Dotcomedy.com's Sean R. recently took a jaunt to Bangkok, Thailand. Being an avid carnivore, he took his camera on a long, languid lap around a market's sausage counter. Come and take a stroll with him, why don't you?


Seven Deadly Seans

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In a funny post on a Seattle Post-Intelligencer reader blog, blogger Christina Hyun talks about growing up in an Asian household, and how her friends always told her that her house smelled better than their's did. On the flip side, Hyun always marveled at the huge quantity of bread/cereal/cookie products in her Caucasian friends' houses.

I can't relate as much to the cultural aspect, but as a kid, I was definitely envious of my friends' kitchens. My own mother tried to keep our diets pretty healthy, and flat-out refused to buy certain products (Fruit Roll-Ups, Ssips fruit punch, and Cookie Crisp cereal immediately come to mind). Other kids' parents often commented on my "healthy" appetite, as I downed cakes, cookies and fruit punch like it was going out of style. "Oh - my mom won't let us buy this stuff," I'd say, mouth half-full of Tastykake pie, red goo stuck to my chin. The mothers would nod warily as they added "Tastykake pies" to the grocery list.

As I got older, the rules loosened, and I heard rumors that my mom even allowed soda in the house - after I went off to college, of course. But by then the thrill was gone, and fear-mongering about obesity and diabetes had taken its place.

What about you? What products did other kids' kitchens have that made you green with envy? (Or were you that "other kid?")

Like they say, ain't no thang like a chicken wang. Er, rather chicken wing.

I realize that we're posting about main dishes all day today for Slashfood's Super Bowl Week, and traditionally, chicken wings are eaten as appetizers. However, if you eat two dozen chicken wings the way I do with a small bowl of rice on the side, you can pretty much consider these chicken wings a main course.

These wings are based on a recipe that I first manipulated out of a college roommate, who got it from her friend's mother. I took lecture notes, my roommate gave me the recipe. Now, it's a very loose set of instructions, since I first got it form a Korean mom, and there's no such thing as "recipes" for Korean moms. There is always room for customization, which I had to do last night because my guests are on a low-spice diet. I know. Could there be anything worse than a low-spice diet?

My friend and fellow blogger Joe Distefano is always going on about Asian snacks and candy. We try to beat out the other in finding the best, strangest, and tastiest Asian snack to munch on and talk about. I remember when I dared him to buy a bag of small candied crabs a few years ago and put them in a candy bowl in his desk at work to see what the reaction would be.

Well, today I ran across a tasty little snack when i was out shopping. I have been suffering from the flu related blues for a few days and had to get out of the house. Most people go shopping for clothes or power tools when they need a pick me up. I go food shopping, especially at ethnic markets. This snack is Asian Best brand "Crispy Snack Sesame Anchovy Fish." They are headless anchovies that are fried, candied, and covered with a chili powder and sesame seed coating.

They look kinda strange, these 1-2 inch long golden, shiny fish all studded with sesame seeds with red hints of chili powder. The smell is slightly fishy but the taste barely makes you think of fish at all. They are crunchy sweet at first, with the sesame taste coming through like those sesame brittle candies. Then the chili burn comes along, followed by a hint of fried fish. They are super tasty little snacks and great beer or cocktail munchies. Surprisingly they are low in fat and calories, and have tons of calcium. I can't wait to put them out as snacks at my next cocktail party.

If you're planning a fantastic Chinese feast this weekend for Chinese New Year, don't fret one bit if you're a little (or a lot) rusty with chopsticks. You could, of course, go the way of stabbing your dumplings and winding your noodles of long life with a fork, but we have a better idea. How about some chopsticks are a little easier to use?

Now, if you're a already a professional, then you might just need your own personal set of portable chopsticks. These aluminum chopsticks slide out of a fabric pouch and snap together. Not only are they pretty, but this keeps away the problem of disposable chopsticks creating waste! ThinkGeek also has a pair that screw together.

For an even more "green" Far East feast, the Bird's Eye Maple chopsticks are perfect, which are also fastened together with their very own chopstick rest. They are available from Porterhouse Crafts for $23 for two pairs.

