jo-mel
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Posts posted by jo-mel
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When setting the table, chopsticks are placed perpendicular to the edge of the table,
on the right hand side, big end down. This way, the chopsticks are ready for use when the guest is ready to eat.
Tonight, for dinner, I made Lamb with Scallions. (& stir/fried snap peas) I put a fork/knife for DH, and chopsticks for me, on the counter. DH usually puts them on the table when he sits down. I served his plate, then sat down with my bowl. Just to be funny -- DH had put one chopstick on one side of the placemat, and the other chopstick on the other side! It really looked funny! (but I gave him a scowl)
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How about using boneless chicken thighs for a White Wine Coc-au-Vin? You can't go wrong with thigh meat. It won't dry out and can be made ahead. I like putting artichoke halves (frozen/thawed) in mine for a treat. A crusty bread, green salad and keep filling their wine glasses.
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Low-carb / lo-carb ------AARRGGGHHHHH!
I wish the word about 'GOOD-carb' would get out! I have been losing 1/2 pound a week over the last year just by getting rid of the sugar and eating starches (within limits) that have some bite to it. I don't deny myself, but I do make choices.
The original post about lowering carbs to lower blood pressure also was puzzling. But, I do know that when I eat unrefined starches, I retain fluid. I go back to whole grain stuff, and off goes the fluid. Just a modest drop in weight can also lower your pressure. I am still heavy, but my pressure and blood numbers have pleased my MD. And --- I'm still on my way down the scale.
Mags -- that comment from the person in line behind you made me laugh! It is always the people who don't know what they are talking about who bring up the steak and bacon thing!!
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Isn't that interesting, Jason. They give you any idea as to where they buy it?
I was told it could be found at Chinese supermarkets now.
Great! I plan on getting a bottle! Thanks for showing the picture.
About the 'heat treated' pepper now being available --------wouldn't they be in packages that have the brand and other information on it? Like what is in the package, it's source and weight? The package I bought in NYC was sealed, but absolutely blank except for the price written in magic marker. Not even the name of what was in the package.
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A friend told me that the rice should be added to the oil and other previously sauteed ingredients *before* adding the eggs, and that the eggs should be cooked separately or in a little space in the pan where the rice has been pushed aside. Does anyone make fried rice this way?
I do. But mine is Chinese -- not Japanese. Using a wok, I make a space right in the middle, and add a little oil. When the oil is hot, in goes the fork beaten egg. It immediately bubbles up around the edges and I stir it gently. When it is curdled, I mix it in with the rest of the rice and whatever. I use very little soy sauce. I like fried rice very simple -- YangChow style.
Probably, that center cooking of the egg, might be difficult in a flat pan. I don't know.
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Chatty stuff is fine when you are doing some simple, routine kitcheny thingies BUT - when it is time for the last minute stuff -- making the gravy, reseasoning, last minute browning, and that crucial time -- getting everything on the table at once ----then BE QUIET and GET OUT OF MY WAY!
When I use to do Chinese catering -- at some one elses house, I would seethe under my charming smile when some guest would drift in the kitchen, drink in hand, lean against the counter and start to tell me his (mostly men would do this) experiences with Chinese cooking. Or someone would say--- Hmmmm, what is in that sauce. Huh? what is star anise/oyster sauce/Sichuan pepper or whatever. Mind you, my mind is turning all over trying to keep everything timed and flowing. But I was like a duck - "calm and serene on the outside, and paddling like crazy underneath'! AARRRGGHHH! I DO NOT miss catering!
Back in my own kitchen, and about pets. -----My own cats could read me extremely well. They knew when it was safe to be near me, and when to skeddadle. But one winter I had my son's dogs (2 black labs and a golden) for several months. My kitchen is not very big, and is set up so that I can cross to the refrig, or the sink or counter or stove in 2 or 3 steps. It is great for cooking. But those dogs simply loved to be near me and sprawled right in the middle of the floor!! (I finally put up a gate.)
