[Sca-cooks] Sesame oil, was Andalusian feast

[Jim and Andi]

I think it depends on what ethnic markets you have near you. I live in
Nashville TN, and while the Asian markets only have the dark toasted sesame
oil, the Middle Eastern markets have several different brands of the regular
sesame oil. And the price difference can be astounding between the health
food markets and the ethnic markets, *especially* for stuff like that. I
would price it first, even if you have to drive a little ways for the
cheaper ethnic store. I priced whole cardamom pods here just a few days ago,
and at the local Wild Oats they cost $4.69 for 2 oz. but at the Indian
market they cost $4 for a half-pound. Nuts, tahini, dates, and spices and
rice were all significantly cheaper.

Madhavi

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	sca-cooks-admin at ansteorra.org [mailto:sca-cooks-admin at ansteorra.org]
On Behalf Of lilinah at earthlink.net
Sent:	Monday, January 28, 2002 10:16 AM
To:	sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject:	[Sca-cooks] Sesame oil, was Andalusian feast

Stefan li Rous wrote:
>  > Yeah, I used the toasted kind too.  Anahita also warned me about
>that (she =
>  > tried some of the test recipes), so I'm all set to buy the
>untoasted kind f=
>  > or the feast.
>
>Good luck. I've been trying to remember to look for nontoasted sesame oil
>when I've been in various ethnic markets. Tried again, after seeing the
>comments on this list recently, on Saturday, but all World Foods had was
>the toasted stuff. I think I was looking for this several years ago when
>I made the wafers from the Polish recipe book, but couldn't find it then
>either and substituted another oil.

Untoasted sesame oil is easy to find here, where both Vittoria and i live.

Do you have a health food store (not a pill store) or natural foods
store near you? We have quite a few around here and they all carry
several different kinds of sesame oil. We also have a really
wonderful market that sells fabulous produce that also carries the
untoasted kind (Berkeley Bowl - so named because it used to be in the
building that previously housed a bowling alley). Worth a look-see if
anyone ever visits Berkeley.

Untoasted is NOT likely to be at ethnic markets, in my experience.
Since the toasted is used in several East Asian cuisines, not just
Chinese, it is what you're most likely to find in the ethnic markets.

Back when all i knew how to cook was tuna salad (uncooked) and
spaghetti, i decided to make a pie. For the crust, i used half butter
and half untoasted sesame oil. As i recall, it tasted fabulous. I did
everything wrong. I melted the butter, worked it and the oil into the
dough with my hot little hands, etc. And for some reason it was still
tender.

That was back in 1967. I'm sure if i tried working it like that it
would be like shoe leather. But untoasted sesame oil mixed with
butter still tastes quite good.

Anahita
_______________________________________________
Sca-cooks mailing list
Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks