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New My favorite is Neoguri Spicy Seafood . . .
. . with Udon type noodles.

I use a lot more water than specified, and add a good bunch of whatever I have in the freezer: shrimp, clams, mussels, sea cucumber, shrimp, periwinkles, squid, cuttlefish, etc.

I also crush in about 5 Chilean Aji Charapita. This is the only chili plant that has been really successful on my lot. It did nothing for the first year, since then it has produced around 300 chilis per year. They're smaller than a pea, but very hot.
One year I lost half my crop because some bird came and ate all the ripe ones. Birds are dinosaurs and don't have the chili heat nerve receptor mammals have.

The Koreans use a lot of red chilis, but they don't know about really HOT chilis. Some think chilis were brought to Korea by Portuguese mercenaries aiding China in fighting the Japanese. Not sure that's true, the Portuguese were guilty of spreading HOT! chilis worldwide, they would have laughed at Korean chilis.

The Koreans pretty much ignored chilis for 100 years or so, until they found that if chilis were included in Kimchi it needed less expensive salt. Yes, salt was very expensive worldwide until Portugal set up huge seawater salt pans. Until then, in Europe, most salt came from the Polish and Armenian salt mines. The producers didn't sell it cheap, and the middlemen got a really good cut from the trade. Not sure where they were getting it in Asia.

The Spanish got chilis from Mexico and Central America, took them home and set about breeding mild chilis. The Portuguese got theirs from Brazil, where the very hottest chilis originated, and Portuguese sailors infested the world with them.

To India they took chilis and vinegar. Within a few years hot chilis were growing all over India, but vinegar stayed in Goa.

Where Portuguese vinegar made an impression was in Japan. Sushi bars have two kinds of Mackerel sushi: Japanese Mackerel and Spanish Mackerel. The Japanese Mackerel is actually made with Norwegian mackerel (if they can get it) and vinegar pickled in the manner they learned from Portuguese sailors. Spanish mackerel is a Pacific mackerel served raw and unprocessed. Of course, I enjoy both. My favorite sushis are Mackerel and Uni (reproductive parts of sea urchins with a raw quail egg).

A fun item from back when the Wall Street Journal was a newspaper rather than a Murdock propaganda rag for the 1%. A WSJ journalist visited a seafood processing plant in New England. There they had found that California was making a lot of cash from exporting Uni - so they decided to set up a processing line to get in on that trade.

At one point the journo and his host were on the shucking floor. The host picked up some Uni and asked the journalist, "Would you like to try some?". The journalist, being a good California boy, said, "Sure", took a piece and popped it in his mouth. One of the ladies on the shucking line stood up, pointed, and shrieked "HE'S EATING IT!!!".

But, what do they know about sushi in New England. America's Test Kitchen (Massachusetts) did a comparison of sushi rice. Their top choice was Botan (a calrose variety) and their bottom rank was Kokuho Rose. In California Kokuho Rose is considered #1, and all the Korean markets** are piled with it. In California Botan is considered unsuitable for sushi. I think we know more about sushi here in the Capital of the Pacific Rim than they do in Massachusetts.

** In California, nearly all the sushi restaurants are owned and operated by Koreans, and Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles is mostly owned by Koreans now. If you want real ingredients for real Japanese cuisine, you get it from Korean markets, they have it all, while Japanese markets here sell mostly packaged junk food to make Japanese tourists feel at home.
New Good food vs ethnic junk
I'm going to be spending a weekend in Lorain, OH next week. I'm hoping to destroy an obscene quantity of Mexican food after running a race in the morning. I looked online for a possible place and discovered Lorain has a large Puerto Rican community. (I'm not saying they're the same. Just that that's all the ethnic food I can find.)

Problem is all the restaurants seem to be authentic junk food, just like they'd eat at home. Which might actually be tasty, but it mostly looks really questionable.
--

Drew
New Down that path lies disaster
Thin gristly chewy meat. They've learned to use every little bit of it.

Just a possibility of course.

But one that hovers in my mind every time I think of any meat centric dish from most cultures that are not my own or I did not grow up around. Even if that was an expensive meal.

Lots of great meals from many cultures as well but if I'm going to eat something random that was not recommended by someone I know, it's a crap shoot.

Pure prejudice of course. But give me an Americanized dish over what the true dish is in that culture when possible.
New I miss those noodles
Thanks for this response. When you kick off something like this I really like it. I know I'm going to get an education.

Do you have an Amazon link to something orderable that you would consider good udon noodles and the non-standard recipe I should use for them?

The last time I had a good udon noodle dish was about 43 years ago. I worked a few hours a week at a tiny book shop on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia. I was setting up their accounting software, Peach Tree on a Mac. I got paid in books. I was teaching myself Unix then.

For those that don't know, Chestnut Street is No Traffic other than buses street in Philadelphia. It tries to maintain the historic charm for about 15 blocks. At least it was back then. Lots of cobblestone.

Across the street was a noodle shop. It was huge. Counter from the front door to the far back. The udon was incredible (along with the variety of possible things they threw in it) , the bowls were very large, and the price was cheap.

I'll never have that experience again no matter how hard I chase it.

I now pick and choose crap off Amazon.

You magically create stuff with your incredible cooking environment and your huge assortment of ingredients within what you would consider a decent ride away with centuries of knowledge crammed into your head. I envy you.

Even if I had the location and equipment and ingredient availability I still wouldn't be able to do what you do.

On the other hand, I was grooving along and then you mentioned the mackerel. Yuck. I hate greasy salty fish. And then you went right into uni. Ooh, sea urchin snot.

Whenever I order an assortment of sushi I often have the chef add whatever he would recommend just to try stuff, I say hold the salty greasy chewy. No mackerel, clam or octopus. Other than that, give me what you got.

I don't have to say hold the uni because that's way more expensive than the default piece and would never be included without me asking for it.

Thanks for the knowledge roller coaster
Expand Edited by crazy Oct. 23, 2024, 02:05:39 PM EDT
     Andrew! (And anyone else really into ramen) - (drook) - (14)
         I don't have that book . . . - (Andrew Grygus) - (13)
             Thanks for the tip on Korean ramen - (drook) - (12)
                 Try an Amazon search - (crazy)
                 Just ordered this to try - (crazy) - (7)
                     And once you go down the Raman path you just can't stop - (crazy) - (4)
                         My favorite is Neoguri Spicy Seafood . . . - (Andrew Grygus) - (3)
                             Good food vs ethnic junk - (drook) - (1)
                                 Down that path lies disaster - (crazy)
                             I miss those noodles - (crazy)
                     Okay, got a chance to try it - (crazy) - (1)
                         Just ordered some - (drook)
                 Use your phone, Luke! - (Another Scott)
                 Don't they have their own alphabet? - (CRConrad)
                 The first hint is the packages . . . - (Andrew Grygus)

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