Dejah

... 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?

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=59538&hl= The URL above is a whole thread in the COOKING forum on making char siu baos. It's under "cook-offs" I use only baking powder in my bao mix. Cake flour seems to produce whiter and lighter dough.

This is a version that I will make! I can get all the ingredients listed. These will be a surprise for Po-PO. Can I use canned cooked black eye peas or will they break up when boiled with the rice?

With dried conpoy, make sure you soak them well and shred before using. My s-i-l uses them instead of dried shrimp. She made her batch yesterday - some with half long half sticky rice, some with just sticky rice. She doesn't use as much liu as I do. I will be making my joong sometime after June 10. My "special joong" table is on display at a Chinese Restaurant Concept display at our art gallery. As with last year, I will use BBQ duck, salty egg yolks, lap cheung, dong goo, Spanish onion, peanuts, chestnuts, dried shrimp meat, salted pork butte...oh...and...some rice. Ah Leung: 30 joong? And you're going to share?!

Can you imagine if all the shrimp used in a Chinese restaurant had to be de-veined! AAAAGGGRRRR! I always tell people that if you devein, you lose flavor. ← Well, my staff used to devein all the shrimp we used in the restaurant. They would use sharp paring knives, cut along the back down far enough for "butterflying", and pull out the black if it is visible. This chore was completed during down time after lunch.

The only time I devein is when I peel shrimp for hubby. He doesn't handle shells very well. But, I think if you cut the shell at the top, it may add to the cripiness. I seem to remember my head cook saying that the drier the shrimp shells are, after rinsing, the crispier the shells will be when you deep fry them. Same principle as air-drying the duck when making Peking duck, I suppose. I wonder if this process will work: Deep fry the garlic and chili peppers in the hot oil first. Take them out when crispy; toss together with coarse salt. Heat up the oil again and deep fry the shrimp so they will pick up the garlic flavour and chili heat. Drain then toss together with the garlic, chili, salt mixture to coat. Serve immendiately. Of course, there will be a small plate of special salt on the side for dipping.

A common mistake is to have the meat in a wok in constant motion. The meat will tend to be "boiled" in its juice rather than stir-fried. I didn't know you are supposed to put the meat onto a cold pan?! You mean all these years I've been ruining my meat by putting them onto a hot pan? As sheetz said, velveting is an important step. Also, by coating a hot wok (whether SS or carbon steel)with oil will keep the meat from tearing.

Exactly.

In my youth living in HK, these beetles were roasted and sold in little bags like roasted peanuts. I vaguely remember eating them. You are supposed to nip off the "rear end" of the beetle, then pop them into your mouth. Can't remember what they tasted like other than crunchy.

Having seen Ah Leung's pictorial on ong choi, I ordered it here in New York yesterday. It was stir-fried with fu yu and lots of garlic. The thin stalks and leaves were fine, but the hollow stems were tough. There wasn't enough fu yu either, but then, I like lots of it when I cook green beans. The Chinese food we've been eating here hasn't been spectacular. Cheap, homey, and way better than the over-priced food at our hotel. One place was called Ollie's. I wanted to buy a T-shirt there " Noodles is my life". But I forgot. It was very busy, and both times, we had a table overlooking the kitchen. I wanted to go in and roll up my sleeves!

From my experience with family members (nieces, nephews), they limited the tea service to the elders: grandparents, parents, uncles, aunties, special cousins. Young single relatives were not expected to participate, especially in large families. I remember that the man, whether receiving or serving, was always on the right. In this arrangement, the man always serves to woman - son to mother or m-i-l. I don't know if it was to save time, or a departure from custom, but each received only one cup of tea. There was a great accumulation of Li See and beautiful jewelly on the tray.

Congratultions, Kent! What a wonderful gift from you to your family! Not only did you provide them with special new foods, but you also shared the cooking experience with your Mom and aunt. WELL DONE! I'm sure your Grandmother was very proud of her grandson.

I can only get frozen banana leaves here, and I don't imagine they will hold up the same. The Asian store I frequent has been getting packaged bamboo leaves the last couple of years. I like to buy them early, more than I need each year if I can find long wide ones. So far, I have been lucky. The few small leaves I find, Po-Po makes into "yurn gok" shapes (goat horn)for the little ones. aznsailorboi: I'm glad you found the seasoning proportion worked out well...but salt and sugar? I think mine were salt and MSG. But, if they tasted good, that's fine!