My San Francisco food rotation 2024

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Hai Ky House Noodles

My San Francisco food rotation: house special noodles at Hai Ky with broth on the side.

I’m just back from a visit with family and 3 days at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. “Hardly Strictly” or simply “Bluegrass” (San Franciscans would never refer to the festival by its full name, just as they would never call their city “Frisco”) is a wonderful gift from the Hellman family of nonstop music, some bluegrass but some folk, techno, world beat and just plain weird, surrounded by friendly happy people in the beautiful setting of Golden Gate Park. This year it happened in the midst of a heat wave, keeping crowds down so it was easy to get close to the music. The festival (which is completely free to attend) happens the first weekend in October each year; you can also watch streaming videos which are really well done, with beautiful drone shots of the city intercut with live music, on HSB TV. Many of the sets from past years are archived so take a look.

But enough about music, we’re here for the food. Trader Joe was my mainstay for bringing sustenance for the day inside my (clear plastic) backpack, because I am not going to pay $20 for a (probably excellent) bowl of noodles or $7.50 for a paleta. A favorite snack item is Olive & Herb Mixed Nuts, which adds dried kalamatas and savory herbs for a consistently interesting protein-rich nibble. One day I also brought a Bahn Mi Dac Biet from Saigon Sandwich; they’ve changed the bread (their longtime supplier, Bakers of Paris, is out of business) so the roll no longer shatters when you bite into it but the filling continues to be generous and this is still my go-to. Pro tip for ordering: request “extra hot peppers” or “extra spicy” and they will respond by giving few or no peppers; repeat the request when you get your sandwich and they will grudgingly give you a few slices wrapped in paper.

Ultimate Cheeseburger

Texas style cheeseburger from In-N-Out

My San Francisco food rotation continues at the city’s only In-N-Out, located near the place where I stay, and always order my Texas modification: two cheeseburgers, double raw onions, mustard instead of sauce, pickles. In the early days they got this custom order wrong as often as it was correct but the POS software now records modifications faithfully and I can look forward to a predictably magnificent eating experience that hits all the buttons of crunchy, leafy, fatty, crispy, oozy and quickly disappearing.

I have a rule that I will always try at least one new place and this trip I tried 2 ½: Hai Ky, a Tenderloin Vietnamese/Chinese spot which turns out to be a place I frequented 20 years ago which has been spiffed up under new ownership; get the house special with wide egg noodles and request the soup on the side, so you can sip it as a broth or add judiciously after you have properly dosed your dry ingredients with various chili sauces. And Golden Boy Pizza, an ordering window in North Beach beloved by late-night hipsters but not by me; their rendition of a garlic and clam slice would make Frank Pepe roll over in his coal-fired oven. A silver lining was that the ordering window is next door to Sotto Mare which is considered the best cioppino in San Francisco; I watched numerous outdoor diners sharing the soup from silver turneens and plan to join them on a future trip.

Saigon Sandwich cutaway

Dac Biet Bahn Mi from Saigon Sandwich.

For the obligatory dim sum stop, Good Mon Kok had an oddly short line mid-afternoon but they were still well stocked with chicken and pork buns, wonderfully greasy scallion pancakes and lo mai kai, sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves.  Tried a new-for-me place for my tea smoked duck and steamed tripe, Gourmet Kitchen two doors down, and was pleasantly surprised by the quality and value.

Most of the other meals were with family, so I didn’t get to the hole in the wall Thai place on Clement St that served the best meal I have ever eaten, the #2 beef stew with flat noodles. I was gratified on my last trip to discover that though they have changed hands, the new owners have preserved the menu and even the secret fiery hot fish sauce which is only available on request because it might ruin a dish if used inappropriately. Guess I will have to return.

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The stinky secret of Trader Joe French Brie

Posted on October 6, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Trader Joe French Brie

French brie from Trader Joe, starting to soften and get stinky.

Trader Joe has an affordably priced double cream French Style brie (the picture on the website is for a different product; look for the red label above). The stinky secret is that, when ripened, it turns into a feral spread akin to an aged Camembert. Feel around in the cold case when shopping, and find a wedge on the soft side. Take one home, leave on a counter out of the sun, and wait. In a few days you can unwrap the package and enjoy the gym-shoes aroma of a much more expensive well-aged cheese.

