The Barry Table

It's about food, sure, but just like Barry tables across Chicago and around the country, this is also a place to share ideas, make plans for family reunions and boast about recent accomplishments, food-related or not.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Al k'PWN3D


Well Grace, I will admit that I have been feeling pretty pwned for the past few days, due to your post. Especially the leeks. Though I might not be interested in the chicken sitting underneath them, I do highly respect the food-based insulator to protect the leeks, as well as the Let-'em-Burn attitude.

But Grace, I can't help but notice, that your examples lack Chocolate Pie. That's right, you are looking at a photo of a Gram Cracker Crusted, Chocolate-Peanutbutter pie. It required lots of blender work, and the crust stuck to the dish a bit too much, but the taste was excellent.

Unfortunately, Chocolate Pie doesn't make a complete meal. For that you might need a few extras, like sushi.

The most important part of sushi is the rice. For that we use 2 cups of sushi-grade rice, cooked normally, except for a small amount of seaweed mixed in for flavor. Then a rice vinegar concoction is made by mixing 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar with 3 tablespoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of salt. Next is the tricky part, heating the rice vinegar mixture to dissolve the solids, without getting any of the horrible fumes up your nose. Good luck. The good news is that after dissolved, you simply mix the vinegar with the rice and are ready to make sushi.

Spreading the rice onto seaweed can be a bit tricky, you MUST use cold-damp-hands, and you want an even coat, going all the way to the edges, but you don't want it so dense that the roll is too large. Don't be afraid of leaving some seaweed visible beneath the rice. Also be careful when placing ingredients. Too much can be overwhelming. But don't be afraid of experimenting, just because you can't order a Banana-Roll at Nami on Nine Mile, doesn't mean it won't be delicious. A time saving option is to get some tofu-skin pouches. They're beautiful and tasty, but variety is still best.If you're going the seaweed route, a very sharp knife is needed to cut the sushi rolls without smushing them.
Once cut, just present on a nice plate and combine with some soy sauce and wasabi. Delicious.

Well Grace, I believe you've been counter-pwned. What'll it be? A quick retaliation before Thanksgiving, or are you saving your firepower for the Thanksgiving Day Blog Posting Barn-Burner?

5 comments:

Pam Barry said...

I hope you plan to make some if not all of these dishes for Thanksgiving.

Brian and Sheila said...

hmmm... retalition? why would need to retaliate after seeing that pitiful layout?



joking, joking...
(i dont want to be yelled at like when i ripped on carolyn's sandwich.)

Brian and Sheila said...

okay, i have been pwned. or in this case, al k'pwn3d. nice play on words. i agree,i have been pwned. for now.
mwahahahaha!
although i have not been making chocaltate whatever lately, i did make brownies from scratch. they sure were good. i'llpost em. i promise

Patrick Barry said...

The sushi and the tofu pouches look excellent; I've had some good examples of both at a downtown place called Tokyo Lunch Box, but would like to taste the Liyi and Kevin versions.

As for the Thanksgiving barn-burner, I will be live-blogging during the cooking at the Barry household, with video. I expect some superb and innovative dishes.

Brian and Sheila said...

Will do, Patrick
-Grace