What's Cooking? (New Jersey)

I purchase from the Italian Dei as well as from HT.
I have had D’artagnan’s semibonelss quail once, but never found them again at Giant.
They were pricey.
I live in Md 20639 and have started to buy duck from Maple leaf
I found them reasonable, buy around $100 worth , with just over 20 for shipping
Am interest in the quail mind sharing more info how to get them?
thanks

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HI ccj. I get my Spanish boneless quail breasts at Marx Foods. They ship free overnight. The only thing is that you have to buy a case which is 12 packs of 10 boneless breasts (120 pieces) for $157 all inclusive. Each pack is vacuum sealed and freezes well. They are small packages, so they don’t take up much space. It comes out to just over $13 a package or $1.30 per quail breast. Lately my wife has been making them in a salad (pan fried with delicata squash, arugula, and reduced balsamic vinaigrette. I love them because there are no bones to fuss with, and they are perfect little bites. If you don’t want a whole case maybe you can split one with a friend or two.

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I did find them last nigh tfrom Max Interesting
When I cook quail, even 2 whole quail does not seem to be enough Just cooked some recently ( HO)
There was also too much bones. D’artagnan has the semi boneless ones that are much easier to tackle with .
I will definitely give that and the quail lollipop.
Oct. 2018, have been found to have alpha gal syndrome so, all kinds of 4 legged animal with hoof’s red meat is taboo. I have since just been eating seafood chicken and duck. I buy D’artagnan’s product from Giant, usually buy has cooked maple leaf duck for Costco but found that maple leaf has a lot of duck meat , very reasonably priced. We had ground duck meat ( in place of ground pork yesterday for lunch) cooking shrimp in lobster sauce, and last night’s dinner was duck breast ( 1.5 lb) stir fry with vegetable( HO )
I do have 2 fridge and one huge freezer but because I am a hoarder, I wil have to wait a bit as I used to smoke a lot and there are 5 racks of ribs, Boston butts, beef and still lots of D’artagnan’s duck confit and duck breast in the freezer aside from venison which is almost consumed ( had 2 whole deer2017) but my dogs ate most of them except for the straps.
Thanks. Give maple leaf farm a try but do not buy the half duck which s great as it is still cheaper from Costco. I am never without them although I do not like the orange sauce s we use our own homemade dip of garlic , soy, apple cider vinegar and hot pepper. I cook them longer than suggested and the skin comes out super crunchy that way, I am going to make use of their 20% promotion for their duck appetizer before Jan 25 and if you go to Facebook or call them for the first time, there is a 10% promotion so, 30% is great!!!

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Sidebar: I seriously thought alpha-gal syndrome was a moniker for someone like me :rofl:, so I hit Google and guess what? It’s NOT…it’s a real thing. Thought I’d share what the Mayo Clinic says for others who might be curious:

Alpha-gal syndrome is a recently identified type of food allergy to red meat. In the United States, the condition most often begins when a Lone Star tick bite transmits a sugar molecule called alpha-gal into the body. In some people, this triggers an immune system reaction that later produces mild to severe allergic reactions when they eat red meat.

The Lone Star tick is found predominantly in the southeastern United States, and most cases of alpha-gal syndrome occur in this region. The condition appears to be spreading farther north and west, however, as deer carry the Lone Star tick to new parts of the United States. Alpha-gal syndrome also has been diagnosed in Europe, Australia, and Asia, where other types of ticks carry alpha-gal molecules.

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Mrs. P made a very refreshing mango sorbet mixed with fresh basil and balsamic. The fresh basil really put it over the top.

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If you have interest there is a thread about her cooking with Alpha-Gal:

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Ummm… you didn’t wash off the salt??? You may end up with some crazy salty kimchi! Make sure it’s fully submerged in the brine, you don’t want any poking out. Be careful if it is very salty use less of it in any recipes and/or resuce added salt in the recipe

With the kimchi of course there’s sundubu jjigae, with soft tofu and usually pork- if you can’t get the tube of tofu at H mart just buy “soft” tofu
https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sundubu-jjigae

Kimchi pancakes are really popular too and stupid easy

And of course my favorite salad of all time, I don’t cook the daikon (just chop it or slice instead) and often would add in edamame or some cubed firm tofu to make it more of a meal salad

So it’s been fermenting for 2 days now. We have liftoff! I burped all three jars today and they are bubbling. I tried one small piece literally. I am actually really impressed so far. I can’t believe this is actually working. I need to let it get more dank for a day or two then let it meld in the fridge for a day or two I think.

