Wonders of International Trade

Wonders of international trade. Belle Waring's recipe calls for coarse polenta--that is, corn mush--that has been incompletely ground by preindustrial stone-grinding technology in Oregon, 10,000 miles away from her kitchen, by the Bob's Red Mill company and then shipped by containership all the way across the Pacific to Singapore.

How much does Bob's Red Mill coarse stone-ground polenta cost in Singapore, anyway?

John & Belle Have A Blog: Fried Shrimp: I invented these last month, and each time I cook more, and each time at the end of the meal John starts looking around the kitchen vainly. "Did we eat them all?"

• 1 1/2 lb shrimp
• 2 T teriyaki sauce
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 c coarse polenta (the Bob's Red Mill stone-ground one is nice, and if you live in Singapore you can get it at Tanglin Mall!)
• 2 T flour
• salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
• vegetable oil for deep-frying

1. Take the heads off the shrimp, peel them leaving the last section and tail on, and butterfly them. Let them marinate with the teriyaki sauce and garlic in the fridge for 40 minutes or whatever.

2. Put polenta, flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a bag and mix. Take the shrimp out of the fridge. Heat oil in a dutch-oven over high heat until it gets rilly, rilly hot. Let's say, until a bluish haze starts to form over the oil and a cube of bread put in is well-browned in 30 seconds.

3. Drain any extra liquid off the shrimp, and then put them in the bag with the polenta. Shake to coat. You can fry them all in one batch. I'd say it takes 1-2 minutes. More like 1 minute. Take them out with a skimmer and put on brown paper. EAT. Try not to burn your fingers too much.

Sauce:

This is pretty flexible, you could put whatever. Substituting Greek-style yogurt for part of the mayo is nice.

• 3/4 c mayonnaise
• juice of 1 lemon (or limes)
• 1 T dijon mustard
• 4-5 chopped cornichon pickles, or go for sweet and put drained hot dog relish, also nice
• 2-3 serrano chilis, chopped into extremely thin rounds on the diagonal
• salt and pepper and chili flakes
• chopped fresh herbs, such as chives, cilantro, sweet basil, flat-leaf parsley
1. Make like Sir Mixalot.

This is really very tasty and I recommend it to you all. It would be a nice party snack, though I don't know how it would hold up keeping warm in the oven. All fried things are good party foods, but all fried things are best eaten right away; it's like some kind of paradox, man. Its the big nubbly bits of fried corn grits that make it good...

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And here's Bob:

Bob's Red Mill - Whole Grain and Gluten Free Products and Recipes: Bob's Red Mill also produces over 50 different certified organic products, including Steel Cut Oats, Whole Wheat Flour, Cornmeal, and Flaxseed Meal. At Bob's Red Mill, our grain buyers search for the best organic grains in the world, providing our customers with high quality, whole grain organics.... Bob's Red Mill is the nation's leader in stone milling and offers the widest diversity of whole grains found anywhere. We are dedicated to producing natural foods in the natural way. Try our outstanding products today and we guarantee that you will not be disappointed....

Organic Steel-Cut Oats are freshly milled from high protein, organic oats and cut into neat little pieces on a steel buhr mill. Organic Steel Cut Oats are one of the healthiest foods you can eat and they make a delightful full-bodied hot cereal with an appealing texture. Try some Organic Steel Cut Oats today!

Bob's Red Mill - 800-349-2173

At this point, I have to channel the loa of Friedrich Hayek, and marvel at the wonders of the market--that, like a god, knows that in Singapore there is demand by Belle Waring for Red Mill stone-ground coarse polenta, and that diverts bags of the stuff to be carried by truck, train, containership, and porter to her local store. How wise is the market! How its information dwarfs that of any conceivable electro-mechanical-electronic-positronic-gluonic brain!