I'm a proud but somewhat frustrated owner of a Bigolaro extruder.
I've tried it a couple of times, but it never worked out properly.
Either they stick together when exiting the die (if the deugh is too soft) or they come out nicely but break into pieces when drying over a stick.
I'll appreciate it, if you could give me a tip or two.
beautiful recipe. i would like to subscribe to your website please.
If you want pistachio paste, you want it to taste like pistachios. Why the almond, that is a flavour that is powerful?
Do you have a recipe for pistachio cream?
Hey FX! Great to have you back! It's great to have some new articles to read from you.
I just saw ur pictachio paste recipe. Love it. I've been looking where to buy in Sydney Australia but no luck. Love pistachio and will definitely try it ASAP as I wanna make pistachio gelato ice cream. My question is to u, is how long can I store it and do u keep it in the fridge right?
Can I buy Japanese china bowls from Kappabashi-Dori over the internet and have them shipped to the UK?
I have a Homdoor tandoor oven which are made in the US (I live in Dallas TX, via Sydney NSW). The unit is a few years old now, but the great design of them is they sell a ring burner that can be fitted to the oven with no modification. 20 seconds is all it takes to convert from charcoal to gas.
Just picked up a copy of Flatbreads & Flavors (1995) by Jeffery Alford and Naomi Duguid, which I will try a few recipes from.
This is how I have done mine for years to avoid the oil soaked sponges, I like most of the peel on as well, but to make it easier to bite through, I use a citrus zester to make scores lengthwise. I must try the sumac with them.
FX's answer→ Good tip the citrus zester!
FX's answer→ Thanks a lot for remembering me Eliot! Hope you'll see here some new stuff you like!
Does this method also work if you cut the eggplant lengthwise, in planks?
Can we cultivate cardamom under the shade of the teak plant.Or does it needs more sun light.
My husband and I from Nicaragua visited Edingburgh more than 10 years ago and we loved it. I have always felt a great attraction for Scotland and for me it was an special time visiting its incredible historical places. We visited the Last drop Pub, which is an emblematic place in Edinburgh, which all tourists should visit. I would like very much to come back to Edinburgh - maybe one day!
Really enjoyed this article about Rungis - I'm a chef and would really love to visit one day!! Agree the meat market may not be for the faint-hearted but if we respect the animal by cooking it well who are we to say whether it's right or wrong. Will try and find your piece on Tokyo now!
FX's answer→ Thank Heather glad you liked the article!
Gosh, you've made me hungry.
I too share your sentiments about the acidity in the ingredients used in Persian cuisine. I find it too sour for me. Whenever I go to the US Pacific, I do pick up some Persian ingredients to bring back home to the Caribbean.
FX's answer→ Ah yes the famous Teherangeles must offer lots of opportunities to pick up good quality Persian ingredients! Thanks for your visit Cynthia!
I made dal makhani a couple of weeks ago too. I was visiting Trinidad and brought back some black gram dal with me.
FX's answer→ Ah it does take weeks to burn off those calories but a really fine recipe don't you agree?
After harvesting, put beanpods straight into a pillowcase (or similar - a gauze bag would be even better) & tie the top securely. Put into tumble dryer that is set to max for an hour!
Hey presto, beans are now perfecly dry (no more mouldy beans) and when you open the pillowcase you will find that the tumble action has shaken most of the beans out of their pods.
FX's answer→ Tim, thanks this is a really fun trick and it sounds like it could really work. I'll see if I can try it at home with some other beans I have, just don't want to introduce dirt in the machine, I think a couple plastic bags + some heavy ball would be safer.
Beans in a jar are so pretty! And after the first time your teeth meet a tiny pebble, you become very serious about picking over the dried beans before cooking, right?
I grow a couple of rows of beans every year, and although I know some varieties are advertised specifically for drying, I'm inclined to think that any bean left to dry in the pod becomes a shell bean (or "shelly bean" as I've been taught to call them), and any shelly bean picked young enough can be enjoyed steamed, pod and all. But maybe I just haven't tried enough bean varieties to know better? I grow mostly heirloom varieties from the eastern US, and yellow and green French filet beans.
FX's answer→ Indeed they look gorgeous in their jars! I think Borlottis are really better fresh than dried but dry some anway.
WOW...I deeply believe that one of the GREAT cuisines is Indian. It is far more complex than most people know.
