Dejah

Well, sheetz, you have my respect! I probably won't get many tay done for CNY. I'll be busy cooking bday supper for #1 son - bday on NY'e eve. I was planning to have prime rib and alaskan king crab. Made the mistake of asking what he'd like, and he said, "Chinese food!" So, back to the drawing board!

How many kilometers are you from the Northpole again? ← OMG! It's -37C outside and I'm grilling the ribs! These ribs had better be worth it!

I'm not going to buy All-Clad woks because of the price. But, if price was no problem, would this SS-Aluminum-SS construction be superior to the standard carbon steel wok? ← A lot of the "superiority" of a wok depends on the heat of your stove. I stand by my carbon steel one even tho' I have an electric stove. If I'm patient, it gets real hot before I add the oil and ingredients. I saw the price of the All-Clad and experienced palpitations! It looks so pretty I would never use it in case I scratch it!

I use the indoor grill for making my Vietname BBQ beef/pork slices. It works pretty well. Just heat up the cast iron grill over 2 regular gas stove burners. Better have good kitchen ventillations though. ← I actually have the Jen-Air indoor grill, but it shuts off when it gets to the temp. I want. It's an older model, and the repair guy can't seem to find out why this happens. The downdraught exhaust also shuts off when it heats up. I think I need the hotter temperature to get the proper charring on the meat. So, I will brave the cold. Actually, it's warmer this week than it was last week - with temps around -35C and windchill of -40C. Me Brave Chinese Woman on the Frozen North!

You can stir-fry it with ginger, garlic and fermented soy beans (dow see); stuff it with a mixture of ground pork, waterchestnut, shrimp then pan fried; make soup with pork bones, ginger, rehydrated oysters. These are familiar dishes in Chinese households. Check out the Chinese Pictorial by eGulleteer hzrt in the Chinese forum. I'm not sure if it is in RecipeGullet.

But Sue-On mui, you have noodles in the bowl . ← What sharp eyes you have, Ben Sook. I said "reduce", not remove!I think I had at most, 1/2 cup of noodles. We just finished lunch: leftover red-simmered beef from Gloria Bley Miller's recipe - on sprouted grain bread. Mine was piled high with mixed field greens - very yummy. There is still some of Ms. Dunlop's braised beef in the fridge. Will leave that for tomorrow as I am grilling Vietnamese Lemongrass ribs tonight. The sun's out, so I will bundle up and be brave. What sacrifices I make to try new recipes. Food - the all powerful! I wanted to make spicy cucumber salad for a side, but the English cukes are close to $3.00 each! May break down and do it anyway.

What does "naked" mean? No wonton wrapper? Would the ground pork filling form a ball shape without the wrapper? ← I'm trying to reduce my carb intake, so wonton wrappers were omitted. Take a lump of filling and rolling it around to form a ball - just the way you'd make meatballs. The filling was ground lean pork, shrimp, and waterchestnut. I missed the wrapper, but it was still good. Bruce: I've been thinking about other vegetables. Have to be careful as carrots or other colourful vegetables would add sweetness, and that would change the flavour of the dish. I'll have to look through other Szechuan recipes to see if they offer anything different. Suggestions from eGulleteers would be most welcomed.

Ok. Here are the results from my "braising" afternoon: We also had fresh lily bulb soup, stir-fried baby bak choi, and jasmin rice. Po-Po came for supper. This is Fushia Dunlop's Red-braised beef with Turnip - the dish on the left in the above picture. The smaller-portioned one is from Gloria Bley Miller - Red-simmered Spiced Beef with Turnip. For Ms. Dunlop's, I could have used more toban sauce. This time, I actually liked the underlying heat from the Szechuan peppercorns. I didn't bit into any, so just experienced the heat. I added some fresh chilis. I think I'd like more variety in vegetables rather than just turnip. The non-spicy one was really rich! It was very tender and Po-Po loved it. I used beef shortribs. There was a great deal of fat floating on top, so I took the meat out, chilled the liquid, and skimmed off the fat. The lobak was 1/2 cooked by boiling, then added to the braise 30 minutes before we ate. I'd make Ms. Dunlop's again with more heat. With the red-simmered recipe, I think I prefer the flavours with pork.

