Ben Hong

Chefdazi: There is only one version, and it was invented by the Chinese.

Gastro888, what you describe is the reason why many Chinese men can't find Chinese wives here in North America. In many cases, the boys are doted on hand and foot by all the family, especially the female side. That does not make for a good foundation for the boy to use in treating any Chinese girl/woman with the respect as an equal which she would correctly expect. Also in many cases of mixed marriages, the partner is from another culture, so behaviour patterns are expected to be different. I fully understand your situation and, if you were my relative, there would be no pressure from me whatsoever. If it's any comfort, my 25 year old daughter feels the same way about the Chinese boys whom she's met.

Lamb and mutton. Lots of different ways to prepare them. I had ground lamb wrapped around a skewer once that I am still trying to duplicate. It is what is commonly called shashlik. Chinese Muslims are still Chinese of course (with the stomach to match), so they'll use any and all kinds of ingredients, except the obvious non-halal things and cook them Chinese style.

Chefdazi, that's what I would call "aged". Enjoy.

Chefzadi: I suppose there are no real valid, measurable or empirical reasons to keep a sauce for 75 years. I personally feel that this is apocryphal. Keeping a sauce for 20-25 usages though has definite merits as with each successive use, the "meatiness" of flavour or "umami" increases and what you get then is a depth of flavour that is astounding. Fresh master sauces, on the other hand, has a new "edge" that is also discernible to those with golden palates. Boeuf bourgignon or coq au vin almost always taste better the second day, non? Same principle.

Stephenc sounds like one of those people who is ethnocentrically myopic to the customs and traditions of other cultures. We are probably "quaint", no? His comments, unless they are a joke, would draw a "kok" from me and some benign neglect from more polite people.

Chinese New Year in any place with a large Chinese presence. San Fran., New York, Toronto, Vancouver. Of course there's also Hong Kong, Shanghai, Quangchou, Singapore........yum

Gastro88, kok you? Not very likely, but I'd probably give you one of my famous (infamous?) bearhugs though. You young'uns are in a very good stage of your lives now. Enjoy.

Gastro88, at my age I don't remember things that were said or done yesterday or last week very well without writing them down, but I can minutely remember every detail involving all 5 senses from the time I was 3 years old. I have shocked many of my family elders with "revelations" of what I had seen when they thought that I was too young to notice. I remember crotchless "training " pants, the topknot hair, the baby jade bracelets that I broke, my own father's funeral (I was 4), the floral scented breeze that cooled us while playing in the village pavilion, my favourite adult in the community building, the cobra my mother killed one winter as it coiled around the hen's nest for warmth, etc. Of all the happy memories I've been blessed with over my 6 plus decades, none are more poignant, more warm, and more grounding than my memories of the Chinese New Year's periods of my young childhood. I love Chinese New Year and all its trappings, so much so that I conspired with the Deities to have my first born (son) born on Feb. 9th, 1975 (CNY) and next Wednesday will be his birthday. Amazing? Well his Paternal Great Grandfather was born at the same hour on the same Lunar Calendar day (CNY). I named him Kai Nin after his ancestor, my Grandfather. I LOVE CHINESE NEW YEAR

None of the coniferous trees in Canada have anything poisonous about them. Juniper berries picked off your or your neighbour's ground cover juniper foundation plants would be as good as any you have to pay for. As someone just said, pick the real ripe ones. Some of my friends used to make spruce beer and they also produced a passable gin in their "back yard" using the same juniper berries to get that "gin" taste.

Masochism, pure unadulterated masochism I say. Just wait 'til you're my age, when the vigours of youthful tissue is but a memory.

Boorishness with chopsticks and cutlery is hard for me to take. I just look on it as actions by boorish individuals who absolute have no manners instilled in their upbringing. To be pitied. Another thing that amuses me is to watch people trying to show off their adroitness with chopsticks by eating(?) loose fried rice off a plate . We Chinese are nothing if not pragmatic and everyone I know would eat fried rice from a bowl with chopsticks. But if confronted with rice on a plate, pass me a fork or spoon please.

