Soy sauce is a salty liquid made from fermented soy beans, roasted wheat, water and salt. Packed with umami, soy sauce is used as a condiment and seasoning in Asian cuisines.
Soy sauce comes in many subtle variations, but is generally broken down into dark and light varieties. Light soy sauce is generally saltier and thinner than dark soy and does not stain food while cooking. Chinese black soy has added molasses that colors dishes as it cooks. The whole soy beans used to make quality soy sauce lend it a dark color, but cheaper brands using soy protein may cheat by adding caramel coloring.
The Japanese use soy sauce as a dipping sauce for sashimi or to season tofu, grilled meat and vegetable dishes. The Chinese use soy sauce mainly for marinades. In Indonesia, it is used mostly as a table condiment (called kecap, which comes in sweet and salty variations).
Be warned: though Japanese tamari (a slightly thicker and complex soy sauce made from more soybeans than most) is generally wheat-free, other commercial brands of soy sauce do contain gluten, so if you are trying to cook gluten-free, check the labels carefully.
The term "Thai basil" can refer to three different types of basil common in Thai cooking -- Queen of Siam basil, Holy Basil or Horapa basil. Horapa is the most commonly used Thai basil in the United States. It has purple stems, small greenish purple leaves, and a licoricey taste that is different from Italian sweet basil.
Thai basil adds a subtle anise flavor and perfume when added to hot soups, stir-fries or curries just before serving. Or it can be eaten fresh in salads, wrapped in a lettuce leaf with mint, or fried in spring rolls.
Recipe: Beef Pho (Cookthink)
Recipe: Thai Carrot-Cucumber Salad (Cookthink)
Reference: What is pho? (Cookthink)
Reference: What is sriracha? (Cookthink)
Fish sauce is a pungent liquid flavoring made from salted, fermented fish. A staple of Southeast Asian cuisines, most varieties are made with anchovies, salt and sugar.
You can usually find fish sauce on the international aisle at the grocery store. If not, you'll certainly find several varieties at any Asian market. (Chinese fish sauce may be labeled fish gravy.) Store fish sauce in the pantry, not in the refrigerator -- the cold air will cause salt crystals to form.
In a pinch, or if you want to make a dish vegetarian, you can substitute soy sauce for fish sauce. Substituting fish sauce for soy sauce is a riskier move. Plenty of people do it, but if you're a casual user of or newcomer to fish sauce, proceed with caution: it's potent.
It takes 10-15 pounds of fish to make 1 liter of fish sauce, so it's not surprising that the dark liquid smells intensely fishy. The flavor, however, is not so much fishy as it is salty, tangy and vinegary. Paired with lime juice and broth, fish sauce creates a bold base for this soups.
Recipe: Broiled Thai Shrimp (Coothink)
Recipe: Beef Pho (Cookthink)
Recipe: Thai Shrimp, Coconut And Mushroom Soup (Cookthink)
Reference: Why is it called Worcestershire sauce? (Cookthink)
Like other tender leafy herbs (basil, parsley, cilantro), it's best to chop mint with a sharp knife and a clean cut. Too much pounding can discolor the delicate leaves. This matters most when sliced leaves are added in an uncooked dish, or just before serving. Some dishes call for the leaves to be left whole, or torn into smaller pieces, in which case you can avoid the knife altogether.To slice or mince the leaves, first stack them together in a pile.Next, roll them up into a cigar-like shape and hold them together with your fingers.Keeping the cigar in shape, slice it into strips as thick or thin as you like. Run the knife down onto the leaves, and across them at the same time. Moving in both directions at the same time makes for a cleaner cut. At this point, you can either leave the leaves in thin strips, or run the knife through the strips again to make a mince.
You can leave basil leaves whole and add them to salads and hot dishes toward the end of cooking, tear them into pieces for more capricious basil flavor, or thinly slice them. To avoid bruising the basil, slide a sharp knife down and across the basil with a deliberate, smooth stroke. A clean cut will darken the leaves less than a pounding cut.
To slice basil, first stack the leaves together.
You can either roll them up like a cigar and slice through them to make a chiffonade, or just slice away at them as they are.
A hearty broth-based Vietnamese soup most often made with beef, pho (pronounced "fuh") is eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Different recipes abound, but a traditional beef broth base is made with charred onions, ginger, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and star anise. Thin slices of beef are added, as well as rice noodles and a variety of garnishes that include scallions, coriander, Thai basil, lemon, lime, bean sprouts, fish sauce and sriracha.
Originating in the early 20th century, the first pho may have been influenced by the French dish pot-au-feu; others attribute it to Chinese culinary influences. It can now be found in Vietnamese neighborhoods in many countries, and is often used to name a Vietnamese restaurant, with the addition of its street number, such as Pho 67 or -- Brys's favorite pho joint -- Arlington's Pho 75.
Blog: Beef broth --> consommé --> pho (Cookthink)
Blog: Everything About Pho (Pho Fever)
Reference: Mega Pho Page (Viet World Kitchen)
Reference: A Bowl of Pho (SF Gate)
Discussion: The Pho Forum (eGullet)
Recipe: Beef Pho (Cookthink)
Recipe: Chicken Pho Noodle Soup (Viet World Kitchen)
What should you do if you eat a pepper that sets your tongue on fire?
Do not drink beer. Water won’t help either. (In a Caribbean folktale, children drown in a river trying to cool their tongues after eating habanero stew. See Dave Dewitt and Nancy Gerlach's The Pepper Pantry for the full story.) Capsaicin, the chemical that makes a hot pepper hot, doesn’t dissolve in water, so even ice water won’t help remove the heat.
Your best bet? Get milk. Because capsaicin is fat-soluble, a compound in milk can actually pull the capsaicin off your tongue and relieve some of the burn. Another option: eat bread or rice to absorb the heat. Cucumber can also have a cooling effect.
If you are feeling brave (or masochistic), you could try eating another pepper. According Robert Berkley, the author of Peppers: A Cookbook, you can build up a resistance to capsaicin by eating more chile peppers. With Berkley’s approach, you get the added high of a capsaicin-triggered endorphin release. Before you know it, you might be addicted to the hot little things.
Reference: How to seed a chile pepper (Cookthink)
Reference:: Why are some jalapenos hotter than others? (Cookthink)
