DCarl1's Profile

I like this too! It's a nice alternative, but you have to go light with the stuff...

Many Thai dishes are made with it as are many Indian dishes. I happen to like these:

I make this similarly, but with ginger instead of ginger flower, and no salam leaf:
http://www.indochinekitchen.com/recipes/clear-fish-soup-with-tamarind/

I make a similar curry to this. There are tons and tons of Indian recipes that use tamarind though. I also make dal, brinjal, bitter melon, and many other things with tamarind:
http://www.indianfoodforever.com/non-veg/fish/kerala-fish-curry.html

Black cardamom is in no way a substitute for green cardamom. Black cardamom is used only for savory dishes, and even then only for particular ones, like north Indian curries.

Green cardamom is also often used in curries and savory dishes, and also used to make garam masala - but when it is specified for those dishes it cannot just be substituted with black cardamom - they are totally different.

Yes, I agree that vermouth and bitters are pretty basic cocktail cabinet items, and he does state that he's assuming you have a basic cocktail set up. But to me it doesn't matter if I have to go buy a bottle of elderflower liquor, or a bottle of pomegranate juice. Both require some kind of special trip to get one item I would never otherwise use and might not like. Neither are "at hand." The only difference is cost.

This post is interesting, but would be much better titled "5 simple and inexpensive cocktails you can make with the purchase of only one special ingredient."

Asian markets also always have squid frozen in 2 or 3 pound boxes in the freezer section if you can't find fresh squid. Just defrost, use the squid for something else, and cut open the ink sac. It's super cheap. Here in CA those boxes are maybe $4 for 2 pounds of squid?

If you do this you have to clean the squid as it is frozen whole, which I never mind but some people don't like. It's easier if you can find fresh, cleaned squid though.

I've never owned a drip machine. At first I couldn't afford the counter space for one, now I just prefer my moka pot. I use either the moka pot or the french press, and both work great. It doesn't take much longer (the french press is actually faster), and I prefer the coffee.

I have friends who had a very serious allergic reaction (blisters in their mouth and throat - went to the ER - in pain for weeks) because they used home-made dried shitake powder on their food. It's not a reaction that 100% of the population will have, but it's not an insignificant % of people either. The NYT had an article on this very thing in the Magazine Section a few months ago.

I would be cautious of this unless one is sure that it's 100% porcini. Not everyone will have this reaction, but if you do it will be bad.

Fennel/orange salad, with arugula.

Beans take no effort, especially with a pressure cooker, and are radically cheaper dried than canned, so I always do those from scratch. I bake pita bread and make chicken stock from scratch. I don't bother with crackers or yogurt, although some day I may take a crack that those. I've been known to make my own tofu, although that's not that much cheaper than buying it, so I don't always bother doing it from beans. It's a lot of work and I only do it when I feel like being a mad scientist.

cumin, coriander, turmeric, black mustard seeds.

These plus a few others are in an Indian spice tin, which gets refilled as needed.