Dejah

Dai Ga Jeah and sheetz: how about mixing maltose/honey in hot water and use it to dilute the red vinegar? Maybe we can take advantage of both? I may try this in my next round. ← No reason to use both as this step is to produce a crispy deep golden-red coloured skin, unless you want a sweet 'n' sour Cantonese fried chicken.

OK, that's just..... weird. It's not like shrinp chips are hard to find or anything. A lot of the recipes I've seen for this include maltose or honey in the coating, which gives the chicken a nice crust after the frying. Looks great, Ah Leung! ← Game hens are perfect for single servings. I used 20 of them for a surprise bday party for my husband. Unfortunately, he decided to be "sick" for the day of the party, so I could only prep. 2 hens at a time. I was a bit frazzled by the time I "honey blanched" all 20, tucked them away in different out of the way places to air dry, but always leaving 2 out in plain sight. As I mentioned above, I used honey dissolved in the wok of hot water as a coating rather than red vinegar. This produced a very slightly sweet beautiful coating like Ah leung's. For large chickens, I would suggest simmering the chicken in the honeyed water until just cooked (as in bak jam gai) before letting it air dry. Then, finish it off with deep frying. The best parts are the wing tips. Shrimp chips are so easy, colourful, and much more interesting to eat. WHY would they use Pringles? Strange...

螺蛳 luo2 si1 isn't seafood. It is a type of snail found in rivers and rice fields. Big local speciality in these parts. They are invariably served in a spicy sauce. ← Oh MY! That reaches wayyyyyyyyy back into my childhood memories.

I take 150c to mean 150F, but I can't understand using those temperatures either. In my oven, that would be "warming". If meat were left for 2-3 hours at 150F, it would render the meat unsafe to eat. How big are the pieces of pork used? Boston butt/shoulder is a good choice. The fat provides the nice crispy bits.

That's a new idea: simmering before roasting. Has anyone used and can compare the two methods? One with just marinading then straight into the oven, and jtnippon's method of simmering then roasting? What "times" did you use for simmering and roasting? What cut of meat? Would the flavour be more intense if the meat was simmered first? In order to get the red colour, you pretty much have to use some food colouring. Just as long as it doesn't come out fluorescent pink, you're ok. I think this forum has taken things up a notch compared to the "requisite fridge shot" in foodblogs: oven shots!

That depends on what cut of pork you use. If it's pork belly, then it would be fine. Even if it's a lean cut, the pieces are small enough that an hour and a half of constant boiling would still tenderize the meat. The joong that I make require at least 2.5 hours. They are best at 3 hours. Looks like I'll also be making them in July. June will be busy with visitors, student exams, field trips, etc.

Checked my wolfberry bush and it's survived another prairie winter and neglected lawns. It's alive but needs pruning badly. I'll have to leave it until the fall. The soup variety has been delivered daily to our house by "aunties". It's our spring tonic, just like the first rhubarb. We've had to distribute bags to my students from Beijin just so we don't become tired of gow gai dan fa tang. Apparently this leaf-only variety is not known outside of Guangdong area? Anyone outside of this area only know the wolfberry, but not this variety.

If flat pork chops are what you are aiming for, just make a couple of nicks (1/2" or so deep) along the top of the pork chop. You may see a transluscent strip along the top of the chop. It's this that shrinks during cooking and causes the chop to be "bent out of shape". Just make sure the nicks cut through this. People have been "bastardizing" Chinese and all other cuisines for ages, so I am sure Ah Leung can handle your variation. I think your pork chops look delicious! Not sure about the shredded raw cabbage, but if they were steamed or stir-fried, then I would go for that. Rice of course, would be better. Did you eat the raw cabbage, or was it just for presentation?

What great suggestions for roun song! I've always just used it in jook or out of hand. Thanks!

So glad you persisted, Apicio. This may kickstart the dan tart cook-off to another round!

I know ... I should probably send out an advance notice: "Warning, warning! Clueless gweipo on the loose!" ← Mizducky: No one would dare call you a "clueless gweipo", not while I'm around. You've had more varied Asian cuisine, and have greater access to Asian foods that this poor ole Chinese on the prairies! There is nothing wrong with the labelling of the "baby bak choy sum". Choy sum just means the "heart or centre" of the bak choy. When I had my restaurant, we used big bak choy. My mom always asked me to save the "choy sum" for her: the centre of the plant which is more tender than the outer leaves.

The sweet rice/sticky rice that I use for joong is from Thailand. There are 2 sizes/types of sticky/sweet rice, die nor mai, si nor mai. These are both available from China or Thailand. I have always used the si nor mai which is longer and skinnier grained just because my mom said that's the one to use. I DO use the die nor mai for lotus leaf nor mai fan.

