posted
ketchupqueen (I'm directing this at you since you're in the same greater metropolitan area as I, but anyone is more than welcome to answer)
do you know of a convenient way to find the nearest ethnic store for purchases like this? (since you mentioned greek and armenian stores) I ask partly because of the grapeseed oil mentioned above and partly because I'm constantly in the market for Halloumi (a medditerranean cheese that I've only managed to find at a couple small middle-eastern stores, the nearest of which is about 45 min away).
I'm imagining that there's no easy on-line repository of this info (could be wrong) but I also don't even know what to look up in the yellowpages.
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by ludosti: Would this work in an enameled cast iron pan? I don't have a normal cast iron pan.
From Le Creuset's Website:
quote:Le Creuset enameled cast iron cookware can be used on the stovetop, in the oven and under the grill. Le Creuset is suitable for use on all heat sources including electric, gas, ceramic, halogen top and induction.
Phenolic knobs are fitted to the lids of French ovens and saucepans. The handles on many of our saucepans and frypans are also phenolic. These knobs and handles are ovenproof to 400°, allowing for an easy transition from stovetop to oven to table.
I don't know if you can use your pots and pans in this manner, but you can always give it a go. Regular cast iron, at least in the states, is really cheap.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I think I'd like to see more people try this receipe and not burn down their house before I give it a whirl.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
Grim, if you can narrow down where in the L.A. area you are, I might have some suggestions. Certainly I know of several stores that sell haloumi, both in my area (Pico-Robertson) and my parents' (Beverly-Fairfax).
Are you anywhere near a Jons'?
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I will try it before Christmas. I think I will try Busha Brown's Jerk Seasoning, assuming it has no sugar. (I think I've checked this before.)
I've heard enameled cast iron should not be used on high burner settings, but I think the 450 is fine unless it has plastic handles.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
This is my impression of what this recipe sounds like:
[Metal music blaring the the background] Chef: OKAY! Are you ready to cook chicken!!
Guy: Um... sure?
Chef: Well grab that can of gasoline and follow me to the kitchen! Come on! Don't be a wuss!
Chef: ...alright, now first, go into your pantry, and get out about a cup of C-4 explosive. Now, take an egg timer, and pry off the back of it with a steak knife. Take out the red wire-- the RED wire-- and bite through it with your teeth.
Once you've done that, stick each end into the C-4 and set this carefully inside a bank vault. Make sure you coat the inside of the bank vault with Canola oil. This will lock in the flavor.
Now, take about 5 live chickens and put them inside the bank vault. You need 5 because at least 3 off them will be completely disintegrated. Make sure that they don't set off your bomb!
To season your meat, go to your garden and pull up any big shrubs you have growing out there. Throw these into the bank vault. This is also a good time to get rid of any financial records that the IRS may be looking for.
Set the egg timer to 30 seconds. This might give you just enough time to get to a safe distance. Close up the vault and start running.
If there's no explosion after 30 seconds, do not go back into the vault to check it out. Call your local bomb squad.
If there is an explosion, congratulations, dinner's ready! If your vault door hasn't been blown off its hinges, open the vault door. There maybe more smoke than your accustomed to while cooking, but trust me, this is normal. Scrape up what's left of the chickens and enjoy.
If you have a good bank vault, you can usually cook more than one batch.
Guy: What about this can of gasoline?
Chef: Shutup and eat your chicken!
Really, it sounds delicious.
Posts: 3056 | Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Rivka, I'm in Hermosa, and the one place that I've managed to find was I think on Brookhurst a little off the 5 (I was visiting my Brother in Cerritos)
as for Jons, I'm not familiar with it. (keep in mind I haven't done too much in local searches because I'm a little daunted on how to start)
Jehovid, very nice. My version would inevitably involve a H2/LOx engine and some Aesbestos oven mits Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by TheGrimace: ketchupqueen (I'm directing this at you since you're in the same greater metropolitan area as I, but anyone is more than welcome to answer)
do you know of a convenient way to find the nearest ethnic store for purchases like this? (since you mentioned greek and armenian stores) I ask partly because of the grapeseed oil mentioned above and partly because I'm constantly in the market for Halloumi (a medditerranean cheese that I've only managed to find at a couple small middle-eastern stores, the nearest of which is about 45 min away).
