One new ingredient/dish in '08

[Porthand]

It is just about time for year in review stuff, what's the one new ingredient or dish you tried for the first time this past year?

For me it was tamarind. I was making a grilled tofu recipe for DW that called for tamarind paste as a key ingredient in the sauce. never did find the paste but I did purchase a block of tamarind (seeds and all) at a Tacoma Asian market. Love the unique flavor the sauce works equally well on chicken and pork.

 

[GrillingFool]

Hot peppers probably. I have become a chili head for medium hot peppers like cayenne.
They make me hiccup, but every now and then I just have to eat one or two. Now days fresh peppers (which are amazingly NOT hot if you remove the innards) go in a lot of dishes here at the Fool's. I make a mean 4 pepper carne asada marinade!

 

[Jeekinz]

I'm not sure about an ingredient or dish because I'm always experimenting. I guess I eat waaay more chilies and fish now than last year.

I did take a liking to the reverse sear method.

 

[larry_stewart]

Maxixe, a brazilian vegetable I managed to successfully grow in my garden last year
Rice paper- to make some vegetable rolls in
Saffron - got a gift certificate to penzy's so spent it on that
Chinese Broccoli - also grew in my garden this year, experienced it for the first time at the chinese restaurant which caused the soy chicken incident.

 

[mcnerd]

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce. OMG I can't get enough of the stuff. The taste is amazing and I use it now for everything.

 

[sattie]

garam masala.... cardamon, cooking with whole spices - obviously I made some sort of Indian dish. Osso Bucco, elk, buffalo, and pheasant. Kilebasa??? I probably spelled that wrong. And vanilla beans.

You can trust that there will be more to come in 09!

Oh.. .BTW... this is my 5000th post!!!! Yippppppeeee!

 

[ChefJune]

I don't know whether or not you'd call it an "ingredient," but this year I experienced Shochu for the first time. That is Japanese whisky.

As for new dishes, I am trying them and creating them all the time. I wouldn't know where to begin to list them.

 

[PanchoHambre]

A big Asian supermarket opened up near by... They have all of the awesome varieties of jarred sauces, seasonings, marinades etc... i cant resist buying stuff even though I don't really know what to do with it. Some really did not work out so well but I will say the Black Bean Paste is great stuff makes fried rice dishes really nice and nutty.

 

[jabbur]

My son got me a caterpillar roll. I don't usually like sushi but I have to say this was really good. It's basically a California Roll with slivers of avacado layered across the top to look like a catepillar. The avacado makes it yummy!

 

[jpinmaryland]

Bok choy, turnips, escarole, fennel. I am trying to do a different vegetable each week. Next week maybe bean sprouts. I used to detest beets but might have to break down if I cant come up with something else.

 

[Robo410]

used whole tomatillas for the first time in a green chicken chili. yum!

 

[LPBeier]

Quinoa, which is now a staple!

 

[vyapti]

The biggest addition for me is vital wheat gluten. I've made all sorts of mock meats, cutlets, sausages, burgers, etc that vital wheat gluten made possible.

 

[JoeV]

Johnny Walker Green Label. This has served to make the chef so much easier to live with when the kitchen duties appear to be over whelming.

 

[radhuni]

One new vegetable I tried was Elephant apple (Chulta ) . I made chutney of chulta.

 

[Toots]

As a Southerner, I should have been using this ingredient YEARS ago but I finally got around to cooking with kale. I like it and its good for you too.

 

[Constance]

I tried lentils for the first time, and I loved them!

 

[pdswife]

Paul and I have started making our own Sushi. It's great! We make a mess and it's not as pretty as we can get when we go out but boy does it taste goood! Well worth the effort!

Oh and thanks to you guys at DC
I also cooked OX tails for the first time! YUMMY!

 

[texasgirl]

GRITS!! hehe
I cheated and bought the instant flavors, but, I like them.

 

[GotGarlic]

Bok choy, turnips, escarole, fennel. I am trying to do a different vegetable each week. Next week maybe bean sprouts. I used to detest beets but might have to break down if I cant come up with something else.

jp, check out this blog: THE GREAT BIG VEGETABLE CHALLENGE

I tried several new things this past year:

- an Indian dish for the first time, using garam masala
- awesome osso buco
- Israeli couscous
- fresh heart of palm from an Asian market I discovered; there's lots more to try from there, including frozen fish balls that are still in my freezer - thought they'd be good in soup, but haven't used them yet.
- cheesecake! I'm not much of a baker, but I found a recipe that does not require a water bath, and it turned out great.