From the category archives:

Food

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, Lend Me Your Knives

July 5, 2010

Having a knife sharpener is the most impractical of practical kitchen appliances. You cannot prepare food without a sharp knife. From mincing to chopping to slicing to dicing, having a sharp knife makes these essential kitchen tasks an absolute joy.

So, after unboxing the Chef’s Choice 1520 AngleSelect Diamond Home Electric Knife Sharpener, I proceeded to sharpen all the dull knives in both of our knife sets. After dutifully performing its task, I summarily dismissed the knife sharpener to its storage closet. Talk about no reward for a job well done. But, why waste counter space for an appliance that will not be used again for a few months? So, the knife sharpener was feeling a little lonely and wanted some sun, so I started asking around for knives to sharpen and boy did I get a challenge. I really should have taken a before and after pic.

This time, I had a Chinese cleaver with a prominent nick. Wow. I knew this one was going to be a challenge. I re-read the instruction manual. Even though China is part of Asia, the manual indicated that Chinese cleavers should be sharpened as American/European style knives instead of Asian-style knives. After submitting the knife to a complete honing and polishing cycle, it was perfectly sharp. The nick was diminished, but still noticeable so I took the knife through a second honing and polishing cycle. This time, the nick disappeared. Success. I knew the Chef’s Choice Electric Knife Sharpener could put a sharp edge back on the knife, but wasn’t entirely sure about the nick. However, this worthy kitchen appliance passed the test. Good job. Not back in the storage closet you go.

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Thiabendazole Yum

June 30, 2010

I spotted the following note on the box of oranges I brought home from Costco:

Treated to maintain freshness in transport with one or more of the following Thiabendazole, Imazalil and coated with food grade natural resins and/or vegetable wax.

At Costco, the warning isn’t too helpful unless you know what those unpronounceable chemicals do or you have access to Wikipedia. If the warning just indicated that the two chemicals were fungicides, that would have made the warning 100% more informative.

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Chef’s Choice 1520 AngleSelect Diamond Hone Electric Knife Sharpener

June 30, 2010

I recently purchased a Chef’s Choice 1520 AngleSelect Diamond Hone Electric Knife Sharpener because some kitchen knives were flunking the ripe tomato test. Basically, if a knife could not cleanly slice through a ripe tomato, which presents the dual challenge of a moderately tough skin with a mushy interior, then it flunks the ripe tomato test.

Quite a few knives flunked the test. At the top of the tomato photo, some knives were only able to leave an indentation. After I ran my knives through the sharpener, they were all able to slice through the poor tomato. Chef’s Choice certainly had cheaper knife sharpeners available, but I needed the 15/20 feature, which lets it sharpen both Asian knives, like a Santoku, as well as European knives.

The sharpener has six slots: two to hone each side of an Asian-style knife, two to hone each side of an American/European-style knife, and two to polish each side of a knife.

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西红柿鸡蛋面

June 22, 2010

The restaurant translated this as tomato egg surface. Not sure how the relatively easier 面 ended up as surface. I would have expected the trickier 西红柿 to be mistranslated as western red persimmon. Google Translate offers the better translation of tomato and egg noodles.

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醬肉煎包

June 22, 2010

The restaurant translated this to “The soy-sauce cooked pork fries the package.” Google Translate offers a translation of Sauce 煎包. Not particularly helpful. If I separate the words into 醬肉 煎 包, Google Translate then offers Sauce Fried package. I think Pan-Fried Beef or Pork Bun would be the better translation.

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Old Mandarin Islamic 清真老北京

March 2, 2010

I first heard of Old Mandarin Islamic through the Check, Please! Bay Area television show on KQED. You can view that episode on the KQED website or download the free episode from iTunes. Anyways, I finally made my way to San Francisco this past weekend for a taste test and ended up enjoying a feast at Old Mandarin Islamic.

