Tamarind

[DemoTex]

Just got into cooking with tamarind. What an incredible fruit! So Asian .. so Thai.
I made a basic tamarind marinade/baste a few days ago. Did a couple of chicken thighs on the grill. Crusty, spicy, piquant. Great BBQ sauce.
Used the same sauce last night on an oven-cooked Cornish game hen (which is neither Cornish, nor game .. it is just a chicken bred to be small). Incredible. Still had some leftover tamarind sauce.
Tonight was steak night (I'm solo on the mountain). Thawed a "Denver" steak (AKA a Hudson steak) from the NY Butcher in Greenville. Googled "steak tamarind recipe" and, the top recipe was for a Denver steak!
I had the tamarind stock - slightly different from the recipe - but I know how specious recipes are. My tamarind stock was good. The only thing lacking was soy sauce and fresh ginger. Both are standards that I keep on hand.
So I added the soy sauce and ginger to my tamarind stock, and marinaded that Denver steak several hours. Then took the steak out of the marinade, and flopped it on a charcoal grill. Four minutes per side, then I pulled it to indirect heat until my meat thermometer indicated medium-rare.
Meanwhile, I took some of the marinade (that had not been in contact with the raw meat), and cooked it down into a thick steak sauce.
I had boiled some tiny, tiny potatoes earlier in the day (one must plan ahead, even when eating alone), and chilled them. They went into an arugula salad. What a great idea. I'm so glad it was mine!
So, how was the steak? Crazy good. I sliced it in thin strips, and dolloped on some of my back-burner tamarind steak sauce.
Tamarind seems to beg lime juice and cilantro. I had neither, and I wasn't driving into Brevard just for those. Tamarind also begs a good, thick salt. Big, crunchy grains. But not too much.

dt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Now then, my dear DemoTex!

I just finished my own dinner, and it was good (though probably not as tasty as yours!) and now I'm hungry again!

No fair.

Glad you enjoyed your dinner.

[dixiegrrrrl]

2. So where do we get the tamarind?

I love living the very rural life, but do miss the access to Asian grocery stores that are so prevalent on the West Coast.

But if tamarind and/or sauce comes in a bottle, online might work.

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. This might help

Tamarind is available in prepared forms, such as candy and sweetened syrup.

You can also find the pure fruit in three main forms:

Raw pods: These pods are the least processed form of tamarind. They're still intact and can be easily opened to remove the pulp.
Pressed block: To make these, the shell and seeds are removed and the pulp is compressed into a block. These blocks are one step away from raw tamarind.
Concentrate: Tamarind concentrate is pulp that has been boiled down. Preservatives may also be added.

[applegrove]

9. Worcestershire sauce has tamarind extract in it. So you've been cooking with it forever.

Here are the ingredients:

"SNIP....

The sauce is very piquant, containing malt vinegar, molasses, anchovies, tamarind extract, salt, sugar, onions, garlic, and spices. These are allowed to mature for 18 months before being blended and bottled locally, where the exact recipe is kept a secret.

......SNIP"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce

[greatauntoftriplets]

12. Try Amazon.

They have most everything.

[Codeine]

4. Tamarind soda is a favorite of mine.

Jarritos has a tamarind flavor available in any Hispanic grocery store; you should try it!

[dixiegrrrrl]

15. I have had that!

I remember now. In SF, there was a Chinese market and then a Mexican market a few doors away.
I remember not being overly impressed with Tamarind soda, but that was then....

[Thedemby]

5. Killing me.

After my dinner of canned soup you just had to post this. I feel so empty now. 😉🤤

[RockRaven]

6. I was casually familiar with tamarind

from various dining experiences in restaurants and other people's homes, though I've never cooked with it myself. But your post induced me to check the wikipedia article.

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

I had no idea that the US was the second largest global producer (behind India).

[dalton99a]

14. The U.S. is not a major producer - the info in Wikipedia is wrong.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/20/tamarind_n_5999376.html

While India currently produces the most tamarind, it’s used all over the world. Thailand and Mexico are also major producers.

https://www.adelaide.edu.au/global-food/documents/pardi-tamarind-chain-review-nov-2011.pdf

India is the world largest producer of tamarind, it is estimated that 300,000 tons are produced annually. It is also an exporter of tamarind, mainly to Europe and Arab countries and lately to the United States where over 10,000 tons are exported annually (El-Siddig, K. 2006.) Thailand is the second largest producer with a record of 150,000 tons for the year 1995 with the majority of tamarind being the sweet variety (El-Siddig, K. 2006.). Mexico also produces tamarind commercially to a volume of approximately 29,600 tons per year, exporting small amounts to the US, Central and South America (Silva, R. 2006.). Other minor exporters are found in Costa Rica and and Puerto Rico and Africa produces tamarind widely in small quantities for domestic consumption.

[Xipe Totec]

7. The word tamarind comes from tamarindus - tamar indus

Tamar means date palm and indus is from India. So the name means date palm from India.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Thank you for that!

I love tid=bits like that.

[Staph]

8. That sounds delicious!

So, how does one get invited to dinner up on your mountain?

[mahina]

11. Been wondering the same thing for a while now!

[mahina]

10. It was Queen Lili'uokalani's favorite treat. We still have Tamarind Park and lots of tamarind trees

People don't know, mostly, that those sticky seed pods contain such goodness, as long as we beat the rodents and bugs.

Yummy and good for us too. The wood is pretty as well.

[fierywoman]

13. You can find tamarind concentrate at any Indian grocery store and sometimes

you can find the pods in Mexican grocery stores.