Ben Hong

But doesn't every one do this?!?!

Ong Choy, water spinach, Kongsin cai, whatever!! I call it delicious.

When my Mother was alive, it was an annual tradition, not to be missed. We had both the sweet and savoury tang yuen. The round dumplings symbolizing the circle (completeness) of the family. As a side note, eating glutinous rice dumplings always gave me the "back door trots", and it wasn't until I was well into my adulthood when I outgrew my affliction. I didn't enjoy what everyone else was relishing. Maybe I was the designated black sheep!!

BINGO I just heard the sound of a hammer hitting the nail squarely on the head. Gen. Tso and Kung Pao are personna non grata in our household.

Close cross-hatches make for a more "artistic" curl, in any case they should not be more than a quarter inch. Take off tentacles and head (to be used later), throw away the long body cartilage and the mouth beak, split the body and lay flat , scrape off purple "skin" if desirable, flip so the inside of the body is facing up. Use a heavier and very sharp knife held at an angle and using little or no pressure just drag the blade across the flattened squid. (To get a diamond shaped design, I usually drag the blade across the flesh off-axis to the piece, rotate 45 degrees and repeat). Lastly cut the whole piece into bite sized morsels.

Yam, taro, sweet potatoes are called different things in different parts of the world. In the USA a sweet potato is called a yam . In Canada it is called properly, a sweet potato. Taro is taro or eddoe in Canada. In some Caribbean Islands taro is called "dasheen" which in itself is a corruption of the phrase "de la Chine" (of China) or Chinese.

hey GastroGirl, how ya been? (By your clear, unpocked skin, I know that you never left any grains of rice in your rice bowls!!)

Hmmm...not in my experience.

We call that "yoong choy" in Toisanese, and treat it like amaranth. I lower fish into deep fry oil by holding it by the tail and slowly sliding it in.

Oh yeah!! Most Chinese will mix those fine elixirs of the gods with 7-Up or Cola.

That is one taboo that has some practical merits. Flipping a delicate steamed fish will turn the dish into a crumbly, amorphous mess.

Where I live in New Brunswick (next to Maine) we have almost a larger shrimp harvest than Maine. But, they co-opted the name. When I lived near a fishing village, we used to get them by the 5 gallon pails, about 25 pounds for $10, and extra large Digby scallops for $1.00/lb. The shrimp is best just boiled and eaten at leisure with lots of beer and a hockey game on the TV.

Not much of what I cook necessitates the addition of wine, ie: shaoxing. For those few dishes that do, I use a shot of any liquor/wine in my cupboard. I find that rum is a very good addition....so is vodka, scotch, rye. Anything but gin. As for the difference in quality and price, I have found that after cooking and incorporating the wine in your dish, the $2. plonk is as good as your $25 "good brand". Alas, I cannot taste the difference. I guess I have to sharpen my taste buds.

JOOK

XiaoLing, what spices differentiates your dish from what is made Cantonese style with star anise, ginger, chun pei, garlic, etc. ? You are so lucky to be able to get real gnow lam (nu lan) . I love the mouth feel of the white membranes.

Mizducky, here's a few tips on improving what looks already like a tasty looking dish: Use pork shoulder with lots of fatty marbling. If at all possible, keep the meat in one piece. Best if the meat comes with skin. Browning really is an option, not a necessity. Cook the meat lo o o o n g and s l o w. Till it's almost falling off the bone. The meat in this dish should be unctuously velvety and melt in your mouth.

Parasites need not be a big concern if you use meat from trusted sources. In Canada most meat retailed through supermarkets and other reputable outlets are generally government inspected. I do beef jerky all the time and all I do is dry the stuff, never cooked over 140F. degrees. Almost any meat can be made into jerky.

Soft. May be it's me. I don't see eating eggplant any other way. It cannot be eaten raw as in salad. ← Egg plant cooked with fatty pork and haum ha is the ultimate stinky comfort food. It's the soft squishness that gives it "character", dontcha know??

Amazing that you have the phrase chau yau yue in Msia too TP. For the same indignity of getting fired, we old loh wah kieu also use sik joh pork chop, lah or in Toysanese, hek goh pok chop, loh interchangeably. Apparently pork chops were a more expensive item in the Chinese-Canadian restaurants. One brash cook was summarily fired after eating one without permission.

Ahh, I like your story better. I heard my version of the story from the storytelling of my elders, who may or may not have great abilities of recall. I know that at their age, my memory is like Swiss cheese these days. You have Wikepedia.

If you want to eliminate some of the wild taste, or if the meat is a bit stringy, yes marinade. I don't, usually.

Ground venison with middle eastern spices wrapped around large skewers is venison shashlik. My favourite Chinese style venison is stir fried with ginger, garlic and scallions, honey, and dark soy sauce. This fall, I was given a large chunk of young bear. It's been a few years since I enjoyed bear and I forgot how delicious it was.

Gaminess and toughness in venison is not usually a problem, because most whitetail deer that are shot in our neck of the woods are generally young bucks. They are very tender. Gaminess is a subjective appreciation, what I find mild may be gamey to some. I rather like a little wild taste. Two round steaks (leg) that we had last Saturday tasted like veal.

Yau ja guay = deep fried devil. Legend has it that it was a private insult to the Manchu Dynasty used by some would be insurgents. I have tried Martin Yan's recipe (don't ask me to link) and found it to be quite satisfactory. He uses alum along with baking powder.

Treat venison as lamb. Use it in Mongolian type dishes ...kabobs, stews (5spicey), stir fried with ginger and scallions. .. I have eaten a lot of venison this year as well as wildfowl, grouse, pheasant, etc.