What can you do with this stinky brie? Spread on crackers or baguette slices, of course. But you can also use it on a sandwich where it lubricates as well as flavors. And, try a dollop on a pizza that need a little perking up.

Brie On Bread

The Trader Joe brie has reached a consistency at which it can be smeared on bread when making sandwiches as a mayonnaise substitute.

A few more days and the aroma will increase to the point that other foods in your kitchen (not to mention your family/roommates) are complaining. The cheese has melted to the point that you can squeeze it out of the package like icing from a piping bag. Squirt it onto robust toasts like our copycat Fig & Olive Crisps or simply straight into your mouth. It’s all good.

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Is MSG good or bad?

Posted on October 1, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Bean Salad Two Ways

The bean salad on the left has msg added, the salad on the right has none.

Is msg (monosodium glutamate) good or bad? Lots of discussion on this topic. There was a restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen that would say good. They specialized in dishes featuring MSG (including a soup which had it dissolved in hot water as the broth) and the walls were plastered with newspaper clippings, in both Chinese and English, about the health benefits of the flavoring. During a long stay at the Pickwick Hotel in the late 90s I ate there multiple times with no ill effects. Gone now, but likely a victim of gentrification rather than poor choices.

Which brings us to the bean salad experiment pictured above. I had made a tub of The Colonel’s KFC Bean Salad for a picnic and certainly would not add MSG for a general audience without announcing it. But there was a bit left over so I divided it into a pair of 8 oz containers and added ¼ t of msg to one. (Almost certainly too much; 1/8 t or even a pinch would have sufficed.)

MSG

Angel or devil?

Taste testers immediately noticed a difference. The doctored batch had an amped-up flavor that was salty without being exactly salty, just more intense. One taster said she preferred it because the flavor was “sharper”. I found that when you taste the msg first, the other version seemed too bland. But when you taste the non-msg first it seems perfectly balanced, and the subsequent spoonful of msg-dosed salad seems a bit over the top. My guess is that if I had used less msg that version would have a subtle improvement which would have been preferred across the board.

Do you think msg is good or bad? If you say bad and you dip your celery and carrot sticks in Hidden Valley Ranch dressing to go with your wings, you should know that dressing is riddled with the stuff. (As is our copycat Mystery Creek Ranch Dressing.) The population of Buffalo does not seem to be adversely affected. Of course many of those folks are using bleu cheese dressing instead, as they should, but that’s a topic for another day.

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Recipe: Perilla (Shiso) Kimchi

Posted on September 27, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Perilla Kimchi

Perilla (Shiso) kimchi.

Once again we were faced with a bounty of shiso leaves at season end. This Perilla (Shiso) Kimchi recipe is an amalgam of several we found online. It’s got a nice kick to it and would be a welcome addition to a spread of panchan. Makes about a pint.

Ingredients:
Freshly picked and washed perilla or shiso leaves, about a quart
1 scallion finely chopped (about ¼ cup)
½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 T gochugaru
1 T fish sauce
1 T soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 T maple syrup or sugar
1 t toasted sesame seeds
¼ c water

Method: combine all ingredients except leaves then mix with shiso/perilla, massaging with your hands till all surfaces are coated. Marinate overnight in refrigerator. Transfer to a storage container, opening up and flattening the leaves as best you can. Will last a couple weeks refrigerated.

Note: the Korean auntie preps we found all have you painting the individual leaves with the marinade but we didn’t have the patience. Hopefully our shortcut is an acceptable compromise.

This joins our other shiso storage preps including salting (worked well) and freezing (not so much). It is interesting that the size of the leaves, and thus their appeal as banchan, is determined by how many plants are growing in close proximity; our biggest leaves were from some volunteer plants that popped up in our tomato pot. Next season we will thin more aggressively when the shoots first appear.

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Food for Thought: Food in Jars blog

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Spicy Pickled Green Beans

Spicy Pickled Green Beans from Food in Jars.

We used to have a regular food swap in my town. I’d bring baguettes or jars of fresh sourdough starter and trade them for jams, baked goods and what have you. One session we had a guest: Marisa McClellan, author of Food in Jars.  She let us taste a few of her preserved foods, all were delicious, and most of us ended up buying a copy of her book. Since then I’ve noticed many of my canny canning friends use her recipes on a regular basis.

