Chinese Yellow Bean Sauce, or Hugan Jiang, a part of any complete Chinese pantry, is a ubiquitous puree made from soybeans that are left over from making soy sauce. Yellow bean sauce is sometimes called yellow bean paste, or fermented yellow soybean paste. The fermented bean by-products of soy sauce are mixed with flour, salt, and sugar, … Read more
Tacos al Pastor are tacos made with marinated pork which is roasted on a vertical spit in front of a charcoal or gas fire. Thin shavings of the crisp, outer edges of the pork are sliced off and traditionally served with pineapple, cilantro, and diced onion. If this style of cooking the meat reminds you of certain Middle … Read more
Many people assume that Wasabi is a type of green horseradish since it tastes something like horseradish and has the same nasal-clearing power. Wasabi is not actually the same as the horseradish we know in the west and most wasabi paste served in the US is fake wasabi. Read on to learn about real wasabi, how … Read more
Although the term grits has been extended to refer to any mush made from ground dried corn, historically, grits is a much more specific product that is made from hominy corn. More than just a Southern word for cornmeal, grits are made from a special kind of corn processed with alkali, a method handed down from … Read more
Roe and caviar basically refer to the same thing: fish eggs. However, the term roe refers to the fish eggs (or male fish sperm) themselves while caviar is roe that has been salted or “cured” and then placed in tins for storage and aging. In the United States and Canada, any product that is only labeled caviar must come … Read more
Making authentic Thai curry with store-bought Thai curry paste is one of the most rewarding one-pot meals you can master. Despite what high-end cookbooks might suggest, it isn’t a complex, multi-hour ordeal. In fact, if you’ve ever felt intimidated by the long list of ingredients in a homemade paste, here is a secret: your favorite … Read more