jo-mel

dcarch -- #12 -- You can also use the dull side of the blade to pound and flatten thick pieces of meat. A cleaver is indeed a useful, multi-purpose utencil!

Dejah ----I remember reading a story of a wealthy family in China, who hired a person to just remove the 'head' on beansprouts. That's all the person did. After one day -- she quit! About emulating any dish from any restaurant ----- I would say that rarely will they be the same. The chef in any particular restaurant will use his/her own taste for the dish .My thought would be to find the one you like, buy it and take it home and then eye examine it. Make a basic noodle sauce and then adjust with soy or oyster sauce till you find what you like .I like using oyster sauce, and rather than soy, if I don't want too a dark colored sauce, I use a salty-ish strong chicken broth. (even made from bouillon)

If you use enough oil while velveting the meat, it won't burn. You are not cooking the meat thru to the inside -- just taking away the pink. (Hi hzrt! Hao jiu bu 'jian'!)

Just started watching this series, and I don't think I will EVER eat lotus root again withouth thinking of those hard working brothers! The subtitles help, but the little Chinese I can understand is fun also. AND -- the beautiful music is a plus! Thanks for this!

CHIU CHOW CHICKEN WITH CRISPY SPINACH INGREDIENTS: 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs Marinade: 1 tsp, dark soy 1 tsp. light soy sauce 1 tsp.sugar 1 tsp. sesame oil 1 tsp. sherry 1 egg white, beaten 2 Tbsp. cornstarch Sauce: 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce ½ tsp. sugar 2 Tbsp. chicken broth 1 tsp. cornstarch 3 cups oil ½ pound fresh spinach 2 scallions sliced diagonally 1 tsp. coarsely ground pepper 1 Tbsp. sherry or Shao-Hsing wine 1 scallion finely sliced for garnish PREPARTIONS: Cut the chicken into 1 inch pieces. / Combine the ingredients for the marinade. / Add the chicken and mix well. / Allow to sit 20 to 30 minutes / Combine the ingredients for the sauce and set aside. / Trim and wash the spinach AND DRY WELL!!! / Measure the pepper in a cup and set aside. / Measure the sherry in a cup and set aside. / Slice the scallion and set aside. COOKING: Heat a wok and add the oil. (Have a cover handy for the splatter) When oil has reached 375’, add a handful of spinach, bar against the splatter, and deep/fry for about 30 seconds or until the leaves change color. Remove to paper towels. Continue with the rest of the spinach. Heat the oil to 350’. Stir the chicken, add to the oil and gently stir around to separate pieces. When golden, about 2 to 3 minutes, remove and drain from the oil. Drain oil, or use new wok. Add 2 Tbsp oil and heat. Add diagonal scallions and stir/fry a few moments. Add the pepper. Stir. Return the chicken and heat. Add the sherry, stir in to coat the chicken. Stir the sauce mix and add to the chicken. Stir till all is hot. SERVING: Place spinach around a platter, and place the chicken in the center. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve. Alternate Method: Rather than velvet the Chicken, you can stir/fry it. MARINADE: 2 Tbsp. dark soy 1 tsp. sherry 1 tsp. sugar salt to taste 2 tsp. cornstarch Stir/fry in 2 Tbsp. oil, adding a sprinkle of water if needed to keep chicken from drying out. Remove chicken from wok and continue with the recipe.

There was a ChiuChow resterant in NYC's Chinatown (long since closed) that had a great chicken dish that had a strange flaky flavorful crispy vegetable -- that turned out to be deep fried spinach. I've never had it this way in any dish and was delighted when I found a recipe for it. Interested in it?

The one thing about the years of practice is that not only do you get the hang of the actual pulling, but you can ''feel'' the dough. Your hands can sense when the dough is right for pulling and then how much flour is needed when you are pulling. One time in China, I watched a chef make them and just as the whole process was coming to an end, one of the noodles broke. He was so upset, that he put it all down and started over again -- successfuly. And happily!

This is a little late for last Sunday's Chinese dinner, but when I saw the word "teen-agers" and make ahead food, I immediately thought of Zha Jiang Mian. The sauce can be made ahead, and so can the noodles. If the noodles are oiled, they will reheat in the microwave quickly and easily. Just a thought for future, similiar dishes.

So many great books on that link from hzrt! I'd like to add Simoon's "Food in China" (A cultural and historical inquiry) which is in the same line as Anderson and Chang, in that they are not 'cookbooks' as much as sources of information. I have loads of cookbooks, too, as many here. I do like the Wei-Chuan series -- Chinese Cuisine 1 and 2. Also Chinese Snacks. Deh-Ta Hsiung's "The Chinese Kitchen" is a good 'ingredient' cookbook featuring recipes from specific ingredients. I like his "Regional Chinese Cooking", too. I go for authors, too. Ken Hom comes to mind. Dear to my heart is Calvin Lee's "Chinese Cooking", my 1st cookbook in 1958, and also Lin/Lin's "Chinese Gastronomy" Funny thing --- about the internet and so much access to Chinese recipes. I was working on a recipe once, and forgot something, so I went back to the internet looking for it. No where to be found! Not even in my recent history! I was absolutely puzzled, until I remembered that it was one of my own BOOKS I had been reading! I've loved collecting cookbook over the years, and have read every one. What to do with them all, tho, if we leave this place and move to a much smaller place!!??

