Asian kitchen staples

Koko wrote on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:39:03 -0700:

K> Along with soy sauce and sesame oil I have.

K> Mushroom flavored dark soy sauce
K> hoisin sauce
K> fish sauce
K> ponzu
K> bead molasses
K> rice vinegar
K> fried garlic
K> I always have ginger and garlic on hand.

K> I found these the last time I was at Ranch 99 Market. I'll
K> do something fun with them this weekend.

K> http://i19.tinypic.com/2niwvpz.jpg

K> Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

I'd add Siracha (?spelling) hot sauce, hot bean sauce, light
colored soy sauce, sushi vinegar, mirin, hon dashi (soup stock)
and MSG (so there!) I don't cook with ponzu but it's good to
have as is miso (keeps well).

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:47:23 -0400, "James Silverton"

not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not said:

Koko wrote on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:39:03 -0700:

K> Along with soy sauce and sesame oil I have.

K> Mushroom flavored dark soy sauce
K> hoisin sauce
K> fish sauce
K> ponzu
K> bead molasses
K> rice vinegar
K> fried garlic
K> I always have ginger and garlic on hand.

K> I found these the last time I was at Ranch 99 Market. I'll
K> do something fun with them this weekend.

K> http://i19.tinypic.com/2niwvpz.jpg

K> Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

I'd add Siracha (?spelling) hot sauce, hot bean sauce, light
colored soy sauce, sushi vinegar, mirin, hon dashi (soup stock)
and MSG (so there!) I don't cook with ponzu but it's good to
have as is miso (keeps well).

Don't forget the panko!

TammyM

James Silverton wrote;

Quoted message said:

Koko wrote on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:39:03 -0700:

K> Along with soy sauce and sesame oil I have.

K> Mushroom flavored dark soy sauce
K> hoisin sauce
K> fish sauce
K> ponzu
K> bead molasses
K> rice vinegar
K> fried garlic
K> I always have ginger and garlic on hand.

K> I found these the last time I was at Ranch 99 Market. I'll
K> do something fun with them this weekend.

K> http://i19.tinypic.com/2niwvpz.jpg

K> Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

I'd add Siracha (?spelling) hot sauce, hot bean sauce, light
colored soy sauce, sushi vinegar, mirin, hon dashi (soup stock)
and MSG (so there!) I don't cook with ponzu but it's good to
have as is miso (keeps well).

Don't forget dried mushrooms of various varieties, sesame seeds (white and
black), chili oil and sauce(s), Chinese hot mustard, Chinese rice wine
vinegar, soup packets of stuff like tamarind soup base (Knorr and Mama Sita
are common brands), those little cans of curry pastes (Maesri is one good
Thai brand), coconut milks (actually World Market makes a very good lower -
fat version that retails for around a buck), galangal, red pepper flakes,
shrimp paste ...

I picked up some nicely packaged 8.5 bottles of Chinese - made ginger and
garlic oils yesterday, hey, you can't go wrong for $2.45 a pop...

Here I just went shopping for Asian stuff yesterday, looks like I'll have to
make another list for next weekend ;-)

--
Best
Greg

Quoted message said:

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

In article <[email hidden]>, Koko says...

Quoted message said:

I was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard (whoppiee!!!) :-(
and found some ingredients I've bought for one recipe or another and
never got around to making. Now I have a mish-mash of "stuff."
Do you find something indispensable that I should consider adding?

Along with soy sauce and sesame oil I have.

Mushroom flavored dark soy sauce
hoisin sauce
fish sauce
ponzu
bead molasses
rice vinegar
fried garlic
I always have ginger and garlic on hand.

I found these the last time I was at Ranch 99 Market. I'll do
something fun with them this weekend.

http://i19.tinypic.com/2niwvpz.jpg

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

What kind of cooking? "Asian" is a pretty big category, sort of like
saying "European." Spanish and Norwegian cooking require different
ingredients, just like Japanese and Thai. Also, be aware that India,
Iran, Lebanon, and most of Russia are also in Asia, although I assume
you did not mean that.

For Japanese: Mirin, sake, nori, sesame seeds, konbu, wasabi, bonito
flakes, soba noodles, and perhaps most important miso.

For Chinese: Red pepper paste, fermented black beans, bean paste, hot
chili oil, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, dried [censored] mushrooms, tree
ears, various pickles.