One of my favorite items to order from an Asian restaurant is General Tso's Chicken. If you've never had it, the chicken pieces are battered and fried, then covered in a sauce that is both sweet and spicy. You'll probably find that most recipes call for thigh meat, but I personally use chicken breast - really, it's your call. Either way, make sure the chicken is boneless, and any skin or fat has been trimmed off.

I've found this dish is generally served with broccoli, though I made it with a mix of vegetables as you can see in the image above. Regardless of the vegetable you choose, served it over a bed of rice. You can find the full recipe after the jump.

Every year, over $20 billion dollars is spent on snack foods in the US, so it is easy to see why the snack industry is so interested in trying to find the next big product - or better yet, the next big flavor. Most snack products have been around for a long time and are met with only slight variations. Popcorn is healthier or more indulgent and cookies can be chewy or crispy. The flavors, however, can be used across the board in all different types of snack foods. Cheddar, for example, is a very American flavor and everything from chips to popcorn to aerosol "cheeses" come in cheddar flavor, making it one of the most popular snack flavors around.

In their efforts to come up with the "next cheddar" the snack industry uses snackologists, who observe the snacking habits of their target audience "to identify flavors the public will like and then find ways to package those flavors into irresistible morsels." A lot of research is done at restaurants, where trends are introduced to the mainstream. Chipotle and jalapeno were some of the most recent snack flavors to spring from the restaurant industry and snackologists are now pondering whether teriyaki, curry and other Asian flavors can make it into the US snack mainstream successfully. These masters of munching aren't going to reveal anything more specific just yet, but you'll know who the idea came from the ext time you see the word "New!" emblazoned on bags in the snack aisle.

After acquiring a really tasty bottle of dipping sauce from Trader Joe's this week, I realized that Asian wraps, rolls and other dipable items are found in takeout containers more often than they are made in the home kitchen. Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course, especially if you know a good takeout place, but making the food is part of the fun of eating. This is especially true of finger (or chopstick) foods.

Asian Wraps & Rolls uses easy-to-follow, step-by-step tutorials and techniques to walk you through the process of making these fun foods at home. The book spends a lot of time going over ingredients, some of which may be unfamiliar to you, as well as popular sauces and condiments, before getting into wrap construction. Recipes include Warm Mango and Shrimp Rolls, Wok Fried Wontons, Vegetable Spring Rolls and Pork and Betel-leaf Wraps, just to name a few. Once you have the basics, you can always use the methods used in this book to branch out and try your own flavor combinations.

The four nesting layers of these lunch pails were inspired by an Asian design of stackable lunchboxes. They are made of food-grad stainless steel, and are a very adult way to take your lunch to work.

The advantages to such a lunch box are mostly that the things in each container are kept separate and that the containers can be joined together and carried as one unit. While you could achieve the same type of separation with Tupperware, you won't end up with the same easy-to-carry stack. If you're not taking a lunch, the containers can be used for snacks, like M&Ms, nuts or dried fruits to get you through a long after noon. On top of that, the design is simply beautiful. The disadvantages are that you'll have to find things that fit in the boxes, so sandwiches might be out, considering each layer is 5-1/4" in diameter and 2" deep. The boxes are also not insulated, so they will have to be refrigerated if you are carrying anything that cannot be stored at room temperature. Whether the bad outweighs the good is up to you, but it's definitely a better choice if you tend to take salads and leftovers for lunch, rather than chips and sandwiches.

I don't work for Zyliss. I have used and own several of their products.

There are plenty of ways to peel garlic. If you are a garlic lover, then you probably add finely minced or pressed garlic to a dish shortly before serving, thus preserving much of the racy flavor we garlic lover's crave. If you're looking to simply peel garlic for chopping, I recommend a roller or your bare hands (cut the butt off, pinch the clove and remove skin). However, try the Asian Rose pressed onto hot pizza, or directly into creamy soups. My uncle brought me some Asian rose earlier this summer, grown in Napa. Hadn't tried it, won't forget it. I haven't had much luck growing my own...but I do use plenty, and this is the tool I turn to. If you have another press that you swear by, let me know and I'll check it out.

