catbarf on 2/6/2020 at 00:37
Quote Posted by SubJeff
Our bread is really, really dreadful. Really dire. If it's worse in America I just can't. Bread on the continent is soooooo much better. Anywhere. Imho.
If the packaged curries are great to you then a. the restaurants back home are trash and b. next time you come to London message me and I'll suggest nice curry places for you. Packaged curries are also dreadful, imho, but we do have some really great curry houses.
Yeah, pre-packaged bread is worse in America. Although actually I may be speaking from a non-representative sample, as my strongest memory of English bread was a quaint little bakery in Woolwich Arsenal.
I'll have to take you up on that offer of curry recommendations, whenever I get out to London next.
Quote Posted by SubJeff
re: light American beers. There is something to be said about these unobtrusive refreshers. They aren't far off Corona, Dos Equis, Birra Morretti etc and I think they get an undeserved bad rap.
Fair, and there's something to be said for economical and easy-drinking beer. When we're feeling especially bourgeois, my wife and I mix a Belgian-style witbier from a local brewery with homemade lemonade, and that's our summer-porch-sitting beverage of choice.
I will contend that
light beer (eg Miller Lite, the stuff competing for low calorie counts, as opposed to just the mild lagers) is generally pretty bad.
Starker on 2/6/2020 at 00:56
I'm not saying by any means that sugar consumption is prevented by law outside of the US. That's a completely ridiculous proposition. But there are policies to discourage companies for overusing sugar -- for example by having taxes on sugar-sweetened drinks. There are also regulations that limit what can be marketed to children and lots of other public health focused policies. I think that there would be much more sugar consumption and that foods would have way more sweeteners and preservatives and additives in them if it wasn't for those regulations and policies.
Also, I have no idea what the food policy is in Kenya, but somehow I doubt that it's one of the biggest sugar producers in the world who subsidises its sugar industry with billions of dollars. And could it perhaps be that the southern sweet tooth has also something to do with the sugarcane production there?
heywood on 3/6/2020 at 15:26
A decade-ish ago, I used to travel to Japan regularly for work. OT: the best Korean BBQ I've ever had was in Tokyo, Roppongi to be precise. Anyway, whenever I'd be gone for a week or so, upon returning back the US, I would be reminded how over-flavored most American restaurant food is. Especially chain restaurants.
In some cases, it's too much sugar, especially desserts, drinks, and Westernized Chinese food. But in my humble palate's opinion, over-salting food is an even bigger problem IMO. Butter is over-used as well. And in general, it seems like most new chefs around here try to make everything an over-complicated flavor bomb.
Having said that, if you live in or near a major city, you'll notice there's a foodie revolution and plenty of variety for everyone. Americans in general are moving away from the traditional, low budget Americanized dishes that I grew up with and embracing variety, and we're exploring different ethnic foods apart from our own family traditions.
PigLick on 3/6/2020 at 16:13
yeh I much prefer more simple ingredients, but of good quality, which is pretty much the whole japanese cuisine ethos. Thats not too say that complicated, textured dishes arent good either, but its stuff like thai, indian, or malaysian that i like, with its mix of balance between flavors.
SubJeff on 3/6/2020 at 22:29
I eat a lot of Asian food, mostly made by me these days but I've been to a lot (a lot!) of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani restaurants. Probably more than all the others (French, Italian, etc) combined.
I found the food in Sri Lanka to be absolutely awesome. A lot of the flavours were familiar but man was it good. I highly recommend it.
heywood on 4/6/2020 at 23:10
I'm not surprised. England has quite a variety of good food from the subcontinent. When I briefly lived in greater London, I used to eat Indian a couple of times a week because an average Indian restaurant there was better than the best I've had here. I didn't give Bangladeshi and Pakistani food a fair shot because I was too busy enjoying the Indian restaurants. Likewise, in Sydney I used to eat a ton of SE Asian food, mostly Thai but frequently Sichaun, Malaysian, and occasionally Vietnamese. I really miss the Thai food especially. Here in the NE USA, we have an over-abundance of good Italian food, comfort food (our name for hearty winter season dishes), upscale pub food, and fresh regional seafood. But if you want good Asian food, you almost have to be in a major city.
SubJeff on 5/6/2020 at 22:40
Thai food, in Thailand, is amaaaaazing. In the UK it's very, very poor. I've found exactly two places I rate, after trying many many and many based on recommendations. I've been to places where the food was nice, but it really wasn't Thai. A lot of the time it's like someone told someone "this is what Thai food tastes like" without ever having tried it for real. It's odd. I've never been to India but I've eaten a lot of Indian food in Africa.
Tomorrow, I make... feijoada!
Never tried it before and we usually have a feijoada night at a Brazilian friend's place twice a year, a big get together. This year it's virtual so we have to make it ourselves. I looks simple enough but I know it's never going to be.
heywood on 31/8/2020 at 21:04
Speaking again of Thai food.
I've always wanted to make this Pad Kee Mao recipe:
(
http://www.marionskitchen.com/pork-belly-drunken-noodles/)
But I can't get the wide rice noodles or holy basil locally, and with the pandemic going I didn't feel like driving an hour down to Boston to visit a big pan-Asian supermarket. I also didn't want to buy a whole pork belly when I only needed about a tenth of it. But one day at the butcher shop I found some unusually well marbled country style pork ribs, almost looking like pork belly. And they also had some nice wide fresh egg pappardelle in the freezer, so I decided to improvise, following the above recipe but with a few substitutions. Country style rib meat for pork belly, fresh pappardelle for wide rice noodles, and Italian basil for holy basil. It actually turned out pretty tasty. If I could just get my bird's eye chili plant to make more chilies, it would be even better. If any of you like to make Asian food at home, I suggest you check out (
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN1h109PDDp_wYIFsoWmZrQ) Marion's YouTube channel.
Here's a pic of how mine came out (sorry for the size):
Inline Image:
https://www.redmc.net/food/Drunken%20noodles.jpg
PigLick on 1/9/2020 at 05:30
italian basil and thai basil have a vastly different taste though.
I bought some blue crabs yesterday and am gonna try my hand at Singapore Chili Crab, something I have been meaning to cook for ages.
Sulphur on 1/9/2020 at 05:36
Yeah, Italian basil's flavours are a bit too delicate to survive a good wokking. Thai basil has much more of an anise note to it, which really comes out when you're cooking it. You can still sub Italian for it, but typically towards the end of your cook else it'll just be leaves with a hint of flavour.