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The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

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Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#61

Post by radarsat1 »

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #32
guessmyname wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why Italian Americans instead of just normal Italian? Aren’t Italian Americans just regular Italians? Or are you asking about the customs of Americanized Italian families or people who were born and raised in America but with Italian ancestry?

Are you a non-American? It is typically the custom of Americans to hyphenate our ethnicity and claim descent from some European country or another. (Or African or Asian, or wherever the family had migrated from.) Indeed, an Italian-American is not a "regular Italian" because they enjoy neither citizenship nor residence in that sovereign territory. Italian-American cuisine is also unique, and distinct from "regular It…

You're of course right but I can't help but point out one thing..

> but c'mon: tomatoes originated in the Americas!

Yes. But they were brought to Europe like right after Columbus landed and have been part of Italian and European cooking for longer than the US has existed. So you only sort of have a point here. (Same for corn, eg. polenta )

I mean, tomatoes are definitely a big part of Italian cuisine, despite any differences that American Italians introduced to the menu.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbian_exchange

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#63

Post by chickensong »

embedding-shape wrote: post #6
Alien1Being wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g293916-d87... Actual customer reviews are less gushing than the WSJ article....

Long time since reviews on the internet mattered one squat. Reviews can be because of everything from a jealus competitor, the platform asking the restaurant to pay to unblock favorable reviews/remove unfavorable ones, doing the opposite when you don't pay, or simple a bunch of people who basically fill the web with junk. More often than not I have a great experience in restaurants with 2-3 out of 5 in ratings, and s…

> I've simply stopped reading reviews at all

This is the way. If I'm traveling I consider Tripadvisor's top lists as things to avoid, and don't use the site otherwise. Bangkok in particular, you can basically walk blindfolded and you'll run into amazing food.

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#64

Post by jambalaya8 »

throwaway27448 wrote: post #55
nonethewiser wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bacteria is still there, its just dead. Along with all of its waste. Leaving soup at room temperature over night is crazy. Its usually the biggest food borne illness vector in restaurants so they usually boil then move straight to cooling. Ive learned leaving soup out and reboiling is fairly common in some cultures which is unfortunate. Bacteria rapidly multiplies at room temperature around the world (well, maybe…

> Leaving soup at room temperature over night is crazy. And yet, this was common before the electric fridge. I've lived without a fridge for years and the amount of food I ate after being left out overnight would give americans a stroke.

I left a bowl of pasta with meatballs out on the table by accident on New Years Eve a handful of years ago, and aside from a power outage the whole night, it was perfectly fine the next day; most food is.

Pork is especially fine if it is properly packaged... That is part of what 'curing meat' is all about.

Most people that brought lunch or dinner to work or school prior to maybe the 1990s thought nothing much of unrefrigerated food being eaten several hours later. Laborers still often do. So do kids.

And tuna at room temperature is surprisingly good (as long as it is not rotten, or the temperature isn't too high). I mean tuna salad, although sushi is served just barely below room temperature.

I remember in grade school taking thermoses of soup for lunch, though I would never do this as an adult (and not only because it was disgustingly lukewarm five hours later).

I wouldn't do it in this weather though.

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#65

Post by elros »

nonethewiser wrote: post #51
lithocarpus wrote: post #44

I've gone without a fridge for 8 years now and do something kind of like this usually - I'll cook a pot of food and then steam or boil it again after ~24 hours to reset the clock on it rotting. It's handy for things like eating a whole chicken or other large soup. I switch between being home and on the road a lot so my pot just comes with me and can be re-cooked on my car stove or my home stove. I tend to cook or re-…

The bacteria is still there, its just dead. Along with all of its waste. Leaving soup at room temperature over night is crazy. Its usually the biggest food borne illness vector in restaurants so they usually boil then move straight to cooling. Ive learned leaving soup out and reboiling is fairly common in some cultures which is unfortunate. Bacteria rapidly multiplies at room temperature around the world (well, maybe…

> Ive learned leaving soup out and reboiling is fairly common in some cultures which is unfortunate.

I know next to nothing about chemistry or biology but I do cook a lot of food, and quite often have leftovers.

