An AP story datelined Beverly Hills declared that 150 Oscar nominees came forth for free lunch on Monday.
"Nominees shared a fine meal at the luncheon, whose menu featured appetizers of Indochina-spiced beef with avocado mousse, an entree of Alaskan black cod and a dessert selection that included mini lemon meringue tarts with blueberries and raspberry sorbet in cookie shells."
What struck me was the phrase "Indochina-spiced." Say what? ( Forgive me if this is a trendy term bandied about by all, because it ain't bandied by me. ) And shouldn't it be "Indochinese-spiced" anyway? Odd.
Now Indochina is a colonial construct, coined from a combo of India and China, yet referring to neither country. The old timey Indochina was comprised of Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Today we tend to say Southeast Asia, and add in Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, as well.
"Spiced." You could imagine almost anything here, the territory includes so many cuisines, but I am betting that chiles ( American natives) are included, along with maybe cumin, coriander? But when Googling the phrase, I-C Spiced, I kept getting references to the luncheon.
Until---- the Savory Spice Shop of Colorado (?!) popped up, delineating "Indochina Seasoning":
"We carefully hand mix our complex Indochina blend from white sesame seeds, ginger, lemon peel, turmeric, black sesame seeds, garlic, galangal, coriander, salt, cilantro, onion, white pepper, lemongrass, red Thai chiles and parsley."
The SSS people have been featured on the Food Network, apparently.
They don't mention using this on beef, however. But I definitely think I would purchase a mix like this, rather than try to combine a zillion spices, right? Unless I were a person native to Indochina, of course.
ps We relished sampling smoked Alaskan ( not Alaska) Black Cod this summer in Southeast Alaska.
(Just sayin'.)
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