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Got it!! I've had both the red and the green Swiss Chard. On my own -- not in a Chinese restaurant.
Mark - You are right about all the Chinese greens. More and more are in the markets now. It used to be just Chinese broccoli and Yu Choy (aside from the bok choy varieties), but more and more are being seen. I use/order the regular snow pea top with the whole leaf and no stem, but I also now see another snow pea top with smaller leaves and very thin stems. At Joe's Shanghai in C'Town, on Sunday, I saw some but had already ordered. Anyone know what it is like?
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MK - What is the 'varigated green'??
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Tomorrow I plan to buy the Oyster Sauce with Scallops-- and give it a taste try. The scallop is conpoy, so it should have pretty good flavor.
The way BB describes the Oyster Sauce as compared to the Scallop Sauce seems like 'red' wine to 'white' wine -----Worcestershire Sauce to White Wine Worcestershire Sauce -----Balsamic Vinegar to White Wine Balsamic. But I could be full of baloney --- er -- Chinese Sausage!
BB - what is the brand of the Scallop Sauce??
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I did a taste test with other Sichuan pappercorns that I have on hand:
On my Chinese shelves, in a closed jar, the numbness/tingle was very mild.
In the freezer, I have packages from both E-Bay and the CMC company. They had much more bite than the shelf one, but both were about the same. They were good, and I still have some numbness, after 10 minutes, from the e-bay supply -------BUT nothing like the supply I got yesterday at Kam Man!
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In NYC's Chinatown today, I was browsing through Kam Man on Canal St. In the downstairs section, I just happened to see Sichuan Peppercorns! It surprised the heck out of me. The package was plain, sealed, and with 2.50 written in black marker ---weighing 1/4 pound. (there were lots of them) I asked a floor clerk and manager about them, but they didn't speak much English, so in my poor Chinese I understood that they were from China and were real Sichuan peppercorns. I couldn't make 'heat-treated' understood.
I bought a package and as soon as I got in the car, I opened them and immediately I could get strong aroma. I chewed on a few and what a numbing and tingle!!!! The strongest I've ever had from Sichuan Pepper. The sensation lasted from Elizabeth St, down Canal and well beyond the Holland Tunnel -- in heavy traffic! When I got home, I opened a jar of old ones and there was nothing like the ones I just bought. No aroma - not too much flavor.
The one thing I did notice was a salty taste, and I don't think it was just imagination.
Tomorrow, I want to taste/check the new ones with those I bought from E-bay and the CMC company, and are in my freezer. And---- do the jhlurie water taste test.
Also, I want to check if Kam Man in NJ. has them.
I'll be ba-aa-ck!
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A couple of days ago, in an Asian grocery, I looked for a Scallop Sauce. There wasn't one, but there was an Oyster Sauce with Scallops. I didn't buy it, but I think I will the next time - just for the taste-test. The scallop used was dried conpoy, which I guess would add more salt, but I wonder if it would mute the richness of the oyster taste.
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You can try this. (Just ignore the alternate sauce, which highlights hoisin sauce)
you could prepare the dish, but divide the sauce in half -- 1/2 oyster and the other - scallop sauce.
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BEEF SLICES WITH ONION AND OYSTER SAUCE
Ingredients:
1 pound flank steak
Marinade: Seasonings:
-1/4 tsp. salt 1 tsp. minced ginger
-1 egg white 1 tsp. minced garlic
-1 tsp. oil 1 scallion sliced thin
-1 Tbsp. cornstarch
Sauce: Alternate Sauce:
-3 Tbsp. oyster sauce 1 Tbsp. sherry
-1 Tbsp. light (thin) soy sauce 2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
-1 Tbsp. sugar ½ tsp. sugar
-1 Tbsp. sherry 2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
-2 Tbsp. chicken broth 2 Tbsp. chicken broth
1 tsp. cornstarch
2 to 3 onions ½ tsp. chili paste with garlic (opt)
2 cups oil for velveting & 3 Tb. for frying
Preparation:
--Cut the flank steak in three long pieces (with the grain) --- Now diagonally cut across the grain in 1/8 inch thick slices.