Somewhere, in one of my Chinese cookbooks, there was mention of "Wash the Pot Soup". It was a matter of not letting anything go to waste. The wok used for cooking, simply had some water added to it. The remainders of whatever was cooked in the wok was mixed into the water, heated --- and you have a VERY simple soup! I did it, with water, but it was better with chicken broth.

Xue li hong -- Red in Snow, is leafy. The Wo Sun has a leafy top, but the long bottom is a solid vegetable, and that is the part I will be using.

I've used Wo Sun in a stir/fry, but I want to use this vegetable as a pickle. I've found a couple of recipes, but they seem pretty commonplace -- the usual sugar and vinegar. Anyone have a good one? I want to use it in a class where I introduce people to some of the vegetables they see in Chinese supermarkets, but don't know what they are, or how to use them.

Dejah --- I've never seen fresh lily buds in the markets or in a Chinatown. Or did you use them from your garden?

I use tiger lily buds in Mu Shu Pork.

I love those little eathenware pots! I use them as pencil holders, for plants, and I have a stack of them that I just can't throw away!

They look absolutely beautiful! However -- LOL! -- I did a double take with your "comment" following the picture. The "I admit -------" one. I know it has nothing to do with the shrimp, but it really made me laugh! Back to the recipe -- does the yoke add its own flavor?

If you mean like a slightly spread deck of cards, then that is the way I do it, too. Also -- you can cheat and get the shredded carrots in the packages from the supermarket. It is what I usually use when I make Dry-Fried Beef -- Gan Bian Niu Rou Si.

OOPS! Shuo cuo le! Yeah -- typo! 18 inches 18 inches -- actually the depth is 16" or 17". But they are the ones that you would see on the floors in the smaller stores. This one has that beautiful carving I mentioned, and all the protective rope. I tried to google for a picture, but couldn't find one. But the question is -- do the ashy ones last longer than without the ash, I wonder?

If the ashes are left on, do they last longer? Years ago, when they were shipped from China, in the holds of ships, in those massive crockware containers, it must have taken quite a while. Even months before they arrived at the different Chinatowns and were sold. Or so I would think. So their 'shelf life' must have been fairly long. BTW -- I have one of those beautiful containers. It is about 18"/18', is a dark brown glaze with an overlay of a dragon with shiny glassy eyes. It has twisted bamboo handles and wrapped in thick shipping cord to protect it from bumping into other containers during the trip in ship's holds. I bought it for $35, from a store in Montreal's Chinatown, years ago. They had several of them and were just trying to get rid of them!! I cherish it.

I'm one that doesn't want any color from soy or oyster sauces, either. To get that salt kick, I make some strong chicken bouillon and add a bit at the end of the cooking. Is it the simple purity of the dish that makes it such a favorite on banquet menus?

A couple or so Hong Kong style restaurants feature "Skewered Oysters with Black Pepper Sauce". Often the word "Sizzling" is used. When Black Pepper Sauce Beef came along, these oysters followed and they are absolutely wonderful! Often served on a sizzling platter, and swimming in a great black pepper sauce with lots of onions. It is a favorite of mine. I find them here in No. NJ, but they are in NYC also and a google can lead you to more. When the 'new' Hong Kong style chefs came to be, this was one of their finest dishes-- IMMHO.

It's been a while since I've done duck this way ---- a long while! But I looked at my notes, and have a couple of ideas. One is to dust the duck with a coating of cornstarch before deep-frying. The other is 'double-deep frying' where you deep-fry for 5 minutes, lift the duck out, let the oil reheat and then put the duck back in and finish frying till crisp. My directions also had the steaming time from 1 to 1 1/2 hours only. I use to put a large wooden spoon in the cavity to help turn the duck in the oil. It was handy for lifting it out, too.

I had a memorable shredded potato dish when I was studying in China in '85. It was not part of the usual dorm food, but there was a Student Canteen in the building where you could select dishes and pay on the side. They had a shredded potato dish with a hint of Sichuan pepper and vinegar, that stood on its own, in that it was not part of another dish. I absolutely loved it. But I never was able to find it in my large selection of Chinese cookbooks -------until I came across it one day in "Cooking from Mainland China" - Hatano. According to that book, it is a 'Peking' dish. Was I happy! It is one of my favorite side dishes! But I never found it in any Chinese restaurant in all those years. Until --- A Sichuanese place near me in No.NJ (Chengdu 1) changed hands and turned out to be one of the best places around. AND -- they had a shredded potato dish on their menu! (I heard about it thru an E-Gulleteer's review) Not quite like the one I had, as it has finely shredded green peppers and chili rather than the 'hua jiao'. But it is great and I get it every time we go there.

OH!! Really? Are they the whole clam? I live in Glen Ridge, so not too far from Fairlawn. I WILL be calling!

Where can I find Fried Clams in NE NJ? Not the strips, but the real New England Ipswich style -- you know -- with the 'bellies'.