Those little blow up pastries that Dejah referred to are actually mouth blown. They may be filled with a little sweet peanut paste or just plain empty. Dejah, the white ball of plain boiled dough that all the villagers make are what we in my family called "gnow lahn tay" sounds like "cow barn pastry" Memories of CNY when I was the youngest member of the family in the home village of 58 years ago: Shopping with my Yenyen in the hustle and bustle of the village market. Firecrackers and toys (ever stick a big cherry bomb in a cow pattie?) New clothes and shoes Women cooking all night, goose, ducks, chickens, pastries, etc. Getting up early one morning, I was treated to a drumstick and promptly fell back to sleep, hugging it. Lye see envelopes The intense flavour and aroma of fresh Chines celery and cilantro The abundance of snacks and foods all around our house The visits from our relatives(with more gifts) The visits of all the women (every single one) with their kids to their maternal home. PoPo really laid it on us The communal whole pigs roasting in the huge outdoor village oven. Lop yuk stir fried with celery and "see koo", the corm of a hyacinthe Lantern festival Village plays and music. Etc., etc., Best of all there was a traditional proscription against scolding from our elders during the whole 12 day period. Hoo boy. Dejah, I think I will move to Brandon. I miss the Toysan traditions that only women like you and your mother are keeping. I have no female relatives who observe and maintain these traditions. For this, and many other reasons, I really miss having sisters. Without Chinese women to keep the flame, us men are adrift. I really miss my Mother at this time of year.

There's maybe a deep undiscovered reason for the paucity of raw vegetable based salads in Chinese cuisine, but I have not uncovered any good explanations other than the "fertilizer' question/problem. There are all kinds of dishes using lettuce and other leafy greens as a wrap etc.. It could also be because of the yin-yang factor, ie; the extreme "cooling" effect of some salad veggies. As for the fertilizer problem, Thailand and Vietnam both have a strong presence of salads in their cuisines and both use the same traditional type of fertilizer.

Ask for it by saying "lut guo or loot guo". They are already shelled but not husked.

Then of course there's the scene in the movie "Deliverance" where the Hillbilly asked for the"pig's squeal".

Dried Chestnuts are very common in Chinatown. Go into a store where they have bins of dried goods displayed out front---dried shrimps, mushrooms, fish, grains, etc. They usually have dried chestnuts...and anything else dried. The other "Chinatowns" up north of the downtown has some very good stores, but the places on Spadina are by far the cheapest, imho.

If some of you are lucky enough to live in or in close proximity to a "rural" area, there are always a few people who raise their own "organic" chickens, ie: buy the chicks and feed them over the summer for slaughter in the fall, after a short life of scratching in the dirt (free range ) You might want to go in on the deal and have them raise a few for you. That way you can dictate the age of slaughter and choice of feed. Most of the supermarket chickens are slaughtered way to early, eg: 6-7 weeks for a fryer, 8-10 weeks for a roaster, etc., in response to pitiful public obsession with and demand for more tenderness. The result is a chicken with too young, mushy, meat, with no depth of flavour. (some of the new immigrants to come from China complain that our chicken has no flavour) To my thinking, the only half way decent way to treat these fledgelings is to use them for fried chicken. When making a stewed or braised chicken dish, you need a bird with some substance and firmness, eg: a mature capon, an over-the-hill cock, or even old biddies retired from the egg production lines. Once in a while some of our local supermarkets get in a supply of "stewing hens" because the local Acadians use them to make "chicken fricot". When I see them, I will pick up a dozen or two at $1. apiece to freeze for stocks and stews. A mature bird is a lot more forgiving in the cooking process, and will taste a lot better.

Chefzadi, you're a man after my own heart. There's too much verbiage over a simple dish like beef stew, ok, boeuf bourgignon then. In another thread I used the word pragmatism in trying to get posters to free themselves from the strict constraints of "classical" (perceived or otherwise) recipes, insisting on the right brand of cooking wine, the exact brand of sauce, the precise ratio of ingredients, etc. ad infinitum. Except for my restaurant days, I can never replicate a dish to taste precisely, exactly each and every time. But then, our taste buds, among other variables, don't react exactly the same way each and every hour of any day. I am of the belief that you make do with what is at hand and if you don't have the goods, then improvise. And, if you do improvise, I will not be calling your efforts dishonest.