After many years in Germany, I got into the habit of leaving food out, and that would mostly be fine. Very rarely would food spoil, at least from a culinary perspective (I'm not disputing the presence of bacteria or harm of its waste).

However after even a few months in Taiwan I learned that this strategy is basically impossible: food left outside spoils within hours.

Given I originally come from a country that is warmer, but much dryer than Taiwan, where food doesn't spoil if left out nearly as fast, I do believe it has to do more with humidity than with temperature.

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#66

Post by joeguilmette »

I have lived around the corner from this place for nearly 13yrs. It’s fine, not any better or worse than places serving a similar dish but without the perpetual stew marketing.

The funny thing is, this place got famous a dew years ago, so you now have to wait in line for hours to have this perfectly normal bowl of $2 soup. I didn’t really mind because even if there was no line I’d probably eat here once every 3yrs when I was hungry and happened to be in front of it.

But this is relatively common in Bangkok and actually one of my favorite places was recently headshotted by fame. They serve pad kapow, which domestically is the most commonly eaten and beloved dish amongst Thais. This place managed to elevate the dish without getting snooty about it, reasonably priced, fantastic ingredients, consistent quality, great service, hygienic, and just excellent in all regards. It’s a 10min walk and my wife would go there to eat multiple times a week.

Unfortunately a YouTuber made a video about it and now all of the YouTubers who pass through town make a video about it and there’s a 2hr line at all hours. I’m happy they found success, but also obviously annoyed despite the selfish nature of these feelings.

We now order it for delivery every couple months.

Usually the stuff that goes viral doesn’t bother me- the tourists need to eat somewhere, and living here I have much more ability to find good food than they would, so it kind of works for everyone that they end up concentrated in a few places that I don’t miss.

But I do dearly miss the pad kapow at Gapow Tapae (if you’re passing through Bangkok get there 20min before they open and wait in line, it’s worth it).

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#67

Post by joeguilmette »

cultofmetatron wrote: post #2

I'm currently in bangkok atm. where can I go try this soup?

Wattana Panich is absolutely not worth waiting in line for. Any number of places make a better version of that dish.

If you want to wait in line for something actually worth waiting for: https://maps.app.goo.gl/GodS2ozgTYR1K4kGA?g_st=ic

I always get the pad kapow with half crispy pork and their sour pork soup. My wife gets the pad kapow with glass noodle. Their spice levels are accurately described. If you are not tolerant to spice, definitely get one of the lower levels, they aren’t over the top and the dish does need some chili.

Also, feel free to get in touch for more places to go and things to do (lived here for over a decade): firstname.lastname at gmail.

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#68

Post by joeguilmette »

embedding-shape wrote: post #6
Alien1Being wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Restaurant_Review-g293916-d87... Actual customer reviews are less gushing than the WSJ article....

Long time since reviews on the internet mattered one squat. Reviews can be because of everything from a jealus competitor, the platform asking the restaurant to pay to unblock favorable reviews/remove unfavorable ones, doing the opposite when you don't pay, or simple a bunch of people who basically fill the web with junk. More often than not I have a great experience in restaurants with 2-3 out of 5 in ratings, and s…

Agree however this restaurant isn’t worth going out of the way for even without a line. It’s totally middle of the road for a common dish served by hundreds of places.

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#69

Post by joeguilmette »

spelk wrote: post #35

This was something I was genuinely excited to try while in Bangkok, took a Grab across town to make it happen, but it was it is honestly not good, the Google reviews seem to coincide with the consensus that while the concept is cool, the execution isn't and it tastes very meh. I do wonder if there’s some pluralistic ignorance going on, where travelers convince themselves it must be amazing because everyone else seems…

No this place has always been mid, years before they got famous.

Re: The family keeping watch over a 52-year-old pot of soup

#70

Post by CjHuber »

joeguilmette wrote: post #66

I have lived around the corner from this place for nearly 13yrs. It’s fine, not any better or worse than places serving a similar dish but without the perpetual stew marketing. The funny thing is, this place got famous a dew years ago, so you now have to wait in line for hours to have this perfectly normal bowl of $2 soup. I didn’t really mind because even if there was no line I’d probably eat here once every 3yrs wh…

> so you now have to wait in line for hours

Interesting, I go there pretty regularly and while It is well visited, I not once encountered a queue there

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