Same City, Different Shrimp

Once before we visited New Orleans for shrimp (remember the Shrimp Creole from a couple autumns ago?), but today’s offering takes the shellfish in an entirely different direction. Specifically, Southern American Low Country (Charleston, Savannah, etc.), as done up in Louisiana and served as Shrimp and Grits with Mustard Seed Chowchow. This is a recipe…

Jeweled Ingredients

Those familiar with Thai cuisine know cooking is all about building layer upon layer of taste.  This ensures each ingredient is distinct, identifiable and doesn’t get lost.  Still, they make up a chorus of flavors all equally assertive, yet complimenting each other beautifully.  That combination is no more exquisitely balanced than in today’s creation, Guay…

Upstaging the Shrimp

Not an easy thing to do, actually, as shellfish is a personal favorite.  However, as wonderful as the shrimp is in today’s attempt, the shitake mushrooms are even better.  By some degree.  In fact, the dish would be just as scrumptious, just as amazing, with no shrimp and a double serving of mushrooms.  Shocking, but…

Where to Begin?

There’s so much happening in a soup like Cháo Bôi it’s difficult to decide how exactly to classify it.  Sure, broadly speaking, it’s Vietnamese, the recipe found among the pages of a great gift one of you sent a few years back, Andrea Nguyen’s Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. What kind of soup is it, though? …

Two-Headed Creature

All sorts of wonders skulk this time of year, and if you’re not careful one of them will claim you. Well, this Halloween’s soul must be particularly needy, as it’s grasped at not one recipe, but at two. Both courtesy of The Nightmare Before Dinner, chef Zach Neil’s collection of deliciously spooky dishes from his…

Give the Blender a Break

In the Ecuadoran soup on which today’s entry is based, the broth and such are put through a blender one last time, just before service, ensuring a smooth consistency.  That’s a shame, as it also pulverizes the bits of color and the traces of texture that make Shrimp and Corn Chowder so interesting, so appealing.…

Not Going to Wrap, Are You?

Maybe, if the situation calls for it.  And in Indonesia, the situation definitely calls for it. Oh, no, not “rap.”  “Wrap,” with a “w.”  A completely different concept.  Now wrapping, that’s how many Southeast Asians combine varying textures and deliciously contrasting flavors in one convenient bite.  It fulfills much the same culinary purpose as do…

Cool Heat

It’s a pleasure that will become will become ever-more-frequent as summer unfolds in the months ahead – sliding into a glistening pool on a hot day, or the first sip of a cold drink dripping condensation in the sweltering humidity.  Today’s offering takes full advantage of this perfect contrast and brings heat, and then douses…

This Time, Rice Is a Noodle

Wok preparations, even Cambodian varieties, are a fairly common theme on these pages, appearing probably every month or so.  Not surprising, as they’re a personal preference.  Variety is important, of course, and it will continue as the leading motivation.  Still, favorites remain favorites. Anyway,, most of these wok creations are served with rice, and today’s…

How to Trick Winter

Granted, the current situation seems to be hopeless.  The sun fades ever more deeply into the past – was it ever that warm, really? – and it’ll be months before things begin to thaw.  Yet, even now, the cold flees on spotting a means of vaulting us well beyond its grip… Citrus!  If you can’t…