Aha, I've been inadvertantly vindicated in my stance for pragmatism in cooking by the results of your labours. There were many a post devoted to getting the exact brand of Shiao Shing wine to use in the filling, the proper and right proportions of ingredients, whether to use fermented bean cheese or not, etc. just to have as much "authenticity" as possible. Even though I advocated pragmatism, I applauded your quest for the one true bao. But then I see the results(especially the baked ones) and, as delicious as I can imagine they are, they are virtually bereft of any dough covering. HEY, they are called "BAO" or buns, ie: doughy things. A fistful of filling wrapped with a thin covering of crust would not be called a "bao" in my lexicon. The "authentic" bao usually is 70% dough to 30% filling by volume, sometimes even less. Authenticity is an elusive thing, and it describes more than taste. If you prefer a bao with a thin skin of dough, by all means enjoy. Pragmatism and creativity are wonderful words, aren't they?

Transparent, I respectfully suggest that the VAST majority (maybe even 100% of restaurant woks are carbon steel. I grew up in, worked in and owned "Chinese" retauarants and to be frank, I have "never" seen a cast wok in a restaurant. If you have ever used one, they take forever to heat up (not wok-like), you can't flip or shuffle them while cooking because they are as heavy a dickens, they are brittle, etc. I am positive though, that there are applications where a cast iron wok would be appropriate (because they are being manufactured), but I've not seen any. Perhaps someone with a better and wider experience than me can correct me if I'm wrong.

Buy a couple of sizes, eg: 14" and a 12" one. That should cover ALL domestic cooking needs. They should be carbon steel, ie: the stuff that rusts. Stay away from non-stick and stainless steal. You can pick up a good carbon steel wok in any Chinatown for about $10.-$15. If you have electric burners on your range it is almost imperative that you buy a flat bottomed wok. It doesn't matter with gas. When I had an electric range, I did not use a wok, as I found that a large frypan/saute pan works best of all.

Edsel, my familiarity with the teahouse (cha lao) style of bao comes mainly from eating all kinds of them in Toronto and Vancouver, cities which arguably have the best Chinese food outside of China and Hong Kong. Almost all of the bao I eat in the dimsum places and restaurants there have been the baking powder type. However there is the Vietnamese style which is larger and are of the yeasty variety. These suckers are huge, about the size of a softball and my favourite of these are chicken filled. In Hong Kong most of the "inside" restaurants serve a baking powder style bao, yet most of the street hawkers sell the yeasty type. Go figure. As for alcohol in the bao recipes, I say whatever turns your crank. I have a very pragmatic approach towards cooking...I am a stickler with the essential components of any recipe. As for anything else that may or may not make a huge difference, if it's available I'll use it, but I wouildn't lose one wink of a good night's sleep if I didn't have something that's not crucial to the recipe. Who knows, if you happen to use rum or scotch instead of ShiaoShing, you might be surprised that the bao might taste better, if slightly "different".

Edsel; I don't know whether the yeast dough is more prevalent in the home but I do know that it's the recipe that almost all cookbooks give. I can't fathom that at all. The "cha lao" baos have a quite sweet dough made with baking powder. Little ms foodie's roast looks great ...for a roast. Cha siu is thick strips of meat, better to take on more of the marinade. I do not normally use any specific alcohol (if at all) in my cha siu, because it would take a more discerning palate than mine to detect one brand from another after the stuff has been roasted with all the heavy flavours of the marinade ingredients. I'll drink my alcohol as a toast to those with Golden Palates who can differentiate.

After being storm stayed overnight in another city by the second blizzard in 3 days, woke up absolutely famished (everything was shut down the night before) and the Golden Arches were a welcome sight (the only thing open near my hotel). Slogged a half a block to it and had two sausage McMuffins and a large amount of coffee. My first trip to McD in about 4 years, and I must admit that it served the purpose well.