the jiu niang was finally ready today, after it's had 25 hours to ferment in the instant pot. there was definitely more liquid in the jars and the rice was sort of floating. when i opened the jar there was a distinctive jiu niang alcohol aroma, something i didn't quite get when i slow fermented. i scooped out a small spoonful to give it a taste: sweet was the dominant flavor, with a slight sour note, but nothing like when i used the crushed yeast ball to ferment. that means jiu niang powder definitely makes a different. i thought it could be sweeter so i put the jars back in the instant pot and left it to ferment for another 6 hours.
| korean street toast (1 serving) | |
|
2 slices thick white bread
1/2 handful carrots, julienned |
2 eggs 1 tsp half & half 1 tsp sugar smoked ham american cheese mayonnaise ketchup butter |
| toast the bread in butter, set aside. chopped vegetables and mix together with pepper, chili powder, salt. mix with eggs and some half & half. sauté egg vegetable mixture, form into rectangle then make into two squares. cook on both sides. stack cooked vegetables egg onto one slice of bread, add sugar. cook ham add cheese to melt. layer ham & cheese onto sandwich and squirt some mayonnaise and ketchup. | |
i finally made korean street toast today. the hardest part was chopping the carrots into matchsticks, i think my carrots were just too small. the recipe called for half a handful of chopped carrots and a full handful of chopped cabbage, but i went way overboard, probably had a cup of carrots and easily 2-3 cups of cabbage. when i cooked the chopped vegetables with the eggs, it was barely holding together, it was so full of vegetables. the recipe didn't call for it but i added a dash of half and half to make the eggs puffier. the final result was essentially a thick omelette sandwich with a bit of ham enhanced with cheese, mayonnaise, and ketchup. it was a mess to eat, and the bottom half of the sandwich was all soggy from having the omelette stacked on top of it. it was okay, but nothing to write home about. i'll try again tomorrow, definitely use less vegetables. why this would be popular in korea i have no idea, it doesn't seem particularly korean but mainly because i associate korean food with either spicy or meaty.
the one good thing about korean street toast is because of all the vegetable ingredients, i had a really nice poop afterwards. maybe they should call it, "korean colon cleansing sandwich."
i went out briefly in the afternoon to grab some grapes and clementines on sale. it was raining, i had an umbrella, but it wasn't necessary. there was also a sale on schweppes seltzers, 3 cases for $9. i had to haul everything back by hand, thankfully i live close otherwise my arms were going to give out.
in the evening my father contacted me, said he'd bring over some pan-fried beef buns they made for dinner. when he arrived, i gave him a bag of supplies: clementines, grapes, heysong soda, melon seeds, rose flavored kombucha, and a jar of jiu niang. he must've misheard me because while i went back outside with cases of seltzer, i watched as he drove off. standing in the rain, i quickly called him back to pick up the soft drinks.
i tried the jiu niang at the 29 hours fermentation mark. it was even sweeter, it didn't need anymore fermentation. unlike slow fermentation, fast heated fermentation speeds up the alcohol production. given the choice, i would use a slow fermentation if i'm looking to make sweet jiu niang. if i wanted to create rice wine, then a fast heated fermentation is the way to go. if i want to experiment more, i realize i never tried jiu niang using steamed rice, i've always just cooked it like normal rice in the pressure cooker. that would mean i need to get a steaming container for the instant pot.
i had the pan-fried beef buns for dinner, they were still warm. i dip them in some vietnamese garlic chili sauce. my father also included a container of cold adzuki bean soup.
i discovered today that citizens bank has been bilking me with $10 maintenance fees for the past 2 years. i checked my statements, they only did it 4 times but that's 4 times too many. they changed their checking account rules recently so that you had to make a deposit into your account every month otherwise they take a $10 maintenance fee. just by dumb luck i was able to make monthly deposits except for a few times, hence the fees. i'm going down to the harvard branch tomorrow to see if they can get rid of the fees. if not, i'm taking my bank business to td bank.
actually, it doesn't matter what citizens bank does (unless they can clear the fees from the 4 times they already charged me, which i doubt), i'm switching banks regardless. td bank has a checking account with interest (you just need to keep $2500 in your account; citizens bank has something similar but you need to keep a balance of $25,000). that particular td bank account also allows me to make free withdrawals from non-TD bank ATM's. citizens bank has such a small footprint, like when i used to go to NYC, there are no citizens branches there, so i needed to withdraw cash in advance. this hidden fee shenanigan is the last straw. i've been a loyal customer for almost 11 years, and this is how they treat me.