Singapore

Try scrambled eggs with reconstituted dried scallops. Trickle a bit of basalmic vinegar or soy sauce over the top, along with chopped green onions and serve over rice.

Lessee, filling for egg rolls consists of cabbage, celery, chinese vegetable, and sometimes scallions, all chopped and pre-cooked. Season with salt, white pepper, and MSG. Drain thoroughly before you season. Take an egg roll wrapper and lay it so that corners are at the 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock position. Take a handful of the vegetable mixture and place in center, horizontally (about 1" by 3"). Add in minced pork (usually colored red), roast pork strips, scrambled egg. Bring the 6 o'clock corner up overlapping the center, then fold in the 9 and 3 o'clock corners over the center. Bring the 12 o'clock flap down and around until you have a cylindrical roll. Use egg wash or water to glue the last flap down. Get oil hot, deep fry until light brown. Take out and drain and let cool. When you're ready to serve, pop back into hot oil until it's brown like in Jason's picture. Fillings may change to suit the head cook. Sometimes instead of roast pork, small cooked shrimps are added instead. And that's an egg roll. By the way, egg roll parties are cool. Everyone rolls their own and you have a battery of fryers going. No smoking, tho. Cigarettes and deep fat fryers are a bad mix.

Anyone know of any good restaurants around the 5th and Spring St. area? Aside from the Varsity, thank you.

On Clairemont Rd. in Decatur. I was in a brew pub in Shanghai back in 2000. My brother in law worked there, and the pub's owner, knowing I was a Chinese American, brought me her four page menu and asked me to correct any errors. I think I gave up at 148 spelling errors (Pissner instead of Pilsner, for example), and wound up spending an hour or two rewriting the entire thing. Got free beer for the night, tho.

Thanks for the answer, when and if it ever comes out, I'll be first in line. Fascinating!

Is this from a book? If so, where can I buy a copy?

It's good as a stand-alone, but try a sandwich with a packet of mayo and a bit of Tabasco sauce on top. Yummy! Their chicken nuggets and chicken fingers are great too! Chik-Fil-A is one of the reasons I became a carpetbagger and moved South.

One of my earliest memories was eating Beef Chow Fun at Wo Hop during the late 60's/early 70's. It used to drive my poor father nuts since there were so many other excellent dishes available, but I'd pick Beef Chow Fun every time, since we couldn't get it in New Jersey. Then we'd go across the street to the Chinatown Fair and feed coins into the machine with the Fortune Telling Rooster. Hey, FG, do you, or anyone else here know how old Say Eng Look was before it closed? I had an uncle who worked as a waiter there for decades.

Isn't this located in a fairly rough, bring-your-own-gun type neighborhood?

Back at Georgia Tech, when we'd go out and raft the Chattahoochie, we'd bribe one of the Emory med students for a hypodermic (one of the REALLY big, through the rib cage, into the heart, here-it-comes ones), and inject pure grain alcohol into the center of the watermelon. Then we'd let it sit overnight in an ice chest full of ice, and cut it up on the river. I'm not sure how much of an even distribution of alcohol we got, since my mind frequently blanked out after the first piece. Or was it the first bite? Good luck, and have a nice party! PS Inject in several batches, with time in between each syringe-full. I remember one time we did it, and the poor sod tried to pump three syringes in at one time, and it backed up on him.

Does any cuisine qualify?

Have you checked out Alton Brown's recipe for pantry friendly tomato sauce? It calls for canned, but I'm sure you could substitute those nice, ripe, homegrown tomatoes in their place. Yum! Alton Brown's Pantry Friendly Tomato Sauce Recipe

Is there any word as to whether this will become a regular series?

Aaaargh! Beat me to it! Seriously, what's this about? Are we talking food tastings, a full meal, or what? Also looks pretty dominated by the Buckhead Dining Group.

Closest I've heard about is where the Marines would put their MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) on the engine block of their vehicles to heat them up.

I usually have the gills and fins removed when I have the fish cleaned.

Is China 46 the one in a big strip mall, Jason, or is it on Route 46?

Sounds like an elbow grease job with lots of those Scotch Brite green scouring pads. Try wrapping the pad around something like a small block of wood (palm sized), and then scrubbing with it. You get more scrubbing surface area against the pot.

Mmmmm, not to mention shao lun bao (Shanghai soup dumplings), or de pong (translated roughly means 'sweet fat', which is basically a ham shank or hock, simmered in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and wine, sometimes with a chinese preserved vegetable. ) The pork winds up being very tender, flavorful, and can be cut (with the grain) with a spoon. There's also the Shanghai style Chow Kne Gow, which is compressed rice cake sliced up, soaked, and then stir fried with shredded pork and other chinese vegetables. Dress it with a bit of Chinese dark vinegar and it's damn good eating! If you live in NY, try the Joe's Shanghai Restaurant in Flushing. I was last there about three years ago, but I still hear good things about the place. There are other branches in NYC, but the Flushing restaurant is rumored to be the best. I think it's still open. It's right across the street from that huge municipal parking deck. It is authentic? Any good? Put it this way: all of my relatives who are Shanghaiese (including my parents) eat there. Enjoy. Wish I was there.

Am I off base here, or do the new American Iron Chefs rely more heavily on the sous-chefs to take a dish from start to finish? The old IC shows seemed to have the Iron Chefs at least completing one of the plates to show the sous chefs what to do. If this is the case, is it fair? I mean, whose cuisine is it if the Iron Chef didn't touch the dish?

Good heavens! Insecure? For the record, I rather like Mr. Flay's cooking. But I didn't see anything truly original, or inspiring from him that night. Fish tacos? Look at Batali's performance during his battle-he took the ingredient and transformed it. He didn't just heat it up lumps of fish and pour sauce on it, or hide the taste under hot sauce. That kind of performance I expect from Chili's or Friday's, not an Iron Chef. And, considering how common the cast iron skillet is used in presentation in mass market restaurants, it may not be bad, but I certainly wouldn't say it's exceptional or inspirational.

You're not going to believe this, but I think it was a lock-back Swiss army knife!

I really, really want to try Batali's lobster cannolli (did I spell that right?). Very original, I thought. Looked really tasty! Comparing the American IC's, I think Batali's performance was much stronger than Flay's. Batali was innovative, and transformed the theme ingredient (like with the lobster fritters) whereas Flay either fried or grilled and then covered in sauce (the TGIF method). I can't wait to see what Puck does.

Sorry, Chris. I just can't, in my heart of hearts, accept Flay winning for fish tacos, and a cast iron skillet presentation that reminded me more of a meal at my local Cracker Barrel, or TGI Fridays. Not impressed at all.

Maybe Chris can answer this question, but were the judges announced in time for the chefs to get dossiers on them?