By JOE GRANESE
October 25, 2006

Digesting the secrets of foreign cuisine

I was taking a drive through our area with a colleague the other day when I began to complain about the heavy traffic and seemingly overfilled highways in the middle of the day. It was the type of traffic that was tolerable for a few minutes at rush hour, but excessively annoying as a dawn-to-dusk proposition.

He was not particularly bothered by the crawl, and tossed it off, explaining that this particular community was one of the fastest growing areas in both New Jersey and the United States. While I began, almost instinctively, to grouse about the changing landscape and destruction of open spaces in what was once an almost bucolic setting, I realized that he was right.

This area is truly growing at an alarming rate. While there is a downside, which includes the traffic and congestion we already discussed, there were a few good things, too. The one that comes most immediately to mind is the greater access to goods and services that we can now find locally.

We all remember having to drive halfway to Philadelphia to avail ourselves of certain retail opportunities. Those stores are now within easy reach, even in bumper-to-bumper traffic. A greater selection of entertainment venues exist, along with a broader selection of consumer goods, automobiles, and restaurants.

That brings me to the concept that quickly defused my anger. The growth of our neighborhood – the evil demon that brought us all-day traffic jams – also brought us delightful and exotic restaurants, grocery stores stocked with mysterious delicacies, and new foods that once required a long, annoying trip into an urban area.

The next time you are cooling your heels in snarled traffic, dream about the fabulous bowl of steaming pho or wonderful plate of fresh-rolled sushi that may await you at a nearby restaurant. Here is a guide to world cuisine that can enhance your enjoyment of the delights that are available right here in our own back yard. Bon appetite!

www.sushi-master.com

An evening of sushi once meant a 50-mile drive. Now we have a choice of sushi restaurants, all within a few minutes’ drive, competing for our business. I always find it entertaining to try new things, but a little advance prep can truly enhance the experience.  Those of you unfamiliar with the Japanese treat will find a visit to this website truly informative.

It is fun to be adventurous, of course, but another thing when faced with something new and strange that we are expected to eat. To calm the butterflies, the Sushi Master site offers a four-part mini-course on the history, identification and enjoyment of sushi.

A well-labeled gallery of sushi photographs will help you identify those orange bubbles before you attempt to put them into your mouth. Ditto that delicate yellow bundle that looks remarkably like an omelet. Surprise, it is an omelet known as tamago, and it is delicious.

An illustrated guide to eating sushi demonstrates the fish-side-down method of properly enjoying certain sushi items and pronounces once and for all that it is OK to eat sushi with either chopsticks or the fingers. Once you can identify the dishes and learn the necessary techniques, you can enjoy an evening at the sushi-ya like a veteran, even if it is your first trip.

You can actually learn how to make sushi at home using ingredients available at one of the many fine Asian markets that have popped up in the area. It is a great time to broaden one’s culinary horizons. For answering all the questions, www.sushi-master.com rolls up five spiders with vinegared rice.

www.vietworldkitchen.com

Pho, the national soup of Vietnam, is largely a mystery to American palates. With several quality venues now open locally, it could be time to try a bowl of this truly delicious noodle dish. Before you dig in, visit this site to find out what is on the menu and how you are expected to behave.

Pho began as a simple dish of boiled beef with noodles. Today there are limitless varieties with surprise ingredients like tripe and tendon. If you are not an adventurous diner, the information posted here can be invaluable.

Being one to enjoy just about anything that is placed in front of me that is identified as edible, I find this variety irresistible. Condiments like blazing hot pepper, fresh lime, bean sprouts and tangy cilantro allow you to fine tune your pho to the perfect flavor.

While varied pronunciations of this savory comfort food exist, the Viet World Kitchen folks informed me that the word rhymes with “duh.” For bringing it all together and sparing us possible embarrassment, www.vietworldkitchen.com grabs five salty spiders.

www.curryhouse.co.uk

Few dishes are more mysterious than the legendary curry. Generally presented as a thick soup or stew and served with rice, curry can mean different things in different cuisines. Before venturing a first attempt at restaurant curry, consult the informative FAQ at the Curry House site. It could save you some scorched taste buds.

British curry, for example, is far removed from those originating in Thailand or Japan. Even Americans have been getting into the act, concocting curries with typical home-grown ingredients. Vindaloos are curries of Portuguese origin, while Indian cuisine, thought to be the origin of the dish, doesn’t even use the term.

For me, an eye-watering curry is a rare treat. My regular exposure usually entails dropping a sealed pack into a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, and is truly delightful. With a little reference at this site, I actually have a chance at devising my own curry concoction.

Prior to an evening of curry cuisine, take a moment to familiarize yourself with the terms and definitions presented here to ensure that you don’t order something that is likely to be too spicy for you to consume comfortably. On numerous occasions, I have suffered through tongue-torching dishes simply because I was unwilling to admit that I didn’t know what I was ordering. For helping us all enjoy delightful and exotic dishes, www.curryhouse.uk grabs four spiders.

I am still not happy about the traffic, but at least I can grab a bowl of pho without driving to Philadelphia. If you have a favorite haunt for unusual cuisine, don’t keep it to yourself. Tell me all about it by e-mail to granese@juno.com. Special attention will be paid to dishes high on the Scoville (pepper hotness) scale.