Kimchi jeon with bacon
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Iām catching up reading the WFD thread so sorry about the delay in my question 
How long to yu soak your dried shiitakes? I buy them at the Chinese grocer and soak them for 30 minutes following the package directions. But like @linguafood I find them chewy. Some of the mushrooms donāt even rehydrate so maybe they are old? Iād be interested in hearing how long you soak your mushrooms for.
I soaked them for about an hour, after pouring boiling water over them. They all reconstituted fairly well, but those dry ones always stay a bit chewy. I was also disappointed in the flavor, which wasnāt as strong as the BTB ā¦ concentrate.
I prefer to eat fresh shiitake, but you can chop the rehydrated ones to get the flavor without the chew
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30-60 in hot to boiling water will get you about 80% of the way there (and sufficient if you need well flavored mushroom broth). But, if you really want them completely hydrated, you need to go 24-48 hours starting in cool to warm water and holding in the fridge. Iāve gone 4 days and they hold fine and are definitely fully rehydrated at that point. The texture will always be different that fresh. The ones I soaked on the counter in very hot tap water for 4 hours yesterday yielded a very flavorful broth I used as part of my cooking liquid for angel hair at dinner and the pasta very noticeably picked up the flavor in the finished dish.
ETA - my experience with BTB mushroom flavor is that itās pretty meh vs. shiitake broth. I only taste salt, no mushroom. But, different strokes, etc.
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Perhaps your shiitake were of better quality than mine. I had but the faintest mushroom flavor from the soaking liquid. Thankfully, the mushroom part makes up only half of the broth, but it was def noticeable for us ā despite the very heavily seasoned hot pot base.
To be fair, Iāve not tried just the BTB mushroom broth on its own, only ever in combination with the roasted garlic 
If I ever track it down again I shall.
I think it also may depend on how many you use to the amount of water. I used 8 approximately 4 cm ones (the bag had the size in centimeters) to 2 cups of water. I got them off Amazon, so, not sure they are any better or worse, but hopefully your market has good turn over so they werenāt older!
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I used quite a bunch, but didnāt measure out the water. I probz shoulda used less.
Also, brilliant idea to cook pasta in the shroomy water!
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Cumin lamb and spicy beef noodle soup are 2 of Mr Beanās favorites. I canāt let him see this or Iāll have to figure out a way to make it. It all looks delish.
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And of course, today (Monday) we have sunshine and itāll be 65Ā° out. Canāt have that on a weekend now, can we? Noooooā¦ 
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When I think of the number of weeks in the Boston area, once we do finally get better weather, where the weekend ends up being rain (or snow), itās really annoying. I donāt think I got to use the grill or the smoker last summer at all!
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I bought a beautiful thick pork chop at the farmersā market yesterday (frozen) Iām trying to decide what to do with it. Your chop is teasing me 
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got a grill?
If the weather cooperatesā¦
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Something simple after the seder: tuna salad in an avocado section and vegetarian caldo verde with ramps.
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Also add Little Tart Bake Shop.
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Nice combo! Iāll have to remember that when I get my hands on good chorizo, since I almost always have frozen shrimp in the house
Chorizo and shrimp are a match made in Valhalla
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It was the first truly balmy day here in a long time that made us think of grilling, and it had also been a while since we had a nice hunka meat, so: Steakhouse Dinner @casa lingua 
A nice flatiron steak & a dry-aged rib-eye that was on sale at Wegmans were salted well ahead, then grilled to med-rare.
I made garlicky baby spinach and boozy shiitake shrooms ā sautĆ©ed in butter & ghee with half a shallot, deglazed with a splash oā Primitivo, then added a few drops of maggi & soy sauce for extra umami. We shared a baked tater from the air fryer with TPSTOBASSC and had some of that Primitivo with our meal. We finished the rib-eye, which was very flavorful (at that price it had better be), and only had a small taste of the also very flavorful flatiron.
Happy campers we are 
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