FX's answer→ Indeed Indian cuisines are extremely rich with many centuries worth of traditions and successful combinations and all sorts of unique cooking methods (dum, dhungaar, bhunao, ...) and, compared to for instance Chinese cooking, there is a wealth of Indian-published book available in English with less common, more authentic recipes.
Wonderful article! makes me want to grow again after many years of just buying beans. When I go to the amazing Monterey Market in Berkeley, CA they have tons of heirloom varieties of beans. I picked up a few on a recent trip and had fun making pasta e fagioli with them just to try something different!
Can you tell me more about the steel slug barrier? We have a slug problem here-does it stop them from climbing over?
FX's answer→ Oh yes I love pasta e fagioli too! Now for the slugs if you can live with the ugliness of the steel, they are just flat steel plates with the top folded 45 degrees. As long as you remove the slugs already inside (check out the big brain on Francois here!) and make sure plants growing directly outside do not offer bridges for slugs to climb over that little fence, then they work 100%. I researched this and tested it, it is really total slug protection. But some years I don't use it and only use little slug pellets instead (depending on the area you will grow in it is too cumbersome to set up for only a few months due to rotation). This year I put plastic slug collars around the pumpkins and doubled the seeds for the beans. "Sow one of the crow, one for the rat, one to rot and one to grow".
FX's answer→ I stand corrected! Very right, a scant 2 cup it is. Article updated for unmetric quantities. Thanks!
FX's answer→ Ah well the Tarbais are not too hard to find here in Europe but I got all sorts of funny beans from America such as Carole Deppe's Beefy Resilient Grex and Gaucho. I also got tons from Terroir Seeds and Biaugerme and Kokopelli such as Midnight Black Turtle, Flageolet Chevrier, Jaune de Chine, Haricot Maïs, Rattlesnake beans. But Tarbais was one of the best tasting.
Great photo's and a great blog FX. What is "5dl" of cream. thx.
FX's answer→ Ah Tony 5dl is what Americans call "1 cup" - sorry for that!
FX's answer→ Thanks, decadent it is!
It is so good to see you back.
You and Chefsteps are my favorites.
FX's answer→ Well this is quite a favorable comparison for good old me! Thanks!
Why ave you placed flower pots on the top of some of the poles in the peapatch?
FX's answer→ John-Christopher, those pots are both makeshift festoons and they serve as labels (I write the name of the variety on them). The last people who gardened here were Dutch and they saved every single terracotta pot they got when they bought plants in. I have more than 1000 and nobody wants them, so there is quite a pressure to find ways to upcycle them as we say nowadays.
From the beginning to the end it is a pleasure to see you growing, harvesting and using beans. The photos are great. We grow manly the French bush beans as they do best in our subtropical climate. I cook a lot with dried beans, mainly I use Italian beans which I buy, but would like to try again to grow my own to dry.
FX's answer→ Thanks Titania! I think there are lots of shelling beans that work in warmer climates if you look for them, maybe you could try Phaseolus acutifolius for instance. But to me so far both Tarbais and Borlotti are best tasting!
I just got a notification that you were posting again! So happy to see it! Are you familiar with Rancho Gordo Beans? They are based in Napa California and have been very instrumental in bringing heirloom beans from North America back into broader production. Their beans are really delicious.
I love butter, F-X, I really do, but I don't think I could eat more than two forkfuls of that. Two delicious forkfuls, but nevertheless only two.
FX's answer→ Yes the recipe uses as much butter as dry beans ... but I never dared to myself!
Another gorgeous looking recipe FX, wonderfully informative as usual. I was similarly disabused of my notions about Indian cooking by the Subcontinent's love of Ghee!
FX's answer→ Thanks Ashleigh! I really think that good butter is much better here than store-bought ghee.
I love it already! BUTTER!
FX's answer→ Everything is better with butter!
FX's answer→ Tienes razon, no se necesita huovas!
FX's answer→ Good point indeed Murgh Makhani is a really popular cousin of this recipe!
Che bei regali che ci fai ogni volta, post meravigliosi, foto che sembra di poter toccare il cibo con le dita!
Per favore non stare più così a lungo lontano dal blog, rimani con noi.
Intanto pregheremo qualche dio pagano per la tua salute, che te la conservi a lungo.
FX's answer→ Claudio, grazie mille per queste parole gentilissime!
What a gorgeous set of recipes FX! Truly spectacular.
I do have a question, the second image from the bottom with the ingredients for the squash polenta: what appears to be a clove of nutmeg is labelled "garlic" in Japanese. Am I wrong or is the caption wrong?!
