Ben Hong

Come to think of it, I never saw a cake at a Chinese b'day celebration either., just oodles of noodles and the usual suspects of whole chicken or duck and other dishes.

I will make one last post on this topic. The last time I looked, China does not have any indigenous salmon, what is called Chinese salmon (if there are such products) would definitely be salmon from other sources shipped to China for processing in their brand new efficient plants.

Yeah, damn the gas prices, just open Alaskan Nature Preserves to oil exploitation. Get a bigger SUV, eat more smog while you look for pristine wild salmon in your dead salmon rivers. Get some perspective...please.

Here we go. Saddle up the Xeno horse, the Chinese are coming! The Chinese are coming!! Relax people, the cold war is over. Any food products that are allowed to get through the North American customs people and the testing labs should be safe for you to eat. The testers are even more paranoid and xenophobic than you are. Just for your info, a lot of the so-called Chinese products are actually products processed in China by subsidiaries of American or European multinationals, companies which would not want to jeopardize their reputations. Most of these subsidiaries/branch plants are brand new plants built with shining new last minute technologies and use the latest techniques. I have seen many of the antiquated canneries of Canada and the US and I know they would disgust many on this very finicky board. Bon appetit.

Irwin, I was trying to transliterate what we call the fermented salt fish that we are all talking about. "Moi herng, or moi heng" roughly means "fermented aromatic" . The moi heng treatment really, really intensifies the aroma (stinkiness) of the salt fish. At a stage of the salting and preserving process, the fish is allowed to do a controlled putrefaction. The result is the intensely "aromatic" product that encourages Chines homeboys to eat bowls and bowls of rice . It has nothing to do with species, as any fish can be given the treatment.

The "moi herng" variety of our salt fish is more flavourful, but it is also more pungent smelling to the non adherent . This type has been fermented. A very close approximation of the taste and smell would be anchovies left out on the kitchen counter for a week ...or two...

Guangzhou or Guangchou or Kwangchou is the name of the capital city of Kwangtung or Guangdong Province, the southeast Chinese province that abuts on Hong Kong. Toysan, Hoisaan, Taishan, Toisan is the county of Guangdong province that is about west and southwest of Macau. This is t6he hjome district of 95% of all the Chinese in North America, and elsewhere, prior to the late 1960s. By your transliteration of "doong" you are Toysanese.

Ditto hzrt. The fish always goes on top. No sesame oil on mine though. Anyone out there who likes salt fish fried rice as much as me? When I was a very young child in the home village, my mother would sometimes put some very wet rice with a piece of salt fish in a clay pot and bury it in the embers of the wok "stove" after the morning meal. By 3 pm, when we were hungry for a snack, that would be the ULTIMATE comfort foood. Thick jook redolent with salt fish and ginger taste. "Doh fut jook" stove chamber jook.

Pssstt! You got 3 years????

Ma Po's Dou Fu was invented under stress as she was called upon to cook something for the Emperor as he visited her village so many centuries ago. If you want to stretch it, that original dish was the only authentic version as she didn't know what she would end up with.

Tahini is absolutely NOT a substitute. The asian sesame paste is not always available, that's why I use crunchy peanut butter a lot (in keeping with the versatility aspect), with a few drops of sesame oil.

But, my dear Touareg (!), that's the nub of Dejah's and my replies. There are about 50 million people in China who can make mapo doufu and I am certain that the majority of their dishes would be a little different from all the others. Versatility and adaptability of the individual cook and what's in the pantry or fridge will dictate how his dish on a particular day will taste. Perhaps this is the reason why your mother, like a lot of Asian mothers from the old countries is hesitant in giving out recipes, because a dish that she may do particularly well may well be something that she can't formally verbalize or write down because of all the invariables. At the risk of being a long winded preacher, a long time ago I witness the interaction between my own mother and a female cousin who asked for cooking advice . The cousin asked how a certain dish was cooked, my Mother's response was to list a few ingredients and a couple of crucial steps, that's all. There were a lot of assumptions on the part of both parties, the main ones being that both parties knew what the dish tasted like and that both knew what kind of cooking style to use (ie: stir frying, braising, red cooking, steaming etc.) When it came time to be on my own, I was given the same advice(?). SO, IT MEANS THAT IF YOU HAVE ALL THE COOKING TECHNIQUES AND KNOW THE TASTE OF INGREDIENTS, YOU CAN ALMOST REPRODUCE MOST ANYTHING YOU TASTE. Family cookbooks are unheard of, at least in my family.

