Ben Hong

Jo-Mel: I humbly suggest that it was Gen. Claire Chenault who led the Flying Tigers, and they were in Yunnan Province, not Szechuan. So solly. You are right though, that cowardly Bandit King, Chiang Kai Shek and his rapacious entourage, the Koos, Soongs, etc. all repaired to Chungking in advance of the Japanese rather than have some of his troops wasted in battle. You see, the US gov't gave them billions $$ in military and financial aid to maintain his military, based on the size of his army. Alas, the $$ went straight into "hiding", leaving millions of starving soldiers to ravage the countryside looking for food. Coming back to food , there was a time in the fifties and early sixties when everything "exotic" and foreign had to be "hot and spicey". Hence you see the anomally of people pouring great gobs of crushed chilis on Polish cabbage rolls, foo yong, spaghetti, etc. I mean the culinarily naive public almost "demanded" to be titillated by the almighty chili. Once someone "discovered" szechuan cuisine, the floodgates opened and that style shot up in popularity. But, that would not normally account for the rapid growth in popularity of Szechuan cooking. What you needed was the business acumen of the Chinese restauranteurs(bless their pragmatic hearts) who were in North America at the time, 99% of whom were Toisanese or Cantonese. Hey, we knew a good thing when it comes barging into our cash registers. I mean, a lot of the chow mein and chop suey houses picked up on the trend and either added a few items or re-badged their restaurants to be "authentic" purveyors of Szechuan Food.

Not a few months, but a few weeks definitely. Usually in the old days in the village in Toisan, my family would slaughter a few ducks, brine and season them, "rack" them out flat and hang them out in a fifth storey balconey, away from insects and animals. This was always done in the 11th month as the weather starts coming from the north direction dropping the temps down to 10-12C. The constant dry, cool winds aid in the drying process. After a couple or three weeks, the ducks are stored away. Lop yuk(belly pork) was done but not very often as people don't have a tendency to slaughter their pigs until later for the Chinese New year. Lop cheung (sausage) was never done at our house, for the same reason as before, but it was also too much work. That season also marked the mass migration of hornets through our region. During this migration, they don't sting.

If you are waiting for mother or grandma to make the stuff, you might have a long wait. Most people don't bother making it at home. I have done so and it's not the same taste and not worth the effort.

The "waxed" meats are staples in a Chinese household. They should be available wherever there is a local Chinese/Asian food store.

Irwin, the practice that you speak of is one of the customs that we're seeing less and less of, agreed? BTW, in our family traditions Coleman's mustard is usually served with white cut chicken along with ginger/scallion/oil dip, and, oyster sauce. Chili sauce such as sriracha was and is preferred when we have Singapore noodles, sa ho fun, etc. Most Cantonese (I am one) don't usually do this, but we do. Plum sauce on egg rolls or spring rolls? Fie on that. Real plum sauce(not pumpkin mix) or duck sauce is usually used for bbq duck. A small dot of ketchup on crispy roast belly pork wrapped in a bit of iceberg lettuce, is a favourite. That's it, there is NOTHING else on the table other than what I mentioned for a real authentic Toysan, merchant/ peasant, family meal - except the ubiquitous soy sauce. When I say authentic, I am referring to what we saw on the table in a relatively well off, pre-Liberation Chinese family. The real peasants can only hope for a regular bowl of rice with a few veggies. Condiments and sauces? Well they'd be doing real well if they had salt and oil.

coor-bwui-yonh

If you don't want to go through the hassle of velvetting or using bicarb, use a tender cut of meat like sirloin, or blade eye or rib eye or even filet. The Chinese like the "lesser" grades because those cuts ironically have the connective tissue to hold together better. Also, we Chinese like a bit of "al dente" in our meats. Always slice meat across the grain. For stir frying the worst cut of meat is the round...too dry, mealy and hard...ptui.... A hint, stirfry the meat seperately first until it just barely changes colour, take it out, stirfry your veggies, and just at the moment that you are thickening the dish, add the meat back, mix and plate. WORK FAST AT HIGHEST HEAT. Hint ll, if you are using a domestic range, cook small portions because there is not nearly enough heat to duplicate or even approximate what a commercial kitchen can do.

Je veux retourner aux sujets culinaire, allons-y!

Comme on dit dans le region d' Abitibi du Quebec: "taberrrrnacle".