First off, I’ve been to many Chinese-Islamic restaurants in the Bay Area and in Los Angeles. Usually, I opt for the noodles and sesame bread。 However, based on my recent re-discovered fondness for hot pot, we ended up with hot pot and a bunch of other dishes.

As you can see, the Old Mandarin Islamic hot pot is quite different from the Little Sheep Mongolian hot pot. Besides the different cooking vessels, the Old Mandarin Islamic broth was much clearer and lacked the distinct medicinal taste of the broth from Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. Since the Old Mandarin Islamic meat coming out of the broth was not as strongly flavored, the restaurant provided some dipping sauces.

The lamb from Old Mandarin Islamic is as tender and paper thin as the one from Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot. However, if you compare the photos, the Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot lamb appears a bit more fatty. Besides the hot pot, we also tried the 生煎包, the cumin beef, and a vinegary napa cabbage dish. I really should have picked up the take-out menu so I could be more precise with the names of the dishes.

The real stand-out dish was the lamb stew. I cannot recall the English or Chinese name, but this stew had a rich, savory sauce with the most tender pieces of bone-on lamb I have ever tasted. I would return to the restaurant for this dish alone. It was that good.

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Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base

February 7, 2010

Previously, I had purchased Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base from 99 Ranch for $4.99 per package. Not an unreasonably price. It worked better the second time with shabu shabu meat from a Japanese supermarket than my first attempt with 99 Ranch’s frozen stuff.

On a return visit to 99 Ranch for more soup base, Little Sheep was no more. The store had sold out. Fortunately, I had noticed that the Little Sheep Soup Base package listed myAsianStore.com as the distributor. So, with nothing to lose, I gave them a try. I ended up picking 10 packages of Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base for $3.99 per package. Shipping set me back another $5.92, for a total of $45.82. However, that’s still about 8% cheaper than buying for $4.99 per package at 99 Ranch. Good deal.

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Little Sheep Shabu Shabu

January 26, 2010

Last night, I used my remaining package of Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base. However, instead of using the pre-cut beef and lamb from 99 Ranch, I tried the shabu shabu meats from Mitsuwa Marketplace. From their shabu shabu selection, I picked up one package of each cut of beef:

  • Angus Chuck Roll @ $8.99/lb
  • Washugyu Chuck Roll @ $22.99/lb
  • Australia Beef Chuck @ $15.99/lb
  • Prime Rib Eye @ $21.99/lb.

Mitsuwa also offered a plate of imported Japanese wagyu beef for about $75 a pound. I skipped that one, but did pick up a tray of shabu shabu pork.

The Angus chuck roll was tender, but a bit thick. I liked the thinner cut prime rib eye and the washugyu chuck roll better. However, for some reason, the meats were not absorbing the flavor of the broth the same way they do at the restaurant. Maybe, one package of soup mix is not enough for a dinner and I should have refilled the hot pot with additional broth instead of diluting it with water. Next time, I will have to prepare two packages of Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base.

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Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot & Grill – San Mateo, CA

January 10, 2010

Little Sheep is too popular. I knew that we were in for trouble tonight when we were a block away and I could hear the receptionist calling out ticket numbers over the loudspeaker. If you are coming with a large party (i.e., at least 6 adults), reservations should be mandatory. Otherwise, you risk not being seated.

Usually, we opt for the House Original Soup Base 祕製原味; however, some guests preferred the House Spicy 秘製麻辣, so we opted for the Half and Half Soup Base 秘製鴛鴦 which is served in a divided bowl. All soup bases are $3.75 per person, 12 and older.

As usual, we ordered several dishes of Supreme Lamb Shoulder Slice 極品羊肩肉 for $5.95 per plate and Hand Sliced Supreme Fatty Beef 手切極品肥肉 for $8.95 per dish. The meat from both dishes were sliced thinly and absolutely delicious. I know that we should explore the rest of the meat dishes, but those two are so good that we have not tried other variations of lamb and beef available. If you’ve already tasted perfection, is there any need to try anything else?

