US Laws & Food

[toml]

There was an article awhile back about how Chinese food (or other 'ethnic' foods) in the US isn't as good because of all the laws involved.

If I remember correctly, all stews and soups must be discarded at the end of the day (can anyone confirm this)?

So this is one reason why the soups and stews taste so much better in Asia because they have been cooking it for so long.

I know when my mom makes this beef-type stew (that you eat with rice) she stews it for like 5 days!

Are there any other cases of this?

[awong]

i guess I need to go overseas and eat food and see what I've been missing out

[ellencho]

Are you talking about this thread (http://thefighting44s.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=4946)?

This morning I left a tray of frozen shrimp to defrost out on my counter because I knew I would have a short day at work. That sort of thing wouldn't fly in restaurant, they're expected to defrost their meat inside of their refrigerators.

I realize that a lot of these laws are meant to protect us but unfortunately they conflict with the way a lot of our favorite ethnic foods are produced.

[minbo]

Bah, pizza stores are "ethnic", but the food inspectors turn blind eye to all those pies they store at room temperature waiting to be bought.

That big vat of 'kraut and onions on the counter at the Papaya dog place? See any refrigeration units around? Didn't think so.

And that lovely tub of hollandaise sauce restraunts slather on eggs for brunch... Doesn't pass food code either cause if you keep it at code temperatures ruins the sauce. And don't tell me they whip up a fresh batch for ever order.

[toml]

Are you talking about this thread (http://thefighting44s.com/discussion/viewtopic.php?t=4946)?

Haha! That's the one. And I can't believe I just wrote the stew thing again :)

(I had dinner at my parent's place tonight and that's what my mom made)

Also, I think because of certain animal cruelty laws, certain types of dishes can't be prepared a certain way. I remember at this Japanese resturant in Taiwan, the chef took the fish out live, then proceded to cut it right in front of us! And then presented it to us.

I was too freaked out to eat it because the fish's mouth was still moving but my friends were gobbling it up!


Of course I'm no fan of that kind of stuff so... ah... food is food I guess.

[maogirl]

oh, i heard about this but in relation to cheese! the place i used to buy cheese at in italy had this booming side business illegally smuggling cheese into the US.

apparently, all dairy has to be pasteurized or something in the US, am i right? but if you want the perfect gorgonzola or something, you can't use pasteurized milk. something about the bacteria or mold that you use for really tasty smelly cheese is also illegal in the US.

toml, abaout that live fish...i've had that, too, it's not even tasty. but my question is: i thought that lobster is cooked alive in the US? i was at a red lobster 15 years ago (!) and i seem to remember that this was a selling point.

[toml]

Woah. Thatís kinda strange to think that I havenít actually tasted ìrealî cheese :)

From what I understand, lobsters must be cooked alive because if they arenít they release some kind of poisons into their body. So thatís probably a case where the US laws require it. Not sure though.

Back when I was in college, the cafeteria had this lobster night and there were a bunch of protestors there because they felt it was cruel. I think since then the lobster night was stopped.


As a side note, at the same restaurant that I had the live fish, they served this live fried lobster thingy as well. The same idea with the fish, they broke the lobsters shell, dipped it in hot oil and then served it too us. The lobster antennae was still moving! Oh man, I nearly lost my appetite.

Whatís strange is this other time, I saw a guy prepare my snake soup--he was peeling the snake skin off and draining the blood--and I didnít flinch. Maybe I just donít like snakes :) Then again snake soup doesn't taste that good either. Kinda bland.



Since weíre sorta on this topic, a question to the rest of you, how do you prepare your crabs? My friend does it a really nasty way that I'll share later.

[awong]

I dont think red lobster is considered any good, more like chain restuarant food...at least what my parents told me the sea food isnt fresh.

I do remember Fjin/lordthanes complaining about how the code inspectors pissed him off for food being left out out of the freezer at his families take out and him wanting to appeal the decision, but I dont remember much else other than it really pissed him off

[maogirl]

I dont think red lobster is considered any good, more like chain restuarant food...at least what my parents told me the sea food isnt fresh.


yeah, i wasn't impressed. well, i don't really like seafood anyway, my parents used to export it and we had to eat the leftovers and mutant ones (i must've eaten hundreds of crabs with missing/extra limbs and eyes) for 3 years. EVERY DAY. EVERY MEAL. :x

toml, i know a few methods of preparing crabs, all incredibly cruel but tasty. :)

i don't mind if my food moves except if it's a mammal.

[maogirl]

i guess I need to go overseas and eat food and see what I've been missing out


incidentally...i know this will derail the thread, but i'm wondering...

would the people here be interested in taking food tours? for some reason, i've been getting all these guests from overseas since december, and i've been taking them to really local places to eat where tourists don't normally go, and it really does make a difference in your trip where you go to eat.

in singapore, they have a 3-day street food tour where you visit over 50 food stalls which i'd really like to do. it's quite inexpensive and popular.

i'm wondering if this is a potentially lucrative niche...

[howstrange]

oh fuck yeah, that's the only reason I travel these days, to find some good shit to eat.

[vsoy]

We're kind of thinking along similar lines; I was thinking there ought to be a thread on recommended local restaurants for different cities when people travel.

Personally I like the idea of food tours very much, but I'm kind of antisocial and I don't think I would deal well with stupid questions from tourists like, "Ew, what is that?", "I'm not going to eat that" and "Chinese food again? Can we have steak or Italian?" Probably small groups would work well for those small hole in the wall joints and to accomodate picky eaters or people with dietary restrictions. Ooh, you can personalize tours, desserts, meat, etc. You can probably get a lot of business by working with convention organizers. The Singapore street food fair sounds awesome, when is it generally?