Catch up time with the pictures! Yesterday for lunch - fried wutau goh. For supper - Pickerel with mixed vegetables. The fish was marinated in salt, white pepper, MSG, sherry, ginger. oil, cornstarch. Lunch today - "Naked" wontons, egg noodles, siu choi, char siu, sweet chili sauce and cilantro -my favourite herb! Good to every last drop! I collect roosters.

The only stir-fried version I have had is just after CNY with tay doi - deep-fried sesame dumpling balls. These always collapse after the "offering time". This pastry is stir-fried with guy choi for a sweet/savory/bitter dish. I have been eating this mustard greens soup for 2 weeks because my niece brought several plants home! I had posted this in the Chinese Eats thread, but here it is again.

I've got two different "braises" in the oven: one is Fushia Dunlop's Red-Braised Beef with White Radish in the sandpot for those of us who like spicy, and the smaller cast iron pot is Gloria Bley Miller's Red-Simmered Spiced Beef with Turnips. I have them both in the oven set at 275F. In the last hour, I'll cook the turnip chunks separately, then add them for the last half hour or so. Show 'n' tell after supper.

Thanks, muichoi! The glossary did say it was cardamom-like. I have black cardamom, so I'm set to go! Liuzhou: You could fool me anyday. I can't read Chinese characters except for a couple.

Chi fan le ma? 吃烦了吗? ← I guess I didn't acquire the proper tones through osmosis in the Mandarin class. There's Cantonese coming thru' in the "lah mah" I want to make red braised beef with white radish tomorrow - a la Fushia Dunlop's Land of Plenty. Reading through the recipe, I don't know what cao guo is, even after seeing the image on google. I don't have it in my pantry, and if I can't find it tomorrow at our small store, can I substitute it with something else? I'll have to leave out most or all of the chili bean paste as my mom doesn't eat spicy. Maybe I should just use soy sauce, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, scallions, wine, rock sugar, and daikon?

I wonder if the red was to make it appealing to the non-Chinese when the cuisine first appeared in Gum San? If something looks familiar - like ketsup, people are more likely to try new food? ← But in Hong Kong you can find the sweet and sour dishes in bright red too (refer to the 2 pictures). Unless this is a backflow from those early American-Chinese immigrants who made their way back to Hong Kong. But I kind of doubt it. After all I don't think you can ever find a "shrimp with lobster sauce" in Hong Kong restaurants. ← Ah, but the "red pleasing colour factor" may have been at play in HK as well. Remember, it was a British colony, and I remember seeing and being warned about all "those sailors" (British AND American) swarming the streets for their R'n'R looking for excitment and "culture"... OR, as my hubby just pointed out, the Chinese LIKE RED.

I've got lemongrass ribs marinating in the fridge for tomorrow. This is from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen. The marinade called for caramel sauce. I made it and it looks beautiful! The taste test tomorrow will tell me if the half hour of watching bubbles was worthwhile. Actually, the progression of the colour from white sugar in 1/4 cup of water to champagne - tea - dark amber - molasses made it worthwhile! The recipe said honey was an option, but for once in my life, I followed the recipe exactly! You'd be proud of me, c. sapidus (Bruce)!

You could leave it spread out on a window ledge, away from moisture, or it will get moldy.

I wonder if the red was to make it appealing to the non-Chinese when the cuisine first appeared in Gum San? If something looks familiar - like ketsup, people are more likely to try new food? And, to compete for customers, the redder the better, and it got way out of hand? Thus, we have the Christmas sauce! I can see where the Polynesian influence came into play with Azianbrewer's uncle's recipe: citrus, pineapple... Now, inferno, to answer the question of ingredient proportions in a restaurant-size batch of anything is a challenge. We always made the same item in the same container or cooking pot, so, this much of this, so much of that, and just a little less of this!

