Pizza Making

Lately I have been making pizzas at home every week. It is cheap, fun
and not actually all that hard. This weeks pizza was my first really
successful dough. It was soft and stretchable. I made it fairly wet,
gave it a 20 minute rest before and after kneading the dough, and did
a 15 minute wet knead.

I also baked it on the upper part of the oven, which encouraged
browning from the reflected heat from the top of my gas oven.

Overall, I think it came out pretty well. I now need to work on
getting more oven spring, probably by playing around with yeast
quantity and rise times.

Chao Thai

For lunch today I stopped by Chao Thai in Elmhurst. I decided to order
one of my favorite dishes from Sripraphai, Penang Curry. It was
soupier than Sripraphai's, and therefore didn't have quite as much
punch. But, it was still a tasty, spicy and balanced curry, with that
familiar earthy pungency that makes a good Penang Curry.

I'll have to try this place again, as well as the other numerous Thai
places in Elmhurst.

Nutrition House

In Milpitas, CA, near the Ranch 99, I had a meat-filled dinner of
DongBei cuisine. The Chinese name is 5 Fish 2 Loaves, a New Testament
reference that is overanalyzed in many comments I've read. It is at
least a better name than Nutrition House, the English name.

There was lots of good stuff here, but the highlight was probably the
impossibly tender lamb meatballs.

The latest in my cappuccino creations. I really think I've got it now.

Nanjing Xiaolongbao

Last weekend I went to Flushing to eat at Nanjing Xiaolongbao. It's been a while since I had some good soup dumplings. My friend Ben and I met up and ordered both types of soup dumplings, Shanghai noodles, "Shengjian" (pan-fried) buns, and cold bamboo in red oil. I think the soup dumplings there were nearly as good at Joe Shanghai, with both (and most NY places, IMHO) suffering from dumplings that are too large. The dumplings skins were also slightly too fragile, and tore on two occasions. Otherwise, though, the soup inside was delicious, as well as the pork itself. It's one of the better versions I've had in New York. The Shanghai noodles were actually some of the best I've had. And the pan-friend buns were great as well. The bottom is brown and crunchy, and the top is soft. And of course the middle is a nice dumpling filling (no soup inside, though). It's a great snack that I'd eat a lot of if given the chance...

I have no pictures of this event, sorry to say.

Doubles

Doubles are largely unknown here. It's not surprising, there are probably only a few restaurants in New York that serve them. In Trinidad, though, they are everywhere, and are one of the most pervasive street foods on the island. A double is two pieces of deep-fried chickpea batter, with curried chickpeas inside. That's a lot of chickpeas. The key, though, is the chutneys and pepper sauce that are put in the double. A nice, fresh double with a spicy and tangy filling will bring tears to your eyes. If you've had chole bhature, it is very similar, except the flatbread it is on is much thicker.

Legend has it that doubles were originally a single piece of bara (the chickpea patty), with the curried chickpeas on top, but one kid insisted that two pieces of bara be used to make a sort of sandwich. The "double" option became popular, and this dish was born.

A little while ago, my friend Shantanu and I ate at A & A "'D' Original Doubles Shop". Read the 'D' as a Trini "the". It was cheap, I think $1 or so per double. It wasn't as fresh as you get in Trinidad, where they often fry it up in front of you. But, it was reasonably fresh. And it was delicious! It really doesn't look like much, and it's a complete mess to eat, but that's just the way doubles are.

I'd mention that if you are in Richmond Hill you should go eat there, but let's face it: people don't just pass through Richmond Hill all that often. Either you live their and already know it, or you are going to eat some Trinidadian or Grenadian food. Well, if you do, stop by and get a double before your meal, and make sure to put extra chutneys and pepper sauce on it.

Mama's Coal Pot

I'm going to slightly deviate from the subject of this blog to write about a St. Louis BBQ joint I recently ate at. I saw it after eating with my family at Blueberry Hill in the Loop. Actually, I smelled it long before I saw it, and when I saw the little BBQ shack with a very interesting menu, I knew I had to try it.

There are two interesting dishes here, at least. The first is snoot, which is a St. Louis local dish relatively unknown in the rest of barbecue country. Snoot is pig nose, by the way. The second are rib tips, which I've never seen before either. This was all very exciting for me, so I went back another day and tried them both out, of course.

A few days later, I went back, taking with me my friend Joel.

The snoot was coated in a delicious barbecue sauce. It came with some white bread on the side. I picked some snoot up with some bread, and gingerly nibbled on it. It appeared to be nothing but bone. However, I knew it was edible, it was really just cartilage. So I put that snoot between my molars and bit down as hard as I could. It gave a satisfying crunch, and I just continued crunching through this piece and then doing the same to many other snoots I had. The snoot itself didn't have a lot of flavor. It was mostly texture with a coating of barbecue sauce. I liked it, and would order it again, but it's a bit much for one's only lunch item. It'd go better as an item in a large BBQ spread.

While I was eating, the owner came up and chatted with us. He told us all about snoot, and how in "soul food" you eat every part of pig, "everything except the squeal". I said I was also interested in trying rib tips, and he was kind enough to give us a fair portion of that too.

The rib tips were excellent. This had some actual meat, which was flavorful and a bit fatty. I highly recommend this for those who like ribs.

So, Mama's Coal Pot. If you are in St. Louis and want a unique St. Louis-style barbecue treat, head on over there! And finding it is easy, just walk around the Loop and follow your nose.