I didn't take any pictures, but we had a great meal at the Ramen joint! The gyoza was delicious, and it was lightly pan-fried to a nice bit of crisp that I don't think is typical. It was great though because only the flat sides had the light crisp. We had a TONKOTSU--Pork belly and a Miso SPICY--Pork and a chashu pork belly steam bun. The tonkotsu was good, the noodles were great. I suspected that it would be a little bland for my taste, I'm very much into bold and aggressive flavors, and I was correct. It was a subtle dish that would be best eaten alone. The gyoza and eel sauce on the steam bun were strongly flavored enough that it became difficult to appreciate the subtle flavors of the broth.
The MISO SPICY--Pork katsu, shiitake, nori, kombu, soft boiled egg, black sesame oil, rayu chili oil on the other hand, whooooo-weeee that was good! Sweet and savory, nose-run spicy, perfectly balanced and I actually quite liked the breaded pork in the soup. Very good. I brought home enough broth to add some rice noodles and make another bowl each for tonight. I'll braise some chops and sprouts in a nice little sugarsoy sauce and yum it up.
Final note: The difference between high quality and low quality mushrooms may be the greatest gap in the culinary arts. Seriously, I can't stand most mushrooms, they taste the basement smells in winter and they are a chewy disaster. The mushrooms in our bowls were delicate but still firm and not basementy at all. Probably the first time I've actuslly gotten good mushrooms in my life.
Awesome! Love that you had such anticipation and still found it to be excellent . Not much can top that.
A meal at a good ramen shop is so great.
I love mushrooms. Miso black cod with Maitakes is a favorite dish for mushrooms. Order every time at a fancy sushi joint my wife likes but I think their sushi is overrated .
Beets -- baked some beets yesterday and then peeled/cut up and topped with thyme & goat cheese, threw under the broiler.
Beets part II - boiled the greens for 2 mins. Ice bath. Chopped up and put with sauteed onions, garlic, and pepper flakes.
Squash - baked 2 spaghetti squash and then pulled. Made some scratch marinara and ate like pasta.
Spinach, Garbanzo Beans, and Red Onion salad.
Holy crap -- ate like a king and was all pretty healthy stuff. Looking forward to leftovers? Have we talked "Beets" here before? Damn, I love them.
Unrelated -- got the HEATONIST email about a new Heartbeat hot sauce. Ordered that (love their others) and added a 'Dirty Dicks' - I wonder how many fools they have trained to order when they send these emails.
The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.
Slavic peoples get their physical characteristics from potatoes, their smoldering inquietude from radishes, their seriousness from beets.
The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip...
The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.
The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes.”
Beets -- baked some beets yesterday and then peeled/cut up and topped with thyme & goat cheese, threw under the broiler.
Beets part II - boiled the greens for 2 mins. Ice bath. Chopped up and put with sauteed onions, garlic, and pepper flakes.
Squash - baked 2 spaghetti squash and then pulled. Made some scratch marinara and ate like pasta.
Spinach, Garbanzo Beans, and Red Onion salad.
Holy crap -- ate like a king and was all pretty healthy stuff. Looking forward to leftovers? Have we talked "Beets" here before? Damn, I love them.
Unrelated -- got the HEATONIST email about a new Heartbeat hot sauce. Ordered that (love their others) and added a 'Dirty Dicks' - I wonder how many fools they have trained to order when they send these emails.
It looks/sounds like an incredible sauce but I haven't bit the bullet yet. Haven't had any Heartbeat sauces but I know they're well received. I kinda want to grab another Reaper Last Dab while it's available.
The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.
Slavic peoples get their physical characteristics from potatoes, their smoldering inquietude from radishes, their seriousness from beets.
The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip...
The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.
The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes.”
--Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
This was quite beautiful.
My only beet experiences are nasty-looking chunks from childhood dinners - yuck - and the cold chopped ones in the salad whenever we went to Lawry's.
Beets -- baked some beets yesterday and then peeled/cut up and topped with thyme & goat cheese, threw under the broiler.
Beets part II - boiled the greens for 2 mins. Ice bath. Chopped up and put with sauteed onions, garlic, and pepper flakes.