For Thai: coconut milk, rice noodles, lemon grass, various curry pastes,
raw peanuts.

These lists could go on forever!

--
Peter Aitken

Peter A said:

These lists could go on forever!

And yet, nobody seems to have mentioned Szechuan peppercorns.

Peter wrote on Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:21:09 -0400:

PA> In article <[email hidden]>,

PA> For Chinese: Red pepper paste, fermented black beans, bean
paste,
PA> hot chili oil, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, dried
PA> [censored] mushrooms, tree ears, various pickles.

Are you thinking of canned bamboo shoots and water chestnuts? I
don't regard the fresh ones as staples because they do not keep
well. I almost never use canned water chestnuts since they seem
to lose both taste and texture.

It's strange and wrong of course that I didn't think of Indian
food under the topic of "Asian" :-)

PA> These lists could go on forever!

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 14:21:09 -0400, Peter A <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>, Koko says...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Do you find something indispensable that I should consider adding?

snippage

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Thanks for your ideas and suggestions.

What kind of cooking? "Asian" is a pretty big category, sort of like
saying "European." Spanish and Norwegian cooking require different
ingredients, just like Japanese and Thai.

I was having a hard time narrowing it down to a particular cuisine,
I guess if I had to I would like to start with Vietnamese and Thai.

Quoted message said:

Also, be aware that India, Iran, Lebanon, and most of Russia are also in Asia, although I assume
you did not mean that.

Never even thought of that. Dang, I'm going to be busy.

Great list of items saved and snipped.

Thanks Peter.

Koko
---
Blog in progress
http://kokoscorner.blogspot.com
updated 4/14 Irish Pub page.

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 15:58:58 -0700, Mark Thorson <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Peter A said:

These lists could go on forever!

And yet, nobody seems to have mentioned Szechuan peppercorns.

Oops, forgot to mention I have those. Thanks for the input though
Mark.

Koko
---
Blog in progress
http://kokoscorner.blogspot.com
updated 4/14 Irish Pub page.

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 13:47:23 -0400, "James Silverton"
<not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not> wrote:

snippage

Quoted message said:

I'd add Siracha (?spelling) hot sauce, hot bean sauce, light
colored soy sauce, sushi vinegar, mirin, hon dashi (soup stock)
and MSG (so there!) I don't cook with ponzu but it's good to
have as is miso (keeps well).

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

Added to the list. Thanks James.

Koko
---
Blog in progress
http://kokoscorner.blogspot.com
updated 4/14 Irish Pub page.

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:54:16 GMT, [email hidden] (TammyM) wrote:

snippage

Quoted message said:

Don't forget the panko!

TammyM

o.k. thanks

Koko
---
Blog in progress
http://kokoscorner.blogspot.com
updated 4/14 Irish Pub page.

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Peter A said:

These lists could go on forever!

And yet, nobody seems to have mentioned Szechuan peppercorns.

That was the next item on my list, honest!

--
Peter Aitken

Koko said:

I was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard (whoppiee!!!) :-(
and found some ingredients I've bought for one recipe or another and
never got around to making. Now I have a mish-mash of "stuff."
Do you find something indispensable that I should consider adding?

Along with soy sauce and sesame oil I have.

Mushroom flavored dark soy sauce
hoisin sauce
fish sauce
ponzu
bead molasses
rice vinegar
fried garlic
I always have ginger and garlic on hand.

None of those ingredients really go together in any single dish,
except for the vinegar and fish sauce (to make nuoc mam, a sauce
for Vietnamese dishes).

Bead molasses isn't really used in Asian cooking.

Use them individually in any number of dishes.

-sw

Steve Wertz said:

Koko said:

I was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard (whoppiee!!!) :-(
and found some ingredients I've bought for one recipe or another and
never got around to making. Now I have a mish-mash of "stuff."
Do you find something indispensable that I should consider adding?

Along with soy sauce and sesame oil I have.

Mushroom flavored dark soy sauce
hoisin sauce
fish sauce
ponzu
bead molasses
rice vinegar
fried garlic
I always have ginger and garlic on hand.

None of those ingredients really go together in any single dish,
except for the vinegar and fish sauce (to make nuoc mam, a sauce
for Vietnamese dishes).

