Look For Mud Pie Cosmopolitan Home Double Old at Amazon
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Well, if the title hasn’t caught your attention, just hang on to your seat because the rest will. You see, I’ve been extolling the virtues of crushed anchovies as a mystery ingredient not so long ago and now it’s in the long run time to give the endearing pickled mud fish it’s day in the sun. If you recognise your stuff with regards to a good Southeast Asian papaya salad, you know that pickled mud fish is a territorial addition and by no means mandatory, but for our sake here let’s just say that you got to have it. Also, while at least a good deal of fresh, pounded red chile is mandatory for a tom sum, the end result may be anything from tingly mild to a volcano red concotion of papaya fire that will leave your taste buds numb for a week. I prefer the latter, but I’m certifiably insane and have the papers to prove it. Throw on a few green beans, a lot of crushed peanuts, fish sauce (although the pickled mud fish makes that one a non sequitur), a bold handful of cilantro for even more pungency and a great deal of lime juice in a sincere but awkward try to kind of level things out and actually call it a salad. For the record, altho I’m sure you’ve figured it out–the papaya is not ripe and not sweet. It has a taste and texture, when shredded and pounded, someplace among cucumber and cabbage. Great stuff. I have no idea either what a mud fish is and frankly I’m a bit frighted to investigate that one. I bet it’s ugly though. I do recognise that whatsoever the pickling procedure involves, it ends up as a gooey, stinky mess that yes in fact looks just like mud. And boy is it stinky! Make sure the jar is opened and closed at least an hour before guests arrive because your kitchen will smell like a crusty fisherman’s pier on a hot day in July in less than five minutes. And of course when you do make a papaya salad only use a little pickled mud fish–one jar ought to last you two lifetimes. For the faint of heart you may use crushed anchovy, but life is for fun, isn’t it? |
