What drops your jaw? (1 Viewer)

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JohnVee

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What do you eat somewhere that is either too good to bother trying to make or you've tried and can't quite get it?

I'll go first...
Stir Fry. Yes, it's stupid, but I just can't make a great stir fry. More correctly, I can't make one that will keep the wife from bringing home Chinese take-out. I've liked almost every attempt but using her favorite place a benchmark leaves me in last place.

Also, Cajun food. There's a place 2 miles away with real Cajuns, so I won't bother.

--john
 
Agree on the stir fry! Stir fry isn't something I can typically get right by just winging it. What I will say: When I do make stir fry at home I quickly realize its the salt, sugar and fat content of restaurant stir fry that makes it taste the way it does. And that's why my stir fry attempts rarely taste like commercial stir fry...which isn't necessarily a bad thing :)
 
Magpies pizza.:cool:

And my first Job was a pizza cook, no way I could do their pies justice.

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I've had some decent luck with stir fry by using a sauce made from fish sauce, soy sauce, and brown sugar. You cook it first then stir it in with your meat and veggies. It's still not quite the same as the real thing.
 
The key to stir fry is getting the oil hot enough,KEEPING it hot, and cooking it for short period of time(Per my old neighbor that owned a chinese restaurant.) Our conventional stoves can't keep the temp up high enough and therefore we usually "fry" the taste out of the veggies/meats or saturate the @*$& out of them. I've gotten it down pretty decent with smaller portions.

I make a spicy brown cashew/peanut sauce for it. I use chicken stock, oyster and soy, red wine vinegar, chili paste, sriracha sauce, salt and pepper

Here's a pic of mine from this past week.

J

Stir Fry.jpg
 
Pho soup. Tried it once, never again.
 
If you ever get to China town in San Francisco there is a Wok shop that sells the buzillion BTU wok burners. I've also seen them at restaurant supply stores.

I think you would need one of them to really do stir fry at home.

You could multi task it; cooking beer, making crab boil, deep frying turkeys, etc. so it might not be a bad investment for some people.
 
If you ever get to China town in San Francisco there is a Wok shop that sells the buzillion BTU wok burners. I've also seen them at restaurant supply stores.

I think you would need one of them to really do stir fry at home.

You could multi task it; cooking beer, making crab boil, deep frying turkeys, etc. so it might not be a bad investment for some people.

I love wandering through the Wok shop in SF's chinatown. That place is packed to the gills with cool stuff.

For those who aren't close enough and/or prefer ordering stuff online, they have a decent website...
http://www.wokshop.com/
or http://wokshop.stores.yahoo.net/wok2steelhan.html
 
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I stopped at this little mom and pop Mexican place in Palm Desert, CA. I think it was named Casa Mendoza. They had this grilled, bacon wrapped shrimp served with a queso sauce that was heaven on a plate. I have tried to duplicate it and come somewhat close, but never as good as theirs.
 
Doug's post made me think of the steamed pork buns you can find in China town. Great hand food while you wonder the streets.
 
I've always wanted to but have never cooked duck. I love eating it in many different ways although it's always at a restaurant or somebody else's house. I don't know any duck hunters to hook me up and I can only find it frozen around here. Frozen things come to my freezer to disappear forever so I try to keep it void of meat.

There's a French place near here that has a duck confit appetizer that is just freaking phenomenal. It's so hard to order anything else when we go there.

--john
 
it's not just the sauces, it's the texture of the meat that's so hard to duplicate and master.
I'm getting close, but it's not quite there yet...
 
actually Kroger makes a cheep beef w/vegi stirfry which the family loves. Works great on a disc, we usually do it one nite a week.

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The key to stir fry is getting the oil hot enough,KEEPING it hot, and cooking it for short period of time(Per my old neighbor that owned a chinese restaurant.) Our conventional stoves can't keep the temp up high enough and therefore we usually "fry" the taste out of the veggies/meats or saturate the @*$& out of them. I've gotten it down pretty decent with smaller portions.

I make a spicy brown cashew/peanut sauce for it. I use chicken stock, oyster and soy, red wine vinegar, chili paste, sriracha sauce, salt and pepper

Here's a pic of mine from this past week.

J

True. I've never seen, or used a residential stove that can keep a wok hot enough. A flat bottom, heavy gauge, fry pan works much better. Your goal is to flash fry. The hotter the better. Just ensure meat is cookwd just enough that the temp carryover will finish it. Veggies are.just hot, hopefully with a little carmelize
 
Hot Wok, cold oil, - food won't stick.
18,000 btu Thermador gas range works
Hand hammered steel Wok(sounds like 'look')
 
I agree, Primanti´s are delicious, tried them on fort lauderdale beach florida, my lunch spot for a couple of years.
 

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