has a new boyfriend. He has a house. She has been spending most of her time there. This has, actually, cut into my cooking.
There are a lot of things about the boyfriend to dislike, the long and short of it is he is a privileged kid with no sense of awareness for other people. While I was in Korea/Tennesee they took to cooking for the weekly get together. They've not yet stopped. On several levels this bothers me, mostly (I think) because they aren't here much. They come in, make some food (most of which was prepped at his place) make a mess and leave.
I resent it.
It feels false. The basic idea was ours. Maia and I were used to having people over once a week, and so we wanted to continue it. We are no longer actually hosting it, and that annoys me.
I confess that, as I do most of the cooking, I don't always clean up those dishes which weren't cleaned in process. In part this is because I did the cooking, and don't think I ought to have to do all the dishes, and in part because I certainly don't want to be cleaning up after a dozen people at 11 o'clock in the evening, and put it off to morning.
They clean up almost nothing (last week they did put away the food, but that was all, and a first). So I have pots, pans, dishes and a sink full of whatever they tossed in it while they were cooking.
feh.
He seems to have zero sense of several of the simplest tasks, like not scorching rice, or beans, to the bottom of a pan. So there've been a few occasions when my good cookware has been left on the stove with a lid, a bit of water and food. Just what I want to find a couple of days later when I get to digging things out.
I've had to repair a couple of my knives. This does not put me in a good mood. I like my cutlery. To a small degree I fetishize it. I tend to keep my knives sharper than most schools of cooking recommend (I like a smaller angle than they do. It makes the edge more delicate, but they cut more cleanly, and with greater precision when doing delicate work). These were not the routine touching up of something dulled (which bothers me not at all) but having to take out the stones and grind out places where the edges had been smashed flat, and folded over.
So I've had to remove things from the kitchen.
Combine that with hectic scedules, and the like, and lots of the cooking has been routine. A pot of chili, some pasta with red sauce, etc..
I did get a present from Maia, at long last (I've been asking for it for a couple of years) part of which delay wasn't her fault, as she made it back in February, and the Craft Center lost two kilns, so everything was delayed.
I am now the proud and happy owner of a kraut-pot. It's a straight-sided cylinder, of about 1/2 gal. capacity, with a lid which fits just inside the rim.
It's used for the making of sauerkraut (which I very much like).
Making sauerkraut is easy.
Cabbage
Salt
Time
Those are what one needs. I am on my second batch and the results are very good. The first batch was a trifle too salty, but I fixed that.
Take a head of cabbage, slice it thin (3-6 mm)
Place a layer (maybe 1/3 in) in the pot.
Sprinkle some salt on it (sea salt, esp. grey sea salt is best, because the calcium in it will keep the cabbage firmer. I recommend against iodized, because the flavor will be slightly off).
Repeat this until the pot is almost full.
Every so often take the lid (Mine is bowl-shaped, with a knob in the center) and press down, with moderate firmness, on the cabbage.
You are aiming for a 1-3 percent solution (this is different from brine for pickles, which tends to be more toward 10 percent salt, which is enough to make an egg stand on end; which is what a book means when it says, "strong enough to float an egg," If the egg actually floats, it's too salty. Kosher salt will dissolve more readily. Actually making a stong brine, and tossing the cabbage in it isn't all that effective because not enough sticks. If you add too much it will still work, but the flavor will be different.
In a day, or so, the salt will have pulled enough water out of the cabbage to cover it. If it hasn't, then add a little water. Let it sit for at least a week, and test.
Check it every couple of days. The smell will get more acidic as it develops the bacteria which do the work (like brined pickles and olives, it's a lactic acid fermentation). You can add seeds (caraway and dill are traditional, but fennel, celery, cumin, etc. are all interesting). You can also add carrots, turnips, parsnips etc. Temperature will affect it, the cooler it is the more slowly things go. If keeping it at room temperature it will be ready sometime between 7-10 days, and be good for 3-5 weeks. You can put it in a widemouthed jar, and move it to the fridge if you want to keep it longer than that. The best thing, however, is to make only enough as you are likely to eat before it starts to get less tasty.
The speed of the reaction will give it different texture and flavor (as will age). You can also use the brine as starter, much like sourdough. If you are making new, as the old runs out, just reserve a bit (for my pot, about 1/3 cup) and pour it on when all the cabbage is in the pot.
Kimchee is about the same. The main difference in technique is 1: the amount of salt, and 2: the size of the cabbage. Kimchee starts at 3 pecent and heads toward 6 percent salt. This changes the sort of bacteria, and makes for a more effervescent, and "brighter" flavor. It also leaves the cabbage crisper.
One can make kimchee from "white" cabbage, but the Koreans use bok choi, or Napa, and they chop it into large pieces.
The (in)famous aroma comes from the peppers, garlic and ginger which are added to the mix, the authentic stuff is redolant of stagnant water when brewing, so it might be the best thing for domestic harmony to put the pot in the garage, or the backyard, instead of the kitchenn counter.
The reasons are strange, and for those who are expecting anything of a truly scrumptious nature, this may not be the post to read.