--Mix the marinade well and add the steak. Mix and let sit 20 minutes at room temperature or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
--Combine the seasonings.
--Combine the sauce ingredients.
--Peel the onions and slice from top to bottom in inch wide slices.
Cooking:
~Heat wok and add the oil . Bring to 350’ (no higher)
~Mix the steak in its marinade and slide into the oil.
~Mix to separate the slices stir gently until red is gone – about 30 seconds.
~Drain the beef or remove from oil with a sieve.
~Heat Wok and add 2 Tbsp. oil.
~When oil is hot, add the onions and stir till translucent & crispy. Don’t let them burn.
~A couple of Tbsp. of water or stock will prevent burning, and help cook the slices.
~Covering the wok for a few moments may help, but don’t overcook. Think crispy!
~Heat wok and add 1 Tbsp. oil.
~Add seasonings and stir/fry until aromatic.
~Stir sauce, add to wok and bring to a boil.
~Add onions and heat.
~Add the steak and heat until all is bubbly.
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Would you do a side-by-side taste test with the oyster sauce and the scallop sauce??
And then, of course, give us your comments? Please?
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Anything with a natural casing.
Boiled until it open up like popcorn ----- or grilled.
Fat knockwurst or bratwurst if the mustard is good.
Chicken and Apple newbies are good, too.
Rolls HAVE to be New England Style, buttered and grilled.
NO ketchup!! Soft-cooked sauerkraut and mustard -- if it is not the yellow stuff, and I am happy.
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William -- I'm curious. What is the source and meaning of the word "LU" for Shangdong? The meaning I get is less than desirable! For Lucai --- it would be 'crude food'??
Anyone else have an answer?
My office's resident expert tells me that "Lu" is an alternate name for Shandong (like "Hu" for Shangai) and that it derives from one of the names for Confucius, who was born in the state of Lu.
[Edited for clarity]
Thanks Gary. Makes sense.
I was just going to ask about the "Hu" for Shanghai, but I googled it and found:
Close to the area that is now Shanghai, was the Song River, now called Wu Song River, once named "Hu Du" and the character for "Hu" evolved into the present character now used, and is what Shanghai is called for short.
"Hu" was also the name of a bamboo ?paling? that was planted in the rivers.
Whew!!
Is Shanghainese food also called Hucai, as Shandong food is called Lucai?
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William -- I'm curious. What is the source and meaning of the word "LU" for Shangdong? The meaning I get is less than desirable! For Lucai --- it would be 'crude food'??
Anyone else have an answer?
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By the way, should we take some long flights, do you recommend we get food to bring on board, or do they serve decent food?
The food they served me was edible and plentiful, but it's definitely not on the list of foods I'd go to China just to eat again. I'd guess it's comparable quality to airline food in the U.S.--you eat it because you don't want to go hungry.
I didn't keep track of the airline food I had on my first trip to China in '84 --- I guess because they weren't meals. They just passed out candy and a souvenir to each passenger. The first 'gift' was an egg cup with the letters CAAC on it. I still have it in a trinket shelf.
Other flights range from '90 to '96. Those food logs show:
----Shrimp/crab salad / White Cabbage / Rice / Shredded Chicken / Custard / Peach Drink. I still remember that drink. It was half sugar!!
----Roll with what seemed to be Bacon Bits / Sweet Bean Roll / Ham Sandwich / Cake with White Icing.
----Prawn Flavored Crackers / Sponge Cake / Chocolate-filled Cookies / Coconut Cake / Crackers.
----Orange Juice / Fresh Fruit / Crescent Roll with Mystery Meat Salad / Cheesecake (this is not NY cheesecake) [my added comment to the log] / Coffee.
