A Pressing Issue
Oct. 8th, 2011 12:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snousleTodays breakfast represents a confluence of several interesting themes. First, let me introduce the new gadget, the tofu press, shown here pressing Napa cabbage:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
furr_a_bruin inadvertently turned me on to this. I'm a very anti-gadget person, and the tofu press would seem to be the very last thing in the world I would buy. In fact, it solves a pressing issue with the management of vegetables in my cuisine. I had been aware of Japanese pickle presses for some time but the construction of this one is much better suited to my needs.
I keep threatening to write a cookbook titled "Cooking With Water" because the big issue in every cuisine is the management of water. If you use decent ingredients, you get the water right, you get the salt right, and you get the heat right, you literally cannot go wrong in cooking. Every living thing we commonly eat is basically delicious if you don't overcook it and don't drown it. The tofu press prevents the drowning of vegetables by removing water before it causes trouble. In particular it lets you cook watery vegetables much more quickly, and get a much better texture.
[Aside: it took a while to get the thing. The package was tracked as "delivered" but was nowhere to be found. Turns out our delivery person had put the lockbox key in the wrong mail slot down at the highway. The company agreed to send me another for the cost of shipping, and once i had paid for that, not an hour went past before I got a call from the post office letting me know someone had brought it in. So now there is another on the way and I am wracked with guilt. The company rep asked me to let them know if it turned up and they would send me a mailing label to return it. AM I REALLY THAT HONEST??? After all the runaround I am suffering a wholly unjustified and thoroughly antisocial sense of entitlement.]
Anyway, John is away for the weekend and Bill is hiding out in a little cabin trimming marijuana all month. I cook rather differently for myself than I do for the rest of the household.
Mixed with 5% salt by weight, cabbage presses down to about 1/4 its original volume in a few hours.
Dried Chinese noodles. I'm VERY fussy about my chow mein, and I endorse Golden Pak "Guangdong Dried Noodle", available at Cash+Carry. Boil for 6 minutes and drain.
One egg, cooked in a thin crepe and sliced finely:
Strained noodles. I'm very fond of this little green silicone strainer, which collapses into a flat shape for storage. Much easier than a traditional colander.
The pressed cabbage with some butter...
Mix in the noodles and fry on medium, without stirring, for 5 min. Flip the noodles over and fry for another 5 min. The noodles touching the pan should be well browned and crispy. They will soften again when stirred together with the un-browned noodles.
Stir in a little butter at the last moment and grind some black pepper over it:
Very nice with a little Gewurtztraminer. French flavors + Asian technique = delicious.
furr_a_bruin inadvertently turned me on to this. I'm a very anti-gadget person, and the tofu press would seem to be the very last thing in the world I would buy. In fact, it solves a pressing issue with the management of vegetables in my cuisine. I had been aware of Japanese pickle presses for some time but the construction of this one is much better suited to my needs.I keep threatening to write a cookbook titled "Cooking With Water" because the big issue in every cuisine is the management of water. If you use decent ingredients, you get the water right, you get the salt right, and you get the heat right, you literally cannot go wrong in cooking. Every living thing we commonly eat is basically delicious if you don't overcook it and don't drown it. The tofu press prevents the drowning of vegetables by removing water before it causes trouble. In particular it lets you cook watery vegetables much more quickly, and get a much better texture.
[Aside: it took a while to get the thing. The package was tracked as "delivered" but was nowhere to be found. Turns out our delivery person had put the lockbox key in the wrong mail slot down at the highway. The company agreed to send me another for the cost of shipping, and once i had paid for that, not an hour went past before I got a call from the post office letting me know someone had brought it in. So now there is another on the way and I am wracked with guilt. The company rep asked me to let them know if it turned up and they would send me a mailing label to return it. AM I REALLY THAT HONEST??? After all the runaround I am suffering a wholly unjustified and thoroughly antisocial sense of entitlement.]
Anyway, John is away for the weekend and Bill is hiding out in a little cabin trimming marijuana all month. I cook rather differently for myself than I do for the rest of the household.
Mixed with 5% salt by weight, cabbage presses down to about 1/4 its original volume in a few hours.
Dried Chinese noodles. I'm VERY fussy about my chow mein, and I endorse Golden Pak "Guangdong Dried Noodle", available at Cash+Carry. Boil for 6 minutes and drain.
One egg, cooked in a thin crepe and sliced finely:
Strained noodles. I'm very fond of this little green silicone strainer, which collapses into a flat shape for storage. Much easier than a traditional colander.
The pressed cabbage with some butter...
Mix in the noodles and fry on medium, without stirring, for 5 min. Flip the noodles over and fry for another 5 min. The noodles touching the pan should be well browned and crispy. They will soften again when stirred together with the un-browned noodles.
Stir in a little butter at the last moment and grind some black pepper over it:
Very nice with a little Gewurtztraminer. French flavors + Asian technique = delicious.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-10-08 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-08 11:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 12:21 am (UTC)naptime!
Date: 2011-10-09 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 01:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 01:32 am (UTC)Just sayin'.
So, the press seems great. That would be perfect for draining all the moisture out of grated cucumber when making cucumber raita.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 04:55 am (UTC)The second thing I made was a salad with sliced cucumbers, yoghurt, garlic and cumin. Not exactly raita but close. I use Greek Gods yoghurt which is super thick, like sour cream. The texture was super crunchy, very agreeable. Next up is mustard greens.
I like salted vegetables more than chocolate, they really get me excited.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 05:10 am (UTC)I like when salads are crunchy and have big pieces in it. I once had a salad from Malaysia and it was big pieces of cucumber and other things in a very thick black syrup stuff. Very strange and totally amazing.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 08:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-09 03:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-13 02:28 am (UTC)and yeah, a lot of that "molecular gastronomy" stuff largely comes down to controlling water.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-13 02:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-13 02:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-13 02:58 am (UTC)Aren't you going to criticize me for having wine for breakfast? I mean, have I no shame whatsoever?