I'm imagining that there's no easy on-line repository of this info (could be wrong) but I also don't even know what to look up in the yellowpages.
What part of L.A. are you in? I'll e-mail you.
My fastest way is "ask my dad, who has a map of L.A. in his head." Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
See above (Hermosa Beach) i.e. south bay in general is ideal but if all else fails I can just keep going to Anaheim until I find somewhere closer. I'm half just looking for what people think the right search criteria would be though (for yellowpages and the like)
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
"Ethnic" does not seem to be a terribly useful keyword, unfortunately.
Sifting through the 250 markets Yellowpages.com found in the Hermosa Beach area (a depressing number of which are 7-11s and the like), I see only a couple likely options (going by names -- for all I know, one of the ubiquitous Sam's Markets is an ethnic superstore):
There are also several Bristol Farms stores in the area (Carson, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Peninsula, and Redondo Beach) which tend to have ethnic foods . . . but also tend to be on the pricey side. (They're yuppie grocery stores. ) Trader Joe's (in Manhattan Beach (2), Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, and Torrance) is probably a better bet.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I'll ask my dad if he knows anywhere else down there. TJ's and Bristol Farms aren't what you're looking for if you're looking for grapeseed oil, although they do have good stuff.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
I don't think TJ's has that, either. BF does have a good selection of cheeses but I've never seen it there.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
The local TJ's has had it, I'm pretty sure. (Not kosher, so I didn't pay that much attention.)
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
Really? I've been to your local TJ's and perused the cheese section and not seen it. Also Santa Monica, and every TJ's in a 15 mile radius of Glendale.
Their cheese selection tends to be fairly uniform over L.A., but transient; they have a list of approved suppliers or some such that they buy from, but since many are small operations they tend to go out of business and others come in, stuff like that. So what is there for a few months may not last. But what I find in one I can usually find in another in the same metro area. *shrugs*
It should be fairly simple to call TJ's and ask if they have it.
Also, Pavillion's is really good about special orders; if you ask for a product they don't carry, they are often willing to get it for you.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Three? I've only been to two. But yeah, cheese and wine are the two things that go REALLY fast at TJ's-- kind of a now you see it, now you don't thing.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
There's the one on Santa Monica (actually, there are apparently three on S.M., this is the farthest west) -- horrible parking, so I avoid it, even though it's between work and home; the one in Culver City, which I've been to a few times; and the one on La Brea, which is very near my parents (and the kids' schools) and which has a large kosher selection. I mostly hit that last one.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I haven't heard back from my dad yet. I will let you know if he knows anything. In the mean time, the way I found stuff in Richardson (where my in-laws were no help because none of them shop anywhere but mega-supermarkets ) was to input my zip code and "grocery" on yellowpages.com. Then sort by distance, and look through for a) Greek or whatever you're looking for names/names of countries in the name of the store and b) names like "International", "World", etc. Then take your short list of specific items you're looking for, call up and ask if they carry them. If they say they do, go check out as many as possible. I found some great places that way (as well as stopping in while on my walks around town.) So hopefully you'll find a closer place.
And come to think about it, if you drop in to Bristol Farms, they are pretty great about special-ordering, too. So if that's closer than Pavillions and you can't find another place that carries it, try them.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I love halloumi. Unfortunately, we can only occasionally get it, and the last time we saw it was at least six months ago.
Our best cheeses are imported from Australia. Local cheeses are crap with lousy flavor and texture, and they make us ill. Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
btw, thanks muchly to both Rivka and Ketchupqueen for the help so far. Unfortunately I've checked both the local Trader Joe's with no luck, but I'll have to see if I find a Bristol Farms to check and I'll keep looking in the yellowpages etc, and possibly check out those spots in Torrance you found rivka.
I may also fall back onto igourmet as well, I just can't get enough of the stuff, and it really makes the meal when I fix kabobs and the like. It's also just a lot of fun to shop in those general stores and find the kind of stuff that I can't get from the Vons across the street Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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posted
You COULD just come into L.A. and meet me for lunch. There are TONS of middle-eastern-type stores around here.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
I had completely forgotten about this thread until someone brought it up elsewhere. Did anyone else ever try this?