Squash - baked 2 spaghetti squash and then pulled. Made some scratch marinara and ate like pasta.
Spinach, Garbanzo Beans, and Red Onion salad.
Holy crap -- ate like a king and was all pretty healthy stuff. Looking forward to leftovers? Have we talked "Beets" here before? Damn, I love them.
Unrelated -- got the HEATONIST email about a new Heartbeat hot sauce. Ordered that (love their others) and added a 'Dirty Dicks' - I wonder how many fools they have trained to order when they send these emails.
It looks/sounds like an incredible sauce but I haven't bit the bullet yet. Haven't had any Heartbeat sauces but I know they're well received. I kinda want to grab another Reaper Last Dab while it's available.
They are mild, comparatively, and consumed quickly...but the flavors are great!
The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.
Slavic peoples get their physical characteristics from potatoes, their smoldering inquietude from radishes, their seriousness from beets.
The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip...
The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.
The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes.”
--Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
This was quite beautiful.
My only beet experiences are nasty-looking chunks from childhood dinners - yuck - and the cold chopped ones in the salad whenever we went to Lawry's.
I was never a big fan of beets. Tried a pickled beet as a kid and found it nasty. Had a beer one time that was infused with beet juice and it tasted like vomit.
2 years ago I was at a wedding and one of the dinner courses was a baked beet & mushroom medley (always hated mushrooms, too) and I shit you not, it was my favorite dish of the evening. Still never bought either one to prepare for myself.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
I think they used crimini along with the beets in that dish. They were good. Nice, thick chunks and beefy flavor. My entire exposure to mushrooms has never been more than those slimy shits on pizza and in Chinese food. Those things are fuckin disgusting, but I could certainly get into portabellos. I'd be willing to give other types a try, I'm just never around them and wouldn't even know where to begin trying to prepare them for myself.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
You're from the land of mouthwatering morels, too. I always used to brave the mud and make it up there for the prime week or so to harvest some morels. And then I'd put them in every dish for the week.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
I think they used crimini along with the beets in that dish. They were good. Nice, thick chunks and beefy flavor. My entire exposure to mushrooms has never been more than those slimy shits on pizza and in Chinese food. Those things are fuckin disgusting, but I could certainly get into portabellos. I'd be willing to give other types a try, I'm just never around them and wouldn't even know where to begin trying to prepare them for myself.
Portabellos? Cast iron skillet, butter or olive oil, garlic, mushrooms, sautee for a bit, then add soy, tamari or Bragg liquid aminos. Everything else on the plate is not worthy to be in their company.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
You're from the land of mouthwatering morels, too. I always used to brave the mud and make it up there for the prime week or so to harvest some morels. And then I'd put them in every dish for the week.
It’s getting closer to morel time here in my neck of the woods. Another week or two. Morels are good, but freshly, foraged chanterelles are the best.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
You're from the land of mouthwatering morels, too. I always used to brave the mud and make it up there for the prime week or so to harvest some morels. And then I'd put them in every dish for the week.
It’s getting closer to morel time here in my neck of the woods. Another week or two. Morels are good, but freshly, foraged chanterelles are the best.
Chanterelles are the goddamn best! The foraging window seems even smaller on those. I've gotten lucky exactly twice in countless trips.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
You're from the land of mouthwatering morels, too. I always used to brave the mud and make it up there for the prime week or so to harvest some morels. And then I'd put them in every dish for the week.
It’s getting closer to morel time here in my neck of the woods. Another week or two. Morels are good, but freshly, foraged chanterelles are the best.
Chanterelles are the goddamn best! The foraging window seems even smaller on those. I've gotten lucky exactly twice in countless trips.
I have a few chanterelle spots that if all conditions are right, I can forage garbage sacks of them. I’ve been able to find chants from mid-June until the first part of October here in MN. I also have a few areas that produce crazy amounts of Maitakes and Lobster Mushrooms. Not a big fan of Lobsters, but love the Maitakes. I find them to be super versatile for cooking. They taste great fresh, rehydrate nicely, and can be ground into a powder to be added to all kinds of stuff.
Mushrooms are another of nature's misrepresented wonders.
