Dejah

Ok, you can go to tepee's this year. I'll go to sheetz's 'cos it's closer than Malaysia! Besides, I'm younger than Ben Sook and can handle the snow and cold.

I'll let you know as soon as I can when this Dai Gah Jeah will be arriving for " the small banquet".

Sheetz! That chicken is the most beautiful dish I've ever seen! Congratulations for showing up the rest of us. This is what's so great about the forum - we get to see dishes we've never cooked ourselves - but may be inspired by others to try something different.

There really is quite a variety in wonton wrappers. I prefer the thinnest ones for soup wontons, and the thicker ones for deep fried wontons as they are sturdier. I also use the thin ones for siu mai, after I trim them into circles with a scalloped-edged cookie cutter. The thick white ones are usually round in our part of the world. These are used for jiaozi.

Very true. For Chinese food though, most households in China - especially those in the rural areas - would do away with a close-to-rusty cleaver, a almost deformed chopping block, a bowl, a pair of worn wooden chopsticks, an iron spatula and a well-seasoned wok. That's about all they need (and to some, all they can afford). For example, no fancy tongs in China that a pair of wooden chopsticks and a wet towel can't do. We are the minimalists, utilitarians. ← Ah Leung: Do you mean they would do fine with....? You KNOW we would never do away with a close-to-rusty cleaver, an almost deformed chopping block, etc.

Tepee! YUM! All looked delicious. Thanks for the shrimp dish. They look like something was tied around each one? The arrowhead dish your eldest SIL contributed: was it stir-fried? Mine are still in my fridge. I can just taste that vegetarian mix, wrapped in a fresh lettuce leaf. Inspite of your warning about fatt choi, I added some to our stir-fry, made sure my elder son had a good helping so that his business will prosper!

If I may, while Ah Leung is sleeping off his sumptuous meal from last night, I will chime in with a Toisanese answer. Ah leung is from the Canton area as opposed to the more northern areas, so dumplings as most would imagine are not traditional at the CNY family dinner. The only dumplings we have as a CNY meal would be balls of glutinous rice in bowls of rich stock, augmented with shredded daikon, pork, rehydrated baby shrimp or scallops, etc. This is traditional in my Toisanese family, on New Year's eve. We DO make other dumplings, such as ham sui gok, chang tay, etc, but they are eaten at times other than meals.

Supper menu today as requested by birthday boy - number one son: lotus root and dried octopus soup BBQ duck siu yook Vietnamese grilled lemongrass baby back ribs black bean garlic clams shrimp - possibly spicy tamarind shrimp from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen as are the above ribs beef and mixed vegetables: fatt choi, lotus root, wood ear, snow peas, fresh waterchestnuts, sweet peppers, etc ha mai chow (yes, Bruce, this means stir-fry ) fun see and fuzzy melon rice, of course and for dessert, it's cheery pie, mince meat pie , and mango pudding! Gung Hai Fat Choi! Everyone!

Gung Hai Fat Choi, Ah Leung, Silow! I've got my "yoon hap" filled with goodies, ready for you to come "by neen" and get your "lai see". Don't forget I like perfect persimmons, rosy apples, and juicy tangerines in your " siu thleem" bag!

Nice statement. ← I second that! It says it all when I think about the introduction of Chinese food to North America: chop suey, chow mein, wood stove, cast iron frying pan, etc. I think I might even add that to my signature(If I could find out how to do that!), with your permission, of course.

When I've seen chefs on TV do it they use big steel strainers like this one: http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/acces..._perfscoop.html The strainer is dipped in the oil and then the meat is placed on top and stirred around for a few seconds, then lifted out using the strainer. ← Chefs on TV and "cooks" in big bustling restaurants are two different things. ← I had worked in 7 different Chinese restaurants in San Diego. The chefs in the different kitchens were quite uniformly using the same method. The marinated meats (chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.) were run through a wok-ful of hot oil - free and clear - and then scooped up using type of the strainers shown in that picture. Usually a big Chinese ladle is used to separate the meats so they won't stick together. In the "chop suey" type restaurants, they used the professional size SS spatula. ← Dejah will keep "mum" as promised. Besides: OFF TOPIC! Ladies and Gentlemen: What did we cook at home? CNY's eve, for goodness sake! There's got to be loads of posts and pictures!

When I've seen chefs on TV do it they use big steel strainers like this one: http://www.wokshop.com/HTML/products/acces..._perfscoop.html The strainer is dipped in the oil and then the meat is placed on top and stirred around for a few seconds, then lifted out using the strainer. ← Chefs on TV and "cooks" in big bustling restaurants are two different things. GASTRO Mui: Please ask your parents if they "gau yu" all their meat in their restaurant. Ok. This is my last post on this topic. Darn you Bruce! I'm not saying another word - and you guys have no idea how hard that's going to be!

As you said, the cast iron once hot stays hot. That's what you want in a stir-fry pan - constant heat. They make cast iron woks.

I can't wrap my head around Barbara Tropp's explanation that the 20-second blanching was a technique common to Chinese kitchens. The process is not practical or efficient in kitchens using 24" woks. To this "lau sieu - old hand", it will always be "gau yu" and velveting is the marinating process. But then, I never "gau yu" anything! I guess Ms. Tropp and I will agree to disagree.

What is stewing beef? I mean, what larger cut are these chunks from? I have tried using stewing beef, but I always find, no matter how long it is simmered, the meat stays dry. The pieces will fall apart, and unless I pour lots of gravy on them, I don't enjoy the texture. I've always used beef shortribs, but they are very fatty. The fat is skimmed off before thickened, but it is still quite rich. The meat is very tender, but shortribs are not always available. So, is chuck the best bet?