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
Sounds a little like what I've done with Cajun blackening- cast iron, high heat, lots o' smoke...
I wonder how hard it would be to get similar results on a barbecue grill. Huge amounts of smoke indoors tends to be something I prefer to avoid- the fan-hood on our stove just isn't up to it.
Does sound tasty!
(And, very funny, jehovoid. )
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
So, I tried this last night, and it was quite tasty.
As our apartment has no hood/vent over the stove, we opened all the windows and got the cross-breeze going. Then we shut the doors to the bathroom and bedroom and put a towel along the bottom of the door leading to the building's main hallway.
We managed to keep the smoke from getting out into the hallway.
However, the tasty-chicken-smoke-smell is still hanging out, if mostly faded.
I'd make them again. Quite tasty, though the cooking process didn't seem very scary (at least not the level of scary I expected). I think it might be me, though——I use a similar method to cooking the chicken breasts for chicken bolognese.
Posts: 14745 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I made this tonight. Thanks, PC. It took longer than 5 minutes, though; the breasts I used were rather thick and they took about 3 minutes longer in the oven than predicted to cook through.
Delicious! I'll be trying this again.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Butterfly them next time. That should shorten the cooking time, then you can stuff them with random goodness afterwards.
Posts: 4753 | Registered: May 2002
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posted
I've never seen this thread before. It sounds awesome. All the smoke is from the oil disintegrating, of course.
If I ever get a cast iron skillet, I'll consider it. I think those levels of heat would probably ruin a non-stick pan, just sayin'.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
My chicken tastes great when I just plop it down into the skillet with a bit of oil, salt, and seasoning. Why the high heat/oven/extra steps? Does it really make that much of a difference?
Posts: 1314 | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
So, I finally got around to trying this but I fear I didn't leave the skillet in the oven long enough to pre-heat. And how much oil do you put in the skillet? Just enough to cover the bottom?
Ended up taking almost 7 minutes of oven time before it was done so I'm thinking I didn't have the skillet hot enough. Still yummy but I'll have to try again to perfect it.
posted
Launchy, I've cooked chicken both ways, and it really does make a huge difference. I was amazed by how much better this was.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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posted
I plopped some frozen chicken breasts (w/bone) in the oven last night on a pampered chef baking sheet. I had never tried it before like that. When they were almost done, I sprayed them with olive oil and dusted them with some cracked pepper and garlic powder. It was edible. I'm going for the healthy here, tasty I hope happens over time.
I've discovered the joys of Grey Poupon all over again. It makes even dried chicken edible.
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Avacado oil, and rice bran oil, have very high smoke points (520 and 490 respectively). They'll cut down on your smoke
Posts: 4112 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Sergeant, I've done it a couple of times now; the time I liked it best I'd preheated the pan for quite a while and I had very little oil (no more than 1 tbsp, probably less) so they seared up nice and brown.
I made up a bunch of chicken tenders that way (shorter cooking time). Tonight I used some cold ones on a salad and it was delicious.
Posts: 3149 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Thighs are naturally moist and tender because they have more fat and glycogen in them. But high heat does give them a wonderful golden crustiness, even without skin.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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posted
I just love how INTENSE the first post was, and the interpretation involving the drill sergeant chef with the C-4. I was cracking up/ thinking Wowza the whole time.
Posts: 655 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Paul Goldner: Avacado oil, and rice bran oil, have very high smoke points (520 and 490 respectively). They'll cut down on your smoke
Safflower oil is 510, and grapeseed oil is 485. Grapeseed oil has added benefits for your heart (even better for you than olive oil, and the good things in it are not destroyed by cooking with it! But then, we all know how much I love grapeseed oil. )
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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) was to input my zip code and "grocery" on yellowpages.com. Then sort by distance, and look through for a) Greek or whatever you're looking for names/names of countries in the name of the store and b) names like "International", "World", etc. Then take your short list of specific items you're looking for, call up and ask if they carry them. If they say they do, go check out as many as possible. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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