Lots of people shit on them but they are amazing. Texturally they can be challenging, which I get. So many different varieties....
I think they used crimini along with the beets in that dish. They were good. Nice, thick chunks and beefy flavor. My entire exposure to mushrooms has never been more than those slimy shits on pizza and in Chinese food. Those things are fuckin disgusting, but I could certainly get into portabellos. I'd be willing to give other types a try, I'm just never around them and wouldn't even know where to begin trying to prepare them for myself.
Portabellos? Cast iron skillet, butter or olive oil, garlic, mushrooms, sautee for a bit, then add soy, tamari or Bragg liquid aminos. Everything else on the plate is not worthy to be in their company.
Yeah those are ok, I just wouldn't have a clue how or why or what-with to cook things like chantarelles, shiitake, morels, etc.
From what I have seen they all enjoy butter and heat. Can chop any of them up -- my favorite is when it is a blend of all of those thing and you heat some butter (a healthy scoop), chopped garlic, pepper flakes and add the shrooms...then add soy and cook off. Leave a little soy at the end, as the flavor is brilliant. Never added some tamari or Bragg, will have to try those.
I use a small sauce pan when I do it vs. a skillet -- although nothing is ever (ever) wrong to cook in a skillet and if you are using larger piece or whole shrooms, this makes more sense.
If you pour this over a salad, it tends to make the salad taste like the best thing you have ever eaten.
If you pour this over a steak, it makes something amazing even more amazing.
Comments
The gyoza was delicious, and it was lightly pan-fried to a nice bit of crisp that I don't think is typical. It was great though because only the flat sides had the light crisp.
We had a TONKOTSU--Pork belly and a Miso SPICY--Pork and a chashu pork belly steam bun.
The tonkotsu was good, the noodles were great. I suspected that it would be a little bland for my taste, I'm very much into bold and aggressive flavors, and I was correct. It was a subtle dish that would be best eaten alone. The gyoza and eel sauce on the steam bun were strongly flavored enough that it became difficult to appreciate the subtle flavors of the broth.
The MISO SPICY--Pork katsu, shiitake, nori, kombu, soft boiled egg, black sesame oil, rayu chili oil on the other hand, whooooo-weeee that was good! Sweet and savory, nose-run spicy, perfectly balanced and I actually quite liked the breaded pork in the soup. Very good. I brought home enough broth to add some rice noodles and make another bowl each for tonight. I'll braise some chops and sprouts in a nice little sugarsoy sauce and yum it up.
Final note: The difference between high quality and low quality mushrooms may be the greatest gap in the culinary arts. Seriously, I can't stand most mushrooms, they taste the basement smells in winter and they are a chewy disaster.
The mushrooms in our bowls were delicate but still firm and not basementy at all. Probably the first time I've actuslly gotten good mushrooms in my life.
Love that you had such anticipation and still found it to be excellent . Not much can top that.
A meal at a good ramen shop is so great.
I love mushrooms. Miso black cod with Maitakes is a favorite dish for mushrooms. Order every time at a fancy sushi joint my wife likes but I think their sushi is overrated .
And Americanized Chinese lol
Grilled pork tenderloin this evening.
Had my first tomato sandwich of the season yesterday, granted not great (real) tomatoes yet. Gonna be a delicious season at the shore though
The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly, is more feverish, but the fire of the radish is a cold fire, the fire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there runs through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious.
Slavic peoples get their physical characteristics from potatoes, their smoldering inquietude from radishes, their seriousness from beets.
The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip...
The beet is the murderer returned to the scene of the crime. The beet is what happens when the cherry finishes with the carrot. The beet is the ancient ancestor of the autumn moon, bearded, buried, all but fossilized; the dark green sails of the grounded moon-boat stitched with veins of primordial plasma; the kite string that once connected the moon to the Earth now a muddy whisker drilling desperately for rubies.
The beet was Rasputin's favorite vegetable. You could see it in his eyes.”
--Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume
My only beet experiences are nasty-looking chunks from childhood dinners - yuck - and the cold chopped ones in the salad whenever we went to Lawry's.
I'll have to check out this cooked beet business.
The best ones taste like almost nothing and the vast majority of mushrooms taste like a basement smells.