Cooking – Page 41

Five Favorite Cookbooks Meme

June 12, 2005 mmm-yoso Cookbooks, Cooking

Tag I’m it! Reid from Ono Kine Grindz has "tagged" me for this meme, he originally got tagged by Stephanie fromda*xiang and so on….. Being really new at this I must say I’m truly humbled…..

So here goes:

1. Total number of (cook) books I’ve owned:

At last count +/- 50 or so.

2. Last cookbook(s) I bought:

I’m waiting for my latest Amazon delivery, so those don’t count. So it’s Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. A really super book.

3. Last food book(s) I read:

Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop, I’ve really developed an appreciation for Sichuan food, and this book is really a treasure trove of information.

Chinese Food Finder by Carl Chu, not just a listing of restaurants, but Carl also gives a listing of dishes representative of the specific type of cuisine.

4. Five (plus 2) cookbooks that mean a lot to me:

This is really tough, so I decided to list my favorite cookbooks that I use on a regular basis.

Chinese Cook Book Volume I by Fu Pei Mei. Known as the Julia Child of Chinese Cooking, Fu Pei Mei was a respected and almost deified Taiwanese cooking instructor who had her own cooking show in Taiwan. Her Chinese Cook Book Vol I is probably the most accessible. Fu Pei Mei passed away from cancer on Sept 16th, 2004, and had a great long career for someone who only learned to cook after she got married. Easy basic Chinese recipes!

50th Anniversary Best of our favorite Recipes 1946 – 1996 by The Maui Association for Family and Community Education. OK, no laughs, but since I can’t up and call Mom when I have a question, I just reference this. This is a compilation from various community cookbooks over a 50 year period. I’ve never, ever been able to copy a recipe "ver batim" and have it come out right – probably explains why I can’t bake! So I look for references and guidance in my cookbooks.

The Legacy of the Japanese in Hawaii: Cuisine by The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Good source for "local style" Japanese recipes. For example, if you want to make Nishime, or other Japanese – Hawaiian type dishes it’s really hard to find a good recipe source.

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Alright, time to come clean, I don’t actually own this cookbook, but have borrowed it from the local Public Library at least 8 times (not including renewals). Great comprehensive source of basic recipes, and now my guilt has resulted in my purchasing this from Amazon, so will actually have my own copy in a week or so.

The Way to Cook by Julia Child. I’ve been without my Joy of Cooking for over a decade so this fills the spot – my "Bible" of cooking.

Plus 2:

The Choy of Cooking by Sam Choy. Very easy down to Earth Pacific Rim. Made me understand what a great place Hawaii is with regards to food.

The Food of Paradise by Rachel Lauden. More of a well researched study in Food Anthropology than cookbook. Well researched and very informative, if you wonder why we eat what we eat in Hawaii, this really explains alot.

5. Which 5 people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?

I’m really too new at this for me to fill this out, but I’ll try to give you a few:

Sarah at The Delicious Life

Jo (yes, Jo) at Truly Thankful

Elmo at Monster Munching

Pat at Eating LA

Whew, this has been more work than I thought it would be. But finally, my really most important "cookbook" is one where I’ve never tried any recipes:

After my Mom passed on in 1996 I found this "cookbook" with hand written recipes. There were many loose sheets, some of which were recipes written before I was born. Some were full of info from my Mother’s life before "me", we never talked much about these "things" in our household, but I found this so interesting:

Mom worked as a Housekeeper on Kauai and had written and collected some of the families favorite recipes. Who knows, the meatloaf looks really good I might try that soon!

Clams in Garlic and Wine Sauce

May 30, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes, Seafood

If you read the previous post you may be wondering what happened to the clams I bought? I made a really simple Clam in Garlic and Wine sauce:

1 1/2 – 2 1/2 Lbs Manila Clams rinsed and scrubbed
8 cloves of garlic minced
1 Medium Onion chopped fine
3/4 cup dry white wine
1 Tb Butter
1 Tb Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 Tb Olive Oil
Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper to taste
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste

Place wok over stove and heat to smoking. When wok is smoking season wok with 1 Tb Oil and drain. Add 1Tb Oil and 1 Tb Olive Oil to wok. Immediately add Clams and stir until clams are coated. Add garlic, red pepper flakes, and onions stir to combine. Once clams start giving up their liquid, add white wine, stir and bring to a boil, lower heat and cover, checking every few minutes until all clams are open stir in butter and serve. Do not overcook clams! Serve with crusty bread, rice, pasta or just eat them all!

This is a good base recipe. I add more butter, oregano, parsley, and other herbs to use as a pasta sauce. Cilantro also goes well with this dish.

Siesel’s Meat and Bay Park Fish Company – Surf next to Turf.

May 30, 2005 mmm-yoso Cooking, Markets & Grocers, Seafood

Actually started the morning at 99 Ranch Market, and was surprised to find parking right up front at 10am. Looked like people were getting a late start on this Memorial Day.

Ran in and checked out the Manila Clams, though many of the tanks were empty, there was still a good supply of clams. The placard noted that the clams were from Canada, and when I scooped a few out they "spit" water out at me, so I knew they were still alive. I ended up purchasing 2 1/2 lbs, and was on my way…….

On a whim I decided to grab a steak from Siesel's Meat off of Morena Blvd. I'd usually drive all the way to Iowa Meat Farms, but decided to stop by Siesel's. Over the past 6 months I've noticed alot of improvement in both the quality and variety of Siesels's offerings since the Cohn Group (who also run Iowa Meat) took over.

First off I noticed an abundance of USDA Prime cuts, and ended up getting a prime porterhouse, my favorite cut for pan frying (I'd decided to give my grill a rest). Though the cut was a bit thinner than I like at about an inch, this meant that I wouldn't need to finish in the oven as I would with a thicker cut. Well marbled and glistening this was one nice piece of meat. The steak came out to about 1.3 lbs – at $19.99/lb for prime porterhouse, not a bad deal.

On a whim I decided to check out the new Bay Park Fish Company, that has opened up next to Siesel's. I noticed that there was a fish case at the front of this little establishment of about 8 tables. Surprisingly, the fish looked really fresh, though very limited in variety. The Ahi from Hawaii looked very good, and brought back alot of memories for me, but I decided on a piece of Atlantic Salmon that looked very moist and fresh. We've been having a hard time finding really good fish here in San Diego, and often have to drive to LA to get what we want, ironic in that San Diego is surrounded by ocean! I've shopped at almost all the recommended places – Point Loma Seafood, The Fishery, etc…and have always been disappointed. So finding this little gem so close to home was very satisfying.

I was handed a menu flyer and will be trying out the restaurant soon. Looks like most of the items, except for the catch of the day is under $10, the smoked fish sandwich looks interesting.

So what did I do with this bounty?

The steak I simply seasoned with Ala'ea (Hawaiian Red Sea Salt), fresh ground pepper, granulated garlic, oregano, and XVOO. First seared on high heat, than cooked medium, this was wonderful! Very "beefy in flavor, almost like grass fed beef, the filet portion was fork tender – a great piece of meat. The Salmon was also seared over high heat and cooked to medium well. I seasoned the fish with a home made blackening rub. Delici-yoso!!!

Oh, and my "boyz' also enjoyed their share of this bounty.

Siesel's Meats
4131 Ashton Street
San Diego, CA 92109
Tel: (619) 275-1234

Bay Park Fish Co.
4121 Ashton St.
San Diego, CA 92110