----That particular flight was Dragonair Airline.The others I don't remember, but some were China Air.
----To Kunming: Candy / Biscuits / Soda.
----Lichee / Shrimp Chips / Hickory Nuts / Sponnge Cake / Peanut Crisps.
----Chicken Salad / Roll / Beef - Rice - Snowpeas stir-fry / Layer Cake / Tea.
That last trip was in '96. Looks like the food has improved over the years!
This has been a wonderful trip down memory lane. I didn't keep written logs of my travels, only a few notations of daily activities, but I wrote the food down as I had it. I used a tape recorder as a log for the actual activities , and it would be fun to listen to my comments on board those flights. Some of them were pretty hairy!
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Joanne, thanks for posting the train food logs; they were interesting. Where did you get all that food, though? Was there a dining car somewhere (I don't remember any on the trains I took), or did you just buy those things from vendors while stopped at stations or something?
Pan-- Those were all dining cars. The dining car had a long kitchen paralleling the aisle into the car.
As far as platform food, I usually picked up things like candy or rice crackers, but the one thing I will always remember -- and can still taste, is/are the Wuxi ribs. Big chunks of meaty-bony-gristly lucious tasty pork. They were wonderful!
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Joanne, if you ever feel like posting some or all of your train-logs, I'd be interested in reading them.
Pan -- Here are the train menus:
Beijing to Xian: Dinner----Diced chicken & Peppers / Whole Baby Shrimp with Ham and Cucumbers / Sweet-Sour Meatballs / Stewed Beef Cubes / Stir-Fried Vegetables with Mu Er Mushrooms and Ham / Stewed Bamboo Shoots / Tomato & Egg-Drop Soup. Breakfast: Noodles in Soup with Tomatoes, Carrots, Meat and Hot Sauce / Toast / Apple Jam / Coffee.
Xian to Luoyang: Lunch - Pork Cutlet Battered & Deep-Fried with Sichuan Peppercorn / Stewed Pork and Potatoes / Braised Chicken with Green Peppers and 5-Spice / Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes / Pork with Garlic Stems, Sichuan Style / Sweet-Sour Bean Curd / Braised Buttom and Tree Ear Mushrooms / Green Peppers & Cukes with Tree Ears and Minced Pork / Thich Soup with Egg and Tomato / Noodle Soup.
Luoyang to Nanjing - Breakfast I didn't eat as I didn't feel well, but I heard the Noodles were really good!
Shanghai to Guangzhou: Lunch - Blanched Chives with Mushrooms, Ham and Chicken (comment - 'Good!') / Mollusks with Red and Green Peppers / Crispy Deep-Fried Battered Chicken Slices / Whole Shrimp in shell (Wonderful!) / Baby Bok Choy with Dried Mushrooms / Egg Drop Soup. Dinner - Deep-Fied Shrimp curls (Good!) / Stir-Fried Chicken & Broccoli with Mushrooms / Stir-Fried Chives with Fish Slices & Mushrooms / Scrambled Eggs and Ham / Broth with Egg Pancakes and Tomatoes. Breakfast - Noodles with Pork, Mushroom, Tomatoes, and Red Pepper (hot) Lunch - Deep-Fried Fish Strips with Garlic & Scallions / Stir-Fried Zucchini with Pork Strips & Onion / Braised Ginger Chicken (Fantastic sauce!) / Spich Hot Sweet-Sour Fisk Strips / Egg and Tomato Soup. Dinner
That was fun! Almost relived it!! LOL!
I had train meals in Germany, Russia and Mongolia and as soon as we changed to Chinese Trains, the food improved immensely!! Huge difference!
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I actually had to see "Strange Friends" in a language class, it was somewhat funny, somewhat lame, and very Chinese (especially late 80s, early 90s Chinese sensibilities), very different from "Zhou Yu's train" which is a very good movie.