Turtlemeng has it down pat. Yes, it often has ground pork but historically it is not an absolute essential. Back in the mists of time, meat was not often available. This is a great dish hot or cold.

Touaregsand: I think that you are asking the impossible when you ask for "authentic" recipes. The beauty of Chinese, yea most cuisines, is that each cook has his or her own particular idea of authenticity, depending on his training and where he comes from. Mapo tofu in Japan is hell of a lot different than what I've eaten in a small town in China; mine is almost completely different than what I've eaten at my cousin's. The only things that are common were the dou fu, the meat, and the chilis. Even the meat is often different as there are just as many people who think that pork should be used as those who think that beef is correct . Now is that ground minced meat or shredded? Is the dou fu firm or silken and should it be diced, or mashed? What you should do is get a few good recipes, try them out, adapt and adjust to suit your taste and then you may call it authentic. That's is exactly what I tell my adult children who call me every other day at supper time for advice. No one who eats your food would dare call it anything but authentic. Works for me BTW, cooking Chinese food is not like baking pastry where you have to follow a recipe down to the last quarter tsp. or your cake/bread goes "poof" and it costs you many hours of prep time. My wife has spent 40 years dispensing medicine as an RN and she is a superb pastry cook because she can follow directions to a "T". I, on the other hand, rarely look at a recipe except maybe as a checklist of main ingredients. I literally can't make anything that involves dough or timing or strict temperatures

Sorry. Yep, I did misinterpret you statement on "uninspired Cantonese" cooking. Although, I have never eaten Chinese food in England, I really can't comment on your impressions. But, I have many friends and relatives who are living or have lived there, and they would agree with your comments - generally. I do love Kenneth Lo and Deh Ta Hsiung's works though. (Hsiung(Mandarin)=Hong(Cantonese)=Kuma(Jap.)=Bear. He is a member of our very small, well dispersed clan)

As immigrants from Fujian make up a disproportionate element of mainland immigration to Europe, North America and elsewhere, it's also perhaps surprising that Fujianese food hasn't caught on as a big trend yet. in Britain, it tends to be Cantonese and more Cantonese. Not very inspired. ←

The perfectly done Cantonese "bok jam guy" or white cut chicken has a wee soupcon of pink next to the bone. I skip any recipe that has the phrase "cook until tender".

The last 2 days have been torture, what with a debiltating head and chest cold. I needed some comfort food, so I dug up and old piece of salt shad (moi heng tow bak) and tossed it in with a piece of pork, ginger, dou fu, chicken broth and simmered it a bit. Omigawd, even with my plugged up sinuses, I could tell that it was a potent mixture. My wife threatened to evict me . But it was (is) gooood.

It is used, but not as much as one would think. I love the stuff, but most would not. Where I see it most often is when it's used as a garnish, or something to add to a dish as a sprinkle. The stuff enjoys a wider appeal in northern and western Chinese cuisines., in my experience.

I believe that everyone is talking about white "fungus", although I think the stuff comes from the sea(?). It comes in brittle, round clumps in the dried form. When soaked and cooked it has a bit of flavour, but I use it for textural contrast as even though it's soft, when you chew it, it feels "crunchy".

Pan, absolutely right (please see my prior post). In the past 20 years or so, since the liberalization of the immigration laws to Canada and the relaxing of the rules for exit visas from China, we here have seen a small but noticable influx of Shanghai people. Of course with them come the eateries. I have had some very good meals in Shanghai restaurants, but for the life of me, I can't discern those from the Cantonese dishes. Except for the wide use of sugar, the red-cooked dishes, special dishes liked tea-smoked duck, salt water duck, I would say that Shanghai and Cantonese cuisines share the throne as kings of Chinese cuisines. Both do amazing things with fish and seafood. Szechuan people are not a readily identifiable group yet in Canada, even in Toronto with its 600,000 Chinese. However, there are a gazillion "Szechuan restaurants".

I find that the Squid brand settles some residue after a few months in the cupboard. Three Crabs do not, maybe that's an indication that it's "brewed" rather than mixed. I do notice that Squid Brand has msg listed as an ingredient, whereas Three Crabs don't. Like soy sauces, the real good stuff do not settle out.

Sorry all, for my unintentional rant. I guess in attempting to defend the fact that Vietnamese cuisine is superb and can stand alone without outside influence, my ire at the "perceived" Eurocentric view showed through. Mea culpa. (En tout cas, la cuisine Francaise n'est pas le seul du monde)

So really the influences are more of French techniques? Rather than say French flavors or French dishes? ←

One word: pieroghies.