What did you eat last night for dinner? - Page 17

It's best to get together a group of people to make and eat them. Make it a social event.

I always eyeball it but the quantities of each, by volume, are: 70% pork 10% napa cabbage (boil and press it first, which will reduce its size by 80%) 20% shrimp (I like the pre-cooked small cocktail shrimp, the size of your thumb nail) Also add a tablespoon of cornstarch. For the seasonings: salt and black pepper. It's supposed to be rather bland, and even the broth is supposed to be bland as it's just water and salt, not chicken stock or anything. I suppose it's an acquired taste. To liven them up, you can always boil the dumplings until they're half done and then pan-fry them. This is easier to do with jiao-zi than wontons as there is less excess skin that will stick to the pan. I believe pan-fried jiao-zi are properly called pot-stickers but I always found that term awkward and uninformative.

Artichokes with a vinaigrette
Vanilla ice cream with blackberries

These posts are making me hungry for dinner at 10am. Forgive the unschooled question, but are you guys making wontons with premade, er, wonton shells? Or buying them and just making the filling at home?

Nothing special last night, but last week I made a pretty good meal. Caprese salad to start, then farfalle with mixed mushroom cream sauce (from a recipe). Delicious; though I supposed when you start the sauce with a pint of cream, and toss the pasta with a half stick of butter, how can you go wrong?

Anyone have a good recipe for pasta carbonara?

^^^ Start the sauce with a pint of cream, toss the pasta with half a stick of butter, add bacon

Don't forget the defibrilator!

I buy premade skins; the task of folding the dumplings is labor-intensive enough for me. Premade also tends to look neater but handmade has a nicer "al dente" texture.

Dipping sauces are not that common. Some put a teaspoon of soy sauce into the broth but that only adds a neglible amount of flavor. Not all Chinese dishes are flavorful. Like I said, an acquired taste. If you want to add more flavor, altering the filling will not help much as it's really the skin that is bland. I prefer pan-frying but sometimes I'll have them plain for a change of pace. I rarely use dipping sauces as I think they cover up too much of the flavor; pan-frying is much more precise by only developing the flavor of the skins. A common tradition is to gather a group, boil up a bunch, eat and half-boil the rest so that they can be pan-fried the next day. Even as a child I always preferred the pan-fried ones. I once joined a group in making tamales which seemed to me the Mexican equivalent of the wonton social activity. I wonder if there are other labor-intensive group-labor foods in other cultures. Do you know of a French one?

Nothing but the best: Leftover pasta from Cheesecake factory.

(sarcasm, of course)

Jon.

Last night I ate snow crab, cheeses (Doux péché and Cheddar à la Guinness) and chocolate cake.

Good meal.