Cooking with LMNO

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

(and if you get gripped in a fever for Portland cuisine, allow me to suggest the cookbook for my friend's tapas restaurant: http://www.amazon.com/Toro-Bravo-Stories-Recipes-Bull/dp/1938073576/)

[Salty]

Net andI went to Pok Pok while I visited Portland.

Hands down the best Thai food I have ever had.
The wings were giant and fish sauced? The boat noodles is what I had, and I cannot find a place in AK that serves them. The menu said they are sold right on little boatsover there.

Cannot remember the details,but those boat noodles were fucking amazing.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Net andI went to Pok Pok while I visited Portland.

Hands down the best Thai food I have ever had.
The wings were giant and fish sauced? The boat noodles is what I had, and I cannot find a place in AK that serves them. The menu said they are sold right on little boatsover there.

Cannot remember the details,but those boat noodles were fucking amazing.

Yes thoooooooseee

perfect drunk/hangover foods.

[LMNO]

When I feel ready to do this, there will be pictures.

[LMNO]

In the meantime, I'm trying to eat healthier again (again), which means new recipes, which means new posts.

http://earfatigueproductions.blogspot.com/2014/01/dont-be-scared-salmon-heads-and-beets.html

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTpUVAcvWfU

[LMNO]

EAT THEM UP, YUM!


I can't wait until it's warm enough to grill.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

When I have grilled mackerel i LIKE having the heads on. means I can talk to my supper and make it talk back.

I should get some mackerel soon.

[LMNO]

I seem to have hit a new wave of urges to share my food pictures.  Better capitalize on it while I can.

http://earfatigueproductions.blogspot.com/2014/01/mushroom-stock.html?m=1

[East Coast Hustle]

So, in other news, I recently decided, for no real apparent reason, that I'd like to learn how to cook Thai food.  In response, for Christmas I was given a wok and the book Pok Pok written by a guy who has a restaurant in Portland of the same name, who has studied the authentic dishes of Northeastern Thailand.

Whoa.  This kind of cooking is like an entirely different language.  The techniques and combinations are almost alien to me.  The prep work is the most time-consuming part.  The "cooking" is more like "plating", in that most of the ingredients are ready to go, they just need to be combined, and perhaps shown some flame for fifteen seconds.  And the clay mortar and pestle, like... cool.  I need to get one, but it's amazing how they use gentle bruising of ingredients to slightly break down the cell structure, much like a sautee would, but without heat.

I'm starting to see some common patterns, a thread that weaves its way through these dishes.  It's going to take a lot of work.  But I'm really excited to try out something completely new for me.

Incidentally, could one of the PNW folks consider taking a swing by Pok Pok?  It's at 3226 SE Division Street.  It doesn't seem too terribly expensive, and I'd love to hear what you think of the place.

So, I'm gonna stuff the expletive-laden rant that immediately sprang to mind when I read this post.

Pok Pok is OK. The wings are unbelievably delicious and deserve all the hype they get. The rest of the food is just OK, and badly overpriced for what it is. This may be a result of PDX lacking good thai food in general, or it may just be typical PDX that they decide to elevate to goodhood some hipster white guy who goes bumming around thailand every now and then learning to cook street food. I will say that Andy Ricker's food doesn't hold a candle to anything ECHGF's grandma has ever made for me, but it is comparable to the good-but-not-great Thai food I can get here for about 2/3 the price of pok pok.

All of that said, from everything I've heard/seen/read he's actually a really cool guy and a good boss, so that's worth something. But the deification over his Thai food is inexplicable to me.

[LMNO]

OK, fair enough.

In your opinion, is it worth me trying to learn how to cook this stuff?  The Boston Thai scene isn't that great (there's a lot more/better Vietnamese food), but I can sort of taste what's supposed to be going on, and I'd like to be able to bring that stuff out more at home.

And if ECHGF has any tips or tricks (or if you do), I'm more than willing to learn.

[trippinprincezz13]

I seem to have hit a new wave of urges to share my food pictures.  Better capitalize on it while I can.

http://earfatigueproductions.blogspot.com/2014/01/mushroom-stock.html?m=1

That sounds, and looks, delicious. Probably a silly question, since the answers probably "whatever you want to taste mushroomy" but I'd be interested to see what kind of recipes that works with (I'm guessing soups, mostly). I've seen recipes before and I love mushrooms, just not sure what I would do with it. For instance, there are very few places that I wouldn't substitute some chicken stock/broth for water, but I imagine mushroom stock would have more of a distinct flavor.

[East Coast Hustle]

OK, fair enough.

In your opinion, is it worth me trying to learn how to cook this stuff?  The Boston Thai scene isn't that great (there's a lot more/better Vietnamese food), but I can sort of taste what's supposed to be going on, and I'd like to be able to bring that stuff out more at home.

And if ECHGF has any tips or tricks (or if you do), I'm more than willing to learn.

In your context, I'd say it's probably a great way to learn the stuff. I couldn't understand even the 10% of what ECHGF's grandma told me that was in engrish. I suspect the book will translate alot easier into the culinary stuff you already know. I kind of want to buy it myself, to be honest. My previous post shouldn't be taken as a hit on Ricker or his food, which is good. Just not great. Except for the wings, which are honestly the best pieces of chicken I've ever put in my face. oreof a hit on the weird insularity of the PDX food scene, which produces flashes of brilliance in a sea of self-congratulatory OK-ness. My understanding is that he opened a joint in Manhattan that just sells the wings. That was a year or two ago - don't know if it's still there or how it's doing.

[LMNO]

Ah, I get you.  Some of the "Brilliant Boston Chef" stuff around here comes off the same way.  Tony Maws is pretty good, Barbara Lynch is hit or miss, Ken Oringer is mostly hype... The food is good, but only in flashes.