Judiefoodie, welcome to this thread. It is good to see so many of us coming out and finding others with the same background. Just to start a little group project, ask your older immigrant relatives, parents what area of Toisan they come from. A prominent town or market place should suffice. From that one can deduce the region they hail from on a good(?) map. (I have been trying to Google a map of Toisan). This exercise should serve to illustrate how small our little Toisan is and how much interaction there was among clans- marriage, commerce, and other liaisons. I have always said that if my YenYen were alive, she could probably place most of your parents and grandparents, after meeting and talking with them. Who knows, I may be related to a few of you!!??!! To start, my last (clan) name is Hung (Hoong) or Bear. My home village was name Dai Gong Li, about 6-8 miles west of the town of Chek Sui (Chixi in Mandarin) and 12 miles north of the port of Kwong Hoi (Guanghai)

Offal or variety meats are treasures to the "ethnic" crowd. I don't know why the present generation has such an aversion to the stuff. In the fifties and early sixties, it was very common for families to have offa la couple of times a week, ethnic or not....liver, heart, kidney, sweetbread, tongue, etc. Liver. Try a mild liver, such as calve's or veal just saute'd med. or med. rare. Well done liver is tough and strong tasting. Pork liver is "bitter" to some. Chicken livers are best panfried. Lamb liver is best of all as it is very mild and not as "mealy" tasting as other types. Tongue. Scrub fresh tongue with a couple of handfuls of salt a couple, of rinses and simmer with a bouquet garni for 45mins. depending on size. Cool and "peel" the skin off. Now it is ready to be used for whatever, but remember that it may not be tender enough at this stage and some more cooking time may be required. Tripe. Soak in salted water for a while, clean carefully, the use it for whatever dish and cook the hell out of it. Most honeycomb tripe nowadays come pretty well prepared and cleaned though. Kidney. The secret to ridding kidneys of the urea odour is to soak it in a cold weak brine for an hour, take it out (it will have absorbed lots of water) and leave it on a plate for a while to drain out. Repeat. A couple of cycles and the odour is virtually gone. For you anatomy students out there, this is a great example of osmosis by the renal tubules. Brains. Carefully snip off the veis and arteries before using. Enjoy.

High standards should be maintained, and preferred, if economically and logistically feasible. Sometime the stars can't all be lined up and ya gotta do what ya gotta do. There are only a few of us on earth who can tell whether an oregano comes from a hillside in eastern Greece or a hillside in southeast Albania. Blessed are the cooks who can create fine food out of "non elitist" ingredients.

Liver of all kinds and styles for me. Lamb liver is the best for "liver and onions". Absolutely best liver you can eat. Saute'd chicken livers on pasta with a good tomato sauce. Chinese style stir fried. Pork liver, sliced very thin, dropped in a very hot bowl of jook(congee). Liverwurst, pate's, etc. I love the texture and taste.

Whoo - hoo, that's goood Laissez les bons temps rouler.

Montreal style "steamies" get my vote, regardless of toppings. Second choice: large quarter pounder Shopsy's weiner split and grilled, inside a "grilled on both sides" bun, hot mustard and sauerkraut. But, only in Canada.

Cold rice, small can of salmon, a few slivers of pickled gai choy, green onions, splash of nuoc mam, microwave to warm up. Three minutes to heaven. AHHhhhhh. Second choice, ditto to "werdna's" dish.

Dai=big, chop (jup)=mixture, wui=dish?(production). This was more of a dish served at important occasions, where a chicken or duck would be slaughtered, hence the parts and blood, etc. But know that this dish bears little resemblance to the beansprout, mushroom and celery abomination that one would see in some "Chinese" cafe'.

Shiewie, absolutely stunning...food and pictures

Chop suey is anything and everything. Like Yuki says, it means a little of everything lying around the kitchen at the time. Tales (myths?) of how it was originally concocted abounds. My favourite concerns a raliroad, construction, lumber, mining whatever Chinese camp cook who overslept. When the workmen all came to eat, he had nothing prepared so he started the fire and heated the pots and pans and started throwing bits of leftovers, veggies, etc into the pans, added some soy sauce, and served it. When asked what it was, he came up with "chop suey" or roughly, mixed bits and pieces in Toysanese. There is a similar dish that we are sometimes served in home "banquets" and other occasions. That is called "dai chop wui" which is a stir of cloud ears, golden needles, duck or chicken blood, gizzards, livers, mushrooms, snow peas, etc. Absolutely delicious.

Thank you for the excellent reseach ,Pan. Jujubes add a sweetish flavour to soups and steamed dishes like "steamed chicken and mushrooms". The Toishanese pronounciation for them is "hoong daw" (hoong=red), whereas the the other so-called "olive" is called "lum jwun" or in the case of the black fermented halves of them, "lum-see". The "daw" and the "lum" are not the same species(?).

They are not olives at all. Yes zadi, they are the same as the Korean ones.

The more common name for "olives" is the Chinese jujube.

The green leafy veggie that turns red on cooking is amaranth. The green pea pods are soy beans, I think.

According to my Petit Robert, "baiser" usually means "to kiss" come "donner un baiser a quelqu'un". Action de poser sa bouche sur une personne, une signed'affection , de respect, ie: suck face, kiss hand, etc. In certain contextual situations yes, the term has a more carnal significance. Sometimes there is great confusion when mademoiselle breathlessly urges "baise moi". It's all in the perception and context, you see.

Jin, is you middle name "fusion"? Your menu is one of the reasons that I come on this board. You've given me some great ideas.