Oxide

Oxide's comments

"Another great recipe from Maangchi. The take-away here is the various cuts and the various cooking times for the various veggies. All of it is spot on. I cheated – I went to the bulk salad section and grabbed a handful of pre-washed baby spinach leaves … it is just a convenience thing. I normally do not eat sugar so the recipe seemed a little bit sweet to me. Next time I will dial-back the final add of 1-tbls of sugar. The sweet potato starch noodles are wonderful!!! I like them better than rice noodles. Oh, Maangchi, instead of $10 worth of filet mignon do you think I can substitute a handful of live, small frogs from the garden?"
in Japchae (Sweet potato starch noodles stir fried with vegetables) — Oct/16

"Go across the bridge ... Oakland Halal for meats and Saba for very fresh halal chicken. Both in Oakland. I think there is a larger Muslim community in the East bay, and the Fremont area than there is in SF."
in Seasoned raw beef (Yukhoe: 육회) — Mar/16

"Hi Monicamkim, I buy soybeans from Lauras Soybeans. I buy both the regular, larger soybeans to make tofu and soymilk, and the smaller soybeans for sprouting and to make natto. I highly recommend them. http://www.laurasoybeans.com/ Lauras soybeans are not organic … but they are non-GMO. There can be pluses and minuses to “organic” produce. What is important to me is that the soybeans NOT be GMO. You should rinse to re-hydrate the soybeans you are spouting a minimum of every day, preferable 2 or 3 times a day. Doing this will eliminate the opportunity for fungus (rot) to get hold of your sprouts. Good luck!"
in Soybeans for sprouting (Kongnamulkong) — Feb/16

"Hi Monicamkim, I buy soybeans from Lauras Soybeans. I buy both the regular, larger soybeans to make tofu and soymilk, and the smaller soybeans for sprouting and to make natto. I highly recommend them. http://www.laurasoybeans.com/ Lauras soybeans are not organic … but they are non-GMO. There can be pluses and minuses to “organic” produce. What is important to me is that the soybeans NOT be GMO. You should rinse to re-hydrate the soybeans you are spouting a minimum of every day, preferable 2 or 3 times a day. Doing this will eliminate the opportunity for fungus (rot) to get hold of your sprouts. Good luck!"
in Soybeans for sprouting (Kongnamulkong) — Feb/16

"Thanks for the kind words. I was disappointed but glad the failure happened at the beginning. If it happened after months and months into the recipe I would have been really depressed. Also, I was wondering what I was going to do about the jujube. It is an autumn fruit that is not available to me in the spring when I would have needed it. Citrus grows very well in pots. Every couple of years replace the soil. Yuja trees produce a lot of fruit. A small tree is enough for a family and more. I still have a couple yuja in the fridge. Occasionally I will take one out and scratch it just to enjoy the smell, then put it back."
in Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) — Feb/16

"Yes, insects can be a problem. Absolutely, cover your meju with a fine mesh to keep the bugs out, whether you hang your meju inside or outside."
in Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) — Feb/16

"Today I officially abandoned the doenjang project. Big problem ... bugs! I think if you live in an apartment high above the ground you may not have bug problems. I am on the ground floor where bugs live. After a week hanging I noticed some very very small flies on my meju. Not house flies, something much smaller. Much to my dismay I noticed 2 of the tiny flies were on a date engaged in a happy ending. I wrapped the meju in fine mesh cloth and hoped I got there before they laid eggs.. But luck was not with me ... today I found small maggots throughout all three meju. I will try again in the fall when jujubes are back in season. I recommend wrapping your meju to protect it from insects. Good luck!"
in Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) — Feb/16

"Maangchi, thanks for the info on the salt. The meju are hanging in the window in a cool room with plenty of circulation. Notes for others making doenjang and ganjang: Over the 4 days the meju were on the heating pad they each lost an average of 500g (1.1 lbs) of water. I was going to use wax paper under the meju but at the last minute changed my mind and used parchment paper instead. My thinking was that the idea was to remove moisture from the meju and wax paper is water-proof ... will help keep moisture in. The parchment paper was a good choice as it absorbed water and allowed it to evaporate."
in Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) — Feb/16