Some things I got right and wrong so far, but keep in mind this is from a single bite and it isn’t ready…

So far I love the Korean chili…it has a great heat in the front and that’s the predominant flavor so far, the chili. I think I may have nailed the heat aspect spot on. I had lingering heat in my mouth for a minute or two but nothing painful. I wanted to keep it kind of mellower to try with some people. Don’t get me wrong, it is spicy!

I didn’t taste any ginger really so I might have gone too light on that or my powdered stuff is too weak. Next time, which I am confident there will be, I am going for fresh ginger. So failure on that one.

Garlic taste was there but very light, same with onion. The sugar was a great call. You can notice a bit of sweetness. This may be gone once the sourness level goes up in the next day or two.

So far this is really cool that it seems to be heading in the right direction. Without something catastrophic happening, I think this will be a half decent batch.

I never knew cabbage has shrinkage.

I WAS IN THE POOL! :slight_smile:

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Looks great! Pungent garlic and ginger are really nice in kimchi so I would definitely go fresh next time.

You don’t have to ferment it outside the fridge, and I would recommend trying some every day to see how it changes. I put mine straight into the fridge because I like the unfermented stuff (and you only have a couple day window to have it).

Did you do the whole rice porridge thing?

This is fun stuff. Definitely fresh ginger next time.

I didn’t use the porridge. By the time I put a heavy handed pour of chili, sugar, powered ginger, dehydrated onion, and chopped garlic, it made a nice paste. I went with it. It didn’t rinse the salt off as mentioned. I pulled all the cabbage out and put it into another big bowl. There was probably a good inch or more of water on the bottom so I think the salt kind of sweats out the water and washes the cabbage as it drops down. I grabbed a handful each time and squeezed it before adding all the spice. As I packed it up I put 1 TB spoon fish sauce in each jar. That might be light too. Tomorrow I’ll give a day three report but for my first time I’m going for some dank stuff. I might try some fresher ones soon too. What’s your opinion on fish sauce verse shrimp?

So exciting!!! You can probably just add some smashed fresh garlic now and let is hang out in there a few more days- it makes a big difference.

The heat mellows a little as it ages, so it sounds like you got the right combo for you! You can totally eat it at any age- maybe pull some to the fridge in a few days and then let another jar get more funky…
sounds like a success so far :raised_hands:
Was it really salty??

Yeah I honestly don’t know exactly what the porridge does. I’e heard that it allows for more fermentation (more food for the bugs) and also that it helps bring all the seasonings together. I wish there was someone who could provide some science and taste tests because I tend to be distrusting of hand-me-down knowledge.

Same thing with fish sauce and shrimp and things like that. You hear people say things like “you have to use xyz fish sauce and abc seafood” but I honestly don’t know enough to tell you. What I do know is that you should be able to make perfectly tasty kimchi without any of these things.

My mom though, swears that for the best kimchi you have to add live shrimp, like this:

Most people seem to agree that you should have both fermented shrimp and fish sauce in your kimchi though. I think fermented shrimp is a cool condiment to have regardless, but if you’re just making it casually I don’t know how necessary it is. The cool thing is that you have a baseline now, so when you do add the shrimp you’ll know the difference.

There’s all sorts of other weird stuff that goes into kimchi in regional variations, oysters are very common, some people put in fresh fish or squid type things as well. I’ve even seen someone throw in an entire raw slab of pork belly in it. You’ll also see vegetation like mustard greens and Chinese celery. In some parts they’ll put in cilantro too (which, btw, if you’re like me and can never finish a bundle of cilantro before it goes bad… it’s great as kimchi).

I really appreciate your “make it with what I got” attitude though, try it different ways and you’ll get a better understanding of the food.

One thing you must do the next time though - no negotiation on this one - have your kimchi fresh with some pork belly. To me this is the single best part of kimchi making. This is the real bossam, not the stuff that David Chang sells.

