nchristi
Moderator
Global user (premium)
Registered: 03-2004
Location: Hotel California
Posts: 11573
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: Dotch Cooking Show
The last Dotch was Mexican tacos v Vietnamese spring rolls. One of the guests was Dr. Fro from Kokoro, and I might be mistaken on this, but one of the actresses reminded me very much of the one in Hiroshi66's avatar. (And, wonder of wonders, the guy who never gets to eat, finally DID! Whew. I was beginning to feel really, really sorry for him... week after week dragging out of the studio and down the stairs, all hungry and grumpy.  )
The food wasn't quite as interesting to me as the back stories on chefs, food sources, and Japanese restaurants:classulclassliThe main "Mexicana" chef, as they called him, is the current chef (from Mexico) serving the Mexican Consul General in Japan.classliA Vietnamese woman restaurateur was featured on the spring roll side.classliFor tacos, jalapeno peppers were the "secret ingredient." However, fresh jalapenos are grown only in Mexico and the U.S. and are not permitted to be shipped into Japan.classliOne farmer in Japan went to the U.S. for agricultural training some years back and discovered jalapenos. He brought back seeds and worked for some years to get them to grow in Japan. The range of temperatures and cold, in particular, are problematic. Not only must he grow the peppers in hot houses but during cold weather he goes out and places large candles throughout the floor of the hot houses in order to warm up the pepper plants. Heaters change the temperature too quickly and he found that the slow temperature rise produced by candles is ideal. The result is truly beautiful, plump, dark green jalapenos. (Who knew they are so rare in Japan, that only canned ones in vinegar or oil are available to the general public?!)classliThe "secret ingredient" on the spring roll side was Peanuts! Again, one farmer decided to make a better peanut and after some years has developed a peanut that has a distinctly different, sweet taste. His revolutionary key to a different peanut is to amend the soil with ground up fossil (fossilized what, I'm not exactly sure). However, once he added the ground fossil to the soil, he had a new peanut!Tacos were presented in both crispy corn shells and heavier flour tortillas. Fillings included Kobe beef and lobster, with melted cheese and onions. On the whole, while delicious looking, they seemed just a little bit heavy.
Spring roll was the winner, 5–to–2 (4 women, 1 man v 2 men), full of crispy veggies, peanut sauce, shrimp, bifun noodles, and really yummy dipping sauces. The spring rolls were beautiful to look at in their transparent rice sheet wrappings, I must say. They gave the feeling of making both your body and your senses happy.
|
|
6/13/2005, 2:05 pm
|
Link to this post
|
TomCat
Member
Global user
Registered: 01-2004
Posts: 1019
|
|
Quote
|
|
Re: Dotch Cooking Show
Another Dotch cooking showdown I wish I could have taped ( I was in the middle of a Angel game so I could only watch bits of it) my favorite showdowns are so far have been with hamburgers and later the donuts.
|
|
6/13/2005, 2:42 pm
|
Link to this post
|
Well, i love spicy food in general. 
