Ben Hong

All herbal soups are good, but my favourite is just plain jane ching bo leng that I buy in packages. 2 pounds of pork neck bones and a package of said herbals and I'm in heaven. "yeet hay" = hot air, or hot humours (a yang trait)

A Chinese household kitchen is probabaly the most "undeveloped" room in the house. Rudimentary at best, a table, a chopping block, a burner for the wok and and another for other pots, a table for work space, a sink. Forget about furniture grade cabinets, tiled or marble countertops, electic gizmos up the yazoo, etc. There would hardly be enough room to change your mind in it I am only talking about the working class high-rise "flats" here, but I have seen some "western " style abodes with ultra modern "western" style kitchens that would feel right at home in any upper middle class home in Canada or the US.

Dejah, the typical family style meal at home or in a "real" Chinese restaurant would be a form of "tasting" menu. In this case, everyone gets a bit of everything on the table. I have been to several very formal banquets ( Hosted by Chinese government officials) in China where each menu item listed on the banquet menu was individually served to each guest. That's about as close to a "tasting menu" as I have come in Chinese dining.

No you don't.

Outside of Asia, eels are very popular in Europe. In my province, we still have a few eel fishermen who trap eels for the export markets in Europe. In North America smoked eel is a great treat. As for organ meats, offal, trimmings, innards etc., up until the 60s, almost all the innards of the animal were regularly used in the average North American home. Liver, brain, heart, tripe, sweetbreads, kidneys, tongue, etc. Outside the animal are the tails, hocks, feet (including calves'), heads, rind, etc. Since the advent of the double income family, and the rise of convenience foods, the sterile foam meat trays in bleak supermarkets, the art of domestic cookery does not include the better and tastier parts of the animal, ie: the above mentioned, at least in North America. Dishes using the above ingredients are still very much in vogue in Europe. Working as kitchen help as a kid in the 50s I have seen items such as baked stuffed heart, sweetbreads, tongue, beef steak and kidney pie, sauteed calf's brain, black (blood)sausage, produced in the kitchen. The funniest thing I have seen in those more respectful times was that the father of the family of diners would get up to speak to the male waiters in private about his choice of dinner. Of course we all knew that he wanted lamb fries, or prairie oysters. Two years ago while on an upland hunting expedition through the Great Plains, we frequented some pretty colourful old-time cowtowns in the American west. To absorb the local colour we mostly ate in taverns and diners. Almost every place had a "specials" night featuring lambfries or prairie oysters, and at great prices. Not ba a a a a d at all. They were delicious. Yee-haaa. Like I've said before, it really doesn't matter what anyone thinks of us or any other people eating what can be found in nature's bounty. It's all about context with us, and cultural narrowness by those who would mock.

Another option is making pasta Aglio Olio. I figure olive oil flavored with garlic and some chilli should be fine. ← Many older Chinese people don't like the aroma of EVOO; and being Shanghainese, she's probably not a fan of chili. Chinese seniors are probably the most difficult people to introduce new foods to as they have developed set patterns in their diets over their long lives (you know, the Yin-Yang dyad, humors, hot-cold spectrum, etc.) . Having lived a long life abiding by their beliefs, they are reticent about upsetting the apple cart, so to speak. If it were me, I would not even try to serve her western meals. Treat her to some of the great restaurants in Shanghai. Kent, I hope that you are doing your bit of filial piety and will throw a banquet in her honour. "Face" is far, far, far more important than food. A banquet at the beginning of your visit will earn her great face, and set you up with enormous amounts of brownie points.

I would go with red sauced pastas, not the creamy white stuff. What Chinese doesn't like noodles.

Michael, that does sound dated and grating. The "recipe" seems to reflect the 40s and 50s attitude that any and everything thrown together can be called Oriental. They'll eat anything, dontcha know. I will repeat it again. Jook is plain old white rice cooked in a ratio of 7/1, broth-water/rice ratio. A bowl of white jook should serve as a palette on which you add flavourings and garnishes. IT SHOULD NEVER BE DISGUISED AS A STEW

Leo, I do understand your concerns and I have experienced, oh, about 56 years of bigotry and ignorance, but that will not prevent me from having my "delicacies" (except dogs). A long time ago when we started putting black beans and garlic dishes on our menu, the first few people who ordered it demanded their money back because the found mashed up "house flies" in their dinner. After telling so many mocking fools to go pound sand, or worse, I stopped worrying about what the gway loh or anyone else thinks a long time ago. People who mock other people usually are very insecure about their own place in the world, as the veneer of civilization easily wears through on them. They are of no significance.

I love cheese of all kinds, except anything made by Kraft that is orange/yellow in colour. The more aged and pungent the better. But, I also love the handcrafted raw milk cheeses that some Quebec and Maritime farmers make. My first exposure to velveeta or Kraft cheese slices tragically caused or coincided with a monster migraine headache when I was about 10. Took me about half a century to be able to even look at the stuff *shudder*.