Oh, 1 last thing. IMO the single best way to enjoy kimchi in its fullest glory is in seaweed rolls. Get some Japonica/Cal Rose rice. Buy yourself one of those seasoned seaweed packets. Seaweed, warm rice, piece of kimchi. Roll it up and in your mouth. It does not get any better than that.

To me, no, not salty at all but I have to let it come together. A tiny piece can only tell me so much but I’m really excited. I think once it all settles I will learn a lot. I can definitely tell I botched the ginger up. I love fresh ginger and I wasn’t getting that flavor at all. I could add some garlic but this stuff is packed in tight and I think I want to let it ride out.

Thanks again for the cool pics. You definitely made me want to try this. Hopefully I can eat more of this as a snack and not cool ranch doritos.

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Jeez that sounds good! I’m all for pork but I think I might need a batch or two under my belt before I get meat involved. As for shrimp, I will probably try that too and I’m guessing my taste buds won’t be able to tell the difference over the fish sauce.

Don’t laugh at me but I think I’m becoming mesmorized by this process! I was just sitting in my kitchen holding a mason jar and admiring the color and chopped cabbage for like 5 minutes. I was watching the bubbles travel up the maze of vegetables and I’m like "does anyone have a lighter and Floyd CD? :rofl:

Ps, you can catch grass shrimp around here using a killie trap. They look exactly like that. I wonder if those would work.

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You could totally grate some fresh ginger into the jar and garlic and shake it up a bit to mix in.
Glad it didn’t turn out too salty!
When i have my kimchi on hand i end up snacking in it a bit as an appetizer of sorts :joy:
Oooh- and the kimchi liquid is amazingness so even once you finish the kimchi the liquid makes a great addition to salad dressing instead of vinegar, or add a splash to soup broths, use when cooking rice… you name it. I sometimes sip a little for a savory probiotic beverage ;))
Gotta say i have never used any of the fish sauce or fishy things since I’m vegetarian and just the fermentation provides plenty of funk.

I hope you wrote some notes for yourself what you used this batch so that you can recreate or adjust next time (cuz you already know there will be a next time)

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I think, like most recipes, your kimchi recipe is going to take a time or two before you get it exactly the way you want it. Salt causes osmosis. If the saltiness outside the item is higher than inside the water inside flows out. That’s called osmosis, maybe you remember it from biology class. For fermentation, you generally want 2% salt by weight or maybe a little more. Examples: for 50# of cabbage you need 1# of salt; for 5# of peppers you need 2 oz of salt.

Powdered & fresh ginger are two totally different items as you have learned. Candied Ginger is completely different from those two.

I’m not sure what role the rice flour paste is intended to play here. Perhaps some extra carbs to hustle the bacteria into a quicker ferment? Don’t know, nor can I think of another fermented product that uses anything like that.

This is going well. I’m encouraged.

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No way man. You just totally blew my mind, I had no idea you could just fucking catch shrimp. This needs to happen.

You and @Ttrockwood got me thinking of one of my favorite old posts from Chowhound…

“what can I do with my kimchee besides stand in front of the fridge and eat it”

That phrasing still cracks me up to this day.

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Yeah it definitely will take some time to get this to my desired level. I would not go by my recipe but I’m just sharing some things I’ve learned so far. You have a lot more experience than I do. So far it is going better than I expected, but it could come crashing down. Joon got me thinking about these grass shrimp. The ones here are very similar but probably a tad bit larger. I can literally get these for free so I might try to catch some. I have the pots to catch them so I have to see when I can get some.

Hmmm…maybe we can get these kimchi posts moved over to the kimchi NJ thread. I think I have thoroughly hijacked this post :slight_smile:

My buddy does a lot of brewing, he ferments and and makes meade. He was the one who recommended to not wash all the salt off. I’d like to get him to stop by your store soon when I visit.

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Yeah man, I catch some cool stuff around here. I’ve been fishing since I was literally 3. I grew up on a pond and never gave up. Grab some cocktails and head out one day with us.

@Ttrockwood I like your ideas! You guys have some creative thinking. I think I’m going to try a few batches before I get over my head :slight_smile:

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When HO started there was a ‘Fermentation’ category in the Cooking Forum but there was never much posted there. eventually it was removed. Now there are two good threads going on fermentation. I saw that you cross posted into the other one.

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