So, I was excited to come upon the Food in Jars blog when researching tomato jam. Same great recipes and kitchen technique, but free! (Though you should still support the author by paying the very modest price for her book.) The home page is the blog which is not too active, so you should go right to the recipe tab and do a search for whatever fresh vegetable or fruit is waiting to be pickled or made into jam. Spicy Pickled Green Beans is a good place to start and the recipe can be converted to other crunchy green veggies; I’ve had it made with garlic scapes.

There’s also a solid Canning 101 section with a list of basic equipment you need, canning procedures and troubleshooting so you can put up food confidently without worries about contamination and safety issues. Right now, when the markets are bursting with the fall harvest, is a good time to check it out.

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Foraging sumac

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Foraging Sumac

Foraging sumac. These bushes are across the street from us in Saratoga Springs.

Sumac is an important ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking. And foraging sumac in the wild is not that hard if you live an area where the bushes with their opposing branches and bright red “horns” grow wild. For our recent shish kebab success we tried harvesting from a bush across the street.

Ground Sumac

A close-up look at ground sumac. Note the bits of solid material mixed with red fuzzies. This is a commercial product from our local middle eastern grocery (now sadly closed).

The horns, technically “drupes”, are where the goodness lives. Snip off the base branch with kitchen shears then strip off the individual seeds and fuzzy coating. Let this dry a few days (or use a dehydrator) then give the seeds a whirl in a powerful blender. This blog post which comes up first when you google “foraging sumac” says that the seeds and coating will automatically separate but we found this not to be the case; the seeds are quickly ground up along with the fuzzy stuff. Which is not actually a bad thing; the sumac spice we purchased at our middle eastern grocery had the same texture, a coarse powder rather than fine threads like saffron. Alternatively, you could do a coarser grind and then use a colander with small holes (rather than a sieve which only lets the finest particles through) to give you some fine threads mixed with partially ground seeds (like peppercorns put through a coarse setting on a peppermill). It’s all good: the red fuzzies are where the intense flavor can be found, but the seeds are in no way objectionable.

Sumac Strainer

Straining sumac seeds in a fine-mesh colander.

What can you do with your sumac? Dominic Colose’s Sumac Onion mezze is a great place to start, or use sumac anywhere you’d use lemon (and maybe combine with lemon) in a middle eastern dish. The bits of bright red are a nice garnish in addition to their taste.

Staghorn Sumac grows wild across much of the northeastern and central US; it’s a different species than that found in the Mediterranean but the flavor seems identical. The drupes appear in mid summer and last till early fall; as of September 15 in upstate New York the leaves are starting to turn but yours are probably prime for harvest if you live in a less brutal climate.

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Shish Kabob hacks

Posted on September 3, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Shish Kabob Hacks

Shish Kabob hacks.

Shish kabob by definition is sort of a hack, yes? You take random pieces of meat and veggies, marinate them in some way, then arrange on a stick and grill so the flavors meld. Our prep is pretty traditional with lamb, onions and green peppers… though some chunks of pineapple alternating with Benton ham might be interesting. Still, making for the first time in a while we realized we automatically apply some hacks you might find useful.

*Meat and vegetables are marinated separately and cooked on separate spits. This allows better flavor and cooking control, plus the vegetarians in your group will thank you.

*Those specks of dark red are powdered sumac. Interesting as a garnish and adds a bit of tang. We got ours from a bush across the street but it can also be found at middle eastern markets. We toss the vegetables in olive oil, sumac and a bit of salt.

*Speaking of tang, look closely and you can find small chunks of preserved lemon nestled amidst the lamb. A single preserved lemon, sliced into small pieces, was sufficient for 2 pounds of lamb.

*See the tomatoes on the veggie skewer? No, because there aren’t any. We use tomatillos instead. They add still more tart flavor interest and don’t fall off into the fire like tomatoes.

All this was served atop a funky pilaf next to a classic “Greek salad” with feta, cucumbers, sliced red onions, kalamatas, home grown tomatoes and croutons in a lettuce mix with a white vinegar/oregano dressing. Fresh baked baguettes on the side. All worked out very well on a patio meal where the angle of the late afternoon sun showed us clearly that summer is coming to an end.