I personally can't recall where brown rice is used in a recipe...and enjoyed. You see, to the rice eating cultures, white rice is held in almost sacred status as it represents life, purity, and a degree of honour to the server and the servee. Ideally a bowl of rice should not have anything poured over it like soy sauce, butter, juice of any kind and *horrors* sweet and sour sauce. The Japanese especially frown on this practice in a public venue. Over the millenia, the stigma of eating brown rice grew, and eating of brown or unfinished rice reduces one to the porcine status, at least in my familial context. In my youthful zeal to adopt modern and supposed beneficial habits, I told my Mother that we should try some brown rice. Upon my word, she started crying, because she thought that I was fired/broke or drowning in the morass of penury. It took a lot of explaining by my brother to calm her fears. Brown rice was forever banished from my vocabulary in my Mother's presence.

Aaghh. Something about brown rice jook imagery makes me quail. No offense, it's just me. I am proud to say that not a grain of brown rice has passed these sexagenarian lips of mine...ever. (Who you calling a traditionalist fuddy duddy??? )

Do you need a chinois? Hmmm... don't know, but my wife needs one sometimes

They are not usually stuffed, but "loo'ed". If you look into the window of a Chinese BBQ place and see all the roasted meats hanging there, invariably, the will be an orangy coloured skein or two of what looks like intestines. Most time these are the uteri or oviducts of the pig, not intestines . Delicious.

The lettuce of choice for us Chinese is iceberg. Torn leaves are flash chowed in a very hot wok with oil just until the leaves start to show a bit of wilt. A dash of oyster sauce on top is perfect. Must be enjoyed immediately it comes out of the wok. A variation is to mash a few (very few) fermented black beans into the hot oil before the lettuce goes in.

Sonofagun, so that's what my problem stems from lack of root, of the peanut kind.

The aversion for raw veggies comes from the tradition of using rich "nightsoil" for fertilizer. I am one of those Chinese that will eat cheese and love it. Camembert, Danish Blue, Stilton, Limburger, the "richer" and stronger the better. The taste of a good Brie in the mouth at the same time with a sweet grape or a piece of honeydew melon is one of life's greatest sensual experiences. A favourite lunch of mine is a heel of crusty bread, a hunk of Feta cheese, a bowl of Kalamata olives, a couple of scallions and a small bowl of good EVOO to dip the bread in. God those Greeks knew what they were doing .

Wow, I am amazed at how the humble jook has really been jazzed up. However, being the old fuddy-duddy that I am, I make jook for the simplicity of taste that I normally associate with a good bowl. Plain jook with a few bits of scallions, a drop or two of soy sauce, white pepper, and maybe a bit of fish or meat. The reason I eat jook is to break the run of a series of rich foods, and to get back to square one (basics).

I NEVER make them (shudder). If I can't find them fresh, I use spaghetti.

Do you mean how to make the actual noodles or a dish containing said noodles????

Hmmm.... dark soy with good sugar content meets very hot oil...you either get a smokey flavour or black burnt bits. In my/our restaurants we did not do that.

Tepee, that's why some recent immigrants to North America find the pork and beef less "meaty" tasting and the chicken almost devoid of taste, ie: the "chicken-y" taste. That's why some of the posters want to kill that "so" taste with brandies, they are not used to it. The desire by everyone to have lean meats, and the efficiency of commercial feeds, the chilling or freezing, and the prevalence of antibiotics and growth hormones have cleansed our meats of any "real" and characteristic flavours. Even our so-called free range chickens can't compare in taste to the chickens that one can get fresh killed in a wet market in KL, HK, Taipei, etc.

Use any of the noodles I mentioned but if yoyu really want to duplicate the restaurants version, ask the cook. As for smokey flavour, I don't know. Sesame oil has a rich intense "nutty" flavour which some call "smokey".

Good post Ah Leung. The Japanese have adopted the same Chinese character set (Kanji) and have been using it for the past 1200 years or so, along with their own hirakana and katakana, which were developed later.

What kind of noodles? What shape of noodles? Were they deep fried or stir fried? Were they in "pancake" shape or loose?..... Simple "generic" stir fried noodles using plain old al dente spaghetti, vermicelli, fettucine, Shanghai noodles, wonton egg noodles,etc., all cooked or blanched : Have at hand: blanched or cooked noodles, minced garlic, chopped green onions, oil, light and dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, salt, sesame oil. Heat large fry pan or wok to smoking point, add a few drops of oil, so the noodles don't stick. Maintain very high heat until the end. Add a few bits of minced garlic, throw in the noodles, stir. Add a few drops of dark soy and a few drops of light soy sauce, and a tablespoon of oyster sauce. Stir well until noodles are heated through. Add some green onions and 3 or 4 drops of sesame oil. Stir. Serve. May I recommend a Chinese cooking lesson?