Text 22937, 144 rader
Skriven 2007-11-17 12:42:02 av Carol Shenkenberger (1:261/1466.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Hap Newsom
Ärende: nibble nibble
=====================
 -=> Quoting Hap Newsom to Burton Ford <=-

 HN> Niboshi is just little bitty dried fish! Whole little bitsy dried fish
 HN> that you can snack on (perfect for an eat like you!) no cooking or
 HN> anything if you don't want to! Of course you CAN add them to soups and

Yup!  Or panfry either just in spices or with a little oil.  We like them with
just salt and a sweet (not too hot) paprika and the merest whisper of oil which
helps the spices stick.  Nice munchies!

 HN> such if you wish, they add a wonderful flavor! But I like them right as
 HN> they come out of the bag, crispy little fishy bits! I get it at my

I like then just out of the bag too.  It's one of the wierd foods Charlotte 
finds in her lunch bag and much healthier than potato chips.  Her friends are
asking for me to do that more often as they like'em too.

Oh, side note:  I aint the only one getting requests.  There's an apparently
delicious cold sweetpotato 'fry/chip' one of the parents has been making and
Charlotte asked the boy to ask his mother to do that more often too.  He's a 
little chubby (not too bad, just a little bit) so this is part of his diet food
and baked, not fried.  Charlotte said an eggwash then spices vice oil used.
Apparently quite crispy and a secret recipe (I sent a note asking for it and 
got a cute and very nice reply of 'no, but thanks for asking!' ;-)

 HN> local asian grocery in bags about the same size as the potato chips
 HN> (the medium sized bags, not the HUGE things they try and sell now!).

Yup again but you can also get the huge bags too.  At Tonoo, one lady sold them
out of a big plastic bin and you used a scoup into your own plastic bag or if
you didnt have a bag, could get one from her for 3yen for simple or 10yen for
a ziplock type.  You could also just wrap them up in newspaper you brought 
yourself if you wished.  I saw others do that but I didnt like the idea of what
might be in the ink that might get in the food.

 HN> they are also used to make dashi (xxcarol makes dashi a lot!) which is

I've been using the powder here as I have a very cheap source for it and can't
come even close to matching that price.  You use 1 TS per 3 cups water (roughly
what you've seen me call 2nd use dashi) and the box has 1000 servings. (3/4 cup
finished product per serving or 1/4 TS dry per serving).  15.99$ and a
perfectly
decent brand.  I can easily adjust the level between my old system of '1st use 
dashi through 4th use dashi' by just varying how much of the powder I add in.

That said, I have added a little niboshi and a square of nori to water for a 
thin dashi then added the powder after simmer about 4 mins.  It enhances it but
it's quite acceptable without that extra step except in a few very special 
'signature' recipies I make.

I got this same brand in Japan when I could afford it.  It's the most popular
Japan one.  Think of it as the Japan version of Campbell's Soup <g>.  I could
never get a box this big for a mere 15.99$ there.  It was more like 5,000yen 
(48$).

I saw a lady at Asia grocery get 3 of the little boxes (each makes 9 cups total
product so she got 27 cups worth).  She was price shopping and liked that they
 were a bit under 2$ a box.  Me, I took the 15.99$ box that makes 750 cups. 
She
spent 6$ for 27 cups and I spent roughly 2.5 times that for 750.  It's not as
nonsensical as it seems though.  She doesnt use it as often so her 27 cups
 (which she keeps the boxes in her freezer) will last her 6-9 months she said.
She doesnt live near Asia Grocery so that 3 boxes for her, was a stock up trip.
My box, will last me about the same amount of time, so in the end, we *both*
got
a good deal I think.

Before you freak at using up 750 cups of dashi in 6-9 months, keep in mind it
is also used as a boiling sauce for many things.  A can of green beans is 
enhanced much IMHO if you rinse the can juice off them then put them in 3 cups
of dashi to simmer.  Whatever meat I make with that, can easily have another 2
 cups or more dashi where you might be using chicken stock.  Thats just dinner.

My crockpot (big momma) normally needs about 1 gallon liquid to whatever else
 is in there, and that may be dashi but before I used chicken stock due to 
*cost* factors, of using up a whole gallon of dashi.

I like to use dashi for my ricemaker machine water, so if I make just 'rice' 
and a 4 cup yield, that's another 2 cups dashi (usually 4th use is for rice). 
If making Japanese 'rice porridge' (congee/juk is close) I'll need 8 cups dashi
roughly for a big batch or 4 for a single batch for us 3.

See how it adds up?  Generally if you make your own dashi, it will run about 5$
per gallon which isnt a horrible price but thats calculated across the gamut of
 1st use to 4th use all mixed in.  I'm not sure how many cups there is to a 
gallon but I bet it's less than 27 (grin).

The only downside?  Hey lets face it.  Its pretty cool to make your own dashi!
I'll probably do that now and again just to show off <g>.

 HN> basically a  soup stock with fish or seaweed or bonito flakes or
 HN> niboshi...or a combination of all of those! Here's a good site to get
 HN> some more information (For Shirley of course, you're an eat!!) 

 HN> http://japanesefood.about.com/od/soup/a/aboutdashisoup.htm

Ohh, I'll sneak over there later and take a peek.

 HN> Hope you and Butch have a great thanksgiving amigo! We are all
 HN> thankful you're part of the family here!

Yet another dashi use.  My new across from us folks who are comming for T-day 
so we can combine cooking resources from our limited loaner sets (I have a bit
more from the old stored stuff but the rest is same as theirs), is going to 
make a sort of brined bird set (just cornish hens) and want each to be
different
 so we are going to add salt to a 1/2 gallon of dashi and some soy sauce and
try
 that out on one of them.

The other 2 hens (remember, I have a big ham here too) are not settled but we 
are thinking to use my one good knife and mostly debone then do the pressed 
butter-fried 'tobacco chicken' bit with one and my 3 cast iron pans (big one 
under, 2 smaller ones above pressing it down).  She's thinking a southwestern 
rub on the 3rd one but said she might go plain 'traditional' with stuffing and 
pretend it's a little turkey <g>.

We are mixing and matching side dishes.  We both agreed to avoid all nuts as
her
youngest is just at the edge of 'no more bottle' and eating pretty much
anything
yet nuts can cause problems and her middle kid might feed the younger one
 anything tastey. No known allergies but I think the advice was to wait til
over
1 year old and she thinks she was told same?

Her husband is on a diet (on the edge of military weight limits for body fat)
so
we are making things that arent going to blow that too much and she's going to 
be careful with the sodium for Don.

On T-day, if you hear the pitter patter of little feet, it's us running back
and
forth between houses as we share ovens and range tops or trott my only good 
knife back and forth.  Please excuse our dust <g>.  We will try to muffle our 
giggles so we do not disrupt the rest of you.

                 xxcarol

... "Yield to temptation, it may not pass your way again." - L. Long
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