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Recipe: Best Tomato Jam

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Tomato Jam

Tomato Jam.

Use this tomato jam recipe instead of the one we published previously; it’s got a better flavor balance and more pectin so it doesn’t mold as easily when you store in the fridge. A version of this has been published in the New York Times but the original comes from the Food in Jars blog which, in turn, credits it to the writer’s friend Amy. Anyway, it’s delicious with cheese and crackers or on a sandwich or actually anywhere you might use ketchup. Makes a little more than a pint.

Ingredients:
3 lbs tomatoes, Roma or another meaty variety preferred
1 ½ c sugar
5 T lime juice (we used bottled unsweetened juice, but fresh would be great)
2 T grated ginger
2 t ground cumin
½ t ground cinnamon
¼ t ground cloves
2 t salt
1 T red pepper flakes

Tomato Jam Cooking

Use a wide pan or skillet iike this one so the tomatoes can reduce without sticking.

Method: coarsely chop the tomatoes; no need to remove seeds and skin as they will add texture to the finished product. Combine all ingredients in a wide shallow pan or skillet and cook over very low heat until liquid is almost gone and a spatula scraped on the bottom will leave a clean surface, about 75 minutes. Keeps a couple of weeks in the refrigerator, so we use 8-oz jars and use one immediately then can the others using the water bath method.

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Recipe: Pickled Strawberries

Posted on August 20, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Pickled Strawberries

Pickled Strawberries.

Pickled strawberries are a good way to extend the season’s bounty. They’ll last longer in the fridge and can be used in salads or as a component of a charcuterie plate. This balanced version is not overly sweet or sour and is perked up by whole peppercorns and a bit of lemon peel.

Ingredients:
1 lb strawberries
2 c white vinegar
2 c water
2 T sugar
1 t whole peppercorns
2 t Kosher salt
1 T dried lemon peel such as Penzey’s, or zest from half a lemon, cut into strips

Pickled Strawberries Jar

*We tried pouring hot vs room temperature liquid and found it didn’t make a difference.

Method: wash the strawberries and discard any soft ones; better if the berries are a little green than over-ripe. Cut off the stems and slice in halves or quarters or leave whole, depending on your preference. Transfer to a heat-proof jar.

Combine all other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Allow to cool to room temperature* and pour over berries. Cap the jar and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to a week.

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Recipe: Deli Style Cole Slaw

Posted on August 13, 2024 by Burnt My Fingers
Deli Style Cole Slaw.

Deli Style Cole Slaw.

Deli Style Cole Slaw is too expensive in the deli nowadays, so let’s make our own. We’re talking about the sweet-and-sour mayo-based product that is ubiquitous in New York delis and goes beautifully with an overstuffed Italian Mix sub. We started by reverse engineering Hans Kissle, a regional foodservice product, and comparing our result to a tub make with that dressing picked up at our local deli. Then we discovered this recipe which delivered the goods with just a couple of tweaks. Makes about a quart of coleslaw, 8-12 servings.

Ingredients:
1/3 c white distilled vinegar
¼ c white sugar
1 ½ t Kosher salt
½ t white pepper
1/3 c neutral vegetable oil
¼ c grated onion (OPTIONAL!)*
24 oz package coleslaw mix, or medium head green cabbage sliced thin mixed with a couple shredded carrots
Mayo to taste, approximately ½ c

Cardona Cole Slaw

Here’s the coleslaw sample from our local deli we used for comparison.

Method: Mix the sugar, salt and pepper with the vinegar to dissolve in a large bowl; add the oil and OPTIONAL grated onion. Add cabbage and carrots and toss to combine. Marinate overnight in refrigerator, tossing a couple of times so all surfaces are evenly exposed to the dressing. Drain thoroughly through a colander, pressing out as much liquid as possible. (Catch the marinade in a bowl and use it for another batch [which will be somewhat  diluted with the liquid released during marinating], or perhaps for a sliced cucumber salad.)

Mix in mayonnaise and stir until it becomes thoroughly combined with the residual liquid in the coleslaw; you should have a good amount of creamy liquid and feel like the slaw is overdressed. Ready to serve immediately and will keep for several days.

*We like the addition of strong grated onion but it will definitely give you onion breath and so is not included in the deli style coleslaw sold at retail.

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