I haven't been on too many extremely long train rides, ~~~~~~~~...The train is always a fun time, and not the white knuckle experience flying in China can be at times ~~~~~~~
The "Strange Friends" was also in a language class. In the story line, they stop at a station, and the 'hero' gets some dumplings, and if I recall correctly, they were 'Goubuli'. I kept looking at them to see if they looked different than regular dumplings. He was eating them with his hands.
Flying in China?? I'll take the train anytime!! I remember looking down, over some wild rocky mountains and wondering where the nearest airport was! People were walking the aisles on take-off and landings. Some of those planes were old British Tridents and Russian something that begins with "A". I guess things have changed lately. Hope so.
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I keep telling my wife that one day I'm going to take the train from Shanghai to Urumuqi. It's the longest through train route in China. She always tells me that I'll have to do it by myself.
I remember taking a roughly 26 hour trip from Beijing to Xian.
I'm not sure if we did hard sleeper or really rough, hard seats
(there are 4 compartment classes for train travel:
soft sleeper, hard sleeper, soft seats, hard seats).
That was rough, either way. I definitely will either fly it or take soft sleeper next time.
Ahhhhh -- trains in China!! Love em! I was once on a real 'Choo Choo Train'! I've been on 'hard sleeper' and 'soft sleeper' and on 'hard and soft seats'. The hard sleeper was not bad at all, and the hard seat simply made you sit up straight. I liked the 'hard seat' because we were with the Chinese travelers, but they didn't let us stay there too long --- darn!!. I've had several train trips thru China, the biggest from Datong NW of Beijing and criss-crossing the country down to HK. A wonderful trip -- but we did stop over in many cities, so we didn't live on the train for the entire 3 weeks.
To go from Beijing to Urumchi would be wonderful. I wouldn't be able to stay away from the windows! But, alas, it probably will never happen.
There is a great movie about trains, entitled "Strange Friends". A love story, with train life and the clickety-clack always present.
To keep this on food --- The food on Chinese trains was not bad! I kept a log of it and had some pretty good food.
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DH and I were there last Sunday for their brunch and I didn't follow the advice, given here, by several people. I was hungry as I hadn't eaten breakfast, so I stupidly filled up a plate from the main tables. Not good!
I don't mean the food was not good, but I filled up too fast and when the various selections came by, I had to stuff myself. Couldn't politely decline, don't you know!! The freshly made items were all wonderful!! The buffet table also had some good items.
Cecil and his staff are really wonderful. They love to chat when they have time, and they know their stuff.
Next time, tho --- I will pace myself!
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I love these little nuggets. It is like when asparagus only showed up in Spring ---not year-round as now.
Rinse them well, cut off the dis-colored tip. That color is only a metal reaction from when they were first cut. Boil some water, drop them in and let simmer/boil for about 5 minutes or till tender. Drain, add butter and that's it. It's about the most simple way to do them.
But my favorite way is to rinse them and nuke till tender. My m-wave has a fresh veg setting. Then I drain any liquid and drop them in a saute pan with some butter. You can just let the butter melt, but I like to have the butter brown a little bit. It gives an added depth to the already wonderful flavor.
Cooks.com had a pile of recipes. Just google 'fiddleheads - recipes'.
Chinese Greens
in China: Cooking & Baking
Posted
The one on the left looks like Choy Sum and on the right, one of the Shanghai bok choy cabages.
Take a look at this site:
http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/trade/asiaveg/thes-00.htm
Look at "White Flowering Cabbage", and 'Shanghai Flowering Chard'.
When it says 'white flowering' it doesn't mean that the flowers are white, but rather that it is a white cabbage with flowers. Choy Sum has yellow flowers -- as compared with Chinese broccoli which has white ones.
I, myself, like greens with just garlic and a dash of oyster sauce.
Have you ever tried toasting the Sichuan Pepper in a dry pan, until they are toasted and just beginning to smoke?? Bring out a wonderful flavor.
Is that an iron wok you are using?