That's NOT what I would call it. Between Dejah and I, I think that we spent enough time over a wok to know the difference. Oil blanching is rarely, if ever, done with veggies. Water blanching is almost never done with meat. One of the reasons for oil blanching (guo yu pass through oil) is to set and seal the juices in the meat. The main reason for water blanching veggies is to cut down on wok (cooking) time. Velveting is a different process altogether. ← This post looks unwieldy, never mind the explanation! Bruce, we're not arguing - we Chinese just get excited and louder as we "discuss" something. That's why it's always so dang noisy in Chinese restaurants! The explanation is exactly as Ben Sook said in his posts. You'll just have to learn Chinese and say "guo yu". To marinate is to "yeup" in Toisanese or "yeep" in Cantonese. I have never yeup thin pieces of meat for 6 hours though. When you cut up the meat into thin pieces, much of the connective elements that make meat tough will be "disconnected", so it will not require long period of yeuping (can I add "ing" to that?). In a large piece of meat several inches thick, then you'd need to marinate for maybe 6 hours - to "tenderize" and for the flavours to penetrate throughout. Some cuts, tho', is best left to braising.

That's what Barbara Tropp calls it in Modern Art of Chinese Cooking. ← The Chinese elders will beg to differ. ETA: Might fine looking hot'n'sour soup, sheetz!

We were talking about "velveting" before. Passing the meat thru' oil or water is not velveting. That's blanching. The marinating with oil and cornstarch is velveting. This produces a velvet texture to the meat - thus the term velveting. I can't understand where this definition of velveting thru' oil/water came from. Sheetz is correct in saying that dark meat doesn't need this step, but velveting breast meat will keep it from having a dry and rough texture. Jasmine rice is not considered trendy. The Chinese community here in Brandon all prefer it. Most restaurants still use unscented rice as it is cheaper.

So, enquiring minds want to know your CNY plans! Just remember, FOOD is the tradition!

I wouldn't be surprised if they were the same manufacturer. Scratch that - the carbon steel woks on the Wok Shop website say "Made in USA". The world is crazy. The Wok Shop is selling American made woks in Chinatown... And Martha Stewart is selling Taiwanese woks at K-Mart. I think I'll have that Bourbon now. ←

In my family, New Year's eve is for savory tong yuen. There is so much ingredients in that it's like a banquet! Mom will have sam sang for worshipping the Teen Sun, but they don't eat it for supper. NY'd Day is the big meal, and I don't get to partake. On the 2nd, I will go "by neen" with my big bag of apples, oranges, candies and some kind of pastry. Mom just invited hubby and me to the lunch that day! I know my s-i-l always try to get some smaller chickens for CNY. There are only 3 of them at home, and Mom insists on 3 "new chickens" for all each day of her rituals. By the end of the week, they are pretty tired of chicken.

The fatt choi I have is quite old, so I'll just assume it is the "real McCoy" and eat it up! We'll be having our big meal on the 17th, New Year's eve rather than NY's day - to accommodate older son's bday, and the two younger kids who head back to Winnipeg on the 18th. Planning and shopping for the meal tomorrow as we have study break at the university. Need to find a whole fish! S-i-l is making nian goh. I am making ma-li-goh and hopefully some kind of dumplings on Friday. I bought several packages of these huge-hard -round-sesame-coated -deep -fried balls for mom so we didn't have to make any ourselves. I kept one package on my kitchen counter. For the first time ever, Atticus the dog took something off a surface of any kind! When I came home from my evening class, he was slinking away - had eaten one whole ball - think rice bowl size! He also ate about 10 CNY candies in a zip lock bag that Po-Po brought over. He still lives. Good thing I kept them just for curiosity sake.

A choice between crispy or stewed pork belly - I would choose crispy - siu yook. I find this cut too rich when cooked in a liquid - as I did when I braised. I would rather imagine a few thick slices of belly with a crispy crackly skin sitting on top of joesan's razor clams recipe. Do you mean to cut the excessive fat into dice, or the remaining lean pork into dice? Why buy pork belly if you remove excessive fat? Isn't that why we buy pork belly?

Here are the results of my first attempts from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. The caramel sauce: I'm not sure how dark it is supposed to be, but it sure is purty! I marinated the ribs for over 24 hours - just couldn't fit the grilling into my schedule until tonight. The ribs were meaty enough to be threaded onto skewers. That made turning them a lot easier on the grill. They were very good, but next time, I will use more lemongrass and caramel sauce for a more robust flavour. These are definitely make again ribs, a nice change from Chinese BBQ ribs or others. The BBQ in the backyard at -37C! The results: And the rest of the story...

sheetz said she is expecting a foot of snow in her area tonight. Here's what I was working in tonight! and: and finally: The results of standing out in the backyard, grilling in -37C weather! Even Atticus the dog couldn't be enticed to join me. These are the Vietnamese Lemongrass Ribs from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. I put them onto skewers for easy of turning. I really liked them, but will increase the lemongrass and caramel sauce next time. The flavour was definitely there, but I like everything bigger than life. To make this fit into the Chinese Eats at Home, I stir-fried lotus root, peppers, straw mushrooms, babycorn, etc as a side, along with spicy cucumber, and, um... uh... the best Indian spiced basmati rice I've ever made! I think this should be considered my Valentine's Day present to hubby. M uch better than a card or box of chocolates.