RaRa wrote:lye water? i never heard of this so i looked it up. here's what i found:

http://www.dh.sa.gov.au/pehs/PDF-files/ ... heet05.pdf

how in the world is this used in cooking? what's it taste like?

sorry, but this just baffles me.

From Wikipedia:

Food preparation

Food uses of lye include washing or chemical peeling of fruits and vegetables, chocolate and cocoa processing, caramel color production, poultry scalding, soft drink processing, and thickening ice cream. Olives are often soaked in lye to soften them, while pretzels and German lye rolls are glazed with a lye solution before baking to make them crisp.

Specific foods processed with lye include:

* The Scandinavian delicacy known as lutefisk (from lutfisk, "lye fish").
* Hominy is dried maize (corn) kernels reconstituted by soaking in lye-water. These expand considerably in size and may be further processed by cooking in hot oil and salting to form corn nuts. Nixtamal is similar, but uses calcium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide.
* Hominy is also known in some areas of the Southeastern United States, as the breakfast food grits, dried and ground into a coarse powder. They are prepared by boiling in water, with the addition of butter and other ingredient to suit the tastes of the preparer.
* Sodium hydroxide is also the chemical that causes gelling of egg whites in the production of Century eggs.
* German pretzels are poached in a boiling sodium hydroxide solution before baking, which contributes to their unique crust.

RaRa wrote:lye water?...how in the world is this used in cooking? what's it taste like?

I'm using lye water today to make a dessert called kutsinta, a Filipino dessert made with rice flour, often served topped with toasted coconut. The lye water in this case doesn't really have any taste. It's primary purpose is to give the dessert its slimy-firm consistency.

Thanks so much for posting these. I'm Filipino (bounced around between the US and Manila at different points in my life), and have never found a Filipino restaurant in Chicago (city) that I actually liked. Little Quiapo is just a little too dodgy for my taste. And I've never been a big fan of turo turo (translates literally to point point), although I'll settle for it if I know it's fresh.

There's a restaurant in a strip mall somewhere in the south suburbs (Tinley Park?) called CEBU (after a Filipino island), and the food was pretty good. They offer a full menu and catering, and also have some food that I haven't found at other places. They offer a version of ceviche, called "Kilawin", which is really good, and they also serve fresh lumpia (soft wrapper, filled with hearts of palm and either ground pork or shredded chicken, with a salty/sweet sauce). If you're up for the drive it's worth it. The flavors have actually been adjusted to better suit a more universal palate, but not so much that the dishes lose their authenticity. I've only been once, and if I have to drive to the 'burbs for Filipino food, then it would be to my sister's house.

I'll definitely be visiting Adobo Express one of these days!

Adobo Express has inexplicably closed. I stopped by the other day and the space is for lease and it's been stripped down to barely anything.

fusionfan wrote:Adobo Express has inexplicably closed. I stopped by the other day and the space is for lease and it's been stripped down to barely anything.

Wow....I read every post in order dating back 3+ years more and more excited at each post....and I end at this.

Does anyone have a reccomendation on a place to go to that's near/easy to get to from Rogers Park/Loyola?



GOOD TIMES!

Jayz wrote:Does anyone have a reccomendation on a place to go to that's near/easy to get to from Rogers Park/Loyola?

Jay,

3 R's is in the same vein as Adobo, Filipino grocery with steam table take-away/eat-in.

With Korean Buffet gone it makes me wonder if there are plans to raze the entire shopping center/parking lot to make way for condos banks and drug stores.

Enjoy,
Gary

3R Oriental Food, Grocery & Money Exchange
2712 W Montrose Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
773-478-2599

We live a block west of that shopping center and I really hope that's not the case. I noticed the closure of Adobo Express late last week; sorry I wasn't on top of things. I should have posted it here. I was sad to see both it and Garden Buffet go.