Our landlord, and housemate, has a new boyfriend. He has a house. She has been spending most of her time there. This has, actually, cut into my cooking.
There are a lot of things about the boyfriend to dislike, the long and short of it is he is a privileged kid with no sense of awareness for other people. While I was in Korea/Tennesee they took to cooking for the weekly get together. They've not yet stopped. On several levels this bothers me, mostly (I think) because they aren't here much. They come in, make some food (most of which was prepped at his place) make a mess and leave.
I resent it.
It feels false. The basic idea was ours. Maia and I were used to having people over once a week, and so we wanted to continue it. We are no longer actually hosting it, and that annoys me.
I confess that, as I do most of the cooking, I don't always clean up those dishes which weren't cleaned in process. In part this is because I did the cooking, and don't think I ought to have to do all the dishes, and in part because I certainly don't want to be cleaning up after a dozen people at 11 o'clock in the evening, and put it off to morning.
They clean up almost nothing (last week they did put away the food, but that was all, and a first). So I have pots, pans, dishes and a sink full of whatever they tossed in it while they were cooking.
feh.
He seems to have zero sense of several of the simplest tasks, like not scorching rice, or beans, to the bottom of a pan. So there've been a few occasions when my good cookware has been left on the stove with a lid, a bit of water and food. Just what I want to find a couple of days later when I get to digging things out.
I've had to repair a couple of my knives. This does not put me in a good mood. I like my cutlery. To a small degree I fetishize it. I tend to keep my knives sharper than most schools of cooking recommend (I like a smaller angle than they do. It makes the edge more delicate, but they cut more cleanly, and with greater precision when doing delicate work). These were not the routine touching up of something dulled (which bothers me not at all) but having to take out the stones and grind out places where the edges had been smashed flat, and folded over.
So I've had to remove things from the kitchen.
Combine that with hectic scedules, and the like, and lots of the cooking has been routine. A pot of chili, some pasta with red sauce, etc..
I did get a present from Maia, at long last (I've been asking for it for a couple of years) part of which delay wasn't her fault, as she made it back in February, and the Craft Center lost two kilns, so everything was delayed.
I am now the proud and happy owner of a kraut-pot. It's a straight-sided cylinder, of about 1/2 gal. capacity, with a lid which fits just inside the rim.
It's used for the making of sauerkraut (which I very much like).
Making sauerkraut is easy.
Cabbage
Salt
Time
Those are what one needs. I am on my second batch and the results are very good. The first batch was a trifle too salty, but I fixed that.
Take a head of cabbage, slice it thin (3-6 mm)
Place a layer (maybe 1/3 in) in the pot.
Sprinkle some salt on it (sea salt, esp. grey sea salt is best, because the calcium in it will keep the cabbage firmer. I recommend against iodized, because the flavor will be slightly off).
Repeat this until the pot is almost full.
Every so often take the lid (Mine is bowl-shaped, with a knob in the center) and press down, with moderate firmness, on the cabbage.
You are aiming for a 1-3 percent solution (this is different from brine for pickles, which tends to be more toward 10 percent salt, which is enough to make an egg stand on end; which is what a book means when it says, "strong enough to float an egg," If the egg actually floats, it's too salty. Kosher salt will dissolve more readily. Actually making a stong brine, and tossing the cabbage in it isn't all that effective because not enough sticks. If you add too much it will still work, but the flavor will be different.
In a day, or so, the salt will have pulled enough water out of the cabbage to cover it. If it hasn't, then add a little water. Let it sit for at least a week, and test.
Check it every couple of days. The smell will get more acidic as it develops the bacteria which do the work (like brined pickles and olives, it's a lactic acid fermentation). You can add seeds (caraway and dill are traditional, but fennel, celery, cumin, etc. are all interesting). You can also add carrots, turnips, parsnips etc. Temperature will affect it, the cooler it is the more slowly things go. If keeping it at room temperature it will be ready sometime between 7-10 days, and be good for 3-5 weeks. You can put it in a widemouthed jar, and move it to the fridge if you want to keep it longer than that. The best thing, however, is to make only enough as you are likely to eat before it starts to get less tasty.
The speed of the reaction will give it different texture and flavor (as will age). You can also use the brine as starter, much like sourdough. If you are making new, as the old runs out, just reserve a bit (for my pot, about 1/3 cup) and pour it on when all the cabbage is in the pot.
Kimchee is about the same. The main difference in technique is 1: the amount of salt, and 2: the size of the cabbage. Kimchee starts at 3 pecent and heads toward 6 percent salt. This changes the sort of bacteria, and makes for a more effervescent, and "brighter" flavor. It also leaves the cabbage crisper.
One can make kimchee from "white" cabbage, but the Koreans use bok choi, or Napa, and they chop it into large pieces.
The (in)famous aroma comes from the peppers, garlic and ginger which are added to the mix, the authentic stuff is redolant of stagnant water when brewing, so it might be the best thing for domestic harmony to put the pot in the garage, or the backyard, instead of the kitchenn counter.