We also tried the Luncheon Pork 午餐肉 for $4.95, which tastes a lot like spam. Not sure that I will order that one again. We also ordered Sugar Pea Sprouts 大豆苗 for $5.95 and Tong Ho 茼蒿 for $3.95. Both of these are hot pot favorites. I wasn’t sold on the Sliced Potato 馬鈴薯片 for $2.95 or the Winter Melon 冬瓜片 for $.3.95. We also ordered the Frozen Tofu 凍豆腐 for $2.95, but I don’t think it had the same texture and flavor as when I had previously tried it at home. The U-Don Noodle 烏冬麵 for $3.95 and the House Special Wide Noodle 寬粉 for $4.95 were both delicious and a wonderful way to absorb the broth and finish off a meal.

If you bring some young children that have not developed an appreciation for hot pot, try the Egg Noodle 香港蛋麵 for $5.95, the Mongolian Pot Stickers 蒙古鍋貼 for $4.50, or the Mongolian Beef Meat Pie 蒙古牛肉餅 for $6.95. The Egg Noodle is just stir-fried egg noodle. Nothing too exotic, but has universal appeal. The Mongolian Pot Stickers are savory and delicious with a heavenly thick skin. But, you can find egg noodles and pot stickers pretty much anywhere. The Mongolian Beef Meat Pie is truly exceptional. But, it’s a flat “pie” that is filled with meat and crispy on both sides. It’s also a really large pie, so make sure you save enough room.

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Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base 小肥羊火锅底料

January 9, 2010

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot is one of my favorite restaurants. Today, I was shopping at 99 Ranch when I spotted a package of Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base – Plain selling for $4.99 per package. Of course, I had to try it. However, I carefully scrutinized the package to make sure that the lamb wasn’t pointing in the wrong direction. With the soup base taken care of, I proceeded to collect the rest of my ingredients.

Being naturally inquisitive, I carefully read the list of ingredients.

The ingredients came in separate packages: 1 package of sunflower oil, 1 package of goji berry, 1 package of fermented soy beans, and 1 package of powder.

There’s a lot of dry powder, and I can’t believe that it’s all salt, MSG, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. In the restaurant version, I always see something that looks like a small root. Maybe I should have tasted the powder. Oh well.

In addition to the package ingredients, I also had to add the holy trinity of Chinese cooking: green onions, garlic, and ginger. A lot of garlic. 20 gloves of garlic. Yum.

I also had to purchase a hot pot for use on the dinner table. Although a stand-alone gas burner would probably have been sufficient, I opted for the Tatung TICT-1500W induction cooktop. So, what worked well?

The Little Sheep Hot Pot Soup Base tasted pretty much like the soup at the restaurant. I don’t know if it was identical, but it was close enough. The firm tofu that I stuck in the freezer for about 30 minutes was outstanding. I loved both the texture and the taste, though next time I will drain the tofu before putting it in the freezer so that it will not emerge encrusted in ice. The tong ho 茼蒿and large pea sprouts 大豆苗 also came out well, and I will use these again in the future. I also added enoki mushroom and fresh udon noodles. Really loved the udon noodles as well. So, basically the soup and all the side dishes came out well. That leaves the meat. I had purchased the pre-sliced beef and lamb from 99 Ranch. The thickness of the meats were uneven. The beef was not paper thin like the one at Little Sheep. While the lamb was cut more uniformly, the texture of both meats left much to be desired. At Little Sheep, the lamb and beef slices just melt in your mouth. The 99 Ranch meats were way too chewy. Like chew, chew, chew and then spit it out. So, the lesson learned is that while hot pot seems simple in theory, executing it to perfection is quite a bit more complex. So, I either have to find a different vendor for hot pot meat or buy a slicer and attempt to slice my own. Still, overall a good first attempt.

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