Dejah

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.

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.