Please post the information, Gabriel. I also have a bottle of mustard oil given to me, and I have no idea how to use it.

Oh, we we all do get carried away sometimes. After all, CNY is fast approaching. I was cleaning out my fridge for supper tonight - finished off leftover roast beef, topped with the curried beef, with a big plate of Shanghai bak choi miu stir-fried with garlic and drizzles of sesame oil. Instead of rice, we had Weight Watcher friendly pretend potatoes - boiled lobak then stir-fried with 4 peppercorn spice. I really like this substitute, but it's not rice.

I will be very interested in the suggestions too! My half a bag is still in the fridge.

I found that orange peels are not that suitable to be dried and used for Chinese cooking. The skin is too thick, with too much pith. Tangerine peels work the best. You can probably use Mandarin peels too. ← The fragrance of regular oranges is not the same as chun pei. hzrt calls them tangerines, but I seldom see them labelled as such. Here, they just call them Chinese oranges. They are bigger than the Christmas Japanese/Mandarin oranges, and the peel is not "attached" to the orange segments. They are very easy to peel - and save.

Congratulations! This thread has achieved page 30 now! Would you like to celebrate it with: Indian curry (so many to choose from) Malaysian curry (coconut milk!) Vietnamese curry (lemon grass and lime juice and fried shallot) Chinese curry (the green pepper, onion, patoto stuff) Thai curry (red, green or yellow?) Japanese curry (MSG!) English curry ??? ← All of the above! Last night, I made Beef Chili Curry ( bade aur mirch ki curry) from Meena Pathak' Flavours of India. To make this Chinese related, we had it for supper with jasmin rice. Just now, we ate the leftovers with cheung fun. That curry sauce was so good with the rice rolls! I was going to make Grilled Lemongrass Pork Riblets from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, but the meat needs to marinate for 24 hours. I will have to wait until the weekend. I am enjoying the two new books I bought. The photos in both are great inspirations. I always like to see what the food should look like even if mine don't look as pretty. Have to keep remembering: Professionals paint their food. Edited to add last night's Beef Chili Curry.

Couldn't you just use an orange like somebody suggested? And, is there a special process for drying them, if you don't have a radiator? ← Yes, you certainly can use an orange, but the variety that was used in the original and still preferred today, is the Chinese Mandarin orange. These oranges are not available all year round, and may not be available to some of us at all. So, we save the peelings when we do get to enjoy them. You don't have to have a radiator. I turn the pieces inside out, single layer them in a basket, place in a well ventilated place, and let them dry out. It's good if you remove the pith before drying. You can also buy packages of dried peels in Asian stores.

Bruce, Hubby says the trips to Wpg. are too expensive - on his wallet and on his waistline. I think I'll forgo anymore shopping trips, save his $, and go live at your house. That will at least save his waistline... Lovely looking supper. The beef looks very inviting, especially with that mix of flavours. What cut do you use? I'm going to have to ask you to refrain from listing the books you cook from! THAT'S why my trips to Wpg are expensive! I have Barbara Tropp's China Moon book, and was so excited by it I went looking for her restaurant when we were in San Francisco in the '90s. We found the location; it was all boarded up. I found out just a couple of years ago that she had died before we made the trip. Does anyone else have cravings for curry? What is it about curry? I go through spells where I crave it! We've had curry something 4 nights now: chicken, shrimp, lamb, then beef and cauliflower tonight. It all started at the International students dinner last Wed with butter chicken.

Interesting that this topic should come up today. My Korean students were giving a demo on making kimbap. They also used a knife to peel the cucumbers. Now, Fat Guy, do you peel the whole cucumber or segments? These ladies used my chef's knife, and used a slight sawing motion as they moved around the whole cucumber lengthways. These were slicing cukes, about 8" long with the ends trimmed. They also "sliced" the cukes this way before they cut them into thin strips for the kimbap. I can work with 4 - 5" English cuke segments, but worry about slicing off my thumb.