"Maangchi, I have a “bean” smell growing ever more pungent in my living room. Actually, it is not a bad smell … I kind of like it. There are 3 soybean-bricks sitting on a heating pad drying out. I put the pad and bean-bricks on top of an ironing board to get them up off the floor. Question about the salt – I am presuming you use Diamond Crystal brand of Kosher Salt. How many 3-lb boxes of Diamond Crystal salt will I need to equal 5-qts of salt I need for this doenjang recipe? A couple of notes for anyone else wanting to make doenjang. It takes a minimum of an 8-qt pot to soak 5-lbs of dried soybeans. Put the dried beans in it and fill it to the top with water. During the 24-hrs the beans will soak they will be absorbing the water so occasional check the water level to be sure the beans are fully covered. Once fully re-hydrated, the beans will fill the entire 8-qt pot. I opted to use a larger 20-qt canning pot, filled it with water and walked away for a day. I used a 12-qt pot to boil the beans for about 5-hrs. Use a food processor to munch-up the cooked beans. I have an 11-cup food processor, it took 12 passes to process all of the cooked beans. Then smash the beans in a bowl. I used a 1-1/2 inch diameter rolling pin wrapped in food plastic wrap so the wood did not absorb any bean oil or juices. It worked perfectly. You can also use a bar muddler if you have one. The beans squish easily. They are heavier than you think. Each bean-brick weights about 1850 grams (4-lbs)."
in Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) — Feb/16

"I made this recipe for dinner last night using pork belly instead of beef. I opted to use a food processor. The filling is worthy of a culinary award. It really is that good. The flavor, texture, aroma, appearance, all of it is 100% spot-on! You can eat this filling in gyoza, in dumplings, in tacos, in piroshky … or eat it out of a bowl with a little soy sauce sprinkled on it. I saved 1/2 of the filling to try baking inside calzone. I tried to make the skins but it did not go well for me. The first skin I rolled out was not so much round as it was shaped like Texas. By the time I got through 16 of them I pretty much had t down -- the last two skins were 5-1/2 inch across and round!"
in King-size kimchi dumplings (Kimchi-wangmandu) — Jan/16

"Wow! This video is so good! This is one of the best of your video’s I’ve seen here. My favorite part: “The strong sunlight is a natural disinfectant … disinfectant … disinfectant.” Please tell us again, how many of those big Modelo beers did you have? (*^_^*)"
in Fermented soybean paste (Doenjang) — Jan/16

"Hi tischlagerr, I have seen abalone the size of what Maangchi used in Korean markets and other Asian markets. It is in the deep freeze, next to the frozen octopus, squid, etc. I believe it is imported from Asia. Fresh abalone can be had in Calif but the minimum size is 7-inches, considerably bigger than the Asian varieties."
in Abalone porridge (Jeonbokjuk) — Jan/16

"Maangchi, your shirt is hilarious! … sheep wearing knitted wool sweaters (*^_^*)"
in Abalone porridge (Jeonbokjuk) — Jan/16

"I love abalone! I used to dive for abalone off the California coast. Abalone eat only algae ... seaweed. That is the green content of their stomach and digestive tract."
in Abalone porridge (Jeonbokjuk) — Jan/16

"When grown from a seed it takes forever to get a fruit tree to produce fruit. So fruit tree producers take a small cutting from a tree that is producing fruit and graft it to new root stock. Using this grafting method fruit trees usually produce fruit the first or second year. That is because only the roots are a couple years old -- the tree growing on the young roots is much older and already producing fruit. I do not know of any fruit trees that are not grafted this way. You can buy yuzu trees online from Four Winds Growers. You can grow citrus in a pot – it does not have to go into the ground. https://www.fourwindsgrowers.com/store/other-edibles.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&category_id=1&product_id=251 This week I checked a local Asia market and fresh yuzu is now available for $3.99 lb. I bought 1 yuzu to compare with the yuzu I am growing. My yuzu is so much better. My yuzu smells much stronger and has a deeper flavor, and is appropriately tart. I scratch the skin of the store bought yuzu and I can barely smell it. I scratch my yuzu and it has a wonderful strong smell."
in Yuja tea (Yujacha) — Dec/15