Another thing to consider is the bacterial flora of locals vs tourists colons. I can't think of any personal experiences where I've eaten local food and gotten sick but I'm always careful not to drink plain water or consume drinks with ice cubes when traveling to other countries.

[maogirl]

We're kind of thinking along similar lines; I was thinking there ought to be a thread on recommended local restaurants for different cities when people travel.

Personally I like the idea of food tours very much, but I'm kind of antisocial and I don't think I would deal well with stupid questions from tourists like, "Ew, what is that?", "I'm not going to eat that" and "Chinese food again? Can we have steak or Italian?" Probably small groups would work well for those small hole in the wall joints and to accomodate picky eaters or people with dietary restrictions. Ooh, you can personalize tours, desserts, meat, etc. You can probably get a lot of business by working with convention organizers.

yeah, i've thought about that. what i was thinking of was more specialized and not so much for the average tourist. in manila, this guy carlos does walking tours of the city and he arranges tours according to "regular tourist destinations" to the more "advanced" "sociopolitical lecture tours" in order to weed out the people.

i think food tours of asia would only really work with small groups, partly also because some of the great food places can't accomodate more than 10 people at one go (like at the private kitchens, for example).

i think one of the problems is that i can recommend as many restaurants as i can think of, but once you're there, if you can't speak canto or filipino or hokkien fluently and you've never tried the food before, you probably won't have an enjoyable meal.

maybe i'm just bossy, but i tend to order for people in order to ensure that they get good food.

The Singapore street food fair sounds awesome, when is it generally?

oh, it's not a fair. there's street food all year round, but the government (i think) actually organized small groups (i think max 7 people?) to visit the most famous/popular local food stalls. transportation is provided, too, since i think they're not all at the same place.

i think it's a great idea, but...3 days...50+ food stalls...i'm going to need to practise before doing it.


Another thing to consider is the bacterial flora of locals vs tourists colons. I can't think of any personal experiences where I've eaten local food and gotten sick but I'm always careful not to drink plain water or consume drinks with ice cubes when traveling to other countries.

good point...aren't most americans vaccinated against hepatitis and other stuff? most of the people i've shown around haven't had any problems with food, but we never really ate anywhere particularly iffy (which is too bad, because the best food is usually cooked by topless, chain-smoking, armpit-scratching old men).

[MATHABA]

If I remember correctly, all stews and soups must be discarded at the end of the day (can anyone confirm this)?
Few restaurants that I cooked for did this, but that doesn't mean it's not a law. The laws only matter when the health inspector is around. I've never actually taken a food service safety course despite having worked in food service for years, even though the law requires it (ha ha ha). My dad did take some before though and he said if you were to follow all the rules in the kitchen you'd never get anything done.

[toml]

Few restaurants that I cooked for did this, but that doesn't mean it's not a law. The laws only matter when the health inspector is around. I've never actually taken a food service safety course despite having worked in food service for years, even though the law requires it (ha ha ha). My dad did take some before though and he said if you were to follow all the rules in the kitchen you'd never get anything done.

Ah... yeah I figured that. 'Cause it seems like it would be such a waste to just dump it all out. I mean, it still should be ok to eat, right? Unless its bad, I say just serve it :)


toml, i know a few methods of preparing crabs, all incredibly cruel but tasty. :)

Haha! Yeah, the way my friend told me was this.

Right before u put them in to be boiled, you take a chopstick and stick it up their ass, and drain out all the crap .... wash it and then put the crab in boiling water...

ugh...

[seoulbrotherno1]

My friend LOVES to eat and when he went to HK, I sent him directly to MG. He said that she knows all of the great food spots. He was disappointed that he never got to try Szechuan in the old grandmother's apartment, and he is itching to have some duck as well. He did say that MG hooked him up with some PHAT dimsum and some good conversation (minus her sordid tales of triad romance...)

I am hoping to make the trip out to HK with my friend the next time around so that MG can feed us!!!

Kimtae, where would you take folks to eat if they visited you in Pusan? I am sure that seafood would be on the menu.

sb1

[kimtae]

My friend LOVES to eat and when he went to HK, I sent him directly to MG. He said that she knows all of the great food spots. He was disappointed that he never got to try Szechuan in the old grandmother's apartment, and he is itching to have some duck as well. He did say that MG hooked him up with some PHAT dimsum and some good conversation (minus her sordid tales of triad romance...)

I am hoping to make the trip out to HK with my friend the next time around so that MG can feed us!!!

Kimtae, where would you take folks to eat if they visited you in Pusan? I am sure that seafood would be on the menu.

sb1Unfortuantely, Pusan is known as the absolute pits of Korea for food so I guess the first place I would take them is to Jeonju :wink: . Just kidding, while Pusan does have a past reputation for bad food (overly salted, same hot chili sauces, lack of variety, over-cooked, etc.) there are some really nice spots here and there. Fresh seafood is king in Pusan, of course, not everyone is into raw conch, oysters, abalone, sea cucumber, live octopus, sea squirt, or elephant clams, but not to worry, there are other choices.
I found a place recently, really only a tent by the road, a grill, and lots of beer and soju, that sells the best pork ribs in Pusan. Better than any real restaurant I've been to and at only $5 a serving. I went with 3 other big boys from the gym and the 4 of us had 15 servings all together :shock: . Still only came to $75 for 4 people!
On the high end there are a few Japanese restaurants that really stand out as well as one place that specializes in King Crab. The Westin Chosun Beach Hotel has a buffet that defies the imagination. After reading "Kitchen Confidential" I was a little put off by buffets but I met the chef at the hotel and he convinced me that it's all first rate.
For pure Korean restaurants we'd have to go out of the city to find the really good ones but that's what motorcycles are for.