As for garlic on our breath, well, anything for love.

I noticed that Trader Joe's recently started stocking the type of noodles used for making pad Thai, and even though I now have a bunch stocked away in my kitchen, I can't get motivated to make anything with them. Thai cooking is time intensive and, while worth it in the end, you can't always dedicate a lot of time to cooking during the week. Quick & Easy Thai: 70 Everyday Recipes delivers recipes that you can make even when you are relatively short on time that still have all the great thai flavors you are hoping for. The recipes are easy to understand, so it is also a good starting point for someone who wants to get a feel for the basics of Thai food and flavors. One of the best features of the book is that the author provides lots of substitutions, so you will be able to work with most of the recipes even if you don't have access to a well-stocked Asian market, though some staples (like fish sauce and sriracha) will definitely have to be added to the pantry. Recipes include Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce, Green Curry Chicken with Zucchini, Spicy Cashew Salad with Chilies, Cilantro and Lime and Sticky Rice with Mangos.

For a less "quick and easy" look at Thai cuisine, try author Nancie McDermott's Real Thai: The Best of Thailand's Regional Cooking, which offers a few more techniques, more curries and some more exotic/less common recipes.

We know that the big trends are the ones that really shape the food industry and impact us over the long term, but the littler trends that make up those overarching categories are interesting to watch, too. And at the moment, consumers are watching two words: "fresh" and "global".

Research into all areas of food consumption, including stores, restaurants and homes, showed that customers valued freshness over convenience and predictability/reliability. This does not mean that consumers are turning away from packaged goods, just that they are being more discerning and looking for products that can assure them of their freshness, through innovative packaging or marketing.

The "global" aspect comes into play when you look at range of foods available to consumers. Plain potato chips are not the only option. Going out for sushi, or some carnitas, is about as normal as going out for a burger and fries. This is not to mention the fact that those same burger-and-fry places have expanded their offerings with Asian and Mexican inspired dishes, helping to bring previously unfamiliar flavors into the mainstream.

Pasta salads are not usually considered to be particularly elegant dishes, in large part because people think of them as bowls of mayonnaise that happen to have pasta mixed in. A pasta salad could really be any kind of cold or room temperature salad that has a dressing (as opposed to a sauce) and veggies in it. If you use a long, thin noodle, your pasta can quickly be transformed from a picnic side to an elegant main dish. Elise from Simply Recipes used this techinque with her inspired Sesame and Cilantro Vermicelli Salad. The asian-inspired pasta uses a honey and sesame soy dressing over a mix of thin noodles, cilantro, peanuts, green onions and red pepper, creating a perfectly satisfying summer pasta dish - no mayonnaise required.

No, I didn't actually eat dinner with Rachael Ray, but I did use a version of one of her dishes. I wanted to make something Thai-inspired that involved a peanut sauce and so I started hunting around for recipes. I actually settled on this one from Rachael Ray because it seemed straightforward and along the lines of what I had in mind: an easy chicken dish with a peanut sauce. "Authentic"? Perhaps not, but the finished dish tasted great and I would guess that it is something even Rachael's detractors could enjoy.

This simple combination of skirt steak and cucumber salad is easily the steak dish I make most often. For the salad, combine two cucumbers, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced; one medium tomato, cored, seeded and thinly sliced, minced Thai chili to taste; a good palmful of fresh mint, finely chopped; 3-4 tablespoons of lime juice; and a splash of fish sauce (start with around a tablespoon if you're not a huge fan of the stuff, yet). Toss all ingredients to combine.

As we all know, steak lovers can be pretty particular about how they like their steak cooked. Having said that, I'm not going to insist on any specific method or level of doneness. Most recently, I grilled a 1.5 pound skirt steak, trimmed of excess fat and cut into three pieces, over a very hot (three seconds max with the hand test) fire of hardwood charcoal. If grilling is out of the question, broiling the same skirt steak works just fine. After resting the steak, cut it across the grain into thin strips. This shortens the muscle fibers and yields a more tender cut.

[Photo: Nick Vagnoni]