... and, if you think the Shanghainese are all about sugar - what about those Cantonese folk? ← Cantonese use a lot of sugar in cooking? I've never noticed excessive sweetness unless you are talking about the bastardized Chinese food such as sweet 'n' sour pork, etc. In Toisanese cooking, I do use a pinch of sugar to balance the salt and MSG. I don't use soy sauce much in my daily cooking, only if I were making soy sauce chicken, or master sauce braising.

Hmmm...maybe not enough salt was used. The salted eggs made at home should not be stinky at all. ← If the egg yolks are firm, then there was enough salt. The only reason the eggs would be stinky would be if the egg was already spoiled prior to brining. I tried eating joong with stinky egg. Couldn't do it. Now I wonder if I'll ever be able to eat stinky tofu again after 48 years!

What shape did you call your joong? Ah Leung? And you razzes me about the amount of liu in my joong? I imagine yours are quite rich, with all the ingredients and seasonings. How many can you eat at once? With the batch I make, there's enough to share and keep in my freezer until the next round.

Whoa! That's some beautiful cake, and abalone/conpoy/mushrooms and lettuce. Thanks so much! Ah Leung Silow, and Tepee Mui Mui. The evening started with a harp concert by my daughter China and her ensemble with 5 other harpers. This was to be her last recital as she will be leaving home in the fall. China's been studying the harp since the third grade, and she just graduated from university last week. To come home with this dish and the cake was a wonderful end to my day.

Kent, Thanks very much for sharing your culinary skills, food pictures and Flickr. You've opened a whole new China for me.

Po-PO used to brine eggs all the time, before they were accessible on the prairies. Duck eggs were not easy to find, but we were able to find double yolk chicken eggs quite often from local farmers. These were great as the yolks were the favourite part, especially for joong. The Asian markets in Winnipeg carry vacuum sealed packets of salted duck egg yolks. My s-i-l bought them last year. Handy but they spoil quickly once the packet is opened. She had some left over and gave them to me. I used them next day to make joong, and I thought they were a bit smelly. Used the few I had but kept the batch separate. I couldn't eat the joong, but found out my sister loves them that way!

Wow. I just started reading this blog on tuesday. Sadly it seems the author commited suicide a few days ago... ← What made you say the above statement?

Well I've been here over three years now, so if you're looking for anything, let me know, maybe I can help regards Ursula ← Just in case it hasn't been said, "Welcome to eGullet and the Chinese forum, Ursula."

Coinciding? 5th day of fifth month (lunar calendar) = Tuen Ng Geet [Cantonese]. It *is* the Dragon Boat Festival (Hong Kong's translation). ← You are correct. What was I thinking?!

Ben Sook You too can make these. Can't use the excue that you're the only one who'd eat these in the family. You can always freeze some for your hunting forays. Today is ng gyut dat ( 5th day of the fifth month celebration), coinciding with Dragon Boat festival. We all ate joong for lunch after Po-Po "by jaw sun". Now, I am steaming the second of two Mah Lai Goh for a BBQ with our university ESL students. That'll do instead of joong because I haven't made mine yet!

Looks good enough to eat, Ah leung. I think your m-i-l's idea to boil the leaves is based on tradition, and perhaps a little bit of good advice. I know Po-Po always reminds me to boil my leaves, and I always do - with some vinegar in the water. This does make them supple and easy to work with. Another reason is to prevent mold. These days, the leaves that I buy come in plastic bags and look a lot cleaner than even 3 years ago. Perhaps in the past, especially without refridgeration and freezers, whatever was on the leaves , if not boiled, may have caused mold on the joong. It would be disheartening to find a big batch spoiled if not eaten right away. I know it's a time consuming step and can be messy, but I for one, am not going to tempt fate, even with a freezer! For your next batch, Ah leung, use a lighter gauge string and try to spread the string out more evenly over the package. Yours actually look like the ones I "used to make". Check out my webpages for reference. I would also suggest using just mung beans and peanuts, or chestnuts and peanuts, or just one of the three. I find they are too "similar but different". All of these and so many other ingredients may affect the shape of your joong. Who once said "Wah! So much liu!" when they saw my joong?!

I wonder if these brands are available in Western Canada? I have also heard that a 1/4 cup of vinegar in the steaming water will keep the baos white. I think I tried it acouple times, but I can't remember if it made any difference. I DO know that boiling vinegar will deordorize a room!

For the shape and size of the joong that I make, I use 3 leaves. They are not the "pyramid" shapes, but the " new kok - twist-corner" (as Po-Po calls them). One leaf makes the " yune kok - goat-horn" joong. Po-Po always makes 2 of these. She saves acouple of the largest leaves for these. Don't know if the number has any significance or not. Maybe just because a goat has 2 horns?