Bead molasses isn't really used in Asian cooking.

Use them individually in any number of dishes.

-sw

steve, i'm going to piggy-back on your post to include part of the
discussion we had about bean sauce etc. on alt.food asian (i hope you
don't mind being quoted):

Quoted message said:

I haven't seen this book, but Bruce Cost has several books on
Asian ingredients that are highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Ingredients-Foodstuffs-Thailand-Vietnam/dp/006093204X

While Charmaine Solomon is a good reference, she doesn't
recommend actual brands.

-sw

just between you, me, and the great wall, i did go to borders
yesterday and cribbed a little from cost's book. here are some of his
recommendations (with two others interspersed):

mirin: kikkoman hon-mirin

shaoxing wine: pagoda shao xing rice wine
pagoda shao xing tiao chiew
"bottle that looks like johnny walker red"
black vinegar: gold plum chinkiang vinegar
tiensin vinegar
rice vinegar: narcissus swattow

hot bean sauce: lan chi soybean paste w/garlic
lan chi chili paste w/garlic
szechan hot bean sauce (from taiwan)
kim lan (steve wertz, i think)
wei ch'uan (robt. delfs - 'pretty fair'😉

sesame oil: kadoya
kinlan

thick soy: pearl river brand mushroom soy

oyster sauce: sa cheng oyster flavor sauce
hop sing lung oyster sauce

i was somewhat pleased with myself, because i use kadoya, the bottle
that looks like johnny walker (maybe they all do), and the szechuan
hot bean paste. (of course, this may mean cost doesn't know what he's
talking about.)
[me]

I guess you could say I'm an oyster sauce aficionado. My
favorites used to be Lee Kum Kee Premium (not the "Panda" stuff).
and Amoy with Dried Scallop (no longer available?)

I'm, always looking for 'oyster extract' to be the first or
second ingredient on the label. So when I saw this for $.99, I
thought I'd give it a try. At $.99, I figured I could take one
taste and throw it away if it was nasty.

http://i18.tinypic.com/4dq5umb.jpg

Best stuff I've tasted yet. It beats out the others because it's
not as sweet as LKK or Amoy. It's "Dim Dim Chef's Choice" brand.

http://i16.tinypic.com/30ijkw1.jpg

(Steve Wertz)

Our current Oyster Sauce is a product of Thailand, Mfd by Chuew
Huad,Dist'd by Tra Maekrua and labelled "Maekrua Oyster Sauce."
Ingredients: Oyster Extract, Sugar, Salt, Soybean, Wheat Flour, Corn
Starch and Sodium Benzoate. The 600 mL (glass) bottle cost between $1
and $2.

[somebody else]

....so if you have access to an oriental store with a variety of
brands, a little guidance. your kilometers may vary.

your pal,
blake

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:46:20 GMT, blake murphy <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Koko said:

I was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard (whoppiee!!!) :-(
and found some ingredients I've bought for one recipe or another and
never got around to making. Now I have a mish-mash of "stuff."
Do you find something indispensable that I should consider adding?

Snippage

Quoted message said:

just between you, me, and the great wall, i did go to borders
yesterday and cribbed a little from cost's book. here are some of his
recommendations (with two others interspersed):

Wonderfully informative post snipped.

Quoted message said:

your pal,
blake

Wow! thanks pal. I appreciate it.

Koko
---
Blog in progress
http://kokoscorner.blogspot.com
updated 4/14 Irish Pub page.

"There is no love more sincere than the love of food"
George Bernard Shaw

Koko said:

On Mon, 16 Apr 2007 19:46:20 GMT, blake murphy <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 14 Apr 2007 10:39:03 -0700, Koko wrote:

> I was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard (whoppiee!!!) :-(
> and found some ingredients I've bought for one recipe or another and
> never got around to making. Now I have a mish-mash of "stuff."
> Do you find something indispensable that I should consider adding?

Snippage

Quoted message said:

just between you, me, and the great wall, i did go to borders
yesterday and cribbed a little from cost's book. here are some of his
recommendations (with two others interspersed):

Wonderfully informative post snipped.

Quoted message said:

your pal,
blake

Wow! thanks pal. I appreciate it.

Koko
---

you're welcome. we should send bruce cost a nice card.

your pal,
blake