FX's answer→ Ah a serious linguist with a sharp eye is in my kitchen tonight! Indeed nutmeg it is, the caption is wrong! Thanks for letting me know!
I echo the joy of your other loyal readers, and am delighted to see you posting regularly again! Warmest wishes from Canada.
FX's answer→ Glad you remembered me!
OMG :o that looks SOOOOO GOOOOOD!! wish I lived where they served those things.
FX's answer→ Ah well you can still make them yourself with a bit of batter, a lot of oil and a frozen pizza!
Hmm, canard rouennais signifies at first the method to kill the duck:she is garotted. So all the juices, blood etc.are kept inside. A duck killed "normally" (nantais) wouldn't give the desired result.
FX's answer→ Thanks for these excellent clarification, very interesting!
Excelente y didáctico. Lo invita a hacerla en su propia cocina.
FX's answer→ Well the line goes alongside the counter so indeed you have time to look at each item profusely before your number is up! I suppose that if you come outside lunch hours and weekends there should be little waiting. This is one of the few shops where I don't mind the waiting too much.
FX's answer→ Glad you tried and that it worked out for you!
Holy cow you are back! I started reading your website with my (then girlfriend) wife in 2006 while we were in college for recipes to try and make for our date night. The first recipe of yours we tried (and still our favorite) was your Scandinavian sour cream apple pie. We use to visit your website religiously for new recipes and were distraught after your leave of absence. We had a destination wedding in Italy 1 month ago and have been traveling since (known Kyoto). Your website came up in our travels when we decided to take a day trip on the Bernina Express from Tirano into Switzerland and we reminisced about your website remembering your were Swiss. By chance I decided to look at the website once more and am now pleasantly surprised that you are back! Looking forward to following your updates once again like the good old days!
FX's answer→ Well thanks John, this is very nice to hear! That Scandinavian sour cream apple pie is the first ever I had found on the Internet the first day I ever browsed...quite an event. Congratulations of the wedding and glad you visited Switzerland! You'll see a number of new articles and more are on the way.
Love your article and big help for me.
But would you know or remember a shop/s that sells Takoyaki pan?
FX's answer→ No worry Bernadette, every other shop in Kappabashi-Dori sells all sorts of Takoyaki pans. Finding one there is about as hard as locating a Starbucks Coffee in Brooklyn!
What a surprise to find you back. This is best blog...nobody has done it better than you. Welcome back!!
Your kitchen is fabulous...if I ever redo one again, I'll have this arrangement in mind.
FX's answer→ Thanks a lot Helen, glad you remembered me!
I am so happy you're back, Mr. FX! You are one of my food heroes!
FX's answer→ Well thanks Kurt, hope you will like the new articles!
What a great experience it must've been? So fun to see pictures from the pre production!
FX's answer→ Yes this was really fun but obviously it is also quite a bit of work, it is always nice when things eventually get broadcasted more or less like one hoped they would be!
Can't wait to try this out in the weekend, just looks (and almost smells through the screen) delicious!
FX's answer→ Good luck then.
I think the key to a juicy omelette is heat. I suspect that it has something to do with the way the egg protein molecules curl up in different kinds of heat - think of a classic French omelette made with vigorous stirring during cooking over high heat, and the country-style omelette which merely lifts the eggs and cooks slower, exposing them to more heat and making it dryer. I personally enjoy the drier, spongier texture of baked omelettes, the vegetables that fill out most of the volume are plenty juicy in their own right.
FX's answer→ OK I get it these are different from French omelettes, I'll give it a go!
Try Persian eggplant omelette - kookoo bademjan! Since you love walnuts, you'll be pleased to know that it includes those as well as the baked flesh of a big eggplant, a big fistful of chopped herbs to your liking (I recommend parsley, coriander and a little mint), turmeric, and leeks or onions, all sautéed together. Original recipes specify tomato slices on top but I think you can omit those. Then pour over an egg mixture with a little flour whisked in to bind moisture and support the frail eggs, like for a quiche, and finish off the omelette in the oven after letting it bubble under a lid on the stovetop until almost set. It's one of my favourite Persian recipes for sure, and it's quick and easy with some bread, salad and olives on the side for a light weeknight supper. And the name is fun to say for an added bonus.
FX's answer→ Thanks a lot for the pointer, this sounds really interesting! Is there any way to avoid the dryness of such baked egg dishes (same problem with frittata)?
This looks fxing delicious as per usual. Keep the aubergine/eggplant recipes coming please !